Habakkuk 1:5 Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. -LORD God
Non-profit agencies, law enforcement, government officials and area stakeholders have joined forces to combat sex trafficking and prostitution in Northeast Kansas City, specifically on Independence Avenue.
The new initiative, which was introduced on April 23, includes billboards and street signs in areas known for activity, circulating photos of “Johns” – buyers of sex – and implementing reform strategies, and resources to help those who are being trafficked.
“This strategy is going to say, ‘Not in our community, not in our city. Not now, not ever, will we allow you to come in and pay for our people. If there wasn’t demand, there would not be traffickers exploiting our vulnerable.'”
For the remainder of the article, see the link below.
Joel 1:4 What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; and what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; and what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.
A characteristic of the end times scenario is locust infiltration into Israel on a massive scale. The prophet Joel warns of a time when food production from the land will be scarce. Locusts will devour food and vegetation.
April 2021: Locust swarms have moved into southern Israel near Eilat. The port city is located on the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea. Granted, this is as far south as one can go in Israel, but locusts have made an appearance in the Promised Land. Everyone relax, animals and humans are not in harm’s way according to the experts.
World Atlas
Northeast Lebanon: Winds from Saudi Arabia have blown locusts into Lebanon. The Lebanese Army is using helicopters and pesticides to combat the situation.
“It is a very rare occurrence… the breeding grounds were on the Red Sea coast, Saudi Arabia’s northern coast, so they were blown in through Jordan and Syria. But so far it is under control and I certainly see nothing to panic about.” -Maurice Saade, UN Food and Agriculture Representative Lebanon
protect the human body against the harmful effects of radiation
suppress the growth of cancer cells
prevents the development of heart attack and stroke by boosting the effect of blood-thinning drugs
increases immunity levels
helps control cholesterol levels
combat inflammatory processes
enhances regeneration of tissues.
Is there a hint of the prophetic future with benefits of a locust diet? Fights the effects of radiation? Suppresses cancer? Enhances tissue regeneration? Increases immunity?
Sounds like an antidote to nuclear exposure and disease to me. Eat up! The locust is kosher.
Leviticus 11:22 These of them you may eat: the locust in its kinds, and the devastating locust in its kinds, and the cricket in its kinds, and the grasshopper in its kinds.
Proverbs 9:9 Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still; teach a righteous man, and he will increase his learning.
Proverbs 14:6 A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none, but knowledge is easy for one who has understanding.
Check out the latest update provided by Michael Douville, our go to guy on all things economic.
The 1st and 2nd Quarters of 2021 are proving the forecast is correct. Manufacturing, the Industrials, the Service Sector, and Housing are TERRIFIC.
Wallpaper Access
In this video, Michael provides numbers and analysis on the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data. Manufacturing is exploding. There is a shortage of supplies, materials, and products. Will we have 6-10% growth in the 2nd Quarter of 2021?
IHS Markit data on United States Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is reviewed with charts provided.
Michael also assesses Real Estate home sales across the United States. He reviews where we are in the 18 Year Real Estate Cycle. Be a full cycle investor and pay attention to the times and where we are in the cycle.
Click on the YouTube link below for Michael’s latest update.
Proverbs 1:5 A wise person will hear and increase in learning, And a person of understanding will acquire wise counsel…
Check out Michael Douville’s latest book. Now available on Amazon.
Real Estate Investing For Beginners Creating Generational Wealth
The context of this series of posts is the course of the Jewish people for the initial 49 years of the 483 year period communicated from the angel Gabriel to the prophet Daniel. The city of Jerusalem has been rebuilt post exile. These events are covered in Nehemiah 8-13. Israel is returning to God’s Law. The focus is Temple worship service. Up first is the showbread or shewbread.
Simply put the term for showbread is “bread” in the original Hebrew. The Hebrew term is lechem. The word is also translated as food or meal. It is bread made from the grain of barley, wheat, or corn.
The original source for the showbread comes from Leviticus 24.
Leviticus 24:5-9 “You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it; two tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf. And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, on the table of pure gold before the LORD. And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as a food offering to the LORD. Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the LORD regularly; it is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the LORD’s food offerings, a perpetual due.”
Let’s take a look at the specifics of the verses above from Leviticus 24.
There are 12 loaves of bread, 2 piles of 6. The point of the bread is a memorial portion as a food offering to the LORD.
The text makes it very clear. This is to be done every week on the Sabbath by the descendants of Aaron or the Levites. The bread is to be arranged regularly. It is a covenant forever for the priests. The bread is to be presented weekly as a perpetual due.
photo: Temple Institute
Fast forward roughly 1,440 years from Moses to Jesus. Christ is about to give the Pharisees more than they can handle. Jesus, of course, is going to choose the Sabbath to make a point.
Matthew 12:1-7 At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.
If one is hungry, they can eat, even on the Sabbath. The disciples were hungry. It is not illegal to eat on the Sabbath.
