Are we in the age of the coming great deception?

In an exclusive interview with Charisma Media, L.A. Marzulli discussed what we can know right now about the coming great deception, how Nephilim and extraterrestrials play a role in our society today, and how Bigfoot just may connect to biblical prophecy.

One of the first topics that Marzulli discusses is a document that NASA decided to release over Christmas detailing a Mars exploration from 1984 and the deeper, darker way that the government likely obtained this information.

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“Let’s go back a bit,” Marzulli says. “David Flynn talked about the pyramids on Mars, the face on Mars. This all came from when the spaceship is flying around Mars and taking ‘s a book in my library by a scientist who looked at the data coming from the rover, and he goes ‘Wait a minute; there was an ancient civilization here that was destroyed in some sort of nuclear holocaust’.”

Marzulli believes that the information about Mars and the potential civilization there was obtained by remote viewing.

To order L.A. Marzulli’s new book, “Rungs of Disclosure,” visit .

“In remote viewing there’s a monitor or a handler,” Marzulli says, “guiding the person who is the practitioner of remote viewing. Remote viewing is an occult technique.”

As someone who was part of the New Age before becoming a Christian, Marzulli understands the deceptive ways that occultic practices make it into our society.

“What I was taught was to go down to create a laboratory, a room, and pick three counselors. And you were going to talk to these counselors and there would be this dialogue, so you would meditate, close your eyes, relax, take several deep breaths and then go down into your room and meet with your course teacher would teach you how to do this. We’d all be laying in the room about 15 or 20 of us and all laying down, and we’d go into our place, into our laboratory, or our room, meet with our counselors and begin to have relationships. And they would talk to ‘re spirit guides,” he says.

Marzulli says it is this kind of demonic spiritual practice that was used to obtain information about the coordinates of what was on Mars, and that we should also be wary of the timing of this document’s release.

“With all the stuff that’s going on with these orbs being seen is like the vanguard, the tip of the spear,” Marzulli states.

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Another supernatural piece that we must keep in mind right now is the skyrocketing number of sightings of the Bigfoot species.

“The sightings are through the roof, and they come closer and closer,” Marzulli says. “They’re also associated many times with UFO activity. So, when a UFO appears, sometimes Bigfoot is right underneath, and that’s documented.”

The discussion of Bigfoot continues to take off as a recent video of a mysterious creature in the trees in South Carolina went viral.

“They are modern-day Nephilim. These are the beasts of the earth that we read about in the book of Revelation because it says the beasts of the earth basically are let loose during a time of tribulation,” Marzulli says.

With deception, the occult and supernatural beasts filling our earth, now is the moment to reach out to the Lord, study His Word and trust in His ultimate provision no matter what comes our way.

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Abby Trivett is content development editor for Charisma Media.

Visitors to the Old North Church in Boston, Massachusetts, have apparently entertained angels unaware.

Eight paintings of the biblical beings were recently uncovered from thick layers of paint in the historic Boston church, the Associated Press reported Monday.

They’ve remained hidden for more than 100 years.

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While the paintings were originally created around 1730, church officials had them covered in 1912 as part of a renovation.

The art depicts the angels with wings and round child-like faces.

Centuries-old angels uncovered at Boston church made famous by Paul Revere

— The Associated Press (@AP) December 24, 2024

“It’s really been quite a revelation to find these really interesting and historic works of art on the walls of the church that nobody has seen in our lifetime,” murals conservator Gianfranco Pocobene said. ”Just to be part of a project where we are revealing something from colonial America is really extraordinary.”

The Old North Church is famous for its role in the American Revolution in 1775.

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It’s the place where the legendary Paul Revere hung two lanterns to warn that the British were coming.

“Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch of the North Church tower as a signal light, — One, if by land, and two, if by sea,” the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow read.

Although the Old North Church paintings were only recently lifted from obscurity, researchers had already suspected their presence based on historical records, according to the AP.

