SO CALLED CHRISTIAN PUBLISHING COMPANIES

Posted on by

Zondervan Publishing has just released a new study Bible, The Upside-Down Kingdom Bible, with notes, essays, and book introductions that, according to the Amazon listing, feature “a diverse set of trusted Christian voices and explores difficult issues facing Christians today, with features that are honest, nuanced, and filled with grace.”

Should Christians use this study Bible?

Rather than showing how God’s Word is unique, giving us a set of glasses through which to view the world that is “upside down” to the world’s way of thinking, the writers take the world’s lenses of feminism, Marxism, evolution, and CRT and read the Bible through them.

Many of the notes I read were sprinkled with references to man-made climate change, terms like “forced migration experiences” and “systemic injustice.” From what I saw, these terms weren’t really defined, but all such terms are routinely used by “woke” and progressive Christians the same way the world uses them, so I think it’s safe to assume that the world’s definition is how they’re likewise being used here.

Also, this study Bible is supposed to be “nuanced,” and it certainly is. It’s so “squishy” on most controversial topics (but not certain “woke” ones—on some of those, the authors took obvious positions) that the notes lose any authority, turning into, “some people say this, and some people say that, but we can’t really know.” But in many cases, we can really know. For example, in Genesis, we can know how and when God created! We know He created male and female and established marriage and family as the basis of society. Homosexuality and transgenderism are abominations to Him.

Hence, this Upside Down Kingdom Bible from what was once a trusted Christian publishing company is just another end-times sign. The fact that Zondervan was acquired by Harper and Row, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, may explain their departure from believing the Bible is inerrant.

CHRISTIANS CONTINUE TO FACE PERSECUTION YET THE CHURCH CONTINUES TO GROW

Posted on by

According to the latest report, 380 million Christians — one in seven worldwide — face high levels of persecution and discrimination.

As the organization has done for over 20 years, Open Doors US ranked North Korea No. 1 on its World Watch List. “North Korea continues to be a place that is incredibly difficult for Christians,” Brown stated. “Reports of violence have continued to escalate within North Korea, and it is expansive throughout the State.” Christians in North Korea could face execution or imprisonment in a labour camp if their faith is discovered, Open Doors warns. Despite the targeted oppression, however, the latest World Watch List reported that around 400,000 believers in North Korea are continuing to bear witness to the love of Christ. 

A North Korean Christian, Jung Jik (name changed for security reasons), who escaped imprisonment twice, is praying to see his child again and share Jesus with him, showcasing the determination persecuted believers have to keep God’s Word alive amid surges in anti-Christian violence across the globe. As Jung attested in the report, a large underground Church still survives in North Korea. “There’s still a large underground church. Because you pray, many people are miraculously healed, and they experience God’s power. They come to faith.”

Brown said Christians like Jung, who refuse to forsake Christ, are a model for Christ-followers in Western countries with the right to religious freedom. Throughout Christianity’s history, Brown stressed that the Church has continued to thrive, even when persecution is extreme. 

“There are places where the Church is, by all accounts, the life is being squeezed from it,” Brown said, citing the North African country of Algeria, which ranked 19th on the 2025 World Watch List, as an example. Per the report, “all Protestant churches [in Algeria] have been forced to close, and the number of Christians awaiting trial and sentencing is at an all-time high.” 

Other countries that have forced the Church underground include Afghanistan, which ranked No. 10 on the list. Due to the Taliban enforcing strict interpretations of Islamic law, converting from Islam to Christianity is punishable by death. Christians also face punishment or fear being murdered at the hands of their family, clan or tribe if they renounce Islam. 

“There are places where the Church is being forced deeply underground, and any visible expression of that presence is very difficult to observe,” Brown said. “But there are places where, in the midst of persecution, the Church continues to operate, the Church continues to minister.”

The latest report also found increased violence scores in 15 sub-Saharan countries since the 2023 World Watch List. The 2025 report noted that the sub-Saharan Africa region is the most violent due to Islamic extremist groups taking advantage of government instability. 

“Persecution is rising in countries such as Burkina Faso (20), Mali (14) and Chad (49), which enters the top 50 for the first time,” the report found. 

Christians in Yemen (3), Sudan (5) and Myanmar (13) are easy targets for persecution as anarchy and internal conflict within these regions grows, according to Open Doors. 

