Pertaining to the 2016 election and afterwards

In the midst of all the national and global issues waiting to be addressed in the next presidential term, one stands out above all the rest: a peace treaty in Middle East. Why? It is the final sign of three that must occur before the Lord Jesus Christ comes a second time to the earth, to establish His kingdom of righteousness on the earth.

It begins with the prophesy in Daniel 9:24-27: “Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.
25 “Know therefore and understand,
That from the going forth of the command
To restore and build Jerusalem
Until Messiah the Prince,
There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times.
26 “And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate,
Even until the consummation, which is determined,
Is poured out on the desolate.”

Verse 24 is speaking to Daniel's people, the children of Israel, and not to the Christians. The most Holy refers to the the Messiah. Is there everlasting righteousness on thee earth today? It is quite evident from the state of the world that there is not. Only the Lord will come to bring everlasting righteousness.

The first sign was the restoration of Israel as a nation. Matthew 24:32-35 speaks of this sign. "“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! 34 Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away." The fig tree is the nation of Israel, cursed by The Lord in Mark 11:14 because it had no fruit. In the summer time is when the fig trees put forth leaves. It is the time of the restoration of the nation of Israel in 1948, when it officially became a state. This was the first sure sign that the time is near.

The second sign is the restoration of the city Jerusalem. The city was first utterly destroyed in year 70, with the Siege of Jerusalem by Titus. "This generation will by no means pass away" in Luke 21:29 refers to the generation in years 32 AD to 70 AD. Then the verses go on to talk about the Lord's second coming. The restoration of Jerusalem was marked by the end of the Six Day War and the extension of Israel's legal jurisdiction over the city in June of 1967. This was the fulfillment of the second sign of the prophesy.

The third and final sign of the Lord's second coming is the peace treaty, referred to in Daniel 9:27. "Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week, he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering." A prophetic week is seven years, and the middle mark is 3 1/2 years. In order to fulfill the prophesy, the peace treaty must allow Israel to offer up sacrifices to God again in Jerusalem. In 1993, there was a trial run with the Oslow Accords to establish peace for a seven year period in the Middle East. After a number of meetings at Camp David, leaders were unable to make peace work. Close to the middle of the treaty, Israeli prime minister Rabin was assassinated, which would have fulfilled another portion of the prophesy. However, the treaty of that time did not allow Israel to once again offer up sacrifices. In the middle of the prophetic week, at the 3 1/2 year mark, the beast or anti-Christ prophesied of in Revelation 13, will bring an end to sacrifices as spoke of in Daniel 9: 27.

Peace in the Middle East can only be achieved by a strong world leader, and as it is prophesied in Revelation 13:3 "And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast." The leader that brokers the peace treaty will be assassinated, "mortally wounded," and then be resurrected to become the Anti-Christ. As one of the most prolific world powers, it is quite possible that the next US president will be the one to broker such a peace treaty that will mark the end times. If Hillary Clinton wins, the time is not yet, because the anti-christ cannot be female. However, if Trump wins, his utter disregard for opinions other than his own combined with his bullish momentum may well serve to bring about the end of this age.

These are the prophecies written in the Bible. Whether this speculation on the next president being able to broker the peace accord the signifies the end of this age remains to be seen. It is stated in Matthew 24:36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only." In any case, I want to be ready to stand before the judgement seat of Christ and be counted worthy of His reward. Romans 14:10b says "For we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ."

Finally, Revelation 22:12 sums everything up. "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work."

When blindness is healed

Seeing men like trees, walking.
Finally, the vision is clear,
And a battle is raging.
Masses of people
Adding the chaos
Of their own worlds
To global turmoil.
A television blares out
News of impeding war
Yet among so many faces
There appears not a care
Few have seen what is to come
When this created globe
Shall descend into judgement
Many blindly follow
As desperation strikes
While  others groan
With untold sufferings
Now comes the cry
For His kingdom to come
To establish righteousness and peace
Forevermore.

What we seek

That which generations have sought after

Yet by no means can be found.

The very foundations of earth echo with hollow laughter.

Chills creep up my spine with every clashing sound

that reverberates high above each rafter.

No one else is worthy

The King of peace to be crowned.

Within the hearts of men

Darkness boils deep inside

As inky wells in a cavernous den

Where countless souls have died.

So finite is their time that ends in hellish glen.

No calm there is, nor will be

Until He can there abide.

Assymetry

There is no balance
Everything seems to fall apart,
Resentment rears up,
and pain becomes a desire
hate against the incompetence,
the imperfection that dwells within.

Lost inside a world of hopelessness
Shattered dreams
Broken promises,
Self denigration
Alone

I don't know why I go on
in this decremental way
leading to nowhere

And so the blackness must recede
And let the light come again once more

Uncertainty

A wall, built through countless years of labor

Set in the midst of a grassy field at the center of a forest

Capturing within itself an entire world.

