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Juan Guaido encouraging supporters to stand against Nicolas Maduro

COGwriter

The situation in Venezuela remains unsettled:

Venezuelan Opposition Leader Tries New Tactic to Topple Maduro

May 2, 2019

Juan Guaido, Venezuela’s self-proclaimed president, says a staggered industrial action would start Thursday, leading to a general strike.

The strike is the latest strategy in his effort to force President Nicolas Maduro out of power through a popular uprising. Two days of rallies in the streets of Caracas have led to violent clashes between Guaido’s supporters and Venezuelan forces, but the military’s top officers have yet to heed Guaido’s call to defect from Maduro.

Millions of Venezuelans — fed up with out-of-control inflation, severe food and fuel shortages, a lack of medical care, and periodic blackouts — have fled the country.

As head of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, Guaido used the constitution to declare Nicolas Maduro’s presidency illegitimate, saying his election in December was a fraud. He has been recognized by the United States and more than 50 other nations as Venezuela’s rightful president.

Maduro is accusing Guaido of trying to carry out a U.S.- and Colombian-supported coup and says the opposition will fail.

He said demonstrators will be prosecuted “for the serious crimes that have been committed against the constitution, the rule of law and the right to peace.” https://www.voanews.com/a/venezuelan-opposition-leader-tries-new-tactic-to-topple-maduro-/4900510.html

2 May 2019

How significant is Guaidó’s call for strikes?

In a series of tweets (in Spanish), Mr Guaidó said the final phase of “Operation Liberty” had begun and it was the turn of public workers to join in.

He urged protesters to stay on the streets until Mr Maduro’s government would be finally forced to resign.

Mr Guaidó has been courting the public sector for weeks – but winning their support will be difficult, the BBC’s Americas editor Candace Piette says.

For years, state employees have been told that if they did not turn up at government rallies, they would lose their jobs.

So if the opposition leader does win them over, it will be a huge victory against President Maduro, our editor says.

What international reaction has there been?

Tensions are rising between the US and Russia over the crisis.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US may take military action to resolve the crisis, and accused Russia and Cuba of destabilising the country through their support for Mr Maduro.

The US also reiterated its support for Mr Guaidó.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Mr Pompeo that America’s influence over Venezuela was destructive and a violation of international law.

UN Secretary General António Guterres has appealed for both sides in Venezuela to avoid violence, while the EU has called for “utmost restraint to avoid the loss of lives and an escalation in tensions”. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-48128846

The fact that Juan Guaido was even able to make his plea suggests that Nicolas Maduro does not have the control he seemed to think that he had.

Venezuela is a resource rich country. It may have the greatest amount of oil reserves of any country, and it is also a significant producer of gold.

Venezuela was one of the wealthiest countries in Latin America, but now is one of the poorest.

While all human governments tend to mismanage resources and their economies, Venezuela has been more extreme that way than many.

CBS reported:

Inflation recently hit one million percent … 05/01/19 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-is-venezuelas-president-juan-guaido-or-nicolas-maduro-understanding-the-venezuela-crisis-and-protests/

Forbes mentioned a different rate, covering a slightly different time period:

Things are bad in socialist Venezuela, and they could be about to get even worse.

Massive planned demonstrations this week combined with the possibility of even tighter U.S. sanctions on the country could push the beleaguered state even deeper into its economic malaise.

The country is already suffering the rare and nasty phenomenon of hyperinflation which is quickly destroying the economy.

The country’s inflation measured an annualized 72,944% on April 27, according to estimates from Steve Hanke, professor of applied economics at Johns Hopkins University and an expert in hyperinflation. That level of inflation quickly makes money worthless and impoverishes the country’s people. https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonconstable/2019/04/30/mass-protests-planned-in-venezuela-wednesday-amid-tightening-u-s-sanctions/#5482f3835979

It is hard to have an economy when the currency gets so devalued. Those who think that this can only come in other lands, need to realize that Germany had a similar problem that helped propel the rise of Adolf Hitler.

And one day, mismanagement of the US economy (through things like massive debt accumulation, confiscatory taxation, and quantitative easing) will be a factor in the US dollar becoming worth less than Venezuela’s currency now is (see also The End of US Dollar Dominance).

Here are some comments from my 2017 book Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse:

The 45^th President of the United States

Despite what was so far happened, I can state with biblical assurance that the time that the Bible calls the “Great Tribulation” (Matthew 24:21) will NOT begin until sometime after the first presidential term of Donald Trump ends.

