Tuesday, December 31, 2013

What’s up for 2014?


 

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!

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