Last Jew Leaves Afghanistan

Pretty interesting article. Afghanistan is a mess. Guessing they would have done better if they had more Jews instead of less. And now there is none.

****************************

 The man who has been known as the last Jew in Afghanistan for well over a decade is leaving for Israel, fearing that the U.S. military’s promise to leave the country will leave a vacuum to be filled with radical groups such as the Taliban.

“I will watch on TV in Israel to find out what will happen in Afghanistan,” Zabulon Simantov told Arab News on Sunday.

Simantov, 61, said he will leave after this year’s High Holidays season in the fall.

His wife, a Jew from Tajikistan, and their two daughters have lived in Israel since 1998. But Simantov has stayed in his native Afghanistan to tend to its lone synagogue, located in the capital Kabul, through decades of violence and political turmoil, including a period of Taliban rule and the country’s war with the U.S.

“I managed to protect the synagogue of Kabul like a lion of Jews here,” he said to Arab News.

Simantov, a carpet and jewelry seller, was born in the Afghan city of Herat, which decades ago was home to hundreds of Jews. He eventually moved to Kabul but fled to Tajikistan in 1992 before returning to the capital city.

Without him around, the synagogue will close, ending an era of Jewish life in the country that scholars believe began at least 2,000 years ago.

“If the Taliban return, they are going to push us out with a slap in the face,” Simantov told Radio Free Europe last week for an article on the exodus of many of the country’s minority populations.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/299613

Putin Gives Himself a Good Chance at Being Gog

 Ezekiel 38 has yet to be fulfilled.  It speaks of a day, probably following the rapture of the church, that Russia, Turkey and Iran will join intentions and forces with some other North African Muslim nations, to destroy Israel.  Their coalition leader will be the leader of Russia.  

For years we have watched Putin take over Russia and install himself as the supreme leader.  Could it be Putin who ultimately fulfills the Ezekiel 38 prophecy?  He may have just bought himself a much bigger chance!

Unless ill health or other circumstance intervenes, President Vladimir Putin could if he chooses continue to lead Russia until 2036 under a law he signed on Monday. That would make him one of the world’s oldest heads of state by the time he leaves office.

Controversial changes to the constitution last year “reset” presidential term limits, meaning that once Putin’s current term ends in 2024, he would be eligible to run for two further six-year terms. (Presidential terms were extended in 2012 from four to six years.)

Putin would then have effectively ruled Russia, as president or executive prime minister, for a total of almost 36 years, from the age of 48 to the age of 83.

Of currently serving heads of state – excluding royalty or royal appointees – only Cameroon President Paul Biya, now 88, and Lebanese President Michel Aoun, 87, are older. (If President Biden ran for a second term and won, he would be 82 years and two months old on inauguration day in January 2025.)

The proposed constitutional changes were approved in a national referendum last summer, with 78.5 percent of voters purportedly backing them, while 21.4 percent were opposed. The exercise was tainted by reports of widespread irregularities and vote-rigging, with claims that as many as 22 million votes (of a total of 74 million) may have been fraudulent.

After the referendum, Putin signed an executive order to insert the amendments into the Russian constitution. The lower and upper legislatures last month then passed the legislation paving the way for the incumbent to hold onto power until 2036.

Here;  https://www.cnsnews.com/article/international/patrick-goodenough/vladimir-putin-signs-law-could-see-him-ruling-russia-his

It would be most likely that this coalition would attempt to attack Israel after America's military might has crumbled and is no longer capable of coming to Israel's aid.  America's collapse will be most likely to happen following the rapture of the church when millions of born-again American's vanish and the US Dollar collapses almost overnight. 

Another big chess piece keeps moving around on the board.  How much longer Jesus?

Why Godlessness is Good News for America

 As I'm reading through the book of Judges we are reminded how the Jewish people were CHOSEN to show the world the blessings and curses brought by God.  If you listen to God and are obedient they will live in peace and prosperity.  If they reject God and start following the lusts of their hearts God promises to raise up a nation to destroy them and make them slaves.  And of course the Israelites have this happen again and again.  Read the book.  Lots of times it repeats the phase, "In that day Israel had no king.  Every man did as he saw fit."

