More Signs Pointing to the Coming of the King
In the light of the political arguments taking place both on the campaign trails, especially among the Democrats, and in Washington, I found the following article, written by Louis DeBroux, very interesting. It was posted on January 15 to the Patriot Post website: www.patriotpost.us/articles/67915-americans-more-conservative-as-democrats-turn-hard-left-2020-01-15. Mr. DeBroux writes: "The latest edition of Gallup's annual survey of ideological and political leanings of the American people provides some interesting insights as we approach the 2020 elections. According to the poll's summary, 'As Americans continued to lean more Democratic than Republican in their party preferences in 2019, the ideological balance of the country remained center-right, with 37% of Americans, on average, identifying as conservative during the past year, 35% as moderate and 24% as liberal.' This represents a 2% increase since 2018 of self-described conservatives and a 2% decrease in the number of self-described liberals. The number of moderates stayed the same. That may seem a small fluctuation, but it's a notable one. Nearly three-quarters of Americans identify as conservative or moderate, while less than one-quarter call themselves liberal at a time when half of the Democratic Party identifies as liberal."
Friends, I found this to be a very interesting phenomenon. We hear many politicians advocating for a socialistic platform: free college education, a guarantee of a high-paying job, free healthcare, etc. These are the battle cries of socialism. Everyone should be on an equal plane. But, does socialism actually work? Just look through the pages of history. The socialist revolution began in 1917 in Russia with great gusto, but seventy-five years later, that gusto had evaporated into misery and despair and the socialist-communist system was overthrown. China began the great experiment with socialism-communism in the late 1940's, but that system has greatly changed into a quasi-socialistic system today. Venezuela became the poster-child for socialism on the South American continent, but few of us would want to live there today with its out-of-control inflation and near starvation.
And, here is what we need to remember: a form of socialism was practiced by the Early Church. We read in Acts 4, "All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had." Yet, something caused that to change. And what was that event? It is recorded for us in Acts 5 - the account of Ananias and Sapphira. What a sad story! Selling their property was not the issue - many had done that. Giving money to the work of the church was not the problem - again, many before them had done that. Even keeping a portion of the sale for themselves was not the problem. So, what was the problem? It was the pretense that they had given all the proceeds from the sale to the church, yet had, in fact, kept a portion for themselves. Their sin was that of the greed of the human heart. And, friends, it is that sin that eventually causes the demise of socialism. So, Gallup's polling was encouraging that most Americans are not ready to fully buy into the promises of socialism. Yes, democracy has its problems, but those problems pale when compared to the eventualities of a socialistic system.
A second article that attracted my attention was posted on the Prophecy News Watch website. The article is titled, "Amazon's Pay By Hand - Fast Tracking The Mark Of The Beast." The article begins: "Amazon is in the early stages of developing a technology that essentially turns your hand into a credit card. It is likely to tie in with its previously filed patent that includes a 'non-contact biometric identification system' that features a 'hand scanner' to produce a picture of a person's palm. The company is already working with Visa on testing out terminals which would be placed in brick-and-mortar stores and allow shoppers to link their credit card information to their hands. They could then pay for purchases with their palms, without having to pull out a card or phone. The company plans to first pitch the terminals to coffee shops, fast-food restaurants and other merchants that do lots of repeat business with their customers.
"MasterCard, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Synchrony Financial have also expressed interest in working with Amazon on the new technology. MasterCard coincidentally just certified the first contactless biometric payment card from Thales Group that uses fingerprints. The certification is a key milestone for the introduction of biometric cards to a larger market and serve major banks demands for commercial roll outs in 2020. It is expected that 2020 will be an important year in the adoption of biometric payments as technology, banking and big business merge many applications for larger consumer acceptance."
Now what is so significant about a palm reader to pay bills? You might remember what John describes in Revelation about commerce at the end of the age. Speaking of the powers of the false prophet and of the Antichrist, John writes: "He (speaking of the false prophet) also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast (speaking of the Antichrist) or the number of his name." (Revelation 13:16-17). For a long time prophetic scholars have pondered how such a system might actually come into existence. Well, the time for pondering is over. Now we have a good idea of how it will happen. The implanting of a microchip is still being refined and practiced in many places around the world. This microchip, inserted under the skin of your wrist, basically contains information about who you are. As a person grows older, more information is added to this chip. One could easily see the time coming when if a person did not have a chip, he would not be able to conduct commerce; he might even lose his identity. Friends, we are living in a time when those previous questions of "how can this be?" are now just a reality. It is another sign that we are getting closer to the coming of the King.
One final article that I recommend can be found at: www.toddhampson.com/the-hidden-connection. The main thought of this article is that the real battle in our world today is between nationalism and globalism. He writes: "This figure is none other than the antichrist. In the lawless pandemonium, economic collapse, anarchy and societal free-fall following the rapture, the world will long for a Mr. Fix-it-man - a charismatic global leader who will promise to bring order out of the chaos. Satan has always had such a man at the ready - awaiting his time to finally rule the entire world. .. With the Christians gone, the globalists will help put their man into place. The one-world agenda will finally be adopted and implementation will begin. ... The two things holding back such a world government from being implemented are the Church (all true believers in the world) and the lack of a global catastrophe. Those two conditions will be met simultaneously. When the rapture takes place it will remove the restraining influence of the church and provide the world-wide instability needed for the globalists to make their long-prophesied end-time move."
