Did the headline above get your attention?  It should.  The truth is that approximately 400,000 U.S. nonprofit organizations, including thousands of Christian ministries, are just weeks away from losing their tax exemptions.  Why?  Well, a very sneaky provision buried in a 2006 pension reform bill required all nonprofit organizations to file tax forms the following year.  Prior to that, only nonprofit organizations that had revenues of $25,000 or more had to file tax returns.  The problem is that hundreds of thousands of nonprofit organizations did not realize this.  This new provision, which was deeply embedded in the 393 pages of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, also instructed the IRS to revoke the tax exemptions of all nonprofit organizations that failed to file tax returns for 3 consecutive years.

Well guess what?

The three years are just about up and hundreds of thousands of nonprofit organizations are about to experience a financial doomsday.

The New York Times recently quoted Diana Aviv, the president of the nonprofit trade group Independent Sector, as saying the following about the impact that this deadline is going to have….

“It’s going to be an unholy mess once these organizations realize what’s happened to them.”

And that is what this is.

A gigantic mess.

Have the Christian ministries and organizations that you are affiliated with been filing tax returns with the IRS?

Are you sure?

If not, they may be about to lose their tax exemptions.

The reality is that many politicians in Washington have been trying to figure out for a long time how to start sucking some revenue out of the nonprofit world.  In particular, many liberals have long resented the tax exemptions that churches and other religious organizations have enjoyed.

But coming out and openly proposing a repeal of the tax exemptions for churches and religious organizations would not be popular at all.

So they have to find backdoor ways to do it.

The truth is that it would be really easy for Congress to repeal this stupid provision so that hundreds of thousands of nonprofit organizations do not suddenly lose their tax exemptions.

But they aren’t going to do it.

They have got thousands upon thousands of unsuspecting victims in their legislative trap and that is just where many of the folks in Washington want them.

The reality is that we have become a nation that has so many thousands upon thousands of laws that it is literally impossible to comply with them all.

Trust me on this – I went to law school. 

So what should a ministry do that finds itself trapped by this situation?

Well, you need to contact the IRS immediately and try to get this straightened out.

For those individuals who are very upset about this, you can try contacting your representatives in Congress, but with Barack Obama and the Democrats in control, the odds that this provision will be repealed are somewhere between very slim and none.

The truth is that this is yet another example of how the U.S. government is literally getting their fingers into every aspect of our daily lives.  But as we move into the last days things are going to get far worse.  Right now in America we are only facing “soft” persecution.  In other areas of the world they are already facing torture and death for the cross, and that will happen in this country some day as well.  But in the midst of the persecution millions will turn to Yahshua (Jesus) and be saved.  This is going to be one of the most exciting times in all of history to be alive, so let us be thankful and let us take the gospel forward no matter what the opposition is.

Israel is making it very clear that the next war with Hezbollah will also be a war against Syria.  For years it has been an open secret that Syria was funneling arms and sophistical weapons systems to Hezbollah in Lebanon, but now Israel is on the record as saying that they consider Hezbollah to be a division of the Syrian army.  So what does this mean?  It means that war between Israel and Syria is now closer than it has been in decades.  Just recently, Israel delivered a secret warning to Syrian President Bashar Assad that it will respond to missile attacks from Hezbollah by launching immediate retaliation against Syria itself.

No longer will Syria be able to use Hezbollah to fight proxy wars against Israel.  If a repeat of the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah happens, this time Israel says that it will directly strike Damascus. 

In fact, a major U.K. newspaper recently published the following “off-the-record” comment from an Israeli minister….

“We’ll return Syria to the Stone Age by crippling its power stations, ports, fuel storage and every bit of strategic infrastructure if Hezbollah dare to launch ballistic missiles against us.”

What is raising tensions even further in the region are reports that Syria has been arming Hezbollah to the teeth in preparation for the coming war.

Just consider the following description by Debka of the kinds of advanced weaponry that Syria has been supplying to the terrorist organization….