Researchers had a copy of a signed contract from John Gibbs, the church congregant who painted the angels.

A 2017 paint study also confirmed the angels’ presence, but their condition was unclear.

“For much of the church’s history, people who were coming here to the church would have seen those angels, would have seen the colorful interior,” said Emily Spence, the associate director of education at Old North Illuminated.

In total, there were 20 angels painted over.

Efforts to uncover the paintings began in September.

The plan is to uncover another eight by spring, Spence said.

“They all have their own character — they’re not copies,” Pocobene said. “The artist John Gibbs painted them individually, and they’re all in different poses, which gives them a really wonderful rhythmic kind of pattern across the surface of the church.”

This article originally appeared on The Western Journal, and is reposted with permission.

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After announcing that the Vatican would open five sacred portals on Christmas Eve, many were intrigued by what this meant. As Charisma News reported, this was set to mark the Catholic Jubilee, the first time in 25 years that these “portals,” or “Holy Doors,” were to be opened. Now, Pope Francis has gone through with this sacred, Catholic tradition.

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In the video of Pope Francis at the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, he can be seen knocking on the door, it slowly opening and of him being pushed in his wheelchair through the doorway. The Vatican considered this to be the start of the “2025 Jubilee Year of Hope.”

According to the Vatican News, this “Ordinary Jubilee” which started on Dec. 24 will end with the closing of the Holy Door on Jan. 6, 2026.

The Pope’s Christmas mass following this historic event included his prayer for the Holy Year in which he said, “May the light of Christian hope illumine every man and woman, as a messenger of God’s love addressed to all! And may the church bear faithful witness to this message in every part of the world!

“Tonight, the door of hope has opened wide to the world,” the Pope said. “And God speaks to each of us and says, ‘There is hope also for you!'”

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The Pope also called for people not to be caught up in laziness and to “rediscover the joy of meeting the Lord” during the Jubilee. He will also open another sacred “portal” today, Dec. 26, in a Roman prison.

What’s interesting about the Pope’s decision to open these portals is that it comes during a time when the discussion of portals, extraterrestrials and bizarre occurrences in the sky continue to take our world by storm. Portals are not typically known for opening us up to good, noble things, but rather they are frequently included in the discussion about the demonic.

To purchase L.A. Marzulli’s new book, “Rungs of Disclosure,” visit .

By calling these doors holy, the Pope also appears to reassert what many would consider God-like authority. Yet, it is only Jesus who can truly make an open door holy. Revelation 3:7-8 tells us:

He who is holy, He who is true, He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens, says these things: I know your works! Look! I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it.

As the Pope continues to open and close doors, we’ll have to see what the spiritual repercussions are of his actions.

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Abby Trivett is content development editor for Charisma Media.

What would you do if a great cataclysm brought a sudden end to our society and you were forced to survive on what you currently have on hand?

 When I was growing up, very few people thought of such things.  In fact, I never heard the words “prepper” or “prepping” until I became an adult.  But now everything has changed.  Millions of Americans are spending enormous amounts of money to prepare for apocalyptic scenarios that they believe are quite likely to play out in our near future.  According to Investopedia, approximately 20 million Americans now consider themselves to be preppers…

Doomsday prepping has become a bona fide area of investing, with experts putting the average annual growth of the survivalist sector at over 7% until 2030 and some 20 million Americans now identifying as “preppers”—about the size of entire states like New York.

That is a significant portion of our population.

And they are spending a ton of money.

One recent survey discovered that spending on prepping supplies reached about 11 billion dollars during one recent 12 month period…

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The survey found that, collectively, preppers spent around $11 billion within a 12-month period. According to the survey, preppers tend to live in the Western part of the U.S. and spent the most money on basics like food, water and toilet paper.

As our society comes apart at the seams all around us, more Americans than ever are determined to achieve at least some level of self-sufficiency while they still can.

