Finding common ground doesn’t mean giving up your views on issues, it simply means you and those with opposing views find things you can agree on. I hear this phrase quite often these days, both in politics and religion. It sounds like a good way for folks with differing views to settle important matters, and live in harmony with one another. But is it?
The government of our country was set up so as to be run by representation of the people. Congress was to be made up of duly elected folks from every state in the union. They were to work together for the people they represented, but more, for the well-being of the United States as a whole. Ideally, that’s the way it was supposed to work; and practically, they had to find common ground, in order to do it.
A real kingdom doesn’t work that way. A true kingdom is run by the king alone. He may be a very good king who rules his people well, or he could be a very evil king, who rules his people with an iron fist, but common ground never enters the picture: a real king rules his kingdom according to the dictates of his own heart.
The church of God is neither a republic nor a democracy; it is a kingdom ruled by a King—the Lord Jesus Christ! He has never relinquished His rule to another; He has never appointed a man to rule over His church; He is not building His church according to the whims and fancies of a majority of men; Christ is the Head of His church, and He alone is building it according to the dictates of His heart, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in accordance with the will of the Father.
The false shepherds of the present day nominal church are actively pursuing bringing people of all faiths onto common ground; they claim this honors God by bringing all men into a global, human fraternity. They say that no one need lay aside their religious convictions, but find common ground and make it the main thing. Well, from man’s point of view, that sounds wonderful, but from God’s view, just how wonderful is it? Does the Lord God even address this?
Let’s consider the term, “All faiths”; that expression is used much these days. It implies that all religions are equal and share some common ground, and they do. Christianity is not a religion, and the one thing all the religions of the world share in common is, they reject Jesus Christ who is the Founder and Head of Christianity.
Now, some religions may declare that they don’t reject Jesus. As a matter of fact, they may say, we believe in Jesus: we believe He was a prophet, a great teacher who taught good morals, or He was a good man, or an angel, or a created being. But the word of God clearly rejects such thinking as the spirit of antichrist. Jesus Christ was God in a flesh and blood body; He was the second person of God, born of a virgin, the Son of God. Rejection of that is the spirit of antichrist.
Jesus forbids His church from looking for common ground with those who reject Him.
“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what does righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and the devil? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Therefore, come out from among them and be separate…”
On Jan. 23, 2023, Hal Lindsey started off his weekly article like this:
“The price of eggs…. A Mall of America security guard threatening the wearer of a ‘Jesus saves’ t-shirt…. Attacks on the U.S. power grid…. A worldwide obsession with pornography…. Another wave of nuclear threats coming out of Russia…. A universal weakening of democratic institutions…. A global reshuffling of leaders…. Threats of ‘civil war’ in Israel…. Corruption in the highest levels of government across the world…. Weaponized Artificial Intelligence…. Deep fake audio and video enabling previously unimagined levels of deception.… Global economic chaos…, and on and on.
“What do these and hundreds of other things like them have in common? They are signs of the soon coming of Jesus. Planet Earth is in the throes of the birth of a new world. It’s difficult — even excruciating — but it is also thrilling. We are entering the days foreseen by the prophets.”
Wow, just the kind of thing one would expect from the foremost prophecy teacher in our lifetime.
Hal mentioned that there are hundreds of other signs, and I will add the following to his list:
The rebirth of Israel.
The restoration of Jerusalem with Israel in control.
Preparations to rebuild the Temple and resume the animal sacrifices.
The technology to control all buying and selling.
The technology for the whole world to see the resurrection of the Two Witnesses and the Second Coming of Jesus.
The developing world government (New World Order; Great Reset; Build Back Better, etc.).
The developing world religion (calling good evil and evil good; increasing rejection of Jehovah, Jesus, and the Bible; increasing promotion of abortion, LGBTQ agenda, etc.).
The increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters, famine, pestilences, poverty, etc.
We are the only generation to see the convergence of all the prophecies that the Bible said will be fulfilled at the end of the age.
Here are recent events that seem to indicate that the end of the age is looming.
One, concerning the persecution of Christians: on Jan. 24, 2023, it was reported that Open Doors has been monitoring the persecution of Christians since 1993 (for 30 years), and it is increasing all over the world.
According to the group, globally, more than 360 million Christians are experiencing “very high or extreme levels of persecution for their faith.”
Two, concerning persecution: on Jan. 29, 2023, Paul Craig Roberts (Institute for Political Economy) noted that political activism is normalizing sexual perversion (homosexuality, pedophilia, etc.) and making criticizing it a criminal violation of civil rights and hate speech laws.
I agree with Roberts, but I want to add my opinion on something here.