“Surface-to-surface missiles able to reach as far as the Dimona reactor in southern Israel: They include Fajr-5, which has a range of 33 km, and the M-600, developed by Syria from the Fateh-110, whose range is 250 km. Both are precise, propelled by solid fuel and carry 500-kilo warheads of conventional explosives, as well as being able to deliver chemical, biological and radioactive materials.  This dangerous new arsenal which tops up the 40,000 rockets Hizballah was allowed to pile up since the 2006 Lebanon war.”

The reality is that Syria and Hezbollah between them now have the capability of striking every single inch of Israeli territory with missiles.

No target is out of range anymore.

With all sides on edge in the region, even King Abdullah of Jordan is warning that the next war in the Middle East could break out as soon as this summer.

Meanwhile, there are increasing calls from world leaders for Israel to join the NPT and quit producing nuclear weapons.  In fact, Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallem is calling on all NPT member countries to sever their diplomatic relations with Israel unless it joins the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Of course Syria would love not to have to worry about Israel’s nukes during the coming war, but that is not going to happen.

But even Barack Obama is pushing Israel on this issue.  Last week Barack Obama publicly declared that he is calling upon all the nations of the world to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, including Israel.

But what Barack Obama should be really concerned about is trying to figure out what to do about Iran.

It is being reported that Robert Gates, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, warned President Barack Obama in a secret “wake-up call” memo that the White House has no effective policy for dealing with a nuclear Iran.

But at the same time, the Pentagon itself does not seem to have a sense of urgency when it comes to Iran’s nuclear program.  Top U.S. military officials told Congress last week that it would take Iran at least a year to produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear bomb.  Not only that, but Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently said that that a U.S. strike against Iran would go “a long way” to delaying its nuclear program but that he considered doing so his “last option” right now.

Meanwhile, top Iranian officials are running around making declarations about how advanced Iran’s nuclear program is.

Needless to say, Israel is not going to let Iran go down this path indefinitely.

But even before things with Iran come to a crisis point, war could break out between Israel and Syria.

Is the time soon coming when “Damascus will no longer be a city but will become a heap of ruins” (Isaiah 17:1)?

We will just have to wait and see.  Certainly all sides are preparing for a devastating regional war.  So let us pray for the peace of Israel and let us trust that God knows what He is doing.

For years there has been a raging debate among Christians who study Bible prophecy.  Many have believed that the coming Mark of the Beast will be an implantable microchip that is inserted into the right hand or the forehead.  Many others insist that the coming Mark of the Beast will be a tattoo of some sort.  Well, perhaps it may be a tattoo that utilizes RFID technology.  A start-up company developing “chipless RFID ink” has already tested its product on cattle and laboratory rats.

Now, it is important to state at the outset that this is NOT the Mark of the Beast.  However, this may represent yet another step towards the technology that someday will be used in the Mark of the Beast.

The name of the company developing this process is Somark.  The RFID tattoo is applied using a geometric array of micro-needles and a reusable applicator with a one-time-use ink capsule.

It takes approximately five to 10 seconds to tattoo an animal (or a human), and there is no need to remove any fur or hair from the recipient of the tattoo.  Once it is applied, an RFID reader can detect the tattoo from up to four feet away.

Somark co-founder Mark Pydynowski says that the ink does not contain any metals and that it is 100% bio-compatible and chemically inert.

He also claims that is is 100% safe for animals and for people. 

Initially, the executives of Somark hope to market this technology to those who wish to track cattle.

However, it does not take a lot of imagination to think up many other applications for this technology.

Once again, it must be stressed that this is NOT the Mark of the Beast.

However, this is a disturbing development.

The Scriptures tell us in Revelation 13 that someday all of humanity will be forced to take a “Mark” on the right hand or on the forehead by the Antichrist.  Nobody will be allowed to buy or sell without it.

So could this “Mark” end up using RFID tattoo technology?

Perhaps.

We will just have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, for those who want to learn much more about the Mark of the Beast, we encourage you to check out this article: “What Is The Mark Of The Beast?”

