Church of God News

Bill Gates (US government photo)

COGwriter

COVID variants remain in the news:

January 12, 2023

The XBB.1.5 COVID-19 subvariant — a new version of the Omicron variant — is slowly growing in Houston.

Threat level: Houston is in the midst of another COVID-19 wave, and the new, contagious variant is contributing to the rise in cases.

• XBB.1.5 makes up about 12%–15% of local cases, according to David Persse, the chief medical officer with the City of Houston.
• Persse expects the new strain will continue to spread throughout the city for a few weeks.

Zoom out: The World Health Organization states that the new strain is “the most transmissible” descendant yet of the Omicron variant, according to the Washington Post.

• In the Northeast region of the U.S., it makes up almost 75% of cases.

The intrigue: XBB.1.5 is different from previous variants because it can attach itself better to cells, CNBC reports. https://www.axios.com/local/houston/2023/01/12/new-covid-strain-houston

Is something worse than COVID coming?

Yes, according to scripture.

And yes, according to Bill Gates:

The “next pandemic” is coming, says Bill Gates, who says more censorship needed to “moderate some of the insanity online”

January 12, 2023

If you thought Operation Warp Speed was rolled out fast, just wait until the next “pandemic” arrives.

Covid was just a warmup, according to billionaire eugenicist Bill Gates, …

“Next time what we’ll have is factories that are able to produce [vaccines] far faster, and so just in months you should be able to make enough for the world,” Gates recently said.

“So we’ll have enough supply so that prioritization won’t matter because we’ll cover everyone.” (Related: Gates also has plans to “vaccinate” the entire food supply.) …

“We’re not quite out of the woods yet with this current pandemic, and it’s sobering that we have to think about the next pandemic when we’re just now enjoying the things that we like to do in life,” lamented Folly Bah Thibault, the Al Jazeera host who spoke to Gates just before Christmas about the matter.

“Why and how ready should we be for the next pandemic?” she went on to ask Gates, to which he responded:

“Well, governments are there to protect us … but the [covid] pandemic is a disaster that they did not prepare for. The actual resources required to have a global surveillance team to make better diagnostic technologies, to do quick detection. It’s actually not going to be that expensive once the world gets organized and makes it a priority.”

It’s not if but WHEN the next “pandemic” is unleashed

According to Gates, it is not simply a possibility that there will be another scamdemic. He has repeatedly stated, including most recently to Al Jazeera, that there will be another one at some point.

It is not a “matter of if but when,” Gates revealed, warning that people and governments need to “actively prepare” for the next round of global tyranny, which is sure to eclipse the last round. https://www.sgtreport.com/2023/01/the-next-pandemic-is-coming-says-bill-gates-who-says-more-censorship-needed-to-moderate-some-of-the-insanity-online/

Bill Gates {said}:

It was quite a surprise, you know it was people looking for simple explanations, looking for you know one bad actor to simplify the surprise of what was going on.

The digital channels definitely amplified that, [which] let people resonate with strange ideas. It’s tragic that that probably prevented some people from using masks or taking the vaccine when they needed it. It did lead to polarization and even more death than we had to experience.

You know, finding people who you trust and making sure they’re speaking out, and that’s something we need to put more effort into; you know, who do you trust?

[…] I hope the younger generation can take these digital tools and shape them to be more of a force for good.You know I believe that the ability to communicate worldwide there’s huge benefits that flow out of that, and now we have to moderate some of the insanity that you know prevents people from helping themselves. https://winepressnews.com/2023/01/07/bill-gates-tells-al-jazeera-how-to-prepare-for-the-next-pandemic-and-to-moderate-some-of-the-insanity-online/

Bill Gates wants more censorship against online “insanity.”

Well it was insane that the media and Big Tech censored potentially life-saving information.

For example, in February of 2021, the Associated Press blasted what it called COVID conspiracies, yet it failed to report efficacious vitamin D studies to reduce COVID-related deaths (see AP on COVID conspiracies, but it fails to report on major vitamin D study).

And on a more personal level, YouTube retroactively removed a video we in the Continuing Church of God put up, also in February 2021. Here is a link to it from another platform:

Feb 21, 2021

COVID-19: Eat what is good!

US President Joe Biden said on 2/19/21 that the USA may NOT “return to normal” in 2021 because of vaccine and mutation issues. Is there another approach? Would it make sense to improve nutrition to strengthen the immune system and to help people with COVID-19? What about zinc, selenium, vitamin C, and vitamin D? What about avoiding unclean meats? What about eating more fruits and vegetables and items such as pumpkin seeds and Brazil nuts? What about eating bovine glandulars? What about herbs? Could fasting help? What about exercise and sunlight? What about masks, lockdowns, junk food, obesity, and weight gain? Dr. Thiel, who possesses a US regionally accredited PhD. in nutrition science from the Union Institute and University, a Master of Science degree from the University of Southern California, and a natural scientist license from the State of Alabama, explains why people may wish to consider approaches for their immune system. He also goes over scriptures related to worse pandemics coming (associated with the ride of the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse–Revelation 6:7-8), and the fact that the Bible teaches to “eat what is good” (Isaiah 55:2).

A written article, with references, of related interest is also available titled “Joe Biden: life may not return to normal this year due to COVID mutations; Paul Roberts: The Covid Pandemic Is The Result of Public Health Authorities Blocking Effective Treatment” URL: https://www.cogwriter.com/news/prophecy/joe-biden-life-may-not-return-to-normal-this-year-due-to-covid-mutations-paul-roberts-the-covid-pandemic-is-the-result-of-public-health-authorities-blocking-effective-treatment/

Here is a link to the censored video: COVID-19: Eat what is good!

When I tried to appeal to YouTube, it never once said I made an inaccurate or false statement. It claimed that the video did not have the “consensus of local experts” or the World Health Organization (WHO).

Here is a list of items that the YouTube-censored video promoted:

1. People should decrease their consumption of junk food. Instead that has increased and many Americans have gained unhealthy weight (see Using scale for weight loss? Americans gain weight during COVID-19 shut downs) which will not bolster their innate or adaptive immune systems.
2. Exercise is beneficial for the immune system (watch The Plain Truth About Exercise), yet during the corona/COVID lockdowns, many have gotten less exercise. Some because of fear of going outside and some because many gyms have been closed by government orders. Yet, the Bible teaches ‘bodily exercise profits a little’ (1 Timothy 4:8).
3. Avoiding smoking (see also Should Christians Smoke Tobacco or Marijuana?) and polluted air (watch Air Pollution, Autism, and Prophecy) help the immune function. Yet, cigarette purchases in the USA went up last year during the COVID lockdowns.
4. People should increase their consumption of high vitamin C fruits (like citrus and berries) and vegetables (like tomatoes and bell peppers) as vitamin C is proven to bolster the immune system, help protect tissues (like lungs), and fight viruses (see also COVID-19 and Vitamin C: The truth, the myth, and the hype). Many also contain fruits and vegetables supply betacarotene, which also supports the immune system.
5. Eleven years ago it was reported in a scientific journal that zinc was effective against coronaviruses to reduce their replication (see‘CDC Triples Number of Possible CCP Virus Symptoms;’ Don’t swallow Lysol to fight COVID-19! What about Zinc? Bloodclots?). Various foods, like pumpkin seeds, contain zinc.
6. Selenium may also be helpful. Eating a couple of Brazil nuts per week can supply adequate amounts of selenium.
7. Substances like methylene blue and hydroxychloroquine help improve zinc absorption (see also Donald Trump taking zinc and hydroxychloroquine to prevent COVID-19: Mainstream media aghast! Vitamin D? Vitamin C?).
8. Sunlight helps convert cholesterol into vitamin D and vitamin D looks to be helpful for those facing the coronavirus (see Donald Trump taking zinc and hydroxychloroquine to prevent COVID-19: Mainstream media aghast! Vitamin D? Vitamin C?). Even the CDC’s Dr. Fauci has admitted that vitamins D and C can be helpful (see COVID interview: Dr. Fauci takes isolated vitamin D and synthetic vitamin C).
9. Many herbs can help with viruses (see ‘Ghanaians Look to Herbal Remedies for COVID-19’ ‘Enti wobԑdi Onyankopↄn Nna Kronkron anaa Ahonhommↄnee Ahomegyeԑ Nna?’).
10. Jesus said His followers would fast (Mark 2:20). Fasting boosts the immune system (see Reuters: Why is New Orleans’ coronavirus death rate seven times New York’s? Obesity is a factor; BNP: ‘How to Change Your Life in 5 Seconds’). Fasting, for those who can, can truly help the immune system (see Fasting aids longevity and provides other benefits).
11. Blood clots can be destructive and even deadly with COVID-19, hence people who get COVID-19 may wish to take nattokinase (see ‘CDC Triples Number of Possible CCP Virus Symptoms;’ Don’t swallow Lysol to fight COVID-19! What about Zinc? Bloodclots?).
12. Lung tissue damage is associated with COVID-19 and bovine lung tissue helps support healthy lungs (see CBS: Blood types may play role in which COVID patients get sickest; Isaiah: Eat what is good.).
13. People should avoid consuming biblically unclean meat (see The New Testament Church, History, and Unclean Meats), which look to have been implicated in the cause of COVID-19 (see NPR: Where Did The Coronavirus Originate? Virus Hunters Find Genetic Clues In Bats; WND: Biblically unclean animals responsible for pandemics and Clean and unclean meat arguments, COVID-19, and the Bible).
14. Humans can help maintain healthy kidneys and other organs with bovine kidney and other organ tissues (see https://doctorsresearch.com/articles/2759/the-truth-about-glandulars-in-nutritional-supplements/). Plural glandular supplements can be helpful.
15. Even vaccine advocates think that the rushed vaccine will have safety risks (e.g. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/22/trump-circle-pressure-fda-rush-covid-19-vaccine-election)–hence caution and wisdom are advised.

All the above have the potential to help support one’s innate immune system, which helps the body fight many types of pathogens–not just one.

Public health officials, such as the US Surgeon General, have failed in their duties by NOT STRONGLY promoting eating more fruits and vegetables (which is the official US policy in general), exercise, avoiding of junk food, not smoking, etc. as ways to help people during this time of COVID.

The Bible warns, about “avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called” (1 Timothy 6:20, KJV)–yet many claimed to be following science while they suppressed true information–and that too was warned of in scripture in Romans 1:18. The Bible also warns that more censoring of the truth will happen (cf. Amos 8:11-12).

It is not wrong to tell people ways to consider to improve their health–and more should have been done to do so by the major media, government officials, world leaders, etc.

Furthermore, notice that the Bible teaches:

2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good (Isaiah 55:2).

Information on how to do so should not be suppressed. Religious leaders also should have told people to “eat what is good” during this time of COVID, like we in the CCOG did.

What is astounding about the YouTube censorship, among other things, is that public health officials should have told, and still should be telling, people to eat what is good and to take the steps our censored video promoted.

Let me add that is September 2020, Facebook also removed a post from me which had 31 references related to nutrition and COVID. That Facebook post was nearly identical (maybe one or two sentences were different) to a COGwriter post, which is still online: COVID interview: Dr. Fauci takes isolated vitamin D and synthetic vitamin C.

Scientifically sound information has been wrongly suppressed.

The fact of the numerous ‘variants’ (which someone outside the major media has dubbed as “scariants”) shows that people should be trying to improve and support their immune systems by numerous means, and not simply hope that vaccines and masks are the real solution.

Public health officials, Big Tech, and many others have failed the people by failing to tell people steps beyond masks and vaccines.

They have also failed the public by supporting the suppression of factual information to help their immune systems.

Seek the truth. Suppression of truth by governments, Big Tech, and others will lead to the prophesied ‘Famine of the Word‘ that Amos wrote about (cf. Amos 8:11-12).

We are getting closer to that time.

COVID, reportedly killed 6.71 million people so far. A coming pestilence looks to kill perhaps 100-300 times as many.

Here is what the Bible shows in the sixth chapter of the Book of Revelation:

7 When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see.” 8 So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. (Revelation 6:7-8)

So, the opening of the fourth seal is the time that the pale horse of death is apparently increasing death by war, hunger, and pestilences (the beasts of the earth). AND ONE QUARTER OF HUMANS WILL DIE WITH PESTILENCE BEING A MAJOR FACTOR.

That will be “the big one.” So, yes, Bill Gates is correct that something worse than COVID will hit.

