Jade Helm

By now, everyone who has been looking for signs of the Lord's return have heard about Jade Helm. This unprecedented military training exercise has really brought out the conspiracy theorists. It is highly likely that some of the reports about Jade Helm have used unsubstantiated information to make this training exercise sound more sensational than it is. But there is enough about it that is known from credible sources that should still merit the attention of all who are watching for Christ to return. And we should all be watching as Jesus told us to do in Matthew 24:42.

The purpose of Jade Helm is to train special forces in a realistic environment. It will take place for 8 weeks this Summer in seven Southwestern states including Texas. Jade Helm reflects the Army's changing mission to be better prepared for "asymmetric warfare" which is the type of combat we have been most engaged in recently. Asymmetric warfare is defined as war between belligerents whose relative military power differs significantly, or whose strategy or tactics differ significantly. As an old soldier whose Army experience was in an armored division during the Cold War, we used to call this type of warfare a "low-intensity conflict." Any combat involving tanks and field artillery is hardly low intensity. Urban fighting against an enemy using guerrilla tactics will likely be a bigger part of the Army's mission going forward.

Such a change in mission preparation for the U.S. Army actually reinforces Bible prophecy. If the world is going to unite as one, no more can we have the traditional, "symmetric warfare." Instead, the enemies of the community of nations will be relatively smaller groups of "radicals" who are not on-board with the conventional globalist vision. There is however at least one future battle described in Scripture that would caution against thinking all warfare to come will be asymmetric, Ezekiel 38-39.

Jade Helm briefings have been made in communities were there will be significant Jade Helm activities. For the most part these communities have embraced the exercise expecting their businesses to benefit with a military presence where soldiers will be "living off the land" so to speak. There have however been concerns that this exercise is practice and even staging to enforce a sinister plan by the federal government to impose martial law. 

Now why would people think there is something sinister about Jade Helm? This training exercise is unprecedented in a number of ways. The fact that it is being conducted outside military facilities raises eyebrows. All branches of the military already have numerous training sites for asymmetric warfare on their installations. Of course training in an environment closer to where you expect to fight does make for better, more realistic training. That was why we practiced deployment and trained off-post in Germany as part of the Reforger exercises during the Cold War. The fact that our military is doing the same thing on U.S. soil does send signals that someone high up in the government expects asymmetric warfare may be necessary at some point here in North America.

The scope of the exercise is another aspect of the unprecedented nature of Jade Helm. Seven states in the Southwest U.S. is a big area. About 60,000 active-duty troops are reportedly involved and range from National Guard soldiers to sailors and marines. That is pretty big for what is usually necessary to train special forces even with collaboration between service branches. This raises eyebrows because special forces are always small units operating mostly independently so such numbers will not be needed for effective training. Most of the troops involved in Jade Helm are likely the "opfor" (opposing forces) and "partisans" to the special forces units. (I can't help myself; as an old Army guy this does sound like a fun training exercise.)

And then there are the mysterious Walmart closings that appear to be connected with Jade Helm transforming them into indigenous logistic centers. The official reason given to the closures has been to fix plumbing issues but six months is a bit excessive for that and in no cases were there any building permits requested that would be necessary for such an activity. You can't blame the Walmart closures on the economy or there couldn't be a promise to open in six-months and they couldn't use that story anyway because no one would believe it. I have shopped at the Walmart that was closed in Odessa, Texas and it had so many customers in the middle of the day during the week that we had to park almost in the next county. While the Permian Basin is no longer booming like it was, most Odessa retail businesses are still doing better than the rest of the country.

Also, the scenario they are using for the exercise where Texas and Utah are considered enemy territory is another aspect that raises eyebrows. There are no-doubt legitimate reasons why Texas and Utah were chosen to be the enemy but few think this was just arbitrary. It appears to be a recognition that our conservative politics are seen as a realistic scenario to cause us to be the enemy of the government. Couple that with the government's use of the IRS to target conservative Tea Party groups and the FBI not even mentioning Islamic terrorism among their list of threats to domestic security and you have a lot of people who believe the most secretive government ever does have sinister hidden motives.

It is also well known that President Obama does not care for those he sees as bitterly clinging to their guns and religion seeing them as more of an enemy than the Islamists who want to bring an end to Western Civilization. And he has already done a lot to force social justice on the middle class which is effectively what Obama Care does. The conservatives among us who have a biblical worldview are also aware that the spirit of Antichrist is stronger with President Obama than any world leader we have seen in our lifetime. This does not mean BHO is the Antichrist but that it looks like he would totally agree with whoever the Antichrist turns out to be (see Revelation 17:13).

Training for asymmetric warfare develops a lot of the same skills that will be needed to enforce martial law over a civilian population. However, we do have the Posse Comitatus Act which makes it illegal for U.S. military personnel to be used for domestic law enforcement. This may be cold comfort as we see the Rule of Law giving way to the Rule of Man on so many fronts in this country. It seems as though government lawyers spend most of their time coming up with creative ways to get around the law.

Another concern about Jade Helm is that it is going on while race riots are being instigated. Some form of martial law is usually necessary to bring order to a riot. Many on the political left are calling on the federal government to do something about the local police forces that are apparently oppressing black people. President Obama has not done anything to calm these issues; instead he appears to be encouraging the anarchists who are calling on the federal government to nationalize local police forces. This must certainly please President Obama because he has not hid his desire to have a national police force. What better way to implement even more share-the-wealth social justice than with a national Gestapo?

Our Community Agitator in Chief and his minions seem intent to stir up ugly race relations every chance they get. Jesus told us the rise of racial conflict would be one of the signs of His soon return (Matthew 24:7, "nations" = "ethnos" in Greek). Some may think that stirring up bad race relations is a self-fulfilling prophecy but that would make Obama complicit in wanting to see Bible prophecy fulfilled. This is hardly what someone would do who so identifies with Islam that he has said, "the Muslim call to prayer was the prettiest sound on earth" and "the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam."

President Obama is seeking to divide this country along racial lines, how else can you explain race relations getting worse under his watch? It is likely that some will think our growing racism was President Bush's fault since they like to blame him for whatever happens under Obama's reign that is not good. Or more to the point, they will agree with President Obama that the American system is so fundamentally flawed that degenerating race relations are inevitable. But, as a wise man once said, "shit doesn't stink unless you stir it." 

The Bible says that eventually there will effectively be martial law worldwide. We can hope that such a "state of emergency" will not happen here in the USA until after the Rapture of the Church. But if it does, it would be better to live in a rural area that may be off the radar of the race-bating anarchists. Watching the stupid handling of the Baltimore developments is amazing. Real justice is taking a back seat to social justice and it wouldn't take much to expand that craziness nation-wide especially with a central government and media that are cheering it on.

All Christians should be praying for those we know who need to embrace Jesus. This is especially important now as things get even more obvious that Bible prophecy is being fulfilled. It is truly a blessing to know Jesus as our Savior; our relationship with Him helps us deal with all the craziness that is going on in the world today. We know there will be an end to it. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20)