Nigeria, which ranked seventh on the list, stands out from many of the sub-Saharan countries, as there wasn’t much room for conditions in the region to worsen from previous years.

Christians in northern Nigeria are targeted by Fulani militants, Boko Haram and other extremist groups who murder or abduct people of faith. Thousands of Nigerian Christians have been killed in recent years. According to a summary of the 2025 report’s trends, “the measure of anti-Christian violence in the country is already at the maximum possible under World Watch List methodology.” 

Fortunately, we know from Biblical prophecy that Christian persecution escalates in the time before Jesus returns to restore righteousness and usher in His Millennial Kingdom. This Earth still has 1000 years before it is destroyed. The nation God raised up for His purposes, Israel, must fulfill its destiny, and it will with Jesus reigning the nations of the world with the raised, glorified Saints. They rule with a rod of iron, indicating that the curse has not been lifted. People are still being born and are dying. They still need to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Satan and his minions are bound for most of the thousand years but are released at the end, and he still raises an army of people like the sand of the sea to come against Jesus and the Saints. This says a lot about people who are given free will to choose. Sadly, like Satan and one-third of the angels, many want to be god and choose to rebel against God and His commandments.

PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS AT RECORD LEVELS

Posted on by

Members of religious groups faced harassment by either governmental actors or social groups in a record number of countries and territories as a new Pew Research Center analysis finds acts of hostility against Christians are on the rise. 

The release of Pew’s report, “Government Restrictions on Religion Stayed at Peak Levels Globally in 2022,” marks the 15th time it has conducted research examining government restrictions and social hostilities toward religion in 198 countries and territories. Imagine what a 2024 report will show as persecution has escalated in 2023 and 2024. Significant other Biblical end-times prophecies have already been fulfilled particularly the re-establishment of Israel as a nation back in 1948 and now the falling away from Biblical faith by most of the institutional churches (apostasy).

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13

The research revealed that in 2022, “harassment of religious groups by governments or social actors occurred in 192 out of the world’s 198 countries and territories.” This constituted “an increase by two countries from 2021 and a new peak level for the study.”

“Governments harassed people for their religious beliefs and practices in 186 countries in 2022, up from 183 in 2021,” the report states. “Social groups or private individuals harassed people due to their religion in 164 countries, the same number as in 2021. Governments and/or social actors harassed religious groups in 192 countries, including 158 countries where both governments and social groups or private individuals engaged in harassment.”

As has been the case in every installment of the study, Christians experienced harassment in most countries, reaching a record high of 166 in 2022. 

One example cited in the report was the arrest of a man whose son brought Bibles and other Christian literature across the border into Mauritania from Senegal.

Another example is a Syriac Catholic Church leader in Bartella, a historically Christian town in Nineva province rebuilding after the defeat of the Islamic State, who said militias “sought to ‘seize and occupy Christian properties’ in an attempt to drive out Christians and alter the religious composition of the town.”

The study identified property damage, assaults, detentions, displacements and killings as examples of physical harassment experienced by religious groups. It highlighted how at least one instance of physical harassment toward a religious group occurred in 145 of 198 countries, marking an increase from the 137 measured in 2021.

Governments used physical force against religious groups in 111 countries, while social groups or private individuals were determined to have engaged in such harassment in the same number of countries.

The most frequent form of physical harassment directed at religious groups was property damage, occurring in 61% of countries. Detentions occurred in slightly less than half (47%) of countries, while the share of countries where physical assaults, displacements and killings occurred were measured at 45%, 26% and 25%, respectively.

According to a detailed appendix accompanying the report, the only countries where absolutely no harassment of religious groups occurred at the hands of the government in 2022 were Cape Verde, Fiji, Grenada, Macao, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Portugal, San Marino, Senegal and Suriname. The United States was listed as one of 110 countries where there was widespread intimidation of religious groups “by any level of government.”

Religious groups in the U.S. found themselves subject to property damage and physical assaults, while no displacements, killings or detentions were recorded. Another adverse experience faced by religious groups in the U.S. involves organized groups using “force or coercion in an attempt to dominate public life with their perspective on religion, including preventing some religious groups from operating in the country.”

