WHAT IS AHEAD FOR 2024?

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The fact is the world is headed into a darker future. God has revealed in His Word exactly how this world will end. The good news is that Satan’s hold on the world is soon coming to an end and then we will have 1000 years of Jesus and the resurrected saints ruling the nations from a totally restored Jerusalem. Israel will be the head nation operating from God’s allotted borders as shown in this picture.

At an extremely low point in the disciples lives: Jesus had told them that he was going to be killed and the temple destroyed so they came to Jesus with the following question.

“Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Matthew 24:3

Jesus gave them this answer:

“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
“Then they will deliver you (Christians) 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 24:7-14

What Jesus revealed to them is further proof of the authenticity of God’s Word. Why! because what Jesus prophesied is being fulfilled in our day. Also if you were starting up a new, albeit, false religion is this the way you would do it? I don’t think so: “Then they will deliver you (Christians) up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.“

Jonathan Cahn opens up the prophetic developments and events of 2023 and where it’s leading into 2024 – The apostasy, the attack of Hamas and the war in Israel, the Pope’s seismic decree, and more.

IS DEMONIC ACTIVITY ON THE INCREASE?

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Andrew Lloyd Webber, known for his musical “The Phantom of the Opera,” has opened up about his encounter with a “mischievous spirit” at his Eaton Square residence in London — and how he sought a priest’s help to remove the entity.

In an interview with The Telegraph, the award-winning composer revealed that while he has never seen a ghost, his former 19th century home in Eaton Square was occupied by a poltergeist that would “do things like take theatre scripts and put them in a neat pile in some obscure room.”

“In the end, we had to get a priest to come and bless it, and it left,” he said. 

According to The Telegraph, the theatre world is no stranger to ghostly encounters: Patrick Stewart claimed to have seen an apparition while performing with Sir Ian McKellen in “Waiting for Godot” at London’s Haymarket Theatre in 2009. 

Similarly, Cameron Mackintosh, a collaborator of Lloyd Webber, felt a mysterious presence on stage during the 1989 opening night of “Miss Saigon” at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The theatre manager attributed this to the resident ghost, known as the Man in Grey.

A Roman Catholic priest and exorcist in Mexico has warned that the recent growth of the “Santa Muerte” cult is leading to a “notable increase” in demonic activity in the country, including demonic possession. The Santa Muerte cult — whose idol is a female personification of death — is satanic and steeped in occult rituals, as noted by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-speaking version of Catholic News Agency.

As we approach the prophesied time of Jesus’ return to Earth we know that demonic activity will increase as Satan and his demons are cast down to Earth. “woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!“

“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” Revelation 12:7-9

“Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” Revelation 12:12

ELON MUSK GOT THIS RIGHT

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk suggested last week that he agrees with the assertion that Western civilization is doomed without Christianity.

Nzube Olisaebuka Udezue, a British rapper also known as Zuby, posted on X last Friday that he thinks “the West is absolutely screwed if it loses Christianity.”

“Explaining this in full would require an entire book,” continued Udezue, who boasts 1.1 million X followers and has professed to be a Christian. “But I’ve thought about it a lot over the years and reached this conclusion.”

Udezue, who was born in London to Nigerian parents, said removing Christianity from Western culture is like “removing the foundations of a building but pridefully expecting it to remain standing forever … All while enemies both inside and outside are trying to knock the building over.”

He went on to liken the West’s historically dominant religion to its “immune system,” and said the presence of a Christian majority in the West has served as “a form of herd immunity” that has benefited both Christians and non-Christians alike.

“You can’t just have a cultural and moral vacuum,” he added. “It goes against the laws of human nature.”

Udezue’s initial tweet, which drew 1.7 million views and 28,000 likes, also prompted the response from Musk, who wrote: “I think you’re probably right.”

