With U.S. debt now at $35.3 trillion, the cost of paying the interest on all that borrowing has soared recently and now averages out to $3 billion a day, according to Apollo chief economist Torsten Sløk.
And that includes Saturdays and Sundays, he pointed out in a note on Tuesday.
The daily interest expense has doubled since 2020 and is up from $2 trillion about two years ago. That’s when the Federal Reserve began its campaign of aggressive rate hikes to rein in inflation.
In the process, that made servicing U.S. debt more costly as Treasury bonds paid out higher yields. But with the Fed now poised to start cutting rates later this month, the reverse can happen.
“If the Fed cuts interest rates by 1%-point and the entire yield curve declines by 1%-point, then daily interest expenses will decline from $3 billion per day to $2.5 billion per day,” Sløk estimated.
Apollo
Meanwhile, the federal government closes out its fiscal year at the end of this month, and the year-to-date cost of paying interest on U.S. debt was already at $1 trillion months ago.
But even if Fed rate cuts lighten the burden on interest payments, the next president is expected to worsen budget deficits, adding to the pile of total debt and offsetting some of the benefit of lower rates.
In fact, a recent analysis from the Penn Wharton Budget Model found that the deficit will expand under either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris.
But there’s a big difference between the two.
Under Trump’s tax and spending proposals, primary deficits would increase by $5.8 trillion over the next 10 years on a conventional basis and by $4.1 trillion on a dynamic basis that includes the economic effects of the fiscal policy.
Under a Harris administration, primary deficits would increase by $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years on a conventional basis and by $2 trillion on a dynamic basis.
Still, JPMorgan analysts called the outlook unsustainable, regardless of who wins the presidential election, while acknowledging the prospect of bigger deficits with Trump.
“Irrespective of the election outcome, the trend since the pandemic has been profligate fiscal policy that is absorbing substantial amounts of capital and is incentivizing additional private investment,” the bank said. “At the same time, the en masse retirement of baby boomers is shifting a substantial share of the population from a high-savings period in life to a low-savings period, depressing the supply of capital.”
Recommended reading: In our new special issue, a Wall Street legend gets a radical makeover, a tale of crypto iniquity, misbehaving poultry royalty, and more. Read the stories.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom | Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills thanked Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom late Friday for vetoing a bill that would have given up to $150,000 to illegal immigrants as a down payment for home loans.
On Friday, Newsom vetoed AB 1840, which would have expanded the California Dream for All program that would have given illegal immigrants who were first-time homebuyers up to 20% of a home’s value or as much as $150,000 as a down payment on a house.
In a short letter to the California State Assembly on Friday, Newsom explained why he vetoed the bill, noting in part that the home loan program already has limited funds.
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“This bill seeks to prohibit the disqualification of applicants from one of California Housing Finance Agency’s (CalHFA) home purchase assistance programs based solely on their immigration status,” Newsome said in the veto letter.
“Given the finite funding available for CalHFA programs, expanding program eligibility must be carefully considered within the broader context of the annual state budget to ensure we manage our resources effectively.
“For this reason, I am unable to sign the bill.”
In a lengthy post on X that began in all caps, the Calvary Chapel Chino Hills pastor wrote: “FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER IN MY LIFE — I am going to thank and complement California Governor Gavin Newsom.”
Writing for himself and on “behalf of millions of Californians,” Hibbs thanked the governor, saying he didn’t know why he decided to veto the “terrible” bill, but it showed Californians that he can “be a man of conviction and courage as you lead your own California Democrat [P]arty.”
Jack Hibbs is the senior and founding pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, in Southern California. | YouTube/Real Life with Jack Hibbs
Hibbs, an outspoken megachurch pastor who recently urged his congregation not to vote for Democrats, said he will pray that Newsom “will continue to do the right thing here in California” and urged the governor to secure the state’s southern border and help reduce illegal immigration so that “our communities and our children can be safe again.”
Some Democrats in the state Assembly defended the bill’s effort to give illegal immigrants the same opportunities to receive housing benefits as other California residents.
“It isn’t given out willy nilly to just anybody,” Democrat Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes said during a hearing on the bill in June, according to Fox News.
During an appearance on HBO’s “Real Time” with host Bill Maher last Friday, House Speaker Emerita Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said that “making the American Dream of home ownership available to all people is something we have to do for people who are here now.” She added that those who are in the state illegally should have their status changed to “documented.”
Maher pushed back on Pelosi’s assertion and the lawmakers who passed AB1840, noting that giving home loans to immigrants who are in the country illegally positions the Democratic Party to “a different place than the [party] used to be on immigration.”
Following a brief back-and-forth about immigration and housing, Pelosi said the bill sought to make “the American Dream […] available to more people.” She added that while she wasn’t “familiar” with the details of the bill, “making the American Dream of home ownership available to all people is something we have to do for people who are here now.”
The Lord’s Supper reveals that Jesus takes the worst we can do and makes it a sign of the best he does for us. Within hours of that meal in the upper room, Jesus’s body would indeed be given and his blood poured out. This dreadful tragedy accomplished our glorious salvation.