PROOF WE ARE IN THE PROPHESIED END TIMES

Posted on by

The pope’s decision to have a special pilgrimage for the LGBT community in the 2025 Jubilee Year, titled “Church: Home for All, LGBT+ Christians and Other Existential Frontiers” is evidence he has departed from Biblical faith and is leading the Catholic church into apostasy. What he is proposing will involve a prayer vigil for LGBT Catholics on September 5th at the Church of the Gesù in Rome. They will then pass through the Holy Doors of St. Peter’s on September 6th.

Here we have the Church allowing the categories that are at odds with Catholic teaching on sexuality and the human body — to drive the 2025 Jubilee celebration. However well-intentioned the pastoral motivation may be, the impression is one of either ignorance or contempt not merely for traditional Catholicism in particular but for orthodox Christianity in general.

Before Jesus’ second coming, He prophesied that most of the institutional denominations would fall away and compromise with the world. They have departed from God’s ways on homosexuality, gay marriage, and transgender issues. We are truly in the Biblical prophesied end times and as the following Scripture reveals persecution/tribulation will only intensify for Christians.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:9-14

God will purify His church prior to the rapture. We cannot say we were not warned.

GOOD NEWS: PUBERTY BLOCKERS BANNED INDEFINITELY BY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT

Posted on by

The British government indefinitely banned puberty blockers as a treatment for minors with gender dysphoria on Wednesday. After embracing gender transition procedures for minors before the U.S., European countries like the U.K. are now reversing course as evidence of the harm they could cause has mounted. “We need to act with caution and care when it comes to this vulnerable group of young people, and follow the expert advice,” declared Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

The U.K. temporarily paused puberty blockers for children in March 2023, following the release of the Cass report, a credible, detailed examination that found insufficient evidence that gender transition procedures were safe for children. The Commission on Human Medicines, an independent organization of the British government, also recently found “an unacceptable safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children.”

The government, then controlled by the Conservative Party, further restricted access to puberty blockers with an emergency ban passed in June. The high court upheld that ban as lawful in July. In August, after an electoral victory, the left-leaning Labour Party extended the emergency ban in August. This move invested both of the U.K.’s major political parties in the newly cautious approach toward gender transition procedures for minors.

On Wednesday, the Labour government announced new legislation that would make the ban indefinite, to be reviewed in 2027. The ban would also take effect in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

BIBLICAL PROPHESIED END TIMES APOSTATE CHURCH

Posted on by

“When the leader of the largest African American Pentecostal denomination stood up and said I endorse Kamala Harris, he was saying: I endorse murder, I endorse homosexuality, I endorse lesbianism, I endorse transgenderism, I endorse every evil that Hell could prosper or bring up to [be] right. That’s wrong, folks,” Donnie Swaggart lamented to members of the Family Worship Center Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where his father, Jimmy Swaggart, remains senior leader.

You also know that it shows we are in the Biblical prophesied end times when Jesus told us that much of the church will fall away from the truth and compromise with the world’s values.

“The black church votes predominantly for the party that is anti-God. What’s going on here? What’s going on?” Swaggart asked.

He suggested that some black Christians don’t like it when he or his ministry publicly discusses the support Democrats have from black churches. Still, it needs to be discussed because Democrats don’t support an agenda that is in line with biblical values.

Scores of young COGIC leaders have since responded to Swaggart’s rebuke in an open letter, arguing, in part, that he presented a reductive view of the black church based on political allegiance. They call his view “not only an oversimplification of the faith but a theological distortion that borders on idolatry.”

“The Gospel is not the handmaiden of any political party or political movement, and the Kingdom of God is neither Republican nor Democrat. Such a mishandling of the Gospel is erroneous at best and heretical at worst,” the leaders asserted.

Sheard’s  anointing of Harris came after she delivered a message from Jeremiah 29:11 which says: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

“We are blessed because we are yet in the land of the living. You are blessed to be in this place today and we’re blessed to have, ladies and gentlemen, the next president of the United States, Kamala Harris,” Sheard declared as he introduced Harris to his congregation ahead of her message.

Harris then wielded scripture while encouraging the packed church to help God’s plan by voting.

“So church, in just two days, we have the power to decide the fate of our nation for generations to come. And as we prepare for that moment, I am reminded of the passage from scripture. The prophet Jeremiah wrote, for I know the plans I have for you. They are the plans for good. And not for disaster. To give you a future and a hope. Church, God has a plan for us. He has good plans,” Harris declared.