People from all across the political spectrum and that come from all walks of life are feverishly preparing for a very bleak future.

Of course there is not a general consensus about what that very bleak future will look like.

In this article, I am going to specifically address how to prepare for life in a post-apocalyptic world.  Many preppers are preparing for scenarios that are far less extreme.  The type of scenario that I am talking about in this piece is a situation where all of our major institutions are no longer functioning and society as we have known it has totally broken down.

What this means is that the items in the list that I am about to share with you will not be needed right now.  But if an apocalyptic event or a series of apocalyptic events suddenly brings our society to an end, you will definitely need them.

I am imagining a time when there will be no functioning supply chains, and so there will be nothing to buy in the stores.

And since there will be no functioning supply chains, you will not have access to gasoline or propane.

So I have not included any items that are dependent on gasoline or propane in my list.

Also, please keep in mind that this list is not comprehensive and is only intended to represent the bare minimum that you will need.

There are countless other items that you could add to this list, but for this article I wanted to focus on the basics.

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With all of that being said, the following is a list of 24 things that you will desperately need in a post-apocalyptic world…

#1 Emergency food to feed your family

#2 A water filtration system to clean your water

#3 A ferro rod for starting a fire

#4 An extensive first aid kit for health emergencies

#5 An emergency supply of antibiotics

#6 A multitool that has pliers, a knife, a saw and a screwdriver

#7 A solar-powered generator

#8 A solar flashlight

#9 An emergency shortwave radio so that you can stay informed

#10 Fishing gear

#11 Seeds for planting a garden

#12 A wood stove

#13 An axe for cutting wood

#14 A quality shovel

#15 Paracord

#16 Duct tape

#17 A hand-crank can opener

#18 A very warm winter jacket for every member of your family

#19 A durable backpack for every member of your family

#20 A compass

#21 A good pair of binoculars

#22 Wool blankets

#23 A Bible

#24 A way to protect everything that you have stockpiled from the marauding hordes that will be desperate to take all of it away from you

In a post-apocalyptic scenario, how long do you think that you would last?

In any survival situation, there are four big areas that always must be addressed: food, water, power and shelter.

Of course many would add security to that list.

In a world that has gone completely mad, there will be many that will be willing to do whatever it takes to stay alive.

If you live in an area that has a high population density, it may become nearly impossible to survive no matter how much preparation work you have done in advance.  When things hit the fan, you will want to flee to a less densely populated area if at all possible.

Many people ask me for prepping advice, and so I have tried to cover some of the most essential basics in this article.

But of course what I have shared here is just the tip of the iceberg.  Properly preparing for what is coming takes a tremendous amount of time, effort and energy, and the clock is ticking…

Michael Snyder’s new book “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on , and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at .

What would you do if a great cataclysm brought a sudden end to our society and you were forced to survive on what you currently have on hand?

 When I was growing up, very few people thought of such things.  In fact, I never heard the words “prepper” or “prepping” until I became an adult.  But now everything has changed.  Millions of Americans are spending enormous amounts of money to prepare for apocalyptic scenarios that they believe are quite likely to play out in our near future.  According to Investopedia, approximately 20 million Americans now consider themselves to be preppers…

Doomsday prepping has become a bona fide area of investing, with experts putting the average annual growth of the survivalist sector at over 7% until 2030 and some 20 million Americans now identifying as “preppers”—about the size of entire states like New York.

That is a significant portion of our population.

And they are spending a ton of money.

One recent survey discovered that spending on prepping supplies reached about 11 billion dollars during one recent 12 month period…

Breaking News. Spirit-Filled Stories. Subscribe to Charisma on YouTube now!

The survey found that, collectively, preppers spent around $11 billion within a 12-month period. According to the survey, preppers tend to live in the Western part of the U.S. and spent the most money on basics like food, water and toilet paper.

As our society comes apart at the seams all around us, more Americans than ever are determined to achieve at least some level of self-sufficiency while they still can.

