2019: The Year of Historic Events

The Lord often works in cycles and that is why history has a tendency to repeat or at least to rhyme.

The year 2019 is the last year of this decade and therefore will be a harbinger of things to come, and as such following the historic pattern of ushering in major changes on the world stage.

We can follow this pattern by looking back on previous decades. There was a global financial crisis in  2009, and the  Yugoslavia war in response to Serbian ethnic cleansing in 1999, also Euro currency was created that year. Further back we saw the fall of communism beginning in 1989, and the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979. In 1969 humanity landed on the moon, in 1959 Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba,  in 1949 Soviet Union ended the blockade of Western Germany, Israel signed peace treaties with surrounding nations, and NATO was created. The WWII began in September of 1939, the Wall Street crashed in 1929 and the Great Depression began, and in 1919 the Treaty of Versailles began, which officially ended WWI and the League of Nations was created, also Great Britain received control over Palestine. The pattern seems to hold for the last 100 years.

I am not saying of course that there were no major historic events happening in other years, but the kinds of events described above would also set a tone for the next decade, and often what began in those last years would extend to next year and beyond, so we can expect some major trend setting events to happen this year that will extend to 2020 and beyond.

Let us hope and pray that whatever happens will be positive in nature. It might be the fall of Islamic Republic of Iran, which would end the 40 years of oppression for the Iranian people and dry up the funding for global terrorism, ushering in a decade of hope and  peace?  I pray that this will be the case. But I guess we will find out as the year unfolds. I also wish that it will be the year of blessing and drawing closer to the Lord for all of us. Whatever happens, we are always safe under the shadow of His wings. ( Psalm 17:8)

Christians And Climate Change

Christians are often accused by the environmentalists and others of not caring for  or about our

planet. They think that since we believe in eternal life, this life and this world does not matter to us. And there might be some Christians who think that way, but the vast majority of us want clean air , water, and healthy food for ourselves and everyone else.

Furthermore, the Bible which we revere as inspired by the Holy Spirit, teaches us that this world is a gift that we are responsible to God for as one day he will call humanity to give an account for it. There is one very little known Scripture verse that is rather harsh :

"And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth." ( Revelation 11:28)

Notice the last phrase, "...destroy those who destroy the earth." That is very severe. As Christians we do not worship the earth, and we do not view humanity as "cancer on the earth", but  nevertheless we believe that we must be responsible for it.

To say that our faith causes us not to care reveals profound lack of knowledge regarding that faith. There is one more puzzle to that story though. We all know that climate is changing due to both our own actions as well as the natural forces that are beyond our control.  Many Christians do not have the problem with nations cooperating in doing something about, but they do have the problem with globalists using climate change as an excuse to consolidate power by  forcing many nations to give up parts of their sovereignty and allowing unelected bureaucrats to wield disproportionate amounts of power. This is the recipe for global dictatorship that Christians as well as many other people who value their freedom oppose. To discredit them, global elitists along with the main stream media have taken to accusing us of being "climate change deniers." This is a ploy aimed at avoiding talking about the real issues at stake.

Individual people taking responsibility for their own carbon footprint, can do more for the environment than carbon taxes and other ridiculous ploys. We would be living far greener lives long time ago if mega corporations were taken to account for their environmental pollution, and individual governments had given incentives for people to become greener by for example buying greener cars, or better yet, fewer cars. I wager that my carbon footprint is much smaller than that of some of the most stringent environmentalists, as I have never driven my own car. Our family uses just one car and I use the public transit or walk for my personal transit needs. The energy we use in our apartment is solar as we have solar panels on our roof for many years now, as well as hydro-power from Niagara Falls. We consume less and recycle... There is more that could be done on an individual and national levels without sacrificing the economy or giving up of our national sovereignty, if the elites and the media were more open to talk honestly about real issues instead of pushing their own agendas.

Is It Fair to Link Recent Hate Crimes In U.S. Exclusively to President Trump?