But yet, the Pharisees wanted to make an issue of the situation. Jesus chose to use the illegal and sinful example of King David (See 1 Samuel 21 for the incident). David lied and manipulated the situation. Christ also pointed out the hypocrisy of the priests.
Jesus is the Lord. The showbread is a food offering to the LORD. The only crime Jesus committed is He broke the “law” of the Pharisees. Jesus is not breaking the law by eating the showbread on the Sabbath. Taking care of your friends with provision is more important than following a man made tradition.
Matthew 12:8For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”
This earth truly does reveal God’s glory everywhere in creation, and it tells the story of Jesus. Everything God made (and He made everything through Jesus) has His signature on it.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” (Psalm 19:1-4)
This beautiful flower is called “Blood of Jesus on the Cross” and is native to New Zealand. It grows on a tree called the Pōhutukawa or the New Zealand Christmas bush. The flower itself is remarkable. Not only is there a cross in the center, but the blood of Jesus is displayed in the mass of filaments that splay out from the cross as if to shower upon the whole world. We have redemption through Jesus’ blood, the forgiveness of sins. Also notice the tiny anthers on the end of each red filament that contain the pollen. They look like tiny pieces of flesh or bread that was broken for the life of the world. Jesus was the bread of life broken and multiplied to feed all who want eternal life.
Because of the cross we can now be reconciled to the Father through Christ Jesus.
“Then Jesus said…Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:53-58)
“The Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:23,26)
“He (Jesus) who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.’Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20)
April 21, 2021: Rocket sirens have been sounded in the Negev or the southern portion of Israel near the Dimona Nuclear Facility. Explosions have been seen and heard near the nuclear site.
Google Earth
The Israeli military is claiming this is not an attack on their nuclear facility but a misfire. They claim the rocket from Syria was targeting an airplane in the northern part of the country in the Golan Heights.
IDF Spokesperson Hidai Zilberman made the following comment.
“There was no intention of hitting the nuclear reactor in Dimona.”
The IDF was very clear regarding the specs of the missile. It was Russian-made SA-5 surface-to-air missile weighing several thousand kilograms with a 200-kilogram warhead.
As of this post, the IDF was still gathering intel on the matter.
BREAKING: A surface-to-air missile was fired from Syria to Israel’s southern Negev.
In response, we struck the battery from which the missile was launched and additional surface-to-air batteries in Syria.
Earlier, the day before, a significant explosion occurred at the Tomer military facility in central Israel. The factory is home to secret weapons, missile technologies, and jet propulsion studies.
Israel states this was the result of routine tests. Injuries and causalities were not reported.
A Tomer spokesperson indicated, “This was a controlled test with no exceptional circumstances.”
The back drop of the story is escalating military action and tension between Israel and Iran.
Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication from me, declares the LORD.”
Passing judgement on a person’s sin, makes you an equal sinner. God didn’t make a list of sins & say one was worse than the other. He did however say that the greatest thing we can do is love. Let’s all love more…
James 4:12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?
James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
Matthew 22:37-40 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” -Jesus
The context of this series of posts is the course of the Jewish people for the initial 49 years of the 483 year period communicated from the angel Gabriel to the prophet Daniel. The city of Jerusalem has been rebuilt post exile. These events are covered in Nehemiah 8-13. Israel is returning to God’s Law. The Shemitah has been revived. Up next is the reinstatement of the Temple Tax.
Nehemiah 10:32 We also take on ourselves the obligation to give yearly a third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God:
Under the leadership of Nehemiah, the Temple Tax was reinstated. Let’s look at what Nehemiah is proposing compared to what Moses states in the law.
Exodus 30:13-16 This is what everyone who is numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as a contribution to the Lord. Everyone who is numbered, from twenty years old and over, shall give the contribution to the Lord. The rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than the half shekel, when you give the contribution to the Lord to make atonement for yourselves. You shall take the atonement money from the sons of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the sons of Israel before the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves.”
Here are the specifics of the Temple Tax for service.
Tax of 1/2 Shekel is cost.
Men 20 years of age and older shall pay.
No sliding scale of taxation. Rich and poor pay the same.
Yearly contribution required.
Purpose is for atonement of personal life.
Everything appears to be in alignment with one exception. Moses said 1/2 shekel and Nehemiah says 1/3 shekel. Why the difference? Is Nehemiah being disobedient or cheap?
There are many theories and conjectures as to why the difference. The most reasonable explanation may come from Ridgeway’s Origin of Currency and Weight Measures.
In Moses’ day, Jews contributed a beka or a half shekel.
Exodus 38:26 a beka a head (that is, half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary)…
One beka or a half shekel equals 5.67 grams or about 65 grains.
Roughly one thousand years had passed from the Exodus and Moses (1440 BC) to Nehemiah’s return to the Promised Land (440 BC).
