Volume XXXVIII      Issue IX      September 2019
Last Trumpet Ministries, PO Box 806, Beaver Dam, WI 53916
Phone: 920-887-2626 Internet: http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org

The Astonishing Events Of The Present And Future

"Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all."

"Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings, From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about."

"But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."

"For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."

In this issue of the Last Trumpet Newsletter, we will shine a light on the astonishing events of our time, which demonstrate that our world is changing in drastic ways. These changes are happening as the technological endeavors of man become increasingly sophisticated, and we are now starting to get a glimpse of what the world may look like in the coming decades if the Lord allows.

Consider what is happening in Saudi Arabia. A large area of Saudi desert, located in the northwest region of the Islamic country, has been designated for the development of a futuristic new city called Neom. The brainchild of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the city's name is a combination of Greek and Arabic, which is translated as "new future." (1) With a substantial investment of 500 billion American dollars, the massive city will encompass an area of 26,600 square kilometers or about 10,200 square miles. (2) Remarkably, the plan calls for Neom to be designated as "the world's first independent international zone," (3) which means it would not be a part of Saudi Arabia or any other country, but its own nation-state with its own laws and judicial system.

To date, the consultants who have been tasked with developing this extraordinary project have released a proposal of 2,300 pages which describes what Neom might look like. "Neom is all about things that are necessarily future-oriented and visionary. So we are talking about technology that is cutting edge and beyond - and in some cases still in development and maybe theoretical," said Nadhmi Al-Nasr, who is the chief executive officer of the Neom project. (4)

One of the proposed features of the city is cloud seeding technology, which would enable developers to attempt to turn the vast desert area into a lush and fruitful land. The plan also calls for the use of genetic engineering, which a Japanese company known as Softbank claims will result in "a new way of life from birth to death reaching genetic mutations to increase human strength and IQ." (5) Other proposed features include a fake moon, flying taxis, and assorted robots that would perform tasks and also entertain the city's occupants. (6) More ominously, the citizens and visitors of Neom will be under constant surveillance. "This should be an automated city where we can watch everything. A city where a computer can notify crimes without having to report them or where all citizens can be tracked," Neom's board of directors wrote. (7) As fanciful as the project sounds, one might expect this endeavor to be slated for a far-flung future date. Yet, the city is already in the early development stage with an expectation that it will be fully operational within a time period of seven to ten years. (8)

What is this project really all about? Why would the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia be willing to allow such a large area of real estate to become an international zone? I believe the real intent of this project is to turn Neom into a testing ground for a global one world government. The location for Neom, which will also include portions of Egypt and Jordan, is strategically located, making it possible for 70 percent of the world's population to reach the city within eight hours. (9) It is also interesting to note that Neom is part of a larger agenda known as "Vision 2030." (10) Considering the fact that the United Nations has a plan of its own known as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, it seems that 2030 has been selected as a target year for global powers to achieve an invasive system of global governance. Precisely how far these plans advance is all dependent on what God allows to happen. For as it tells us in I Chronicles 29:11, "Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all."

Big Brother Is Watching, Listening And Recording

When we read about proposed futuristic cities such as Neom, which would be under constant surveillance, some of us might wonder if people would actually want to live there. After all, who wants to live a life where you are constantly observed by a faceless monolithic entity? In reality, the masses have already been conditioned to accept such surveillance and voluntarily participate in it. With the advent of smartphones, you can now be tracked and listened to wherever you go. Corporate snoops such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft have access to these listening devices in your pocket. As if that's not bad enough, these same companies now have access to many homes thanks to the proliferation of "smart" speakers and personal assistants equipped with voice recognition capabilities. Some of the most popular of these devices come from Amazon.com, and they are equipped with a female-voiced assistant known as Alexa. In recent months it has come to light that not only does Amazon store everything you ever say to Alexa but in some cases, those recordings are listened to by other humans. (11) Furthermore, these recordings are kept in perpetuity unless the user chooses to delete them. "We retain customers' voice recordings and transcripts until the customer chooses to delete them," Amazon admitted. (12)

The Google Assistant, which is found on Google Home smart speakers and on smartphones running the Android operating system, behaves in a similar fashion to Amazon's Alexa. "We partner with language experts around the world who understand the nuances and accents of a specific language," Google said, noting that their products record your voice "to improve speech recognition." (13) It has also been revealed that Apple's personal assistant, known as Siri, also records voices, and those recordings were then sometimes listened to by private contractors. Facing backlash, however, the company has pledged to suspend the practice. (14) Not to be outdone, reports indicate that Microsoft records the voices of those who use its Xbox video game system, and private contractors are employed to listen to the recordings. (15) It is a safe assumption that any device equipped with voice recognition capabilities is recording its users, and who might hear those recordings later is anyone's guess.

