Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

_The Coming Monetary Collapse & Rise of a New Economic Order
Sep 5th, 2020
CommentaryBY BRITT
Categories: Contemporary Issues

Since the arrival of COVID-19 and the subsequent decision to lockdown entire cities and nations, world economic activity has significantly decreased. When normal recessions strike, they typically involve only one nation or a single region.

But the COVID Recession has hit the whole world at once. This is the first time every nation has simultaneously seen a decline in output since the Great Depression.

Despite the scale of this economic disaster, many economists are calling for a quick V-shaped recovery once the coronavirus is brought under control. But is this likely? No. Even if the virus disappears tomorrow, we won't see a V-shaped recovery. Why? Because of central bank policies and unrestrained government spending.

The world's central banks (the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, and others) have made reckless policy decisions for decades. But their bad policy decisions kicked into overdrive following the Great Recession of 2008-2009.

After September 11th, central banks pushed out artificially low interest rates. These low rates, along with other poorly thought out government policies, blew a massive housing bubble. When the bubble burst, central bankers and politicians rewarded corrupt and incompetent bankers and business executives with huge bailouts.

Unrestrained by a gold standard, they created new currency to fill the holes created by bad decisions, mismanagement, and misallocation of resources. They propped up a broken financial system and blew yet another asset bubble in the process.

When COVID popped that bubble, we saw a new round of bailouts and central bank schemes to elevate financial markets and avoid the inevitable. We also saw direct government payments to individuals in the hope of "stimulating" the economy. This is only possible because governments can create new currency at will.

The U.S. dollar and every other national currency in the world is a fiat currency. This means they aren't backed by anything but a government promise. They only have value because governments say they do. They're nothing but pieces of paper or ones and zeros in a computer, and that means governments can create as much currency as they want to with the click of a button.

Fiat currencies don't have the value of those backed by gold, silver, or other hard assets. This means politicians and central bankers can create new currency out of thin air to fund an endless array of stimulus programs, welfare benefits, and schemes to bailout and enrich their friends.

For decades, and especially since the Great Recession, these politicians and central bankers have done everything in their power to avoid the pain of a recession or even a protracted stock market decline. But no matter how hard they try to avoid the inevitable, a day of reckoning is coming.

They've distorted the free market, and they can't hold off the consequences forever. The bill will soon come due. COVID didn't cause the coming crisis. It only accelerated it.

The Road Before Us

All these foolish government policies have put the global economy in a no-win situation. As a result, only two options are left:

Option #1): Deflation - The Great Depression is the most famous example of economic deflation. In a deflationary spiral, credit contracts and the overall money supply shrinks. People cut spending, and workers lose their jobs. Debt levels become a massive burden. Businesses fail and bankruptcies rise. Unemployment spikes and breadlines form.

A deflationary spiral is a painful event for all of society. It foments riots and calls for revolution. The pain of deflation is necessary to clear the economy of bad debt and poorly managed companies. Nevertheless, central bankers and politicians try to avoid deflation at all costs. Why? Because the temporary and necessary economic pain threatens their power.

Option #2): Big Inflation or Hyperinflation - The Weimar Republic gave us the most famous example of hyperinflation. Crushed under a mountain of post-war debt and reparations, the German republic printed more and more currency to meet its obligations. The result was a massive loss of purchasing power for Germany's currency - the mark.

Prices rose quickly to reflect the new reality. A 160 mark loaf of bread at the end of 1922 cost over 200 billion marks less than a year later. In one story from that time, a woman carried a wheelbarrow of marks to the bakery just to buy a loaf of bread. When she went into the bakery, a thief stole her wheelbarrow, but he left the pile of worthless marks. That's how quickly the currency lost its value.

All this happened because an unrestrained government vastly increased the supply of its currency, and basic economics says when supply increases without an increase in demand, price falls. In other words, the citizens of Germany quickly figured out that what they thought was "money" was nothing more than worthless pieces of paper.

The mark wasn't anchored to gold or silver or anything of real value. Once this reality came to light, the world lost all faith in the mark, and its purchasing power plummeted. Eventually, it became worthless.

In the last few months, central bankers and politicians have flooded the world with trillions of dollars in new currency. Their answer to every financial problem is to throw more and more currency at an ever-expanding list of government aid programs and targeted bailouts. Like Weimar Germany, the world is simply printing more and more currency to in an effort to solve its financial problems.