Here is something published by the old Worldwide Church of God decades ago:

4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse – The Pale Horse – Disease Epidemics

In the book of Revelation we find a disturbing vision of four fearsome horsemen (Rev. 6:1-8). Each of these horsemen is a symbol of the four major punishments to be inflicted upon a rebellious mankind — probably in the not-too-distant future! …

Over the entire course of history, disease has undoubtedly been man’s greatest enemy in terms of sheer loss of life. According to Folke Henschen, a leading Swedish pathologist: “Infectious diseases … have probably been the most dangerous enemies of mankind, much more so than war and mass murder. …

Hans Zinsser, writing in Rats, Lice, and History, like wise explained: “Swords and lances, arrows, machine guns, and even high explosives have had far less power over fates of the nations than the typhus louse, the plague flea, and the yellow fever mosquito. War and conquest and that herd existence which is an accompaniment of what we call civilization have merely set the stage for these more powerful agents of human tragedy.” …

Infectious disease is neither a respecter of men nor nations. No part of the world is immune. For example, in the United States malaria cases have cropped up in California, Alabama and Texas in the last few years. Tuberculosis is widespread among Latins and Asians in Los Angeles County, and a strain of typhoid fever currently resistant to antibiotics is being imported into the United States by illegal aliens from Mexico. …

The Roman Empire also had its share of pestilential woes. During the first century B.C., a severe attack of malaria resulted in a drastic drop in the native birthrate. Rome was forced to augment its armies with foreign mercenaries. …

But by far and away the most devastating disease ever to hit the human race was the Black Plague. It was the greatest of all pandemics and was perhaps the worst single disaster the world has experienced since Noah’s Flood. The exact toll it took remains a mystery, but various estimates place it at anywhere from 40 to 60 million souls. …

Disease, rather than superior numbers or generalship, often decided the outcome of many a battle. In 1528, during the pivotal siege of Naples, the French army was destroyed not by the enemy, but by an outbreak of typhoid fever. Thanks to this timely epidemic, Charles V of Spain was able to be crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. …

The world has yet to see the last of widespread disease epidemics. That, in effect, was what Jesus Christ told His disciples in the pivotal Olivet prophecy recorded in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. Right along with wars and famine came pestilence: “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places” (Matt. 24:7). These were some of the prophetic signs that Christ listed in answering the question, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world [age]?” (Verse 3.) Granted, pestilence, famine and war have been ongoing problems that have plagued mankind ever since the dawn of history. But the main thrust of Christ’s message is futuristic. The overall context of the Olivet prophecy readily attests to this fact. In verses 21 and 22 of Matthew 24, Christ referred to a time when the total annihilation of human life would be a distinct possibility. Only with the recent development of multiple-megaton nuclear weaponry could such an event have become a reality. (Ritter G. 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse – The Pale Horse – Disease Epidemics. Worldwide Church of God (c) 1975, Ambassador College Press)

Various scriptures suggest that the USA and at least some of its Anglo-Saxon allies will be weakened by pestilences before they are finally taken over (cf. Daniel 11:39; 8:24-25; see also USA in Prophecy: The Strongest Fortresses) by the final ‘revival’ of the old ‘Holy Roman Empire’ (watch also Europe and the ‘Holy Roman Empire’).

Notice further the following by George Ritter:

Epidemics Of The Future

The world has yet to see the last of widespread disease epidemics. That, in effect, was what Jesus Christ told His disciples in the pivotal Olivet prophecy recorded in Matthew 24 and Luke 21.

Right along with wars and famine came pestilence: “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places” (Matt. 24:7). These were some of the prophetic signs that Christ listed in answering the question, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world [age]?” (Verse 3.)

Granted, pestilence, famine and war have been ongoing problems that have plagued mankind ever since the dawn of history. But the main thrust of Christ’s message is futuristic. The overall context of the Olivet prophecy readily attests to this fact. In verses 21 and 22 of Matthew 24, Christ referred to a time when the total annihilation of human life would be a distinct possibility. Only with the recent development of multiple-megaton nuclear weaponry could such an event have become a reality.

The book of Revelation also underscores the fact that such tumultuous times are yet in store for the future. John’s apocalyptic scenario centers around the events surrounding the Day of the Lord (Rev.1:10). In the sixth chapter we see war, famine and pestilence (the last three of the four horsemen of John’s vision) riding together at this critical juncture in world history.

The Pale Horseman Rides

With both the black horse of famine and the red horse of war riding roughshod over the earth, it is only natural for the pale horse of pestilence to follow hard on their heels. Ezekiel also described the devastating effect this deadly triad can have: “A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part in to all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them” (Ezek. 5:12).

Parallel prophecies found in the Old Testament clearly indicate why man will continue to suffer from the ravages of disease. Notice this cause-and­effect relationship as outlined in the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy: “But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God,” warns man’s Creator, “the Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from off the land, which you go to possess. The Lord will smite you with consumption [wasting, degenerative disease], with fever and inflammation [possibly infectious contagions). … and the tumors, the scurvy [deficiency disease] and the itch, of which you cannot be healed. The Lord will smite you with madness [mental disorders] and blindness and dismay of heart [emotional trauma]” (verses 15, 21-22, 27-28, The Amplified Bible).

Misgovernment, greed and oppression over the course of nearly 6000 years of history have saddled the human race with the unwanted burden of disease. For instance, man’s proclivity to crowd into disease — prone cities is indicative of this problem. And it is interesting to note that Bible prophecy seems to indicate that this crowd-at­all-costs policy will eventually backfire on the human race. Notice Leviticus 26:25: “… And when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you … .” Also Ezekiel 7:15: “The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.” …

In Revelation 6:8, John writes: “And I saw, and behold, a pale horse, and its rider’s name was Death, and Hades [the grave] followed him; and they were given power over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth” (RSV). By today’s head count, that would amount to a mind boggling one billion people. And according to the Olivet prophecy, that is only the “beginning of sorrows” (Matt. 24:8). Much more is to follow as the world moves into the darkest moments of its entire history. Jeremiah called it the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7). Christ said there would be “great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world… nor ever shall be” (Matt. 24:21). (4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse – The Pale Horse – Disease Epidemics. Ambassador College Press, 1975)

In modern times, the spread of diseases is so much easier than in more ancient times.

That being said, the type of totalitarian controls we have seen, blamed on COVID-19, will pale in comparison of what will come.

When hundreds of millions of people die, people will get desperate.

They will support the coming Beast power (Revelation 17:12-13).

And actually, the coming “big one” that Bill Gates and some other seems to be warning about will likely be a factor in the rise of the coming Beast.

Related to that, and well before WHO’s recent “big one” comment, the Continuing Church of God put out the following sermon on its ContinuingCOG channel:

1:16:57

Fourth Horseman, COVID, and the Rise of the Beast of Revelation

The 6th chapter of the Book of Revelation tells of the ride of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. What do each represent? Is the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, part of the fourth horseman? Does the Bible point to around 2 billion people dying from hunger, war, and the beasts of the earth? Was the ancient Roman Empire impacted by pestilences? What about the black death, also known as the Bubonic plague? Are disease epidemics part of the beginning of sorrow and troubles that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 24 and Mark 13? Does the pale green horseman represent Islam? Could genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or synthetic biology cause or contribute to coming pandemics? Is chemical and biological warfare (CBW) a real threat to humanity? What about a doomsday bug or antibiotic resistant superbugs? Is fear a contagion that will help people move away from democracy? Will scientists be able to stop what is coming? Is the good news that the Kingdom of God will? Could COVID-19 be setting the stage for the rise of the ‘prince,’ who will become the totalitarian Beast of the Sea (also known as 666 and the King of the North)? Is this leader similar to the Great Monarch of Greco-Roman Catholic prophecies? When is the Great Monarch supposed to arise according to the Eastern Orthodox? Why might Europe be less affected by the ride of the third horseman that the US, Canada, and the UK? Are governments taking steps now, consistent with the words of Adolf Hitler? What seal represents the start of the Great Tribulation? Which Christians did Jesus promise to protect from the coming “hour of trial”?

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse What do each of the four horseman of the Apocalypse represent? Have they began their ride? Did Jesus discuss the any of this? Might their rides coincide with the “beginning of sorrows? Do they start their ride prior to the Great Tribulation? Did Nostradamus or any other ‘private prophets’ write predictions that may mislead people so that they may not understand the truth of one or more of the four horseman? There is also a related YouTube video titled Sorrows and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Here is a link to a shorter video: These Signs of the 4 Horsemen Have Begun.
Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse What is the pale horse of death and pestilences? What will it bring and when? Here is a link to a related sermon:
Fourth Horseman, COVID, and the Rise of the Beast of Revelation. Here is a version of that sermon in Spanish: El Cuarto Caballo, El COVID y El Surgimiento de la Bestia del Apocalipsis. Some shorter related videos may include Amphibian Apocalypse: Threat to Humans? and Zombie Deer Disease is Here! Are the 10 Plagues on Egypt Coming? Here is a version of the article in Spanish: El cuarto jinete de Apocalipsis, el caballo pálido de muerte y pestilencia.
COVID 19 is NOT the End, but could it be TEOTWAWKI? The novel coronavirus called COVID-19 is wreaking havoc around the world. Many states of the USA as well as countries in Europe are on lockdown with shelter in place /shelter in residence requirements. In France, a form is required when you are not at your house. In Spain, drones are being used to warn people who are outside to got back to their homes–does that bring up feelings of ‘Big Brother’? Italy, France, and other areas are using police and/or military force to encourage people to stay inside. According to the Bible could this be the end? If not, what has to happen first? Have the second and third of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse started their ride? Could COVID-19 be the fourth horseman? Why or why not? Could we be seeing The End of the World as We Know It (TEOTWAWKI) like the R.E.M.’s 1987 single song discussed? Do Christians need to fear? What did Jesus teach? What did the Psalmist teach? This is a video. Here is a link to a version in the Spanish language: Corona 19 no es el final PERO es el TEOTWAWKI.
COVID-19 Leading to 666? The novel coronavirus of Wuhan, China fame, is now called COVID-19. It has also been called the ‘Coronapocalypse.’ Does COVID-19 have any prophetic ramifications? What did Jesus teach about pestilences and sorrows in the Olivet prophecy in Matthew 24? Could COVID-19 be the ride of the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse? Why was this type of disease expected according to the O. Here is a link to a version in the Spanish language: ld Testament prophecies in Deuteronomy and Leviticus? What has the US Centers for Disease Control warned about? What has the CDC reported about the flu? Were there lessons about fear and infections in the 2011 movie ‘Contagion’? Because of COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO), nation of Iran, and certain French locations are telling people not to use cash, but instead electronic forms of payment. The US Federal Reserve is now quarantining money repatriated from Asia to reduce the potential spread of the coronavirus on US currency bills. Is COVID-19 worse than we have been told or could this all be a ‘false flag’ event to encourage people to move towards a cashless society? If the thousands of deaths associated with COVID-19 are pushing parts of the world towards cashlessness, how much more likely will the ride of the fourth horseman and over a billion human deaths motivate people to move to making electronic payments that can be monitored? The Bible tells of a soon coming society that controls buying and selling to force allegiance to a coming European Beast power, known as 666 (Revelation 13:16-18). Does the ‘great tribulation’ begin before ride of the fourth horseman or with the opening of the fifth seal of Revelation 6? Do the words of Jesus helps us better understand the sequence of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse and the start of the Great Tribulation? Will the ride of the fourth horseman help lead to the rise of 666? Is that ride very close? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more in this video. Here is a link to a version in the Spanish language: El COVID-19 ¿Conduce al 666?
Biological Warfare and Prophecy Is biological warfare possible? Was it prophesied? Scientists have long warned that pathogenic organisms like the coronavirus could be weaponized. Furthermore, back in 2017, there were concerns that the biological research facility being constructed in Wuhan, China was risky and that a coronavirus from it could be released. On January 25, 2020, China’s President Xi Jinping publicly stated that the situation with the Wuhan-related strain of the coronavirus was grave. Did Church of God writers like the late evangelist Raymond McNair warn that engineered viruses (the “Doomsday bug”) were consistent with prophecies from Jesus? Did a warning from CCOG leader Bob Thiel warn about risks of genetically-modified (GMO) mosquitoes come to pass? Could human research and/or the consumption of biblically-unclean animals such as bats and snakes be a factor in current outbreaks or coming future pestilences? What about famines? How devastating have pestilences been? How devastating are the prophesied ones going to be? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more in this video.
Physical Preparation Scriptures for Christians. We all know the Bible prophecies famines. Should we do something? Here is a version in the Spanish language Escrituras sobre Preparación física para los Cristianos. Here is a link to a related sermon: Physical preparedness for Christians.
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2023, 2024, or 2025? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede la Gran Tribulación comenzar en el 2020 o 2021? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? A related video is: Great Tribulation: 2026 or 2027? A shorter video is: Can the Great Tribulation start in 2022 or 2023? Notice also: Can Jesus return in 2023 or 2024? Here is a video in the Spanish language: Es El 2021 el año  de La Gran Tribulación o el Grande Reseteo Financiero.
Is a Great Reset Coming? Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum has proposed a societal change that has been basically endorsed by the Vatican and many world leaders. Does the Bible prophesy a major reset? Here is a link to a related video: Will there be a “Great Reset”?

(Photo by Geierunited)

COGwriter

Should anyone smoke?

It’s been said that good habits are hard to make but easy to live with, while bad habits are easy to make but are hard to live with.

The intent of the new law looks to make it a little harder to start.

Should Christians smoke?

Does smoking show love to self or neighbor?

No.

Why?

Here are some facts to consider from the US Centers for Disease Control:

Smoking leads to disease and disability and harms nearly every organ of the body.

• More than 16 million Americans are living with a disease caused by smoking.
• For every person who dies because of smoking, at least 30 people live with a serious smoking-related illness.
• Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
• Smoking also increases risk for tuberculosis, certain eye diseases, and problems of the immune system, including rheumatoid arthritis.
• Smoking is a known cause of erectile dysfunction in males.

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death.

• Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than 7 million deaths per year. If the pattern of smoking all over the globe doesn’t change, more than 8 million people a year will die from diseases related to tobacco use by 2030.
• Cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States, including more than 41,000 deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure. This is about one in five deaths annually, or 1,300 deaths every day.
• On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/index.htm#beginning accessed 12/27/19

Smoking is bad.

Moses said, “be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).

You do not “get away with” smoking.

Consider also that smoking causes DNA damage:

November 3, 2016

Smoking leaves an “archaeological record” of the hundreds of DNA mutations it causes, scientists have discovered.

Having sequenced thousands of tumour genomes, they found a 20-a-day smoker would rack up an average of 150 mutations in every lung cell each year. http://www.bbc.com/news/health-37849000

Smoking is dangerous and hurts the smoker and those around the smoker.

Notice some of what the New Testament teaches:

19. WHAT! Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, which you have within you from God, and you are not your own? 20. For you were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, AFV)

37…”‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40, NKJV)

Consider that smoking does not glorify God in your body–it harms your body. Consider that smoking also does not show love towards one’s neighbor–it harms your neighbor. Smoking is a sin against the body, and sometimes more than that.

Don’t deceive yourself that smoking is not a sin:

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10)

Can or should smokers quit?

Yes.

As hard as it seems to be, smokers can change. Notice that the Apostle Paul taught:

13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

Jesus can help the smoker.

