Debt Relief

Resource Notes February 21, 2024
Corporateprayerresources.com

The Warning of Purim
The Hebrew Feast of Purim celebrates the deliverance of the Jews from a death decree in the ancient Persian Empire. It will occur on February 23 on the Christian lunar calendar and a month later, March 24, on the modern Hebrew calendar.
We all know the story. A beautiful Jewish girl, Esther, becomes Queen of Persia. The evil Haman convinces the King to order the death of the Jews. Esther risks her life to plead for her people. The King allows the Jews to defend themselves and it is the enemies of the Jews who are destroyed. And Haman is hanged on the gallows he built.
There are many lessons to be learned from the Feast of Purim. We see how God intervened in a desperate situation to save His people from destruction. The death of the enemy of the Jews, Haman, on his own gallows pictures the fate of God’s enemies. And the right at self-defense given to the Jews, which we call the Jewish Second Amendment, argues for the God given right of Christians to arm themselves to protect their families and churches from attack.
But the Feast also contains a warning, played out in the history of the Persian Empire, of the fate of nations which abandon their support of God’s people. For, at the beginning of the Persian Empire, the kings of Persia had befriended the Jews. Cyrus (538- 529 B.C.) freed the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem after he conquered Babylon. Darius (521-485 B.C.) supported and funded the building of the Second Temple. It was under Artaxerxes I (465-421 B.C.) that Ezra and Nehemiah returned and rebuilt Jerusalem. In return for Persian favor, the Jews were loyal allies of the Persians and formed a buffer against Egypt, which was as times an enemy and at times a rebellious province of Persia.
Things had changed by the reign of Artaxerxes II (404-358 B.C.) who is believed by some to be the King who married Esther. It is true that most commentators suggest that Xerxes (485-465 B.C.) was Esther’s King, but this belief is contradicted by ancient sources. Jewish historian Josephus places Esther after the events of Ezra and Nehemiah, which occurred under Artaxerxes I, and therefore much later the Xerxes. Historians associate the biblical name of Esther’s King, Ahasuerus, with Artaxerxes II, not Xerxes. There is also a striking historical similarity, for the wife of Artaxerxes II was poisoned by his mother in the third or fourth year of his reign. According to the Book of Esther, Queen Vashti was removed in the third year of his reign. There is even a linguistic similarity between “Vashti” and the Queen’s Persian name “Stateria” in the core “Shti” verses “Stat”.
Artaxerxes II proved to be a poor leader for the Persian Empire. He was of course very foolish for allowing himself to be manipulated by Haman into attacking his allies the Jews. In addition, the Persians began interfering with the Temple worship in Jerusalem and persecuted the Jews through an exorbitant temple tax for seven years. The King had to bribe the troublesome Greeks in 386 B.C. to obtain a period of peace with them. Then, the Egyptians revolted and gained independence, installing the last Egyptian Dynasty in 378 B.C. That same year Artaxerxes II suffered a major defeat from a rebelling province and barely survived a rebellion of Persian nobles. Clearly, the Persian Empire was beginning to fall apart.
The end came for Persia when their enemies the Greeks united under Alexander the Great and invaded the empire just 24 years after the reign of Artaxerxes II. The Jews had been reluctant to abandon their alliance with Persia, but when Alexander the Great marched toward Jerusalem they remembered Daniel’s prophecy that the Greeks would overthrow the Persians (Daniel 8:1-8;19-21). According to Josephus the high priest took Daniel’s prophesy to Alexander and Jerusalem was spared.
Persia was a great nation chosen by God to restore His people to Israel and re-build the Temple after their exile in Babylon. God blessed Persia with success but the nation allowed a spirit of anti-Semitism to take hold which, while defeated under Esther, came back as the Persians persecuted the Temple worship. In the end Persia experienced both sides of Abraham’s promise “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse“(Genesis 12:3). When they turned against the Jews God turned against them.
Like the Persians we Americans have been chosen by God to help make a place for His people who have returned to Israel after their long exile. God has blessed us mightily because of it.
But now the genocidal October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas has revealed a strong Haman Sprit trying to take hold in America. They have supported Hamas and threatened Jews living in America.
We must fight this anti-semitism at home and continue to stand with Israel or risk the same curse that fell on Persia.
Let us pray and rededicate ourselves to bless God’s people Israel this Purim season.

And let us not forget to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

The Warning of Purim

Resource Notes February 7, 2024
CorporatePrayerResources.com

Unhappy New Year For China

This week on January 10 the Chinese New Year begins. It will not be a happy one.

The Authoritarian governmental model of China, once touted as the alternative to Western Democracy, has begun falling apart. The incompetence and tyranny of the Communist Party and dictator Xi Jinping have been exposed, and the Chinese people are suffering because of it.

Four years ago the Covid virus escaped from a laboratory in China, starting a worldwide epidemic. The Chinese locked down their population in an effort to eliminate the virus and were hailed as the model for Covid mitigation. Now we know that lockdowns cause great damage but do not stop the virus. The Chinese developed an inferior vaccine and when Covid returned to China the population had little natural immunity because of the lockdown policy. When the Communist Party attempted to reinstate the lockdowns there was massive public resistance. Fearing revolution, the Communists backed down and Covid marched through China.

