Joseph Herrin (07-23-2013)
Occasionally, airline crews realize they have a problem while in flight and they instruct the passengers to prepare for an emergency landing. The problem can be mechanical, such as a failure of landing gear to deploy correctly. Such an occurrence happened in September of 2005 when a JetBlue Airways flight encountered problems right after take-off. The landing gear failed to retract properly. The pilot flew near the airport tower for the employees inside to take a close look at the problem. They observed that the front landing gear wheels were rotated 90 degrees. They were locked in this sideways position, and could not be retracted.
The pilot in charge changed his flight plan, choosing to make an emergency landing at the Los Angeles airport because it had long and wide runways available. He flew in a figure 8 pattern over the Pacific Ocean for 2 hours to burn fuel, allowing him to attempt a landing with much less weight and a decreased risk of fire. The lowered weight also permitted the pilot to land at a slower speed.
When the pilot landed, he did not use reverse thrusters on the engines, as this would cause the nose of the plane to point downward. Instead, he kept the nose gear off of the runway during most of the landing, relying upon the brakes on the rear landing gear to slow the plane. Only when the plane had slowed significantly did he bring the nose down, putting weight on the damaged front wheels that were now facing sideways.
(Click on Image to View Larger)
The tires and rims of the front landing gear shredded, but did not collapse. By all reports, the landing was relatively smooth. No one among the crew or passengers was injured. The stewardesses had given all the passengers instructions on how to brace for landing, and what to do in case they had to evacuate down the emergency slides. Using the slides proved unnecessary, as passengers were able to disembark using airstairs.
JetBlue Flight 292 Nose Gear
It is prudent for airline crew to tell passengers to prepare when they know they will have to make an emergency landing. Many lives are saved, and much injury avoided, by preparing ahead of time. This particular flight was unusual in that the crew of the airplane recognized they had a problem immediately after taking off. They had plenty of time to consider what they had to do and how best to prepare for it.
One of the first things the pilots did was to immediately cease treating the flight as normal. They recognized there was a problem and began making emergency preparations. What folly it would have been for them to simply disregard the problem and to continue on as if all was normal. Yet, this is precisely what the majority of Christians are doing in this hour. Yahweh has been indicating that a crash is coming. He has given numerous signs in the heavens and on the earth indicating that troublous days are at hand. He has spoken through visions, dreams, and prophecies. Even those who are not Christians, but who observe what is occurring in the nations, are sounding an alarm.
Over the course of my Internet ministry, I have written much about the dark days that are ahead. Yahweh has not been stinting in sounding forth a message that His prudent children might prepare themselves spiritually and physically, for what is approaching.
If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble? If a calamity occurs in a city has not Yahweh done it? Surely Yahweh God does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets. A lion has roared! Who will not fear? Yahweh God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?
A trumpet is being blown, yet few people are trembling. In September of 2008 I posted a writing titled Preparing for Days of Trouble. In that blog post I cited a recent article by David Wilkerson. Following is an excerpt.
I ask you, please, hear my heart as I say this: The time is not far away before we all will be deeply affected by the economic flood coming to the whole world. Great trials are ahead for all of us who deeply love the Lord.
Here is what I am led to do by the Holy Spirit. I ask it of my family, all of whom work with the church body. I urge you to pray to see if the Lord is leading you to do the same:
1. No more buying of luxuries. Cut all spending except absolute necessities.
2. Sell every unneeded item. Turn it to cash and give it to ministries to the poor and needy.
3. Downsize as much as possible. Be willing to let it all come to this: “Having food and raiment [covering], let us be therewith content” (1 Timothy 6:8).
4. Build up your faith by reminding the Lord daily of his promises:
“The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever” (Psalm 29:10).
In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness” (Psalm 31:1).
In Christ, DAVID WILKERSON
David Wilkerson was acting just like the captain of the JetBlue airliner, recognizing that the nation had a serious problem. He had concern for the safety of those under his care. He provided them counsel as to what they should do to prepare for that which is coming. This advice was shared five years ago. If the saints had heeded this counsel, and had been practicing it during the ensuing period of time, they would be in much better shape for that which is even now at the door.
