What Does The Future Hold?

Systemic Corruption And A Troubling Future For Humanity!

"Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. But the Lord is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge. And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off."

Psalm 94:20-23

"For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts."

II Corinthians 1:20-22

"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

II Corinthians 7:1

In this issue of the Last Trumpet Newsletter, we will thoughtfully consider the current condition of our world and the systemic corruption of the political realm. We will also take yet another glimpse at what the future of this modern world may hold.

As I write this newsletter in the latter days of August 2016, the United States of America is in the midst of an election year. In just a few short months, the American people will know who their next president will be, and unless there are unforeseen and improbable circumstances, it will either be the Republican, Donald Trump, or the Democrat, Hillary Clinton. Amid the fury of these presidential campaigns, we hear many promises given by these candidates. Yet, we know from history that political candidates are notorious for broken promises. In fact, one of the most memorable campaign promises in United States' history came from former President George H. W. Bush who famously said at the Republican National Convention in 1988, "The Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I'll say no, and they'll push, and I'll say no, and they'll push again, and I'll say to them, 'Read my lips: no new taxes.'" It was just two short years later in 1990 that President Bush announced new tax increases. (1)

Our current President, Barack Obama, is another man who is known for his multitudinous promises, which included an assurance to the American people that his presidency would be far more open and transparent than his predecessors before him. In a memorandum published in January 2009, Obama wrote the following: "My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in government." (2) Obama then proceeded to do the exact opposite. On March 17, 2014, CBS News published a story with the headline, "Government Secrecy up Under Obama Administration." (3) In this article, Senator Patrick Leahy, who is a Democrat from Vermont, complained that the government will often deny requests for information they do not want to reveal by classifying such information as top secret. "I'm concerned the growing trend toward relying upon FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) exemptions to withhold large swaths of government information is hindering the public's right to know. It becomes too much of a temptation. If you screw up in government, just mark it 'top secret,'" Senator Leahy opined. (4) In reality, men who dare to expose the truth of government corruption are ostracized. This includes Edward Snowden who in previous days worked for the National Security Agency, or NSA, until the day he exposed the unscrupulous activities of his employer and fled the country in 2013.

The website known as Politifact currently features a list of promises broken by Barack Obama. This list exceeds one hundred and will likely grow even more after Obama's final presidential term ends in 2017. (5) His promise to the American people that the implementation of the Affordable Care Act would not force them to change their health insurance plans even won "Lie of the Year" in December 2013. (6) "If you're one of the more than 250 million Americans who already have health insurance, you will keep your health insurance," Obama asserted in June 2012. Approximately four million people received cancellation notices from their insurance companies in 2013. (7)

Considering the politician's propensity to lie, can we believe anything they say? Our current candidates for the 2016 election make many promises just as other politicians do. In fact, Hillary Clinton has promised to eliminate tuition for students attending in-state public colleges if their families make less than 250,000 dollars per year. She has also promised to raise the federal minimum wage to at least 12 dollars an hour and pledged not to raise taxes on middle class Americans. (8) Interestingly enough, Obama also made similar promises, pledging to raise the minimum wage to 9.50 per hour and promising not to raise taxes for the middle class. (9) He lied. It certainly is a strange system wherein votes are bought with promises that do not even have to be kept. The American people, for the most part, know that campaign promises are lies. Yet, people still use such promises as a guideline to decide who they will vote for.

Although men will often disappoint, and politicians will often lie, God always keeps His promises. In II Corinthians 1:20-22 we read, "For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." God has promised to forgive us of our sins if we repent, and He has promised to send us His Spirit to guide us in our lives. We have also been promised that our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, will return. I urge every reader of this newsletter to lay hold on the promises of God. If you have not yet repented of your sins and dedicated your life to God, I urge you to do so now.

The Trouble With Obamacare!

If one were to sit down and ask Barack Obama of his achievements, he would likely reference the passage of his healthcare law, known as the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, as his favorite accomplishment. This law, which forces every American to buy "affordable" health insurance or pay a fine to the Internal Revenue Service if they fail to comply, was signed into law on March 23, 2010. (10) In the days leading up to the passage of Obamacare, Nancy Pelosi, who was Speaker of the House of Representatives in the United States at the time, famously declared, "We have to pass the bill (Obamacare) so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy." (11) The official website of the Affordable Care Act, healthcare.gov, opened in October 2013, (12) and since that time the American people have become well acquainted with this new healthcare system.