More than ever, the word “nuclear” is on the lips of world leaders around the globe.  It seems like everyone is either “going nuclear” or is talking about nuclear weapons.  The truth is that the world has been extremely fortunate that nuclear weapons have not been used to destroy an entire city since the end of World War 2.  But with tensions escalating dangerously in the Middle East and around the world, how much longer will it be before nuclear weapons are used by someone to wipe out large numbers of people? 

In fact, for many terrorist organizations around the globe, the thought of going nuclear is the ultimate dream.  A handful of terrorists really can’t do that much damage on their own, but one terrorist with a nuke can take out an entire major city in the blink of an eye.

Many jihadists speak openly of nuclear weapons as being the means by which they will take down the United States and Israel.  There are many jihadists who would set off a nuke in a major city today if they were able to.

And with nuclear weapons technology spreading to places such as North Korea, Iran and Syria, how much longer do you think it will be before a terrorist organization is able to get their hands on a nuclear weapon?

The truth is that nuclear weapons will almost certainly be used in the last days.  Entire cities will probably be destroyed.  Whether it is terrorists or governments who use them, the reality is that when they are used it will change the world forever. 

Leaders around the globe know how dangerous these weapons are.  Many of them understand that once Iran gets their hands on nukes it will be extremely hard to ever put the “nuclear genie” back in the bottle.  If radical Islamic terrorists are able to acquire nuclear weapons through Iran (or by any other source), all of our lives are going to change permanently.   

The threat of rogue nations and terrorist organizations going nuclear has made a lot of headlines just this past week.  Just check out some of them….

*Barack Obama said that the possibility of terrorists getting a nuclear device is the “single biggest threat” to U.S. security as he opened the international nuclear summit that included 46 world leaders from around the globe.

*Hillary Clinton said that she fears al-Qaeda is gathering material for nuclear weapons.

*According to a top Iranian nuclear official, Iran will join the “nuclear club” within a month.

*Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled a new generation of domestically made nucelar centrifuges in a ceremony in Tehran marking national nuclear day.

*It is being reported by international news sources that Iran’s bomb-making plutonium facilities are close to completion.

*French President Nicolas Sarkozy is warning global leaders that if the world doesn’t act to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear arms, it could be responsible for a war between Israel and the Islamic republic.

*An Iranian who once worked as a spy for the CIA is saying that the only way to avoid a nuclear war with Iran is to attack them now.

*Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is warning Israel against a military strike on Iran, saying that it might lead to a global nuclear war.

*The Turkish Prime Minister is urging other world leaders to start criticizing the Israeli nuclear arsenal.

*Hillary Clinton claims that North Korea now has as many as six nuclear weapons.

We live in very dangerous times.  We all take the peace and safety we are enjoying right now for granted.  But a time is coming when that will fundamentally change.

Nations that absolutely hate the United States and Israel are arming to the teeth and are developing nuclear weapons.  Just one suitcase nuke could decimate an entire city.  We often forget about how blessed and how protected we have been, but someday that could all change in the blink of an eye.

Let us pray for peace and hope that somehow nuclear weapons can be kept out of the hands of radicals and lunatics.

Have you ever heard of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child?  If you are an American parent, it could soon dramatically affect your parental rights.  A new optional protocol has been approved that will create an international tribunal that will receive complaints from individual children.  Parental rights under the U.S. Constitution will not trump the ruling of this tribunal.  The implications of this are staggering.  For example, if a “children’s rights” group finds out that you are spanking your child, they can file a complaint with this U.N. tribunal on your child’s behalf, and before you know it your child could be taken away from you forever. 

The ironic thing is that negotiations for this new protocol were spearheaded by the nation of Maldives, which has a horrific record of human rights.  When Maldives signed and ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child back in the early nineties, it specifically rejected the religious freedom section found in the CRC.  You see, the constitution of the Maldives requires that all citizens be Muslims.  So when they “opted out” of the religious freedom portion of the document, they explained themselves this way: “The Government of the Republic of Maldives expresses its reservation to paragraph 1 of article 14 of the said Convention on the Rights of the Child, since the Constitution and the Laws of the Republic of Maldives stipulate that all Maldivians should be Muslims.”