From the beginning, the early church recalled and reenacted these moments in gathered worship. Just two decades after Jesus’s death, Paul passed along what he had received as common understanding: “As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). In Communion, we enter both the power and the proclamation of Jesus’s saving death. That participation should be thrilling.
Contentious Meal
Sometimes, however, we get all tangled up about the Lord’s Supper. We can so easily miss the point of this practice Jesus gave to his people. The joyful expression of our union with Christ and one another becomes heavy with contentious questions.
For example, we puzzle over what happens to the elements. Jesus said, “This is my body” (Matthew 26:26; 1 Corinthians 11:24). We wonder how literally he meant it. We also stress over who may participate. Some ministers in my tradition seem to take more time talking about who may not partake than actually inviting believers into the life-giving mystery of the meal.
Then there are all the logistical issues. We worry whether the bread must be unleavened as in the Passover. Some insist the wine must be fermented, while others are adamant that grape juice will do. Common cup, individual cups, or intinction (dipping the bread in the cup)? Come forward or pass out?
And unless we are from a long-established liturgical tradition, we discuss frequency. Quarterly, monthly, weekly? Practically speaking, Communion takes away time from singing and preaching, so it can feel like a nuisance. Others worry that if we celebrate the Supper too often, it will become rote.
This cascade of questions can suck the joy out of this precious sacrament Jesus gave us. But perhaps if we dig under these encrusting controversies, we might once again reach the living heart of Communion. It’s really not that far away. We just return to that momentous night. We consider how Jesus draws humanity at its worst into the triune God at his redemptive best.
His Best in Our Worst
Jesus gives them the bread with the words, “This is my body” (Matthew 26:26). Then he shares with them the third cup of the Passover: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). The ancient symbols of bread and wine received new, deeper meaning in these moments. Jesus dared to make the sacred Passover meal find its true fulfillment in himself. The Lamb of God pledged himself to a new covenant that would be sealed in his blood. At the meal, Jesus offered himself to them — just minutes before the arrest that would lead to his trial and torture and death.
Jesus warns them that this night will bring them the shame of failing him. But in the glow of the meal, the disciples feel brave. “Peter said to him, ‘Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!’ And all the disciples said the same” (Matthew 26:35). Yet minutes later, when Jesus asks three of them to keep watch while he prays in his agony, he returns to find them sleeping. “So, could you not watch with me one hour?” (Matthew 26:40).
“The Lord’s Supper reveals that Jesus takes the worst we can do and makes it a sign of the best he does for us.”
Soon, Judas arrives with the soldiers. “Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, ‘The one I will kiss is the man; seize him’” (Matthew 26:48). Moments before, those same traitorous lips had tasted the bread given by Jesus’s own hand. With that same mouth, he marks Jesus for death.
Before the mob, the bravado of Christ’s closest friends fades to fear. “Then all the disciples left him and fled” (Matthew 26:56). Even Peter would proclaim with an oath, “I do not know the man” (Matthew 26:74).
Jesus pledged himself in covenant as he gave them bread and wine. But the disciples’ eager participation in the moment only highlighted their weakness to come. Bread and wine would forever remind them of how they failed their Lord that night. They were unable to stop his body being seized and his blood being let.
And yet. One cannot steal what is already freely given. One cannot gain victory over another who has already submitted. The soldiers may have seized Jesus, but he had already given his will to the Father. Pilate may have condemned him, but Jesus had already submitted to the triune plan to defeat death by death. The disciples were never really the cause of anything. These tokens of suffering, betrayal, failure, and death would become everlasting signs of sovereign love. This is the heart of Communion.
Wonderful Exchange
Near the beginning of his brilliant explanation of the Lord’s Supper, John Calvin connects this sacrament with the heart of God’s gift to us in Jesus. He likens what Jesus underwent to a marvelous trade in which we are surprised beneficiaries.
This is the wonderful exchange which, out of his measureless benevolence, he has made with us; that becoming Son of man with us, he has made us sons of God with him; that, by his descent to earth, he has prepared an ascent to heaven for us; that, by taking on our mortality, he has conferred his immortality upon us; that, accepting our weakness, he has strengthened us by his power; that receiving our poverty unto himself, he has transferred his wealth to us; that, taking the weight of our iniquity upon himself (which oppressed us), he has clothed us with his righteousness. (Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.17.2)
Every Lord’s Supper, we come to the trading place. We come carrying our shame and guilt like Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol, dragging the clanking chain of his sins. Yet at the Table, Jesus offers to break those chains. He wants to trade us. He’s ready to take our latest cowardly denial, drowsy inattention, outright betrayal, and embarrassing flight into self-protection. He remains the most extravagant trader. No four-year-old trading his leather baseball glove for a tattered comic book ever made a seemingly worse deal than Jesus. For out of the grace hoard of his complete atonement, Jesus swaps us.
