2016: The Year in Review - Pete Garcia - http://www.omegaletter.com/articles/articles.asp?ArticleID=8172
Looking ahead into 2016 I think it's safe to say that most Americans are more than a little apprehensive about the shape of things to come. ISIS, weak economy, immigration, cultural deterioration, political correctness, rising global threats, ethnic unrest, conspiracies, Planet X, etc. ad nausea. The only silver lining at the end of this year is the coming elections and the hope that a change in regime will bode better for the average American.
While I am no prophet nor have I ever claimed that mantle, I thought this might be a bit of fun to speculate what the potentialities are for this upcoming year then revisit them again at the end of 2016 to see what I got right and what I didn't. More than likely, I will get a lot more wrong than I got right.
While I will make some predictions about what I think will happen in the coming year, there are obviously the unforeseen black swan events that come out of nowhere. The most prominent one that I can think of would be the 'Rapture of the Church', of which, we won't know when that will happen until it actually does. Other unknown events would be natural disasters, terrorist attacks, etc. So I will try and do due diligence to just the major things that I believe we are trending towards as a nation.
US Elections
As the GOP herd is beginning to thin out, I'm predicting that the GOP nomination will be a split between Cruz and Trump. Cruz handily taking Iowa, while Trump getting New Hampshire. This will play out in the primaries as the northeast and southeast lean heavy towards The Donald, while the mid-west, west, and south go to Cruz. It will be a close call but I think Donald will win it but that he will bring in Cruz and/or Rubio along as a running mate. My justification for this, and this is not scientific by any stretch, is that if he wants to get the Hispanic vote he needs either of them to clinch it.
Afghanistan
US Forces will reverse the drawdown and either maintain the 9,800 Boots on the Ground (BOGs) or add back more troops. Personally, I don't think President Obama wants to keep troops there but he also doesn't want to be held responsible for allowing ISIS, Al-Qaeda and the Taliban (or some combination thereof) to create a new safe haven there. Besides that, I don't think the Secretary of Defense, the Pentagon, the CIA or any other group in Washington will allow this to happen. Justification for this? The NYT and Washington Times are already providing cover pieces showing why Afghanistan shouldn't be abandoned. Looks like top-cover to me.
Syria
Whatever opportunities we had to change the course of events in Syria prior to Russia's involvement are now squandered and lost. We (the U.S.) will not risk an outright confrontation (or even the possibility thereof) by getting in a mix up with a former super-power. However, that is not to say Israel won't if they feel threatened. Expect the fight over the Golan Heights to heat up both diplomatically and militarily. ISIS is looking to draw Israel into the fray.
As it stands now there really isn't much left of Damascus but look for the potential for Russia to use a thermobaric or neutron bomb on what's left of it.
Justification: Since WWII, the U.S. is the only nation to actually use an atomic weapon in an actual conflict. Russia (formerly the Soviet Union) had this shame hanging over their heads for the next forty years during the entirety of the Cold War, but now will look to change that historical fact in Syria. Casualties will be minimal since most of the civilian life has already fled the scene and what remains are the hardened fighters, but this would be a good way for Russia to both clear the rubble for Bashar Assad and make a bold statement about what Russia will and won't do against future threats.
Energy
Natural Gas
Several years ago, I speculated that Israel, Cyprus, and Greece would come together to exploit the recent natural gas finds off the coast of Israel into an energy producing/exporting business together. My reasoning then was Greece was out of cash and almost out of friends. Israel has cash but their list of BFFs was quickly dwindling down into the single digits. So why not work together?
While Greece lacks the expertise or the cash to finance such an endeavor, they do have something far more important, location. Were they to allow Israel and energy companies to run pipelines through their country into the European Union, this would give the EU a much needed alternative to Russian natural gas. News reports from 2015 were that these discussions are set to happen in 2016 and I think something will be formalized in a more significant way. Of course. this will make Russia, Turkey, Lebanon and Syria none too happy.
Oil
As we've recently come to understand (H/T Vladimir Putin) (Link) about Turkey's illicit involvement in illegal oil sales from ISIS to the rest of the world, expect oil prices to go through the roof in 2016.
The Saudis are trying to drown the market in excess oil which has put Russia, Iran, ISIS and the American Shale industry in the financial hurt locker. They were able to do this because they thought they could weather the storm. But the Saudis are blowing through money at a pace a lot faster than what they really want to. This will cause them to slow production considerably thus bringing the price per barrel back up to what it had been for most of Pres. Obama's presidency.
Currency
I've long talked about the necessity for the American Dollar to collapse in order for a global reset to occur and a new currency (possibly digital) to be introduced to the world stage. It's not that I'm cheerleading for that to happen or wanting our currency to collapse, it is just an inescapable inevitability that we have to come to grips with.
