2010 Year in Review

[Chris]

2010 Year in Review

2010 Year in Review
By Todd Strandberg

The year 2010 is rapidly coming to a close. Since this will be the last "Nearing Midnight" article for the year, I thought I'd review what has occurred over the last twelve months, and how these events have impacted Bible prophecy.

The most significant event of the year is the number of natural disasters. The year 2010 was the deadliest in more than a generation. Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards, landslides and droughts killed more than 260,000 people. Last year only saw 15,000 deaths from natural disasters.

"It just seemed like it was back-to-back and it came in waves," said Craig Fugate, who heads the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010. "The term '100-year event' really lost its meaning this year."

Most of the deaths were related to the January earthquake that struck Haiti. Because the vast majority of quakes follow a random pattern, their impact on populated areas is reduced. The Haiti trembler had the marking of judgment because it repeatedly hit the bull's eye. It struck at the right depth, distance, and magnitude. When the Chile quake followed with a strength not seen in a decade, I could only wonder if a new level of divine wrath was being unleashed.

The second most important event of 2010 is the global debt crisis. The U.S. started the year with $12.4 trillion in debt and ended the year nearing $14 trillion in the red. Two European nations required a bailout to avoid default, and several more have moved closer to financial collapse.

The debt problem is not just about national governments spending too much money. During this year we learned our states and most major cities were facing a hopeless situation with unfunded pension plans. We also learned that most of our large banks have balance sheets that are insolvent. If things weren't bad enough, we're starting to see how the massive $1 trillion student loan program is a dam ready to burst.

The third most important event of this year would have to be the sudden flood of new rules that give the government greater control of our lives. Under the cover of a need for protection against terrorism, our nation is becoming surveillance society.

I think we passed a very dangerous milestone when the Transportation Security Administration was given the authority to require the flying public to either pass through body-scanning machines showing naked images of the travelers to a TSA agent or endure a physical patdown that would qualify as sexual groping.

Unless there is a check on the growing power of organizations like the TSA, we are doomed to follow the same playbook that led to autocratic rule in countless nations. It is still very early, but immediate action is needed. Once a classic police state is formed, its first order of business is to silence all opposition.

I think the most important occurrence of 2010 would have to be the sad state of prophetic awareness. While RR has weathered the storm, dozens of other prophecy sites have fallen by the wayside. I know of at least six major sites that have shuttered their whole operations or that have only token sites on the net.

Earlier this month, Terry and I went to the Pre-Tribulation study group in Dallas, Texas. For the first time in nineteen years, the gathering had a significant downturn in its attendance. I spoke with the heads of several prophetic ministries and most of them talked about the difficulty they are having in getting people to hear the end-time message. One pastor told me, "You tell people what is going on, and it's like you are preaching to dead air."

It doesn't seem logical that we would have such an active year for end-time signs and yet prophetic awareness is down. Jesus said this is exactly how the days leading up to the rapture would play out. We are in the "think not" hour – a time when the devil would be allowed to seed distraction ahead of the tribulation.

I thank God for all you folks who understand what is taking place and have remained watchful. I can't guarantee that the Lord will return in 2011, but I do know that we have reached the unique point in time for which we are called to remain ready.

"Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh" (Matt. 24:44).

[LivnForChrist]

The debt problem is not just about national governments spending too much money. During this year we learned our states and most major cities were facing a hopeless situation with unfunded pension plans. We also learned that most of our large banks have balance sheets that are insolvent. If things weren't bad enough, we're starting to see how the massive $1 trillion student loan program is a dam ready to burst.

We're up to our necks in debt on every government level.

I think the most important occurrence of 2010 would have to be the sad state of prophetic awareness. While RR has weathered the storm, dozens of other prophecy sites have fallen by the wayside. I know of at least six major sites that have shuttered their whole operations or that have only token sites on the net.

Earlier this month, Terry and I went to the Pre-Tribulation study group in Dallas, Texas. For the first time in nineteen years, the gathering had a significant downturn in its attendance. I spoke with the heads of several prophetic ministries and most of them talked about the difficulty they are having in getting people to hear the end-time message. One pastor told me, "You tell people what is going on, and it's like you are preaching to dead air."

Wow! You'd think more people would be taking an interest in the prophetic with all that's going on right now.

[seank6]

We're up to our necks in debt on every government level.

Wow! You'd think more people would be taking an interest in the prophetic with all that's going on right now.

seems like alot of watchers are getting "watchers fatigue"

[Keeplookinup]

seems like alot of watchers are getting "watchers fatigue"

Yes, I do agree with that assumption. I think it is getting harder and harder to watch what is happening in this world and to be affected by it in not-so-positive ways. Of course we are always to be about the Lords business; but watching our freedoms being erroded on a daily basis becomes overwhelming at times. We know "God's Got It", but we still have to LIVE here until He calls us home. I think many of us are simply VERY HOMESICK.