(Casey Harper, The Center Square) — House Republicans have nominated Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to be speaker of the House, but it remains unclear if Jordan can get the needed 217 votes from his own fractured party.
Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga., a lesser known member, threw his name in the hat for the position as well and got significant support in the nomination vote, though possibly only as a vote against Jordan instead of a true vote for Scott.
Later, though, Scott threw his support behind Jordan.
“I highly respect Jim Jordan. He is an asset to the Republican Party and our nominee for Speaker,” Scott wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Our conference has spoken, and now we must unite behind Jordan so we can get Congress back to work.”
Jordan has conservative chops and support from the party base, but many moderates may not be willing to go his way.
“For years, I’ve stayed out of House leadership elections, but this time I endorsed [Jordan],” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote on X. “Jim is a good friend and a strong conservative. My philosophy on political endorsements is to support the strongest conservative who can win. That is Jim Jordan.”
U.S. House Republican Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., was the leading contender to be the speaker of the House Thursday morning, but he later withdrew his bid before taking it to a public vote after he failed to get enough support.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in the House face a partial government shutdown in mid-November along with growing pressure to supply funds, ammunition, and weapons to both Ukraine and Israel, which has declared war on the terrorist group Hamas.
Until lawmakers land on a speaker, legislation cannot move forward.
As The Center Square previously reported, another key issue for lawmakers to handle is whether one lawmaker will still be able to file a motion to vacate the speaker, an unusual allowance given by McCarthy to secure the needed votes after the series of speakership votes earlier this year. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., used that very allowance to file the motion that led to the ousting of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
The current Speaker Pro Tempore is Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., who will determine the times of any speaker votes until a lawmaker wins the speakership.
“The DC Uniparty does not want a Speaker who would threaten their status quo,” Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., wrote on X. “We need a strong conservative for Speaker of the House!”
Hamas unleashed an unprovoked, surprise attack on the Jewish State on Saturday morning, Oct. 7, during Shabbat and the Simchat Torah holiday.
The Gaza-strip-based terrorist group’s Pearl Harbor-style onslaught included 2,200 rockets that blasted communities as far north as Tel Aviv. Regardless, Israel’s critics and enemies point their fingers at the Israelis, as if they had bombed themselves.
“We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” read a Joint Statement by Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups on the Situation in Palestine. “The apartheid regime is the only one to blame.” Members of 33 undergraduate groups signed this communique.
This manifesto so nauseated hedge-fund billionaire Bill Ackman and other CEOs that they hope to place its signatories on a do-not-hire list.
I have been asked by a number of CEOs if @harvard would release a list of the members of each of the Harvard organizations that have issued the letter assigning sole responsibility for Hamas’ heinous acts to Israel, so as to insure that none of us inadvertently hire any of their… https://t.co/7kzGOAGwp9
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., displayed a Palestinian flag in front of her Capitol Hill office, beside the Star-Spangled Banner. Other radical “Squad” members have slammed Israel, even as Israelis hose their countrymen’s blood from sidewalks.
Black Lives Matter of Chicago created an “I stand with Palestine” meme, complete with a paragliding terrorist, like those who flew from Gaza into Israel, with guns blazing.
Pro-Palestine demonstrators in Times Square dressed as Hamas killers. One protester waved a swastika on his cell-phone screen.
These doe-eyed dreamers and Islamofascist fifth columnists should focus on Hamas’s atrocities before they denounce Israel and defend its tormentors.
“We saw boys and girls bound, who were shot in the head,” Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu said in a TV address Wednesday. “Men and women burned alive. Young women who were raped and slaughtered. Soldiers who were beheaded.”
Netanyahu declared via Twitter: “Hamas is ISIS. We will crush and eliminate it as the world crushed and eliminated ISIS.”
חמאס זה דאעש – נרסק ונחסל אותו כפי שהעולם ריסק וחיסל את דאעש.
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 11, 2023
“Babies with their heads cut off, that’s what [the soldiers] said,” i24 News’ Nicole Zedek reported from Kfar Aza near Sderot, just outside Gaza. “Families gunned down, completely gunned down in their beds.”
i24NEWS Correspondent @Nicole_Zedek reports from Kibbutz Kfar Aza, a quarter-mile from the Gaza border, and recounts the atrocities that were committed in the small community which remains an active scene as soldiers clear booby traps and recover the bodies of dozens of victims pic.twitter.com/J4ZfWZQYHp
“They killed babies in front of their parents, and then killed the parents,” said Gen. Itai Veruv. “They killed parents, and we found babies between the dogs and the family killed before him. They cut heads of the people.”
