From the pages of Midnight Rising: Warning Signs for this Generation, a glimpse of life after the Rapture...
"The whole world will be locked in fear and worry. Millions will have disappeared, money will have little real value, and people will be afraid that another mass disappearance may occur at any moment. They will not know what has happened to the millions who have already disappeared"(Simpson p.18).
To Read more about Wm. Anderson Simpson author of Midnight Rising-Warning Signs For This Generation-Deep River Books 2010. www.midnightrisingbook.net
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Fire and Ice
The following news links, coupled with other news from the Middle East are interesting from the standpoint of their mutual timing.
Many Mideast “peace-watchers” may be disheartened by the recent failure of the U.S. to halt Israeli settlement building in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. However, God has spoken concerning what must happen in that process, and small setbacks ought not be overblown. Nor should natural disasters be given too much weight. But it is interesting that great fires ravaged northern Israel, followed by horrendous dust storms, hail and heavy winds. The number of dead, lost and injured is rising – all this, as a new phase of Mideast peace talks are about to begin. Before the fire in the north, the whole of Israel and much of the Mediterranean was subjected to a months-long drought. They prayed for rain, and their crops were devastated by the hail. Waves more than thirty feet high crashed onto Israel’s shore, and Egypt was also stricken, where the Palestinian leaders have been visiting with Hosni Mubarak and Egypt’s Foreign Minister. God is clearly not pleased by what is going on. It would be wrong to dogmatically connect the disparate events and processes, but God does bring rain on the just and the unjust alike. As to His particular reasoning, we are not privy, to be able to say that it was this or that to which God was responding. In truth, He was surely reacting from a myriad of perspectives. But that God brought this devastation, as always, is certain. His reasons and His purposes are His own.
The bare naked truth is glaringly apparent: The place where God has repeatedly said that He has placed His name, Jerusalem, is invaded by Gentiles. The entire Gentile world is bent upon forcing Israel to surrender land that God has specifically claimed as His own, given to the Jews for an everlasting possession. To possess is not necessarily to own. God owns the land that men are attempting to take. We ought not view the natural disasters as “punishment, but as warning.
To Read more about Wm. Anderson Simpson author of Midnight Rising-Warning Signs For This Generation-Deep River Books 2010. www.midnightrisingbook.net
The New World Order in Action
The following news story from Reuters shows a president who remains totally committed to the Middle East peace process. He is reacting aggressively after the Israelis refused to agree to a ninety-day moratorium on settlement building. We see from this that, while the previous attempt not working, he will attack the problem from a different perspective: drawing proposed borders himself and taking them to both Jew and Arab. Small matters, he will probably resolve by fiat, dictate, or decree.
Those who keep up with the Middle East news daily, take heart. We are not looking for peace plan; we are looking for the Lord Himself. The peace process will continue, but it will take a new direction. See the article below:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday the United States would push Israeli and Palestinian leaders solve the core issues standing in the way of peace, and that both must seek a deal despite a breakdown in U.S.-brokered direct negotiations.
Clinton, saying she shared frustration over the impasse in peace talks, said the United States would launch a new round of indirect shuttle negotiations aimed at making real progress in the next few months toward a framework peace deal.
"The United States will not be a passive participant. We will push the parties to lay out their positions on the core issues without delay and with real specificity," Clinton said in an address
"We will work to narrow the gaps, asking tough questions and expecting substantive answers," she said, adding that the United States would also offer its own proposals to move talks along "when appropriate."
Clinton's speech marked her first Middle East policy address after the United States abandoned efforts this week to persuade Israel to stop new construction of Jewish settlements, a step the Palestinians said was essential if they were to resume direct peace talks which collapsed just weeks after their September launch.
The breakdown was a setback for President Barack Obama, who has made Middle East peace a key U.S. policy goal, and sowed tension between Washington and its most important Middle East ally as both face challenges including Iran.
U.S. Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell will head back to the region next week, and Clinton said diplomacy would now concentrate on a range of "core issues" -- all of which have proved difficult to resolve.
