A lot of what will happen in the next year will be a result
of decisions we made in 2013 (and earlier) - a good reminder that actions have consequences,
good or bad, intended …or not-so-much. That should give us pause and make us think
about what we will do in 2014 that will have lasting impact into the future.
Thankfully, even though God has given man free will, and much of what we do is
in rebellion against God and His Word, (i.e.
sin - which brings suffering and hardship), ultimately, God is sovereign and in control. He is bringing all things
together, even humanity’s bad choices, to complete His purposes in the world. So,
no matter what happens, trust in the Lord and do good, knowing that He is
faithful! (What follows is purely my personal opinion
and analysis based on my understanding of the facts as I see them. Not interested
in arguing.)
Domestic Outlook:
Here at home, 40,000 (yes, forty-thousand!) new laws will go
into effect across our land beginning tomorrow, counting all the federal, state
and local legislation. The new laws give us a picture of where we are headed
and are a consequence of who we elected.
In 2014 we will see:
1.) More taxes. 20 new taxes related to
Obama Care alone, including a devastating tax on small business who provide
insurance for their employees and the unconstitutional “personal mandate” – a $95
per person or 1% of your income fine/tax for those who can “afford” health insurance
but choose not to buy it… with lots of other new taxes and 55 tax credits expiring
at the same time.
2.) More loss of individual freedom / More govt.
control and interference. Laws regulating what you can eat, drink and smoke,
(In Oregon, no cigarettes in cars with kids, but in Colorado beginning tomorrow
you can buy “recreational” marijuana)
Drones watching you from above. NSA
listening to your calls and reading your phone bills, texts and e-mails. Freedom
of religion and freedom of speech taking shots from the “politically correct” who
want to ban the articulation anything they disagree with… or at the very least
label it as “hate speech.”
3.) Greater acceptance and promotion of immoral,
destructive and irresponsible behaviors. Legalization of marijuana, legalization
of so-called “gay marriage” (16 states and DC now have given it the green
light). Hollywood and network TV busy painting all manner of immorality as good
and even preferable. The “bad guy” is
always “wicked” capitalism, the “evil” US military or the “intolerant” Christian.
4.) Greater intolerance and persecution of
anyone that points out that these behaviors are immoral, destructive and irresponsible.
(esp. Christians, the church, anyone who believes the Bible. e.g. Phil
Robertson)
5.) More Socialism. (e.g. Obama Care implementation; the swelling of welfare
and food stamp rolls; the increase in Medicaid and other reliance on govt.
assistance programs; the legal forcing of
private business to pay employees what the govt. thinks they are worth instead
of what their work dictates). Three states have upped the minimum wage above
the federal level and one city (SeaTac, Washington) has ordered all business to
pay a min. wage of $15, of course this caused many small businesses there to
lay off half their employees or shut their doors… and all new and/or potential businesses
to head for greener pastures.
6.) A resulting backlash creating a greater division.
States and localities where conservatives are the majority are reacting to the above
by enacting more and more conservative laws. Patriots seeking to stave the liberal
tide are bubbling with “tea party” type activism and clamor for recall
elections for those who, once elected, fail to accurately represent their constituents.
Meanwhile those states and localities ruled by liberals, re-react with more
liberal laws and activist judges legislating from the bench. Thus the Red / Blue
division is getting deeper and more pronounced sowing seeds of discord, brewing
talk of constitutional conventions and regional animosity.
7.)
Economic
dark days. The six-year “recovery” has not recovered anything. (Other than
the artificially high stock market, propped up by the Fed’s constant buying of
securities to the tune of (are you ready for this? 85 BILLION per month!) The on-going unsustainable govt. spending,
high un-employment, increase in taxes, regulation and socialism will keep it in
the doldrums. There is no “cushion” for disasters whether man-made or natural. If
war hits in the Mid-East, oil skyrockets, dow crashes. http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2013/05/02/can-fed-keep-propping-up-stocks/2129787/
8.) Political turn around? 35 senate seats will be in play in 2014 as well as all
435 congressional districts. I see little change. GOP may pick up a senate seat
or two and should hold the house. But those
who are red are deeper red and those who are blue are darker blue. (see point
#6) Probably staus quo.