The Apostle Paul also specifically taught that Christians who had a variety of sinful practices can change (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

Here is information about his own smoking and views on it by the late Hebert W. Armstrong from his Autobiography:

In order to keep up with the job, due to inadaptability and resultant slowness, it became necessary to work nights. I established a system. I worked alternately one night until ten, the next until midnight, rising at 5:30 every morning. Time had to be taken out to walk the one or two miles from my room to the mill, and also to walk over to the boarding house where I took meals. I kept awake on the job nights by smoking a pipe — my first habitual smoking. In just six months this overwork and loss of sleep exacted its toll, and I was sent to the hospital with a very severe case of typhoid fever…

I had taken up pipe smoking during those long and frantic night hours at Wiggins, Mississippi, as an aid to staying awake while I worked over the books. I had smoked, moderately, ever since. However, I will say that I was never a heavy smoker. Never more than one cigar a day, or three or four cigarettes in a day. That’s the reason I did not have the battle many men have had in breaking the habit, when I saw that it had to be broken…

{Later} I was baptized, the matter of smoking had to be settled. Of course the Quaker church, in which I had been reared as a boy, taught that smoking was a sin. But I had been unhappily disillusioned to see that in so many basic points the Bible teaching is the very opposite of what I had absorbed in Sunday school. “I’ve got to see the answer to the tobacco question IN THE BIBLE!” I said to myself. Until I found the answer in the Bible, I decided I would continue as before — smoking mildly. I had continued to smoke lightly, averaging three or four cigarettes a day, or one cigar a day. I had never been a heavy smoker.

Now I had to face the question: Is smoking a SIN? I wanted the BIBLE answer, for I had learned by this time that Christ had said we must live by EVERY WORD OF GOD. The BIBLE is our Instruction Book on right living. We must find a BIBLE reason for everything we do. I knew, of course, there is no specific command, “Thou shalt not smoke.” But the absence of a detailed prohibition did not mean God’s approval. I had learned that GOD’S LAW is His WAY OF LIFE. It is a basic philosophy of life.

The whole Law is summed up in the one word LOVE.

I knew that love is the opposite of lust. Lust is self-desire — pleasing the self only. Love means loving others. Its direction is not inward toward self alone, but outgoing, toward others. I knew the Bible teaches that “lust of the flesh” is the way of SIN.

So now I began to apply the principle of God’s Law. I asked myself, “WHY do I smoke?” To please others — to help others — to serve or minister to or express love toward others — or only to satisfy and gratify a desire of the flesh within my own self? The answer was instantaneously obvious. I had to be honest with it. My only reason for smoking was LUST OF THE FLESH, and lust of the flesh is, according to the BIBLE, sin! I stopped smoking immediately.

This beginning of overcoming was not too difficult, for it had not been a “big habit” with me. Once weaned, I was able to see it as it is — a dirty, filthy habit. And today we know it is a serious and major contributing cause of lung cancer! God designed and created the human body. He designed the LUNGS to take in FRESH AIR to fire and oxidize the blood, and at the same time to filter out of the blood the impurities and waste matter the blood has picked up throughout the body. Befouled smoke, containing the poisons of nicotine and tars, reduces the efficiency of the operation of this vital organ.

The physical human body is, God says, the very TEMPLE of His Holy Spirit. If we defile this TEMPLE — this physical body — God says He will destroy us! God intended us, if we are to be COMPLETE, to live happy, healthy and abundant lives, and to gain eternal life, to take in HIS SPIRIT — not poisonous foreign substances like tobacco.

Hebert W. Armstrong died on January 16, 1986, at age 93 1/2. His reasons for quitting smoking make biblical sense to me. People should not smoke. It harms them and others around them.

He concluded, correctly, that Christians should not smoke.

Quitting cigarette smoking is good for your health. A study out of the UK has quantified that for women:

Life expectancy was dramatically improved among participants in Great Britain’s Million Women Study who quit smoking compared with continuous smokers, confirming the previously uncertain benefits of smoking cessation in women, researchers said.

Although women who stopped smoking around age 50 remained at significantly higher risk of all-cause mortality compared with never-smokers (relative risk 1.56, 95% CI 1.49 to 1.64), it was much lower than the tripled risk of death seen in current smokers, according to Kirstin Pirie, MSc, of the University of Oxford in England, and colleagues…

“Stopping well before age 40 years would avoid well over 90% of the excess hazard in continuing smokers,” Pirie and colleagues wrote.

But, they stressed, “this does not … mean that it is safe to smoke until age 40 years and then stop.” http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/Smoking/35605

Researchers who followed one million women found those who smoked a pack a day starting in their teens reduced life expectancy by an average of 11 years, according to a new study published in The Lancet. NBC’s Robert Bazell reports. http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/49575213/#49575213

The sooner one quits, the better it is for one’s health.

Notice one reported way to help a smoker quit:

September 9, 2013

Want a smoker to quit? Scare, shock or disgust him. That’s what the U.S. government did with its first federally funded anti-smoking ad campaign and, new data suggest, it worked.

An estimated 1.6 million Americans tried to quit and at least 100,000 likely succeeded as a result of graphic ads that showed how real ex-smokers had suffered paralysis, stroke, lung removal, heart attacks and limb amputations, according to a study Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The first round of ads ran from March through May in 2012, followed by a second one this past spring. A third round is planned for next year.

The CDC created the startling ads after consulting with smokers, who urged it to make the statistics about smoking — that it’s the leading cause of preventable death and that it shortens life expectancy by 10 years — real. So it focused on the effects of smoking-related disease rather than the risk of death. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/09/cdc-anti-smoking-ads-prompt-100000-plus-to-kick-habit/2777357/

Of course, the smoker also has to want to quit. But realizing the truth about smoking should help.

Notice also the following from someone in the Continuing Church of God:

I have an unusual aspect of faith that I went through. I am a recovering alcoholic and smoker. When I first became a member of WCG in 1982 (I think), I smoked and drank. I knew I couldn’t continue in the Church without repentance and therefore quitting. I prayed to God regarding smoking (drinking wasn’t that bad in those days) and through His Word, I quit. After falling away (sometime in the late 90’s, I think), I started smoking again and drinking became quite severe. I longed for the days when God was in my life (I know I was the one that left) when a friend of mine with similar feelings found the CCOG. We both immediately felt God said, “OK, here you go. Seek and ye shall find”.

The problem was I was back smoking and drinking and knowing I couldn’t continue with those habits. I was actually afraid to pray to God to quit smoking and drinking because I KNEW HE WOULD DO IT! I was scared to death to go without tobacco. The thought of having to deal with the irritability associated with quitting until my body was functioning normally was more than I wanted to deal with. The thought of night sweats and raw nerves until my body readjusted to no alcohol was really scary. These feelings were real and they kept me from turning to God. I tried to quit smoking on my own, every minute was an ordeal. I tried to quit drinking on my own, I was wringing wet with sweat at night and my legs screamed with “restlessness”. I lasted a couple of days at most each time I tried. It always reinforced my fear of praying to God for help because I knew He would help and I would have to go through the ordeal just described. I just kept putting off quitting because of fear.

I was so bothered by my behavior and knew I couldn’t continue with the way I was going that I finally asked God to make me quit. He did, just like I knew He would. I threw my burden on Christ and said “here it’s yours”. Now I waited for the irritability of no cigarettes and the dreaded night sweats. They never came.

In my fear I forgot how merciful God is. I thank Him hour by hour for stopping me from smoking and drinking. I use this experience to try to let go of my fears in other areas and let the gift of God increase my faith.

Yes, God is merciful.

Biblical Tips to Help You Quit

Having grown up in an area where I knew a lot of people who smoked, it was clear to me that quitting smoking is not easy for those really hooked on it.

Christians can ask God for assistance in stopping smoking. Christians need to have faith in God (see also the free pdf booklet Faith for Those God has Called and Chosen).

But what if you make mistakes and stumble?

If you stumble get up!

Consider that Jesus stated to His disciples:

31 All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:

‘I will strike the Shepherd,
And the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ (Matthew 26:31)

Well, a dozen of the stumbling disciples ended up being the 12 apostles.

James wrote:

2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. (James 3:2)

James was including himself in that. The New Testament says we ALL stumble in one thing or the other.

If you stumble, you need to get up.

Endure.

Jesus taught:

13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. (Matthew 24:11)

James also wrote:

12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. (James 1:12)

Jesus also taught:

20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. (Matthew 13:20-22)

Notice something else that James wrote:

2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? (James 4:2-5)

Be careful that you are not trying to get along with the smoking crowd.

6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

“God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”

7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. (James 4:6-10)

The Apostle Paul wrote:

13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Physical ways to “bear it” would include changing what you are doing when you are tempted to smoke. Do something else! Like go to another room. Start reading the Bible. For some, perhaps taking a walk or doing more vigorous exercise, et cetera.

Nicotine seems to have some temporary effects on the body, like the necessary thyroid hormone triiodothyronine. Nicotine is highly addictive and comes along with a range of negative chemicals in tobacco products that are harmful to human health. Nutritional support for the thyroid can help some break their addiction to nicotine.

Consider the analogy of getting air out of a glass. On our own, without equipment, we can’t make it a vacuum. But if we change the glass by pouring water in, the air leaves.

Be filled with the Holy Spirit:

18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, (Ephesians 5:18)

If you do not want to stumble and wish to be better filled with the Holy Spirit, take true heed of the instructions that the Apostle Peter wrote:

1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:1-11)

Not that it is easy, but the Bible says that if you endure, humble yourself, resist Satan, and draw near to God you can get to the point you would not stumble in your efforts to stop smoking.

You may have tried to stop smoking many times. You may have prayed about it.

You should not give up. In the Old Testament we read of God telling the children of Israel to punish the Benjamites in Judges 20:12-20, and those who tried to do so failed and suffered loss (Judges 20:21). Then, God told them to do it again (Judges 20:23), and they suffered loss again (Judges 20:25). The children of Israel wanted to give up (Judges 20:26-28), but God said to try again (Judges 20:28), and that time they succeeded Judges 20:29-46). What happened to the children of Israel was more difficult than not lighting up a cigarette.

Overcome bad habits. Jesus said:

7 … To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)

26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations —

27 ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron;
They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’ —

as I also have received from My Father; 28 and I will give him the morning star. (Revelation 2:26-28)

12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. (Revelation 3:12)

7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. (Revelation 21:7)

Endure and overcome! The promised benefits are better than the “passing pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25)–which in the case of smoking also has serious health consequences.

Smoking is wrong and it kills people. God wants people to change/repent (Acts 17:30)–which means that, despite its difficulties it can be done (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:13).

The sooner one starts the better off one will be. Christians should strive to not smoke and should strive to be healthy.

With God’s help, yes, you can quit smoking or overcome other sins in your life.

As far as helping others to quit, IF they say they could like to quit, you could refer them to the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

Should You Smoke? Would You Like Help to Quit?

has been said that bad habits are easy to get into, but difficult to get out of. Smoking leads to disease and disability and harms nearly every organ of the body. On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers. A 20-cigarette-a-day smoker racks up an average of 150 mutations in every lung cell each year. Many find it hard to stop smoking as the nicotine habit is a difficult addiction to break. Is smoking a sin? Can smokers quit? Why did Herbert W. Armstrong quit smoking? Are there things that smokers can do to help them quit? If you have tried to quit before and failed, should you keep trying? Does the Bible offer any help to people addicted to smoking or other vices? Does Jesus promise rewards for those who overcome? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more.

Here is a link to our video: Should You Smoke? Would You Like Help to Quit?

Several items of possibly related interest include:

Should Christians Smoke Tobacco? Is smoking a sin? What does the Bible teach? What have COG leaders written? Can smokers change? What about marijuana?
Marijuana: Should a Christian Get High? There is increasing acceptance of the use of marijuana. How should Christians view this? Here is a related video titled How Should a Christian View Marijuana?
Alcohol: Blessing or Curse? This is an article from the old Good News magazine that attempts to answer this question.
Binge Alcohol Drinking and the Bible Many college students and others overindulge in alcohol. Are there health risks? What does the Bible teach?
Obesity, processed foods, health risks, and the Bible Does the Bible warn about the consequences of being obese? Is overeating dangerous? Is gluttony condemned? What diseases are associated with eating too much refined foods? A related video would be Eating Right, Eating Too Much, and Prophecy.
Christians: Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God, Biblical instructions on living as a Christian This is a scripture-filled booklet for those wishing to live as a real Christian. A related sermon is also available: Christians are Ambassadors for the Kingdom of God.
Living as a Christian: How and Why? In what ways do Christians live differently than others. What about praying, fasting, tithing, holy days, and the world? There is also a YouTube video related to that also called: Living as a Christian: How and Why?
Who Was Herbert W. Armstrong? How is He Viewed Today? Includes quotes from the 1973 edition of The Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong and explains how he is and should be viewed today.
Overcoming Sin What is sin? How are Christians suppose to overcome it? Here is also a link to a video titled How to Overcome Sin.
How to Prevent Sin This is an article by Herbert W. Armstrong.
Just What Do You Mean Conversion? Many think that they are converted Christians. But are they? Would you like to know more about conversion. Herbert W. Armstrong wrote this as a booklet on this important subject.

COGwriter

Official USA debt continues to rise.

The latest published figure from the US Treasury (which was as of Monday) which I accessed today was $31,388,880,520,361.96 https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/debt-to-the-penny/debt-to-the-penny

This is causing concerns:

US to max out on debt soon, setting up political fight

January 11, 2023

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government is on track to max out on its $31.4 trillion borrowing authority as soon as this month, starting the clock on an expected standoff between President Joe Biden and the new House Republican majority that will test both parties’ ability to navigate a divided Washington, with the fragile global economy at stake.

