• Mideast Analyst: Six Reasons to Worry About the Iranian Nuclear Deal  
• Iran, North Korea Working on ICBM 'for Nukes' 
• Israel's New Strategic Position 
• Watchmen Warning: Out of Control 
• Is America's Funeral Looming?  
• The Implosion of America: Explosions Number Three and Four  
• Daily Jot: Self-Indulgence vs Christ Centered 
• Daily Devotion: Here for You
• Featured Article: Dispensational Truth: Part I 

I commend to your attention a column today by Jeffrey Goldberg, a widely respected Mideast analyst. While I don't always agree with him on policy matters, his six concerns about the Iran deal are right on point.Excerpts:

1). The deal isn't done. Remember the photos from Geneva of smiling foreign ministers slapping backs and hugging in celebration of their epic achievement? Well, nothing was actually signed. The deal is not, as of this moment, even operational.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki was asked a question last week about when the deal might actually take effect. "The next step here is a continuation of technical discussions at a working level so that we can essentially tee up the implementation of the agreement. So that would involve the P5+1 - a commission of the P5+1 experts working with the Iranians and the IAEA," she said, referring to the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany and the International Atomic Energy Agency. "Obviously, once that's - those technical discussions are worked through, I guess the clock would start."

Focus on those last words for a second: "I guess the clock would start." Do words like those make you worried, or is it just me? What this means is that Iran, at this moment, is still not compelled to freeze any of its nuclear program in place. I'm not sure why American negotiators would leave Geneva without having a fully implemented agreement. I understand that the technical hurdles to implementation are daunting. But equally daunting is the realization that the Iranians are going about their business as if they've promised nothing.

2.) Momentum for sanctions is waning. It's true that the economic relief the Iranians will receive in this deal is modest, but it is also true that many nations, many companies and the Iranians themselves are seeing this agreement as the beginning of the end of the sanctions regime. Iran is already making a push to recapture its dominant role in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. U.S. officials believe they can hold the line on sanctions, but it is reasonable to assume that they will come under increasing pressure from countries such as South Korea, Japan, India and China, which could very easily convince themselves that Iran is preparing to act in a more responsible manner (after all, it replaced its snarling, Holocaust-denying president with a smiling, savvy president) and should be reopened for business.

3.) The (still unenforced) document agreed upon in Geneva promises Iran an eventual exit from nuclear monitoring. The final (theoretical) deal, the document states, will "have a specified long-term duration to be agreed upon," after which the Iranian nuclear program "will be treated in the same manner as that of any non-nuclear weapon state" that is part of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. From what I'm told, the U.S. hopes this eventual agreement, should it come to pass, would last 15 years; the Iranians hope to escape this burden in five. After the agreement loses its legal force, Iran could run however many centrifuges it chooses to run. This is not a comforting idea.

4.) The biggest concession to the Iranians might have already been made. Although it is the West's position that it has not granted Iran the so-called right to enrich, the text of the interim agreement states that the permanent deal will "involve a mutually defined enrichment program with mutually agreed parameters." Essentially, Barack Obama's administration has already conceded, before the main round of negotiations, that Iran is going to end up with the right to enrich. Realists would argue that Iran will end up with that "right" no matter what, but it seems premature to cede the point now.

5.) The Geneva agreement only makes the most elliptical references to two indispensable components of any nuclear-weapons program. The entire agreement is focused on the fuel cycle, but there is no promise by Iran in this interim deal to abstain from pursuing work on ballistic missiles or on weaponization. A nuclear weapons program has three main components: the fuel, the warhead and the delivery system. Iran is free, in the coming six-month period of the interim deal, to do whatever it pleases on missiles and warhead development.

6.) The Iranians are so close to reaching the nuclear threshold anyway - defined here as the ability to make a dash to a bomb within one or two months from the moment the supreme leader decides he wants one - that freezing in place much of the nuclear program seems increasingly futile. When asked this week by al-Jazeera about the impact of sanctions, the very smart Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said, "When sanctions started Iran had less than 200 centrifuges. Today Iran has 19,000 centrifuges so the net product of the sanctions has been about 18,800 centrifuges that has been added to the Iran's stock of centrifuges, so sanctions have utterly failed."

Goldberg notes that "one of Israel's most prominent experts on the Iranian nuclear program, a former military intelligence chief named Amos Yadlin, said this week that 'Iran is on the verge of producing a bomb. It's sad, but it's a fact.' Yadlin suggested that no one, and no agreement, can stop Iran from reaching the nuclear threshold. I fear he is right."

Sen. Cruz: Relaxing sanctions encourages Iran to pursue nukes and the means to deliver them to Israel, Europe and the US.

Iranian collaboration with North Korea on a new rocket booster for long-range missiles undermines the recent deal with Tehran on its nuclear program, key Senate and House Republicans said on Tuesday, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

"While the president was undertaking his secret negotiations-which Congress wasn't informed of-he had to know Iran and North Korea were testing new engines for ballistic missiles to target the United States," said Rep. Mike Rogers (R., Ala.) chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces.

