The Bear Is Back

By Pastor Stephan Nash
Mychal-Massie.com

It was the late 70’s.  The U.S. economy was in the gutter.  One of the weakest presidents in American history was in the White House.  We were becoming a laughing stock around the world.  The Bear was on the prowl, having invaded Afghanistan with little resistance from the West.  For those of you 50 years old and above remember those sad days.

Fast-forward to 2014:  The U.S. economy is limping along and would crash if it weren’t for the printing of trillions of dollars as if it were monopoly money.  A very weak and unqualified president sits in the Oval Office.  We are becoming a laughing stock to our enemies.  They do not consider our threats serious.  They call our President a “prankster.”  Of all things, the Bear is on the prowl again and there is no one to stop him!

I was a ministerial student in the late 70’s and remember reading about the prophecies from Ezekiel 38 & 39, where it speaks of a federation headed by what is now Russia (Gog and Magog).  In the Bible, that beast which attempts to devour Israel and any other country that stands in its way is called the “Bear.”

The Russian military continues to build up around the globe.

The Russian military continues to build up around the globe.

When the former Soviet Union collapsed we had reasons to rejoice!  The Bear went into its cave for a period of hibernation.  Friends, let me tell you today, the Bear is back!  His fury and evil determination to expand his controlling influence around the world cannot be denied.

Do any of my readers think for a moment that Putin will be satisfied with capturing Crimea?  He has a plan (unlike our own president); a plan that will expand beyond the former regions of the Soviet Union.  He is a militant communist and a hater of Western Civilization and all that we stand for.  He is an enemy of all God-fearing people and is determined to become the dominant force on the globe.  For goodness sake, even Hillary calls him “Hitler.”

I was reading an article from the Drudge Report this morning that grabbed my attention.  It was written by Brendan Sasso entitled: “Will Russia and China Control the Internet?”  Following are some highlights:

“The United States is planning to give up its last remaining authority over the technical management of the Internet.  The Commerce Department announced Friday that it will give the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), an international nonprofit group, control over the database of names and addresses that allows computers around the world to connect to each other… Some fear that the Obama administration is opening the door to an Internet takeover by Russia, China, or other countries that are eager to censor speech and limit the flow of ideas.

“If the Obama Administration gives away its oversight of the Internet, it will be gone forever,” wrote Daniel Castro, a senior analyst with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.  Castro argued that the world “could be faced with a splintered Internet that would stifle innovation, commerce, and the free flow and diversity of ideas that are bedrock tenets of world’s biggest economic engine.”

Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, called the announcement a “hostile step” against free speech.  “Giving up control of ICANN will allow countries like China and Russia that don’t place the same value in freedom of speech to better define how the internet looks and operates,” she said in a statement.  Critics warn that U.S. control of the domain system has been a check against the influence of authoritarian regimes over ICANN, and in turn the Internet.”

When I first heard about the U.S. government surrendering control over the internet, I didn’t give it much thought until I began to see a broader opportunity for our enemies to gain control from the West and seize power and influence that will be crucial in their quest for world dominance in the near future.  Immediately we will see overt efforts by Russia and China to gradually gain control around the world.  Just last week these two countries were advocating the end of the U.S. dollar as the world’s currency.  Friends, we have to be quite ignorant or totally deluded not to see this power grab with very evil intentions!  Too many in the West are asleep in the light while the enemy advances in the dark!

Besides a lot of prayer, we must elect people to power who have much more grit than the ones we presently have in Washington.  Remember January 1981?  When Ronald Reagan took office our enemies gradually went back into their caves.  He called the Soviet Union an “evil empire” even though he was advised not to.  The Bear met his match and eventually collapsed.

Make it your aim in the next several months to educate the ignorant and support strong candidates who still believe that America is this “world’s last great hope.”  Eventually the prophecies of Ezekiel and others will come about but it would be good if it weren’t under our watch.  We have a “Blessed Hope” who will eventually deal with all world tyrants (Psalm 2), but may we be found faithful to “expose the darkness” as children of light before the lights go out.