Once the government bumps up against the cap — it could happen any time in the next few weeks or longer — the Treasury Department will be unable to issue new debt without congressional action. The department plans to deploy what are known as “extraordinary measures” to keep the government operating. But once those measures run out, probably mid-summer, the government could be at risk of defaulting unless lawmakers and the president agree to lift the limit on the U.S. government’s ability to borrow.

The expected showdown over the debt limit would be a stark display of the new reality for Biden and his fellow Democrats, who enjoyed one-party control of Washington for the past two years. It would presage the challenges to come in achieving even the modest ambitions that Democrats are bringing to the task of legislating in a divided Capitol. …

“Congress is going to need to raise the debt limit without — without — conditions, and it’s just that simple,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said recently. “Attempts to exploit the debt ceiling as leverage will not work. There will be no hostage taking.” https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-united-states-government-us-department-of-the-treasury-business-84ef9d1c5803bd25e8e9cc3538cd0ab2?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_02

Well, it may not be simple, but the plan is to keep increasing the debt.

Debt limits keep getting raised.

No serious plan to actually reduce the debt is in the works that currently stands a chance to be implemented.

The massive amount of USA debt is “a giant red flag for all of us about America’s future economic health.” Nations around the world see this and many have taken steps to prepare to topple the USA’s economic leadership of the world.

The rate of increase of the official federal debt has been staggering.

Consider the following:

On Jan. 20, 2009, when Obama was inaugurated, the total debt of the federal government was $10,626,877,048,913.08, according to data published by the U.S. Treasury. 10/07/16 http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/debt-under-obama-9000000000000

So, in less than 14 years after the Obama-Biden Administration first took office, official USA debt has almost tripled!

On January. 20, 2021, when Joe Biden was inaugurated, the total debt of the federal government was $27,751,896,236,414.77, according to data published by the U.S. Treasury.

Debt has increased at a rate of about US$2 trillion per year under the Biden-Harris Administration–and yes, debt also increased a lot under the Trump-Pence Administration.

Let me also add that in 2013, something called sequestration was supposed to stop the debt limit from being raised. The purpose of sequestration was to reduce the increase of the projected spending deficits for the US government. The cuts were supposed to be so painful that both Republicans and Democrats would simply have to come up with a better debt reduction plan–but as history shows, sequestration ended up not working politically and was abandoned.

Do not think that having Republicans control the US House of Representatives means that the USA plans to greatly pay down its ever increasing debt.

Increasing debt in the Biden-Harris Administration was discussed in my book Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction as follows:

Debt is a prophesied problem (cf. Habakkuk 2:6-8). But many in the media as well as politically-inclined economists do not see it that way—but that is too short sighted (cf. Ecclesiastes 8:11).

The time will come when the U.S.A. government will no longer be able to borrow at low interest rates and/or it will create more money electronically and/or via the printing press to try to continue.

Make no mistake about it — massive inflation is coming.

The U.S.A. dollar will ultimately crash and be worthless. That “pride” of American power will be broken (cf. Leviticus 26:19).

A Biden-Harris Administration has asserted it will take debt raising steps. …

Let us also consider that there is a prophecy in Habakkuk, written about 2600 years ago, about debt which is preceded by the following:

² Then the Lord answered me and said:

Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. (Habakkuk 2:2)

The Bible says that the ‘debt prophecy’ to be revealed later in Habakkuk 2 is so significant that those who read it should run—essentially that they should take steps because the results will be horrific. Joe Biden and many other American politicians have not run away from increasing U.S.A. debt—that will be to the nation’s peril.

The Bible warns about something that will happen to a heavily indebted nation. Notice what the Hebrew seer Habakkuk wrote over 2,600 years ago:

³ For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry … ⁵ Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, He is a proud man … ⁶ “Will not all these take up a proverb against him, And a taunting riddle against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases What is not his—how long? And to him who loads himself with many pledges’? ⁷ Will not your creditors rise up suddenly? Will they not awaken who oppress you? And you will become their booty. ⁸ Because you have plundered many nations, All the remnant of the people shall plunder you… (Habakkuk 2:2-3,6–8). …

Notice that what is to happen is so bad, that people who read the prophecy should run, when it is time for it to be fulfilled. Since that prophecy is to be fulfilled at the appointed time of the end, it is still for the future, but perhaps not too far distant in the future. No nation has ever been in as much total debt as the U.S.A. …

European leaders have been working for years to establish a new reserve currency for the world, partially with the intent to remove the U.S. dollar from its position as the world’s primary reserve currency. …

The Bible clearly warns against cheapening the money supply and encourages having money hold its value (Proverbs 25:4 Isaiah 1:25, Ezekiel 22:18-22). Yet policies enacted under the Obama and Trump Administrations, following certain other administrations, have ignored these warnings.

No nation in the history of humankind has ever accumulated as much debt as the United States of America (because the U.K. may have close to the highest amount of per capita debt {Conway E. Britain showing signs of heading towards 1930s-style depression, says Bank. Telegraph, March 16, 2009 },its fate would be similar). Destruction is coming.

However, the relationship between debt accumulation and prophesied destruction remains unapparent to many. Because there is a time lag, many ignore that there will be real consequences (cf. Ecclesiastes 8:11; Habakkuk 2:3,6-8). Yet, these increases of debt are utterly dangerous.

When the time comes that the Federal Reserve is no longer able to keep interest rates artificially low, the U.S.A. will continue past the point of no return. That will become one of the final factors that will cause creditors to rise up and destroy the U.S.A. (Thiel B. Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction. Nazarene Books, 2021)

Iranian Shahab 3 missiles (Hossein Velayati)

COGwriter

Israel365News posted the following:

Israeli PM vows to fight against nuclearization of Iranian ‘terror regime’

January 11, 2023

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday warned the “terror regime” in Iran not to cross the Jewish state’s “red lines,” in remarks during a visit to the Israel Defense Forces Northern Command.

“The main enemy we are facing is the terror regime in Iran and its proxies in Syria and Lebanon,” said Netanyahu. “We are determined to fight Iran’s attempts to develop a nuclear arsenal. We are determined to fight any attempt by Iran to entrench itself on our border with Syria. We are determined to fight all attempts by Hezbollah to show aggression against us from Lebanon.

“And those who need a reminder of our red lines will receive it,” he added.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who accompanied Netanyahu, similarly vowed to prevent Tehran from establishing a permanent military presence in Syria, as well as to curb the flow of Iranian arms to Hezbollah.

“The quiet in the north is an important goal. Therefore, along with maintaining calm, we will act powerfully against any attempt to harm Israeli citizens and IDF soldiers,” said Gallant.

It comes as Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer is in Washington for high-level meetings with American officials that will focus on Iran’s nuclear program. https://www.israel365news.com/365225/israeli-pm-vows-to-fight-against-nuclearization-of-iranian-terror-regime/

Yes, this statement by Benjamin Netanyahu is consistent with others he has voiced over the years.

But while he is targettng Iran,  Syria, and parts of Lebanon in his recent statement, according to the Bible, Israel itself will be hit by Iran and Syria. Meetings with the USA will not stop that.

The Bible shows that God will allow what looks to be a Iranian-Syrian confederation, to strike the nation of Israel:

1 The burden against the Valley of Vision.

What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops, 2 You who are full of noise, A tumultuous city, a joyous city? Your slain men are not slain with the sword, Nor dead in battle. 3 All your rulers have fled together; They are captured by the archers. All who are found in you are bound together; They have fled from afar. 4 Therefore I said, “Look away from me, I will weep bitterly; Do not labor to comfort me Because of the plundering of the daughter of my people.”

5 For it is a day of trouble and treading down and perplexity By the Lord God of hosts In the Valley of Vision — Breaking down the walls And of crying to the mountain. 6 Elam bore the quiver With chariots of men and horsemen, And Kir uncovered the shield. 7 It shall come to pass that your choicest valleys Shall be full of chariots, And the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.

8 He removed the protection of Judah. You looked in that day to the armor of the House of the Forest; 9 You also saw the damage to the city of David, That it was great; And you gathered together the waters of the lower pool. 10 You numbered the houses of Jerusalem, And the houses you broke down To fortify the wall. 11 You also made a reservoir between the two walls For the water of the old pool. But you did not look to its Maker, Nor did you have respect for Him who fashioned it long ago.

12 And in that day the Lord God of hosts Called for weeping and for mourning, For baldness and for girding with sackcloth. 13 But instead, joy and gladness, Slaying oxen and killing sheep, Eating meat and drinking wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

14 Then it was revealed in my hearing by the Lord of hosts,”Surely for this iniquity there will be no atonement for you, Even to your death,” says the Lord God of hosts. (Isaiah 22:1-14 NKJV)

Elam is a reference to at least some in Iran. The Bible tells that after Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria took over Damascus, he moved Syrians to Kir. While this does not mean that Kir must (or must only) be a reference to Syria, the fact that Syria is an ally of Iran is interesting.

In Isaiah 22: 8, “Judah” is a reference to those in the land commonly called Israel–God will allow Israel to be attacked! In Isaiah 22:9, consider that “the damage to the city of David” is a reference to at least part of Jerusalem–and notice that the damage will be great. This, in turn, would be expected to result in a massive Israeli, possibly with US involvement, attack against Iran and its allies, like Syria.

More death and destruction is prophesied to come–and that includes damage to Iran and Syria as well.

The Continuing Church of God (CCOG) put together the following Bible News Prophecy video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

15:03

Iran and Israel Conflict

European Union foreign policy chief, Josep Borrel, has been brokering the nuclear negotiations involving Iran and said that he thinks the deal is “in danger.” Iran blames the United States, whereas the USA says they are not delaying it. Israeli sources stated that Israel will stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb. Joe Biden says the USA would use its own military power to prevent Iran from getting such a bomb if need be. In 2021, Iranian lawmakers have submitted a bill seeking the government by law to commit to Israel’s destruction by the year 2040. Does the 22nd chapter of Isaiah point to damage coming to Israel from Iran and possibly Syria? Might Iran be concerned enough about limited progress with the USA to launch some type of attack? Is Iran the prophesied ‘King of the South’? Is it reasonable to think that the prophesied peace deal of Daniel 9:27 will not happen until after a military conflict. like a regional war? Should Christians watch the Middle East? Dr. Thiel and Steve Dupuie discuss these matters.

Here is a link to our video: Iran and Israel Conflict.

We are in a time of wars and rumors of wars as Jesus foretold (Matthew 24:4-8).

Israel is not relying on God for its protection.

Things that it hopes to rely on are its ‘laser sword’ and ‘Iron Dome’ and similar defenses.

The Bible contains the following caution:

‘Let not the one who puts on his armor boast like the one who takes it off.’ (1 Kings 20:11)

Putting on armor does not mean one cannot be defeated or at least greatly harmed.

Iron Dome is essentially an anti-missile system intended to block rockets and missiles from hitting targets within Israel.

Here is some of what Wikipedia says about the Iron Dome:

Iron Dome (Hebrew: כִּפַּת בַּרְזֶל, kippat barzel) is a mobile all-weather air defense system^[8] developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries.^[7] The system is designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells fired from distances of 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to 70 kilometres (43 mi) away and whose trajectory would take them to an Israeli populated area.^[9][10] Israel hopes to increase the range of Iron Dome’s interceptions, from the current maximum of 70 kilometres (43 mi) to 250 kilometres (160 mi) and make it more versatile so that it could intercept rockets coming from two directions simultaneously.^[11] (Iron Dome, Wikipedia, accessed 01/10/20)

Israel has mainly used the Iron Dome to deal with rockets from Gaza. But this, plus some version of its laser sword would probably be used in attacks from Iran. But it will not be enough to prevent the prophesied “great damage” which will come to Jerusalem.

We may very well be getting close to a regional war–or worse. The Bible tells of a time when Kir will be destroyed (Isaiah 15:1b) and also says that Syria’s capital Damascus will be destroyed (Isaiah 17:1). Israeli threats and military targeting may, at least partially, trigger this.

Rockets, the Iron Dome, and laser swords are NOT the solution for the region.

The coming damage to Jerusalem would likely be a prelude to a temporal peace in the region (cf. Daniel 9:27).

True peace will not come until after the return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Iran in Prophecy Is Iran in Bible prophecy? If so, what does the Bible teach? What names, other than Persia, may be used to describe Iran? There is also a YouTube video titled Iran in Prophecy. Here are links to two related videos Iran In Prophecy and  Iran and Israel Conflict.
Jerusalem: Past, Present, and Future What does the Bible say about Jerusalem and its future? Is Jerusalem going to be divided and eliminated? Is Jesus returning to the area of Jerusalem? There are also two related YouTube videos you can watch: Jerusalem To be divided and eliminated and God’s and Satan’s Plan for Jerusalem.
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2023, 2024, or 2025? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede la Gran Tribulación comenzar en el 2020 o 2021? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? A related video is: Great Tribulation: 2026 or 2027? A shorter video is: Can the Great Tribulation start in 2022 or 2023? Notice also: Can Jesus return in 2023 or 2024? Here is a video in the Spanish language: Es El 2021 el año  de La Gran Tribulación o el Grande Reseteo Financiero.
Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction Can the USA survive two full presidential terms? In what ways are Joe Biden and Kamala Harris apocalyptic? This book has hundreds of prophecies and scriptures to provide details.  A Kindle version is also available and you do not need an actual Kindle device to read it. Why? Amazon will allow you to download it to almost any device: Please click HERE to download one of Amazon s Free Reader Apps. After you go to your free Kindle reader app (or if you already have one or a Kindle),  you can go to: Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction (Kindle) to get the book in seconds.

Vatican City (photo by Joyce Thiel)

COGwriter

January 11th is the feast day of the Church of Rome for a leader called Hyginus. Although the claimed early leaders of Rome in their “succession lists” refer to him as a pope, that title was not used by leaders there until the latter part of the fourth century.

The generally touted Roman Catholic position is that Hyginus was the ninth pope and that all subsequent leaders of the true church passed through him. Is that correct?