As everyone else, I am very disturbed by an increasing political division in the United States and

rhetoric of hate that comes along with it. But is it fair or right to place all the hate and violence solely at President Trump's feet?

Now, before you label me as Trump supporter, know that I am not an American, so I cannot be Trump supporter. I could never have voted for or against him and I am looking at this literally as an outsider.

I never liked President Trump's style and the petty Twitter arguments that he engages in, but to be fair, I have never read or heard him advocating for violence against any particular race, religion, or any other group identity.

Majority of his supporters do not look to me like far right extremists either, though no doubt there are a few of those among them too. But political division and hate have been going on in the United States long before Trump came to office. There was a lot of gun violence during the time that Obama was in the office too.

I find linking the latest hate crime in Pittsburgh, especially ironic because Trump is probably the most pro Jewish President in the history of United States. In addition to that, President Trump's Jewish son in law and daughter are quite hated on by the online anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists that the man who carried out the mass shooting in that Synagogue represented. Trump is seen by them as part of the conspiracy, so blaming Trump for that attack is bordering on insanity.

It also confirms the one-sideddness of the mainstream media that contributes to the feelings of isolation of all conservatives, and especially the mentally unstable individuals on the far right, such as the man who sent those pipe bombs to the prominent democrats.

While self righteously crying against hate, the left fails to take responsibility for their own contributions to it. I was totally shocked by the comments of Madonna who publicly was fantasizing about "blowing up " the White House. I don't care who is the President, but threat like that constitutes treason in my opinion, and the fact that there were no consequences for her rhetoric just confirms the belief that the public political discourse is indeed one sided and that it marginalizes anyone on the right as if there was no room for different political views. It must stop or the divide will continue to grow and worse things will happen on both right and left, as leftists are not immune from violence. Just see how ANTFA protesters act and you will see for yourself how they continually provoke violence at any rally they attend.  Someone did an experiment once, where they read parts of Hitler's speech at the leftist rally without telling those present that it were Hitler's words. They were all cheering! You can find it on You Tube and see for yourself.

Sadly, it is not much different in  my country of Canada where media routinely mischaracterize all who they perceive as politically incorrect for whatever reason, such as a distinguished Psychologist and leading intellectual mind of our time, Dr. Jordan Peterson, who was described by the media (CBC) as some right wing nut while in reality he is a classic liberal who spoke and warned against right wing extremism for over 30 years! How does that work? Did they even do any research on him? No, they were just pushing their own ideology why they are getting paid by Canadian tax money. This must change. And it starts with every single one of us. We must make sure that we listen to those around us, really listen to what they are really saying, especially those whop we disagree with. Let us quit sitting in echo chambers and start having some real conversations even if they are uncomfortable.

The Antidote to Racism

Today, I watched a very interesting film made in 1989 about the problem of racism in America. The

moral of the film was that racism exists in ALL people groups, but not all people in those groups are racist, now having shown this truth, them movie did not really offer any solutions to the problem.

Sadly, nearly 30 years later nothing has changed, in fact, things might be getting even worse because instead of acknowledging that racism exists in all groups, and condemning it no matter which group engages in it, predominantly leftist politicians and media, are blaming only one group for racism, the white people, so according to them it is o.k. to be racist against white person, but not against a person of any other ethnic group.

Don't believe me? Then pay more attention. Recently on Twitter someone posted a racist rant against "white people",  nothing happened. Then a person of Afro-American heritage posted the same thing, but  replaced the word "white" with "black." The post was promptly removed.

My point is not to say that ethnic minorities did not suffer more as a result of racism in America than the white people, but that we cannot fight racism by being racist. We all have to stop thinking of ourselves as part of racial group first. Placing group identity above any other type of identity leads to hate, racism, and violence that never stops.

The antidote to racism is thinking of ourselves as human first and treat all other people as such. We need to begin to listen to one another, and to respect one another's heritage. The Bible gave us a path to follow nearly 2000 years ago, when Jesus came to this earth to die for us all. God made all of us in His own image and because of that, we have to treat one another as equals.