While there has always been persecution over some issues, I don’t believe society has ever had the normalization of sexual perversion on a global scale or the criminalization of speaking out against it on a global scale, but that is where the world is headed now.
The United Nations, World Health Organization, World Economic Forum, United States, and other despisers of the truth are promoting global laws that will criminalize Bible truth all over the world (II Tim. 3:1-7).
Sexual perversion is just part of it; other things that are going to be outlawed include spreading the truth, worshipping Jesus instead of the Antichrist, some things people want to spend their money on, etc.
Society is witnessing the birth of unparalleled global tribulation- period persecution of believers that matches Bible prophecy: censorship of truth; prosecution of believers for praying silently in front of an abortion clinic, for refusing to make a wedding cake for a same-sex wedding, etc.
Persecution of people who become believers during the Tribulation Period will be terrible.
Three, concerning the WEF: on Jan. 16, 2023, highly respected writer Leo Hohman wrote, “They intend to digitally enslave the world in a total surveillance state based on a global digital I.D. (likely disguised as vaccine passports) and a global digital currency to replace cash.”
Four, concerning world government: on Jan. 24, 2023, it was reported that Canadian Member of Parliament, Dr. Leslyn Lewis, continues to speak out against Canada’s involvement in the World Economic Forum (WEF).
In 2022, Lewis said, “The WEF threatens Canadian Democracy.”
On Jan. 23, 2023, Lewis said, “The unelected WEF is not our government. Canadians did not sign up for the WEF’s plan to create agile rule-making in a post-pandemic world & the 4th Industrial Revolution (something that Prime Min. Trudeau did in 2020).
As I understand it, Dr. Lewis said it is wrong for Trudeau to be signing international agreements that impose global laws on Canadian citizens that they haven’t voted for and their Parliament hasn’t approved.
This is also happening in the U.S., and citizens could lose many of their rights at the World Health Organization Assembly meeting in May.
(More: Concerning that meeting: on Jan. 27, 2023, prophecy teacher Jonathan Brentner wrote, “If it (the Pandemic Treaty) is approved by member nations during their May 2023 meeting, it would give the WHO and its head absolute control over member nations in regard to what they deem as health emergencies. In other words, in the event they declare such a crisis, the WHO could prescribe a course of action for everyone. It wouldn’t matter if the president of a nation disagreed – the dictates of the WHO would become law in his or her country. Should a U.S. governor say “No!” to the WHO mandates, that also wouldn’t matter. The WHO would have the power to militarily enforce compliance with its health dictates.”)
Five, concerning the recent WEF meeting and world government: on Jan. 26, 2023, Canada Free Press posted an article by writer, commentator, and Radio Host Douglas V. Gibbs.
Gibbs has been on “Hannity” and “Fox and Friends.
Gibbs’ nickname is “Mr. Constitution,” and he said, “Unelected elitists who believe their job is to rule the world recently gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, meeting to discuss the fate of all of humanity and the road we must take based on their visions in order to ‘save the world.’ Except, they don’t mean to save the world; they mean to control humanity and break the spirit of anyone who dares stand against them.”
Gibbs continued, “These tyrants drive and lobby policies in the United States through a well-placed, deeply embedded deep state, and they do the same throughout the world. The dark spirit of tyranny we fought wars (including two World Wars and a Cold War) against has now become the mainstream leadership on this planet, and they aim to make sure that this time they are not knocked off the top of the mountain.”
(My opinion: The prophesied world government is shaping up, and it will be seven years of hell on earth. The only people that are not going to be impacted are those that die before then and those that are truly trusting in Jesus when the Rapture occurs.)
Six, concerning famine and hyperinflation (food shortages, extreme food, and energy prices, etc.) during the Tribulation Period: on Jan. 27, 2021, shortly after he became Pres. of the U.S., Biden signed an Executive Order that committed the U.S. to conserving at least 30% of America’s land and water by 2030.
Unless this is reversed, it will block mining, farming, and drilling for oil on 30% of America’s lands and water by 2030.
Blocking mining, farming, fishing, and drilling for oil on 30% of the world’s land and water will have a great impact on everyone’s life.
At the U.N. Biodiversity Conference that was held on Dec. 7-19, 2022, under the guise of saving “Mother Earth” from natural disasters (rising sea levels, floods, droughts, wildfires, etc.) supposedly created by man’s pollution and excessive consumption, the group agreed to a plan called the 30-by-30 (or 30 X 30) Initiative.
One of the 30-by-30 Initiative goals is to protect 30% of the world’s land, water, and marine areas (not allow 30% of these areas to be used) by 2030.
Critics say the real goal is to transform the world according to the agenda, morals, etc., of the “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”
Anyway, on Jan. 26, 2023, the Biden administration announced a 20-year ban on mining on 225,504 acres of land in Minnesota.