Certain Claims

While visiting the Vatican in 2004, I purchased a book in its basilica museum bookstore titled The Popes: The lives of the pontiffs through 2000 years of history (Lopes A. The Popes: The lives of the pontiffs through 2000 years of history. Futura Edizoni, Roma, 1997). The book states that it is sponsored by the “Pontifical Administration, which has tutelage over the Patriarchal Basilica of St. Peter”.

It makes many claims about the early “bishops” of Rome including this about Hyginus:

9. HYGINUS, ST. (136-140) Born in Athens, he was considered a philosopher and he behaved like one…During the baptism of children, he ordered the presence of a godfather or a godmother who would guide and direct them in leading a Christian life. He ordered that churches should be dedicated. His pontificate was marked by persecution and his martyrdom (Lopes A. The Popes: The lives of the pontiffs through 2000 years of history. Futura Edizoni, Roma, 1997, p. 3).

The Catholic Encyclopedia notes this about him:

The ancient authorities contain no information as to his having died a martyr (Kirsch J.P. Transcribed by Joseph P. Thomas.The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VII. Copyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight. Nihil Obstat, June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York).

There is also no evidence that he came up with godparents or requiring churches to be dedicated. Actually, these are unlikely to have been done then. Essentially, the Roman Catholics now teach that the godparent repents and accepts Christ on the behalf of infants that they baptize—godparents are part of the improper  justification they have for infant baptism (please see article on Baptism).

For example, The Catholic Encyclopedia notes:

When infants are solemnly baptized, persons assist at the ceremony to make profession of the faith in the child’s name. This practice comes from antiquity and is witnessed to by Tertullian, St. Basil, St. Augustine, and others. Such persons are designated sponsores, offerentes, susceptores, fidejussores, and patrini. The English term is godfather and godmother, or in Anglo-Saxon, gossip (Fanning W.H.W. Transcribed by Charles Sweeney, S.J. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume II. Copyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton Company. Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York).

Note that Hyginus is not listed as coming up with this as many Roman Catholic scholars realize that there simply was no record that he did.

It is of interest to note that:

…the Gnostic Valentine came to Rome in Hyginus’s time, remaining there until Anicetus (Ibid).

According to the Greco-Roman Catholic historian Eusebius, it was Polycarp of Smyrna who had to deal with that heretic as Hyginus apparently did not. This helps show that it was the leadership in Asia Minor, which at that time was clearly “Church of God,” that dealt with various heresies and heretics that the Church of Rome tolerated.

According to Tertullian, the Church of Rome tolerated Valentinus for decades even after he was denounced by Polycarp of Smyra.

Easter Sunday

The Bible has the following warning:

25 He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. (Daniel 7:25)

While that still has a future application (see The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast), to a degree, this happened with one or more Roman leaders in the second century.

Although most who profess Christianity now celebrate it, Easter-Sunday was not observed by the second century Christians in Asia Minor. They observed Passover.

The date was improperly changed.

Beginning with possibly the Roman leader Telesphorus or possibly Hyginus (or possibly Sixtus, there are no contemporaneous records, only an unclear report 5-6 decades later written by Irenaeus), what is now called Easter began to be observed in Rome. First, it was apparently a change in the date of Passover from the 14th of Nisan to a Sunday. This is believed to have happened because there was a rebellion by Jews and that any distancing between Jews and Christians seemed physically advantageous (at least to some in Rome and the Greeks in Jerusalem). It was due to cowardice and antisemitism that the Sunday date was chosen (the fact that cowards often were killed anyway, does not prove they were not cowards).

The late SDA scholar Samuele Bacchiocchi noted that the change to Easter-Sunday and to a weekly Sunday was due to persecution (the new Gentile hierarchy he is referring to are Greek bishops in Jerusalem, which took over after the rebellion was crushed):

The actual introduction of Easter-Sunday appears to have occurred earlier in Palestine after Emperor Hadrian ruthlessly crushed the Barkokeba revolt (A.D. 132-135)…

The fact that the Passover controversy arose when Emperor Hadrian adopted new repressive measures against Jewish religious practices suggests that such measures influenced the new Gentile hierarchy to change the date of Passover from Nisan 14 to the following Sunday (Easter-Sunday) in order to show separation and differentiation from the Jews and the Jewish Christians…

A whole body of Against the Jews literature was produced by leading Fathers who defamed the Jews as a people and emptied their religious beliefs and practices of any historical value. Two major causalities of the anti-Jewish campaign were Sabbath and Passover. The Sabbath was changed to Sunday and Passover was transferred to Easter-Sunday.

Scholars usually recognize the anti-Judaic motivation for the repudiation of the Jewish reckoning of Passover and adoption of Easter-Sunday instead. Joachim Jeremias attributes such a development to “the inclination to break away from Judaism.” In a similar vein, J.B. Lightfoot explains that Rome and Alexandria adopted Easter-Sunday to avoid “even the semblance of Judaism” (Bacchiocchi S. God’s Festival in Scripture and History. Biblical Perspectives. Befriend Springs (MI), 1995, pp. 101,102,103).

It is likely that Telesphorus made this change at the time to attempt to distance himself from the Jews in Rome. If he was the one who did it, and if he thought that this would spare his life, he was wrong as he was later killed by the Roman authorities (circa 136 A.D.). On the other hand, it is perhaps more likely that it was Hyginus, who was also possibly Greek, that decided to introduce the Passover Sunday tradition, perhaps to decrease the wrath of the anti-Jewish Roman authorities.

Since Anicetus’ account claimed that this practice was begun by presbyters who preceded him (see Easter), it would need to have been no later than the Greeks Telesphorus or Hyginus, as they were followed by Pius who was then followed by Anicetus (it probably did not originate with Sixtus as he preceded Telesphorus, he was not believed to have been Greek, and he was dead, if he even existed, circa 125 A.D.).

It is probable that Hyginus either began, continued, or started the practice of observing Passover on a Sunday, but there is no specific information that proves he did. But if he did, he obviously is not someone who should be celebrated by Christians as the Bible teaches that Passover was held on the 14th of Nisan.

Historical records demonstrate that the Apostles John and Philip, as well as their spiritual descendants in Asia Minor, did not change or compromise on this point–they continued to follow the Bible. But Hyginus might have compromised, and the Church of Rome at some point in time most certainly did.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Apostolic Succession What really happened? Did structure and beliefs change? Are many of the widely-held current understandings of this even possible? Did you know that Catholic scholars really do not believe that several of the claimed “apostolic sees” of the Orthodox have apostolic succession–despite the fact that the current pontiff himself seems to wish to ignore this view? Is there actually a true church that has ties to any of the apostles that is not part of the Catholic or Orthodox churches? Read this article if you truly are interested in the truth on this matter! Here is a link to a sermon: Claims of Apostolic Succession. Here is a related articlein the Spanish language La sucesión apostólica. ¿Ocurrió en Roma, Alejandría, Constantinopla, Antioquía, Jerusalén o Asia Menor?
“Pope” Hyginus (136-140) He is claimed to have come up with the idea of “godparents”. He may have been involved in the institution of a Sunday Passover. The heretic Valentinus appeared by his time.
Laying on of Hands Succession and List Does the Church of God have laying on of hands succession? Does the Continuing Church of God have a list of leaders from the time of the apostles? Here is a link to a related sermon: Apostolic Laying on of Hands Succession.
Which Is Faithful: The Roman Catholic Church or the Continuing Church of God? Do you know that both groups shared a lot of the earliest teachings? Do you know which church changed? Do you know which group is most faithful to the teachings of the apostolic church? Which group best represents true Christianity? This documented article answers those questions.
Nazarene Christianity: Were the Original Christians Nazarenes? Should Christians be Nazarenes today? What were the practices of the Nazarenes.
Location of the Early Church: Another Look at Ephesus, Smyrna, and Rome What actually happened to the primitive Church? And did the Bible tell about this in advance?
Passover and the Early Church Did the early Christians observe Passover? What did Jesus and Paul teach? Why did Jesus die for our sins? There is also a detailed YouTube video available titled History of the Christian Passover.
The Passover Plot What was the first Passover plot? Which plots have Islam and the Greco-Roman faiths perpetuated about Passover? A sermon video of related interest is The Passover Plots, Including Easter.
Did Early Christians Celebrate Easter? If not, when did this happen? What do scholars and the Bible reveal?
Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church: Could a remnant group have continuing apostolic succession? Did the original “catholic church” have doctrines held by the Continuing Church of God? Did Church of God leaders uses the term “catholic church” to ever describe the church they were part of? Here are links to related sermons: Original Catholic Church of God?, Original Catholic Doctrine: Creed, Liturgy, Baptism, Passover, What Type of Catholic was Polycarp of Smyrna?, Tradition, Holy Days, Salvation, Dress, & Celibacy, Early Heresies and Heretics, Doctrines: 3 Days, Abortion, Ecumenism, Meats, Tithes, Crosses, Destiny, and more, Saturday or Sunday?, The Godhead, Apostolic Laying on of Hands Succession, Church in the Wilderness Apostolic Succession List, Holy Mother Church and Heresies, and Lying Wonders and Original Beliefs. Here is a link to that book in the Spanish language: Creencias de la iglesia Católica original.
Baptism and the Early Church Was it by immersion? Did it include infants? Does Polycarp prove infant baptism?
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy? Here is a link in the German language: WO IST DIE WAHRE CHRISTLICHE KIRCHE HEUTE? Here is a link in the French language: Où est la vraie Église Chrétienne aujourd’hui?
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries and Continuing History of the Church of God: 17th-20th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, French: L Histoire Continue de l Église de Dieu and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.
The History of Early Christianity Are you aware that what most people believe is not what truly happened to the true Christian church? Do you know where the early church was based? Do you know what were the doctrines of the early church? Is your faith really based upon the truth or compromise?

(Unsplash photo)

COGwriter

The Associated Press reported the following:

World Bank warning: Global economy is at risk of recession

January 10, 2023

The global economy will come “perilously close” to a recession this year, led by weaker growth in all the world’s top economies — the United States, Europe and China — the World Bank warned Tuesday.

In an annual report, the World Bank, which lends money to poorer countries for development projects, said it had slashed its forecast for global growth this year by nearly half, to just 1.7%, from its previous projection of 3%. If that forecast proves accurate, it would be the third-weakest annual expansion in three decades, behind only the deep recessions that resulted from the 2008 global financial crisis and the pandemic in 2020.

Though the United States might avoid a recession this year — the World Bank predicts the U.S. economy will eke out growth of 0.5% — global weakness will likely pose another headwind for America’s businesses and consumers, on top of high prices and more expensive borrowing rates. The United States also remains vulnerable to further supply chain disruptions …

The World Bank projects that the European Union’s economy won’t grow at all next year after having expanded 3.3% in 2022. …

The impact of a global downturn would fall particularly hard on poorer countries …

The report follows a similarly gloomy forecast a week earlier from Kristina Georgieva, the head of the International Monetary Fund, the global lending agency. Georgieva estimated on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that one-third of the world will fall into recession this year.

“For most of the world economy, this is going to be a tough year, tougher than the year we leave behind,” Georgieva said. “Why? Because the three big economies — U.S., E.U., China — are all slowing down simultaneously.” https://apnews.com/article/europe-business-china-world-bank-economy-391bd23625e205a0d94c1d1c224892a8?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_05

As I reported here last Fall, many in Europe are blaming the USA policies for triggering this (see ZH: A Reeling Europe Lashes Out At The Fed For “Bringing Us To A World Recession” COGwriter: Could this lead to HWA’s ‘banking crisis’?).

Notice the following:

What’s a Recession?

The official definition varies. Some define a recession as two consecutive quarters in which output declines. The National Bureau of Economic Research is technically in charge of declaring recessions, which it defines as “a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and that lasts more than a few months.” …

For those concerned about layoffs, try to build up emergency savings of least three to six months of living expenses, experts say. If you do experience a job loss, remember you have options — there are still lots of openings.  …

What Else Can I Do?

The most common advice from financial experts: Don’t panic. …

Noah Damsky, a financial planner at Marina Wealth Advisors, recommends some overall “belt tightening.” Cutting down on discretionary expenses and boosting savings is always a good idea, but especially so when a recession might be coming. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-14/is-the-us-in-a-recession-how-to-prepare-for-economic-downturn

Generally speaking, many people lose income and/or jobs during a recession and there are less goods and services produced–in essence, a global recession would mean that the world gets poorer.

Last Summer, related to recession, Michael Snyder posted the following:

5 Things That You Should Start Doing Immediately To Prepare For The Severe Recession That Is Ahead

Do you remember what economic conditions were like in 2008 and 2009? Well, what is ahead of us is likely to be significantly worse. …

Well, the following are 5 things that you can do right now to get prepared for the severe recession that is ahead…

#1 Make Sure That You Have A Source Of Income

Last year, if you didn’t have a source of income it wasn’t that big of a deal.  … But now things are changing very quickly.  The number of job openings is plunging, and layoff announcements have started to spike. …

#2 Build Up Your Emergency Fund

When a recession hits, it is extremely important that you are able to continue to pay the bills no matter what happens. …

Now is the time to build up a very large emergency fund. Cutting your spending will help you to do that. …

#3 Get Out Of Debt

After you have built up your emergency fund, getting out of debt should be a high priority. …

#4 Stock Up On Essentials Now

Prices are going to keep going higher.

So that means that the things that you are going to need during the months ahead will not be any cheaper than they are right now.

Don’t spend money on unnecessary items, but for the essentials that you use on a regular basis it is a good idea to stock up right now while you still can.

#5 Maintain A Positive Attitude

This is so important.

Have you ever known anyone that was truly successful in life that had a negative attitude about everything? 07/13/22 http://endoftheamericandream.com/5-things-that-you-should-start-doing-immediately-to-prepare-for-the-severe-recession-that-is-ahead/

Yes, we should take physical steps and have the right attitude. Despite how the world views debt, it is good not to be in debt.