"Every day the president's deal looks worse and worse," Rogers said in response to a report Tuesday revealing that Iran is covertly working with North Korea on a new 80-ton rocket booster that can be used in both nations' long-range missile programs.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) also criticized the P5+1 countries' Iran nuclear deal for not addressing the threat of Iran's ICBM program.

"The Iranian regime is clearly demonstrating through word and deed that they have no intention of moderating the behavior that earned them one of the harshest international programs of economic sanctions on record," Cruz told the Washington Free Beacon. "Relaxing the sanctions now only encourages them to continue their pursuit of nuclear weapons-and the means to deliver them to Israel, Europe and even the United States.  I hope President Obama and Secretary [of State John] Kerry will reconsider this dangerous policy and add the immediate cessation of their ICBM program to the list of prerequisites placed on Iran before any additional negotiations take place."

Claude Chafin, a spokesman for House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, also voiced concern over reports of Iran-North Korea missile cooperation.

"Without a comprehensive deal to limit the Iranian ballistic missile program, and eliminate their ability to enrich uranium, the pieces are falling into place for both the Iranians and the North Koreans to threaten the United States with nuclear-tipped ICBMs," Chafin said in an email to the Washington Free Beacon.

Chafin said the cooperation increases the threat to the United States because both Pyongyang and Tehran share missile technology. "It is reasonable to assume that North Korean missile capabilities are peer to Iranian missile capabilities," he said.

U.S. officials said the new booster could be used on both a space launcher and a long-range missile. Iran and North Korea are believed by U.S. intelligence agencies to be using their space programs to mask long-range missile development.

Officials said the covert missile cooperation indicates the Iranians are continuing to build long-range strategic missiles that can be used to deliver nuclear warheads at the same time they are negotiating limits on illicit uranium enrichment. Intelligence assessments have said that both countries could test a missile capable of reaching the United States with a nuclear warhead within the next two years.

Israel has expressed serious concerns over the preliminary U.S.-Iranian agreement, which in theory will lift sanctions levied against Tehran and end its nuclear program. That was to be expected. Less obvious is why the Israeli government is concerned and how it will change Israel's strategic position.

 Israel's current strategic position is excellent. After two years of stress, its peace treaty with Egypt remains in place. Syria is in a state of civil war that remains insoluble. Some sort of terrorist threat might originate there, but no strategic threat is possible. In Lebanon, Hezbollah does not seem inclined to wage another war with Israel, and while the group's missile capacity has grown, Israel appears able to contain the threat they pose without creating a strategic threat to Israeli national interests. The Jordanian regime, which is aligned with Israel, probably will withstand the pressure put on it by its political opponents.

 In other words, the situation that has existed since the Camp David Accords were signed remains in place. Israel's frontiers are secure from conventional military attack. In addition, the Palestinians are divided among themselves, and while ineffective, intermittent rocket attacks from Gaza are likely, there is no Intifada underway in the West Bank.

 Therefore, Israel faces no existential threats, save one: the possibility that Iran will develop a nuclear weapon and a delivery system and use it to destroy Israel before it or the United States can prevent it from doing so. Clearly, a nuclear strike on Tel Aviv would be catastrophic for Israel. Its ability to tolerate that threat, regardless of how improbable it may be, is a pressing concern for Israel.

 In this context, Iran's nuclear program supersedes all of Israel's other security priorities. Israeli officials believe their allies, particularly those in the United States, should share this view. As a strategic principle, this is understandable. But it is unclear how Israel intends to apply it. It is also unclear how its application will affect relations with the United States, without which it cannot cope with the Iranian threat.

 Israel understands that however satisfactory its current circumstances are, those circumstances are mercurial and to some extent unpredictable. Israel may not rely heavily on the United States under these circumstances, but these circumstances may not be permanent. There are plenty of scenarios in which Israel would not be able to manage security threats without American assistance. Thus, Israel has an overriding interest in maintaining its relationship with the United States and in ensuring Iran never becomes a nuclear state. So any sense that the United States is moving away from its commitment to Israel, or that it is moving in a direction where it might permit an Iranian nuclear weapon, is a crisis. Israel's response to the Iran talks -- profound unhappiness without outright condemnation -- has to be understood in this context, and the assumptions behind it have to be examined.

 MORE THAN URANIUM 

 Iran does not appear to have a deliverable nuclear weapon at this point. Refining uranium is a necessary but completely insufficient step in developing a weapon. A nuclear weapon is much more than uranium. It is a set of complex technologies, not the least of which are advanced electrical systems and sensors that, given the amount of time the Iranians have needed just to develop not-quite-enough enriched uranium, seems beyond them. Iran simply does not have sufficient fuel to produce a device.

 Nor it does not have a demonstrated ability to turn that device into a functioning weapon. A weapon needs to be engineered to extreme tolerances, become rugged enough to function on delivery and be compact enough to be delivered. To be delivered, its must be mounted on a very reliable missile or aircraft. Iran has neither reliable missiles nor aircraft with the necessary range to attack Israel. The idea that the Iranians will use the next six months for a secret rush to complete the weapon simply isn't the way it works.

