>> AP Exclusive: Intel report says Iranian president wants to develop nuclear arms openly
(Jerusalem, Israel) The nations are being shaken — physically, spiritually, emotionally, financially, politically and in so many other ways.
- The people of Norway have been shaken this week by seeing sheer evil unleashed against precious, innocent children.
- Japan has been shaken this year by the enormous earthquake, the resulting tsunami, and the horrific nuclear meltdown.
- The people of Egypt, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen have been shaken this year by dramatic and largely unexpected the revolutions underway there and throughout the Arab world.
- Iran has been shaken by the enormous pro-democracy movement that took to the streets but was then nearly crushed by the tyrannical government in Tehran.
- The people of Israel are being shaken by fears that Iran is rapidly closing in on building nuclear weapons and the world is not doing nearly enough to stop them in time.
- Greece has been shaken by its unprecedented debt crisis and resultant riots and social unrest.
- Americans, too, are being shaken. We face arguably the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Nearly half of all Americans believe we are heading towards another Great Depression. Unemployment is over 9%. Housing foreclosures are skyhigh. People have lost enormous sums of money due to depressed housing prices and stock market volatility. The federal government is trying to spend our way to prosperity but is making things worse. Our annual federal budget deficit topped $1.3 trillion last year. This year, it looks like the feds will spend more than $1.5 trillion beyond what they are taking in in revenue. Our debt is skyrocketing. The U.S. is now on the verge of financial default, and hampered further by political ineptitude in Washington that threatens to comp0und an already precarious situation.
What if these events are not all random? What if the God of the Bible is allowing these to happen to shake us, to wake us, to get our attention, that we might turn to Him and ask Him to have mercy on us and help us?
The Lord said through the ancient Hebrew Prophet Haggai that the nations would be shaken in the future. “For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. I will shake all the nations….I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations.” (Haggai 2:6, 7, 21, 22)
In the New Testament, the Lord reinforced that theme. “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven’….Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:25-29)
Bible prophecy is clear: the Lord shakes individuals and nations that we might let go of all of the flawed political, philosophical, intellectual and religions notions that we cling to that won’t give us true peace, that don’t give us real hope, that can’t bring us any security, that can’t provide forgiveness from our sins much less eternal life for our souls. The God of the Bible wants to shake us loose of such things that we might turn to Him, and to the life He offers through faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord isn’t letting us be shaken because He hates us. He’s letting us be shaken precisely because He loves us and wants us to repent and turn to Him and call out to Him, as individuals, as families, and as nations. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26)
KEY HEADLINES WORTH TRACKING:
- U.S. default prospects stalk global stock markets
- Moody’s warns Greek default almost certain
- Russia’s Putin planning Kremlin return say sources, possibly in March 2012
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- What is the “War of Gog & Magog” described in Ezekiel 38-39? — notes from a recent conference
- Israel, Prophecy, and the “Day of the Lord”: Understanding the Old Testament Book of Joel – notes from a recent conference
- Watch the videos from the 2011 Epicenter Conference online — and/or order the DVD package of all the messages