People from all across the political spectrum and that come from all walks of life are feverishly preparing for a very bleak future.

Of course there is not a general consensus about what that very bleak future will look like.

In this article, I am going to specifically address how to prepare for life in a post-apocalyptic world.  Many preppers are preparing for scenarios that are far less extreme.  The type of scenario that I am talking about in this piece is a situation where all of our major institutions are no longer functioning and society as we have known it has totally broken down.

What this means is that the items in the list that I am about to share with you will not be needed right now.  But if an apocalyptic event or a series of apocalyptic events suddenly brings our society to an end, you will definitely need them.

I am imagining a time when there will be no functioning supply chains, and so there will be nothing to buy in the stores.

And since there will be no functioning supply chains, you will not have access to gasoline or propane.

So I have not included any items that are dependent on gasoline or propane in my list.

Also, please keep in mind that this list is not comprehensive and is only intended to represent the bare minimum that you will need.

There are countless other items that you could add to this list, but for this article I wanted to focus on the basics.

Get your FREE CHARISMA NEWSLETTERS today! Stay up-to-date with current issues, Holy Spirit news, Christian teachings, Charisma videos & more!

With all of that being said, the following is a list of 24 things that you will desperately need in a post-apocalyptic world…

#1 Emergency food to feed your family

#2 A water filtration system to clean your water

#3 A ferro rod for starting a fire

#4 An extensive first aid kit for health emergencies

#5 An emergency supply of antibiotics

#6 A multitool that has pliers, a knife, a saw and a screwdriver

#7 A solar-powered generator

#8 A solar flashlight

#9 An emergency shortwave radio so that you can stay informed

#10 Fishing gear

#11 Seeds for planting a garden

#12 A wood stove

#13 An axe for cutting wood

#14 A quality shovel

#15 Paracord

#16 Duct tape

#17 A hand-crank can opener

#18 A very warm winter jacket for every member of your family

#19 A durable backpack for every member of your family

#20 A compass

#21 A good pair of binoculars

#22 Wool blankets

#23 A Bible

#24 A way to protect everything that you have stockpiled from the marauding hordes that will be desperate to take all of it away from you

In a post-apocalyptic scenario, how long do you think that you would last?

In any survival situation, there are four big areas that always must be addressed: food, water, power and shelter.

Of course many would add security to that list.

In a world that has gone completely mad, there will be many that will be willing to do whatever it takes to stay alive.

If you live in an area that has a high population density, it may become nearly impossible to survive no matter how much preparation work you have done in advance.  When things hit the fan, you will want to flee to a less densely populated area if at all possible.

Many people ask me for prepping advice, and so I have tried to cover some of the most essential basics in this article.

But of course what I have shared here is just the tip of the iceberg.  Properly preparing for what is coming takes a tremendous amount of time, effort and energy, and the clock is ticking…

Michael Snyder’s new book “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on , and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at .

Here’s a quick rundown of the top stories on :

Megachurch Pastor Launches AI App for Prayer

Megachurch Pastor Ron Carpenter has released a preview of a brand-new app that could change everything relating to the power of prayer.

Carpenter is known for his role as the pastor of Redemption Church in Greenville, South Carolina, and San Jose, California. Now, Carpenter is taking the power of prayer for his congregants into an entirely new realm: the world of artificial intelligence.

The Google Play Store description of the app says: “The Ron Carpenter Ministries Advanced Archive app is a unique place where people from every background, race and walk of life come together in a place of community and purpose. This resource is dedicated to seeing people’s lives changed and leaders equipped. Get ready to change your mindset, master your feelings, and overcome life’s pressures. Transcend traditional time and access barriers by enabling 1-on-1 personalized interactions not possible before now.”

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Amanda Grace Reveals Her Prophetic Word for 2025

In an exclusive interview with Charisma Media, prophetic voice Amanda Grace spoke about what the Lord has planted on her heart for what we can expect to see in the coming year.