As it turns out, Obamacare is not quite as wonderful as the Democrats who passed it said it would be. In recent months, numerous health insurance companies have announced that they will scale back the insurance they offer through Obamacare or withdraw from the government health insurance program entirely. In August 2016, the health insurance company known as Aetna announced a plan to reduce its offerings on the Obamacare exchange by 80 percent in 2017. This decision was made after it came to light that Aetna is expected to lose 300 million dollars for participating in Obamacare. "The vast majority of payers have experienced continued financial stress within their individual public exchange business. Providing affordable, high-quality health care options to consumers is not possible without a balanced risk pool," stated Mark Bertolini, who is the Chief Executive Officer at Aetna. (13) In other words, Aetna is exiting the Obamacare marketplace because the majority of people who sign up for the insurance on the exchange have costly health problems, while healthy people who would balance the market are opting not to participate in the program. Additionally, two other major insurance companies, United HealthGroup and Humana, have also announced their intentions to quit Obamacare. (14) As a result, consumers will find fewer choices while shopping for insurance on the Obamacare exchange next year. Such is the case in Pinal County, Arizona, where the 300,000 residents who live there will not even be able to buy Obamacare insurance in 2017 because no insurance companies are offering it in their area. (15) In other areas, the cost of insurance premiums are likely to rise by significant amounts. According to a report by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, insurance companies have proposed increases in prices ranging from 5.44 to 37.88 percent in the state of Wisconsin. (16) The state of Illinois will also see sharp increases in insurance cost next year ranging from 44 to 55 percent according to the Chicago Tribune. "While these rate approvals result in a very difficult outcome for consumers, they were necessary to ensure that all Illinois consumers actually have an option for coverage when the 2017 Open Enrollment begins on November 1, 2016," said acting director of the state's insurance department Anne Melissa Dowling. (17) Additionally, the Los Angeles Times has reported that Californians' insurance premiums will increase by 13.2 percent in 2017. (18)

By now it should be clear that Obamacare is awful. We have lived with it long enough to see that it probably will not get better, but in all likelihood will actually get worse. While the official name for Obama's law is the "Affordable Care Act," many people, including myself, have come to realize that it is not affordable at all. Naturally, people are hoping that Obamacare will fall apart, and the mainstream news outlet known as CNBC seems to think that the program is doomed for failure. A headline they published on August 17, 2016, declares, "Aetna's Obamacare pullout means the 'insurance death spiral' has arrived." (19) However, we must consider the possibility that Obamacare as it exists today was never really what the liberals wanted. In an opinion piece written for the New York Times in 2013, the socialist filmmaker and documentarian, Michael Moore, admitted that Obamacare is "awful." Yet he praised the program because he believes it is a steppingstone to a universal government-controlled healthcare system. (20) Although many countries already have universal healthcare, the United States has been a notable exception. Clearly, this makes the United Nations unhappy since a global healthcare system is one of their goals that they hope to make a reality by the year 2030. In an official document from the United Nations, which was published in October 2015, we find the following words: "We envisage a world free of fear and violence. A world with universal literacy. A world with equitable and universal access to quality education at all levels, to health care and social protection, where physical, mental and social well-being are assured." (21) Yes, according to the United Nations, a truly universal and global healthcare system is a crucial component in their forthcoming one world government.

The Bizarre Campaign Of Hillary Clinton!