Trade at the Table
Can you imagine Jesus at the Table? His eyes welcome you with love. They see all and yet beckon you to come closer. His smile opens an ocean of compassion. He speaks with startlingly ordinary words. “Drop that sack of shame right here. Take a hunk of my ever-renewing Bread of Life. Slide that bitter cup of stubborn unforgiveness my way. And pick up my cup. Gulp down the blood that cleanses not only all you’ve ever done but all that’s ever been done to you. Come on — trade me. This is for you, right now. Give me your worst. Receive my best. Take me — don’t wait. Let’s make a trade.”
It’s not only a matter of sins. We can bring all that weighs us down and offer it up. In Communion, Jesus nourishes us with himself, so we can receive any and all words he says into our personal situations. We bring our anxiety and listen to him saying, “My peace I give to you. . . . Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). We bring our tumults and trials and receive his words, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
We bring our sorrows from all the painful partings. He speaks, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). We carry up our despair over the state of the world and place it into his hands. He gives us the bread and cup with a promise: “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5). We bring intractable situations to the one “who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens” (Revelation 3:7).
Heart of Communion
The heart of Communion is Jesus’s taking the worst, hardest, most baffling and defeating from us. He gives us his best — his way, truth, and life. For the bread reveals the Son of God who gave himself entirely and utterly for us. The cup offers the blood shed to take away every sin. The essence of the Lord’s Supper is Jesus offering in the present moment all that his incarnate life, death, resurrection, and ascension have accomplished.
Paul writes, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16). The mystery is the wondrous exchange whereby Jesus keeps on receiving us as his own and giving himself to us utterly and redemptively. This puts all the other questions, as important as they may be, in their proper place.
Meanwhile back in the real world, Africa continues to enjoy ever increasing food production, longer lives, record low deaths from malnutrition and steadily growing GDP.
All of this has been made possible by fossil fuels:
.Meanwhile not only has the Sahel along with other regions in Africa been greened by extra CO2 in the atmosphere, scientists say that a warmer world could see a return to the wetter climate enjoyed during the warmer early Holocene era.
In the future, the Sahara and Sahelian regions could experience more rainfall than today as a result of climate change. Wetter periods, termed African humid periods, occurred in the past and witnessed a mesic landscape in place of today’s hyperarid and semiarid environment. Such large past changes raise the question of whether the near future might hold in store similar environmental transformations, particularly in view of the growing human-induced climate, land-use, and land-cover changes. In the last decades.
To say that I’m protective over the first Beetlejuice film is probably an understatement. There’s a devoted compartment nestled in the back of a certain kind of ‘weird kid’ brain for many Tim Burton films that’s hard to qualify in that way. Many of us are goth or queer or monster-fuckers of one variety or another (or some combination?), and because Burton’s oeuvre made a home for us, we’re inclined to look askance at the needless over-commodification of that space. Beetlejuice in particular is testament to how ecstatically odd art can get when you allow a group of highly talented people to just mess around until you find… it. How could anything in this age of cash-grab-rehash measure up to that?
So when the lights dimmed, the film started, and the faintest strains of Donna Summer’s cover of “MacArthur Park” started playing, you can imagine the sudden relief that swept my body. It was as though every muscle I hadn’t noticed I was holding began to unclench.
Oh. We still wanna be fucking strange, I see? Okay. Let’s go.
While it’s near-impossible to replicate the cavalcade of happenstance that made the first film so good, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice feels like a story told by people who wanted to spend time with its characters and world, who appreciated those things rather than simply caring about the audience’s memory of them. It doesn’t always succeed on that front, but the many pitfalls that were possible—over-slickification of the CGI variety, constant tired callbacks to the first film, reliance on Michael Keaton’s (admittedly flawless) shtick—don’t get the chance to rear their heads. It never feels as though some overzealous suit stuck their hand in to tweak the formula, but rather trusted that everyone on board knew what they were doing, and again, allowed them to play.
In point of fact, this is a story about Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) and her daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega), and the two of them finding their way back to one another in the wake of estrangement. It’s perhaps a cliché that Lydia has a rocky relationship with the kid, but there’s nothing clichéd about the execution: Astrid doesn’t actually believe that her mother sees ghosts, in part because her father (Santiago Cabrera) is dead and Lydia has never been able to produce him for her. The fact that seeing ghosts doesn’t exactly work like that isn’t going to matter to a grieving teenager, and Lydia has no idea how to make this right between them—particularly while she’s in the midst of a career as a television medium on a show produced by her insufferable boyfriend, Rory (Justin Theroux).
Things haven’t worked out well for Lydia as an adult: Seeing ghosts turned stressful in her day-to-day; she was divorced well before her ex died; her father has just turned up dead as well; oh, and she’s seeing Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) everywhere. Stepmother Delia (Catherine O’Hara, here to remind us all that Moira Rose had an even more delightfully unhinged predecessor) is handling Charles’s death with all the calm and serenity that we would naturally expect—meaning she’s devoted herself to primal screaming photography and artistic treatises on grief, and demanding that everyone participate in these rituals with her.