One of the things that Grace points to that the church must do right now during the time before President-elect Donald Trump ascends to office is pray for unity within the government, his cabinet and for the body of Christ. Seeking to divide our nation in the coming days is exactly what the wicked enemy would love, but the prayers of the righteous can and will prevail much. As the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, she notes that 2025 will be year where God comes to bring life and life more abundantly to his people.

“That’s one of the things coming into 2025; the Lord wants to give to those who will serve Him and obey and be obedient,” says Grace. “He wants to give that too in this year because it’s a year of ‘double great.’”

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Stunning NASA Christmas Message Still Resonates 56 Years After Apollo 8

In December 1968, NASA launched the first manned mission to the moon. No one, not even the astronauts aboard, was certain that they’d be able to return safely.  Their journey, the most hazardous and dangerous ever embarked upon, took them to the boundaries of another world, and, even more remarkably, brought peace to their own.

It was shortly after 5:30 a.m. on Christmas Eve that something remarkable happened. After spotting the barren, far side of the moon for the first time, the astronauts onboard captured a photo that has since become known as “Earthrise.”  For all the turmoil, tragedy and political tumult the world had experienced during 1968, this iconic, indelible image captured the beauty and fragility of our home planet.  

And then, with more than one billion people watching around the world on television, the astronauts delivered a message to the largest audience in human history. It was a sentiment for all mankind and one straight from the pages of the Bible. As the nation waited in prayerful consideration, astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders spoke the following words:

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I remember a trip to Ireland. As we flew in and gazed at the countryside below, we saw that the parcels of land were divided by stone walls, separating neighbor from neighbor, farm from farm. 

But later, when I returned during harvest season, everything had changed The stalks of wheat were so tall that you couldn’t see the stone walls at all. Abundance concealed the divisions, and the countryside was verdant.

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This came to mind recently as I thought about the state of our own nation. Post-election, I see little indication we are resolving our profound cultural, red-blue divide.

Search the internet, and you’ll find advice on how to disown family members who voted differently than you did. When did politics become more important than loving your own family? Something’s gone terribly wrong.  

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President John F. Kennedy famously proclaimed, “What unites us is greater than what divides us.” Benjamin Franklin expressed a similar sentiment after he signed the Declaration of Independence, when he’s reported to have said, “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.” 

As Russia, China, North Korea and Iran pose critical challenges to the United States, I wonder if that’s still true. Have we forgotten that, ultimately, we’re all in this American enterprise together? I fear we have.

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It appears that something incredible is beginning to happen. Even in the midst of all of the chaos and turmoil that we are witnessing in our society right now, God is on the move. Large numbers of young people have been giving their lives to Jesus and getting baptized on college campuses all over the country, and Bible sales are way up in 2024. In fact, it is being reported that through the month of October Bible sales in the U.S. were 22% higher than last year.

Bible sales rose 22% through October compared to the same period last year, according to data released this month by Circana Bookscan. Total U.S. print book sales were only up 1%, according to “The Wall Street Journal,” which first reported the trend.

“The religion book market has been a bright spot of growth within the total book market since the pandemic,” Brenna Connor, an industry analyst with Circana, told Fox News Digital in a statement. “Bibles are leading that growth, but other subjects like Christian Life and Biblical Studies are also up, reflecting increased interest for Christian subjects in the U.S.”

I have never heard of anything like this happening before.

Bible sales have been rising since the first year of the pandemic, and this year they took off like a rocket.

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Print Bible sales hit a five-year low of just under 8.9 million in 2020, according to Circana’s data, before beginning to tick upward again. Sales surpassed 13.7 million in the first 10 months of this year, Circana reported.

Interestingly, this is taking place at a time when the percentage of the population that identifies as “Christian” has hit an all-time low.