Nationally, more could be produced.

Yes, if there is more supply this would help reduce the inflation rate as well as generally improve the economies of those that produce more.

However, the Bible points to food shortages and food price inflation:

5 When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” (Revelation 6:5-6)

The prophecy of the third horseman of the Apocalypse is starting to come to pass.

If government leaders believed the Bible, they would be willing to take a lot of steps that they seemed to have overlooked.

That said, related to inflation, the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) put together the following video:

In the world, we see a lot of economic uncertainty.

There are recessions, sometimes stagflation, disasters, weather issues, wars, and even severe depressions that affect income and physical needs.

One can lose a job at almost anytime. There could also be health problems or even the death of the main income provider.

But there are things you can and should do.

Notice the following:

1 A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.”

2 So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”

3 Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors — empty vessels; do not gather just a few. 4 And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.”

5 So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. 6 Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.”

And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. 7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.” (2 Kings 4:1-7)

Now, while the above involved a miracle, the concept of paying off debt and having savings is something God’s people should strive to do.

Notice also:

7 The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender. (Proverbs 22:7)

Instead of being in debt, God’s people should strive to save:

But they should also be givers and rely on God’s blessings:

8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. 9 You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. 11 “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, … (Malachi 3:8-11)

4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2:4)

6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. 9 As it is written:

“He has dispersed abroad,
He has given to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever. (2 Corinthians 9:6-9)

Yes, we need to also consider helping others.

And all should heed the words of Jesus:

25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:25-33)

4 “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)

Yes, we need to seek first the Kingdom of God. And the word of God says we should try not to be in debt, we should try to have savings, and we are to be givers.

All of these should be part of our preparations.

As far as other physical steps, you can see our article: Physical Preparation Scriptures for Christians.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

Physical Preparation Scriptures for Christians. We all know the Bible prophecies famines. Should we do something? Here is a version in the Spanish language Escrituras sobre Preparación física para los Cristianos. Here is a link to a related sermon: Physical preparedness for Christians.
Is God Calling You? This booklet discusses topics including calling, election, and selection. If God is calling you, how will you respond? Here is are links to related sermons: Christian Election: Is God Calling YOU? and Predestination and Your Selection. A short animation is also available: Is God Calling You?
Christian Repentance Do you know what repentance is? Is it really necessary for salvation? Two related sermons about this are also available: Real Repentance and Real Christian Repentance.
Tithing Questions and Some Answers Answers questions about tithing and also addresses some non-biblical arguments against tithing. Should people tithe?Here is a link to a related sermon: Tithes and Tithing. Here is a link to an older sermon: Tithing Answers from the BibleMight the U.S.A. Be Gone by 2028? Could the USA be gone by the end of 2028 or earlier? There is a tradition attributed to the Hebrew prophet Elijah that humanity had 6,000 years to live before being replaced by God’s Kingdom. There are scriptures, writings in the Talmud, early Christian teachings that support this. Also, even certain Hindu writings support it. Here is a link to a related video: Is the USA prophesied to be destroyed by 2028? In Spanish: Seran los Estados Unidos Destruidos en el 2028?
Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, English, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Saxon (non-Dutch) Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? What will happen to Jerusalem and the Jews in Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo-Saxon nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first? Here is a link to the Spanish version of this article: Anglo-América & las Tribus Perdidas de Israel. Information is also in the YouTube sermons titled Where are the Ten Lost Tribes? Why does it matter? and British are the Covenant People. A short YouTube of prophetic interest may be: Are Chinese threats against Australia for real?
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2023, 2024, or 2025? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede la Gran Tribulación comenzar en el 2020 o 2021? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? A related video is: Great Tribulation: 2026 or 2027? A shorter video is: Can the Great Tribulation start in 2022 or 2023? Notice also: Can Jesus return in 2023 or 2024? Here is a video in the Spanish language: Es El 2021 el año  de La Gran Tribulación o el Grande Reseteo Financiero.
Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America? Where did those people come from? Can you totally rely on DNA? What about other peoples? Do you really know what will happen to Europe and the English-speaking peoples? What about Africa, Asia, South America, and the Islands? This free online book provides scriptural, scientific, historical references, and commentary to address those matters. Here are links to related sermons: Lost tribes, the Bible, and DNA; Lost tribes, prophecies, and identifications; 11 Tribes, 144,000, and Multitudes; Israel, Jeremiah, Tea Tephi, and British Royalty; Gentile European Beast; Royal Succession, Samaria, and Prophecies; and Asia, Islands, Latin America, Africa, and Armageddon,  When Will the End of the Age Come?, and Rise of the Prophesied King of the North.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador
(Wikipedia photo source)

COGwriter

NPR reported the following:

Talks between Biden and Mexico’s López Obrador got off to a bit of a rough start

January 10, 2023

MEXICO CITY — President Biden and Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had a bumpy start to talks on Monday when what were supposed to be some brief opening pleasantries devolved into a contentious debate over the history of U.S. support for Latin America.

Biden, López Obrador and a phalanx of cabinet members and advisers had just sat down in the ornate National Palace at the start to discuss working together on trade, fentanyl interdiction, and migration — ahead of Tuesday’s North American Leaders’ Summit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

López Obrador told Biden that the United States had done little to support development in Latin America since President John F. Kennedy’s “Alliance for Progress” spending in the early 1960s.

“This has been the only important thing, really, that has been done in terms of cooperation for development in our continent in more than half a century,” said López Obrador.

“This is the moment for us to determine to do away with this abandonment, this disdain and this forgetfulness for Latin America and the Caribbean,” he said. https://www.npr.org/2023/01/10/1148009189/talks-between-biden-and-mexicos-lopez-obrador-got-off-to-a-bit-of-a-rough-start

That is fairly harsh rhetoric.

While their relationship is not perfect, the Europeans have been working with Mexico for sometime:

January 6, 2023

EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said Mexican officials “are taking their time” after Brussels made some amendments that mirror a structure used in an accord between the EU and Chile finalised last month. Brussels hopes the tweaks should smooth the deal’s ratification, but Mexico City fears they could mean the treaty requires separate stages of approval. “In recent weeks we proposed a possible solution on the legal architecture of this modernised global agreement to Mexico,” Dombrovskis said. “We think it’s a good solution, which also takes into account some of Mexico’s concerns,” he added. “We are currently waiting for Mexico’s final response on this. We’re ready to move forward with the agreement as soon as we get that reply.” Mexico is seen as a potentially leading exporter of machinery, appliances and mineral products to the EU as Brussels seeks to reduce its reliance on China. …

The EU was Mexico’s biggest export market after the US in 2021. It imported €23.4bn of goods from Mexico, with exports totalling €37.7bn. In 2020 EU companies had investment worth €176bn worth in the country. https://www.ft.com/content/c692fc26-602c-4318-a299-8fadc973b482

Consider also something that I warned about in 2008:

In the spirit of accommodation and personal interest, many of the “standards” of the European Union will be adopted by the USA, Canada and Mexico, as well as by nearly all of the countries of the world. The Arab nations will most likely agree with many of the standards as they seem to be destined to form a brief end-time alliance with the Europeans (The Arab World In the Bible, History, and Prophecy).

However, over time, it will become increasingly clear that the British will be in more agreement with the Canadians and Americans and that the European Union in more agreement with the Mexicans than the EU will have with the English-speaking nations.

Trade wars and/or serious trade disputes will most likely arise.

The Brits will ultimately decide that they are more supportive of the Americans and Canadians. They will be so much more supportive that they will end up in a trading agreement with them (with the Australians and New Zealanders probably also becoming part of that agreement).

The EU will decide that Mexico and the rest of Latin America are in more agreement with it and thus make some type of serious trading agreement with most (or all) of Latin America. The Vatican will also have influence here as Latin America is highly Roman Catholic.

The Europeans and Americans, however, will continue to have military agreements, though many will be tense about them.

Eventually, the Europeans (possibly under the cover of pretending that they are involved in a “NATO-like” exercise in North America) will eventually launch a surprise attack against the United States in fulfillment of both biblical and Catholic prophecies. The Mexicans will most likely be allied with the Europeans for this to happen. (Thiel B. A Combined EU & North American Trade Block Coming? COGwriter.com, March 3, 2008)

Expect more cooperation between the Europeans and Mexico.

Consider also, something else, I posted here is 2008:

Because of the cultural, ethnic, language, legal, and religious ties between Europe and Latin America, the two regions will likely cooperate more in the future. These ties will be primarily economic, but also may include some type of military cooperation.

While the world generally considers that Mexico and the rest of the Latin American nations are “developing”, the fact is that they have truly been developing. Several are not only becoming economic powerhouses, they have been able to do this without the massive debt accumulations that many other nations have (like the U.S.A.). And while not all of Latin America is poised for major economic activity on the world scene, once major players such as Mexico, Argentina, Brazil (Portuguese: Brasil), and Chile develop a bit more, they will have an impact not only on the entire world, but also on the other Central and South American countries that they also trade with.

With the U.S.A. and its Anglo-Allies ultimately basically out of the picture, the future power of Europe will make Europe an economically attractive trading partner (and because of its military abilities in the future, it is likely to be an attractive military partner) to those in Latin America.  (Thiel B. What’s Ahead for Latin America?. COGwriter.com, October 22, 2008)

Mexico hopes that it can trade more with Europe and not be subject to the whims of the USA.

And Mexico’s current president does not think that the USA has really helped it in over 50 years.

Furthermore, as it turns out, various ones in Mexico have long considered that the USA is an enemy nation.

Many in Mexico believe that the USA improperly took lands ranging from Texas to California and points in-between. They believe that they are entitled to receive that land back. It has been called the “reconquista” (“re-conquering” in English). Interestingly, the Bible teaches that the European King of the North power will takeover the USA and divide its land for gain (Daniel 11:39; see also Will the Anglo-Saxon Nations be Divided and Have People Taken as Slaves?)–Mexico will likely end up with at least some of its claimed lands back this century. And yes, I believe that Mexican troops will one day align with Europe.

I expect that Mexico will end up with at least some of its claimed lands back this century.

Mexico will get at least some of those lands back after the start of World War III.

Sound preposterous?

First notice that someone else has put together what Mexico would look like if it got its old lands back:

Now, notice the Hispanic population in the USA as put together by Yerevanci with the red line showing old Mexican territories:

Don’t the two look similar?

As far as war goes, consider something that happened a century ago:

April 6, 2017

One hundred years ago today, the United States officially declared war on Germany and entered World War I. Days before the declaration of war, President Woodrow Wilson urged a special joint session of Congress to “formally accept the status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon it.”

Wilson had not wanted to do this. Indeed, he’d won reelection the previous fall as the antiwar candidate, running on the popular slogans “He kept us out of war” and “America First”—appeals to voters who wanted to stay out of a major European war and avoid a simmering conflict with Mexico.

But two events would change everything, and force Americans to accept that they could no longer avoid what had become a global conflict. The first was Germany’s resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare on passenger and merchant ships. The second was the “Zimmerman telegraph,” which revealed Germany’s attempt to forge a secret alliance with Mexico against the United States, promising to help Mexico recover territory it had ceded to the United States following the Mexican-American War in 1848.

Both of these developments, like much of World War I, seem exotic and unimaginable today. A major military power attacking passenger ships with submarines? Mexico invading Texas? It’s easy to think we’ll never face such scenarios again, and we probably won’t face those particular scenarios. But as distant and strange as the First World War seems to us today, the reasons Wilson changed course and declared war hold vital relevance to our national life in the twenty-first century, and we ignore or misunderstand those reasons to our peril. https://thefederalist.com/2017/04/06/americas-reasons-entering-wwi-resonate-today/

I do believe that Mexico will be willing to cooperate with a German-dominated power in Europe to invade the USA. Do not think it cannot happen. Mexico is pivoting towards Europe, while the USA has been pivoting away from both Europe and Mexico.

While in the short-run, the USA can take steps to seriously harm Mexico, it should be clear to all that the USA is seriously risking turning Mexico from an ally into an enemy.

Despite statements of hope that both sides will better get along, Mexico will end up with closer cooperation with Europe.

The final Time of the Gentiles is coming and it will NOT end well for the USA (cf. Daniel 11:39).

Bronson James (CGI photo)

COGwriter

CGI reported the following:

We were deeply saddened on Thursday, January 5, 2023, to learn that our long-time friend and brother in Christ, Bronson T. James, had fallen asleep in the Lord.

Bronson, 76, was a long-time servant of God’s people. He was one of the pioneers of the Church of God International ministry. He pastored churches, served for decades on the CGI’s Ministerial Council and Board of Directors, and was instrumental in the creation and production of the Armor of God television program. He was hired by the CGI in 1988 to manage the Letter Answering Department, and he continued working at the home office, taking on various other responsibilities, until he moved to Detroit, MI, in circa 2002.

COGwriter

Notice the following:

Why Can’t Science Explain Consciousness?

For much of the 20th century, there was a great taboo against querying the mysterious inner world of consciousness — it was not taken to be a fitting topic for “serious science.” Things have changed a lot, and there is now broad agreement that the problem of consciousness is a serious scientific issue. But many consciousness researchers underestimate the depth of the challenge, believing that we just need to continue examining the physical structures of the brain to work out how they produce consciousness. …

The problem of consciousness, however, is radically unlike any other scientific problem. One reason is that consciousness is unobservable. You can’t look inside someone’s head and see their feelings and experiences. If we were just going off what we can observe from a third-person perspective, we would have no grounds for postulating consciousness at all.

