Note: I have been on the Georgia coast (Jekyll Island) for one week as of today. I have been adjusting to my new schedule for the next few months which includes bicycling approximately 20 miles each day for some much needed exercise and to lose weight. I am using my human powered bike, not my electric bike. I have repeatedly found on my trips to Jekyll that it takes about a week to get past the saddle soreness that results from extended daily bike rides. Even though I took one day off from bicycling, and shortened my bike ride on another day to only 12 miles, I managed to log 111 miles in my first week here.
This exertion has sapped my energy (though this should improve going forward). I am still catching up on correspondence from a week ago, and have not written any blog posts in this time. I hope to begin doing so more regularly as I adjust to my schedule.
Champ has been greatly enjoying his time on the island. I take him on bike jogs daily. Fellow campers are amused to see him hitched to my bicycle and pulling with all the zeal of an Alaskan sled dog. He is a very eager runner. I have found that his behavior is very much improved when he has exercised himself, alleviating his pent up energy. I am able to leave him outside on the leash during the day (except when I take my 17 mile ride around the island), and he seldom barks at other dogs or campers, though they are both in abundance. Time spent keeping Champ exercised has also cut into my available time for writing.
I want to thank those again who have been generous to send financial gifts enabling me to travel in my bus to the Georgia coast at this time. I have the assurance that being here is the Father’s will for me at this time. According to my rough calculations, my bus is getting no more than 5 MPG as I travel in it, pulling my trailer behind me. The actual mileage may be closer to 4 MPG. The bus drives very solidly, however, for a 1972 model. It tops out around 60 MPH, though I generally keep it around 55 MPH traveling down the highway. I avoid Interstate freeways as the bus is too slow and at times will fall below the minimum Interstate speed limit of 45 MPH when I am ascending a hill. I also prefer the slower pace of travel that one encounters off the Interstate roads.
It is quite an adventure driving 50 feet of rig down the road (length includes bus and trailer), through small towns, and trying to get it in and out of gas stations. I was ready for a break after driving for more than 5 hours from central Georgia to the coast.
Randy Simmons is planning on driving down for a visit next week and bringing two men with him that we both know. One of the men we both met while at the Macon Rescue Mission. The other has lived on the streets of Macon for a number of years. Yahweh has been working in both of their lives. I look forward to spending a few days with all three men when they arrive. I have a couple of large tents that they can use to camp in while visiting. Randy is anticipating doing some saltwater fishing, while I hope to find an eager participant to ride with me around the island. Please keep us all in your prayers.
America - No More a Safe Haven
Some have written to make note of the fact that we are now in the fourth quarter of the year. In sharing this they were referencing an earlier writing I posted that made mention of a Super Bowl advertisement that could include a cryptic message.
You can find the original article at the following link:
http://parablesblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/fourth-quarter-2013.html
Yahweh has not given me any word of revelation about immediately impending events, but I continue to remain watchful and alert. Those who have followed my writings for some time may be aware that I have been declaring that judgment is coming to America since as far back as 2001 when the World Trade Center was struck. I have actually been quite surprised that the collapse of American society into anarchy, civil unrest, and the resulting martial law, has tarried as long as it has. America’s vaunted economy, tied to the debt-eroded dollar, must certainly collapse. Yet it has been propped up by the manipulations of a fiat money system, and world bankers who are continually looting the middle class through the hidden theft of monetary inflation.
The country surely will collapse, for the Spirit has signified this to be so in many ways. The testimonies are abundant. I could cite dozens of blog posts that have examined various parables in the news that foretell of that which is coming. At times I have felt like the prophet Jeremiah. For years Yahweh sent him forth with a message of the coming collapse and subjugation of Judah and Jerusalem. Despite being labeled as a prophet of woe and doom, and derided by the majority of the people, Yahweh continued to speak forth warnings year after year through this faithful prophet. After nearly two decades of speaking forth the messages that Yahweh had commanded him to deliver, Jeremiah was fatigued, weary, and felt that in some measure that Yahweh had deceived him by tarrying to fulfill the announced judgments. Yet the judgments did come, and not one word of the Lord fell to the ground.
I have reflected on this recently as even nature seems to have been paralleling this pattern. Expected storms have not materialized, leaving meteorologists and scientists baffled. Last month The Weather Channel posted an article and video about the unexpected late development of any hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Following is a quote from an article on The Weather Channel.
It took until 5 a.m. on Sept. 11 for the first hurricane of the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season to form.
Humberto's intensification into a hurricane fell just three hours short of the record for the latest-forming Atlantic basin hurricane in the satellite era.