The share of Americans identifying with a Christian religion hit a low of 68% last year, according to Gallup polling. Half a century ago, 87% of adults in the U.S. identified as Christian, Gallup found. About 28% of American adults are now religiously unaffiliated, according to Pew Research.

As a society, we just don’t embrace institutional churches the way that we once did.

Last year, I discussed the fact that church attendance in the U.S. is now far lower than it once was.

In 1958, a Gallup survey found that 49% of Americans had attended church within the past seven days. That number started to decline during the ensuing years, and by 1972 only 40% of Americans said that they had attended church within the past seven days. From 1972 all the way until 2012, church attendance within the past seven days hovered right around that 40% figure. Unfortunately, over the past decade it has started to fall once again. Just prior to the pandemic, a Gallup survey found that 34% of Americans had been to church within the past seven days, and now a new survey has discovered that it is down to just 31%.

And according to an article that was posted on Faithwire last week, the proportion of U.S. evangelicals that are giving to churches has dropped precipitously.

“The takeaway is that there has been a change over the last three years in terms of the generosity of the evangelical community, both toward church and toward nonprofit organizations or charities,” Mark Dreistadt said. “We’ve seen a drop in giving across the board.”

Infinity Concepts and Grey Matter Research found the “proportion of evangelicals giving to church fell 13 percentage points from 2021, constituting a 17% decrease in giving,” according to a press release.

While 61% of evangelicals gave to their local church in the 12 months before the study, this was down from the previous timeframe, when 74% of evangelicals had done the same.

Fewer Americans consider themselves to be “Christians” than ever before, church attendance is way down and giving is way down.

But Bible sales are soaring.

What in the world is going on?

I think that what we are witnessing is a move of God that is happening mostly outside of the institutional churches, and it appears that young people are at the forefront of it.

In 2024, an organization known as UniteUS held a series of revival meetings at college campuses all across the country, and at school after school the response was amazing.

Tonya Prewitt, founder of UniteUS, explained, “We started at Auburn University. We had 5,000 students show up, and over 200 got baptized. We next went to FSU – Florida State, the second biggest party school in the nation. We had 4,500 students come, and I believe about 350 students got baptized at that event.”

The movement then swept through the universities of Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina, with numbers growing along the way. Tonya calls the mission a simple one: Bring hope to a generation.

College student Haden Smith shared his experience. “Just getting to be with your neighbors and friends as they pray with you for your struggles and being open with those you normally wouldn’t be open with – it was just overall powerful,” he said.

And sometimes revival has erupted without any big organization being involved at all.

For example, NPR has reported on the revival that was initiated by football players at Ohio State.

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Students and players deemed it a revival. The story made national news, including appreciative stories in religious publications and Fox News. Now, as Ohio State University’s football team prepares for the college football playoffs, players like Henderson have a bigger platform to share their faith.

Could all of this be the start of something really big?

Could all of this be the start of the end times revival that I have been writing about?

The remnant of the last days is going to do things the way that Christians in the first century did things. Have you ever wondered why so many Christian churches today do not resemble what you see in the Bible? Well, the sad truth is that over the centuries churches got away from doing the things that the Scriptures tell us to do, but now God is restoring all things. Without God we can do nothing, but with God all things are possible.

Right now, we have such an amazing opportunity. During the first century, there were only about 200 million people living on the entire planet. Today, the total global population is somewhere around eight billion. That means the population of the world is about 40 times larger today than it was back in the first century.

I believe that we are on the verge of the greatest move of God and the greatest harvest of souls in all of human history, and I encourage you to be a part of what is happening.

As wars, natural disasters, pestilences and economic problems shake the globe, people are going to be searching for answers, and Bible prophecy will become one of the hottest topics on the entire planet.

During the years ahead, so many will be consumed with despair as their lives are totally turned upside down by the cataclysmic events that are coming. Instead of giving in to fear like everyone else will be, it will be a great opportunity for the people of God to rise up and take the message of life to a lost and dying world.