Today in America every man, woman, transgender, gender-fluid, gender-neutral and gender-queer person is doing whatever they see as fit.  And society is celebrating their perversion.  Soon marriage will be thrown out completely and polyamory will be the norm.  Rampant drug use by a huge segment of society will bring it's own demons to bear on society.  Drunkenness is exploding as well during the COVID lockups of the past year.  Hard core pornography of every nature is available at the touch of your iPhone and our 10 year old boys and girls are feasting on it while opening wide a portal for demonic interference into their lives.  The story might read for us, "In that day America had no fear of God.  Every person did whatever he wanted to do to please themselves."

Op-Ed: Why America's record godlessness is good news for the nation

The secularization of U.S. society — the waning of religious faith, practice and affiliation — is continuing at a dramatic and historically unprecedented pace. While many may consider such a development as cause for concern, such a worry is not warranted. This increasing godlessness in America is actually a good thing, to be welcomed and embraced.

Democratic societies that have experienced the greatest degrees of secularization are among the healthiest, wealthiest and safest in the world, enjoying relatively low rates of violent crime and high degrees of well-being and happiness. Clearly, a rapid loss of religion does not result in societal ruin.

For the first time since Gallup began tracking the numbers in 1937, Americans who are members of a church, synagogue or mosque are not in the majority, according to a Gallup report released this week. Compare today’s 47% to 1945, when more than 75% of Americans belonged to a religious congregation.

This decline in religious affiliation aligns closely with many similar secularizing trends. For example, in the early 1970s, only one in 20 Americans claimed “none” as their religion, but today it is closer to one in three. Over this same time period, weekly church attendance has decreased, and the percentage of Americans who never attend religious services has increased from 9% to 30%.

In 1976, nearly 40% of Americans said they believed that the Bible was the actual word of God, to be taken literally. Today only about a quarter of Americans believe that, with slightly more decreeing the Bible is simply a collection of fables, history and morality tales written by men. And the percentage of Americans who confidently believe in God’s existence, without a doubt, has declined from 63% in 1990 to 53% today.

Fears that this rise of irreligion might result in the deterioration of our nation’s moral fiber — and threaten our liberties and freedoms — are understandable. Such concerns are not without historical merit: The former Soviet Union was a communist country deeply rooted in atheism and was one of the most corrupt, bloody regimes of the 20th century. Other atheistic authoritarian regimes, such as the former Albania and Cambodia, were equally crooked and vicious.

But here’s the thing — they were all godless dictatorships that tried to forcibly destroy religion by persecuting the faithful, actively oppressing religious institutions, and making a demagogic cult out of their thuggish rulers. Such coercive secularization is, indeed, something to dread.

However, there is another, alternative kind of secularization, one that emerges organically, amid free and open societies where human rights, including religious freedom, are upheld and respected. Many societies qualify for this label — including those in Japan, Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Australia, Canada and Uruguay, among many others. In these places, religion is not actively repressed, nor do governments promote secularization. And yet, it occurs simply because the people living in these societies lose interest in the whole religious enterprise.

Organic secularization can occur for many reasons. It happens when members of a society become better educated, more prosperous, and live safer, more secure and more peaceful lives; when societies experience increases in social isolation; when people have better healthcare; when more women hold paying jobs; when more people wait longer to get married and have kids. All of these, especially in combination, can decrease religiosity.

Another major factor is the ubiquity of the internet, which provides open windows to alternative worldviews and different cultures that can corrode religious conviction — and allows budding skeptics and nascent freethinkers to find, support and encourage one another.

In the United States, these factors are further compounded by strong backlashes against the religious right, the evangelical-Republican alliance, conservative religion’s anti-gay agenda and the Catholic Church’s sexual-abuse scandals. This has resulted in “the winds of secularization … swirling like never before,” Ryan P. Burge, a political scientist, recently said.

Fears of atheistic authoritarianism aside, some may worry about religious organizations fading away because they do so much good. They do engage in a tremendous amount of charitable work that includes holding food drives and setting up soup kitchens and homeless shelters. However, such welcomed charity is ultimately an altruistic response to symptoms, not a structural cure for root causes.