At best, the result will be a 1970's-style stagflation with high unemployment and runaway inflation. At worst, we'll see a total collapse of the purchasing power of all fiat currencies relative to gold, silver, and other hard assets. Once again, it will cost wheelbarrows of dollars, euros, or yen to buy a single loaf of bread. Unsurprisingly, the Bible says such a time will come - a time when an entire day's wages will buy nothing more than a loaf of bread (Revelation 6:6).

Which Road Will We Choose?

Politicians and central bankers will never accept Option #1. This is because deflation poses an immediate threat to their power and position. Clearing the system of bad debt is necessary for a healthy economy. However, the pain it creates will lead voters to demand new leadership. That frightens the politicians and central bankers who love their positions of power and prestige.

Faced with a deflationary spiral, Option #2 will seduce them. They'll buy into the belief they can "engineer" a recovery while managing and controlling inflation. However, history has proven central planning doesn't work. In the end, they'll lose control, and all the world's fiat currencies will collapse.

We're already seeing the early stages of this crisis. As governments around the world call for bailouts of businesses, local governments, and the unemployed, we see the cost of their big government policies reflected in the surging prices of gold and silver. The chances of a global Weimar-style hyperinflation are much more serious than the public believes.

What's Next?

Once the world experiences a massive inflationary spiral, the current monetary system (in place since 1971) will come to an end. A new monetary system will rise from the ashes. What will it look like? We don't know for sure. But in all likelihood, it will be built upon some sort of digital currency. Already the world's central banks are lining up to launch their own cryptocurrencies.

China is currently testing its own state-sponsored cryptocurrency, and dozens of other nations have already announced plans to launch their own. Just last week, news broke of the U.S. Federal Reserve partnering with MIT to develop its own digital currency.

If government cryptocurrency replaces paper currency, individual freedom and liberty will disappear. Governments will be able to "turn off" an individual's cryptocurrency. That means if you do something the government doesn't approve of, they'll be able to shut down your ability to buy and sell. This shouldn't surprise you either.

The Bible says this is precisely what will happen in the end times. The Antichrist will establish a global system of commerce. His system will play a part in every economic transaction on earth. It will be so dominant, no one will be able to buy or sell anything without approval from the Antichrist (Revelation 13:17).

We're fast approaching a time the prophets warned about. We're in the midst of a global pandemic (Luke 21:11). Israel is back in the land (Jeremiah 23:7-8). The Jewish people are back in Jerusalem (Luke 21:24-28). And the Gospel is being preached throughout the world (Matthew 24:14).

The end times are drawing near. The tribulation, the Antichrist, and global government are part of the world's immediate future. But don't despair, this also means Jesus is on the brink of return (Revelation 22:20). He will establish an everlasting kingdom (Daniel 2:44) with no more death or crying or pain (Revelation 21:4). So keep your eyes fixed on Him!

_Let the Headlines Speak
Sep 5th, 2020
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines

For The Full Story Click on the Individual News Item

Kosovo, Serbia to open embassies in Jerusalem
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that Kosovo has agreed to open its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, making it the first country with a Muslim majority to do so. The Kosovo embassy announcement came shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the two countries had agreed to establish diplomatic ties following a similar announcement by US President Donald Trump in Washington.

IAEA: Iran’s uranium stockpile is 10 times over limit set by nuke deal
Iran’s stockpile of low enriched uranium is more than ten times over the limit set by the Iran deal, according to a quarterly report by the International Atomic Energy Agency released Friday. Those documents showed that Iran had violated the terms of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, known as the Iran nuclear deal…

Creepy ‘Geofence’ Finds Anyone Who Went Near a Crime Scene
In 2018…Jorge Molina was arrested and jailed for six days on suspicion of killing another man. Police in Avondale, Arizona…told him they knew “one hundred percent, without a doubt” his phone was at the scene of the crime, based on data from Google. In fact, Molina wasn’t there. He’d simply lent an old phone to the man police later arrested. The phone was still signed into his Google account.