In Nehemiah’s day, the Babylonian Empire standard was the stater or shekel. This would have been the relevant currency for the Israelis of the time. The stater weighed about 173 grains. One third of a stater or shekel would be 58 grains.
One beka or a half shekel equals 65 grains verses one third stater or shekel equals 58 grains. These two measurements relative to their time and cultural influence are essentially equal.
~
Fast forward about another 470 years to the time of Jesus. The Roman Empire is in control over the region of Israel and the city of Capernaum. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus made the following observation.
‘The emperor commanded every Jew to pay the two drachma annually to the Capitol which they had before been accustomed to pay to the Temple at Jerusalem.’
Matthew 17:24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?”
This had to really irritate the Jews, specifically Peter and the apostles. The trap had been set. The Roman tax collectors knew who Jesus claimed to be. Jesus was the Jewish King and Messiah. Would Jesus bow to the Romans and pay the tax?
The two-drachma tax is known as the δίδραχμον/didrachma in the original Greek text. The didrachma was a silver coin during the life and times of Jesus that was equal to one half shekel.
We know how the rest of the story goes. Jesus had Peter go fishing. No problem, Jesus and Peter’s tax was paid.
So here we are roughly 2,000 years later from the time of Christ. Israel is back in the land. Jerusalem is their capital. The modern day Sanhedrin has reconvened. The Temple Tax and the beka are back in the news.
The modern day Sanhedrin issued a Temple Tax back in February 2017. They even minted 1,000 coins with the images of Cyrus the Great and President Donald Trump. They are raising money for the promised third Temple.
God’s influence is overwhelming and can be perceived everywhere. A songwriter, after a cursory look at the creation, was left with no choice than to chant, “How great thou art”.
Prophet Isaiah tries to put in perspective and in a language that can be easily understood, how powerful God is. His ability to forgive sin can also be discerned from here. The prophet says that the nations were as nothing before Him, not merely because of His immensity but because of their insufficiency to make any atonement by their oblations for the iniquities which they had committed.
Isaiah describes the foolishness of idolatry and how the practice makes a lot of demand on the practitioners above their abilities and capacity.
“He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved” (verse 20).
Yet, God does not make such a demand on His worshippers. In looking at His plan for our salvation and the eventual coming of Christ to atone for our sins, we have every reason to be grateful to God, serve Him and entrust our whole being to Him.
In view of the great power of God and the incomprehensibility of His might, those who refuse to follow and worship Him are reveling in His long-suffering; but if they fail to repent, they will regret when He comes in His fury upon all children of disobedience. To avoid this fate, submit yourself to His omnipotence, repent of all known sin and ensure you serve Him unreservedly.
The Bible IN ONE YEAR: ACTS 9 – 10
*THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:* God’s mercy is great towards all who serve Him.
April 14, 2021: Today is Israel’s 73rd year of rebirth of being a state. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu marked the occasion with remarks regarding the handling of the Corona Virus. His statements included commentary of the previous year’s Abraham Accords with Arab neighbors in the “Circle of Peace”. For complete comments, see the video provided via Twitter.
Today also marked a missile attack on an Israeli commercial ship, the Hyperion Ray. The ship is reported to transport cars. Multiple news outlets around the world are reporting Iran likely carried out the attack. The incident occurred off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman. Injuries are not reported at the time of this post. Damage to the ship is reported to be light.
Belgian frigate BNS Leopold I is patrolling in the Gulf of Oman, in an area where the Israeli-owned vehicles carrier Hyperion Ray was attacked. The exact current position of that ship is unknown. Leopold I is an asset of a European naval mission near the Strait of Hormuz, EMASOH. pic.twitter.com/O7Pg9iXkBU
The attack comes on the heels of Iran’s nuclear facility at Natanz being struck. Two days ago Iran’s nuclear site was struck by a cyber attack which resulted in an explosion. Thousands of centrifuges, which were reported to be at least 150 feet underground, were destroyed.
Israeli press referred to the event as an “accident”. Iranian press referred to the event as “terrorism”. Initially it was reported as an electrical “black out”.
This is the same facility in Natanz that was struck in July of 2020. This time a different part of the plant was affected.
The BBC has provided a comprehensive look at the attack, the scientific process of how centrifuges work, and the geo-political situation surrounding recent events. Click on the link below.
The same day the “accident” occurred in Natanz, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu met with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Netanyahu stated he will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. See the video link below for Netanyahu’s comments.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met today with US @SecDef Lloyd Austin: "Welcome to Jerusalem. Your visit here so soon after assuming office is a testament to the importance you attach to our friendship and to our alliance."
Ezekiel 38:5 Persia, Ethiopia and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet…
At some point in the future, the prophet Ezekiel tells us Iran will join forces with Russia and look to invade Israel from the north. Russia and its allies will receive a Divine whipping. See Ezekiel 38-39 for the details.
Iranian assets have been exploding throughout the country and at sea for the last year.