David Wilkerson’s counsel was not fleshly. It was not the result of soulish reasoning. He stated, “Here is what I am led to do by the Holy Spirit.” The actions he set forth are similar in some ways to that which the pilot of the JetBlue flight took. He immediately assessed the situation and knew he needed to lighten the load. This has been counsel that the Father has had me declare to His people for some years now.
In 2010 I posted the series titled Wilderness Survival for Christians.
In that series I spoke of the necessity of traveling light in this world. I compared the experiences ahead for the saints to the pioneers of the American West. They loaded everything they would need for life in a new land into a Conestoga Wagon, sometimes called a Prairie Schooner.
Only the bare necessities could be carried on the journey across the Great Plains, over the Rocky Mountains, and through thousands of miles of wilderness. Those who made the trek were counseled to choose wisely that which they would take with them. They may have had houses full of goods, furnishings, and many luxury items, but the pioneers had to dispose of the amassed material possessions of a lifetime in order to make the arduous journey ahead of them.
In truth, Christians should not need to face dire days in order to choose to live a simpler, less materially focused lifestyle. A focus on material acquisition has always been anathema to those who would walk as disciples of Christ. Christ admonished those who would follow after Him to yield all their possessions to Him.
“So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.”
“Go and sell all you possess, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also... No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
John, the beloved disciple, wrote:
I John 2:15
Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
David Wilkerson quoted the apostle Paul’s words to Timothy. “Having food and covering, with these we will be content.” In coming days, Christians will find that the amassed accumulation of a lifetime will be forfeit. There will be no way to hold onto their homes and possessions apart from embracing the beast system. Those who would follow Yahshua in the days of tribulation ahead must travel lightly. Is it not preferable to sell what you have now, and give to the poor, receiving treasure in heaven as compensation? If your goods are lost through bank failures, government bankruptcies, the crash of the dollar, economic collapse and the ensuing civil strife, what will you be benefitted?
The handwriting is on the wall. We are seeing policies implemented that are stripping away the wealth of the populace. The international bankers control the governments of nations. By executive orders, acts of congress, and judicial legislation, they are making the citizens of the nations responsible for the unsound lending practices of the banks. In Cyprus we recently observed as tens of thousands of citizens from that nation were robbed of their life savings as the global elite determined that they should bear the cost of the bank failures in their homeland. Since then the European Union, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and other nations have been passing laws which will result in the same thing occurring elsewhere. As banks fail, it will be the bank customers who stand to lose the most.
In this past week we have observed the start of a new trend in America that will accelerate in coming days. The city of Detroit declared bankruptcy. As a result, they are reneging on their promise to tens of thousands of pensioners. Men and women who have given decades of their life in public service employment, with a promise of a fixed retirement income, face losing all, or most, of what had been promised to them. The media is calling this “sharing the responsibility” for the excesses of the past.
It is not difficult to postulate that when the most massive bankruptcy of all occurs, that of the Federal Government of America, the same principle will be applied. The citizens of the nation will be held culpable for the trillions of dollars of debt that the government has amassed. The people’s pensions will be forfeit. Their bank accounts seized. Their homes and other assets will be subject to heavy taxation, and with no money to pay the levies placed against them, the people will be impoverished, forfeiting whatever property they have acquired.
A post yesterday on The Economic Collapse Blog contained the following information.
Guest Post: The Tip Of The Iceberg Of The Coming Retirement Crisis That Will Shake America To The Core
July 22, 2013
The pension nightmare that is at the heart of the horrific financial crisis in Detroit is just the tip of the iceberg of the coming retirement crisis that will shake America to the core. Right now, more than 10,000 Baby Boomers are hitting the age of 65 every single day, and this will continue to happen every single day until the year 2030. As a society, we have made trillions of dollars of financial promises to these Baby Boomers, and there is no way that we are going to be able to keep those promises. The money simply is not there. Yes, I suppose that we could eventually see a "super devaluation" of the U.S. dollar and keep our promises to the Baby Boomers using currency that is not worth much more than Monopoly money, but as it stands right now we simply do not have the resources to do what we said that we were going to do... There is going to be a lot of heartache and a lot of broken promises.