It is time to stop playing the identity politics once and for all. Canadian psychologist, Jordan B Peterson, got it right, and we better all clean up our room. Next time you get to any heated debate about anything with anyone, remember that this person is human and worthy of the same respect as you are. Stop generalizing. Stop playing victim. Life is unfair, we all have our share of troubles, but Love does conquer all in the end. Focus on what matters. Let us work one person at a time to end racism. Racism is evil, no matter who engages in it, and evil can only be overcome by good. That is the end of my own rant for today. God bless Everyone.

Why Social Media Ban of Alex Jones Helps To Prove His Conspiracy Theory

  Alex Jones is one of the most controversial figures in American alternative media, but he rose to the

greatest heights of popularity during the last 18 years, following the 9/11 Terrorist attacks on New York Twin Towers. His official You Tube channel had more than 2 million subscribers.

 At first, he had been dismissed as a crazy conspiracy theorist by the main stream media and regularly laughed at, but since the last Presidential Elections in the United States, the personal attacks on him and his message increased.

Jones believes that there is underlying hidden globalist agenda that  aims at creating one world government and a global dictatorship, and that there is an information war going on right now for our future, hence the name of his website: Infowars. He sees himself as a patriot fighting for free speech, and preserving the sovereignty and the democratic constitutional form of government in the United States of America, which he believes is currently under attack from the mentioned above globalists.

He had been also saying for years that one day he is going to be banned from social media and perhaps even the entire Internet for speaking out against this globalist agenda. Recently it happened. Jones' content, both video and audio, was removed from all major social media platforms for "hate speech" without any specific examples of it being provided to the public. Thereby proving Alex Jones right in the eyes of his listeners and viewers, millions of them. That was the most stupid thing the social media giants could ever do. They just made him a winner by proving him right. In the best case scenario he will find or fund a new, independent platform, and he will be even more popular than ever before.

In the worse case scenario, as other people including those who did not agree with his views, but who worry about their own freedom of speech begin to criticize the ill advised move, which by the way is already happening with  Dr. Jordan B Peterson, Ben Shapiro,  Stefan Molyneux , and many others, each one of whom has more than or nearly a million subscribers on You Tube alone, they will begin to try to silence them as well. This is the worst case scenario because they would isolate millions of people who will feel that their freedoms are indeed slipping away, and will indeed then for sure begin to be convinced that we are slipping into some form of global dictatorship. Unstable people could begin to riot, which could lead to great unrest and possibly even violence, as the anarchist types would exploit it for their own ideological gains.

We are  then at potentially dangerous crossroads, and we really need to have a completely free and respectful public debate about this before things degenerate further. From a biblical point of view, that global dictatorship is indeed coming someday and it will take Jesus Himself to free humanity from its oppression, but I also believe that we  still have a moral and spiritual obligation to stand up against it, and by doing so to delay its coming for as long as possible. We are still living in the time of grace, and while we still have the freedom, we should continue to speak the Truth and shine the light in the darkness.

Author's Note: Photo courtesy of Infowars

Why God Will Not Solve All Your Problems

Recently, I came across a very well meaning person trying to encourage others by telling them that God will solve all their problems. While it is true that God enables us to first see that we have  problems and gives us grace to face them, it is untrue that He solves them for us.

In my nearly 20 years of relationship with God through the faith in His Son Jesus, I found that He did just the opposite. He never solved any problems for me, but He always had given me wisdom to solve them myself.

But that does not mean that I do not depend on Him at all. As I mentioned above, it is He who is giving me the wisdom and grace to do it. Some Christians go into the extreme of trying to do everything in their own power alone and that leads to legalism, pride,  and failure. Others go into another extreme of waiting for God to solve all their problems and their lives are a mess as a result because they never get solved.