NIGERIAN CHRISTIANS NIGHTMARE: CHRISTMAS EVE SLAUGHTER

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Like mothers all around the world, Grace Godwin was cooking Christmas Eve dinner when life took a terrifying turn. Standing in her Nigerian kitchen, Grace’s husband ran into the room and shouted at her to take the children and run. Go to the bush, he ordered after an alarm spread that gunmen were in a nearby town. Everyone in the central Plateau knows what happens to Christians. In the time that it took her to gather her three little ones, they started to hear the unmistakable sound: rifle shots. 

With preparations for a festive night scattered everywhere, Grace and her family fled.

All across the region, villages that should have been celebrating the holiday were surrounded by armed men, tortured, and burned. The attacks lasted for hours, killing as many as 160 and wounding hundreds of others. Markus Amorudu told reporters that his family was sleeping in Mushu when the sound of shots rang out. “We were scared,” he admitted, “because we weren’t expecting an attack.” “People hid,” he explained, “but the assailants captured many of us. Some were killed, others wounded.” 

Magit Macham, who left the safety of the state capital to spend Christmas with his family, was talking to his brother outside the house when everyone heard gunshots. Within minutes, Magit was dragging his brother, who’d been hit in the leg, to the bush, where they hid for the night. “Those that could run ran,” he said. But “a good number of those that couldn’t run were caught and killed with machetes.” 

With eerie echoes of Hamas, terrorists slashed their way through as many as 20 villages, setting fire to everything in their path. The attack lasted for hours, survivors remembered. “We returned at six the next morning” — Christmas Day — “and found that houses had been burnt and people killed,” Grace lamented. “There are still people missing.” Even now, she said quietly, “There is no one in Mayanga. Women and children have all fled.”

The Fulani herdsman, along with the Muslim terrorist group Boko Haram, have been carrying out a bloody vendetta against Nigerian Christians for years. During this massacre, as in most, they took particular pleasure in targeting church leaders. “Some pastors were killed, and another pastor and his wife and five children were killed during these attacks,” Dawzino Mallau told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News by text. “These terrorists who attacked these Christian communities were in the hundreds, and they carried out the attacks as the hapless Christians were preparing for Christmas programs lined up by their pastors.”

When they couldn’t take lives, they destroyed homes — reducing “hundreds of houses” to ash. Worse, locals said it took “more than 12 hours before security agencies responded to their call for help.” Women, children, and the elderly were systematically slaughtered while the government sat on its hands, a revelation Family Research Council’s Arielle Del Turco found “deeply disturbing.”

“At best, this points to a grave and costly incompetence,” she told The Washington Stand. “At worst, it reveals that Nigerian authorities do not want to stop these attacks against vulnerable Christians and may be complicit in them. Either way, the Nigerian government must urgently institute changes to save innocent lives.”

Now, instead of celebrating Christ’s birth, Nigerians are burying their dead.

“This is unacceptable,” Plateau Governor Caleb Mutfwang insisted. “Enough is enough. These stupid, senseless, and unprovoked acts must stop,” he said before demanding more security measures. “… As I am talking to you, in Mangu local [district] alone, we buried 15 people. As of this morning, in Bokkos, we are counting not less than 100 corpses. I am yet to take stock of [the deaths in] Barkin Ladi. It has been a very terrifying Christmas for us here in Plateau.”

Living in fear has become a way of life for the country’s Christians, who’ve endure these waves of cold-blooded killings with shocking frequency since 2009. Now, even the simple act of going to church or gathering for Christmas can be a death sentence. 

“More innocent Christians are killed in Nigeria each year than anywhere else in the world,” Del Turco told TWS. According to Open Doors’ 2023 report, 5,014 were brutally murdered in 2022 alone. “This is a shameful distinction that the Nigerian government must immediately address,” she urged. 

With the nightmarish attacks of October 7 still fresh in everyone’s minds, this barbarism — some 3,500 miles from Israel — is another sad reminder of the persecution God’s people face in most corners of the world. But it’s also a powerful witness to Christians in the West, who’ve only experienced a taste of the hostility our brothers and sisters endure around the world. While we take our most basic freedoms for granted, believers from Afghanistan to China have no peace — not even on Christmas.