However, the end of the 6,000 years God has granted humanity to rule itself will likely be over the next decade or so (a detailed discussion of this is in an article at the website www.cogwriter.com). Thus, simply by the virtue of timing, Donald Trump is destined to take steps that ultimately will aid in the fulfillment of end-time biblical prophecies.

As president, Donald Trump will have to deal with the fact that the U.S.A. is the most indebted nation in the history of humanity …

Debt is a prophesied problem (cf. Habakkuk 2:6-8).

The time will come when the U.S.A. government will no longer be able to borrow at low interest rates and/or it will create more money electronically and/or via the printing press to try to continue.

Make no mistake about it — massive inflation is coming.

The U.S.A. dollar will ultimately crash and be worthless. That “pride” of American power will be broken (cf. Leviticus 26:19). …

The Economy

While pushing biblically immoral ideas is bad for the economy, it should be noted that economies vary. A modern reality is that being the world’s de facto reserve currency has helped prolong the U.S.A.’s dominance.

When the U.S. dollar is no longer the world’s reserve currency, this will hurt the U.S.A. financially. Increasing debt, including “quantitative easing,” is a form of dishonest profits that is not something that God approves of and will punish the U.S.A. for (cf. Ezekiel 22:13-16).

Inflation will eventually hit the U.S.A. extremely hard. As the world becomes less attached to the American dollar, many financial jobs and opportunities will be in places other than the U.S.A. Eventually, but not yet, the U.S.A. dollar will become worthless.

Will it always be straight downhill for the economy of the U.S.A.?

No.

There are some reasons to have some temporary optimism. The longer there is some economic stagnation in parts of the economy, the more demand tends to build up, and an increase in demand may prolong the economy. In addition, technological and other developments may temporarily support the U.S. economy—as can reductions of regulatory burdens.

Some policies of Donald Trump may help. The stock market in the U.S.A. responded favorably in the weeks after the election of Donald Trump. Various ones see his policies and his cabinet selections as a refreshing pro-business change that will fuel economic growth, investment, and prosperity …

There are issues with what Donald Trump says when he speaks. I expect people will call for his impeachment. 

The Bottom Line

Like many politicians, Donald Trump does not meet the following:

21 Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; (Exodus 18:19)

3 The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: ‘He who rules over men must be just, Ruling in the fear of God. (2 Samuel 23:3)

This does not bode well for the U.S.A.

Furthermore, the Bible warns against the type of moral decline that is occurring in the U.S.A.:

12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel:  “Because you despise this word, And trust in oppression and perversity, And rely on them,  13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you Like a breach ready to fall, A bulge in a high wall, Whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant. (Isaiah 30:12-13)

But how can this happen to the USA?  It will likely happen with a combination of events. Notice:

5 “Moreover the multitude of your foes Shall be like fine dust, And the multitude of the terrible ones Like chaff that passes away; Yes, it shall be in an instant, suddenly. 6 You will be punished by the Lord of hosts With thunder and earthquake and great noise, With storm and tempest And the flame of devouring fire. (Isaiah 29:5-6)

The debt situation of the U.S.A. is putting it at risk of being unable to recover should it be hit by weather problems, terrorist acts, war, riots, solar flares, severe earthquakes, civil unrest, devastation of their genetically-modified food supplies, food shortages, and/or various pestilences–an intensity of “sorrows” such as Jesus discussed in Matthew 24:4-8 leading up to the time of the Great Tribulation. Political issues, climate change, trade policies, communication’s deals, and other events are pushing the U.S.A. to a position that will encourage its takeover someday. Disasters, especially if there is an ElectroMagnetic Pulse (EMP) attack or a severe solar flare storm, could be part of a so-called “perfect storm” of events that could set the USA for destruction. (Thiel B. Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse. Nazarene Books, 2017)

Neither Juan Guaido nor Nicolas Maduro are calling for national repentance in Venezuela either. But the USA has certain unique aspects which will turn more countries strongly against it than will happen with Venezuela.

That being said, as I have written before, ultimately, I believe that Venezuela will change and some of those who left that nation for other lands will return.

Venezuela, also, will likely have some prosperity with trade from the rising Babylonian Beast power, but that will be temporal.

Venezuela, like the rest of the world, needs repentance and the Kingdom of God.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 2nd, 2019 at 6:30 am and is filed under Prophecy.

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