 Before there is a weapon there must be a test. Nations do not even think of deploying nuclear weapons without extensive underground tests -- not to see if they have uranium but to test that the more complex systems work. That is why they can't secretly develop a weapon: They themselves won't know they have a workable weapon without a test. In all likelihood, the first test would fail, as such things do. Attempting their first test in an operational attack would result not only in failure but also in retaliation.

 Of course, there are other strategies for delivering a weapon if it were built. One is the use of a ship to deliver it to the Israeli coast. Though this is possible, the Israelis operate an extremely efficient maritime interdiction system, and the United States monitors Iranian ports. The probability is low that a ship would go unnoticed. Having a nuclear weapon captured or detonated elsewhere would infuriate everyone in the eastern Mediterranean, invite an Israeli counterstrike and waste a weapon

 Otherwise, Iran theoretically could drive a nuclear weapon into Israel by road. But these weapons are not small. There is such a thing as a suitcase bomb, but that is a misleading name; it is substantially larger than a suitcase, and it is also the most difficult sort of device to build. Because of its size, it is not particularly rugged. You don't just toss it into the trunk, drive 1,500 miles across customs checkpoints and set it off. There are many ways you can be captured -- particularly crossing into Israel -- and many ways to break the bomb, which require heavy maintenance. Lastly, even assuming Iran's acquisition of a nuclear weapon, its use against Israel would kill as many Muslims -- among them Shia -- as Israelis, an action tantamount to geopolitical suicide for Tehran.

 A TEMPERED RESPONSE 

 One of the reasons Israel has not attempted an airstrike, and one of the reasons the United States has refused to consider it, is that Iran's prospects for developing a nuclear weapon are still remote. Another reason is difficulty. Israel's air force is too far removed and too small to carry out simultaneous strikes on multiple facilities. If the Israelis forward-deployed to other countries, the Iranians would spot them. The Israelis can't be certain which sites are real and which are decoys. The Iranians have had years to harden their facilities, so normal ordnance likely would be inadequate. Even more serious is the fact that battle damage assessment -- judging whether the site has been destroyed -- would be prohibitively difficult.

 For these reasons, the attack could not simply be carried out from the air. It would require special operations forces on the ground to try to determine the effects. That could result in casualties and prisoners, if it could be done at all. And at that the Israelis can only be certain that they have destroyed all the sites they knew about, not the ones that their intelligence didn't know about. Some will dismiss this as overestimating Iranian capabilities. This frequently comes from those most afraid that Tehran can build a nuclear weapon and a delivery system. If it could do the latter, it could harden sites and throw off intelligence gathering. The United States would be able to mount a much more robust attack than the Israelis, but it is unclear whether it would be robust enough. And in any case, all the other problems -- the reliability of intelligence, determining whether the site were destroyed -- would still apply.

But ultimately, the real reason Israel has not attacked Iran's nuclear sites is that the Iranians are so far from having a weapon. If they were closer, the Israelis would have attacked regardless of the difficulty. The Americans, on the other hand, saw an opportunity in the fact that there are no weapons yet and that the sanctions were hurting the Iranians. Knowing that they were not in a hurry to complete and knowing that they were hurting economically, the Iranians likewise saw an opportunity to better their position.

 From the American point of view, the nuclear program was not the most pressing issue, even though Washington knew it had to be stopped. What the Americans wanted was an understanding with the Iranians, whereby their role in the region would be balanced against those of other countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, the Arabian emirates and to some extent Israel. As I've argued, the United States is still interested in what happens in the region, but it does not want to continue to use force there. Washington wants to have multiple relations with regional actors, not just Israel and Saudi Arabia.

 Israel's response to the U.S.-Iran talks should be understood in this way. The Israelis tempered their response initially because they knew the status of Iran's nuclear program. Even though a weapon is still a grave concern, it is a much longer-term problem than the Israelis admit publicly. (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tried hard to convince the United States otherwise, the United States isn't biting.) Since an attack has every chance of failing, the Israelis recognize that these negotiations are the most likely way to eliminate the weapons, and that if the negotiations fail, no one will be in a more dangerous position for trying. Six months won't make a difference.

 The Israelis could not simply applaud the process because there is, in fact, a strategic threat to Israel embedded in the talks. Israel has a strategic dependency on the United States. Israel has never been comfortable with Washington's relationship with Saudi Arabia, but there was nothing the Israelis could do about it, so they accommodated it. But they understand that the outcome of these talks, if successful, means more than the exchange of a nuclear program for eased sanctions; it means the beginning of a strategic alignment with Iran.

In fact, the United States was aligned with Iran until 1979. As Richard Nixon's China initiative shows, ideology can relent to geopolitical reality. On the simplest level, Iran needs investment, and American companies want to invest. On the more complex level, Iran needs to be certain that Iraq is friendly to its interests and that neither Russia nor Turkey can threaten it in the long run. Only the United States can ensure that. For their part, the Americans want a stronger Iran to contain Saudi support for Sunni insurgents, compel Turkey to shape its policy more narrowly, and remind Russia that the Caucasus, and particularly Azerbaijan, have no threat from the south and can concentrate on the north. The United States is trying to create a multipolar region to facilitate a balance-of-power strategy in place of American power.