With the 2016 presidential election in the United States looming, the headlines are constantly dominated by stories of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Of course, we know from her past that Hillary Clinton is an exceedingly wicked woman who loves abortion, is involved in the occult, and is a pathological liar. To make matters worse, it seems that working with Hillary can be very dangerous business. In fact, many of Clinton's associates in the past have met with untimely and mysterious ends. The latest victim is a man by the name of Seth Rich. He was considered a rising star in the Democratic Party until he was shot and killed on the night of July 10, 2016, while walking home in a suburb of Washington, D.C. (22) Although the police have characterized this deadly assault as a robbery gone wrong, it is quite odd that none of Mr. Rich's belongings were stolen. "There had been a struggle. His hands were bruised, his knees are bruised, his face is bruised, and yet he had two shots to his back, and yet they never took anything. They took his life for literally no reason," Rich's mother said. (23) A widely circulating theory suggests that Mr. Rich was the party responsible for leaking thousands of emails which exposed the Democratic Party's unethical behavior as they worked for Hillary Clinton. The scandal led to the resignation of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz who had served as chairperson of the Democratic National Committee. To further fan the flames of suspicion, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is now offering a 20,000 dollar reward to anyone with information regarding the death of Seth Rich. Since WikiLeaks is the organization who released the incriminating emails, it would make sense that Mr. Rich was the source for their information. Assange has not confirmed or denied that Seth Rich was his source. (24) It is an interesting theory, however.

Hillary Clinton wants to be the next President of the United States, and there is a very real possibility that she could be given that position. Nevertheless, her behavior as a presidential candidate is quite bizarre. It seems she has great reticence when it comes to communicating with the press. In fact, a report published on August 24, 2016, by The Washington Post indicates that Clinton has not held a press conference since December 5, 2015! (25) In response to the growing outcry, Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook, has defended his candidate by claiming that Clinton has granted over three hundred interviews since the beginning of 2016. (26) It is interesting to note, however, that Hillary Clinton will seldom allow reporters to interview her, choosing rather to appear on television in a controlled environment. When she does allow an interviewer to be graced by her presence, her interviews are very short. They typically run between three and eight minutes, which all but guarantees that the interviewer will not be able to ask any in-depth or difficult questions. (27) What is she hiding? Perhaps Clinton already knows that she will be the next president and is therefore not particularly concerned about how she is perceived by the public. Needless to say, the public's perception of her is not good. A recent poll conducted by the Washington Post and ABC News found that 62 percent of respondents said Clinton is neither honest nor trustworthy. (28) Indeed, Ms. Clinton has been involved in numerous scandals over the years, including the handling of her emails while she served as Secretary of State under the Obama Administration and inappropriate dealings with individuals who donated money to her Clinton Foundation. One can only imagine what a Hillary Clinton presidency would be like, but the possibility does call to mind the words we find in Proverbs 29:2, "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn."

What Does The Future Hold?

There is something about the year 2030. Not only is the year of 2030 the target year wherein the United Nations hopes to establish its one world government, it is also a year that was written about in a recent article published by the Kiplinger Letter. In an article entitled "20 Amazing Ways Your Daily Life Will Be Different in 2030," the publication details some of its best guesses regarding what the future will be like. Some of their predictions include an Internet-enabled refrigerator which will keep an inventory of your groceries and automatically order replacement items when supplies are low. They also predict that groceries, household items, and small items weighing less than 10 pounds will be delivered by drones. They say appliances, locks, lights, heating and cooling systems, and other household equipment will all be linked by wireless microchips to the Internet. It is fully expected that driverless cars will be commonly used by 2030 as well. Other predictions include facial recognition security checkpoints at the airports, implanted microchips that will monitor the health of humans, smartphones that record everything we do, and a mostly cashless society. (29)

At first glance, these predictions from the Kiplinger Letter may seem far-fetched. However, these are educated guesses, and at this point in history, we are very close to seeing some of these predictions become reality. For example, the government of New Zealand recently gave the pizza chain known as Domino's permission to use drones for pizza delivery. The drones that Domino's will be using were developed by a company known as Flirtey. "With the increased number of deliveries we make each year, we were faced with the challenge of ensuring our delivery times continue to decrease and that we strive to offer our customers new and progressive ways of ordering from us," said Don Meij who is the chief executive and managing director for Domino's in New Zealand. He later went on to say, "Domino's is all about providing customers with choice and making customer's lives easier. Adding innovation such as drone deliveries means customers can experience cutting-edge technology and the convenience of having their Supreme Pizza delivered via air to their door. This is the future." (30) The company is also seeking to deliver pizzas using robots. (31)