This is why highly secular democracies do a much better job of ameliorating homelessness and poverty by employing decidedly secular solutions, such as responding with rational social policies and wise economic strategies, and setting up more responsive institutions. Affordable housing and subsidized healthcare do a far better job of alleviating the suffering of the poor and the sick than faith-based charities.

Here;  Op-Ed: Why America's record godlessness is good news for the nation (yahoo.com)

How tragic this all is!  America should celebrate our declining FEAR OF THE LORD because it will really help us all be more wealthy, more tolerant, more accepting of science and more open to free sex without any of those nagging wives demanding monogamy!

One day, hopefully soon, the trumpet is going to blow and the dead in Christ and the alive in Christ will all be called up into the clouds to meet the Lord Jesus and be with Him forever!  Encourage each other with these words!  America will suddenly pass away.  As you read articles like this in mainstream publications and watch what the leaders of our country are doing and saying a follower of Christ should very easily be able to see the writing on the wall.

Male Prisoners Identifying as Females Moved to Female Prisons

It has been said that liberalism is a mental illness. They come up with bizarre ideas and double down on them even when those ideas can clearly be seen to be lunacy.  This whole “claim your gender” and allowing all people to “self identify” is so demonstrably silly that even a 5 yr old would understand. But for the adults ruling CA it’s not silly for a male prisoner to self identify today as female and then request to be moved to a female prison.  It makes perfect sense in their fantasy world of gender studies.

**********************************

Since January, 261 California prison inmates have requested transfers to prisons aligning with their gender identity, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told the Daily Caller News Foundation Tuesday.

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed S.B. 132 into law in January, a bill that requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to ask every individual entering the department’s custody to specify their pronouns, their gender identity, and whether they identify as transgender, nonbinary, or intersex.

The law prevents CDCR from disciplining the individual if that individual refuses to give this information, allows for the information to be updated later on, and requires staff to use the gender pronouns that the individual requested.

It also requires that CDCR house the individual in a “correctional facility designated for men or women based on the individual’s preference.” Similar legislation has been passed in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Since the bill went into effect in January, 261 inmates have requested “gender-based housing” transfers, the CDCR told the DCNF Tuesday. The vast majority of these requests were from inmates requesting to be transferred to female facilities, and only six inmates did not request to be in a women’s facility.

“255 are from transgender women and non-binary incarcerated people who are requesting to be housed in a female institution and six are from transgender men and non-binary incarcerated people who are requesting to be housed in a male institution,” Deputy Press Secretary Terry Thornton told the DCNF.

CDCR has not denied a single gender-based housing request, the spokeswoman confirmed.

The CDCR has approved 21 of the requests, and four of these 21 have been transferred to Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla.

“Two of the 21 have changed their minds,” Thornton said. The spokeswoman said that as of April 2, 1,129 incarcerated people self-identify as transgender, non-binary, and intersex.

Prison inmates at Chowchilla told the Los Angeles Times that “men are coming” and that the prisoners should anticipate sexual violence.

“That if we think it’s bad now, be prepared for the worst. That it’s going to be off the hook, it’s going to be jumping,” 41-year-old Tomiekia Johnson told the publication that staffers said. “They say we’re going to need a facility that’s going to be like a maternity ward. They say we’re going to have an inmate program where inmates become nannies.”

Prisoners fear that inmates requesting transfers are lying about their gender identity in order to be transferred to women’s prisons, the LA Times reported. This has slowed down the transfer process, according to the publication.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/men-are-coming-255-california-prison-inmates-have-requested-transfer-to-womens-prisons-since-january_3764385.html?&utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email2&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-04-06-2&mktids=7502b26275e1f2ec99ea4baed9763e40&est=WYDUu544h%2BKxbH%2FiBVOoUTvg51Q0vDFXUn3cNlajopN2LIYzE2j0w9RZ4yY1

Why Revival is America's Only Hope

 What happens when a nation not only turns from God from openly starts giving God the middle finger?  Of course if you read Bible history those nations end up in the trash heap of history!  Have you run across any Amorites lately?  How about running into any Amalekites or Philistines?