 ISRAEL IN 10 YEARS 

 I began by pointing out how secure Israel is currently. Looking down the road 10 years, Israel cannot assume that this strategic configuration will remain in place. Egypt's future is uncertain. The emergence of a hostile Egyptian government is not inconceivable. Syria, like Lebanon, appears to be fragmented. What will come of this is unclear. And whether in 10 years the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan will remain Hashemite or become a Palestinian state is worthy of contemplation. None have military power now, but then Egypt went from disaster in 1967 to a very capable force in 1973. They had a Soviet patron. They might have another patron in 10 years.

 Right now, Israel does not need the United States, nor American aid, which means much less to them now than it did in 1973. They need it as a symbol of American commitment and will continue to need it. But the real Israeli fear is that the United States is moving away from direct intervention to a more subtle form of manipulation. That represents a threat to Israel if Israel ever needs direct intervention rather than manipulation. But more immediately, it threatens Israel because the more relationships the United States has in the region, the less significant Israel is to Washington's strategy. If the United States maintains this relationship with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and others, Israel becomes not the anchor of U.S. policy but one of many considerations. This is Israel's real fear in these negotiations.

 In the end, Israel is a small and weak power. Its power has been magnified by the weakness of its neighbors. That weakness is not permanent, and the American relationship has changed in many ways since 1948. Another shift seems to be underway. The Israelis used to be able to depend on massive wellsprings of support in the U.S. public and Congress. In recent years, this support has become less passionate, though it has not dried up completely. What Israel has lost is twofold. First, it has lost control of America's regional strategy. Second, it has lost control of America's political process. Netanyahu hates the U.S.-Iran talks not because of nuclear weapons but because of the strategic shift of the United States. But his response must remain measured because Israel has less influence in the United States than it once did.

WATCH AND BE READY!!!

THE COMPLETE PROPHECY UPDATE DVD SERIES

  NOW - 12 AMAZING DVD'S)

These DVD's are not just someone standing at a podium and speaking to an audience, they are full length docudramas just like you would see on the Discovery Channel or the History Channel. They make wonderful witnessing and teaching tools and many churches show them to their congregations and youth groups as well as using them in home Bible study groups.

"Thank you so much! The movies changed my life. I have cried to God of my sins."- Carlos - Canada

"I was really blessed through watching your Prophecy Update DVD series. You are doing a great ministry to remind all Christians about the returning of our Lord Jesus Christ." - J. Fernando - Sri Lanka

 COMPLIMENT YOUR DVD LIBRARY WITH OUR INFORMATIVE AND INSPIRING PROPHECY SERIES

"The DVD's were just wonderful - well done! I'm proud to show them to anyone." Sandra M, Florida

NOW THROUGH THE END OF THE YEAR ALL 12 DVD'S FOR ONLY $59.95

http://www.reelmanna.com

or call 1-661-742-5793

Thank You So Very Much!

A great gift for your family or your church or favorite ministry!

You can also watch for free on our YouTube Channel at: 

http://www.youtube.com/user/farsider1975

Back in the summer of 2008, the Associated Press ran a story by Alan Fram and Eileen Putnam with the headline, "Everything seemingly is spinning out of control."

The article said "Everything," but it wasn't about the whole world so much as a view of the world through the eyes of the mainstream American press. Their examples illustrate that point of view. They wrote, "Midwestern levees are bursting. Polar bears are adrift. Gas prices are skyrocketing. Home values are abysmal. Air fares, college tuition and health care border on unaffordable. Wars without end rage in Iraq, Afghanistan and against terrorism."

Today, that list seems almost quaint. The plight of polar bears turns out to have been greatly exaggerated. Gas prices were peaking when the AP article appeared. They hit $4 a gallon that summer, but by December had fallen to $1.61. In 2013, gas also rose to about $4 a gallon during the summer and has again fallen. But this year the low point is still twice as high as 2008's. Gas prices are important because, like it or not, family economies and the world economy all still run, to one extent or another, on fossil fuel.

As for what has happened to home prices . . . read them and weep. Even though they have stabilized for now, they dropped at least 35% in most markets, and more than 55% in many others. In retrospect, the 2008 numbers that upset the Associated Press, seem pretty good.

The cost of health care (and especially health insurance) is particularly scary for many Americans right now. Washington gave health care costs more attention than any other single issue in the last five years - not necessarily a good thing. While some people will have insurance who did not have it before, they will be subsidized largely by lower middle class Americans who were already struggling to buy their own health insurance. Those folks are wondering if the new system is going to price them out of the market entirely.

In the last few months, al-Qaeda insurgents have once again turned Iraq into a cauldron of violence. US troops left there in 2011, but the sands of Iraq remain stained with American blood. Will it have been spilled for nothing? 2013 was a tough year there. And the long term prospects for Afghanistan are worse now than they were five years ago. The entire Middle East stands poised for ever greater violence.