In other news, a company known as nuTonomy is now offering a new autonomous vehicle taxi service in Singapore. This is notable because while companies such as Google have been testing driverless cars for years, nuTonomy is the first company in the world to allow the general public to use such vehicles. The service is limited for now to a small area consisting of 2.5 miles, but the company is hoping to have a full fleet in operation throughout Singapore by the year 2018. "We face constraints in land and manpower. We want to take advantage of self-driving technology to overcome such constraints, and in particular to introduce new mobility concepts which could bring about transformational improvements to public transport in Singapore," stated Singapore's Permanent Secretary for Transport, Pang Kin Keong. (32) The well-known ride service known as Uber is also set to test a similar service in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the coming weeks. Customers seeking rides will summon them as usual with Uber's program that works on smartphones. To entice customers to try it, Uber will be offering free rides in their autonomous vehicles. It is worthwhile to note, however, that these vehicles are not fully autonomous. They require a driver who can take control if something goes wrong, and these vehicles at this point are unable to cross bridges without human intervention. "Bridges are really hard. And there are like 500 bridges in Pittsburgh," said Uber's engineering director, Raffi Krikorian. (33)

Drones will be delivering pizzas in New Zealand, and driverless cars will be giving customers rides in Pittsburgh and Singapore, but how close are we to a cashless society? According to a report published in November 2015, chief executive officer Tim Cook of the computer maker known as Apple has predicted that a cashless society will be here soon. Speaking at a gathering at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, Cook told his audience, "Your kids will not know what money is." (34) We are already seeing the first stirrings of a cashless society in the United States. The chain of restaurants known as Sweetgreen recently stopped accepting cash at some locations. "One of the biggest complaints at Sweetgreen is the line, so by reducing cash we're able to serve customers a lot faster," said Jonathan Newman, who is co-founder of the Sweetgreen chain. (35) A company known as Major Food Group, which operates restaurants in New York, has also decided to forgo cash at some of its locations, including a restaurant known as Sadelle's. "I believe very strongly in the cash-free movement. There is an immense amount of work, process, and error that goes into taking, processing, monitoring and depositing cash. The amount of time and money that this costs is not worth the amount of business that is done in cash," declared Major Food Group co-owner Jeff Zalaznick. (36) I suspect that when the transformation to a cashless society is complete, it will not be because governments around the world have stopped issuing cash. Rather it will be because businesses no longer accept it, and thus having cash will be useless. This trend can even be observed at the Shopko store in my hometown of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. The store gives customers the option of using a self-checkout to purchase items, but those machines do not accept cash.

The technology required for a fully cashless society already exists. This is clearly shown in an article published on May 21, 2016, entitled "Satan's Credit Card: What the Mark of the Beast Taught Me About the Future of Money." The article, which was written by a man named Charlie Warzel, chronicles the author's quest to go completely cashless for thirty days. Although this man's original plan was to use a mishmash of mobile payment services with his smartphone to pay for goods and services, it culminated in a trip to Stockholm, Sweden, where he eventually received a microchip implant in his hand. As he prepared to receive his microchip, Warzel was warned by his piercer who would be performing the operation, "So now I'm going to tell you something you probably didn't consider before. People - very conservative right-wing Christian types - might come after you for this. They see it as the Mark of the Beast. I just want you to be prepared." The warning did not dissuade Warzel, however. Not only did he receive his microchip, but he was determined to become the first man to pay for a meal at a restaurant with his hand. In April 2016, he did that very thing at a restaurant in New York City. (37)

The human population is marching toward a future where technology controls the people, and a global one world government is established. We are closer than ever to seeing this happen, and that means we are closer than ever to the return of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. As we get closer to that fateful day, we see a world where there is trouble on every side. In August 2016, the American state of Louisiana suffered from devastating flooding that has damaged more than 110,000 homes. (38) The state of California is quite literally on fire as 4,200 wildfires have swept through the region so far this year, leading to the destruction of a vast area of land. (39) In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, riots broke out on August 13, 2016, and continued on August 14, 2016, (40) after a black police officer shot a black man who was pointing a gun at the officer. (41) Numerous stores in the area were looted and burned beyond repair. The violence was so bad that Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke requested assistance from the Wisconsin National Guard. (42) These are dangerous days.