Why there are fears that Ethiopia could break up
The feud between Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the ruling party in the strategically important Tigray region is escalating, raising fears of military confrontation and the break-up of Africa’s second most-populous nation. The tensions revolve around the regional government’s decision to press ahead with organising its own election for the Tigray parliament on Wednesday…

India and China agree to ease tension on border
India and China said on Saturday they had agreed to work towards reducing tensions along their contested border, following a meeting of the defense ministers of the nuclear-armed Asian giants. Both sides deployed additional forces along the frontier running through the western Himalayas after a clash in June, during which 20 Indian soldiers were killed in hand-to-hand fighting.

Sudan declares 3-month state of emergency over deadly floods
Sudan’s Security and Defence Council has declared a national state of emergency for three months because of floods that have killed 99 people this year. The council also designated Sudan a natural disaster zone…in addition to the deaths, floods this year have injured 46 people, inflicted damage on more than half a million people and caused the total and partial collapse of more than 100,000 homes…

World Bank cancels loan for Lebanon’s Bisri dam, effective immediately
The World Bank…said it had canceled $244 million in undisbursed funds for the Bisri Dam project in Lebanon after repeatedly raising concerns about the project since January…the World Bank said it had notified the Lebanese government about its decision, which takes effect immediately. It said it has also repeatedly underscored the need for “an open, transparent and inclusive consultative process.”

Nearly 200 000 people affected by major flooding after record rains hit Chad
Some 190 000 people across Chad have been affected by severe flooding triggered by record downpours since early August. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), nearly 120 000 of these victims have been displaced– much of the affected were in the capital city of N’Djamena, where 10 people have died across seven departments due to flash flood-related incidents.

Sea of Galilee reaches highest level in 27 years, while heat wave breaks records – Israel News 
Lake Kinneret’s water level in September measured the highest for the month in 27 years, reaching 209.535 meters below sea level.

556K Louisianans Without Clean Water, 200K Have No Power After Laura
t’s been one week since Hurricane Laura thrashed the southwest coast of Louisiana as a powerful Category 4 storm, and residents of the Bayou State continue struggling with Laura’s after effects. Among them are major health concerns with continued loss of power and half a million people without clean water.

Dozens killed in Nepal’s biggest natural disaster of the year
At least 14 people have been killed and 41 others are missing after severe flash floods and a massive landslide hit northwest Nepal’s Baglung district this week. Rescuers noted that the death toll may increase as they search through remains of dozens of houses swept away by waters or buried in the mud.

Haishen becomes season’s first Super Typhoon, landfall expected in South Korea
Typhoon “Haishen” underwent a rapid intensification phase on September 3, 2020, and became the first super typhoon of the 2020 Pacific typhoon season. The system is forecast to pass over the Ryukyu Islands, west of Kyushu, make landfall near Busan, South Korea early September 7 (UTC), and enter North Korea on the same day.

Russia, China, Turkey And Israel Are All Jockeying For Power In Middle East As Mediterranean Ocean Becomes End Times Geopolitical Hotspot
In your King James Bible, we see the term ‘great sea’ mentioned 13 times, and it is referring to, of course, the massive Mediterranean ocean. Scripture also tell us that the full size of the land God gave to Abraham borders on the Mediterranean, and Daniel further tells us that this is where the 4 beasts who are political end times kings originate from. This is referring to nations that will rise to power in the time of Jacob’s trouble. So is it any wonder that right now we are seeing many key players from end times prophecy all trying to take control of the region?

The Normalization Of Pedophilia By Liberals Is Happening Right Now With One California University Already Teaching That To Their Students
Very quietly over the past few years the Social Justice Left has been working and lobbying to change the classification of pedophilia from a deviant mental sickness to a sexual orientation. Here at NTEB we have been warning you about this for some time.

19 aliens charged with voter fraud in North Carolina following ICE investigation
Nineteen foreign nationals face federal charges in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina for illegally voting in the 2016 federal elections, according to federal charges publicly announced on Wednesday. These charges are the latest indictments to result from an ongoing years-long federal criminal investigation being conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Raleigh office.

Ye Must Be Born Again
Sep 5th, 2020
CommentaryDr. Harry A. Ironside
Categories: Bible Salvation

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3: 3-7)

In this passage, we see what we once were, before we were converted. Verse 3 describes the lives we then lived. Verse 4 tells of the marvelous way in which God our Savior has intervened. He has revealed Himself to us in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have been justified and made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Verse 5 tells us of the work that takes place within every converted soul. Altogether apart from human effort, God has saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.