[Source: http://www.weather.com/news/weather-hurricanes/no-atlantic-hurricanes-through-august-20130821]
It seems significant that the first hurricane of 2013 formed on 9-11, the number for emergency calls in America. The hurricane formed at 5 a.m., five being the number of grace. The message seems to be that Yahweh has caused His judgments to tarry, providing a time of grace for His people to prepare themselves.
A similar story has occurred as one watches the solar sun-spot cycles. The Sun goes through what are termed as “solar minimums” and “solar maximums,” which are terms used to describe sun-spot activity. The Sun cycles last 11 years, and it was widely anticipated that this present sun-spot cycle would produce an unusually active solar maximum. We are in what should be near the peak of sun-spot activity right now. Yet, remarkably, the sun has been so quiet that it has resembled the level of activity seen during a solar minimum.
Graphic above shows that sunspot activity is much lower than previous cycles.
Though the sun is currently in the peak year of its 11-year solar weather cycle, our closest star has been rather quiet over all, scientists say.
This year's solar maximum is shaping up to be the weakest in 100 years... scientists said Thursday (July 11).
"It's the smallest maximum we've seen in the Space Age," David Hathaway of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., told reporters in a teleconference.
[Source: http://www.space.com/21937-sun-solar-weather-peak-is-weak.html]
Thus we see that both on earth and in the heavens we are experiencing a time where things appear unusually quiet. I believe, however, that this is merely the calm before the storm. It is a period of time for the saints to get all in readiness for that which is coming. It would be a serious mistake to view this temporal respite as an opportunity to make worldly plans, assuming that all is stable, safe, and that times of prosperity will continue.
I would comment at this time on another issue that has been in the news recently. This involves the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Some may remember when this Act was passed by Congress three years ago during the previous presidential term. The timing of the Act’s passage was most unusual. It was passed late in the evening, after the date of March 22nd (3-22) had begun at Greenwich Mean Time, also referred to as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The number 322 is an occult number used by the Illuminati and its affiliated groups such as the Yale society known as Skull and Bones.
In addition, in order to pass this highly unpopular Act, Congress resorted to some underhanded rule changes to accomplish it. The rule changes became known as “the Slaughter solution.” I posted an article at the time bearing the title The Slaughter Solution, and I recommend that readers review that article.
http://parablesblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/slaughter-solution.html
The Affordable Care Act, as it has come to be known, will prove to be neither affordable, nor caring. The reason for the great emphasis on passing this legislation was for the government to exert draconian control over the populace. The Affordable Care Act is a means to destroy further the freedoms of the American people. One of the freedoms under attack is freedom of religion.
Some may wonder, “What does a healthcare act have to do with religious freedom?” By wresting control of the entire nation’s healthcare system, the government is able to declare what healthcare services companies must provide to their employees. One of the services mandated by the Affordable Care Act includes making available the pharmaceutical drugs Plan B and Levonelle, also known as the morning after pill and the week after pill. These drugs induce a chemical abortion. Currently, approximately 60 lawsuits have been filed across the nation, primarily by Catholic businesses, protesting that this requirement infringes upon the religious freedom of the companies’ owners.
One of the companies to file suit that is not Catholic, but run by evangelical Christians, is Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby employs 13,000 people in its 525 stores. The government mandates that a company that is not in compliance with the mandates of the Affordable Care Act can be charged $100 per day per employee. Hobby Lobby’s owners have been threatened with fines of $1.3 million dollars per day for failing to provide abortion drugs to its employees.
The Green Family, who own Hobby Lobby, have said that they will close their businesses before they comply with what they believe to be immoral and unethical requirements. They refuse to be participants in abortion. Visit the following links to read more on this subject:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/hobbylobby.asp
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/october-web-only/will-supreme-court-review-hobby-lobbys-case-against-obamaca.html
The Christian Legal Society’s legal counsel, Kim Colby, stated:
"We're saying … the whole mandate is an unprecedented assault on religious liberty in this country."
The Federal government has requested that the Supreme Court review this case. This is not hopeful, for it was the Supreme Court, under the most deceptive and unethical manner, who ruled that Obamacare was constitutionally legal and permissible. Chief Justice John Roberts changed his stance on the constitutionality of this legislation at the last moment, declaring the Affordable Care Act legal by claiming that it is in fact a tax, a claim that Congress and the President had been assiduously denying as they were trying to sell the legislation to the public.
Should the Supreme Court rule that Christian businesses must provide abortion drugs to their employees, then a great many Christian business owners will have to decide whether they will place a desire to continue in business above their obedience to God. I can assure the readers of this blog that the government WILL rule that ALL businesses, irregardless of the religious convictions of the owners, must provide contraceptive and abortion drugs. Eventually this will be expanded to include paying for abortions themselves.