The best way is a narrow straight balanced way of trusting in God to help us, but at the same time using the wisdom He has given us to do all we can do ourselves and taking responsibility for our decisions. This is how we grow and mature.

Teaching people to expect God to solve all their problems is very harmful even though it is well meaning because it will keep them immature and always struggling with the same problems. It can even lead some to abandon their faith in God altogether when they see that God is not solving their problems for them as they were taught to expect.

If you are in the situation where you have the same types of problems over and over again, instead of asking God to solve them for you, ask Him to give you wisdom and ability to solve them yourself and your life, and the life of those around you will improve dramatically as you begin to face and solve them.

Jerusalem 2018 Is Here: The Opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem And Clashes With Hamas

Today marks the 70th anniversary of Israel's rebirth and U.S. President Donald Trump chose this

symbolic day to open new embassy of that country in Jerusalem after recognizing it as the capital of Israel to the dismay of Palestinians, U.N. and the European Union.

Hamas staged wider than ever "protests" along the security fence separating Gaza from Israel. There are also demonstrations happening in the Palestinian controlled West Bank as well as in Jerusalem itself, and it could get very violent as Hamas is a terrorist organization that does not accept Israel's right to existence  as stated in their own charter: "There shall be no recognition of the legitimacy of the Zionist entity. Whatever has befallen the land of Palestine in terms of occupation, settlement building, Judaization or changes to its features or falsification of facts is illegitimate. Rights never lapse. Hamas believes that no part of the land of Palestine shall be compromised or conceded (that includes entire Israel, not just so called occupied territories), irrespective of the causes, the circumstances and the pressures and no matter how long the occupation lasts. Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea. However, without compromising its rejection of the Zionist entity and without relinquishing any Palestinian rights, Hamas considers the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital along the lines of the 4th of June 1967, with the return of the refugees and the displaced to their homes from which they were expelled, to be a formula of national consensus."

To the Palestinians all lands belonging to Israel right now are "Palestine"( not just the occupied territories) and need to be "liberated", it further states that armed struggle against Israel, which it calls a "Zionist Entity" is a duty of  not only every Palestinian, but every Muslim: "The liberation of Palestine is the duty of the Palestinian people in particular and the duty of the Arab and Islamic Ummah in general. ( Ummah is  a worldwide Islamic community)Resisting the occupation with all means and methods is a legitimate right guaranteed by divine laws and by international norms and laws. At the heart of these lies armed resistance, which is regarded as the strategic choice for protecting the principles and the rights of the Palestinian people.
 Hamas rejects any attempt to undermine the resistance and its arms. It also affirms the right of our people to develop the means and mechanisms of resistance. Managing resistance, in terms of escalation or de-escalation, or in terms of diversifying the means and methods, is an integral part of the process of managing the conflict and should not be at the expense of the principle of resistance."

The above statement means that Palestinians and all Muslims are encouraged to attack Israel with any means and methods they choose, including the attacks on civilian population as in the wave of knife attacks and bombings in the past, not just Israeli soldiers. Anyone  watching or discussing this conflict must be aware of these facts and see both Palestinian and Israeli actions in its context. Below is the link to Hamas' website where  you all can read it for yourselves.

http://hamas.ps/en/post/678/a-document-of-general-principles-and-policies

Could it be the very historic event  that we have been anticipating since May 2008 when I first published The Countdown to Jerusalem 2018? I very much think so. I think that what happened today sets in motion a chain of events leading to fulfillment of all prophecies regarding Israel and Jerusalem. In addition to rising violence from the Palestinians against Israel, we have rising tensions between Iran and Israel over Iran's involvement in Syria and its establishment of military bases there from which it can attack Israel.  Iranian Islamic regime is crumbling from within and it might want to provoke war with Israel in order to distract the Iranian people from their resistance. It might even use the pretext of wanting to defend Palestinians for their attack. We must watch and pray for all parties involved.

One thing is sure. The prophetic Biblical pattern of 70 holds.