It is the word “regeneration” upon which I want you to fix your attention. This word is found only twice in our English Bible, and the word is never found anywhere else but in these two instances—here and in Matthew 19, verse 28, where we read:

Ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

The word “regeneration” means a second birth or a new creation. In Matthew, the Lord was speaking of the earth’s new birth, when the present distressing circumstances will pass away and new conditions will prevail, at the coming of the Son of man to reign in righteousness over all this lower creation. That will be the time when men shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruninghooks, and the nations shall learn war no more. Then every man will dwell in peace under his own vine and fig tree. It will be the time when Messiah will be King over all the earth, and rule the nations with the inflexible iron rod of righteousness. That will indeed be earth’s regeneration, a new creation, a new condition of things for this poor world.

But in the epistle to Titus, the only other place where we have the word “regeneration” in the Bible, the reference is to the work that takes place in an individual when he is born again through believing the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look again at verse 3, where the apostle speaks of our past condition, we who are now regenerate. In those days we were deluded by the devil. Our hearts were filled with unholy desires. We gave ourselves to many things that were displeasing to God and hurtful to ourselves. “We were sometimes foolish,” says the apostle. In spite of the fact that we are now regenerate, we are sometimes foolish still. How easily we give way to temptations! How readily we allow ourselves to come under the power of worldly things! But characteristically, the days of our folly ended when we came to Christ. Before that, we were indeed foolish. We were wickedly disobedient, following our own natural, fleshly desires, living unabashed in our sinful ways, dishonoring God’s holy name. Many of the evil things to which we gave ourselves obtained power over us because of Satan’s deception. He, the arch deceiver, had taken us captive at his will. In those days of our deception, when we thought of the Christian life, it seemed to us anything but desirable. We imagined that Christians must necessarily live very gloomy, unhappy lives, and that the only people who thoroughly enjoyed life were those who lived for the world and its follies.

But now all this is changed. We have been brought to know Christ. This is true of many of you. You heard the voice of God calling you to repentance; you turned to Him, confessing your sin; you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ; you believed the Gospel, and you have now become His children through “the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”

Born of Water
In the account of our Lord’s interview with Nicodemus, as related in the third chapter of John, we are told how he startled the Jewish doctor of the law by declaring that he must be born again, born of water and of the Spirit. Do not make the mistake of supposing that “born of water” means baptismal regeneration. There is no such thing taught in the Word of God. Water, throughout all of John’s writings particularly, and also in many other parts of the Bible, is the recognized symbol of the Word of God, and this passage in Titus makes it perfectly clear. The new birth is by the Word and the Spirit. This is the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.

In John 4, we find the Lord speaking to a poor, sinful woman at the well of Sychar. She was outside the pale of respectability. He knew all about her, about all her failures, but His heart went out to her, and He desired to make of that woman a new creature. He did not talk to her in the same way as He did to Nicodemus. He spoke to her of the unsatisfactory character of all that this world has to offer, and in contrast with that He presented the preciousness of eternal life, and He told her that eternal life would be hers when she received the water that He would give. You remember His words:

Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:13)

Now, whatever water means here, it means exactly the same in chapter 3, for here we are told that eternal life is received when we drink of the water that Jesus gives, and in John 3 we are said to be born of water and of the Spirit. To be born again and to receive eternal life are really one and the same thing. When we were born naturally, we received natural life; when we were born from above, we received spiritual or eternal life.

The Water of Life
The figure that Jesus used is not a new one. That is why Nicodemus should have understood better than he did. In Psalm 119, verse 9, David says, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.” Jeremiah chided the people of Israel in the name of the Lord, saying, “They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Ezekiel tells how God will sprinkle clean water upon those who turn to Him, cleaning them from all their idolatry and their filthiness, and He will take away their stony hearts and give them hearts of flesh. This is what He does when people are born again.

Farther on in this Gospel, the Lord Jesus says, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink” (John 7:37). He offers the living waters to all who will receive it. In the book of the Revelation we read, “Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17). The water of life is the glorious Gospel message that comes down from the throne of God and flows out into the deserts of this world, bringing life and healing wherever it goes. In the book of Proverbs we read, “As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country” (Proverbs 25:25). That is exactly what the Gospel is. The very word means good news, the good news that Christ Jesus came down from Heaven to save all poor sinners who will put their trust in Him. This is the living water. Receive it, take it into your heart, and you will be born of water and of the Spirit.