We live in a world that desperately needs a Saviour. Thankfully, we can draw near to our God for comfort and strength in this tumultuous world. We are assured of this in James 4:6-10 which tells us, "But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."

Thank you all for your kind support of this ministry. We pray that God will be with you all. If you have any prayer requests, we are ready and willing to bring your petitions before the throne of the Almighty. Grace and peace be unto you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Samuel David Meyer  Last Trumpet Newsletter


Acknowledgements
01. Reading Eagle, July 5, 1990, By John W. Smith, http://news.google.com.
02. Official Whitehouse Memo, January 21, 2009, By Barack Obama, http://whitehouse.gov.
03. CBS News, March 17, 2014, By Associated Press, http://cbsnews.com.
04. Ibid.
05. Politifact, The Obameter, http://politifact.com.
06. Politifact, December 12, 2013, By Angie Drobnic Holan, http://politifact.com.
07. Ibid.
08. Politifact, July 22, 2016, By Lauren Carroll, http://politifact.com.
09. Politifact, The Obameter, http://politifact.com.
10. eHealthInsurance, October 22, 2014, By eHealthInsurance, http://resources.ehealthinsurance.com.
11. The Daily Signal, March 10, 2010, By Marguerite Bowling, http://dailysignal.com.
12. eHealthInsurance, October 22, 2014, By eHealthInsurance, http://resources.ehealthinsurance.com.
13. Bloomberg News, August 15, 2016, By Zachary Tracer, http://bloomberg.com.
14. Ibid.
15. Business Insider, August 22, 2016, By Bob Bryan, http://businessinsider.com.
16. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 21, 2016, By Guy Boulton, http://jsonline.com.
17. The Chicago Tribune, August 25, 2016, By Lisa Schencker, http://chicagotribune.com.
18. Los Angeles Times, July 19, 2016, By Melody Petersen and Noam M. Levey, http://latimes.com.
19. CNBC, August 17, 2016, By Sally C. Pipes, http://cnbc.com.
20. The New York Times, December 21, 2013, By Michael Moore, http://nytimes.com.
21. The United Nations, October 21, 2015, By The United Nations, http://un.org.
22. The Telegraph, August 10, 2016, By Nick Allen, http://telegraph.co.uk.
23. The Daily Mail, August 10, 2016, By Martin Gould and Alana Goodman, http://dailymail.co.uk.
24. The Telegraph, August 10, 2016, By Nick Allen, http://telegraph.co.uk.
25. The Washington Post, August 24, 2016, By Chris Cillizza, http://washingtonpost.com.
26. Ibid.
27. National Public Radio, August 26, 2016, By David Folkenflick, http://npr.org.
28. The Washington Post, August 24, 2016, By Chris Cillizza, http://washingtonpost.com.
29. Kiplinger Letter, April 2016, By John Miley, http://kiplinger.com.
30. NZ Herald News, August 25, 2016, By Holly Ryan, http://nzherald.co.nz.
31. Ibid.
32. Associated Press, August 25, 2016, By Annabelle Liang and Dee-Ann Durbin, http://bigstory.ap.com.
33. Bloomberg News, August 18, 2016, By Max Chafkin, http://bloomberg.com.
34. The Telegraph, November 11, 2016, By Dan Hyde, http://telegraph.co.uk.
35. The New York Times, July 30, 2016, By Gloria Dawson, http://nytimes.com.
36. Ibid.
37. Buzzfeed News, May 21, 2016, By Charlie Warzel, http://buzzfeed.com.
38. News One, August 25, 2016, By NewsOneNow, http://newsone.com.
39. USA Today, August 25, 2016, By Doyle Rice, http://usatoday.com.
40. Fox 6 News, August 14, 2016, By Fox 6 News, http://fox6now.com.
41. AllenBWest.com, August 15, 2016, By Matt Palumbo, http://allenbwest.com.
42. Fox 6 News, August 14, 2016, By Fox 6 News, http://fox6now.com.