“Plans that will heal us and bring us together as one nation. Plans for freedom, plans for opportunity, plans for justice. But let us remember, it is not enough to just believe in those plans. We must act. Not enough to only pray, not enough to just talk. We must act on the plans he has in store for us. And we must make them real through our works.”

Kamala Harris is an agent of Satan who is the master deceiver and it is obvious he has trained Kamala well. Satan used Scripture when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness and Kamala Harris likewise quotes Scripture to tempt churchgoers.

USA DEBT BURDEN NOW IMPOSSIBLE TO FIX

Posted on by

“U.S. Interest Burden Hits 28-Year High, Escalating Political Risk.”

It’s talking about the interest the federal government pays on its outstanding debt. According to the report…

The U.S. debt interest-cost burden climbed to the highest since the 1990s in the financial year just ended, escalating the risk that fiscal worries limit the policy options for the next administration in Washington.

Since when have fiscal worries slowed down Washington? We’ll just borrow more, right? Uncle Sam already owes $36 trillion. What’s a couple trillion more among friends? Well, maybe. But that’s getting harder now. 

The U.S. Treasury paid $882 billion in net interest payments during the fiscal year ending in September. That’s an average of $2.4 billion a day in interest payments. And that works out at more than 3% of annual GDP. Let’s break that number down further. Uncle Sam’s budget deficit is about 6% of GDP. About half of that is current spending. The other half is debt service. And a 6% budget deficit is something generally only seen in times of war or deep recessions when tax payments fall and the government boosts spending to stimulate demand. 

Well, the US is not fighting a war right now, and last I checked, the economy was growing at a brisk 3% clip. 

The budget deficit has blown out – and it is all but impossible to fix – because half of the budget deficit will pay the interest on prior years’ ill-advised spending. If the government were to balance the primary budget tomorrow – and the odds are better of you winning the lottery – they would still be looking at deficits of 3% of GDP due to interest expense on existing debts. So, to balance the budget, they need a budget surplus of 3% of GDP. And even that wouldn’t pay down the debt. It would simply cover the interest payments. 

Inflate or Die

This is the hole US leaders have dug the country into. Neither Trump nor Harris has a viable plan to get them out of it. Both have pledged to find extra-large shovels to dig even deeper. 

The only way those debts get paid down is in dollars that have been deeply depreciated due to inflation. 

It’s inflate or die for Uncle Sam. This is why bitcoin, gold, and other dollar hedges are core, long-term holdings for us at The Freeport Investor. And that’s why you should keep some in your portfolio, too. As the value of the dollar continues to inflate away, dollar hedges will continue to climb.

Biblical prophecy tells us what this impossible-to-fix debt burden leads to, the WEF Great Reset and a one-world government with a demonically empowered leader, the Antichrist.

BIBLICAL END TIMES PROPHECIES BEING FULFILLED IN OUR DAY

Posted on by

Another great video from Jonathan Cahn. This time he is interviewed by Shawn Bolz. Shawn asks all the right questions about Israel and its role in the end times.

Jonathan Cahn unveils End-Time Prophecy, revealing the mysteries behind the End of the Age and what is unfolding before our very eyes. Recognized alongside Billy Graham as one of the most impactful spiritual leaders of modern times, Cahn has spoken worldwide to millions, including Capital Hill and the United Nations. His New York Times bestselling books, starting with *The Harbinger*, have captivated audiences, and his prophetic teachings have garnered over 100 million views on YouTube. In this episode, Cahn will explore the hidden keys to victory in the midst of what’s coming, offering profound insight into how to overcome the challenges of the End of Days. Don’t miss this powerful conversation with one of the leading prophetic voices of our generation!

MANY THRIVING METAVERSES

Posted on by

In October 2021, Facebook (FB) announced what was arguably the largest corporate change in its 20-year history. Mark Zuckerberg and his executive team had decided to go all in on “the metaverse.” So much so that the company decided to change its name to Meta (META) and rebrand entirely.

Here’s what the company’s announcement stated…

The metaverse will feel like a hybrid of today’s online social experiences, sometimes expanded into three dimensions or projected into the physical world. It will let you share immersive experiences with other people even when you can’t be together – and do things together you couldn’t do in the physical world.

Meta’s timing to focus on “the” metaverse – one it hadn’t created yet – was costly. Meta’s share price collapsed 73% from the time of the announcement through November 2022. The stock then languished there for several months into the new year. It meant that there was no immediate way to monetize this massive multibillion-dollar investment it was making. And the worst part? It diverted its entire corporate focus to its metaverse initiatives at precisely the same time the world of artificial intelligence was absolutely booming with breakthroughs.