These include borders and security, settlements, water, refugees, and Jerusalem itself, which Israel says is its capital but which the Palestinians also hope will serve as the capital of their future independent state.
"Their seriousness about achieving an agreement will be measured by their engagement on these core issues," Clinton said.
A CHANGE IN TACTIC?
U.S. officials have little to show for months of shuttling between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, both of whom are limited by domestic politics in how far they can go.
Daniel Levy, co-director of the Middle East Task Force at thee New America Foundation think tank, said Clinton's speech broke little substantive new ground but could signal a shift in U.S. tactics.
"They are doing what might have been wise much earlier -- that is making indirect talks 'substantive 2-way conversations'," Levy said. "These are now the real thing."
Clinton paid special attention to the question of final borders, suggesting this could be a future U.S. focus.
"They must agree to a single line drawn on a map that divides Israel from Palestine, and to an outcome that implements the two-state solution," she said. "The Palestinian leaders must be able to show their people that the occupation will be over."
Clinton's speech followed a hectic week of personal diplomacy that saw her meet the chief Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators, former Israeli foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as well as Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who both attended Friday's address at a Brookings Institution event in Washington.
Barak, in his own speech to the group, gave a strong endorsement to the peace effort, saying that only through allowing the Palestinians their own state could Israelis be secure in theirs.
"Two states for two peoples is the only true path of Zionism today," he said.
Clinton repeated the "rock-solid" U.S. commitment to Israel's security, while underscoring yet again that the United States regarded as illegitimate continued Jewish settlement construction on Palestinian land occupied in the 1967 war.
The United States cannot impose a solution, she said, and Israelis and Palestinians themselves must take responsibility for peace and refrain from assigning blame.
"There is no viable alternative to reaching mutual agreement. The stakes are too high, the pain too deep, and the issues too complex for any other approach," she said.
(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)To Read more about Wm. Anderson Simpson author of Midnight Rising-Warning Signs For This Generation-Deep River Books 2010. www.midnightrisingbook.net
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Middle East Update
It has been a bizarre diplomatic couple of weeks. In an effort to entice Israel to impose a three-month freeze on settlement building in the West Bank, the U.S. offered an amazing set of concessions. Obama agreed to three things: 1.) to give Israel twenty of our most sophisticated new generation of stealth fighters, the F-35. That is a three billion dollar giveaway. 2.) He also agreed to veto any move by the United Nations to declare a Palestinian state. And 3.) Obama agreed not to ask for any further moratoria on building in the “occupied” territories. All of this for only a ninety-day construction halt is an astounding offer.
Israel might have had Obama backed into a diplomatic corner. All they had to do was declare the three-month moratorium, delay and deny in the peace negotiations. After three months, Obama would be left with the status quo ante, with no diplomatic way to ensure that the Palestinians would have a state of their own. It was an shocking deal, but Israel declined. From the standpoint of strategy, that was apparently as big a blunder as any in history.
The question then arises, “Was President Obama so stupid as not to understand what a diplomatic impossibility the deal would put him in if the three months of negotiations failed?” He is not a stupid man. As Editor of the Harvard Law Review, he proved himself a brilliant man. It is only the brightest of the students who achieve such lofty heights. Why then would he make such an outlandish offer for such a small gain?
On the other hand, with Obama’s diplomatic future in their hands, why did Israel not agree to a three-month freeze? With the promise to block any U.N. moves to declare Palestinian statehood, why would Israel not jump at the chance? It doesn’t make sense on either side of that coin.
Thus, there must be something that we do not know about what is going on behind the scenes in Washington, Jerusalem, and Ramallah. There must also be some quiet diplomacy to keep the Arab League and Egypt and others online with the demand for a peaceful settlement. As always, we do not know what we do not know. But there is a likely scenario.
It takes time to change the hearts of peoples who have been enemies throughout their histories, to diminish their hatred and bring about a state of genuine peace. Like a heavy locomotive, changing a world is a slow process, but when it picks up a head of steam, it is difficult to stop. Governments must turn their people from hatred to friendship before any real deal can be announced. Every government employs psychologists in their quest to mold public opinion. It is manipulation, pure and simple.