“A pregnant woman in Southern Israel was found by Hamas terrorists,” TV 9 Network’s Aditya Raj Kaul explained via Twitter. “They dissected her body. Her stomach was cut open and they took the fetus out with the umbilical cord. And let the unborn child die slowly out of his mother’s womb.”
A pregnant woman in Southern Israel was found by Hamas terrorists. They dissected her body. Her stomach was cut open and they took the fetus out with the umbilical cord. And let the unborn child die slowly out of his mother’s womb. This is what inhuman savages Hamas do to people.
Explosions rattled young Israelis at an outdoor concert. They ran for their lives, and Gazan gunmen mowed them down. These vermin murdered 260 music fans.
In a Hamas video posted on Twitter, its forces excavated water pipes, sliced them, packed them with explosives, and converted them into do-it-yourself bombs, which they lobbed into Israel. “Allahu Akbar!” a men’s chorus sings on the soundtrack.
Hamas published a video showing their members digging up water pipes and converting them to fire rockets at Israel. pic.twitter.com/Vqjea9JoZy
And what was Hamas’s message to Gazans thirsty for running water? Go to Hell.
Hamas makes the PLO look like moderates. These rats resemble the Khmer Rouge.
All told, Hamas has murdered some 1,300 Israelis, according to the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, a humanitarian policy group.
Conversely, Israel acts in self-defense. Any collateral damage that rank-and-file Palestinians suffer will not be because the Israel Defense Forces gunned them down in their living rooms, but because their jihadist leaders launched this genocidal bloodbath.
Hamas’s carnage has killed at least 27 Americans, at this writing. Fourteen other U.S. citizens are missing and could be kidnapped or dead.
These facts alone should quell the Far Left’s lust for Hamas. Alas, this catastrophe hurts America. Thus, too many on the Left are exactly where one typically finds them: on the wrong side of the Stars and Stripes.
Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News contributor.
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A group of four House Democrats initiated a secret move to increase the authority of acting Speaker Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., amid McCarthy allies’ refusal to back House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., as the next speaker.
This political plan was led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., Ed Case, D-Hawaii, Susie Lee, D-Nev., and Jared Golden, D-Maine. The four Democrats made the bid in a two-page letter on Friday.
“In light of our nation’s pressing issues, a looming government shutdown, and the attacks on our key ally, Israel, we strongly support an immediate vote to expand the Speaker Pro Tempore’s authorities to allow for the consideration of a legislative agenda limited to the most pressing issues,” emphasized the Democrats in a joint letter.
As reported by Politico, House Republicans have been deliberating over plans on how to bolster the powers of the acting speaker until a permanent leader is elected. “At some point we have to do a bipartisan deal. I mean, they don’t want to acknowledge it, but these guys do not want to govern,” Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said.
The House Democrats’ letter made similar allegations. “Unless and until a Speaker of the House is elected, Congress should implement temporary, expanded authorities,” the letter continued.
The four Democrats highlighted that the temporary powers would grant the acting speaker the ability to bring legislation for Ukrainian and Israel aid, in addition to a potential continuing resolution until January 2023.
“The government cannot continue to be hamstrung — leaving American families, our economy, and national security at risk. We hope you’d agree that we must restart the business of the House of Representatives without delay,” reiterated the group.
The recent internal developments within the Republican camp witnessed the emergence of Jordan as the favored candidate for House speaker, after House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., withdrew from the race due to a lack of support from staunch conservatives.
Jordan enjoys the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization, has come under fire after inadvertently posting a video featuring a doll, falsely presented as a victim of an Israeli attack.
The official Twitter account of the Israeli government made this revelation, further emphasizing the manipulative tactics employed by Hamas to propagate its anti-Israeli narrative.
Hamas is desperate! They released a video showing a dead Palestinian baby… but wait for the catch. It’s not a real baby; it’s a doll; yes, you read that right, a baby doll!
They realized their mistake and already deleted the video.
The now-deleted video portrayed a scene that initially appeared to depict a Palestinian man carrying what seemed to be the lifeless body of an individual, draped in white blankets with apparent bloodstains on the face.
However, it was revealed that the figure in question was a mere doll.