And with this agree the words of the apostle James. He says in James, chapter one and verse 18, “Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” How are we begotten? By the Word, the Word of truth. Then the apostle Peter tells us the same thing. He says:

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you. (1 Peter 1:23-25)

There it is. James says we are begotten of the Word; Peter says we are born again by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever. And so, believing the Word, we receive the living Word. It is the Word that the Spirit of God uses in order to produce the new life.

The Water Cleanses
When we are born again, we are cleansed from our old sins, so the thought of washing is also connected with the Word. Think again of the passage I quoted from the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm: “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.” As we walk in obedience to the Word of God, we are kept clean and free from the defiling things of this world. This, too, is what Ezekiel emphasized in chapter 36, verses 25 to 27:

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

This should all have been clear to Nicodemus, but he failed to understand it. Then in Ephesians, chapter five and verses 25-26, we read:

Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.

So it is by the Word that we are born again and by the Word we are washed. The old things that were once so dishonoring to God are washed out of our lives when we trust in Christ. We should never again be characterized by our former habits and behavior.

Do not forget that new birth is something more than just accepting certain doctrines. It is receiving Christ and believing the Gospel, as a result of which we are created anew in Christ Jesus, and we receive eternal life with all its new and godlike desires. God expects of you who have trusted Christ something different from what was found in your lives in the old days before you were saved. Old habits should disappear, and they will if you let the Spirit of God have His way in your life. Do not be discouraged because you find you do not become perfect immediately. No Christian is perfect, but we are all going on to perfection. Those of us who have been converted many years have to say with Paul:

Not as thou I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

When you are converted, the Holy Spirit of God begins His work of renewal, and it goes on all through life—the renewing of the mind. The Spirit of God uses the Word, as we meditate upon it, so that our hearts’ desires are changed, and more and more we come to understand His will. As we walk in obedience to that will, we grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We may see from this how important it is that we daily study the Word of God and spend time before Him in prayer, looking to Him to open up His truth and apply it to our own hearts and consciences. If we are consistent and persistent in thus seeking to know the mind of the Lord, our lives will be transformed as the Holy Spirit works in and through us, giving the Word as we need it for our food, and using it too as water for the cleansing of our ways.

Before the blessed Lord went home to Heaven, He promised that the Holy Spirit would come to carry on the work that He had begun, and when He took His place at the right hand of the Father, as Peter says, “He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear” (Acts 2:33). He was referring to the Holy Spirit, who was acting in such mighty power on the day of Pentecost. He is the blessed Comforter who has now come to indwell each believer, and as we yield ourselves to His guidance, we are enabled to live lives of victory and to enjoy fellowship with our Father in Heaven.

Do not be content, dear convert, in days to come, just to look back and say, “So many years ago on such and such an occasion I was born again.” Do not be forever thinking of that happy day when Jesus washed your sins away. It is all right to sing that beautiful hymn. I love to sing it, too, but I do not want to have to look back to all my happy days. Every day ought to be a happy day, and will be if we go on in fellowship with God. “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” As you let the Spirit of God have His way in your life you will be conscious of the renewing of the Holy Ghost changing your affections and desires, fixing your mind and heart on things above.

Calvary
In the darkness, blindly groping,
Cursed by sin, I wandered long,
Christ-rejecting, vainly hoping
Peace to find in paths of wrong;
Till, while hastening to destruction,
Seeking that which is but dross,
Passing by I saw on Calvary
Jesus dying on the Cross.

I will love Thee, Savior.
Drawing near in awe-struck wonder,
Scenes most fearful met my eye;
Lightning flashing, rolling thunder,
Scoffs and groans of agony;
Lifted high ‘twixt earth and Heaven,
As a Lamb for sinners slain,
I beheld One, marred and wounded,
Crowned with thorns and racked with pain.

While I gazed He cried in anguish,
“Why, oh God, dost Thou forsake?
Why must I in sorrow languish?
Why the cup of Judgment take?”
Quick my heart gave back the answer,
For my sins His blood He gave—
He His life could not deliver
If my soul from wrath He’d save.

