First, under the Sign category of WARS & RUMOURS OF WARS — According to The Times of Israel, US-backed Kurdish-led forces in Syria said American troops began withdrawing Monday from northeast Syria ahead of a Turkish invasion that the Kurds say will overturn five years of achievements in the battle against the Islamic State terror group. The Syrian Kurdish fighters also accused Washington of failing to abide by its commitments to its key allies in the fight against ISIS. It’s a major shift in US policy. The American withdrawal came just hours after the White House said US forces in northeastern Syria will move aside and clear the way for an expected Turkish assault — essentially abandoning Kurdish fighters who fought alongside American forces in the years-long battle to defeat ISIS.
Second, today, under the Sign category of INCREASE IN KNOWLEDGE — According to WND.com, Google is developing an all-knowing, “god-like” artificial intelligence that employees describe as the “AI Manhattan Project,” according to a former engineer for the tech giant who has become a whistleblower. “They’re trying to create a control grid that captures all the information – video, audio – wherever you’re at, streams it back to a centralized data repository, and then this god-like AI is able to figure out what it is that you’re doing, who you’re associating with, and create a shadow Facebook profile that you don’t know exists, but exists for them,” said Zach Vorhies [VOR-HEEZ] in an interview with American Family Radio. Vorhies [VOR-HEEZ] said Google will be able “to monitor everything that you’re able to do: your real-time information, who your friends are, who your family members are, everything.” He contends Google effectively is developing something akin to China’s social credit system, which forces people to conform to politically correct behavior and speech. “They’re trying to install the Chinese social credit system so that everything that you do is monitored – and then if you start to do anti-government activities, then you become ‘un-personed’ online,” he said. “You have your social media accounts suppressed, your financial instruments start to be cancelled – you can no longer take money online.”
Third, today, under the Sign category of THE RISE OF THE KINGS OF THE EAST — According to Space Daily, Russia is aiding China in building a missile defense system able to counter ballistic and cruise missiles, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed. “We are now helping our Chinese partners to create a missile-warning system, a missile-attack warning system,” Putin said at the Valdai [VAHL-DHAY] Club foreign policy conference in Sochi [SAW-CHEE] on Thursday. “This is a very serious thing that will dramatically increase China’s defense capability, because only the U.S. and Russia have such a system now.” He added that international strategic stability was weakened by the United States’ withdrawal in August from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The United States has accused Russia of violating the treaty, and has called for China’s inclusion in a new or renewed treaty, an idea rejected by China.
Fourth, today, under the Sign category of INCREASED SEXUAL IMMORALITY — According to WND.com, an Employment Tribunal in the United Kingdom has ruled that the biblical doctrine that people are created male and female is “incompatible with human dignity” and those who follow it can be fired from their jobs on that basis. The stunning decision came in a doctor’s challenge to his dismissal from his job for failing to use female pronouns for a man. David Mackereth, 56, argued he “holds to the principles of the Great Reformation of the 16th Century including a commitment to the supremacy of the Bible as the infallible, inerrant word of God as his final authority in all matters of faith and practice.” He said he believed in the truth of Genesis 1:27, which says human beings are born male and female. The panel, however, ruled that “belief in Genesis 1:27, lack of belief in transgenderism and conscientious objection to transgenderism in our judgment are incompatible with human dignity and conflict with the fundamental rights of others, specifically here, transgender individuals.” The panel ruled the Bible is “mere opinion.” The Christian Legal Center said the judgment “will have serious ramifications for Christian professionals and indeed all medical professionals, as the judgment dictates the language that professionals must use in the workplace. The judgment is also contrary to scientific reality and is likely to undermine freedom of speech in the workplace.”
Fifth, today, under the Sign category of TURMOIL IN THE MIDDLE EAST — According to Tehran Times, Major General Hossein Salami [HO-ZANE SA-LAM-EE], commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, warned Iran is ‘invincible’ on the battlefield, building on his previous claims of special ‘hidden’ military powers of destruction. The general made his remarks while addressing a group media on the sidelines of a ‘martyr’s’ memorial event. He said: “We have become powerful, because we have been invincible and, at the same time our enemies have been weakened and their options have become really weak. It is evident that the enemy no longer has the capability; once it wanted to act and force us to react, but today, the enemy is not even capable of reacting to our capabilities and this reality is seen today on the battlefields.”
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The prophetic passage of Scripture that we are looking at today is Jeremiah 33:23-26 which reads: “Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the Lord hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. Thus saith the Lord; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.”
Allow me to share with you some commentary on this passage from Exploring Bible Prophecy from Genesis to Revelation, by Tim LaHaye and Ed Hindson.
Once again the word of God comes to Jeremiah because of what is being said about the two families he has been dealing with, the families of David and Levi. God asks Jeremiah, “Have you not observed what this people have spoken” about the two families? The Gentile nations were saying that while God did choose the house of David and the Levitical priesthood, God has now cast both of them away. In saying this, the Gentiles were despising God’s people. The implication is that the Gentiles were saying Israel will no longer be a nation after Babylon has conquered the people. It is because of what these Gentile nations were saying about Israel that this new prophecy comes to Jeremiah.
Verse 25 begins with yet another impossibility: Here again God refers to the “covenant for day and night.” Only if someone can break the cycle of day and night can God’s covenant be broken. God also refers to “the fixed patterns of heaven and earth,” or the natural laws that control the universe. Only if God is not responsible for them can God’s covenant be broken.
After pointing out that it is impossible for any man to break the covenant of day and night or to cancel out God’s natural laws, God then states in verse 26 that it’s impossible that He should “reject the descendants of Jacob and David My servant.” Because no man can cancel out the natural laws of the universe, no one can stop God from making sure that a descendant of David gets to rule over “the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” This is a reference to the Abrahamic Covenant, a covenant confirmed through Isaac and Jacob that defines Jewishness: A Jew is any descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The promise is that is will be a descendant of David who is going to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And because of the Messiah’s eternality, because He lives forever by virtue of His resurrection, we can know this promise will one day be fulfilled.
If the Lord tarries His Coming and we live, we will continue looking at the prophetic passages of the Bible in our next broadcast / podcast.
Our Second Coming quote for today is from Billy Sunday. He said, “The Lord does not come to the world at the time of the Rapture, but only reveals himself to the members of His Body. At the time of his resurrection He was only seen by those who believed on Him. Pilate and the High Priest, and those who crucified Him, did not know that He was risen. So it will be at the time of the Rapture. The world will not know that He has been here, and will have no knowledge of Him until He comes with the members of His Body, at the close of the Tribulation.”
Let’s Pray
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If you are not ready for the return of Jesus Christ, may I encourage you to get ready today by receiving Him as your Savior. Here is how.
First, accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God’s law. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
Second, accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”
Third, accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Also, the Bible states in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
Now that is bad news, but here is the good news. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will. Romans 10:13 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Keep looking up for your redemption draweth nigh. Let us join in the prayer of John the Revelator — “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” God bless you.
Second Coming Watch Update 