From Eliyahu
This is my first Tsiyon
News for the new Torah Year 6024 TAM (TAM stands for Torah Year of the
World). The last Torah year began March 23, 2023. In my Tsiyon News
of that date I said:
"...this new day
marks the start of a new 7 year Shmita Cycle. The Shmita Cycle we are
entering is the red zone on the illustration of The Jerusalem
Clock
I've created for you
... (as of that date) the hand of that clock points to the first year of
the New Shmita Cycle."
Last
year at the start of the 7 year Shmita Cycle I closed my newsletter with
these words:
"We
are entering upon the most challenging years of our lives to date,
but also the most potentially rewarding. I am praying for each of you,
that you might have the heart of an overcomer, to make it all the way,
enduring to the end, as Yeshua the Messiah leads."
Those words certainly
proved true here at Tsiyon, and among other people whom we know. Clearly
that first year of the Shmita cycle has seen some unprecedented challenges
emerge for the whole world. Here's a few examples.
The threat of global
nuclear war is at an all time high. Just 2 days ago an AP article was
headlined with these words: "Putin warns again that Russia is ready to
use nuclear weapons if its sovereignty is threatened." Multiple experts
have said that the world is in greater danger of a nuclear war today than it
was, even at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. This possibility is very
real.
Another unprecedented
event was the horrifying Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 that
brought on the deadly Hamas-Israel war. This has set up the Middle East for
major events that are prophesied in Scripture. Possibly even clearing the
way for the Remnant Exodus.
And what about AI
(artificial intelligence) being let loose on the Internet in 2023? This has
resulted in another kind of war that some have said may be even worse than a
nuclear war. I'm talking about the war between big tech companies to be the
first to create an AI with human-like intelligence of amazing scope and
power. Once thought decades away, experts are now saying that could happen
as soon as 2027.
I could go on, but the
point is made: Clearly this Shmita Cycle is rapidly changing the world, and
not for the better. We must be aware, adaptable, and walking in the Holy
Spirit to overcome all the changes coming upon the earth.
Of course, before 2023 the signs of the times had been stacking up and many
people saw them. According
to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in April of 2022, in the
United States, roughly four-in-ten (39%) – including nearly half of
Christians (47%) – say “yes” when asked whether they believe “we are living
in the end times.” While not a majority, that amounts to many millions of
Americans who believe we have come to the end of the world.
Many of those folks are
familiar with some of the Biblical signs of the end. However, some
categories of Americans had even higher numbers. For example, a full
two-out-of-three (67%) of those identified with a 'Religious Commitment' of
'High' believe "we are living in the end times." Why are two-to-one highly
committed people believing that these are the last days? I would expect that
this is probably the category that has invested the most study into the
subject, so know the signs of the end when they see them - and most are
seeing them!
What signs of the end
are people seeing?
Here is an article by beliefnet
that sums up the Christian position on the signs,
entitled: The Final 11 Signs of the End of the World. The article
states: "Here are the final 11 signs of the end of the world." Then
it lists: "Signs of Deception, Hunger and Famine, Natural Disasters, The
Spread of New Diseases, War, Rumors of War, Signs in the Heavens,
Persecution, Lawlessness, (the return of) Jesus."
This gives the impression that these are the
last remaining signs of the end - and this simply is not true. There is one
major sign foretold in Scripture many times, that always seems to be missing
from any list like this.