China’s economy is still reeling from the effect of the lockdown policy. Overall economic growth in 2023 fell to its lowest level in decades, and China has quit reporting the bad news. We do know that in 2022 retail sales actually fell while manufacturing growth was under 4%. Unemployment is almost 6%, but among the young it has risen to about 17%. The real estate sector, once an engine of growth, has seen high profile bankruptcies and has weakened the banks. The Government has also clamped down on the entrepreneurs, further stifling growth. So the economy is in shambles and the illusion of Authoritarian efficiency has been exploded.

China is also reaping the fruit of its “One Child” policy, which required families to abort millions of children. The policy has now been abandoned but its effects remain. As a result, the Chinese population dropped in 2022 for the first time since the Communist induced famine of 1960 and may fall by half over the next decades. The population is also aging, meaning that economic growth will decrease, and more resources will be required from a shrinking pool of workers. With a shrinking economy and a shrinking population China will also experience shrinking military power and influence.

China is already experiencing global push back because of its aggressive foreign policies. Watching the Chinese Communists turn once free Hong Kong into a police state has stiffened the resolve of Taiwan to remain free. Japan has responded to the Chinese threat by abandoning the pacifist military policy it adopted after World War II. China’s other neighbors in Southern Asia are also banding together to oppose China. And China’s friends in Europe are rethinking their support after China supported Russia in the Ukraine Invasion.

Yes, 2024 is shaping up to be a tough year in China.

But there is still hope for the Chinese people, coming from the Chinese Christian Church. When the Communists took power in 1949 there were about 1 million Chinese Christians, and many expected the Church to disappear under persecution. But the Church offers hope and love, growing to over 100 million today. And despite a new wave of persecution under tyrant Xi Jinping, the Church continues to grow and demonstrate God’s love.

Let us, then, pray for our brothers in China that they will continue to boldly proclaim the gospel and that this wave of persecution will pass. Pray for their health and healing from Covid, prosperity in the face of a bad economy , and peace in China and abroad.

And, pray that American Church will learn from the Chinese Church and boldly stand for Christ and against Tyranny in America.

Skywatcher Journal February 7, 2024
International Star Bible Society

Chinese New Year and the Lunar Zodiac

On February 10, as the New Moon begins a new month on the Lunar Calendar, the Chinese and many Asian people will celebrate the beginning of a New Year.

For the Chinese, the movements of the Moon across the sky also define their Zodiac. Thus, instead of the dividing the sky into 12 sections based on the Sun’s path through the constellations, the Lunar Zodiac divides the sky into 28 sections based on the movements of the Moon against the stars. And, like its Solar cousin, the Lunar Zodiac is very ancient. The earliest Lunar Zodiacs follow the Solar Zodiac almost entirely, beginning in the Stars of Virgo and ending in the Stars of Leo. The message is also the same as the Solar Star Bible, with, for example, Star groupings from Virgo meaning “Desired Son”, Libra meaning “Redeeming”, Capricorn meaning “Sacrifice”, and Aquarius meaning “Out Pouring.” Thus, there is a 28 chapter Lunar Star Bible which also tells the story of Christ.

Over the ages the Chinese Lunar Zodiac has moved away somewhat from its ancient progenitor. The Chinese attempted to substitute their God King Emperor into the celestial place of Christ, believing that the Emperor came from the celestial region surrounding the North Pole. This region, which contains the constellation Draco the Dragon, explains both the spiritual root of Emperor worship, Satan the Dragon, and the Dragon National Emblem of China. Even so, the original message can still be found in about 75% of the 28 Lunar Zodiac “Mansions.” Thus, we see an Ox as a “Sacrificial Victim” in the stars representing the Scapegoat of Capricorn; an “Empty tomb” near the resurrection constellation Delphinus, a “Witness to the Drinking In” within the Pentecostal constellation Aquarius, and the “Warrior” from the Second Coming constellation Orion.

We also owe the Chinese a great debt because it was their astronomers who recorded the Star of Bethlehem in 5 BC and located it in the Lunar Mansion containing the bright star Altair (the Wounding). This information is vital because it in verifies the historicity of the Star of Bethlehem and allows us to locate its remains, the black hole X-1 Cygnus, which was at Zenith over Bethlehem in 5BC. You can find out more about the Star of Bethlehem and the Chinese Lunar Zodiac by taking a free download of our book The Stars of His Coming at https://bit.ly/StarBook

One of the more attractive Chinese Lunar mansions contains the famous Pleiades Star Cluster which can be seen directly overheard after sunset tonight. To the Chinese the Pleiades means “Reunion with the Dead,” while a similar Star Bible meaning is attributed to the Pleiades and the nearby beautiful cluster of the Hyades, which both represent the earthly and the heavenly saints who will join in reunion when Christ Returns.

So tonight read the Star Bible in Chinese as you enjoy the Pleiades and their message of Christ’s Return.