Yoseph Haddad, a reporter with i24NEWS, condemned the deceitful act. “Hamas is desperate! They released a video showing a dead Palestinian baby… but wait for the catch. It’s not a real baby; it’s a doll; yes, you read that right, a baby doll!” Haddad said. “They realized their mistake and already deleted the video. This exposes how hard the lying and slanderous propaganda arm of Hamas and the Palestinians works.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Twitter account, which brought attention to this incident, has recently been highlighting various gruesome acts committed by Hamas, including reports of beheadings and kidnappings.
“Don’t become desensitized to the images you are seeing. These are women. Children. Babies. Human beings. Burned alive. Entire families butchered in their homes. Babies tortured and murdered,” the twitter page announced on Oct. 11.
Don’t become desensitized to the images you are seeing.
These are women. Children. Babies. Human beings.
Burned alive. Entire families butchered in their homes. Babies tortured and murdered . #HamasISIS
The dissemination of distressing images has also sparked debates, with some leftist individuals claiming that certain images may have been doctored. This skepticism contrasts starkly with the tactics reportedly employed by Hamas.
Ben Shapiro, former editor-in-chief of the Daily Wire, faced allegations that a photograph he shared of a burnt Israeli toddler was AI-generated. Shapiro promptly refuted these claims, emphasizing the authenticity of the disturbing image.
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A shocking disturbing incident at Matanzas High School in Florida has sparked outrage as a 270-pound student mercilessly assaulted a teacher, leaving her unconscious on the floor, the Flager Live reported on Oct. 11.
The victim, identified as Joan Naydich, has since demanded the maximum penalties for her assailant, 17-year-old Brendan Depa, who was captured on security footage carrying out the brutal attack.
According to witnesses, the ordeal ensued after Naydich confiscated Depa’s Nintendo Switch when he refused to stop playing with it during class.
Security footage from school depicts an enraged Depa pushing Naydich to the ground before subjecting her to a series of brutal punches, leaving her incapacitated. School officials eventually intervened to halt the vicious assault.
Despite his alleged autism, authorities have charged Depa as an adult with first-degree felony, following his initial juvenile arrest.
Body camera footage from the Sheriff’s Office captured Depa’s profanity-laden outburst directed at the incapacitated teacher even while in custody.
Depa is expected to plead guilty to the charges in a bid to avoid trial. However, Naydich has refused to collaborate with the defense team to curtail a potentially harsh sentence against the student.
“When victims aren’t willing to deal, the defense has a much steeper climb to convince the prosecution to plead,” the report stated.
The accused has a troubling history, having faced previous juvenile arrests and a recent disciplinary action for engaging in a fight with another inmate.
In response to the incident, Naydich has launched a GoFundMe campaign, which has garnered an overwhelming response, raising more than $100,000, the New York Post reported.
“I’m hopeful that the awareness of this incident being spread far and wide will prevent anyone else from ever dealing with the trauma, physical healing and disruption of everyday life this has caused,” she said.
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A fervent pro-Hamas protester aggressively confronted Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., today, demanding an end to the GOP’s support for Israel amid the ongoing conflict with Hamas.
The incident, which took place within the corridors of the Capitol, escalated into a heated exchange between Santos and the protester, identified as Shabd Singh, a self-proclaimed Jewish-American.
NEW: Rep. George Santos got very upset with an anti-Israel protestor in the US Capitol
In response to the altercation, Santos vehemently expressed his disapproval of individuals sympathizing with terrorist organizations.
“The fact that we have terrorism sympathizers in this building is unacceptable. They should not be allowed in here. What is happening in Israel is abhorrent,” a visibly agitated Santos exclaimed. “That’s what it is. And the next time he tries to accost me with a child in my hand— I want him out of here!”
Santos’s disgust did not stop there. “He’s an animal!” Santos continued. “He is a f—ing terrorist sympathizer.”
Rep. George Santos yells at pro-Palestine protester in the US Capitol: “It is abhorrent that you are in this building… You are a terrorist sympathizer! You are human scum!” pic.twitter.com/wcTr2W7xrX
Despite not delving into specific details, he adamantly expressed his disgust for Hamas. “The gentleman back there is a terrorist sympathizer that has no business in this building,” Santos stated. “What is happening in Israel is abhorrent. What is happening to the people of Israel should not be defended.”
Singh, the individual in question, provided his account of the altercation and downplayed Santos’s allegations.
“He accused me of being in his personal space, so I took a step back, He was holding a child in his arms and saying that it was inappropriate of me to ask him questions in that scenario. I continued to ask him those questions. He refused to respond,” Singh recounted.