The Deetz women are financially stable, certainly—and I could go on a lengthy side diatribe about how one of the greatest choices this film makes is showing Delia as a commercially successful artist because that is correct—but they are struggling at the moment. Cue a wildly inappropriate marriage proposal from the aforementioned insufferable boyfriend and Astrid’s flirtation with a boy in town (Arthur Conti) to complicate the plot.
It is correct that Betelgeuse’s role in all this is on the periphery; Keaton himself insisted that character not be overused because he can so easily slip into the realm of too-much-of-a-good-thing. But he spends most of the film being chased down by two parties: actor-turned-afterlife-cop Wolf Jackson (Willem Dafoe) and the bio-exorcist’s ex-wife Delores (Monica Bellucci). While Wolf brings serious TJ Hooker energy to the film—a thing so delightful to write that I’m sad I’ve never before had the opportunity—Delores’s part in this tale is decidedly Vibes Only. How well this works for a given viewer will be down to personal preference and enjoyment of Burton’s aesthetics. She is certainly of a type for the director (the instances where Burton has turned his partners into undead stitched-together women now numbers at three), but this time the character is given leave to be a figure of menace rather than the wan ingenue. For my part, though she has absolutely no bearing on the outcome of the story, I enjoyed her so very much.
There are moments on the periphery of the film that allude to pieces we’re missing, and thankfully never turn into bevies of exposition. We don’t know precisely what happened to the Maitlands—the starring ghosts of the first feature who were helping to raise Lydia by the end of the movie. We don’t know exactly what ended Lydia’s marriage to Astrid’s dad. We also don’t know how Lydia managed to arrive at her horrible ghost-hunters-via-Elvira network TV hell existence, or even what manner of fame she’s achieved. It’s an aspect to filmmaking that is grossly misunderstood and ill-used these days, knowing what bits of information are essential and what should be left out and to the audience’s imagination, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice hits that balance over and over with an enviable ease.
What’s also impressive is the pacing of the film, in that it has a sense of pacing at all. We live in an era of high-octane-action-all-the-time for pretty much everything other than dramas, and it’s easy for forget that movies can go slow and be great? This sequel’s build runs counterintuitive to the current framework, with the majority of the plot consisting of characters… having conversations. The afterlife shenanigans are sprinkled throughout to bring in all the incredible design work and the stop-start feel of the original, but the pressing action takes ages to unfold, making it all the more engaging when the stakes finally charge up.
Do things get a little overindulgent at times? Yeah, of course. There are couple places where it feels as though bits take place because “this is a Beetlejuice movie.” The ending will be divisive, for sure. (For my part, it felt like the perfect send-up of bad sequel finales, if an odd choice.) There are sequences that go overlong for the sake of a joke. There are also, more importantly, places where cultures wind up feeling like set dressing, which is a problem Burton has never cared to fix in his films. Those flaws might diminish the film’s enjoyment factor for some, and that’s entirely fair.
The places where the film lives up to its name are the ones where it remembers to be a story about one wacky little family and their dead people problems. Lydia and Delia’s relationship has grown and shifted over the years, and while they’ll never see eye-to-eye, there’s a palpable bond between the two that feels lived-in and strangely comfortable. Astrid may be frustrated with her mother, but that frustration means that she misses all the ways that they’re alike—two sunken-eyed misfits with macabre souls, confident that no one could possibly understand them.
With Lydia Deetz now a middle-aged woman—another long side diatribe I want to give about the importance of giving us this, of showing her to us, and allowing her to be her morose neurotic beautiful self—there’s a wonderful reflection taking place. We get to experience that familial drama from several vantage points this time around, and the result feels like a work of translation, the chance to see something with fresh eyes. Lydia gets to be both mother and child in this story—embarrassing her kid and misunderstanding her, but still and always worrying Delia, who may never have been a maternal type, but loves her all the same.
With all of this bubbling beneath the surface, Betelgeuse bursts out from under the floorboards to wreck his usual havoc. His help is needed once again, and his obsession with Lydia is creepy as ever (a fact that the film happily never tries to smooth over). The afterlife is still rendered with practical effects and makeup, still a labyrinth of paperwork and effluvia and acidic color. There isn’t much more that I could ask for, personally.
Another movie isn’t really needed—and, thankfully, isn’t aggressively seeded either. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice instead hangs in the air like an eerie mist, daring us to imagine a world where you make a sequel… only because you really wanted to make one.
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Fall asleep with my extra-relaxing version of Johannes Brahms’s “Wiegenlied”–aka, Brahms’ Lullaby. As always, I arranged and recorded this music specifically for the fantastic viewers of this channel, and you won’t find this version anywhere else on YouTube. I hope you enjoy!
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For most homeowners, the monthly mortgage payment isn’t the only financial responsibility associated with property ownership. Taxes, insurance, and other fees add complexity and potential confusion to the equation. Thankfully, escrow exists to simplify this process by acting as a secure holding ground for these recurring expenses. But what exactly is escrow, and how does it work? This comprehensive guide will answer all your questions, empowering you to understand and manage your escrow account effectively.