They’ve seen the deadly explosions rock their churches, they’ve cried at the funerals of loved ones gunned down during worship. They’ve lost their homes, buried their children, and looked martyrdom in the eye. And still, they are not deterred. Risking everything for Christ is a way of life. Fortunately, Jesus told us that Christians would face intense persecution in the last days before His return so are prepared to endure it for the eternal life that God has promised on the new Earth (Revelation 21 – The New Heaven and the New Earth).

“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

But that doesn’t make the losses less painful. In Nigeria, where the situation for Christians is growing more treacherous by the day, we grieve for the hundreds of families whose Christmases will never be the same. 

In the meantime, Del Turco reminds the church, that we are not helpless. “We can pray for the comfort and peace for those who are mourning,” she offered, “that justice will be done in this situation, and the hearts of Nigerian leaders will be moved to stop the slaughter of Christians.” And thank God for the freedom to do so.

Topics: Nigeria, International Religious Freedom, Christian Persecution

WHAT DOES GOD LOOK LIKE?

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As Christians, we have a fair understanding of God’s characteristics, such as love. But what does He look like? Scriptures clearly tell us that He has fire from His waist up and from His waist down, and it’s mingled with electricity. The word in Hebrew is Ashman, which means “electricity.” In Greek, it’s electros, again “electricity.” We see in other places that it’s lightning. So you have this fiery, lightning, kind of God that cannot have sin or corruption in His presence, not because He doesn’t like us, but just because we’re incompatible. Daniel says His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire; a fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. Imagine being in the presence of God and all of His blazing fire. Now imagine going up to God and giving Him a hug. How would that feel? That would really be the end of your day, wouldn’t it? Because you cannot do that, I cannot do that, in our present bodies we are incompatible with God. 

So God put a veil between heaven and earth, until that time in the future when the veil will be lifted. Actually, God is the one who left the Garden and He cursed the Cosmos and allowed mankind to live on planet Earth for a limited life span. But on occasion, that veil was opened so that people could see through. Stephen, when he was being stoned, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God. He said, Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God! Acts 7:56 This is just one occasion when God allowed people to see beyond that veil. John says in Revelation, “Now I saw heaven opened”. Rev. 19:11 

There were so many places where the heavens were opened and people were able to see just through a little bit. When Elisha and his servant were surrounded by the Syrians, Elisha prayed that God would open his eyes and then he saw horses and chariots of fire (2 Kings 6:17). It was like Elisha’s servant put on his decoder glasses, and could then see beyond into that other realm and he could see what was behind the veil. God’s desire has always been to dwell with men openly, without any kind of a veil, with nothing between us, and completely exposed, one to another. This is His great desire.

The day is coming; and it will happen after Jesus’ Millennial reign on this Earth, the second resurrection of the dead, and the White Throne Judgement that the righteous will dwell with God on the new Earth.

“And he who sits on the throne will dwell among them.” Revelation 7:15

“The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. Revelation 21:3

 

 

IMPORTANCE OF JESUS’ TRANSFIGURATION ON MT TABOR AND THE APPEARANCE OF MOSES AND ELIJAH

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Jesus did many extraordinary things while on earth as a human. One such extraordinary event that occurred was Jesus meeting with the supposed long-dead Elijah and Moses. This episode explains the reason for this meeting and its significance to all believers. Interestingly, Jesus selected Peter, James, and John to accompany him to view His transfiguration

“And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.” Matthew 17:2-3, Mark 9:2-3 & Luke 28:28-29

Jesus had already shared with the disciples His mission on Earth, that he had to die but then He would be raised to life but the disciples did not understand the full extent of what God and Jesus were accomplishing for mankind.

The fact that Jesus was transfigured before them confirmed His heavenly origins, as well the appearance in a glorified state of Moses and Elijah who had been dead thousands of years confirmed life after death. It is interesting that Peter, James and John knew who Moses and Elijah were without Jesus having to introduce them. Hence this event and its timing was important in the progression of Jesus revealing who He was and His mission on Earth.