The article said the war on terror seemed "without end." Today it looks worse than that. It reminds me of the sorcerer's apprentice. One terrorist goes down, and ten terrorists rise.

From a moral prospective, things are much, much worse today than they were in 2008. When U.S. POWs were released from Viet Nam in the early '70s, many of them experienced extreme culture shock as they tried to reenter society. They couldn't believe how much everything had changed. The last five years have seen changes even more extreme than those years. The institutions that once protected us, our families, our freedoms, and our very lives, no longer seem reliable.

I want to make clear that, even though we had a presidential election in '08, this is not a political statement. Yes, President Obama made some awful mistakes. He called good evil, and evil good. Nevertheless, I'm convinced that the moral trajectory of this country would have been roughly the same if John McCain had been elected. This isn't about elections. It's about the thoughts and intents of the hearts of 300 million Americans.

But friends, God never promised that the world would be reliable. Jesus said, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." [Matt 6:19-21 NKJV]

We correctly associate that verse with money, but it applies to everything. The world is not reliable. Heaven is. Love human beings, but don't put your faith in them. Put your faith in God.

There is a thriving market among today's super rich for heavily armored cars and houses that amount to fortresses. They used to have safe rooms. Now they have "safe cores." They have computer assisted surveillance equipment that can differentiate between a deer in the bushes and a human, at night and hundreds of yards away. Still, they're not fully safe. In the world, there are no safe places.

Only in Jesus can we have full security. Only on Him can we build with full confidence. He said, "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." [Matt 7:24-27 NKJV]

Don't build your house on sand. Don't build your life on that which is inherently unstable and unreliable. Build on the solid Rock. Build your life on Jesus.

 On Nov. 12, 2013, a Rapture Ready reader named Anthony (last name withheld) sent me the following headline: "Obama Plans to Force Israel to Accept Palestinian State with Jerusalem as the Capital." Anthony had a question: "Do you have plans on writing anything about this matter as a commentary on raptureready.com?" The article, Anthony referred to, was written by a former Washington, D.C. attorney named Michael T. Snyder. He runs a website called theeconomiccollapseblog.com. I don't usually comment on what other writers say, but Michael's is very important.

Michael wrote, "Obama has been promising them [the PA] a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as the capital since very early in his presidency." True, but God made a covenant to give ALL of the land of Canaan to Israel for an EVERLASTING possession (Genesis 17:7-8). President Obama's promise to the PA transgresses God's promise to Israel. President Obama's promise will be temporarily fulfilled, but it will turn out to be as hollow as his promise to run a transparent government.

Michael wrote, "If Israel and the Palestinians do not agree on a 'two state solution' by the end of this year, the Obama administration plans to propose its own solution and force it on the two sides in early 2014." The Bible says  God will drag the nations into the battle of Armageddon for parting His land (Joel 3:2), so we know the land of Israel will be divided and now we are reading that it is President Obama's goal to do that very thing.

 Instead of praying for the peace of Jerusalem, President Obama is working for the division of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6). We also know that Israel will eventually be coerced into signing a seven-year treaty but God will remove peace from the earth when the head of the New World Order confirms it (Daniel 9:27; Revelation 6:3-4).  The Bible says: "When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape" (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

Incidentally, if President Obama's treaty is the one that triggers the Tribulation period, it will have to be for seven years.

Michael wrote, "Ultimately, Obama plans to force Israel to give up the West Bank, East Jerusalem and control over the Temple Mount in exchange for a 'promise of peace' that is not even worth the paper that it will be printed on." The good news is that a worthless treaty is also a fulfilment of Bible prophecy. The bad news is that I think Michael was reminding us that the treaty that is confirmed by the Antichrist will be worthless because that arrogant land-dividing liar will break it at the middle of the Tribulation period (Daniel 9:27).

Michael rightly pointed out that President Obama has said,  "Israel doesn't know what its own best interests are." Michael added that, "Not only does Obama believe that he knows what is best for Israel he also plans to force them to do it." I say, President Obama not only doesn't know what Israel's best interests are; he doesn't know what his best interests are. If he knew what his best interests are he would stop lying, stop supporting homosexuality and stop supporting abortion; make a real commitment to Jesus, etc. Unless he repents, the Bible says he will receive a reprobate mind and eventually spend eternity in the lake of fire (Romans 1:28; Revelation 21:8).

Michael wrote that a senior Palestinian advisor said, "Abu Mazen (Abbas) heard from Obama and his administration in a very categorical way that a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital is in the American national and security interest."

Thus, it is clear that President Obama doesn't even know what is in the best interests of the U.S.  If he did, he would bless Israel and defend Jerusalem (Genesis 12:3; Zechariah 12:3, 8-9; Psalm 83:2-4). Since he has opted for America to be cursed, the U.S. is in greater danger than Israel and we may soon know why our once-great nation is irrelevant at the end of the age.