Friends, these are amazing times in which we live. It is God's agenda that is being followed. He is in control. It is His Story that is being told - and, it seems to me, that we are nearing the end of that Story.
Friends, I found this to be a very interesting phenomenon. We hear many politicians advocating for a socialistic platform: free college education, a guarantee of a high-paying job, free healthcare, etc. These are the battle cries of socialism. Everyone should be on an equal plane. But, does socialism actually work? Just look through the pages of history. The socialist revolution began in 1917 in Russia with great gusto, but seventy-five years later, that gusto had evaporated into misery and despair and the socialist-communist system was overthrown. China began the great experiment with socialism-communism in the late 1940's, but that system has greatly changed into a quasi-socialistic system today. Venezuela became the poster-child for socialism on the South American continent, but few of us would want to live there today with its out-of-control inflation and near starvation.
And, here is what we need to remember: a form of socialism was practiced by the Early Church. We read in Acts 4, "All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had." Yet, something caused that to change. And what was that event? It is recorded for us in Acts 5 - the account of Ananias and Sapphira. What a sad story! Selling their property was not the issue - many had done that. Giving money to the work of the church was not the problem - again, many before them had done that. Even keeping a portion of the sale for themselves was not the problem. So, what was the problem? It was the pretense that they had given all the proceeds from the sale to the church, yet had, in fact, kept a portion for themselves. Their sin was that of the greed of the human heart. And, friends, it is that sin that eventually causes the demise of socialism. So, Gallup's polling was encouraging that most Americans are not ready to fully buy into the promises of socialism. Yes, democracy has its problems, but those problems pale when compared to the eventualities of a socialistic system.
A second article that attracted my attention was posted on the Prophecy News Watch website. The article is titled, "Amazon's Pay By Hand - Fast Tracking The Mark Of The Beast." The article begins: "Amazon is in the early stages of developing a technology that essentially turns your hand into a credit card. It is likely to tie in with its previously filed patent that includes a 'non-contact biometric identification system' that features a 'hand scanner' to produce a picture of a person's palm. The company is already working with Visa on testing out terminals which would be placed in brick-and-mortar stores and allow shoppers to link their credit card information to their hands. They could then pay for purchases with their palms, without having to pull out a card or phone. The company plans to first pitch the terminals to coffee shops, fast-food restaurants and other merchants that do lots of repeat business with their customers.
"MasterCard, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Synchrony Financial have also expressed interest in working with Amazon on the new technology. MasterCard coincidentally just certified the first contactless biometric payment card from Thales Group that uses fingerprints. The certification is a key milestone for the introduction of biometric cards to a larger market and serve major banks demands for commercial roll outs in 2020. It is expected that 2020 will be an important year in the adoption of biometric payments as technology, banking and big business merge many applications for larger consumer acceptance."
Now what is so significant about a palm reader to pay bills? You might remember what John describes in Revelation about commerce at the end of the age. Speaking of the powers of the false prophet and of the Antichrist, John writes: "He (speaking of the false prophet) also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast (speaking of the Antichrist) or the number of his name." (Revelation 13:16-17). For a long time prophetic scholars have pondered how such a system might actually come into existence. Well, the time for pondering is over. Now we have a good idea of how it will happen. The implanting of a microchip is still being refined and practiced in many places around the world. This microchip, inserted under the skin of your wrist, basically contains information about who you are. As a person grows older, more information is added to this chip. One could easily see the time coming when if a person did not have a chip, he would not be able to conduct commerce; he might even lose his identity. Friends, we are living in a time when those previous questions of "how can this be?" are now just a reality. It is another sign that we are getting closer to the coming of the King.
One final article that I recommend can be found at: www.toddhampson.com/the-hidden-connection. The main thought of this article is that the real battle in our world today is between nationalism and globalism. He writes: "This figure is none other than the antichrist. In the lawless pandemonium, economic collapse, anarchy and societal free-fall following the rapture, the world will long for a Mr. Fix-it-man - a charismatic global leader who will promise to bring order out of the chaos. Satan has always had such a man at the ready - awaiting his time to finally rule the entire world. .. With the Christians gone, the globalists will help put their man into place. The one-world agenda will finally be adopted and implementation will begin. ... The two things holding back such a world government from being implemented are the Church (all true believers in the world) and the lack of a global catastrophe. Those two conditions will be met simultaneously. When the rapture takes place it will remove the restraining influence of the church and provide the world-wide instability needed for the globalists to make their long-prophesied end-time move."
Friends, these are amazing times in which we live. It is God's agenda that is being followed. He is in control. It is His Story that is being told - and, it seems to me, that we are nearing the end of that Story.
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