Yet again, this pleasant depiction bursts apart

As the canvas rends with an avalanche of sound

The gaping hole shudders and spews forth smoke

With every breath that escapes

A flame licks at torn edges

While knotted leashes strain tighter

To breaking point.

A cry of desperation

To the one source of help

Although it is many legions away

On many turbulent oceans.

Foretaste

Inspiration from a fellow writer
And a chance at contemplation on a peaceful Saturday afternoon
Have led to a quest for forgotten moments
And thoughts of pleasant abstractions.
A hint at appreciative visuals
Carries the thought to a fig tree
Growing majestically in its place in its earthen patch.
Words fail to describe the abundance of life that exists
As sparrows flit through branches heavily laden with fruit
While the wind gently rustles leaves shaped like green hands outstretched,
Casting gentle shadows on a silently bustling anthill.
A hummingbird zooms in to smell a fruit,
Squeaks twice, and exits with the soft thrum of its wings.
A lizard skitters through the jungle of grass and snaps up a mouthful of ants
Bringing chaos to the ant kingdom.
Yet tranquility is soon restored to the fig tree soaking in the solar rays,
And the tomato quietly ripening under a cloudless sky.
Under that same sky, countless battles rage
And boiling chaos tears at its leash.
All of creation groans with pain of labor
As the fallen dig deeper in their graves
And are consumed by their beastly desires.
In a forest, countless leaves gently whisper their sorrows
As warm light dances through the shadows.
The surface of a pond, as smooth as glass
Momentarily broken by ripples of activity
While the beholder stares deeply into the reflection.
Below the surface, ghoulish beings lurk in the mire
Deeper still, the mud of hypocrisy churns wildly
As unworthy tongues set in and clash in unfathomable violence.
There is something desperately wrong with world
Yet churlish scoffers ignore the signs
 Blinded in selfish greediness.
Again and again they play games of chess
Where all the pieces are pawns
Replaced with fake queens
While the kings of value are forgotten
And set aside until they are shot to pieces.
Yet all this is hidden, beneath the surface of impeccable glass
As devilish turmoil roars beneath the skins of men.
There is but one hope for a life of meaning
In which true peace can be restored.

Where the time has been spent

Next Level Entrepreneurship: Breaking into the Mobile App and Web Design Markets

At Cal State Fullerton, I never imagined I would have the opportunity to delve into the video game industry. The possibility arose when my friend approached me with an idea for a mobile game for the iOS platform and an offer for partnership in the game once it was released. My job consisted of creating most of the graphics interface and marketing the product once it was in the App Store. I immediately jumped on the project in late 2011 and began teaching myself to create graphics in Photoshop.

Meanwhile, I opted to take an Entrepreneurship class which involved a student consulting project. Professor John Bradley Jackson’s “Marketing for Entrepreneurs” class brought on a fresh perspective as to how I could take the business further once the game launched in the app store. Through various presentations and projects, the class raised my levels of awareness as to how I could leverage various avenues to promote the app.

One of the most significant projects in the class opened the door for me to analyze a local business with a team of students in a sophisticated student consulting project. The semester-long project permitted me to garner real-world business experience that later gave me several valuable tools to market the app and also begin contract work designing websites for two consulting groups and a doctor.

The entrepreneurship class challenged me to apply the vast majority of my marketing skills and provided me with a clear vision of drive, passion and the conviction that it takes to start a new business. It also served to invigorate my motivation to finish developing the iOS game and release it to the market.

As the last weeks of the entrepreneurship course began to draw to a close, the iPhone game, officially titled “Lightning Assault” cleared Apple’s approval process and was officially released to the world on the app store. My feelings of accomplishment and excitement when Lightning Assault launched on December 3rd, 2012 were indescribable.

Then came the challenge of marketing the game. Naturally, the first approach was getting all my friends to download the app, a resource that quickly exhausted itself. Within a few weeks of the game’s launch, I had the website LightningAssault.com up and running, as well as several social media channels in an attempt to push traffic towards the website and collect downloads.

However, it was soon evident that I needed to go beyond the most obvious methods of raising awareness for our game. I decided to contact a friend in the journalism industry. She sent my name out, and I soon had an interview scheduled with the OC Register, which resulted in the following article.

Today, Lightning Assault maintains a small yet steady growth in downloads. There is still much room for experimentation in aggressive promotion techniques, yet it has been stated that the game holds potential for massive popularity. Above all, it stands as a beacon of the accomplishments of the three person team that created it, and as an inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs.

http://business.fullerton.edu/centers/cfe/success-Vincent.htm