Of course, scientists are used to dealing with unobservables. Electrons, for example, are too small to be seen. But scientists postulate unobservable entities in order to explain what we observe, such as lightning or vapor trails in cloud chambers. But in the unique case of consciousness, the thing to be explained cannot be observed. We know that consciousness exists not through experiments but through our immediate awareness of our feelings and experiences. …

While our current scientific approach offers no theory at all — only correlations — the traditional alternative of claiming that consciousness is in the soul leads to a profligate picture of nature in which mind and body are distinct. November 11, 2019. https://www.livescience.com/what-is-consciousness-mystery.html

Scientists cannot explain spiritual matters as their focus is physical. Consciousness may not be an entirely physical matter.

Being blinded by the evolutionary lie has impacted them. That is consistent with the following:

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. (Romans 1:18-23)

Although evolution as the origin of life is EASILY disprovable, instead they believe humans came from creeping things and their foolish hearts have been darkened.

Notice that some Chinese scientists have been hoping to find something that is not physical in the human brain:

Chinese scientists to try to find the HUMAN SOUL with £100m state-of-the-art brain scanner

Updated 20 December 2018

CHINESE scientists are developing a £100m state-of-the-art brain scanner to try and find the human soul.

They will use powerful magnetic forces to observe the structure and activities of every neuron in a living brain.

The aim is to build the world’s most powerful MRI device – which may one day be able to help answer one of life’s big questions.

The mystical soul, according to many religious, philosophical, and mythological traditions, is the true essence of a living being.

Simply stated, it is said to be the part of a person that is not physical …

“It will show us a different world with phenomenon unseen before … maybe even the soul,” one scientist told the SCMP.

“We may for the first time capture a full picture of human consciousness or even the essence of life itself,” said another physicist. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8017068/chinese-scientists-to-try-to-find-the-human-soul-with-100m-state-of-the-art-brain-scanner/

It sounds like they are looking, not for life or the “soul” per se, but for what the Bible calls the spirit of man.

The Bible talks about the non-believers being “vain in their imaginations” (Romans 1:21, KJV)–and that is what this Chinese project sounds like to me–though the idea that the scientists have, that there is something non-physical, is a positive.

The Bible also teaches:

29…God made man upright, But they have sought out many schemes. (Ecclesiastes 7:29)

Unless God were to allow it, something physical will not find something spiritual.

Humans have the spirit of man in them, whereas animals, including the other primates, do not. The reality that there is a spirit in humans is taught in both the Old and New Testaments:

8 But there is a spirit in man,
And the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. (Job 32:8)

11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? (1 Corinthians 2:11)

Many scientists will not admit that there is a spirit in man that God gave.

But there is.

Back in 1978, the old Worldwide Church of God put out a booklet written by Herbert W. Armstrong titled What Science Can’t Discover About The Human Mind. Here are some extracts from it:

WHY cannot the greatest minds solve world problems? Scientists have said, “Given sufficient knowledge, and we shall solve all human problems and cure all our evils.” Since 1960 the world’s fund of knowledge has doubled. But humanity’s evils also have doubled. …

But the greatest human minds have never comprehended that divinely-revealed KNOWLEDGE. It is as if God our Maker had sent his message to us in an unbreakable secret code.

And the greatest human minds have never cracked that secret code. Modern Science cannot understand it. Psychologists do not themselves understand of what the human mind is composed. …

There is virtually no difference in shape and construction between animal brain and human brain. The brains of elephants, whales, and dolphins are larger than human brain, and the chimp’s brain is slightly smaller.

Qualitatively the human brain may be very slightly superior, but not enough to remotely account for the difference in output.

What, then, can account for the vast difference? Science cannot adequately answer. Some scientists, in the field of brain research, conclude that, of necessity, there has to be some nonphysical component in human brain that does not exist in animal brain. But most scientists will not admit the possibility of the existence of the nonphysical.

What other explanation is there? Actually, outside of the very slight degree of physical superiority of human brain, science has NO explanation, due to unwillingness to concede even the possibility of the spiritual.

When man refuses to admit even the very existence of his own Maker, he shuts out of his mind vast oceans of basic true knowledge, fact, and UNDERSTANDING. When he substitutes FABLE for truth, he is, of all men, MOST IGNORANT, though he professes himself to be wise. …

MAN was made out of the dust of the ground. He receives his temporary human life from air, breathed in and out of his nostrils. His life is in the blood (Gen. 9:4, 6). But the lifeblood is oxidized by breathing air, even as gasoline in the carburetor of an automobile. Therefore breath is the “breath of life” even as the life is in the blood.

Notice carefully that MAN, made wholly of matter, BECAME a living soul as soon as the BREATH gave him his temporary physical life. The scripture does NOT say “immortal” soul. Man does not have an “immortal” soul. He IS a soul as soon as physical LIFE enters him.

The Hebrew word for “soul” is nephesh. In Genesis 1:20-24, animals are called nephesh three times — only the translators translated the Hebrew word there “creature.” Animals have the same temporary physio-chemical existence as man. Both die the same death (Eccl. 3:19-20).

“The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). Again, God’s Word says: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezek.18:20). Adam was a soul, and God said to him, in regard to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “… in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:17). But Satan denied this, and Adam and Eve believed Satan, as most of humanity has done ever since.

So let us UNDERSTAND! Man is FLESH and BLOOD — composed wholly of MATTER — and that living matter IS a living soul.

The SOUL is composed of physical MATTER, not Spirit.

I have explained that human brain is almost identical to animal brain. But man was made in the form and shape of God, to have a special relationship with God — to have the potential of being born into the FAMILY of God. And God is SPIRIT (John 4:24). To make it possible to bridge the gap — or to make the transition of MANKIND, composed wholly of MATTER, into SPIRIT beings in God’s Kingdom, then to be composed wholly of Spirit, and at the same time to give MAN a MIND like God’s — God put a spirit in each human.

In Job 32:8, we read, “There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.”

This is a great TRUTH, understood by but very few.

I call this spirit the HUMAN spirit, for it is IN each human, even though it is SPIRIT ESSENCE and not matter. It is NOT a spirit person or being. It is not the MAN, but spirit essence IN the man. It is NOT a soul — the physical human is a soul. The human spirit imparts the power of INTELLECT to the human brain.

The human spirit does not supply human LIFE — the human LIFE is in the physical BLOOD, oxidized by the BREATH of life.

It is that nonphysical component in the human brain that does not exist in the brain of animals. It is the ingredient that makes possible the transition from human to divine, without changing matter into spirit, at the time of resurrection. That I will explain a little later.
Let me make clear a few essential points about this spirit in man. It is spirit essence, just as in matter air is essence, and so is water. This human spirit cannot see. The physical BRAIN sees, through the eyes. The human spirit IN a person cannot hear. The brain hears through the ears. This human spirit cannot think.

The brain thinks — although the spirit imparts the power to think, whereas brute animal brains without such spirit cannot, except in the most elementary manner. ...

Just as no dumb animal can know the things of man’s knowledge, neither could man, by brain alone, except by the spirit of man — the human spirit — that is in man. So also, in the same manner, even a man cannot know — comprehend — the things of God, unless or until he receives another spirit — the Holy Spirit of GOD.

Stated still another way, all humans have from birth a spirit called “the spirit of man” which is IN THEM. Notice carefully that this spirit is NOT the man. It is something IN THE MAN. A man might swallow a small marble. It is then something in the man, but it is not the man or any part of him as a man. The man was made of the dust of the ground — mortal. This human spirit is not the soul. It is something IN the soul which itself IS the physical MAN.

Notice, further, verse 14: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

So, from birth, God gives US one spirit, which for lack of a better term I call a human spirit. It gives us MIND power which is not in animal BRAIN. Yet that MIND power is limited to knowledge of the physical universe. WHY? Because knowledge enters the human mind ONLY through the five physical senses.

But notice that God had not completed the creation of MAN at the creation of Adam and Eve. The physical creation was completed. They had this “human” spirit at their creation. …

HOW has God planned to “bridge the gap” from physical to spiritual composition — to reproduce Himself out of PHYSICAL HUMANS THAT COME FROM THE PHYSICAL GROUND?

First, God put IN the physical MAN a “human” spirit. It is NOT, however, the human spirit that makes the decisions, comes to repentance, or builds the character. As I have emphasized, this spirit does not impart life, cannot see, hear, feel or think. It empowers the PHYSICAL MAN, through his BRAIN, to do these things. But this spirit RECORDS every thought — every bit of knowledge received through the five senses and it records whatever character — good or bad — that is developed in human life.

The human MAN is made literally from CLAY. God is like the master potter forming and shaping a vessel out of clay. But if the clay is too hard, it will not bend into the form and shape he wants. If it is too soft and moist, it lacks firmness to “STAY PUT” where the potter bends it.

Notice in Isaiah 64:8: “But now, O [ETERNAL], thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.”

Yet God has given each of us a MIND OF HIS OWN. If one REFUSES to acknowledge God or God’s ways — refuses to repent of the wrong and turn to the right, God cannot take him and create Godly character in him. But the human CLAY must be pliable, must yield willingly. If the human stiffens up and resists, he is like clay that is too dry and stiff. The potter can do nothing with it. It will not give and bend. Also, if he is so lacking in will, purpose, and determination that he won’t “stay put” when God molds him partly into what God wants him to be — too wishy-washy, weak, lacking root of character, he will never endure to the end. He will lose out.

We are, in truth, the WORK OF HIS HANDS. Yet WE ourselves must do our part in this spiritual development. If we lazily neglect Bible study and prayer — or if we let other material interests become more important and we NEGLECT such great salvation, we lose out.

But if we have the strength of character to YIELD, OF OUR OWN WILL to put ourselves in God’s hands, HE will instill within us His SPIRIT and by it His righteousness — His character — open our minds to His spiritual knowledge. We have to WANT IT! We have to work AT IT! We have to PUT IT FIRST, above all else.

It must be GOD’S righteousness, for all of OURS is like filthy rags to Him. He continually instills His knowledge, His righteousness, His character within us — IF we diligently seek it and want it. BUT WE HAVE OUR VERY IMPORTANT PART IN IT. Then all credit goes to GOD.

As we receive the CHARACTER OF GOD through the Holy Spirit of God, more and more God is REPRODUCING HIMSELF IN us.

Finally, in the resurrection, we shall be as God — in a position where we cannot sin, because we ourselves have set it so and have turned FROM sin and have struggled and struggled AGAINST sin and overcome sin.

God’s PURPOSE WILL be accomplished!

Yes, God’s purpose will be accomplished.

But, this time of year, where people observe non-biblical holidays (watch, for example, Did early faithful Christians celebrate Christmas?), they tend to miss what God’s plan is.

And an overview of that plan is laid out in the biblical Holy Days. For some details, check out the free online booklet: Should You Keep God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays?

Some items of related interest may include:

The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN Why Did God Create Anything? Why did God make you? This free online book helps answers some of the biggest questions that human have.
Is God’s Existence Logical? Is it really logical to believe in God? Yes! Would you like Christian answers to give atheists? This is a free online booklet that deal with improper theories and musings called science related to the origin of the origin of the universe, the origin of life, and evolution. Two animated videos of related interest are also available: Big Bang: Nothing or Creator? and A Lifegiver or Spontaneous Evolution?
What is Your Destiny? Deification? Did the Early Church Teach That Christians Would Become God? What is your ultimate destiny? What does the Bible teach? Is deification only a weird or cultic idea? Are you to rule the universe? Here is a link to the video sermon What is Your Destiny?
Building Character: Going on to Perfection Once you have accepted Jesus, do you need to strive for perfection and build character? A related video sermon is available: Going on to perfection and building character.
What is the Meaning of Life? Who does God say is happy? What is your ultimate destiny? Do you really know? Does God actually have a plan for YOU personally? If you would like to watch videos covering subjects of this article, you can click on the following links: Why YOU? Why Do YOU Suffer? and What is the meaning of your life?
Biblical Keys to Happiness This is an article for those interested in biblical teachings about being happy. A related sermon is available and is titled: 14 Biblical Keys to Happiness.
Should You Keep God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays? This is a free pdf booklet explaining what the Bible and history shows about God’s Holy Days and popular holidays. Two related sermons would be Which Spring Days should Christians observe? and Fall Holy Days for Christians.

#BIKASHARE
📊2023 #Crypto Discoveries & Prospects💥

01/ #CBDC global development#CBDC is generally defined as a #Digital liability of a central bank that is widely available to the general public. #cryptocurrency #Cryptomarket #BULLISH pic.twitter.com/8p5fIvfUUX

— BIKAGlobal (@BIKAGlobal_) January 9, 2023

Many governments, including Mexico, are looking to implement a CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency), but it looks as if Mexico’s attempt will be delayed:

January 9, 2023

According to new reports, the Mexican central bank digital currency (CBDC) will likely not be ready until after 2024. Representatives from the Mexican central bank, Banxico, recently issued a statement saying the digital peso development was still in its initial phase, suggesting that a launch may take longer. …

Local sources also stated that the general directorate of payment systems and market infrastructures is still determining requirements for the CBDC’s issuance. The division is the bank branch responsible for the development, construction, and creation of the digital peso.

It was also disclosed that more than $500,000 of Banxico funds went into developing the Mexican CBDC in 2022. …

Mexico is one of several nations across the globe in varying stages of issuing their own central bank digital currency. According to the Bank of International Settlements, 80% of the world’s central banks are currently studying CBDC solutions. https://www.coinspeaker.com/mexican-cbdc-issuance-2024/

Notice the following:

2023: The ABC’s of CBDC, the Great Reset(s) & MORE Centralized Control

When broken, debt-soaked “developed economies” suffering from years of fantasy money printing to “solve” fatally rising debt levels collide with history-blind and economically-ignorant policy makers, the end result is always the same: Liberty sinks, currencies die and control rises.

This is not sensationalism, but the toxic evolution of economic, political and psychological patterns seen throughout time.

Sadly, our “times” (as well as the global abundance/convergence of weak leadership) are no exception. …

Nowhere is such will-to-power opportunism and fantasy (i.e., centralized) solutions more exemplified than in the so-called “Great Reset” authored by the head of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab.