What is going on in Detroit right now is a perfect example of what will soon be happening all over the nation. Many city workers stuck with their jobs for decades because of the promise of a nice pension at the end of the rainbow. But now those promises are going up in smoke. There has even been talk that retirees will only end up getting about 10 cents for every dollar that they were promised.
Needless to say, many pensioners are extremely angry that the promises that were made to them are not going to be kept. The following is from a recent article in the New York Times...
Many retirees see the plan to cut their pensions as a betrayal, saying that they kept their end of a deal but that the city is now reneging. Retired city workers, police officers and 911 operators said in interviews that the promise of reliable retirement income had helped draw them to work for the City of Detroit in the first place, even if they sometimes had to accept smaller salaries or work nights or weekends.
“Does Detroit have a problem?” asked William Shine, 76, a retired police sergeant. “Absolutely. Did I create it? I don’t think so. They made me some promises, and I made them some promises. I kept my promises. They’re not going to keep theirs.”
But Detroit is far from an isolated case. As Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said the other day, many other cities are heading down the exact same path...
"We may be one of the first. We are the largest. But we absolutely will not be the last."
Yes, Detroit's financial problems are immense. But other major U.S. cities are facing unfunded pension liabilities that are even worse.
For example, here are the unfunded pension liabilities for four financially-troubled large U.S. cities...
Detroit: $3.5 billion
Baltimore: $680 million
Los Angeles: $9.4 billion
Chicago: $19 billion...
And many state governments are in similar shape. Right now, the state of Illinois has unfunded pension liabilities that total approximately $100 billion...
On top of everything else, the federal government has been recklessly irresponsible as far as planning for the retirement of the Baby Boomers is concerned.
As I noted yesterday, the U.S. government is facing a total of 222 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities. Social Security and Medicare make up the bulk of that...
Sadly, most Americans are not aware of these things.
The mainstream media keeps most of the population entertained with distractions. This week it is the birth of the royal baby, and next week it will be something else.
Meanwhile, our problems just continue to get worse and worse.
There is no way in the world that we are going to be able to keep all of the financial promises that we have made to the Baby Boomers. A lot of them are going to end up bitterly disappointed.
All of this could have been avoided if we would have planned ahead as a society.
But that did not happen, and now we are all going to pay the price for it.
Ignorance, or avoidance, of the truth does not make the consequences go away. The pilot of the JetBlue plane could have simply ignored the fact that his landing gear had a problem, but the consequences of doing so would have proven calamitous. Even so, as a Christian, you can ignore the warnings that Yahweh has been sending forth to His people. You can look about at so many others who are doing nothing. They are going on about life as if all is normal, that there is no calamity looming on the horizon. When you are homeless and destitute in the land of your forefathers, will you take comfort in the fact that you were not alone in experiencing a completely avoidable loss?
The powers that be have planned what is coming, and they are confident that only a few will be motivated to make life changes that will mitigate the calamity to come. What would you do if you had been a public sector employee in Detroit and had foreseen the bankruptcy crisis that is now upon the city? Would you have devoted decades of your life in some blind hope that someone would fix the problem before it occurred? Many did foresee what was coming and they left Detroit while they could. The population of Detroit once exceeded 2 million. Today the population is less than half.
What would you do if you lived in Scranton? This city in Pennsylvania is in such dire straits that they will need to raise taxes 117% next year in order to pay their bills. They are facing an 18 million dollar shortfall and they only collect 17 million a year in tax revenue. Property taxes and sales taxes could skyrocket. Perhaps you would do what some are surely considering, and move out of the city, leaving others to deal with the chaos. This is what many former citizens of Detroit did.
