Many times Christians in America speak of the persecution that is coming someday.  But the truth is that intense persecution of Christians is already here.  According to a new report from the Pew Research Center, two out of every three people in the world now live in countries where religion is highly restricted.  Governments around the globe are regularly killing Christians, torturing Christians and imprisoning Christians in absolutely horrific conditions.  But it isn’t just governments that are persecuting Christians.  Jihadist groups throughout the Islamic world have taken it upon themselves to slaughter those who commit “blasphemy” by preaching the gospel.  The truth is that it is a very dangerous time to be a Christian, and things are only going to get even more intense as we get deeper into the last days.

Things are really getting frightening out there.  Just consider a few of the recent reports of Christian persecution from around the globe….

*Christian organizations around the world are expressing outrage over the killing of ten Christian medical workers who were serving the poor in the northeastern province of Badakhshan in Afghanistan.  According to reports, the Christian medical workers were killed by jihadists for “spying for the Americans” and for “preaching Christianity”.

*An out of control Muslim mob in Jhelum, Pakistan slaughtered the wife and four children of a prominent Christian a number of weeks ago, but local authorities were too intimidated by the local Muslim leader to file charges.

*Two brothers were recently shot dead by Islamic extremists outside a courtroom in the Pakistani’s Punjab province.  The brothers were facing blasphemy charges after allegedly distributing gospel pamphlets.

*Jihadist organizations in Indonesia have declared their intention to establish paramilitary units in local mosques to fight “ongoing attempts to convert people to Christianity”.

*A Christian pastor in the Russian republic of Dagestan known for founding the biggest Protestant church in the region and for successfully sharing the gospel with Muslims was recently shot and killed by unidentified gunmen.

*Christians in Bhutan were disheartened to learn that the government there has proposed the kind of “anti-conversion law” that other nations have used as a pretext for persecuting Christians and shutting down the sharing of the gospel.

*In North Korea, you are likely to get thrown into prison for the rest of your life or tortured to death just for trying to bring a Bible into the country.

But it just isn’t in other areas of the world where Christianity is being persecuted.  The truth is that Christians are now being heavily persecuted inside the United States itself…. 

*A federal judge recently recently ruled in favor of a counseling program at Eastern Michigan University that kicked out a master’s student who refused to affirm the morality of homosexuality.

*A newly filed lawsuit against Augusta State University in Georgia alleges that university officials essentially gave a graduate student in counseling the choice of either giving up her Christian beliefs or being expelled from the program.

*Pastor Ronnie Wallace was recently placed under arrest in Charlotte, North Carolina for preaching the gospel in front of an abortion clinic.

*Two other Christians were arrested recently for sharing the gospel and singing hymns on a public sidewalk outside an Islamic mosque in the city of Philadelphia.

*One North Carolina pastor is demanding an apology from lawmakers in his state after he was dismissed from his chaplain duties for praying in the name of Jesus.

*Four Christians face fines of up to $500 each and up to 93 days in jail for sharing the gospel with Muslims on a public sidewalk outside of an Islamic street festival in Dearborn, Michigan.

So would you continue preaching the gospel if it meant that you would be put in jail?

That is something to think about.

The sad thing is that most American Christians don’t preach the gospel anyway.

In fact, for most Americans, God is not a very important part of their lives at all.  According to a brand new study by the Barna Group, only 12 percent of American adults say that faith is a top priority in their lives.

Only 12 percent?

Unfortunately, even many of those Americans that do consider faith to be important have been completely lulled to sleep by their “shepherds”.

All over the United States, Christians are being taught by their “life coaches” to “live their best lives now” while millions of other Christians throughout the world are literally risking their lives to advance the gospel.

Christians across America better start waking up.  The last days are upon us and a time is coming when Christians are going to be killed in staggering numbers.  We all need to decide right now what we are willing to give up for the sake of Christ. 

You better get ready.

Hard times are coming.

As the Obama administration continues to stumble about as if they have absolutely no idea how to conduct foreign policy, Russia and China are busy running around making deals and treaties with the rest of the world.  The United States is becoming increasingly isolated as nations around the world seem more eager than ever to reach out and deal with other major powers rather than with America.  Most serious students of Bible prophecy realize that the U.S. will experience a rapid decline in the last days, but there are times when watching it happen seems almost surreal.  Russia and China are rising.  They are quickly making friends and the influence of both superpowers is dramatically expanding.  Meanwhile, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and the other dunces in charge of U.S. foreign policy insist on pushing friends like Israel around while showing no ability to make friends or protect U.S. interests around the globe whatsoever.

The sad thing is that the United States is heading for a very serious confrontation with Russia and China, and the Obama administration (along with the vast majority of the American people) has absolutely no idea what is coming.

Geopolitics is not checkers. 

It is chess.

And right now, Russia and China are wiping the floor with the United States.

Just consider a few of the recent deals that Russia and China have been busy making….

*Russia has signed major arms deals with Syria under which it will sell it warplanes, anti-tank weapons and air defense systems.