It went all in too early on a technology that was not ready to be monetized… and it paid the price. That November (2022), Meta cut its workforce by 11,000 (13%) to reel in costs. By March 2023, it announced more job cuts – another 10,000 positions – and that it would be shifting its focus away from the metaverse and heavily into large language models and generative AI.

Many Thriving Metaverses

What drove Zuckerberg to make the move to Meta? There were already several prominent metaverses thriving with activity, growing exponentially and wildly profitable… and Zuckerberg wanted to be one of them.

Fortnite, a massive multiplayer online social game, is a perfect example. Fortnite has grown into a metaverse with more than 500 million registered players and about 220 million monthly active players.

The Fortnite metaverse has already generated more than $26 billion in revenue through March 2024 and is one of the most popular games in history.

Fortnite has its own currency, V-bucks, and its own developer ecosystem that allows creators to build new games and metaverses within the Fortnite ecosystem. Fortnite is owned by private tech company Epic Games which was last valued at $31.5 billion in 2022.

Equally as impressive as Fortnite, if not more so, is publicly traded Roblox (RBLX) which now has 380 million monthly active users. While Roblox graphics may not be as flashy as Fortnite’s, it is impressive in the scale of its universe with 79.5 million daily active players. And where Roblox excels over Fortnite is in its remarkably vibrant developer community that builds different games and new worlds within the Roblox metaverse. Roblox has about 2.5 million developers working with its metaverse. Those community developers made more than $410 million in the first half of this year alone. The Roblox metaverse is a fully functioning online world with branding, advertising, e-commerce, gaming, and its own currency of course – Robux.

Last week was an exciting week for the company as it had its annual developers conference which gave us a view on the future of metaverse technology… I doubt anyone will be surprised to learn that the future of the Metaverse is all about artificial intelligence and generative AI.

Roblox gives its users and developers the ability to apply generative AI in designing a character for the game using simple text prompts. But this is just scratching the surface of what Roblox will be enabling. The company is leaning into multimodal AI that will enable not just image generation, but animation, work in 3D, software programming, and eventually video generation.

Roblox’s AI-powered metaverse strategy is already working extremely well. The company is now valued at $27 billion and will generate about $4.2 billion in revenue this year and more than $500 million in free cash flow. Compare that to Meta’s Reality Labs division which generated only $1.9 billion in revenue last year at a massive multibillion-dollar loss.

Meta would have been better off acquiring Roblox and its AI-powered metaverse from the start instead of spending at least $46.5 billion starting from scratch. Either way, the employment of generative AI is going to be a boom for gaming and metaverse development that will empower not only companies to accelerate development… but also developers and creators to take part in filling these metaverses with interactions, transactions, commerce, and social interactions. 

Is it any wonder that this generation that was taught evolution is true and there is no God would spend their time creating their own world in the metaverse? As there is no meaning or purpose to life on Earth and this world is a mess anyway, we will create our own world where we are in control. Either that or the rising suicide rates for teens indicate they decide to end their lives.

The Bible, God’s Word is a book of prophecy and thankfully God has revealed in detail what will happen in the world before Jesus returns to restore righteousness. What we see happening in the world, particularly with the younger generation is exactly what is prophesied. Also, the nation God established for His purposes, Israel, is the centre of the world’s attention with antisemitism rampant, once again exactly as the Bible prophecies would occur before Jesus second coming to Earth.

TIMING OF THE END OF THE AGE

Posted on by

Nelson Walters suggested I take a look at this website Counting from Caleb. This is a short (18 minutes) video by Ryan who presents evidence that Daniels 70 weeks prophecy can also be seen as 70 weeks of Jubilees (Shavuot) 70 x 7 x 7 = 3430 from the time of Caleb’s inheritance of the land in 1400 BC. This would mean that the final seven years (Daniel’s 70th week of years) would start on 4th October 28th, 2024, and end on 28th September 2031. This would be the end of the age and the start of Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom.

Ryan could be wrong but I believe we are in the Biblical prophesied end times before Jesus returns to Earth to rule and reign on Earth for 1000 years. Jesus Millennial Kingdom (http://www.millennialkingdom.net).