Shabd Singh, the activist who was in an argument with Rep. George Santos spoke to The Hill, saying “[Santos] then found me here in this hallway and accosted me and began yelling at me, essentially framing what I am saying as some sort of anti-Semitic trope.” pic.twitter.com/v658IPpjDR
Singh claimed he was pressing former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., before he ran into Santos.
“He then found me here in this hallway and accosted me and began yelling at me, essentially framing what I am saying as some sort of anti-Semitic trope,” he added.
“I haven’t read the [manual] thoroughly and properly like I should have in this instance,” she said.
She revealed that after a judge began examining evidence in the legal case to overturn the outcome of the Bridgeport Mayoral Primary in the state of Connecticut, the Gateway Pundit reported.
Each absentee ballot must be signed off by the town clerk, and if this requirement is not met, the ballot cannot be counted, according to the law.
The investigation was started after surveillance footage that captured a woman inserting multiple pieces of paper into an absentee ballot drop box just one week before the mayoral primary election was discovered.
The video was released last month by mayoral candidate John Gomes’s campaign and exposed evidence of election fraud in the recent Bridgeport Democratic primary.
The Bridgeport Police Department confirmed that they are actively investigating the actions shown in the video.
The Gomes campaign’s Facebook page showed the video, in which a woman was dropping the stacks of illegal ballots into an absentee ballot box outside the Bridgeport government center, where the city’s Registrar of Voters office is located, the Pundit reported.
The politician’s campaign also was able to identify the woman in the footage as Wanda Geter-Pataky, the Vice Chairwoman of the Democratic Town Clerk and a vocal supporter of incumbent Mayor Joe Ganim, who is seeking reelection. The video shows Geter-Pataky dropping off stacks of absentee ballots ahead of the September 12th primary, Gomes’ campaign said.
“Video surveillance proving that the mayoral election was unequivocally stolen through corruption within City Hall by tampering with absentee ballots,” Gomes said on his Facebook page.
The most recent preliminary count posted on the Secretary of the State’s website indicated that Gomes “lost” to incumbent Mayor Ganim in the Democratic primary by a narrow margin of 251 votes, adding that Ganim won the absentee vote tally 1,545 to 779, while Gomes led on the voting machines.
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) NYC Councilwoman Inna Vernikov was apprehended by law enforcement authorities on Friday evening following allegations of her possessing a firearm at a Brooklyn college rally.
The event was part of a disturbing pro-Palestine demonstration, described as the “Day of Jihad,” which raised significant concerns due to its ties with the Hamas terrorist organization.
“The Councilwoman was at the location observing a pro-Palestine protest which was taking place, and in the course of doing so, the Councilwoman was observed with the butt-end of a firearm (handgun) protruding from the front portion of her pants,” the NYPD said. “This image was disseminated on social media, per photos taken at the scene by various individuals.”
At @BrooklynCollege rally this afternoon with @CMFarahLouis & @KalmanYeger. If you’re standing w/ the protestors, yelling “GLOBALIZE THE INTIFADA” & “FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE” while innocent women and babies are being raped, massacred and beheaded, you’re… pic.twitter.com/7ESRAGrjtb
While Vernikov voluntarily surrendered herself, along with her licensed handgun, the NYPD announced that the license was suspended.
“At no point in time was anyone menaced or injured as a result of her possessing the firearm at the earlier protest,” the police department added, according to Fox News.
In a video that surfaced during the rally, Vernikov was captured condemning the actions of the pro-Hamas supporters, who have rallied in support of Hamas’s last week’s terrorist acts against Israel. So far, over 1,300 Israelis have been killed, in addition to numerous Americans. Several women and children were taken captive.
“If you are here today standing with these people, you are nothing short of a terrorist without the bombs,” she asserted. “I’m here at the pro-Hamas rally in Brooklyn College. There is a ton of police, and we made sure that Jewish students feel safe today.”
The pro-Hamas demonstration gained momentum following calls from Hamas terrorists, including founder Khaled Meshal and political chief Ismail Haniyeh, calling on a Muslim uprising against Israel.
Haniyeh declared, “This is the battle of not only the Palestinians or the Gazans, it is the battle of all the Arab and Muslim nations,” while Meshal called on Jordans to cross the border into Israel. “[We must] head to the squares and streets of the Arab and Islamic world on Friday,” Meshal said. “Tribes of Jordan, sons of Jordan, brothers and sisters of Jordan… This is a moment of truth and the borders are close to you, you all know your responsibility.”