*After Russian President Medvedev’s historic visit in Damascus, Russia’s energy minister says that his country is “studying the question” of building a nuclear power plant in Syria.

*The U.S. government says that it is carefully reviewing a Chinese decision to build two nuclear power plants in Pakistan.

*Nigeria and China have signed a tentative deal to build three oil refineries in the West African state at a cost of 23 billion dollars.

*Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says that Russia and Turkey are becoming key strategic partners.

*According to a new report, China, Iran and North Korea have established a strategic alliance that focuses on missile and nuclear technology development.

*The Russian government has agreed to a raft of new accords with the new government in Ukraine.

*South Africa’s second-biggest lender, has completed its first transactions in Africa with China Construction Bank Corporation after the two agreed to cooperate last July.

*Russia had been busy selling high tech weapons to Iran.  Gary Samore, the White House coordinator for arms control, weapons of mass destruction proliferation and terrorism, says that he would be surprised if Moscow shipped the S-300 anti-aircraft system that Iran has ordered.  But that just shows how clueless the Obama administration actually is.

*A China-led consortium has sealed a deal with the Iraqi government to develop a prized cluster of three oil fields in the country’s south, bringing China closer to becoming the dominant foreign player in Iraq’s recovering oil sector.

Now wait a second.

I thought it was the U.S. and the U.K. that liberated Iraq.

So the Iraqi people are so grateful that they are letting China come in and be the dominant player in the Iraqi oil industry?

What in the world?

We are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to keep Iraq secure so that China can swoop in and get all the oil?

Does anyone else see something wrong here?

U.S. foreign policy is a mess.

The Obama administration is beyond clueless, and Russia and China are rapidly getting their chess pieces into position.

In a few years when things with Russia and China take an ugly turn and the U.S. is facing a major crisis with them, remember where you heard it first.

The United States should not be taking their eyes off of Russia and China.

But as long as we have complete incompetents running U.S. foreign policy things are going to continue to deteriorate.  Russia and China are more powerful than they ever have been before, and they aren’t going anywhere.  It is a whole new ballgame, and the U.S. is losing.

Let us pray for our leaders, because they sure need it.

We truly live in extraordinary times.  Bible prophecy is being fulfilled at a pace that is absolutely mind blowing.  There were so many news stories related to the last days this week that it was literally very difficult to try to keep up with them all.  In fact, there are so many events happening out there right now related to the last days that it is hard to know where to begin.  So today we thought that we would highlight a bunch of the key news stories from this past week….

*Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon is warning that Israel might soon have to use military force to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

*The Iranian ambassador in Moscow stated on Thursday that Russia has assured Iran that it still intends to deliver long-range air-defense missiles.

*A large shipment of North Korean weapons recently intercepted in Thailand was bound for an airport in Iran.

*One new report claims that Egyptian military sources have put out information outlining Israel’s plans for a military strike on Iran.

*On Wednesday, Syrian President Bashar Assad directly accused Israel of “pushing the region towards war”.

*Syria’s foreign minister is warning that a future war between Israel and Syria would be a “comprehensive” clash that would “come to your cities”.

*Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said this week that he hopes someday to see Israel as a member of the European Union.

*U.S. relations with China are quickly taking a big turn for the worse.

*On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly approved a record $1.9 trillion increase in the cap on how much the U.S. government can borrow.

*One newly released poll says that 86 percent of Americans are worried or angry about the growing U.S. budget deficit.

*Is “Housing Crash Part 2″ on the way?  A massive “second wave” of home mortgages is scheduled to reset beginning in 2010.

*Some analysts are projecting that Social Security is going to be the next federal program in need of a massive bailout.

*The death toll for the earthquake in Haiti has swelled to approximately 200,000.

*Is California next?  Northern California was rocked by a magnitude-6.0 earthquake on Thursday, but officials said there were no immediate reports of major injuries or damage.

*Over the last two weeks, more than 100 earthquakes a day, on average, have rattled Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

*The CIA is telling Congress that “homegrown extremists” working for Al-Qaeda will strike the U.S. in the next three to six months.

*Pressure from radical Muslims has forced the closure of two Christian churches on Indonesia’s Java island.

*Turkish police have recovered the body of a 16-year-old girl that was apparently buried alive by Islamic relatives in an “honor” killing carried out as punishment for talking to boys.

*Barack Obama used the “National Prayer Breakfast” as an opportunity to promote his “gay” and “green” agendas.

*U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen told Congress on Tuesday that overturning the ban on gays in the military is the “right thing” for them to do.

*The Archbishop of York is warning that traditional Christianity in the U.K. is being wiped out from public life in the name of equality.

*There are concerns that the U.S. military is going way too far in attempting to create “super soldiers”.

*Hasbro and Toys-R-Us are actually marketing a new pink Ouija board for girls ages eight and up.

*Last of all, a U.S. Tax Court has ruled that a Massachusetts woman should be allowed to deduct the costs of her sex-change operation.