Perhaps there is already a framework that is generally agreed upon. During the time that the governments work on their constituents’ psyches, they are refining the details behind the scenes. If this were so, then it may have been agreed in advance that the U.S. would make such an offer, with the understanding that the Israelis would reject it. That would give Prime Minister Netanyahu a great dose of face-saving among his own people. They had their way, and were not enticed by the extravagant offer from Washington. They stood up to the strongest nation in the world.
Why was there no outcry among the Palestinian and the other Arab states, knowing that Israel’s agreement to the proposal would seal their fate? There was token outrage, but nothing on the scale of what it would be if Israel accepted the offer. Why did the Arab League and every other group not protest vociferously? They had to know also that the offer would be made and declined, else that outrage would have swept through the Arab world and the Islamic world like the wildfires that are decimating northern Israel today.
When diplomats speak, every word is calculated. Aristotle wrote the book on rhetoric, and every diplomat is likely required to read it. Certainly, every lawyer and politician should read and understand it. The point is, governments do not make diplomatic statements unless they have figured every angle. The real diplomacy is done behind the scenes, beyond the eyes and ears of the media, and they release what they release to the press in a very calculated way.
Let us suppose that there is some framework that all sides agree upon. The first order of business would be to begin to manipulate constituencies. All sides must be aware of everything that is going out of the inner circle to the news media before it is released. Why did the Arab League not express a strong sense of betrayal by Obama’s offer to Israel? They knew in advance what was going to happen. Netanyahu needed to be strengthened politically at home, so that when he does agree to the treaty officially, the opposition will have been softened by his strong stand against another moratorium.
Why, during all of this, would Hamas soften its stand and state that it was willing to abide by a public referendum in relation to the peace talks? In a recent survey, sixty-two percent of the people in the Middle East would prefer peace. Such a referendum would tie the diplomatic hands of Gaza and Hamas. Peace would win out, though there might be considerable public opposition from some of the violent cells in the Hamas organization. The point is, Hamas acted quickly to suggest that such a referendum would be exercised if Abbas and Netanyahu were able to work out an agreement of peace. That was a de facto recognition of Israel as a separate state.
The movement toward a Gentile demand for whatever concessions must be made to be advanced, and to give the Palestinians a homeland in the West Bank and Gaza, in accordance with the pre-1967 borders has already begun.
Brazil announced on the third of December that it was officially recognizing the state of Palestine. Other nations have been making noise about the United Nations finally pushing Israel back to those narrower borders.
By rejecting the offer made by Obama, Israel has freed the United States not to veto a U.N resolution for Palestinian statehood. Israel has now pushed itself into the same corner in which it could have had the U.S. locked. It makes no sense, unless there are workings behind the scenes, and unless the interested parties knew in advance that the offer would be rejected.
Why the charade? Why put the world through such an ordeal, at least among those who follow the Mideast peace process? There can really only be one reason, to move domestic opinion among the peoples away from conflict and toward some sort of peace in which each side concedes much.
It is likely that the final treaty will see the Palestinians and the Israelis agreeing to share East Jerusalem, which they are doing already. The Palestinians will cede some portion of East Jerusalem to the Israelis, while keeping those neighborhoods that are currently settled by Palestinians.
The fact is, we do not know what is going on behind the scenes, but the political maneuvering of the recent weeks has been senseless unless the outcome was planned before it was announced.
If the world is already in alignment with the prophets concerning the geopolitical stage of the end times, and if the entire Gentile world is pressing harder and harder every day to force Israel to make peace and give up Gaza and the West Bank, then we may safely assume that the times and the seasons are upon us, and the world is closing in on that peace treaty, before which we will meet our Lord face to face and marvel over the glory of God’s heaven.
When people, Christians, agree that the times and the seasons are upon us, they are almost exclusively referring to Matthew chapter twenty-four. Famines, pestilences, wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes in various places – these form the limit of most Christians’ knowledge of the times and the seasons. But they ignore the realities on the ground.
