Over the last few weeks, I have seen a plethora of articles discussing the acceleration of “end times” events.   Just to name a few of these events … 

• A Christian woman from Kentucky, put in jail for taking a stand for a biblical view of marriage
  Four million Syrian refugees fleeing their homeland and pouring into other countries
  
• A significant Russian military buildup in Syria
  
• Much debate regarding the UN General Assembly meeting on September 25 where both the Pope and Iranian President Rouhani’s are scheduled to make speeches.   Reportedly, President Rouhani is going to focus on the issue of Palestine.
  
• An apparent end to “if you see something / say something” which occurred when a 14 year old muslim boy brought a homemade “clock” to school which was mistaken by a teacher for a bomb.   The school and teacher have since been portrayed negatively in the press, social media and even the white house, instead of being applauded for being careful.
  
• Much speculation over the recent “Shemitah” and potential impact on financial markets.
  
• Much speculation over the pending fourth “blood moon” to coincide with the Jewish holiday – Yom Kippur
  
  

Although I agree that these events may be significant from an end times perspective, most of the articles I read left the readers in a state of fear and confusion.   Today, I want to remind you that the portions of scripture which refer to the end times and descriptions of significant end times events are meant to bring HOPE and not fear.  

During the Olivet Discourse- found in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 - Jesus responds to a question from His disciples and tells of the events that would indicate that the last days were approaching.   In Mark 13:23, Jesus ends the discussion by stating “So be on your guard: I have told you everything ahead of time.”    Luke adds some more detail to this in Luke 21:34 when he reports the words of JESUS saying: “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.”    Clearly Jesus didn’t want anyone to be caught by surprise.   These words were not meant to put fear into the hearts of men...on the contrary, they were meant to bring Hope!  

Maybe you are thinking, “how can say that this is about hope when everything preceding those verses is about the awful things and persecution that we would see as the end times approaches?”   If that is you, I would remind you that the end times for the believer is a time of reuniting with JESUS CHRIST!   In Titus 2:13, Paul reminds us that we are waiting for “…the blessed Hope – the glorious appearing of our great GOD and Savior, JESUS CHRIST”!    In John 14:3 Jesus Himself said “…I go and prepare a place for you, [and] I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am”! 


This is the real message of the end times…a message of HOPE as we are physically reunited with our LORD and Savior JESUS CHRIST and will be with HIM forever.   End times prophecy is not meant to help us “time the stock market” or cause our “hearts to fail for fear”.   It is meant to encourage us to focus on that which is truly important and to ensure that we are prepared for the return of Jesus Christ!   Now THAT is a message of HOPE….to be with JESUS our SAVIOR forever!

Today, be sure that you are saved.   If you have never asked JESUS to be Lord of your life, do it today!   Confess your sins to HIM, tell HIM that you believe in HIM and give JESUS full control over your life.  Do not fear, but be encouraged and have HOPE, because Jesus will be returning soon for those who believe in HIM – just as HE said!

There has been quite a bit of news this week, related to an increased acceptance of cryptocurrency.   One of the primary drivers of this phenomenon has been the economic situation in Greece.   Fortune magazine published an article entitled: “Bitcoin: Greece’s new Euro workaround?”, which  highlights the fact that Greece’s Bitcoin use has grown 500% in the last four weeks!   With banking restrictions and limits on the amount of currency that can be withdrawn in Greece, it appears that individuals are flocking to digital currency in an attempt to minimize the impact on their daily lives.  The Fortune article further states that, “You buy a bitcoin now because you think sometime in the future you’ll have your banks shut and your currency reintroduced,” he adds. “Gold was the old hedge against this sort of thing. Bitcoin is the new one.”   Apparently other European countries are also buying Bitcoins in speculation that it is being used as a “Euro workaround”.  Although this is an interesting phenomenon, there are two other items that occurred this week which make this even more “prophetically significant”.

On Wednesday, July 8, Yahoo! Finance published an article stating that Citigroup, has developed their own digital currency dubbed - Citicoin.    Citigroup is the third largest bank in the US (behind Chase and Bank of America) based on Asset size.   With this announcement, Citi helped to validate the trend towards digital currencies and confirmed that this is not just a “passing fad”.   In addition to this admission by Citigroup, it is interesting to note that Yahoo! Finance published this article on Wednesday, July 8 – the same day that New York Stock Exchange was shut down for 3½ hours due to a “computer glitch”.    Interesting, huh?

The technology that supports both the Bitcoin and Citicoin is called “Blockchain distributed ledger technologies”.   Without getting too technical, essentially “Blockchain” is a decentralized, secure, transparent method  for processing and verifying peer-to-peer transactions.   Many experts believe that this “Blockchain” technology has far reaching potential uses beyond digital currency including: electronic voting, patent tracking and taxes.    Beyond the technology itself, this is all very interesting as it was first released in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto, a name which is believed to be an alias for an individual or a group of developers.   Although there have been numerous suggestions, the true identify of Nakamoto has not yet been confirmed.   Furthermore, this unregulated digital currency is a “borderless currency” which means it sets the stage for the first truly global currency.

The Bible tells of an event, which will occur during the early part of the 7-year tribulation, that is directly related to a full global financial collapse.  In Revelation, chapter 6 we read a description of the “Seal Judgments”.   The first four verses talk about the first two seals: a white horse signifying the introduction of the antichrist and a red horse signifying a global war.   In verses five and six, we are told about a black horse:

“When HE broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.   And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.”