What is Escrow?
Essentially, escrow is a neutral third-party account managed by your mortgage lender or servicer. Each month, a portion of your mortgage payment is allocated to this account to accumulate funds for property taxes, homeowners insurance, and sometimes even mortgage insurance. When these bills become due, the servicer uses the money in your escrow account to pay them directly, ensuring their timely remittance and avoiding potential penalties or lapses in coverage.
Why is Escrow Important?
Escrow serves several crucial purposes for homeowners:
Ensures timely payments: By automating the payment process, escrow eliminates the risk of late payments on property taxes and insurance, which can lead to financial penalties, interest charges, or even the cancellation of your homeowner’s insurance policy.
Offers budgeting predictability: Knowing exactly how much you’ll need for monthly mortgage payments and additional housing expenses makes budgeting easier and helps you avoid unexpected financial strains.
Simplifies recordkeeping: With all tax and insurance payments managed by your servicer, you have fewer bills to worry about and track, simplifying your financial organization.
Protects your lender’s interests: Escrow ensures that property taxes and insurance are paid, protecting your lender’s investment in your property.
How Does Escrow Work?
Here’s a breakdown of the typical escrow process:
Setting up the account: At closing, your lender will analyze your estimated annual property taxes and homeowner’s insurance premiums. They then divide this amount by 12 and add it to your monthly mortgage payment.
Monthly contributions: Each month, your mortgage payment includes an escrow portion that accumulates in your dedicated account.
Annual analysis: Once a year, your lender reviews your escrow account balance and compares it to your actual tax and insurance bills paid during the previous year. Any discrepancy could indicate an overage or shortage in your account.
Adjusting the escrow payment: Based on the annual review, your lender may adjust your monthly escrow contribution to ensure it accurately reflects your actual annual expenses. This helps maintain a sufficient balance to cover upcoming bills without accumulating unnecessary surplus.
Bill payments: When property taxes and insurance bills become due, your servicer automatically uses the funds in your escrow account to pay them directly to the designated parties.
Important Escrow Considerations:
Escrow analysis and adjustments: Be aware that the annual review and potential adjustments to your escrow payment are crucial. Carefully review your lender’s analysis and ask questions if you have any concerns or disagree with the proposed changes.
Escrow overages and shortages: If your escrow account consistently builds up excess funds, you may be eligible for an escrow refund. Conversely, a persistent shortage could lead to late payments and penalties if not addressed promptly.
Escrow disputes: In rare cases, homeowners may encounter discrepancies or errors in their escrow accounts. Contact your lender immediately if you suspect any issues and work towards a resolution.
Alternative escrow options: Depending on your lender and local regulations, you might have some flexibility in managing your escrow accounts. For instance, some lenders allow you to pay property taxes directly and receive an escrow credit. Explore these options if they align with your preferences and financial circumstances.
Managing Your Escrow Account Proactively:
By understanding how escrow works and taking an active role in its management, you can benefit from its convenience and financial security:
Stay informed: Request statements of your escrow account regularly and review them diligently.
Communicate with your lender: Address any questions or concerns about your escrow account promptly.
Plan for potential adjustments: Prepare for potential changes in your escrow payment based on annual reviews.
Shop around for competitive rates: If switching mortgage lenders is appealing, consider how it might affect your escrow account and compare escrow terms offered by different institutions.
Understanding your homeowner’s escrow is a fundamental aspect of responsible property ownership. By demystifying this process and actively managing your escrow account, you can ensure financial stability, avoid unnecessary complications, and make informed decisions about your homeownership journey.
“AND THE word of The LORD came to me, saying, Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, of Meshech, and of Tubal, and prophesy against him,” Ezekiel 38:1-2 AMPC
I remember from Joel Richardson’s book, “The Islamic Antichrist” that he said these are all tribes of Turkey. So I looked into it a bit.
Rosh: רֹאשׁ (rŏsh ROSH ). 1. The seventh son or grandson of Benjamin (Genesis 46:21). 2. In the ASV this word appears in the title of Gog, who is described as “the prince of Rosh” (Ezekiel 38:2-3; 39:1), but the margin has “or, ‘chief prince of.’” A people or country named Rosh is impossible to identify, although Russia and Rasu in Assyria have been suggested. Instead of Rosh the KJV and RSV have the “chief prince of,” but this would imply an unusual construction and is not generally favored by textual scholars and exegetes. Russians are mentioned for the first time in the 10th century A.D. by Byzantine writers under the name of ̔Ρώς, and by Ibn Fosslan under the name of Rus, a people dwelling on the river Volga. It is therefore unlikely that the prophet could be referring to them. (Biblehub)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia ROSH (2) (ro’sh; Rhos, variant (Q margin) kephales; Vulgate (Jerome’s Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) capiris):
1. Rosh and Its Renderings : This name occurs in the prophecies against Gog in Ezekiel 38:2-3 and Ezekiel 39:1, where the King James Version has “Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.” This translation is due to ro’sh being the common Hebrew word for “head” or “chief” (compare the Greek variant and the Vulgate), and is regarded as incorrect, that of the Revised Version (British and American), “Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal,” being preferred.