Conventional opinion among conservative theologians is that the U.S. is going to suddenly collapse as the leader of the free world. They argue that it must be deeply reduced to insignificance on the geopolitical stage. Then another state – some say European, some say a Mediterranean nation, others say Iraq or the U.N. or the European Union – must arise to world dominance. If this is so, then the times and the seasons must not be upon us. Why, then, do preachers insist that the end times are upon us already. There is a contradiction inherent in such a position as to void their own stated convictions.
The Bible is very specific about which peoples are going to hold what attitudes toward Israel in the last days of this age. There are not really very many named nations, but those that are said to be aligned in the last days are already aligned. Why, then, do theologians ignore the obvious in favor of an interpretation that has already proven itself wrong? If everything is in place for the events that must follow the rapture, why will conventional theology not examine the state of the world in the light of the prophets; especially given that the most powerful nation the world has ever seen is now pushing Israel into capitulation to its will, with the backing of the entire Gentile world?
Israel cannot defeat the whole world. It could, if it were spiritually aware and in tune with the will of God the Father. But it is not spiritually alive, nor will it be until they say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
There is great frustration among the nations of the world – great indignation – over Israel’s refusal to stop building in the contested areas until the negotiations have settled the border issue. Israel is rapidly losing favor around the world for what the world sees as intransigence. By appeasing his hard line constituents, Netanyahu has placed Israel in the worst danger it has faced since its wars. Israel is a nation by the authority of the Gentile world, and that body, the U.N., can revoke that charter or force Israel to move back to the borders granted them in 1948.
From a political perspective, rejection of Obama’s offer did Netanyahu a lot of good at home. But from a strategic perspective, he may have chewed the straw that breaks the camel’s back. The world sees that rejection as an arrogant affront. Brazil’s recognition of the state of Palestine is going to be the first among many nations who will rise in support of what they perceive as “those beleaguered people.”
In fact, the Palestinians are trespassers on land that God claims for Himself (Joel 3:1-2). It is the singular event, the dividing of Jerusalem, that will so arouse God’s fury as to spark the onset of the tribulation. It does not matter what any or all of the Gentile nations think; if God has claimed that land for Himself and for the Israelis, then it does not belong to anyone to partition according to the will of man. They do not reckon with such a God as the One who owns the land. He is ignored, while the nations seek their own will.
We know that Israel will eventually capitulate, else, Daniel and the others of the prophets would have misspoken. Seeing that the words of the prophets are being fulfilled before our eyes this day, it is probably safe to assume that the end of this age is at hand.
The Evangelicals are correct insofar as they say that the end times are upon us, and the rapture must happen soon, but their reasoning is twisted, denying what their eyes see and their ears hear. They are right that the end of Gentile world dominion is near, but their “evidence” suggests that it is years in the future, after the U.S. collapses and some other nation rises to world dominance. If only the saints would look at what is actually happening, rather than waiting for that which is not going to happen, they could easily see the truth.
This is an important message. If we are reading this correctly, then the Church has little time to preach the Gospel, ministering the word of reconciliation to the lost. If it is correct, then the rapture must be very near indeed.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Midnight Rising Book Review
Midnight Rising-Warning Signs for This Generation
· Author William Anderson Simpson
· ISBN 193526530X
· Publisher Deep River Books
· Publishing Date September 1, 2010
· Price $14.99
William Anderson Simpson writes Midnight Rising-Warning Signs for This Generation , giving us a a deeper look into the scriptures and studies and its relationship to rapture. Simpson talks about not only reading the obvious signs of the end times drawing near but those of political view in his books. He brings to point how politically we need to change our world view on things. Which I agree with, he makes many fine points but one thing he wrote is that people , all people must want to change. We may say it, think it, but we’re only at the beginning of change I think.