According to Revelation 13 by the time the Antichrist comes to power he is able to implement some global system of commerce that requires everyone to participate in. But that doesn't happen overnight. There are stages to this coming to pass and with the global reserve currency sitting on nearly $20 trillion of debt (largely to ourselves at the expense of future generations), paying it off is simply a mathematical impossibility.
Look at this way, we have somewhere in the neighborhood of 320 million Americans. Out of that 320 million maybe half are paying into the system. At the current rate each American man, woman, and child is on the hook for $62,500. If we took the broadest definition of currency that Americans possess (M3) it would still only account for $17T in "currency". That would include all coins, bills, checks, credit, shares, investments, stocks, and bonds, and tangible goods. That would mean that zero dollars went to pay anything else (MEDICARE, MEDICAID, Welfare, Social Security, Military, etc.), and we put everything into paying off the debt, we'd still be $3T short, which still doesn't cover the interest accrued.
That might sound doom and gloom but the truth is, the world is heading straight for a global currency that can be controlled and manipulated by the final kingdom and its leader, the Antichrist. It is going that way because God said it would. So what options do we as a nation have left at our disposal?
Seeing as the world has/is relying on the US Dollar (H/T Petro-Dollar status) as the main Reserve Currency our actions/inactions will have global ramifications. Really, the only viable option we have is to hit some sort of global reset button and introduce a new, global currency that will necessarily equalize the playing field. That will only come about by some global catastrophic event that will force the world to realign...which is what the Rapture of the Church will introduce.
So not predicting the dollar will collapse this coming year, but that serious dialogue will grow louder and louder in how we have to 'diversify' away from the US Dollar. What we will see is more and more signs that our currency is becoming increasingly unstable as inflation and deflation continues to rise. How is that?
Inflation will affect the price of must-have goods (food, medicine, fuel, energy) and deflation will kick in on the price of non-necessity goods, or luxury items (cars, televisions, computers, games, etc.) because people will start to have to choose between eating, and having new, shiny things. This, of course will cause the price of those luxury items to continue to drop, hurting those specific industries which has a ripple effect on a lot of other factors. (See also Revelation 6:1-8)
Christendom
Look to see a marked increase on the call for dialogue, or "conversations" with non-Christian belief systems as part of the overarching ecumenical-itis that is sweeping through our politically correct landscape. I expect a lot more traction to be gained for the promoters of both Chrislam and Hebrew Roots as well as more concerted effort by the Roman Catholic Church to wrangle Protestants back in through Emergent Church, Seeker Friendly, and the Social Gospel.
Trends are showing within Evangelical circles of an increasing approval rating for LGBT lifestyles. This will be as such, that if we don't embrace these as brothers/sisters in Christ than we are hateful bigots. What this means for the New Year, is that we should expect more and more prominent 'Evangelicals' to come out of their 'Evangelical' closets in support of these deviant lifestyles. Welcome to the new normal. The only positive I see in all this is at least the wolves will finally start showing their true colors. (See 2 Timothy 3; 2 Peter 3)
EU Army
More prominent writers, thinkers, legislators, and commentators are more provocative in their speculations than I am, linking the refusal of our dismantlement of NATO, as step toward World War III. (Link) What I've said in the past, and will continue to say, is that NATO is the pre-cursor to the EU Army that will rise to power in the last days. The infrastructure is all in place they just need to change the name and the patches and they will have the Army that they've been wanting/needing in order to take on that mantle as the final global Superpower. Expect that 2016 will be a significant year for this dream of an EU Army to finally gain some serious traction. (See Revelation 13:1-4)
Technology
2015 proved a remarkable year for the acknowledgment of the threat of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Bill Gates, Ellon Musk, Eric Schmidt (Google), and Ray Kurzweil have all been talking very publically about the threat that the new race to Artificial Intelligence poses to humanity. Add to the 'new arms race' in developing quantum computers which should expedite the speed at which AI is achieved. This has prompted calls for both more regulation in how AI is developed, and also to the development of the 'trans human' who is able to biologically incorporate tech into the human body. I believe this is how the 'mark of the beast' will come to be as a type of bio-tech that is permanently affixed and linked to the wearer's DNA as both a sign of loyalty and functionality. I expect new breakthroughs this coming year that will have seemed impossible only this past year. (See Revelation 13:14-15)
Conclusion
While I'm not able to incorporate everything into this brief. These are just a few of the things we should keep on our radar of this coming year. Like I said at the outset, I may very likely be wrong on some or all of these. We will just have to see how this next year plays out. In the meantime, remember that no matter what comes our way God is still in control and if He allows these things to happen as such it is only because they work according to His ends, ways, and means. While I don't know the future, I worship the God who does.
Remember the former things of old,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, 'My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure,' Isaiah 46:9-10 NKJV
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