International Outlook
1.) Radical Islam grows and continues to be
the greatest threat in the world. It will get uglier and uglier in the Middle
East. Factions fighting infidels and each other now in Egypt, Syria, Turkey,
Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Nigeria, Sudan, Central African Republic,
Yemen… well, pretty much the entire
Islamic world. (see Gen. 16:12) It was
good that Putin pounced on Kerry’s slip of the lip and gave us a way out of getting
sucked into the Syrian civil war this year –there is no “up” side for us there.
The bad thing is that Obama said we would strike… then we didn’t. Really lost a
lot of credibility with Arabs and Russians and came out looking like paper
tigers. http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/12/27/saudis-lament-have-been-stabbed-in-back-by-obama/
2.) Everybody hates Israel. Arabs, Muslims,
Russians, Europeans, Liberals (think 2012 democratic convention) Even
non-evangelical Christians. Anti Semitism gets worse under the cloak of anti-Zionism (which is the same thing after all.)
3.)
Israel
has to take out Iranian Nukes. When they do, everybody and their dog will
hate Israel. Hezbollah will attack form the north, Hamas from the south and
east. (see point domestic #7) Been saying this will happen for several years
now, but I think it will be before Sept. 2015.
4.)
Interesting
stuff happening in Turkey. Erdogan consolidates power after crushing the
opposition. He’s also feuding with Fetullah Gullen. (google it) Look for Turkey
to rise in prominence as it opposes Iran re: Syria.
5.)
They entire
Islamic world in political instability. Lots of changes- rises and falls-
like Egypt with Mubarak and Morsi; Libya and Kadaffi; Syria and Assad, Turkey, Iran, Iraq,
etc. etc. When it shakes out - maybe after many years, maybe soon - what will
emerge will be the ten-horned,
Anti-Christ “beast” kingdom of Daniel 7:7-28)
6.)
Elsewhere:
crises and disasters. More earthquakes, Tsunamis, volcanoes, hurricanes, Typhoons,
more countries fall into financial ruin. All setting up the need for a dynamic
world leader to swoop in to the rescue. (Matt. 24:7-8)
Big Picture Stuff
1.)
God’s calendar
seems to indicate major developments in the next 21 months. In this time
period Jerusalem will see four total lunar eclipses, a total solar eclipse and
a partial solar eclipse. All of these will happen on Jewish Feast days beginning
in the spring of 2014 on Passover and ending on Rosh Hashanah 2015. While not everything that happens in the sky
is prophetic in nature (some of it is just the way the “clock” works – things happen
in cycles every so often) I believe that this may be at least some of the fulfillment
of the multiple prophecies in scripture that say that “the sun will be darkened
and the moon will not give its light before the great and terrible day of the
LORD.” (Is. 13:10, Is. 34:4, Ez. 32:7-8, Joel 2;10, Joel 2:31, Zeph. 1:15, Rev.
6:12-13, and Rev.8:12) Jesus himself
refers to and reiterates these prophecies in Matt. 24:29-30. A correlation of lunar eclipses and the feast
days like this never happened at all in the 1800’s, 1700’s, 1600’s or 1500’s.
You have to go all the way back to 1492 – 450 years before Israel became a
nation again to see this phenomenon (the lunar eclipses on feast days) happen
in this way. Multiple lunar eclipses on feast days have happened twice in the
1900’s. In 1948 – the year Israel became
a nation, and in 1967 – the year Israel recaptured Jerusalem and the temple mount! So, coming up, in the next two years there
will be, in Jerusalem, lunar eclipses on Passover and Rosh Hashanah in both 2014
and 2015 and solar eclipses on Nissan 1 (first day of Jewish religious calendar
2015) and Tishri 1 ( Feast of trumpets) 2015. In
addition Sept. 15, 2015 will mark the start of next “Sabbath” year in the seven
year cycle of years. (Lev. 25:1-7) The last two “sabbath” years began on Sept. 29, 2008, (the day the stock
market crashed 777.7 points, wiping out 1.2 trillion dollars in market value)
and Sept. 11, 2001.
To find out more about this watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e25L8YA9KX8
I’d also suggest reading the book “The Harbinger” by
Johnathan Cahn
Eat the meat, spit out the bones.
Conclusions
Keep watch. Be ready. I can’t say
it better than Jesus did in Matt. 24:1-25:46.
(A speech he gave, by the way, two
days before he was crucified in Jerusalem, on Passover, while the sun was
darkened.- just sayin’) If you want to
know what to do – read His words. Love
to ALL! Even so Lord Jesus….. Come!