2. Identification with Russia : The identification of Rosh is not without its difficulties. Gesenius regarded it as indicating the Russians, who are mentioned in Byzantine writers of the 10th century under the name of Rhos. He adds that they are also noticed by Ibn Fosslan (same period), under the name of Rus, as a people dwelling on the river Rha (Volga). Apart from the improbability that the dominion of Gog extended to this district, it would be needful to know at what date the Rus of the Volga arrived there.
Note : Some versions refer to Antichrist as “the Assyrian”
3. Probably the Assyrian Rasu : Notwithstanding objections on account of its eastern position, in all probability Fried. Delitzsch’s identification of Rosh with the mat Rasi, “land of Rash” of the Assyrian inscriptions, is the best. Sargon of Assyria (circa 710 B.C.) conquered the countries “from the land of Rasu on the border of Elam as far as the river of Egypt,” and this country is further described in his Khorsabad Inscription, 18, as “the land of Rasu, of the boundary of Elam, which is beside the Tigris.”
Assyria having disappeared from among the nations when Ezekiel wrote his prophecies, Babylonia was probably the only power with which “Gog of the land of Magog” would have had to reckon, but it may well be doubted whether the Babylonian king would have allowed him to exercise power in the district of Rasu, except as a very faithful vassal. It may here be noted that the Hebrew spelling of Rosh presupposes an earlier pronunciation as Rash, a form agreeing closely with that used by the Assyrians. See Fried. Delitzsch, Wo lag das Paradies? 325. (T. G. Pinches)
Rosh: Strong’s Hebrew 7219. Rosh — (bitter and poisonous herb) venom rosh or rosh. 7218, 7219. rosh or rosh. 7220 . (bitter and poisonous herb) venom.
Additional source : Ezekiel 38: Who Are Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, & Beth Togarmah?
“And say, Thus says The LORD God: Behold, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince (ruler) of Rosh, of Meshech, and of Tubal. And I will turn you back and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you forth and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords — Persia, Cush, and Put or Libya with them, all of them with shield and helmet, Gomer and all his hordes, the house of Togarmah in the uttermost parts of the north and all his hordes–many people are with you.”Ezekiel 38:3-6.
Note : He says I WILL TURN YOU BACK and PUT HOOKS INTO YOUR JAWS. So this is GOD ALMIGHTY orchestrating this war!
CUSH
The land of Cush has been known by many names throughout history. The Egyptians knew the land as Cush. To the Greeks and Romans it was Aethiopia (or Ethiopia — though not to be confused with the modern nation located on the Horn of Africa). The medieval Arabs referred to the country as Nubia.
Regardless of the name by which it was known, Cush played an interesting role in the history of Canaan, Egypt, and the wider ancient Near East as a whole. Mentioned some 54 times in the Hebrew Bible, Cush features in the historical books — specifically Kings and Chronicles — as well as the prophets. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekial, and Nahum all make mention Cush or the Cushites.
No modern nation corresponds exactly to ancient Cush. Located along the middle course of the Nile — between the junction of the Blue and White Nile and the First Cataract — the territory of Cush lies partly in Egypt and partly in the Republic of Sudan (The Kingdom of Cush)
PUT
Put (Wikipedia) Phut or Put (Hebrew: ּט ּפו Pūṭ; Septuagint Greek Φουδ Phoud) is the third son of Ham (one of the sons of Noah), in the biblical Table of Nations (Genesis 10:6; cf. 1 Chronicles 1:8).
The name Put (or Phut) is used in the Bible for Ancient Libya, but a few scholars proposed the Land of Punt known from Ancient Egyptian annals. Epiphanius writes: “Thus Mistrem was allotted Egypt, Cush, Aethiopia, Put, Axum, Ragman and Sabteka and [Dedan, also called Judad], the region bordering on Garama.”
Josephus writes: “Phut also was the founder of Libya, and called the inhabitants Phutites (Phoutes), from himself: there is also a river in the country of Moors which bears that name; whence it is that we may see the greatest part of the Grecian historiographers mention that river and the adjoining country by the appellation of Phut (Phoute): but the name it has now has been by change given it from one of the sons of Mezraim, who was called Lybyos.”
Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy both place the river Phuth on the west side of Mauretania. Ptolemy also mentions a city Putea in Libya.
A Libyan connection has likewise been inferred from Nahum 3:9, where it is said that “Put and Lubim” were the helpers of Egypt.
Other biblical verses consistently refer to the descendants of Put as warriors. In Jeremiah 46:9, they are again described as being supporters of Egypt. Ezekiel mentions them three times: in 27:10, as supporters of Tyre (Phoenicia), in 30:5 again as supporting Egypt, and in 38:5, as supporters of Gog.