Is there a good reason that America isn't mentioned anywhere in Bible prophecy?  Hopefully the reason is that this nation collapsed when the Holy Spirit was totally withdrawn from her at the rapture of the church.  But if the Lord tarries it's not hard to see how this nation has become a stench in the nostrils of God.  Maybe we followers of Christ will be around to see her destruction?  Lord knows America deserves it.  Honestly, out of 200,000,000 adults in America, how many of them do you suppose started or ended their day with Bible reading and prayer?  Look at your next door neighbors, co-workers and college friends and figure it out.  No doubt it has become a very, very small percentage.

There is a famine in the land.  Not of food and water but of the hearing of the Word of the Lord.

We have become a nation that only believes God (if there really is one?) is only around to bless us and NEVER would He curse us!  God bless America!

The results are in: America's stage four cancer has metastasized to the family and the church as well as to the government and the schools. We are more depraved than ever before. 

Animals are guarded but innocent children are slaughtered. Porn is protected and sex-trafficking is on the rise. Cardi B's lyrics get a pass but Scriptures are banned on social media. 

Words cannot express this outright lunacy. Like the bungee jumper who plunged to her death because she thought she heard "now jump," when, in reality, her instructor said, "No jump!" 

America thinks that she is hearing from God, but she is not. We are drowning in a cesspool of moral filth: "The wicked freely parade and prance about while evil is praised throughout the land" (Psalm 12:8). 

Recently, a father was arrested for referring to his biological 14-year-old daughter as "she" after she transitioned to a male gender. "But that's in Canada," you say. Trust me, we are not far behind. 

Most on the liberal left would have no problem imprisoning anyone who disagreed with them, and that's exactly where the Equality Act is going -- unless you accept, rejoice in, and validate sin they are coming after you. Revival is our only hope. 

The cold hard truth is that many are not willing to pay the price. Gone are the days of John Wesley, George Whitefield, and Jonathan Edwards who would fast and pray as if America's future depended upon it (because it did and still does). It's no surprise that Edwards' famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God", was preached at the tail end of his three-day fast. 

Today that title would be labeled offensive and many pastors would be too ashamed to preach it -- too ashamed because they lack the fire of the Spirit.  

Gone are the days of David Brainard who spent nights in agonizing prayer, as well as "praying" John Hyde, William Bramwell, and countless others who prayed fervently for our nation. Instead of carrying the baton and running the race, we are captivated by American Idol, love our porn, and over-indulge. King Stomach is clearly on the throne. 

Today, most pastors want to be popular and most Christians want their ears tickled. If you doubt this, just look at the top sermons on social media today and their attire. The messages are soothing rather than convicting. As in Israel's day, the people still say, "You must not prophesy to us what is right! Speak to us pleasant things and smooth words, prophesy [deceitful] illusions [that we will enjoy]" (Isaiah 30:10 AMP).

Granted, we need to hear uplifting messages, but we have a huge problem when pastors don't want to ruffle feathers and Christians don't want to hear controversial topics. America's stage four cancer was caused by a bad diet of frivolous preaching. The cure will require a complete diet change back to whole life-giving food from the Word of God. 

I don't say this in arrogance; my heart breaks for the church. This article is more of a plea than a rebuke, but the truth is, "We have too many puppets in our pulpits and not enough prophets" (Leonard Ravenhill). 

Pastors and Christians must lead the way, but the way won't be popular and wide, it will be narrow and difficult. We must fast like it matters, pray like we mean it, and seek God as if everything depends upon it, because it does. 

Here;  Why Revival Is America’s Only Hope! (prophecynewswatch.com)

It is our belief (please note we have been wrong before) that there simply isn't enough time on God's prophetic calendar to have America build up again into a God-fearing nation filled with Bible readers and solid preaching.  If the birth pangs announcing the soon-coming Tribulation are converging, and they are, then it makes the most sense for America to collapse immediately following the rapture.  When that happens the US Dollar will also collapse as faith and confidence in the currency vanish.  And of course this will give rise to the Man With a Plan (aka Antichrist) who will already have a population used to showing a COVID vaccine to fly or enter many stores.  It will be just a tiny step further to order that all those same folks take a mark in order to access the new global financial system

 Please Jesus, blow the trumpet!  We are ready for the next chapters of your story!  We can see where this world is headed and we are yearning to see the day when you remove the curse.