Like all opportunists and historical as well as current “types,” Schwab (like the IMF, the BIS, the Fed, the White House, the European or British Parliament etc.) is exploiting a crisis to enhance control while appearing humanitarian and visionary.

We’ve seen this demagogue movie before in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Yugoslavia, Cuba, China, Russia etc. …

Klaus Schwab, along with just about every other global leader, was taking a more dramatic and opportunistic approach, declaring that, “the Corona Virus pandemic has no parallel in history. It is our defining moment.”

Huh?

What he really meant in this classic Freudian slip was that Covid was his defining moment. Namely, the perfect crisis to exploit global fear and promote his new “Great Reset” vision as the leader of a better tomorrow, akin to Lenin’s losing-war promise/bribe of simple “bread and peace” in 1917…

And what is Schwab’s (and others like him) vision of a better tomorrow?

What is the “Great Reset”?

Like most politically and financially bad ideas (from Quantitative Easing to the Patriot Act), the Great Reset envisioned by Schwab has a seductive title and facade—namely “Stakeholder Capitalism.”

Unlike current shareholder capitalism, his concept of stakeholder capitalism aims to infuse global corporate board seats with a higher percentage of special interest representation (i.e., labor, environmental, social justice etc.). …

Schwab’s Flawed Premise: Institutional Faith

Like China’s Xi Jinping, Schwab’s Great Reset is based upon the notion that systemic risks like inflation, pandemics and geopolitical as well as economic distortion can be better managed by a global “coordination” of wise centralized and institutional players.

Like Xi, Schwab believes “giant ships survive storms, whereas small boats sink.”

But such faith (and premise) that massive and globally coordinated institutional wisdom is somehow safer and superior to individual freedom ignores the titanic example, of well…the Titanic.

In short: Big ships sink too—and usually with higher casualty rates. …

Enter CBDC …

It seems that in 2022 and now 2023, everyone is suddenly asking about CBDC. And they should be.

But what is it?

To begin with, CBDC is not a new currency, it’s a new payment system—one that is digital and encrypted rather than paper-based. Instead of dollars, yen, lira and euros, we’ll soon have e-dollars, e-yen, e-liras and e-euros etc. …

There are many obvious yet omitted dangers (and motives) behind CBDC (as lies of omission are the most common symptom of benevolent tyranny). …

CBDC, in short, is a direct assault on the growing (and in many ways free and admirable) crypto narrative.

• Debt “Reset:” Impose Negative Rates & Screw the People

As I’ve also argued for years, all debt-soaked regimes need negative rates to climb out of the bottomless debt hole they alone created.

By forcing citizens into a CBDC system, banks like the Fed can “efficiently and quickly” impose negative rates (i.e., where you pay banks to hold your money rather than receive positive interest for your deposits). This already happened in Europe. …

CBDC systems allow indebted nations to better control, and hence steal from, their citizens.

When currencies are “reset” (like Germany in 48), the government can “convert” your old money to the new money while simultaneously (due to a “crisis”) keeping a percentage for themselves as a clever way to pay their debts via digital hold-backs (i.e., theft).

And given that the entire world is over $300T in debt, one can bet that a massive debt restructuring (akin to a global bankruptcy declaration) is inevitable. CBDCs are thus being rolled out beforehand to make this intra-bank and cross border restructuring (theft) more “efficient.”

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to controlling citizen money and freedoms.

• A Cashless Control State

Despite Powell’s words to the contrary (as unreliable as his transitory inflation promise), the longer-term aim and practice of a forced digital currency system is to take cash out of the system.

Under a CBDC regime, citizen money can be digitally monitored, withheld, frozen, taxed, penalized or otherwise controlled should such a citizen (or collection of citizens) challenge or threaten the state—rightfully or wrongly. 01/04/23 https://goldswitzerland.com/2023-the-abcs-of-cbdc-the-great-resets-more-centralized-control/

Yes,a totalitarian “reset” will occur (cf. Revelation 17:12-13).

Yes, control and elimination of cash are goals associated with CBDCs.

Notice also some excerpts from a paper from the European Central Bank:

We argue that public digital money in form of a CBDC could replace banknotes as the monetary anchor of today’s two‐layer monetary system and help retaining monetary sovereignty if global stablecoins became widely used. …

Bindseil (2020) notes that in a negative interest rate environment demand for CBDC would be potentially unlimited if it were remunerated at a zero interest rate. At the same time, a CBDC carrying a negative interest rate might face adoption obstacles as users would perceive cash as a less costly means of payment. …

Since cash is only available in physical form, it is by construction not “fit” for the digital age. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/scpwps/ecb.wp2713~91ddff9e7c.en.pdf?79062191677f6bb6f617909e6a7a9ba8%C3%A4 accessed 08/24/22

The ECB is saying that cash cannot be controlled enough and is not fit for the digital age it wants. This is a clear ‘666’ signal.

According to the Bible (cf. Revelation 13:1-18), a coming European beast power will control buying and selling.

Notice item 13 of my list of 23 items to prophetically watch in 2023:

13. CBDC and 666

Notice the following prophecy:

16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. (Revelation 13:16-18)

This type of financial surveillance could not have happened during the time of the Apostle John as there was no real way to monitor many financial transactions then (despite the fact that ‘preterists’ believe this was fulfilled almost 2000 years ago, see also The Dangerous Rise of Preterists). The same was true for all the centuries that followed until the late 20th and now the 21st century. But now not only does the technology exist to monitor most financial transactions, the political will is there as well.

It will be a European power that will fulfill the above prophecy of 666 (watch Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European?).

It will likely take computers aided with artificial intelligence to aid in the fulfillment of the scriptures in Revelation 13:15-18, as well as cyber-spying/monitoring. I do believe that cyber monitoring will be used by the European Beast, King of the North, 666 power. …

While 2023 will not see a cashless world, expect to see more movements towards monitorable payments.

Expect to see more steps related to Central Bank Digital Currencies in 2023.

The coming 666 European Beast power will take steps to shoot for eliminating 100% of cash if possible. As far as when, probably by 2028. And that currency could be in place BEFORE the European Beast power rises up.

It may be a version of the Euro or it will be more of a global currency. Here is something about that from my book Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction:

It has been proposed that various nations around the world are already in the process of accumulating gold to one day overthrow the U.S. dollar—and that the “U.S. is unprepared for this strategic alternative to dollar dominance” [Rickards J. Axis of Gold. The Daily Reckoning, December 20, 2016].

When the U.S. dollar totally collapses people all around the world will consider that even if the Euro (or something similar) is strong, having a more gold-backed currency would be safer.

The collapse of the U.S.A. dollar will shake a lot of the world’s confidence in non-gold backed currencies.

The Europeans do not have to have a perfect currency, only one that is perceived to be in better shape than the U.S.A. dollar.

Having the European power acquiring more gold to back the Euro or possibly another future European currency (that might potentially replace the Euro or even a basket of currencies) may greatly increase European credibility, prosperity, and influence around the globe, even if the backing is only implied. (Thiel B. Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction. Nazarene Books, 2021)

Digital currencies allow for monitoring of buying and selling–which the Bible says the 666 power will do. Digital currencies also give governments ways to essentially force spending by allowing ‘negative interest rates’ on money being held electronically.

As far as Europe’s digital plans go, back in January 2022, the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) put out the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

9:03

EU to be ‘Sheriff’ of BitCoin & Digital Currencies

Will Bitcoin remain unregulated? The European Union does not think it should be and it released a paper titled “Proposal for EU Regulation on Markets in Crypto-Assets.” Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, earlier endorsed EU regulation of crypto and digital currencies. A Belgian declared that the EU was the “new Sheriff in town” to deal with the “wild west” of Bitcoin, blockchain, and other cryptocurrencies. The European Union now also has the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in operation, mainly to deal with financial matters? Will the Europeans end up controlling buying and selling associated with 666 in Revelation 13:16-18? Is Europe taking preliminary steps to do so now? Dr. Thiel address these issues.

Here is a link to our video: EU to be ‘Sheriff’ of BitCoin & Digital Currencies.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office officially started operations on 1 June 2021 (https://www.eppo.europa.eu/en/background).

So, yes, there is an enforcer for 666.

A few years back, my wife Joyce and I visited Sweden, which is almost cashless. We put together a video about its moves towards cashlessness on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel: Sweden going to ‘666’ cashlessness?

The world in general, as well as Europe in particular, is moving more towards a cashless society with digital controls.

Yes, more digital currency use is coming.

The surveilling time of controlling buying and selling-666-is coming.

The Continuing Church of God (CCOG) also put together the following video related to digital currencies on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

14:17

Cashlessness and 1984

The government of Belgium is in the process of ordering small businesses to accept credit cards. In Sweden more and more cashless transactions are occurring. The European Central Bank as well as the government of the United States is working on developing Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). Could this be used for ‘1984’ type monitoring? Is something like this needed for ‘666’ control of buying and selling as warned in the Book of Revelation? Does the European Union now have a unit that could do ‘666’ monitoring? What about the use of gold? Steve Dupuie asks Dr. Thiel various questions related to these topics.

Here is a link to our video: Cashlessness and 1984.

Are you paying attention to what is going on in the world?

Steps towards ‘666’ are clearly happening.

Yes, Europe will adopt some type of digital currency.

The 666 prophecies will be fulfilled.

Probably by 2028.

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

23 items to prophetically watch in 2023 Much is happening. Dr. Thiel points to 23 items to watch (cf. Mark 13:37) in this article. Here is a link to a related sermon:  23 things to prophetically watch in 2023.
Mark of the Beast What is the mark of the Beast? Who is the Beast? What have various ones claimed the mark is? What is the ‘Mark of the Beast’?
The Mark of Antichrist What is the mark of Antichrist? What have various ones claimed? Here is a link to a related sermon What is the ‘Mark of Antichrist’?
Europa, the Beast, and Revelation Where did Europe get its name? What might Europe have to do with the Book of Revelation? What about “the Beast”? Is an emerging European power “the daughter of Babylon”? What is ahead for Europe? Here is a link to a video titled: Can You Prove that the Beast to Come is European?
European Technology and the Beast of Revelation Will the coming European Beast power would use and develop technology that will result in the taking over of the USA and its Anglo-Saxon allies? Is this possible? What does the Bible teach? Here is a related YouTube video: Military Technology and the Beast of Revelation.
Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse What is the pale horse of death and pestilences? What will it bring and when? Here is a link to a related sermon: Fourth Horseman, COVID, and the Rise of the Beast of Revelation. Some shorter related videos may include Amphibian Apocalypse: Threat to Humans? and Zombie Deer Disease is Here! Are the 10 Plagues on Egypt Coming? Here is a version of the article in Spanish: El cuarto jinete de Apocalipsis, el caballo pálido de muerte y pestilencia.
Two Horned Beast of Revelation and 666 Who is 666? This article explains how the COG views this, and compares this to Ellen White. Here is a link to a prophetic video Six Financial Steps Leading to 666?
The Great Monarch: Biblical and Catholic Prophecies Is the ‘Great Monarch’ of Catholic prophecies endorsed or condemned by the Bible? Two sermons of related interest are also available: Great Monarch: Messiah or False Christ? and Great Monarch in 50+ Beast Prophecies.
Persecutions by Church and State This article documents some that have occurred against those associated with the COGs and some prophesied to occur. Will those with the cross be the persecutors or the persecuted–this article has the shocking answer. There is also a YouTube video sermon you can watch: The Coming Persecution of the Church. Here is information in the Spanish language: Persecuciones de la Iglesia y el Estado.
Some Doctrines of Antichrist Are there any doctrines taught outside the Churches of God which can be considered as doctrines of antichrist? This article suggests at least three. It also provides information on 666 and the identity of “the false prophet.” Plus it shows that several Catholic writers seem to warn about an ecumenical antipope that will support heresy. You can also watch a video titled What Does the Bible teach about the Antichrist?
Must the Ten Kings of Revelation 17:12 Rule over Ten Currently Existing Nations? Some claim that these passages refer to a gathering of 10 currently existing nations together, while one group teaches that this is referring to 11 nations getting together. Is that what Revelation 17:12-13 refers to? The ramifications of misunderstanding this are enormous. A related sermon is titled Ten Kings of Revelation and the Great Tribulation.
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse What do each of the four horseman of the Apocalypse represent? Have they began their ride? Did Jesus discuss the any of this? Might their rides coincide with the “beginning of sorrows? Do they start their ride prior to the Great Tribulation? Did Nostradamus or any other ‘private prophets’ write predictions that may mislead people so that they may not understand the truth of one or more of the four horseman? There is also a related YouTube video titled Sorrows and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2023, 2024, or 2025? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede la Gran Tribulación comenzar en el 2020 o 2021? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? A related video is: Great Tribulation: 2026 or 2027? A shorter video is: Can the Great Tribulation start in 2022 or 2023? Notice also: Can Jesus return in 2023 or 2024? Here is a video in the Spanish language: Es El 2021 el año  de La Gran Tribulación o el Grande Reseteo Financiero.
Is a Great Reset Coming? Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum has proposed a societal change that has been basically endorsed by the Vatican and many world leaders. Does the Bible prophesy a major reset? Here is a link to a related video: Will there be a “Great Reset”?
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. Here are links to four related sermons: The Fantastic Gospel of the Kingdom of God!, The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.
Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction Can the USA survive two full presidential terms? In what ways are Joe Biden and Kamala Harris apocalyptic? This book has hundreds of prophecies and scriptures to provide details. A Kindle version is also available and you do not need an actual Kindle device to read it. Why? Amazon will allow you to download it to almost any device: Please click HERE to download one of Amazon s Free Reader Apps. After you go to your free Kindle reader app (or if you already have one or a Kindle), you can go to: Biden-Harris: Prophecies and Destruction (Kindle) to get the book in seconds.