The Hebrew Bible substitutes Put in Ezekiel where the Septuagint Greek (LXX) refers to Libues. However, the Hebrew reads Pul in Isaiah 66:19, in place of Put in the LXX.
The Libyan tribe of pỉdw shows up in Egyptian records by the 22nd dynasty, while a Ptolemaic text from Edfu refers to the t3 n nꜣ pỉt.w “the land of the Pitu”. The word was later written in Demotic as Pỉt, and as Phaiat in Coptic, a name for Libya Aegypti, northwestern Egypt.
A fragment of Nebuchadnezzar II’s annals mentions his campaign in 567 in Egypt, and defeating the soldiers of Pu-ṭu-ia-a-man, i.e. Greek Libya (Cyrene). A multilingual stele from al-Kabrīt, dating to the reign of Darius I refers to the Put as the province of Putāya (Old Persian) and Puṭa (Neo-Babylonian), where the equivalent text written in Egyptian has tꜣ ṯmḥw “Libya”. (Put — OpenBible.info)
From Chuck Missler’s video:
This was a shocker in Chuck Misslers’ talk : The Great Wall of China, I believe he said westward including the Scythians is labeled God and Magog!
Picture below from Chuck Missler.
“You [Gog] be prepared; yes, prepare yourself, you and all your companies that are assembled about you, and you be a guard and a commander for them. After many days you shall be visited and mustered [for service]; in the latter years you shall go against the land that is restored from the ravages of the sword, where people are gathered out of many nations upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste; but its [people] are brought forth out of the nations and they shall dwell securely, all of them. [Isaiah 24:22.] You shall ascend and come like a storm; you shall be like a cloud to cover the land, you and all your hosts and many people with you. Thus says The LORD God: At the same time thoughts shall come into your mind, and you will devise an evil plan. And you will say, I will go up against an open country [the land of unwalled villages]; I will fall upon those who are at rest, who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls and having neither bars nor gates, to take spoil and prey, to turn your hand upon the desolate places now inhabited and assail the people gathered out of the nations, who have obtained livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth [Palestine]. Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish, with all their lion-like cubs [or satellite areas], shall say to you, Have you come to take spoil? Have you gathered your hosts to take the prey? To carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take a great spoil? Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, Thus says The LORD God: In that day when My people Israel dwell securely, will you not know it and be aroused? And you will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. And you shall come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. In the latter days I will bring you against My land, that the nations may know, understand, and realize Me when My holiness shall be vindicated through you [vindicated and honored in your overwhelming destruction], O Gog, before their eyes.” Ezekiel 38:716 AMPC
So GOD will make a great display of His power destroying the armies coming against Israel!
“Thus says The LORD God: Are you he of whom I have spoken in olden times by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for years that I would bring you [Gog] against them. But in that day when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, says The LORD God, My wrath shall come up into My nostrils. For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath have I said, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking or cosmic catastrophe in the land of Israel,” Ezekiel 38:17-19 AMPC.
Wrath : H5678 – ebrah – an outburst of passion, anger, rage, wrath
Great : 1419 or (shortened) gadol {gaw-dole’}; from 1431; great (in any sense); hence, older; also insolent:–+ aloud, elder(-est), + exceeding(-ly), + far, (man of) great (man, matter, thing,-er,-ness), high, long, loud, mighty, more, much, noble, proud thing, X sore, (X ) very.
“So that the fishes of the sea and the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall tremble and shake at My presence; and the mountains shall be thrown down and the steep places shall fall and every wall [natural or artificial] shall fall to the ground.” Ezekiel 38:20 AMPC
Woa! ALL MEN ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH WILL TREMBLE!
Mountains will fall down meaning physical and spiritual, like principalities.
“And I will call for a sword against [Gog] throughout all My mountains, says The LORD God, every man’s sword shall be against his brother [over the dividing of booty]. And with pestilence and with bloodshed will I enter into judgment with [Gog], and I will rain upon him and upon his hordes and upon the many peoples that are with him torrents of rain and great hailstones, fire and brimstone. [Psalm 11:6.] ” Ezekiel 38:21-22.
Picture Sodom and Gomorrah!
“Thus will I demonstrate My greatness and My holiness, and I will be recognized, understood, and known in the eyes of many nations; yes, they shall know that I am The LORD [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].” Ezekiel 38:23
Muslim nations will see the glory of the God of Israel displayed.”
This is the excellent talk by Chuck Missler. He has a bit differing view from Joel Richardson. This was so good.
PRISCILLA VAN SUTPHIN is the founder of Upstream Ministries, California, online at upstreamca.org and blogtalkradio.com/upstream and broadcasts on YouTube at @PriscillaVanSutphin. Email: upstream.ca@me.com For Donations: send to ‘Priscilla Van Sutphin’ on envelope, but to Upstream if chk at 15660 Tustin Village Way #27, Tustin CA 92780 or https://www.paypal.me/UpstreamMinistries or Zelle thru using upstream.ca@me.com
People have much to say about real estate investors, but not all of it is positive. While we can understand where some of the complaints come from, such as those about institutional investors, real estate investors play an integral role in the modern housing market. There may be valid criticisms out there, but by and large, investors—especially individual investors—play a significant role in maintaining the health and viability of real estate at large.