For some reason, a lot of people in the institutional church associate revival with prosperous times.

But often it takes a tremendous amount of shaking to turn people back to God.

During the very difficult years that are ahead of us, the shaking will seem unbearable at times.

It will seem like the worst of times, but it will also seem like the best of times because of the tremendous awakening that we will witness.

God is calling for His remnant of the last days to arise, and no force on Earth will be able to stop that from happening.

Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on , and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at .

Nativity scenes, artwork, and popular films attempt to retell the incredible story behind Christ’s birth. But sometimes there’s a disconnect between these depictions and the biblical details.
 
Let’s start with the popular belief that three wise men, or magi, visited Jesus.
 
“It’s great to go to scripture and start with the Magi,” Jesse Bradley, pastor of Grace Community Church,” told CBN News. “You know, when you think about what’s the message—well, there’s three of them. Where do we find that? Not in the Bible.”
 
So, where did people get the idea that there were definitively three wise men?
 
“There’s three gifts,” Bradley continued. “There’s frankincense, myrrh, and gold. But, again, it doesn’t say three wise men.”
 
Pastor and author Max Lucado agrees.

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“We do not know if it was a trio of travelers or if there was two or ten,” he said. “But we do know that they came in search of Christ.”

And there’s another misconception—the Magi met Jesus on the night of His birth.
 
“Did they show up on the day Christ was born?” Lucado rhetorically asked. “Odds are they did not. It would have taken quite a while, but we don’t know when they started and when they arrived.”
 
Historian William Federer said King Herod’s decree documented in Matthew 2 provides important clues about the wisemen’s arrival.

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“We don’t know the exact timing, but, based on Herod—when he inquires of the wise men, when the Messiah was born, based on that, he decides to kill all babies two years and younger. And, so, it could have been up to two years after Jesus’s birth that the three wise men came.”
 
Plus, there’s some ambiguity surrounding Mary’s and Joseph’s trip to Bethlehem before Christ’s birth.
 
“We love to fill in the blanks… sometimes there’s creative license,” Bradley said. “When people think about Mary and Joseph, there are some perceptions. You know, Mary was either on a donkey or a camel, but the Bible doesn’t say that.”

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Despite complaints about inflation and low wages, stores in the U.S. have been crowded this Christmas, and online retailers are racking up sales. Parents are rushing to buy Moana dolls, Legos, a popular robotic monkey toy named Peanut and a four-wheel drive vehicle for kids that costs $405. Meanwhile, the most popular gifts for adults include pocket translators, wireless phone chargers, portable spy cameras and $99 Black Falcon drones.

And don’t forget the sleeper gift hit of 2024—miniature chain saws. You can find these on sale for $ at Home Depot!

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The National Retail Federation says Americans spent $967 billion on Christmas gifts, Christmas decor and holiday travel in 2023. That comes out to an average of $902 per person. Financial observers say spending on gifts in 2024 will reach an all-time record.

But why give presents to each other at this time of year? The tradition goes back more than 2,000 years, when some foreign visitors brought unusual gifts to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem.

These visitors were called “magi from the east” in Matthew’s Gospel (Matt. 2:1). While the Jews were looking for a political savior, most of them had no idea God would send His Son in the form of a baby lying in a crude manger. Yet these magi,, who traveled from what is now Iran, Iraq or Saudi Arabia, had tracked the appearance of an unusual star. They believed it signaled the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy about the birth of a new king.

The magi were probably priests or astronomers. We assume there were three of them, but the Bible doesn’t say that—only that they carried three gifts. In fact, they had no idea they were fulfilling the words of Isaiah, who prophesied centuries earlier that visitors on camels would bring “gold and frankincense” to Israel to witness the glory of God (see Isa. 60:1-6).

The magi brought gold, frankincense and myrrh to Jesus. But what do these gifts mean to us?

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