On Nov. 6, 2013, I read an article by Aaron Klein on WND titled, "Report: Kerry Threatening Israel with Sanctions." As I understand it, the U.S. and EU are working together to intimidate and threaten Israel into accepting a Palestinian State on the West Bank based on the pre-1967 borders with some land swaps. If Israel refuses to agree to it by January 2014, Israel will be barred from taking part in certain EU programs and cut off from sources of financing for projects in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. 

And if that doesn't work the U.S. and EU will take steps to damage Israel's economy. Michael and Aaron are doing us a favor by reporting on these things, but no weapon formed against Israel will prosper (Isaiah 54:17). Ready or not, Bible prophecy is coming to a boiling point and planet Earth appears to be on the verge of world changing events.

FYI: God Has Spoken (And We Know It) by Daymond Duck is available, (linked to my publisher @ http://www.raptureready.com/terry/book17.html ).

Books and a Kindle version are available at amazon.com. A Nook version is available at bn.com. Check out what it says about Syria, Russia, Iran, Egypt, natural disasters, the Two-State Solution, etc.

Prophecy Plus Ministries

 Daymond & Rachel Duck

[email protected]

[email protected]

Have you seen the headlines? An 11 year old girl trying to help pay for her braces by selling mistletoe was run out of an Oregon park by the police; the IRS chief refuses to answer Congressional questions on targeting of conservative (also Christian) groups; the White House refuses to brief Congress on the security holes in the socialist healthcare sign up; the TSA is expanding its searches of parked cars at airports; the occupant of the Oval Office held a staff gathering where he led cheers for--himself; more Knockout game assaults on women and Jews; and the list goes on. People, we are in bad shape as a nation, and the politicians we elect are going to allow more criminals into the country through amnesty.

The hits on the American way of life and what it is to be American just keep coming. No longer do we appear to be a nation based on Christian values, hard work and common sense. Since when would anyone kick out a girl trying to sell mistletoe to pay for her braces? The excuse was that there are rules, permits, and regulations and she should have to follow them like everybody else. OK, fine. But what does this say about our nation as a whole? The government and the self-indulgent are against anyone exercising their right of assembly and free speech if it doesn't adhere to certain channels. We have become a nation seemingly devoid of love for one another and accountability to good sense.

The politicians lie and they get reelected. They cheat and steal your hard earned money in the name of good government and compassion, and we just let them do it. Yes, we get angry and talk about it among ourselves, but by and large we accept the candidates of the political parties and the system just gets worse and worse. At what point does the titration of lack of common sense, lack of accountability, dishonesty, and lack of character turn the American way of life completely dark? When will we stand? I believe the entire problem here is a lack of true Christian values being taught in our country and held accountable in the pulpit. Self-indulgence has overcome Christ centeredness.

The result is what we see in our headlines. We as a nation are so busy surviving and pursuing our wants that we have missed what it is to be a citizen in the kingdom of God. Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." He said in Mark 16:15, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." He said in Acts 1:8, "...and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." At one time, being American included acting on these instructions and our nation was strong. Psalm 33:12 says, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." I can't exhort you enough.

For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

-Hebrews 13:5

Maybe you are having a difficult time this Christmas. Maybe your marriage has fallen apart and you are alone. Let me tell you something: God is with you. Maybe your kids have forgotten about you this year. Jesus hasn't forgotten about you. His name is Immanuel, which means "God with us." Maybe your parents have forgotten about you. But God your Father has not forgotten about you.

Christmas is about undoing loneliness. Jesus said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5). From the original language, it literally could read something like this: "I will never, no never, no never leave you or forsake you." He is going to be with you in the happy days. He is going to be with you in the sad days. He is going to be with you on the hard days. He will be with you through all of your days. Then He will be waiting for you on the other side to welcome you into glory. You don't have to be afraid, because God is with you.

Sometimes people have asked me, "How do you get through the holidays if you have lost a loved one? Is there some book I can read?" My answer is that you don't need a manual; you need Immanuel. You need to know that God is there. You need to lean into Him. That is the essential message of this holiday season: that God came near.

What we are longing for, deep down inside, is not Christmas, but Christ; not merriment, but the Messiah; not goodwill, but God; not presents, but His presence in our lives. Anyone or anything short of that will disappoint.

That is what this season all about. It is about Immanuel, God is with us. He is here for you.

FROM THE HEART

PLEASE REMEMBER PROPHECY UPDATE IN YOUR CHRISTMAS AND END OF THE YEAR GIVING - WE ARE TRULY, TRULY, THANKFUL FOR YOUR SUPPORT  

Prophecy Update has no corporate sponsors. This ministry is paid for and prayed for by readers and supporters. Without your support, there would be no Prophecy Update, Please pray about becoming a monthly supporter - thanks!

If ever there was a time to invest in God's Kingdom, it's now!

What on earth are you doing for Heaven's Sake?

"Share in the Blessings and Rewards that will last Forever!"

"Folks, it's all beginning to unravel. America is in more danger of falling than at any time in its history. But I believe Bible prophecy predicts this very decline. From this point on, we believers have to get serious. We are going to face discouragement, disillusionment and, most certainly, persecution in the time between now and the Rapture. But don't be discouraged or disillusioned. The coming turmoil will provide us unrivaled opportunities to share the good news of the Gospel. So be ready to share your faith and your hope with those who need Christ. We still have time to reap a great harvest of souls for God's kingdom!" - Hal Lindsey

1) We need your prayers!- We proclaim the Truth of the Word of God and we are under constant spiritual and sometimes even physical attack.