In response to the escalating tensions, the NYPD issued a directive mandating all officers to report to duty on Friday.
“All uniformed members of the service in every rank, will perform duty in the uniform of the day and be prepared for deployment.”
Thank you @nycmayor for not only standing with Israel and Jews worldwide, but doing so with such powerful words and empathy. Please share this video far and wide so it can bring some level of comfort and strength to a nation in such a dark hour.
One of the attacks happened in Arras, France, when an ISIS supporter stabbed a teacher to death at a school before seriously wounding two others, the Daily Mailreported.
Dominique Bernard, a French literature teacher in his 40s, was murdered by Mohamed Mogouchkov, a 20-year-old Chechen refugee, at 11 a.m. local time.
Additionally, two other people were wounded, among whom were a security agent who was stabbed multiple times and another teacher who is in a less serious condition. Students at the school were not harmed.
French President Emmanuel Macron responded to the violent attack on Friday by saying that it was the result of “barbaric Islamic terrorism,” adding that the police were able to prevent another attempted attack in the country.
Both Mogouchkov and his brother, who was also taken into custody, were known to the authorities since they were previously put on the national security watchlist for being ISIS sympathizers.
Aside from this and many other incidents of attacks on innocent French civilians all around the country, Islamic terrorists also started expressing their hatred toward Jewish people since Hamas’s attack on Israel on Saturday.
On Thursday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin indicated that 100 anti-Semitic acts had been recorded in the country since then, among which were graffiti showing swastikas and reading “death to Jews” and instances of Muslims trying to carry knives into Jewish schools and synagogues, TheHillreported.
As a result, Darmanin ordered that the demonstrations be prohibited all around the country as they “are likely to generate disturbances to public order,” adding that organizers of the Hamas-supporting protests should be arrested.
In addition to that, Darmanin stated that all of the Muslim immigrants who violate the protest ban will be “systematically” deported.
He also said that the government would increase the protection of Jewish sites such as schools and synagogues.
However, France was not the only country where innocent people were able to see the face of the “religion of peace.”
An Israeli diplomat, 50, was stabbed several times in Beijing, China, by a Jihadist at around 2 p.m. on Friday, just less than one mile from the Israeli embassy, South China Morning Postreported. The publication added that the attacker was captured.
Israeli diplomat stabbed in full public view on the streets of Beijing, China.
The call for Global Day of Jihad by Hamas wasn’t an empty threat. Stay Safehttps://t.co/B2YKWrQHya
Even though there were no reported attacks similar to the ones that were mentioned previously in the United States, on Friday, Muslims occupiedTimes Square in New York City to praise their God for the massacre that happened in Israel.
Allahu Akbar!
Conquered NYC: Islamic Supremacists Seize Control of Times Square for Ramadan
Is multiculturalism or other religions mentioned by any Islamic leaders, promoted in the Islamic press, or appear in any form in Muslim countries?
On Saturday, some may be ready to add another one to the list as tens of millions in the Americas will have front-row seats for a rare “ring of fire” eclipse of the sun.
The annular solar eclipse will briefly dim the skies over parts of the western U.S. and Central and South America, starting in the North Pacific and entering the U.S. over Oregon around 8 a.m. PDT Saturday. It will culminate in the ring of fire a little over an hour later.
As the moon lines up precisely between Earth and the sun, it will blot out all but the sun’s outer rim. A bright, blazing border will appear around the moon for as much as five minutes, wowing skygazers along a narrow path stretching from Oregon to Brazil.
The celestial showstopper will yield a partial eclipse across the rest of the Western Hemisphere. NASA and others will provide a livestream of the eclipse.
It’s a prelude to the total solar eclipse that will sweep across Mexico, the eastern half of the U.S. and Canada, in six months. Unlike Saturday, when the moon is too far from Earth to completely cover the sun from our perspective, the moon will be at the perfect distance on April 8, 2024.
That’s assuming, of course, that the End of Days doesn’t arrive first.
Although, scientifically speaking, the moon’s intersection with the sun may be an annually recurring phenomenon, recent global events will surely have some wondering. Even the last major eclipse, in 2017, provoked such discussions among theologians .
“Perhaps a modern historian would not have mentioned it, judging that an astronomical event like an eclipse is independent of the activities of man, unless it preceded some important occasion such as a battle and so influenced a decision such as whether or not to go to war,” wrote the Associates for Biblical Research.
