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-I’ve taken the time to organize today’s prophecy update into “3” sections because I want to do something a little different than what we usually do. -First, we’ll look at the Middle East geopolitically second, we’ll revisit the U.S. economically, and third, we’ll talk about Hawaii a bit more personally. -My hope is that doing this, in this way, may help all of us gain a better Biblical perspective in terms of what the future may hold in the days ahead.

I’ll begin with this Jewish World Review article from Thursday, July 12th, by Victor Davis Hanson titled, “The world is changing minute by minute.” Here’s what he had to say; “We are witnessing a seismic shift in global affairs. The shake-up is a perfect storm of political, demographic and technological change that will soon make the world as we have known it for the last 30 years almost unrecognizable.” http://jewishworldreview.com/0712/hanson071212.php3

On Wednesday, July 11th, the day before the Jewish Review article, The Telegraph ran a most insightful blog in light of the breaking news that Russia was sending a massive build up of warships close in proximity to Syria. The title read; “Syria is to Russia what Israel is to America.” Here are a couple of quotes from Con Coughlin who wrote the blog; “As if the Syrian crisis is not bad enough already, the decision by Russia's macho-man president Vladimir Putin's to dispatch a flotilla of warships and amphibious landing vessels to Syria is hardly likely to ease the tensions. … Personally, I have always been skeptical about any suggestion that the Russians were giving serious consideration to ditching their most important regional ally. Syria is to the Russians what Israel is to the Americans, a vital strategic ally that can be relied upon through thick and thin to defend and represent Moscow's interests at all times.” http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/concoughlin/100170211/syria-is-to-russia-what-israel-is-to-america/

I want to share with you two articles concerning the perilous plight of the economy in the United States, the first of which was published by The Atlantic Wire on Saturday, July 7th titled; “U.S. Declares the Largest Natural Disaster Area Ever -Due to Drought,” Here’s an excerpt from that article: “The blistering summer and ongoing drought conditions have prompted the U.S. Agriculture Department to declare a federal disaster area in more than 1,000 counties covering 26 states. That's almost one-third of all the counties in the United States, making it the largest disaster declaration ever made by the USDA. The declaration covers almost every state in the southern half of the continental U.S., from South Carolina in the East to California in the West. It's also includes Colorado and Wyoming (which have been hit by devastating wildfires) and Illinois, Indiana, Kansas and Nebraska in the Midwest. … This map shows the counties affected: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/07/us-declares-largest-natural-disaster-area-ever-due-drought/54479/

This second article should probably come as no surprise when we learn, that San Bernardino becomes now the third California city in recent weeks to file for bankruptcy. Quoting a Reuters News report on Wednesday, July 11th, “San Bernardino will join the California communities of Stockton and Mammoth Lakes in bankruptcy court.” What makes this so disturbing is that California is not alone in how they are on the brink of being unable to make their payroll. One commentator of this said; “Over 100 US cities are facing the same fears of bankruptcy as they attempt to keep budget payments, with dwindling revenues, due to unemployment rates.” http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/11/sanbernardino-bankruptcy-idUSL2E8IB2E520120711

Let’s round a corner and bring it closer to home here in our beloved Hawaii. By way of a blog that I happened upon last week, I want to depress you even more by reading a small portion of it to you. “Sometimes it can be easy to forget that behind all of the horrible economic numbers that we hear about are millions of real people that have had their lives absolutely devastated by this economy. Elderly couples are being brutally evicted from their homes, young families are living in their cars, terminally ill people are dying because they cannot afford medication that they need and millions of parents can't sleep at night as they wrestle with anxiety over not being able to provide for their children. Often those that lose their jobs or their homes discover that people start looking at them very differently and that there is very little compassion out there these days. …one major U.S. bank is even kicking an elderly woman with stage 4 breast cancer out of her home because she cannot make her full mortgage payment each month. When the next major global financial catastrophe happens, we are going to see a whole lot more economic despair. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/scenes-of-despair

-About now you may be asking yourself why today’s update is riddled with such gloom and doom, well, the reason is so we’ll all be in total despair. -Just kidding sort of let me explain, to some degree it’s good that we’re brought to despair when it has the effect of loosening our grip on this world. -In other words, the hopelessness and despair in this world, serves as a catalyst in forcing us to realize how close we are to the end of the world.

-Actually, this will be our first of three practical responses that we as believers in Jesus Christ must have in this, the last hour of mankind’s history.

1 John 2:15-18 NIV Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (16) For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. (17) The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. (18) Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.

-The second practical response in this last hour is to occupy our time with the things of God so we’re as ready now as we’d be 10 years from now.

Luke 19:11-13 KJV And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. (12) He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. (13) And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.

-The third response is to get right with the Lord, and to live right for the Lord, making the most of every opportunity empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 5:15-20 NIV Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, (16) making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. (17) Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. (18) Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. (19) Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, (20) always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

-Final thought, I’ll pose it as a question, how peculiar are we to the world when instead of getting drunk, we’re singing a joyful song, thanking God? -Let me ask the same question a different way, have you ever had someone want what we have when everything around us is falling apart?