Going back to Amazon, the tech and retail giant has found yet another way to infiltrate American homes and neighborhoods. The company is selling "smart" doorbells equipped with video cameras which notify users with a smartphone alert if there is any motion or activity detected by the devices. To further increase adoption of its product, Amazon has partnered with police departments all across the country to offer their doorbells to consumers at either a significant discount or completely free of charge. This development prompted Lieutenant Steve Kellogg of Hammond, Indiana, to say, "You cannot enter or leave our city without… being captured on film." (16) Other police departments that have partnered with Amazon include those from Arcadia, California; Coon Rapids, Minnesota; Green Bay, Wisconsin; (17) and Chandler, Arizona. In the case of Chandler, a report from NBC News states that 20,000 residents are now using these smart doorbells. (18)

Interestingly enough, Amazon has also developed facial recognition software that it calls "Rekognition." The software is still being perfected, but it is improving in both sophistication and capability. According to a news article published in August 2019, the technology now has the ability to detect fear. "We have improved accuracy for emotion detection and added a new emotion: fear," Amazon said. (19) We should ask ourselves, why does Amazon's software need the ability to detect fear? It is a real possibility that this technology will someday be added to Amazon's line of smart doorbells.

Technology in this modern age is invading every aspect of the human experience. This is especially true in China, a country where citizens are now living under a system of bondage that assigns them a social credit score based on their behavior. A poor score results in a loss of privileges. In March 2019, it was reported by The Guardian that the Chinese government had already banned 23 million people from purchasing plane or train tickets. (20) Sadly, Google, which is based in the United States, has partnered with China and is helping the oppressive communist regime develop the technology it uses to censor the Internet. (21) This development prompted Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia who is the vice-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to say, "It's disturbing to see that China has successfully recruited Western companies and researchers to assist them in their information control efforts." (22) It is disturbing indeed, but also ironic, considering the fact that Google's slogan formerly was, "Don't be evil." (23)

Children born in today's world will have no concept of privacy. As they age from infant to child, to teenager, to adult, they will be surrounded by technology that is always there, always watching, and always listening. As such, the forthcoming generations, assuming there are any, will readily accept this way of life, and it will seem completely normal. Society will reach this point because people, for the most part, are already willing to sacrifice their privacy for the sake of convenience. Thankfully, we serve a God who can protect and hide His people. Psalm 17:7-9 reads, "Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings, From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about."

The World Is Burning

In these days of great trouble, we see the planet we presently occupy rapidly moving from one problem to another. Last month stifling heatwaves made headlines, and now much of our world is quite literally on fire. Of course, we know that wildfires happen every year, but the number of fires burning in 2019 and the damage inflicted by them is quite astonishing.

In the European nation of Greece, numerous areas are presently burning. It was reported on August 26, 2019, that during the previous weekend, fifty-six fires broke out in one day, forcing the evacuation of a thousand tourists. (24) One of the major blazes, which occurred on the island of Samos, was fought by 700 firefighters. (25) These fires are part of a troubling trend wherein more than three times the normal amount of wildfires have charred areas within the European Union. Between January 2019 and August 15, 2019, more than 1,600 blazes have ravaged the area, destroying more than 271,000 hectares of land or about 669,665 acres. (26)

The fires in Europe pale in comparison, however, to the fires in the Russian region of Siberia. In fact, on August 14, 2019, it was reported that the area of Siberia covered in smoke was larger in size than the entire land area of the European Union. (27) According to the Russian government, more than 11,000 square miles have burned, while Greenpeace disputes these figures, claiming about 21,000 square miles have been destroyed by fire. Consequently, smoke and ash were so prevalent that it darkened the cities of Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk for several days despite the fact that these cities were hundreds of miles away from the flames. (28)

Meanwhile, in the South American nation of Bolivia, more than 1.6 million acres of tropical forest have been destroyed by fire, (29) but the present situation is far more dire in nearby Brazil. To date, more than 78,000 fires have started in Brazil this year with the majority of them occurring in the vast Amazon rainforest. These fires ignite at such a rapid frequency that 1,663 of them begin to burn in a single day. (30) In total, wildfires have increased by more than 80 percent in Brazil in comparison to last year. (31) Drought has induced favorable conditions for these fires. "The central Brazil and south of the Amazon Rainforest region has been undergoing a prolonged drought. And there are some places where there has not fallen a drop of rain for three months," stated Alberto Setzer from the National Institute for Space Research. (32) Many of these fires now burning were set deliberately by farmers looking to clear the land, an activity that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro seems to encourage. "I used to be called Captain Chainsaw. Now I am Nero, setting the Amazon aflame," President Bolsonaro said. (33) On August 24, 2019, after much public outcry, it was announced that the Brazilian President would finally be making an effort to extinguish the flames, with 44,000 soldiers being made available to fight the fires. (34)

The fires in Bolivia and Brazil have not only caused extensive damage but on August 19, 2019, smoke and ash plunged the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, into an eerie darkness. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the city was as black as the night leading to confusion for the city's population. "I thought we were about to get hit with a heavy storm, but instead of raining it just kept getting darker and darker," said a resident of Sao Paulo. (35) Others wondered if the end was near. "Apocalypse!" one resident wrote on Twitter, with another writing, "The final judgment is coming!" (36) These people may have been closer to the truth than they realized. II Peter 3:7 tells us, "But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men."