2) We need your encouragement!- We need to hear from you, let us know how the Lord is blessing you through this ministry so that we can share it with others.

3) We need your input! - If you have a prophetic article or story or if there is a news related item we missed, let us know.

4) We need your financial support!- To put it quite simply, without your support, there would be no Prophecy Update.

I ask that you would prayerfully consider partnering with us to get the Word out and keep the world informed. Remember, your gift, no matter how small, does make a difference! You will be helping to touch lives, around the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, thanks to the internet your generosity carries a global impact! - Thanks!

Our Prayer for You- "Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else." 2 Corinthians 9:10-13

If you have been blessed by Prophecy Update and would like to help support this ministry financially. You can make a secure donation online by going to:

DONATE NOW 

Or Visit our website:

http://prophecyupdate.com/donations/

Or write us at:

 Prophecy Update

P.O. Box 40516

Bakersfield, CA 93384-0516 

NOW YOU CAN ALSO CALL IN YOUR DONATION OR ORDER ONE OF DVD'S OR SERIES SETS AT: 1-661- 742-5793

I often get asked what denomination I belong too once people find out that I like to talk Bible.  It is a natural shortcut question, as we are more comfortable putting people into niches rather than trying to spend an hour guessing what their views on various topics are. Now, a Christian is a Christian first, and usually when you're talking to one, you can get that vibe fairly easily. But once you've established that they are a Christian (or a good-faker), you then want to either drill down on what someone believes on a particular topic, either out of curiosity or as to know what topics to avoid.  That's when I tell them I'm a Church of Christ-Baptist, with a little non-denominational thrown in, but really I'm a Pre-Millennial, Pre-Tribulational Dispensationalist.  The most common response I get is, "A dispy what?"

I've studied the different hermeneutical views, as well as other views on pretty much all the major topics, and I keep coming back to dispensationalism.  To me, it is the most common sense, straightforward, approach to taking your Bible as a whole and being able to decipher it with zero contradictions.  You realize that the whole Bible is written for you, but it's not all written to you. The apostle Paul instructs Timothy, and us be extensions too...

"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (1 Timothy 2:15, emphasis added).

Covenant and Reformed theologians hate that we keep trumping this verse out anytime dispensationalism is mentioned, but it's right there in black and white. If the Word of truth didn't need to be divided rightly, it wouldn't be there...but it does, because if you try and take the Bible as a whole, it's a hot mess. 

  �           Whether you are still supposed to sacrifice, or not.  

  �           Whether you are still under the Mosaic Law, or not.  

  �           Whether salvation comes by faith, or by faith plus works.

  �           Whether as a Christian you are now Israel, or you aren't.

  �           Etc. etc. ad nauseam.

It is in understanding that God revealed Himself in progressive revelations to man going from Adam (Genesis 3:15) all the way to the apostle John with the Revelation of Jesus Christ. God did not reveal His plan all at once, but broke it up and spread it out over 1,600 years through the writers of Scripture, and then encoded it in such a way, that it took the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within the Believer to be able to understand it. 

Some sections are very simple and straightforward (e.g. salvation, John 3:16). Others are more difficult to grasp in their complexity, such as with the Trinity and prophecy. God gives each person a certain level of understanding that they can reasonably understand, but a deeper understanding is available to all who seek God out. Literally, there are hundreds of variables you could throw in, and adding to the confusion of it all is the seven eschatological views that muddy the water:

  �           Preterism

  �           Amillennialism

  �            Post-Millennialism

  �           Pre-Wrath Rapture

  �           Mid-Tribulation Rapture

  �            Pan-Millennialism

  �           Pre-Tribulation Rapture (�the correct one in my own opinion).

Eschatology is often toted by those who either disregard it or apply liberal doses of allegory to it, as a secondary and thus issue-non-grata.  But how you view the ending, will largely shape how you view the here and now. So how do you know what to make of all this? I guess the place to start, is at the beginning. 

 Caveat Emptor:  I'm largely taking the chronology of this and the key points from Clarence Larkin's book, The Greatest Book of Dispensational Truth in the World  over the next four articles, because he did all the heavy lifting, and I really enjoy how he ties it all together.

Mankind

In the beginning, there was one race of Man.  From Adam and Eve, up until the time of Abraham, there was only one race of Man because Abraham was the first to be called-out by God to leave his familial homelands in the Chaldees, and head west to the place God told him to go.  Abraham was the first person to be identified as a Hebrew, and so the first delineation of this called-out race is identified. God promised Abraham a son, an heir, and that through his son, his descendants would be as numerous as the stars.  Abraham's son with Sarah is named Isaac.  From Isaac, he and his wife Rebekah had the twins, Esau and Jacob.  Esau sells Jacob his birthright, and Jacob tricks Isaac into giving him the blessing.  And so from Abraham on, there were two groups of people, Hebrews, and everyone else.