Broken-hearted, yet triumphant,
Fast His life-blood ebbed away,
As He cried! “My work is finished!
Now the sinner’s debt I pay!”
As the Roman’s spear-point pierced Him
From His side a crimson stream
Issued forth to heal the nations—
Plunging in, I was made clean.

My sins were laid on Jesus,
When He died on Calvary.

Revelation 11:5-7 - Exploring Revelation
Sep 5th, 2020
Exploring RevelationArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Exhortation;Book Study

Last week we began to look at God's two witnesses. Remember, the moment the Church is raptured there will not be a living believer on the face of the earth. We also know that God will never leave himself without a witness. In verse four we see that these two witnesses are lights that shine forth the truth of God.

In that dark hour these two witnesses go forth and preach the gospel, multitudes rebel in fury against God's truth, multitudes respond in faith and obedience. Those who are saved are, for the most part, martyred and end up in heaven before the throne of God.

In that hour of rebellion against God, men seek to kill these two witnesses, the hearing of the truth only hardens their hearts against God. In that situation God gives His witnesses special powers. In verse five, we see they have power to shut up the rain, power to turn the waters into blood and power to send plagues upon the earth. When men seek to kill them, their mouths into flame throwers to kill those who try to harm them.

A great battle rages in the earth, multitudes are saved and martyred, ending up in heaven around the throne of God. Multitudes reject the truth and rebel against God and die as the fury of God is poured out on the earth. 

Now we come to the mid-tribulation point, we read in verse 7, "And when they shall have finished their testimony", God's servants have a divinely given task to do and they are immortal until that task is done. What a thrilling thing it is to be servant of God! How wonderful to know that until your task is finished you are immortal!  Paul Said, "I have fought a good fight, I have have finished my course, (his divinely given task) Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day", there is nothing in heaven or earth as wonderful as being a servant of God!!!  Are you a servant of God?

We read in verse 7, "the beast that ascended out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them". Now the Lord in His sovereign wisdom and perfect plan allows the enemy to have his way. "And he shall overcome them, and kill them". Satan has won, God has been defeated, God,s people have lost out?  No!  In three and  a half days they will be raised to life and caught into the presence of God.

This appears to be victory of darkness over light, of evil over righeousness, of hell over heaven, of Satan over God. We are are living in an hour when that seems to be more and more the case. Oh, understand, that is only an illusion, that is like soap bubble, it lasts for a second and then is gone forever. The temporary will one day soon give way to the eternal. Satan's appeal is always just like a soap bubble, it comes to test the heart of man, to reveal what is really there.

Is your heart set on that which is temporary and soon to pass away? Or is your heart set on the living God?  My friend would you seriously answer to your own heart this question.

Next week we will look at verse eight.

People in Israel are Preparing Show - Bread for Service in Third Temple
Sep 5th, 2020
CommentaryRIVKAH LAMBERT ADLER/BREAKING ISRAEL NEWS
Categories: The Nation Of Israel

Les Saidel, a veteran immigrant to Israel, originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, likely knows more about the Biblical showbread than anyone else on earth.

 Called Lechem Hapanim in Hebrew (literally, bread of the faces), the ancient art of preparing the showbread for use in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem has not been practiced for close to 2000 years.

 During the Second Temple period, the showbreads were baked by the Garmu family of Levi'im (Levites). Each Friday, the Garmu family baked a new set of 12 loaves. Each of the loaves represented one of the 12 Tribes. They were placed on the Temple's golden shulchan (table) in two stacks of six and they remained on the shulchan all week.

According to Saidel, these special breads had miracles associated with them during the time the Holy Temples stood in Jerusalem. Despite the fact that the breads sat out uncovered for seven days, they miraculously remained fresh and warm, even a week later.

 The showbreads were replaced every Friday and the previous week's showbreads were distributed among the incoming and outgoing shifts of kohanim (priests assigned to work in the Temple). Saidel explained that this amounted to 400 or 500 people eating from these 12 loaves. Despite the fact that each kohen (priest) received only a small amount of bread, it miraculously was as filling as if they had eaten an entire meal.

Saidel has lived in Israel for 35 years. For the first 25 years after making aliyah (immigrating to Israel), he worked as a computer programmer. Given the combination of the bursting of the .com bubble and a bit of a mid-life crisis after finding himself without a job, Saidel returned to his childhood passion of baking 11 years ago.