Some, however, are even more forward looking. They see the economic quagmire that the entire nation is in. They are choosing to leave America and move to another country. America is one of the only nations in the world that charges income tax on its citizens wages and earnings made while living abroad. The only way to avoid this taxation is to renounce U.S. citizenship. The President and Congress, foreseeing this trend, are proposing legislation to strip Americans who renounce their citizenship of their wealth before they leave the country.
The walls of the American prison are being constructed. Soon, people will find it impossible to escape the chaos by relocating. The government will confiscate their savings in the banks, their pensions, and their property if they stay. They will also confiscate their property if they choose to leave. This, however, leaves one tremendous opportunity, and it is in accordance with the counsel of Christ. Give what you have away before the government can take it from you. You will have treasure in heaven, and Yahweh has promised to supply all the needs of those who seek first His kingdom and who place their trust in Him.
“And do not seek what you shall eat, and what you shall drink, and do not keep worrying. For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek for His kingdom, and these things shall be added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves purses which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near, nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Yahweh has repeatedly used the symbolism of a plane crash as a parable of that which is coming to America. I have written of this parable on a number of occasions as events in the news spoke clearly of things to come.
U.S. Airways that Crashed in the Hudson River
Back when the U.S. Airways plane crashed in the Hudson in 2009, I wrote much on the symbolism of this event. The plane, of course, represents America. It was a U.S. Airways plane. Significantly, it was flying from New York City, the top banking center of the nation, to Charlotte, North Carolina, which is another major banking center. Aboard were numerous financial sector executives and employees.
The passengers all survived, but they lost all of their possessions. They did not carry as much as a purse with them when they hastily exited the plane. The fall of this plane was very sudden. Both engines failed simultaneously due to striking a flock of birds. After making an emergency landing on the river, the plane floated down to Battery Park, signifying that America will take a battering following a rapid economic descent. After a few days the plane was lifted from the water to be transported over land. To accomplish this, the plane’s wings had to be removed.
The removal of the wings, and transport over the ground, indicates that America, which was once a high flying nation of great wealth and prosperity, will be humbled. Neither will she rise again to attain the prominent place once held as an economic power among the nations.
Knowing that Yahweh has been testifying that these things are coming, is it not prudent to prepare? Should the people of God continue on as if life is normal? Should they not seek the mind of Christ to know what He would have them to do?
Yesterday, several people sent me a link to a news story in the Washington Post. It reported on a rare South American plant that blooms very rarely. When it does bloom, it gives off an odor like that of a decaying body. Consequently, the plant has been named The Corpse Flower.
The U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C. is the home for this foul smelling plant. Its flowering was very brief, reaching its peak yesterday, July 22nd. This struck me as symbolic, for the date is written as 7-22-13. The number 13 is symbolic of the nation of America which began with 13 states, and which has 13 stripes on its flag. 7 is a number denoting finality and completion, especially in relation to fulness of time (as in 7 days in a week). The number 22 signifies flesh cutting, and the work of the cross.
Corpse Flower in Washington, D.C.
Perhaps it is not coincidental that arising from the center of the flower is a prominence that looks very much like the Washington Monument, that great obelisk that towers over the city. The city of Washington truly exudes the smell of death. It was here that the Supreme Court of America legalized the murder of the unborn forty years ago. Since then the blood of more than fifty million babies has been spilled on American soil. One result of this rampant murder is that the nation now has far fewer working age citizens to support the growing number of retirees. America has brought her economic destruction on her own head.
It is also in Washington that the Pentagon is located. This is the headquarters of the world’s military superpower. From here, wars have been planned and carried out all over the globe, resulting in the death of many more millions, vast numbers of whom were civilians who merely got in the way. It is this city that has spread homosexuality and moral perversion across the globe. It is truly a Satanic city that exudes the smell of death. Satan comes only to KILL, steal and destroy. Many of his chief servants are found in America’s capital city.
The hour is late. It is time to commit oneself for readiness for that which is to come. America is nearing a tipping point where she will plunge the entire world into darkness. Yahweh has been sending forth His warning. The trumpet has sounded. The lion has roared. Will you respond and avoid unnecessary harm?
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