“In the ancient world, however, an eclipse was regarded as an omen or portent whenever it happened,” added ABR. “For Josephus, the eclipse in the night after Herod put to death the two protesters was a sign of displeasure from God.”
In 2021, a “ring of fire” eclipse similarly passed over parts of Canada, leading Paul Begley, a Christian evangelist and online personality from West Lafayette, Indiana, to share his interpretation of the prophecies, according to the U.K. Express.
“It is the Rapture? Some think it could be the Rapture,” Begeley said on his YouTube channel. “… I don’t think so, but definitely a prophetic sign, definitely.”
He offered several passages of scripture, including one from the book of Matthew, chapter 24, verse 29: “Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.”
Although the Jewish temple that Jesus made reference to was destroyed 40 years later, in 70 A.D., there has been much discussion recently among Jews in Israel about rebuilding a third Temple. Clearly, such an action would have major implications when it came to contemporary prophesizing.
One of the barriers standing in the way of the rebuilding project has been President Joe Biden, who allegedly gave some of the artifacts intended for the temple to Palestinians, according to Jim Barfield, head of the Copper Scroll Project.
Antichrists
“Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.”
In modern times, we have come to associate the Antichrist with a single individual who will usher in the coming of the apocalypse rather than the “many” that Christ himself made reference to, according to Matthew.
That makes this prophecy more difficult to interpret. Some have assumed it was former President Barack Obama due to his messianic complex.
Others have cross-referenced the passage with other Biblical books, such as Daniel in the Old Testament, and the book of Revelations to interpret the Antichrist as some sort of beast or monster.
Of course, loosely speaking, the hubris of many so-called scientists to assume their knowledge makes them greater than God—particularly as artificial intelligence fast approaches the point of surpassing human knowledge—could qualify them for this category. And we all know what the mark of the beast would likely be.
Wars and Rumors of Wars
Enough said about this one. Are we on the brink of World War III as we speak? Surprisingly, Jesus’s words seem to offer some small measure of comfort: “See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”
Unfortunately, what he means is that it’s gonna get worse before it gets better.
Natural Disasters
It hardly seems fair to count natural disasters as the fulfillment of prophesy any more than it does to consider them evidence of climate change. You don’t need Sister Cleo to tell you that there will be some sort of unusual weather anomaly in some part of the globe.
Still, Jesus does specifically mention “famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.”
A pestilence, as you may recall, is some sort of epidemic disease.
Famine is a scarcity of food for any number of reasons, including war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. It seems highly plausible that we already hang precariously close to facing one of those given the food shortages that seem to be occuring with more and more frequency under normal circumstances.
I mentioned earlier the massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria earlier this year, which saw an eerie cloud looming overhead. But, of course, who’s to say there are not even bigger ones that lay in store, accompanied by global volcanoes, tsunamis, etc.?
As Jesus said, “All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
Persecution of Christians
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.”
This is already happening in certain parts of the world, and following Friday’s Islamic “Day of Jihad” it isn’t hard to imagine it spreading throughout other parts of the Western world very quickly.
Apostasy
“And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.”
The mass abandonment of religion and morals has been a growing trend that speaks quite directly to the current state of America and the world at large as cultural Marxism and ideas like it begin to take root and seek to toss out traditional values.
False Prophets
This one may seem a nuanced distinction from the Antichrists mentioned earlier, but unlike those claiming to be the actual second coming, this could refer to any sort of hypocritical leaders who misrepresent themselves, claiming to represent truth and morals when, in fact, they are pursuing their own self interest. Take your pick.
Depravity
“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.”
“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled,” said Jesus.
For those keeping score at home, pretty much all of the boxes have been checked off. So is the Judgement Day eminent?
The short answer is, it is fruitless to try and pin a date to it, according to the gospel of Peter: “[T]he day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”
In the meantime, it would be a good idea to catch up on the rest of the book of Matthew, chapter 14, because from verse 15 on, things get a bit tricky. And Jesus also doesn’t make it easy either, telling followers that they need to go “stand in the holy place” which they will understand only if they’ve read the book of Daniel.
And woe be unto those who decide to just take somebody else’s word for it—don’t forget about the false prophets and Antichrists still floating around everywhere.
“Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not,” Jesus warns. “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”
Ben Sellers is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him attwitter.com/realbensellers. The Associated Press contributed to this report