China - The Pentagon's Number One Priority

As has been the case for quite some time, there are many areas of the world under intense pressure that could easily lead to a greater conflict and even war. This includes the semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong. Formerly under British control until 1997, (37) the city now technically belongs to China, but given the large-scale protests taking place in recent days, it is obvious that the people of Hong Kong want their independence. As part of the agreement between Britain and China, the people of Hong Kong are supposed to enjoy a greater level of freedom than mainland China for fifty years from the date of the transfer. Yet, the people of Hong Kong have seen the Chinese government increasingly moving to curtail their freedoms that they have come to enjoy, and these encroachments have sparked protests. The protests began in March 2019, further escalated in June 2019, and in recent days have turned violent. (38) The protests originally began because of a proposed new law that would have allowed the citizens of Hong Kong to be extradited to mainland China for trial. The bill has been shelved, but protestors want Hong Kong's leader, Carrie Lam, to resign, and they are also upset over what they regard as excessive use of force by the Hong Kong police. (39)

In response to the protests presently happening in Hong Kong, the Chinese government has begun to amass troops near the Hong Kong border. The implication is that China, despite what agreements may be in place, may send in troops to Hong Kong if the protests continue to escalate. "It's a credible threat. The Chinese government does not want to leave any doubt that, if necessary, it will act," said Minxin Pei of Claremont College in California. (40) According to Bloomberg News, the Trump Administration is carefully observing the Chinese troop buildup near Hong Kong, (41) and if China should move on the city, it is unknown how American President Donald Trump might respond. Regarding the present crisis, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was quoted as saying, "With respect to Hong Kong, this is the people of Hong Kong asking their government to listen to them. So it's always appropriate for every government to listen to their people." (42) The Chinese government has claimed that the protests in Hong Kong are a "creation of the U.S." (43)

There is no denying that the United States government and the Chinese government do not like each other. In fact, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper recently said that China is the Pentagon's "number one priority" and further charged that China is responsible for the "greatest theft of intellectual property in human history." He also accused China of expanding its military capabilities in an effort to "push the United States out of the [Indo-Pacific] theater." (44) It should be noted that the United States recently withdrew from a nuclear arms treaty with Russia that had prohibited the testing of advanced missiles. It was presumed that this action was geared towards Russia, but according to Secretary Esper, part of the reason for the withdrawal is so that the American military can develop missiles capable of striking China. "We want to make sure that we, as we need to, have the capability to deter Chinese bad behavior by having our own capability to strike at intermediate ranges," Esper said. A report by Business Insider also noted that Secretary Esper is hoping to deploy intermediate-range missiles near the Chinese region "sooner rather than later." (45) Needless to say, the Chinese government would not respond well to such an endeavor. "China will not stand idly by and be forced to take countermeasures should the U.S. deploy intermediate-range ground-based missiles [to] this part of the world," said Fu Cong, the director of Arms Control Department at the Foreign Ministry in China. (46)

Should a war between the United States and China ever break out, it is uncertain what precisely might happen. Researchers in Australia, however, are evidently not confident that the United States would emerge victorious. A report out of Australia was published on August 21, 2019, with the headline "US so weakened in Indo-Pacific it could now 'lose war' to China." The article cites a study by the University of Sydney, which states, "China's military is increasingly powerful, while America's war-fighting edge has dangerously eroded. Many now warn that the US might fail to deter - or could even lose - a limited war with China, with devastating consequences for the region's future strategic landscape." (47)

Peculiar Behavior From President Trump

As writer and editor of the Last Trumpet Newsletter, I receive correspondence from a variety of people. As such, I am keenly aware that we have many readers who like President Donald Trump while there are others who wonder if he might be the antichrist. This is not surprising considering the political divide in the United States, but I always attempt to be fair and accurate in everything that I write. While I appreciate Trump's pro-life stance, he sometimes says and does things that are not only peculiar but frankly, inappropriate. On August 21, 2019, President Trump posted on the social networking website known as Twitter and quoted radio host Wayne Allyn Root who said, "President Trump is the greatest President for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world, not just America, he is the best President for Israel in the history of the world… and the Jewish people love him like he's the King of Israel. They love him like he is the second coming of God." This statement is blasphemous. However, Trump's reaction to it was, "Thank you Wayne Allyn Root for the very nice words." (48) I suspect the flattery went to the President's head, because on the same day he told reporters, "I am the chosen one." (49) He then later claimed that he was joking about his "chosen one" statement, but considering the fact that he quoted Mr. Root on his Twitter, I am not so certain.

In Romans 12:3 we are instructed by the Apostle Paul, "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." It is never right for anyone to be lifted up with pride, and that includes the President of the United States. Nor should any of us ever elevate a mere mortal man to a god-like status, whether it be a professional athlete, celebrity, or a president.

Thank you all for your kind support of this ministry. May God abundantly bless you. If you have any prayer requests great or small, please remember that we are here to bring your petitions before the throne of the Almighty. Our team of intercessors always give each prayer request individual attention. Grace and peace be unto you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.