I consider myself a Christian , reading how Simpson says how the “Evangelicals” can point out who they believe to be the Antichrist, has taken me back quick a bit. I’ll admit it took me awhile to finish this book as I would read something and have to walk away from it. Throughout his book he brings up many other views reading the same way, it was just a major snag for me. When I would pick it back up and start again, Simpson would write why they may be Antichrist, and dive deeper into a scripture that would explain a better meaning for his reasons. He does an wonderful job on taking you through some different views, even if I don’t agree with them. His take and explanation is well written.
The book is interesting and has brought may debates with my husband and I who read the book as well. We can literally sit for hours discussing some things in this book. The main things that heated up a debate were Simpson stand on the political view of things, which nearly always ruffle the feathers around here. My husband and I have the same stand politically, but add religion into the mix and it’s not always a very smooth discussion. We are both Christian but still have our own views and understanding of things.
I will say that Midnight Rising-Warning Signs for This Generation has sparked up some interest discussions ,amongst a few of my friends and family. Simpson breaks down and explains rapture and his take on the numerous scripture he shares throughout the books. It’s an interesting read and brings up many fine points on how we as a whole must come together. The cover itself draws you in with it's black cover and clock, with a flag in the background, Sparking the beginning of his compelling take on the signs drawing near in the future.
If your interested in reading further about the rapture this is a excellent book that can give you a better understanding of some scripture dealing with it as well as how it takes stand in today’s world.
**Disclosure-I received the book Midnight Rising: Warning Signs for this Generation to read and review. No monetary compensation was received for this post. Any and all opinions are and will always be my own. **
To Read more about Wm. Anderson Simpson author of Midnight Rising-Warning Signs For This Generation-Deep River Books 2010. www.midnightrisingbook.net http://itsmysideoflife.com/2010/12/midnight-rising-warning-signs-for-this.html
· Author William Anderson Simpson
· ISBN 193526530X
· Publisher Deep River Books
· Publishing Date September 1, 2010
· Price $14.99
William Anderson Simpson writes Midnight Rising-Warning Signs for This Generation , giving us a a deeper look into the scriptures and studies and its relationship to rapture. Simpson talks about not only reading the obvious signs of the end times drawing near but those of political view in his books. He brings to point how politically we need to change our world view on things. Which I agree with, he makes many fine points but one thing he wrote is that people , all people must want to change. We may say it, think it, but we’re only at the beginning of change I think.
I consider myself a Christian , reading how Simpson says how the “Evangelicals” can point out who they believe to be the Antichrist, has taken me back quick a bit. I’ll admit it took me awhile to finish this book as I would read something and have to walk away from it. Throughout his book he brings up many other views reading the same way, it was just a major snag for me. When I would pick it back up and start again, Simpson would write why they may be Antichrist, and dive deeper into a scripture that would explain a better meaning for his reasons. He does an wonderful job on taking you through some different views, even if I don’t agree with them. His take and explanation is well written.
The book is interesting and has brought may debates with my husband and I who read the book as well. We can literally sit for hours discussing some things in this book. The main things that heated up a debate were Simpson stand on the political view of things, which nearly always ruffle the feathers around here. My husband and I have the same stand politically, but add religion into the mix and it’s not always a very smooth discussion. We are both Christian but still have our own views and understanding of things.
I will say that Midnight Rising-Warning Signs for This Generation has sparked up some interest discussions ,amongst a few of my friends and family. Simpson breaks down and explains rapture and his take on the numerous scripture he shares throughout the books. It’s an interesting read and brings up many fine points on how we as a whole must come together. The cover itself draws you in with it's black cover and clock, with a flag in the background, Sparking the beginning of his compelling take on the signs drawing near in the future.
If your interested in reading further about the rapture this is a excellent book that can give you a better understanding of some scripture dealing with it as well as how it takes stand in today’s world.
**Disclosure-I received the book Midnight Rising: Warning Signs for this Generation to read and review. No monetary compensation was received for this post. Any and all opinions are and will always be my own. **
To Read more about Wm. Anderson Simpson author of Midnight Rising-Warning Signs For This Generation-Deep River Books 2010. www.midnightrisingbook.net http://itsmysideoflife.com/2010/12/midnight-rising-warning-signs-for-this.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)