Another group of U.S. workers will be losing their jobs, and Biden has already signed an agreement to make funds available to increase mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (sounds like putting U.S. workers drilling for oil off the coast of Florida out of work and asking Saudi Arabia to increase production).
He seems determined to weaken America.
Seven, concerning hyperinflation and a global economic collapse: on Jan. 25, 2023, the head of the Bank of Canada warned that Canada’s economy has stalled, growth will be close to zero for the remainder of this year, and Canada’s citizens are not going to feel good.
Critics blame Prime Min. Trudeau for running up Canada’s debt with excessive spending on Covid and unnecessary liberal programs.
Payday has arrived in Canada, but most of the world is facing the same problem.
Eight, concerning the Millennium in Israel: God said, “The desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose…. For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water” (Isa. 35:1, 7).
In recent years, Israel has built several desalination plants to draw water from the Mediterranean Sea and make it suitable for drinking.
On Jan. 30, 2030, it was reported that Israel has received very little rain this winter, but Israel’s system of desalination plants has filled the Sea of Galilee, and Israel will soon double the amount of water it sells to Jordan.
Nine, concerning the Battle of Gog and Magog: on Jan. 29, 2023, Israeli drones struck an Iranian weapons production facility inside Iran.
There are contradictory reports about what Iran was producing (drones, ballistic missiles, etc.), but the next day, Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement that said, “We strongly condemn any provocative actions potentially capable of provoking an uncontrolled escalation of tension in an already far from calm region. Such destructive actions may have unpredictable consequences for peace and stability in the Middle East.”
Two things stand out about this event:
One, Israel apparently struck a target inside Iran.
Two, some analysts called Russia’s statement a veiled threat to Israel.
Finally, are you Rapture Ready?
If you want to be rapture ready and go to heaven, you must be born again (John 3:3). God loves you, and if you have not done so, sincerely admit that you are a sinner; believe that Jesus is the virgin-born, sinless Son of God who died for the sins of the world, was buried, and raised from the dead; ask Him to forgive your sins, cleanse you, come into your heart and be your Saviour; then tell someone that you have done this.
Conservative scholar Victor Davis Hanson has become a leading voice in conservative politics in recent years.
His analysis of our current political environment is unmatched.
If you’ve been wondering who is leading the woke revolution that has taken over pretty much everything, Hanson has an answer. It is the entire establishment.
The establishment is leading the ‘top-down, woke revolution’: Victor Davis Hanson
Unlike the free-spirit days of the 1960s, when the proverbial revolutionaries on the left were fighting the establishment, the front lines in today’s “woke revolution” are the establishment itself, according to historian Victor Davis Hanson.
Hanson, a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, told “Life, Liberty & Levin” in an interview airing Sunday that the entity that used to take the arrows in the culture wars is now slinging them itself.
“If you look at the ’60s, people were marching on the campus president’s office to demand change. Now, the campus president is the one that’s suppressing free speech,” Hanson said, citing a Norman Mailer novel that described a planned march on the Pentagon by people demanding social change.
“But [now], the Pentagon’s inaugurating everything from subsidized transgender surgeries to hunting out supposed ‘White rage’ and White supremacy in the ranks on its own, by its own volition.”
Watch the video below:
This is the VDH essay that is referenced in the video:
The Establishment Is the Revolution
The current Left has no intention of “dropping out.” Why would it?
It now controls the very institutions of America that it once mocked and attacked—corporate boardrooms, Wall Street, state and local prosecuting attorneys, most big-city governments, the media, the Pentagon, network and most of cable news, professional sports, Hollywood, music, television, K-12 education, and academia.
In other words, the greatest levers of influence and power—money, education, entertainment, government, the news, and popular culture—are in the hands of the Left. They have transformed legitimate debate over gay marriage into a hate crime. Transgenderism went from a modern manifestation of ancient transvestism or gender dysphoria to a veritable litmus test of whether one was good or evil.
Students have no need to jam administrators’ offices because the latter, themselves, are as radical as the protestors and often lead them on in a top-down fashion. Had they not long ago demonstrated they were perfectly willing to subvert meritocracy, free expression, and equality under the law, they would not be occupying their present positions.
Apple, Google, Facebook, and other tech companies are not 1980s and 1990s “alternative” media geeks and hipsters creating neat gadgets for the people. They are not Steve Jobs and his pugnacious Apple battling the evil Microsoft or IBM, or the Macintosh commercial of 1984 depicting a maverick throwing a hammer into Big Brother’s screen. They are the Orwellian screen.
Hanson is a brilliant man. He would make an excellent Secretary of Education in the next Republican administration. Source