EMINENT INVESTMENT ANALYST FORECASTS AMERICA’S DEMISE

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A decade after his most controversial prediction, The End of America, where he warned of the cultural and economic decay that’s plaguing America. Porter Stansberry (Stansberry Research – Investment Advisory Service) just released the shocking finale to his original documentary, and his decade-long investigation points to one inescapable conclusion: From the growing number of riots and protests to the banking collapses and loss of America’s AAA credit rating, to ever-increasing government authoritarianism…  

He says this story is far bigger, far more important, and far more urgent than perhaps anything he has ever done. 

He warns America has now reached the financial precipice… and that what’s coming next will trigger a new national crisis that will reshape our entire country for decades to come.  

Unless you take action immediately, Porter says you could risk being wiped out financially in the chaos ahead. Yet nobody is warning you of what’s coming or showing you how to protect yourself, your family, and your finances. That’s why, after months of work, he has released an incredible new documentary film that explores everything in exacting detail. – The event that will trigger a new national crisis. 

– How this looming, unstoppable event will reshape everything about the American economy, culture, and financial system. 

The exact moves Porter is personally making – and urging his friends and family to follow too – in order to safeguard their savings, investments, and way of life. Plus much, much more. Right now, for a limited time only, you can watch his new documentary at no cost. 

Just click here and it’ll start streaming.

Sadly, Porter makes no mention of God and the Biblical prophecies that forecast what we see happening in the world today: godlessness and lawlessness would precede Jesus’ return to defeat the Antichrist and the world’s armies at the battle of Armageddon. At this time Jesus judges the nations and sets up His Millennial Kingdom.

“Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” Revelation 20:4-6

THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND THE MILLENNIUM

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The Kingdom of God has several phases. One important but neglected Kingdom phase is the Millennium as it is a future transition phase on this Earth. Much of the church teaches that the millennium is being fulfilled today and yet the Bible teaches that it follows prophesied events that are yet to occur: worldwide tribulation, cosmic signs, the wrath of God, the rescue of God’s people, and the judgement of nations. Testimony of the millennium is found in both testaments of the Bible. The Old Testament prophets tell of a future time when Israel’s prophesied Messiah will rule all the nations of Earth. It is a time very different from our present age and the coming eternal state with a new Heaven and a new Earth. The New Testament tells us how long this intermediate period will be – one thousand years.

Since the Fall of Man, God has enacted a plan to bring this rebel planet back into conformity with His universal kingdom in which His will is perfectly done. Part of this plan is for His Son, Jesus, the Messiah, to rule the nations, including his enemies from Jerusalem. Israel is restored, the nation God established for His purposes. Jesus and the Saints will rule the nations with a rod of iron (see Psalm 2: The Reign of the Lord’s Anointed, Psalm 110, and Rev. 2:26-27).

“The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron…” Revelation 2:26

Jesus must fulfill the Abrahamic, Davidic, and New Covenants and rule over the planet that rejected Him. When this phase of the Kindom is completed this world will be destroyed. The rest of the dead are raised to face Jesus at the White Throne judgement. God creates a new heaven and new earth where only the righteous will dwell, at which time Jesus will hand over the Kingdom to God the Father.

TIMING OF THE RAPTURE

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In Matt 24:44, Jesus warned Christians that they would make a huge mistake regarding the time of his return or second coming. Jesus said ALL Christians are expecting something that is biblically incorrect. Both Pre-Trib and Post-Trib will make this error. The context of Jesus’ warning tells us what it is and how dangerous it is. Watch this Nelson Walters video for the details so you don’t make this huge mistake.

“Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” Matthew 24:44

The timing of the Rapture and Jesus’ return to Earth for the battle of Armageddon is separated by one year and ten days during which time God pours out His wrath upon the unrepentant. The year before a Jubilee year is exactly one year and ten days. The year following Jesus’ return to Earth will be a Jubilee year. Also, it is interesting to note that when God poured out His wrath upon the Earth for the first time during Noah’s flood it was also for one year and ten days. “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” Matthew 24:37 The world will be lawless and living as if the world will go on forever, as it was in the days of Noah.