Russia Massing Forces as "Never Seen Before"

 Wars and rumors of war.  We watch Russia because most prophecy watchers know them to be ancient Magog as mentioned in Ezekiel 38.  So when we see this headline about them massing military forces along their border with Ukraine we pay attention.

Could this be the spark that causes World War 3 to erupt?  At this hour, Russian and Ukrainian military forces continue to rush toward the conflict zone, and to say that things are "tense" in the region would be a tremendous understatement.  

When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed Decree No. 117/2021 on March 24th, it was essentially a declaration of war against Russia.  Since that time, Russian forces have been massing along the borders in numbers that we have never seen before.  

Video after video of Russian tanks, military vehicles and troops being moved toward the conflict zone have been posted on social media, and the Ukrainians have responded by making similar moves.  But if the Russians launch a full-blown invasion, the Ukrainians will be totally outmatched, and they will ask the United States and NATO to intervene.

In the end, this is a game of chess between the Biden administration and the Kremlin, and one false move could plunge us into World War 3.

Unfortunately, the rhetoric on both sides just continues to escalate.  On Thursday, the U.S. State Department once again accused the Russians of being "aggressive"...

Following Lavrov and Peskov's statements, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price warned Moscow against "intimidating" Ukraine.

"We're absolutely concerned by recent escalations of Russian aggressive and provocative actions in eastern Ukraine," Ned Price told reporters.

"What we would object to are aggressive actions that have an intent of intimidating, of threatening, our partner Ukraine."

And new Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is the latest official to publicly pledge U.S. support for Ukraine...

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to Ukraine's minister of defense on the phone Thursday to express "unwavering U.S. support for Ukraine's sovereignty" and to condemn Russian aggression in the country.

But if the Russians actually launched a full scale ground invasion of Ukraine, there would be nothing the U.S. could do to stop it.

Of course the U.S. could decide to strike back militarily in other ways, and that could set off a chain reaction which could result in global war.

Here;  https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=4651

Honestly, if Russia really starts pounding Ukraine, do we really believe the USA under Biden is going to start bombing Russian forces in response?  Are we really ready to start WWIII?  Does Biden even really understand what's going on?

No doubt the world is on edge in SO many places.  This is just one more to ad to the file of WARS AND RUMORS OF WAR.

Canadian COVID Police Attempt to Shut Down Church on Easter

 You might say to yourself, "Well, that's Canada but certainly it can't happen in America!"  And you would be wrong because this type of government over-reach is happening in the liberal states around us.

Covid restrictions in Canada are being enforced with an iron fist and there’s no sanctuary to escape from them, apparently not even churches.

This can be evidenced by a recent viral video showing Canadian health inspectors under police escort entering a Polish Church. Noting that they don’t have a warrant, the pastor proceeds to instruct them to leave.

Pastor Artur Pawlowski of the Cave of Adullam Church in Alberta, Canada, can be heard refusing to negotiate with the health inspector until they provide a warrant. “Get out of the property you Nazis! Gestapo is not allowed here!” he could be heard yelling.

“Nazis are not welcome here!” Pawlowski yelled as the security forces retreated.

“Intimidating people in the church during Passover!…The holiest Christian festival of the year…What is wrong with those sick psychopaths?!” he could be heard saying after the inspectors and police left the premise.

Here;  https://www.israel365news.com/188979/canadian-police-try-to-shut-down-church-on-easter-for-covid-violations-pastor-boots-them-out/

I heard over a decade ago that our brothers and sisters in Christ living in China have been praying that persecution comes to the church in America because it strengthens the body. Maybe their prayers will soon be answered when COVID 2, 3 and 4 start infecting people and lead to more shutdowns?