The Affordable Care Act also mandates that businesses, and individuals, pay for medical coverage that includes mental health care. This mental health care contains a Pandora’s box or woes. Among them are a profusion of mind altering drugs that destroy the lives of both children and adults, and psychological counseling that affirms homosexuality in any form as acceptable and normal, while prohibiting any counsel that would lead the individual engaged in homosexual behavior back to a God-ordained, righteous sexual orientation. Whether the Supreme Court rules against Hobby Lobby and other Christian business owners initially, they will do so eventually. Throughout America righteousness is being criminalized, while unrighteous acts, including the murder of the unborn and homosexuality are being defended as basic human rights that must be assured to all people.
These initial conflicts with the Affordable Care Act are merely the tip of the iceberg. America is being steered by the servants of Satan and the citizens that will be sacrificed first will be Christians. Tragically, many professing Christians will abandon all morality and betray the Lord who purchased them with His own blood. They will be seduced, pressured, and threatened. Many will find that their spiritual roots are inadequate to enable them to stand in a time of persecution.
Matthew 13:20-21
“And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word, and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.”
Brothers and sisters, we are being given a brief respite before the great storms hit. I encourage you to make the most of the days of peace while they remain. America will no longer be a safe haven where Christians can live according to their convictions. Great persecution is at hand. An hour is near when the words of the apostle Peter will be fulfilled in the lives of many.
Philippians 1:29
For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake...
Will you bear the cross when it is set before you? Will you walk faithfully with the Lord even when it costs you the loss of a business, your income, your home, and all your material possessions? Such experiences have been common to the disciples of Christ down through the centuries. The Christians in America will not be spared. They too will be called to experience rejection, reproaches, persecution, loss of homes and possessions, and even imprisonment.
Hebrews 10:32-39
But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly, by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners, and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. But My righteous one shall live by faith; And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.
During this period of calm, prepare your heart. Pay great heed to the voice of the Spirit. Whatever He shows you to do, do. It is the will of the Father that you might be able to stand firm in that day, and not shrink back. The letter written by the owner of Hobby Lobby reveals that in the face of this present threat to a business that is valued in the billions of dollars, he is ready to pay the cost. I will end with the open letter that David Green, CEO of Hobby Lobby, sent out to the public.
When my family and I started our company 40 years ago, we were working out of a garage on a $600 bank loan, assembling miniature picture frames. Our first retail store wasn’t much bigger than most people’s living rooms, but we had faith that we would succeed if we lived and worked according to God‘s word. From there, Hobby Lobby has become one of the nation’s largest arts and crafts retailers, with more than 500 locations in 41 states. Our children grew up into fine business leaders, and today we run Hobby Lobby together, as a family.
We’re Christians, and we run our business on Christian principles. I’ve always said that the first two goals of our business are (1) to run our business in harmony with God’s laws, and (2) to focus on people more than money. And that’s what we’ve tried to do. We close early so our employees can see their families at night. We keep our stores closed on Sundays, one of the week’s biggest shopping days, so that our workers and their families can enjoy a day of rest. We believe that it is by God’s grace that Hobby Lobby has endured, and he has blessed us and our employees. We’ve not only added jobs in a weak economy, we’ve raised wages for the past four years in a row. Our full-time employees start at 80% above minimum wage.
But now, our government threatens to change all of that. A new government health care mandate says that our family business MUST provide what I believe are abortion-causing drugs as part of our health insurance. Being Christians, we don’t pay for drugs that might cause abortions, which means that we don’t cover emergency contraception, the morning-after pill or the week-after pill. We believe doing so might end a life after the moment of conception, something that is contrary to our most important beliefs. It goes against the Biblical principles on which we have run this company since day one. If we refuse to comply, we could face $1.3 million PER DAY in government fines.
Our government threatens to fine job creators in a bad economy. Our government threatens to fine a company that’s raised wages four years running. Our government threatens to fine a family for running its business according to its beliefs. It’s not right. I know people will say we ought to follow the rules; that it’s the same for everybody. But that’s not true. The government has exempted thousands of companies from this mandate, for reasons of convenience or cost. But it won’t exempt them for reasons of religious belief.
So, Hobby Lobby – and my family – are forced to make a choice. With great reluctance, we filed a lawsuit today, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, asking a federal court to stop this mandate before it hurts our business. We don’t like to go running into court, but we no longer have a choice. We believe people are more important than the bottom line and that honoring God is more important than turning a profit.
[Source: http://www.lifenews.com/2013/01/04/hobby-lobby-ceo-pens-tragic-letter-about-loss-of-religious-freedom/]
Heart4God Website: http://www.heart4god.ws
Parables Blog: www.parablesblog.blogspot.com
Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063
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