At this writing, one of the questions being asked about the economy is the following: Has it bottomed out or will it continue to slide even further? When the government throws several trillion dollars into the economy, you have to expect a short-term spike or at least a checking of the fall. However, if it does not accomplish this, then it is wasted as far as bringing true economic recovery. The most basic problems in the U.S. economy have still not been addressed.

We are taught in Romans 1 that we have all been given a conscience, and the ability to follow it or not follow it is in our power. The resolve to follow our conscience, or what we perceive to be right or wrong, is the basis for character. Our character is strengthened by good teaching and training. This is why we have teaching and study as basic Christian disciplines, and the better it is, the more disciplined the people will tend to be.

We have previously discussed a few things we learned from our experience in the Hurricane Katrina relief. This was not something we had done as a ministry before, and we specifically engaged in this because we were told we would learn a lot from it about leadership in the church in the coming times. As the Scriptures make clear, there will be increasing troubles at the end of this age, so we will need to know how to function in them, helping to bring order and peace in the middle of chaos. Even now many problems have grown beyond human remedy, and they are increasing.

“To the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things say the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot: I would thou were cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:14-15).

         The premise of my last Prophetic Bulletin on the five trends that would change the natural world in 2016 began unfolding faster and with more impact than I expected. I wrote that it would happen in the first quarter of this year, but I honestly did not expect it to begin on the first day as it did. My prayer now is that what I’ve been shown that will unfold in the Spirit will likewise come faster and with greater impact. What is coming in the Spirit is the antidote to the troubles of the world.

As we pursue sinking our roots deeper into God's Word, we need to understand the basic biblical principles that lead to truth, and most of all, lead to Him who is the Truth. A fundamental requirement for discerning the truth is found in the remarkable statement made by the Lord in Matthew 11:25:

     In Revelation 13 it is prophesied that at the end of the age there will be a false prophet that arises to prepare for and give power to one called “the beast.” This “beast” deceives the nations and requires all to take a mark, 666. Without this mark no one can “buy, sell, or trade.” This “mark of the beast” has been a dominant subject in eschatology (the study of biblical prophecies of the end of the age) since the first century, and many things have been called this that turned out not to be so.