 "I fell in love with whole grain bread," he reported. He and his wife "opened an artisan bakery serving healthy organic breads and baked goods." Over the last five years, their business pivoted from primarily baking and selling bread to mostly offering baking workshops for families, Jewish and Christian tourists and school groups.

 The Saidels started out teaching about baking challah (the traditional braided Shabbat bread) and sourdough breads. In 2017, Les created a workshop called Breads of the Beit HaMikdash (Temple) which launched his passion for researching the history of bread in the Holy Temple.

Today, the Showbread Institute, established in 2018 and based in Israel's Shomron (Samaria), exists to "to serve as an umbrella organization for the research, publication and educational activities... and to reacquaint the People of Israel with the Temple Service in preparation for the rebuilding of the Third Temple, speedily in our days," the website explains.

Unfortunately, the Garmu family who used to bake the Temple's showbread didn't record how they did it. "The secret of the Lechem Hapanim was lost after the Second Temple," Saidel explained.

 He's on a mission to recover all the lost secrets.

The showbread is the iconic bread of the Beit HaMikdash. I've been studying for six years and still don't know half of it." There is an entire tractate in the Talmud, over a hundred pages long, that deals with breads in the Beit HaMikdash. "It's an incredibly complicated bread, filled with lots of symbolism and life lessons," he shared.

The bagel is often thought of as Jewish bread, but Saidel explained that the bagel was copied from a Christian bread prepared for Lent. Challah is also not originally a Jewish bread. "From all the breads in Jewish history, the only one that is Jewish is showbread. All the others were copied and not originally Jewish. The showbread is [historically] unprecedented. It was a breathtaking bread."

Saidel authored the forthcoming book The Jewish Bread Bible which covers the history of bread from the time of Adam and Eve to the present day. He expects it to be published before the end of 2020.

Among his lessons are that three important aspects of the Temple service symbolized a different blessing. The menorah symbolized the blessing of spirituality and the light of the Torah. The ketoret (incense) symbolized the blessing of prayer and defense against evil influences and the golden shulchan on which the showbread was placed symbolized the blessing of wealth, abundance and prosperity.

 Why is any of this relevant now? Saidel explained that, "We have to learn how they did things in the Temple to be ready for the Third Temple.

Bread is an excellent medium to teach people how they did the avodah (service) in the Beit HaMikdash," he commented. In their live workshops, participants have the chance to mix and bake and smell the bread and the levonah (frankincense) associated with it.

"We don't just bake. Everyone gets a workstation. As we're doing each thing, I explain the reasoning and symbolism: why the salt has to be sea salt; why it was the shape it was; why the water was lukewarm. Nothing was random in the Beit HaMikdash. Everything was designed to evoke an emotion or spiritual thought," he elaborated."When people do the workshop, they are transported back 2000 years. It's a multi-sensory experience," he said.

As a Brook, And as the stream of Brooks That Pass Away. Job 6:15
Sep 5th, 2020
Morning MeditationF.B. Meyer
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational;Book Study

JOB complains of his three friends. He was glad when they first came to his side, as likely to yield him comfort in his sore distress. Instead of this, however, they began probing his heart and searching his life, to find the secret sin on account of which his heavy troubles had befallen him. Their philosophy was at fault. They held that special misfortune is always the result of special sin; and since there was nothing in Job's outward conduct to account for his awful sufferings, they felt that he was hiding some secret defection, which they urged him to confess. Job felt that in all this they cruelly misunderstood him, and compares them in these words to one of the desert streams that are choked with ice and snow in the time of the winter rains, but dwindle and dry up on the first approach of summer. And when the weary caravans come to their banks, lo, their bed is a mere heap of stones. "They come thither and are confounded."

Is it not so with human friendships? We hoped that they would quench the raging thirst of our souls; this hope increases when they draw nigh us in days of sorrow; but how often they fail us ‑‑ stones for bread, scorpions for fish, and scorching pebbles instead of water‑brooks. How great a contrast to the love and friendship of Jesus! Not like a brook that dries in the time of drought, but like a well of water springing up within the heart for ever. He does not merely give consolation and sympathy, but He is what He gives. He imparts Himself. His promise chases away our fears as his Spirit reminds us of the words, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Nothing gives Him greater joy than to be the perfect circle of which earth's friendships are broken arcs.