The truth is that real estate investment benefits both the individual and the market, influencing local and national trends. Here’s how investors influence the market the most.
1. Property Upkeep and Values
Investors often purchase distressed or outdated properties and renovate them. This not only improves the quality of the housing but raises local property values. Investors are also diligent in protecting the condition of these properties, preventing occurrences of abandoned or neglected properties that hurt neighborhood safety and value.
Now, before the comments start about lousy landlords, slumlords, and overgrown weeds at rental houses, there are always going to be bad investors who do a poor job of keeping up their properties. However, when properties sit abandoned and neighborhoods become blighted, real estate investors are the ones who step in and take the risks of reinvigorating properties. Yes, investors expect to make a profit, but those profits come with risk, and without investors, there is no progress, no revitalization, and no improvement to the neighborhoods.
2. Alternative Housing Solutions
Some people would bemoan how reliant our housing market is on rentals. But the truth is, rentals are a pillar of the modern market and have remained a stable percentage of total home inventory for the past 60 years. Rentals are not a recent phenomenon, regardless of the popular narrative.
Rental properties remain more accessible than buying and provide the flexibility our society demands. Additionally, the build-to-rent (BTR) model also increases the housing supply. When homeownership is increasingly inaccessible, single-family rentals offer long-term alternatives.
3. Community Involvement
Even out-of-state investors have an impact on their investment markets. No matter where you invest, you will no doubt utilize the assets found in that market.
Investors provide work for local businesses like contractors, builders, real estate agents, and property managers. When you consider the number of homes that are rentals in a given area, multiply that number by thousands of dollars, and you get a sense of the real economic impact that investors have on a community.
By investors taking the risk of investing in a community, thousands of dollars are transferred through the economy into the pockets of small, local businesses that often wouldn’t exist otherwise. These investors provide more housing options to support a growing population and may participate in community development. Ideally, investors contribute to the value of an individual property and the community as a whole.
Further Reading: 8 Reasons Investors Flock to SFRs in a Tough Economy
4. Market Recovery
Let’s talk about the Great Recession. Though conditions vary from market to market, there’s no denying that real estate recovery would’ve been much slower if not for investor activity.
Here’s how investors contributed:
Purchasing Distressed Properties: Investors bought foreclosed homes and distressed properties, removing them from the market and helping stabilize home prices. Remember, foreclosures pull down property prices. During the Great Recession, many homeowners were underwater on their mortgages! Investor purchases often prevented further price declines and helped absorb the glut of housing inventory.
Converting Homes to Rentals: Investors converted many foreclosed homes into rental properties. This provided housing for those who lost their homes during the crash and supported the rental market, which saw increased demand as homeownership rates declined. Even those who weren’t directly affected often chose to forego homeownership (and rent instead) to avoid the same fate.
Stimulating Economic Activity: Real estate investments created jobs for contractors, construction workers, and property managers. The Great Recession affected virtually every job and business, especially those in the real estate sector. Investors’ willingness to patronize real estate-adjacent industries only helped local markets recover.
Providing Liquidity: Investors provided much-needed liquidity to the housing market by purchasing properties that banks and homeowners struggled to sell. Remember, when the market bottomed out at the height of the subprime mortgage crisis, banks and individual homeowners were left up a creek without a paddle. Investors thawed a frozen market everyone was too scared to jump back into.
Increasing Market Confidence: Investors’ active participation in the housing market helped restore confidence among other buyers and sellers. Looking back, it may be hard to remember how distressed people were. They were losing their equity, retirement, and sense of home. Investors’ willingness to buy properties encouraged others to see that there was still a future in real estate.
5. Tax Revenue
Yay…taxes! Whether we enjoy paying them or not (likely not), tax revenue plays a key role in helping cities, states, and the nation run smoothly.
Investors’ taxes fund many public services, programs, and infrastructure improvements that increase the quality of life. In some municipalities, notably in the great state of Texas, real estate taxes specifically fund many of the infrastructure projects that attract the next renter and future buyer. Some may complain that Texas has high taxes, but when you consider that those taxes are precisely why Texas has three of the fastest-growing metros in the country, you realize that the juice is worth the squeeze!
Another tax to review is real estate taxes generated by the transaction itself. Real estate transactions generate significant tax revenue for local governments through property taxes, transfer taxes, and other fees—not to mention taxes on rental income.
At the end of the day, many of the issues investors are blamed for are not isolated problems. Higher rental rates correlate to demand, just like property prices do. While there are certainly issues worth addressing, real estate investors benefit the market far more than most people realize!
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Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.
PRISCILLA VAN SUTPHIN is the founder of Upstream Ministries, California, online at upstreamca.org and blogtalkradio.com/upstream and broadcasts on YouTube at @PriscillaVanSutphin. Email: upstream.ca@me.com