Most commentators believe this third horse represents famine.   However, I believe that the “pair of scales”  described in verse five, implies that this is also about control over the financial system to purchase critical goods -  such as food.  (Additionally, verses seven and eight describe the fourth judgment which specifically calls out famine as a component of the judgment.)    The details in verse six essentially sets the cost of “a day’s worth of food” at a cost of “a day’s wages”.   Today there is a lot of variation on what actually defines “a day’s worth of food” and even more variation on what is described as “a day’s wages”.   This verse seems to imply that during this early point of the tribulation, this will be a more standardized definition of both the quantity of food (rations) as well as the related cost.    

Currently, there are more than 160 active global currencies in existence.   Even though the two primary currencies today are the US dollar and the Euro, it would be incredibly difficult for an individual to control all of them in such a way that there would be a common global price for a specific item such as a quart of wheat or three quarts of barley.   Just think how much easier it would be to control the cost for these and other items with a single, global currency.

A few chapters later, in Revelation chapter 13, John describes another layer of control over the financial system.  Revelation 13: 16 & 17 state:

“And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the name of the beast or the number of his name. “

The mark described in this verse will be some type of identifier which will enable commerce.   It is important to note that individuals will need to accept this as a form of worship of the beast.    Although this mark will allow the bearers to buy and sell critical items, it will also have severe consequences in that bearers will be putting the beast in the place of the ONE TRUE GOD in their lives.   In recent years the technology to enable this type of control with either a digital tattoo or a digital implant has been created, however, the type of currency still presented a bit of dilemma.    Clearly a single, global, “uncontrolled”, digital currency would facilitate this as well!

The US Dollar, along with many other currencies throughout history, was at one time backed by gold.   Historically, gold has been the “go to” in times of economic uncertainty.  That is no longer the case as we are now seeing by these news events.   Clearly a digital cryptocurrency facilitates much of what is to come during the tribulation.   Get all excited friends; the return of Christ is closer now than it ever has been before!        

God Bless!

Did you ever wonder where certain everyday expressions come from?     Phrases like “being caught between a rock and a hard place”, “a Herculean effort”, “he’s so full of himself” and “Achilles’ heel” actually all tie back to Greek Mythology.   Other expressions such as “twinkling of an eye”, “drop in the bucket”, “signs of the times” and “powers that be” all have their roots in the Bible.    Over the past few weeks, I have been pondering one such expression:  “the writing on the wall”.    Today, this phrase is typically used to describe a situation where you could literally see doom coming beforehand.  

The roots of this phrase are found in the Old Testament of Scripture, specifically in Daniel 5.   This portion of scripture tells of an event that occurred in Ancient Babylon.   In verse 1 of this chapter we are introduced to Belshazzar, the King of Babylon.   Belshazzar was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, the King of the Babylonian empire who took Daniel and his friends into captivity.    Belshazzar threw a big party with all of his friends and basically mocked the ONE TRUE GOD -  JEHOVAH.   Suddenly a hand appeared out of thin air and wrote a phrase on the wall.  

5 Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing. 6 Then the king’s face grew pale and his thoughts alarmed him, and his hip joints went slack and his knees began knocking together.

The hand terrified the King and his guests as a message was written that nobody could understand.   The King was scared by what he saw, but he didn’t know what the message meant.  In fact, none of his counselors understood the message.  The “great minds” of the day couldn’t tell the king what it meant.   Nobody understood the words of warning.   None that is except for a prophet of the Lord named Daniel.

25 “Now this is the inscription that was written out: ‘MENĒ, MENĒ, TEKĒL, UPHARSIN.’ 26 This is the interpretation of the message: ‘MENĒ’—God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it.  27 ‘TEKĒL’—you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient.  28 ‘PERĒS’—your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”

The King James version of scripture states the word “TEKEL” as “Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting (or lacking)”.   Wow, can you imagine being Daniel and having to tell the king that GOD examined him and he didn’t measure up?    Daniel went on to tell Belshazzar that his kingdom would be taken from him and given to the Medes and Persians.    What a terrifying word of judgment!    That very night, this word of warning came to pass.   Belshazzar was murdered and the Medes and Persians took over the Babylonian empire.

It always amazes me how GOD constantly warns people about what lies ahead.   Amos 3:7 tells us “Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants…”.  That statement is as true today as when it was written over 2,700 years ago.    The book of Jonah tells of how GOD sent the prophet Jonah to warn an entire nation to repent because HIS judgment was coming.   Romans 13:11-12 encourages New Testament believers to “wake up” because “the day is at hand”.    Make no mistake, we are living in what Scripture calls “the Last Days”.    We are quickly approaching the day when Christ will return for HIS Church.    As that day draws near, I believe that GOD will continue to give us indications that events are unfolding in this generation just as HE did in generations past.  

In this blog we will attempt to point out events that we see unfolding around us which can be tied back to biblical prophecies describing events of the Last Days found in scripture.   Literally, we will seek to explore, the “Writing on the Wall” as we see it today.

Can you see that we are living in the last days?   If you were examined by God would you be found lacking or would you be one of the saved?   Take time today to surrender your life to JESUS CHRIST, our One True Hope.   He is coming back soon…be ready!

  God Bless,

Stephen