For the Saints, the last seven years before Jesus returns to Earth will be six years of work, trials, and testing followed by a Sabbath year of rest. We know this because it is at the sixth seal (Rev. 6:12) that we see the celestial signs that signal the rapture and the wrath of God. Also, it is the sixth church (Philadelphia) that is raptured and the seventh church (Laodicea) that is left behind to face the wrath of God.

FROM A RADICAL RACIST TO COURAGEOUS PREACHER

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The testimony of Maarten Labuschagne testifies to the mercy and love of God

Maarten’s family very occasionally attended a local church, mainly because of his mother. His father was very dismissive of the church but was interested in ‘spirituality’, including occult practices. As a result, young Maarten knew the spiritual world was real. However, his father promoted the view that Christians were weak and hypocritical, thus not what Maarten aspired to be—strong, unbending, and unafraid.

Maarten was proud of his Afrikaner heritage, marked by struggle and an independent spirit. After army training, he spent time as a bouncer and security guard for bars and nightclubs. His fast temper and even faster fists often came close to getting him into serious trouble. Maarten was attracted to the AWB or Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (Afrikaner Resistance Movement). This is an Afrikaner nationalist, neo-Nazi, and white supremacist organization, founded in 1973

However, despite his staunch-seeming, tough-guy exterior, he was desperately insecure and suffered from severe anger and other issues. Maarten shares: “Heavy metal music, particularly Van Halen’s song Runnin’ with the Devil, was my anthem. As time went by, I tried to change, as I saw and realized I was hurting others. Strangely, perhaps, I didn’t always like acting the way I did. I saw a hypnotist (about 15 times), and a psychiatrist, out of desperation. Nothing worked—my life felt as if it was doomed.“

In September 1998, in utter desperation, Maarten cried out to God: “God, you have to change me!”, even challenging God’s right to send him to Hell if He failed to do this. My cry was mingled with doubt over whether God was real or would respond. But it was utterly genuine, a recognition that I could not save myself. I didn’t then understand the assurances His Word gives for the repentant heart, but I certainly knew that Hell was real, and I didn’t want to go there. Almost instantly, he says, he was profoundly converted and felt a dramatic release from the stress, anger, and hatred that had bound up his life.

The Bible assured me I was a new creation; I got rid of my personal weapons and other AWB paraphernalia from the old life and cut off all ties with the group. However, coming to genuinely love and appreciate people of other cultures and ethnicities would take time. One significant milestone in that process was at a service in a large, multicultural church in the South African city of Durban. Maarten was asked to give a brief testimony from the pulpit. For someone who was usually fearless, public speaking terrified him. Nervously, he addressed the crowd, many of whom were indigenous Africans or of Indian extraction. He confessed he had been in the AWB and had passionately hated them. Expecting a disastrous, vengeful response, he was instead brought to tears by many tribal African believers who came up and expressed forgiveness and love. It was then that he fully understood that they were his brothers and sisters in Christ, not any sort of enemy.

As his Christian faith grew, he was baptized and went to Bible College. He was also a pastoral counsellor at one of the biggest drug rehabilitation centres in South Africa. To help others struggling with broken lives and a lack of hope, a few years ago Maarten set up a simple website under the banner of Jesus Rules Ministries (JRM). On it, he shares his testimony and invites a response to the Gospel. JRM has since expanded to include a small church fellowship in a rural community, pastored by Maarten.

With no fear of man (Proverbs 29:25) due to his upbringing, Maarten passionately uses street evangelism to reach out to people who are broken or without hope. His trademark tools are a large cross and thought-provoking sign, complete with photos including from his AWB past, and boldly stating e.g.: If you tried the thug life or the drug life and it hasn’t worked, try Jesus!

Maarten is often ignored or ridiculed and occasionally threatened by passers-by. He recently had his main sign hijacked and dragged down the road behind a car! Despite the difficulties, the work has resulted in many powerful testimonies. Desperate people, involved in crime and violence or on the verge of suicide, have been transformed by encountering Jesus.

Michael Cook chats with former racist militia member Maarten Labuschagne in latest Creation Magazine http://www.creation.com