Regardless, due to the efforts of the Maldives and others, this new protocol has been approved.

So exactly what will this new protocol do? 

Well, according to one Maldivian news agency, the “protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), will create a procedure whereby children who are being abused or their representatives (such as national child protection NGOS, lawyers, and doctors) could seek assistance from international human rights protection mechanisms when domestic institutions are failing to offer protection.”

These words are chilling.

Can you imagine some radical leftists coming in to your home and dragging your kid before an international tribunal just because you were trying to raise your child in a Biblical manner?

Don’t laugh.

It could happen.

We didn’t think our health care system would ever be socialized either.

The good news is that this new protocol is optional.

The bad news is that Barack Obama is in the White House and the Democrats control Congress.

The Obama administration has publicly announced its desire to see the U.S. ratify the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In addition, those spearheading the push for the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child to be adopted in the United States have announced their support for this new optional protocol.

So the threat to parental rights is real.

Please share this information with as many Christian parents as you can.

The world is dramatically changing and international institutions are taking over.

Now is the time to stand up and say something about it.  Later will be too late.

When it comes to geopolitics, it is much more important to watch what the various players do rather than listen to what they say.  This is especially true in the Middle East.  While many leaders in the region are saying all the “right” things, the reality is that there are indications that all sides are preparing for war.  In fact, there are signs that war in the Middle East may be imminent.  The reality is that Israel is simply not going to let Iran continue with their nuclear program forever, and Iran is showing no indications that they plan to discontinue it.  So a showdown is inevitable at this point.  Tensions are rising and preparations are ramping up. 

The following are ten recent signs that war in the Middle East is getting closer than ever…. 

#1) On Tuesday, Israel began distributing millions of protection kits against biochemical warfare.

#2) The Tel Aviv municipality has unveiled a massive new public bomb shelter built directly under the new Habima Theater.

#3) According to a senior PA negotiator and sources in the Israeli government, the U.S. has actually been conducting negotiations with Israel on behalf of the Palestinian Authority.  Since when did the U.S. government become the representative of the Palestinians?  Things have gotten really weird since Barack Obama got in the White House.

#4) In recent weeks the Obama administration has stepped up its monitoring of Jewish construction projects in eastern Jerusalem.  In fact, if anyone picks up a hammer in east Jerusalem these days the Obama administration flies into a tizzy.

#5) The Obama administration is now rejecting all visa requests from all Israeli nuclear scientists who work on Israel’s nuclear reactor in Dimona and is now imposing severe restrictions on Israel with regard to the purchase of nuclear-related products.  Wait a second – isn’t Israel supposed to be our friend?

#6) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cancelled a planned trip to Washington next week for Barack Obama’s 47 country nuclear security conference.  So why did he cancel his trip?  Perhaps #5 was a big reason.

#7) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is claiming that Israel plans to start a war this upcoming Spring or Summer, and that this will be a chance for the surrounding nations to “finish” Israel.

#8) A senior cleric within Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard has reiterated warnings that Tehran would strike Tel Aviv immediately if Israel and its Western allies attacked Iran.

#9) Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi says that “no trace of Israel will remain” if Iran is attacked.

#10) Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is promising that the Palestinian people will celebrate the Holy Fire vigil next year in the “true Palestinian capital” of Jerusalem.

If you listen to the major Islamic leaders in the region, it sounds like they are very much looking forward to war.  That may seem strange to those of us with a western mindset, but you have to realize that these Islamic leaders have had the “glory of jihad” pounded into their heads since they were knee-high to a grasshopper (as they say in the South).

The radical Muslims in the region are thirsting for a war with Israel, and Israel cannot allow Iran to continue developing a nuclear program indefinitely. 

Trouble is on the horizon.

The Obama administration is totally inept and seems to be becoming increasingly anti-Israel.

Now is the time to be praying for Israel and for the peace of Jerusalem.