 Israel

The first 12 chapters of Genesis (written by Moses) were about mankind in general.  From Genesis 12 onward to the end of the Old Testament, the focus is on the Hebrews/Israelites/Jews.  Gentiles were only mentioned in how they interacted with Israel.  The Gospels changed the focus of the Bible from Israel, to Jesus Christ, but His ministry was still exclusively to Israel, and not the Gentiles. Throughout the gospels up until Christ's death on the Cross, the Mosaic Law was still in effect. There was an interim period of 40 days after Christ's death, burial, and resurrection in which Christ visibly revealed Himself to many witnesses, and continued teaching His Disciples. Ten days prior to Pentecost, Christ ascends (or was 'caught up') into Heaven, and the Disciples remained in Jerusalem as instructed.

 The Church

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is descends down as "cloven tongues of fire" upon the 120 or so disciples there at a house in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was overflowing with Jews who had come from all corners of the Roman Empire to be accounted there at Pentecost. The disciples began to speak in tongues so that all the different people could understand them in their own languages.  Peter gets up to preach, and 3,000 were added to the body of Christ that day. From that day forward, there was a new group of people known as the Church.  These became neither Jew, nor Gentile, but were a "new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

If you look at the book of Acts, you can see the transition from Peter and the Jews as the focus, to Paul and the Gentiles towards the end. So now there are three groups of people that the Bible spent time focusing on.  From Acts 15 through Revelation 3:22, the focus turns to the church.   The book of Hebrews, who I believe the apostle Paul wrote, speaks to Hebrew Christians who were tempted to turn back to Judaism. But the Jews and Gentiles are now only mentioned in how they interact with the church.  The term for the Church is called "ecclesia" in the Greek, and it means an assembly or congregation of the "called-out" ones. 

 Called-Out

So the argument normally goes, that Israel was also a called-out assembly, and that is used to allude too that both Israel and the Church are one in the same...but that is an inaccurate assessment.  The "ecclesia" was applied in two specific cases that I would like to draw your attention too:

            -Israel is called an "ecclesia" in  Acts 7:38 as "the church of the wilderness."

            -The Guild of Ephesian Craftsmen, are also called "ecclesia" (Acts 19:32, 39).

The Guild of Ephesian Craftsmen spent more than two hours loudly chanting,  the Ephesians!"  So as you can see, just because someone is called 'ecclesia' in the Scriptures, doesn't mean they are part of the church.  Rather, we should see who and what a group of people are  "called-out" from.

While Israel is a called-out body from mankind, it is a national body composed exclusively of the physical descendants of Abraham.  God didn't promise Abraham that he would be the father of many "spiritual" nations, but of physical ones. The church on the other hand, is a called-out body composed of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. We are a "spiritual body" of believers that have made up the body of Christ for the last two millennia.  We share in the salvation that came through Abraham (Jesus Christ) and through faith (which is why Moses was given the Law and not Abraham). Consider these:

Their election (Israel and the church), were at different times, and for different purposes.

            -The election of Israel was from the foundation of the world (Matt. 25:34)

            -The election of the church was from  before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4-6)

The  purpose for Israel's election was to be a light and a guide to the rest of the nations around them as a picture of a nation in covenant with God. When they were in fellowship, they were rich, prosperous, and unstoppable. When they were out of fellowship, God allowed their enemies to conquer and enslave them (ex. Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans). The purpose of our Dispensation and that of the church is not to convert every country in the world, because that is impossible.

Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 28:19 to go forth and make disciples of all nations (ethnos), or ethnic groups, not kingdoms (basileia). And so we see that the church is comprised of those who are called-out from every nation, who would make up the body of Christ (Acts 15:13-18).

The church is the body of Christ, which could not have occurred until His birth, life, death, and resurrection.  If Christ is the head of this spiritual, universal body of believers (1 Cor.11:3; Eph. 1:22, 5:23; Col. 1:18), then the only way we can be incorporated into His body is by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

"For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also  is Christ.   For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free-and have all been made to drink into one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:12-13),

Therefore, there could be no church (called-out believers in Jesus Christ) until the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost (Acts 1:4-5, 2:1-4), who baptizes believers into this body (Eph. 4:4-6).  This means that the church could not be Israel even though both were called-out peoples (or assemblies of called-out ones). 

 Next time we'll discuss what the church is and is not, the Kingdom, and the Rapture.

If You Died Today, Would You Go To Heaven?

Find out, visit:

www.thegoodtest.net

www.gotquestions.org

www.wayofthemaster.com

Prophecy Update - GoodSearch Toolbar

http://www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/prophecy-update

Our Prophecy Update Toolbar is free to download and allows you to raise money for our cause every time you search or shop online

DID YOU KNOW?

You can submit an article, leave a comment or praise report at email:

[email protected]

Maranatha! (Lord Come Quickly)
 
 "On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand, All other ground is sinking sand."
 
 "Let Us make the short time we have left count for all eternity!"
 
 YBIC-Randy