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The Divorce
“Is it time for a divorce?”
The woman who phoned in to the Rush Limbaugh Show September 29 asked the question. I find it to be a most poignant question, and quite pertinent.
Should we, she was wondering, now agree to split down the middle—or along lines of ideological , political, religious, and other areas of the schism that is tearing the nation apart. The divide is indeed deep and the fabric that once held us together as a people seems to be seen and heard ripping violently as it fractures to pieces in accounts from hour by hour news feeds.
Lanny Davis, the political operative and White House lawyer and spokesman during the years of the Clinton presidency, has proposed such a divorce. He says he and a number of his blue-state think-alikes intend to propose that the nation be divided in two—or in fractured parts, according to their blueness and redness. He says they will take the best part of that division, the East Coast and West Coast, population centers in the cities of the middle country and Hawaii. By implication, the rest—the backward, Bible-clinging gun-toters and hayseeds—can be left to see if they can survive without the brilliance and guidance, as well as the assets, of the glorious blue-state secessionists.
It’s a fascinating proposal, to be sure. Considering that most of the population centers of the nation are now suffering unparalleled violence and carnage from the likes of BLM and Antifa, with no governance of blue-oriented mayors and governors, the proposal is almost appealing—to this Bible-carrying, gun-toting hayseed, at least. Federal taxes taken from us to provide for the common defense and general welfare of such anti-American areas of the nation have little appeal, so far as I can determine.
On the other hand, our Lord told us that a nation divided against itself cannot stand. That truth was taken to heart by Abraham Lincoln, and years of one of the deadliest wars of history saved the Union and thereby preserves the nation to this day.
I, and you, as Americans, have lived in peace. —That is, “peace” relative to the lives lived by those of the rest of the world.
We get up daily, free from fear of government and from our neighbors. Or, that is the way it has been until the election of Donald J. Trump.
The politicians and media prevaricators who are ideologically blue blame this president for the great divide although it is they who have been at the center of the despicable, attempted coup d’état they’ve perpetrated. This fact makes the woman on the Rush Limbaugh program wonder aloud for his forty million-plus daily listeners to hear: “Is it time for a divorce?”
If the coup is successful—if the change-America, blue-state cabalists get their way, we can no longer awaken free from fear of saying the wrong thing or making a misstep that will get us sent off for reeducation camps, gulags, or worse.
But, wait—she is concerned because she already is feeling such persecution. The woman said, as I recall, that she’s now surrounded by “blue-thinking” neighbors who constantly harangue her if she so much as speaks in a way they think is hate speech.
Although she hasn’t a clue she has said any such thing or made any such misstep, she’s been threatened, through unspoken and overt intimidation. She is sick of it, she said, and wonders if we shouldn’t just make the divide that those such as Lanny Davis want.
Her question, I’m sure, must have been made in a non-literal sense—although, I must say, she never indicated such.
A number of pundits I’ve heard have said they see such a civil war to divide the nation as Davis wants. I’ve said before that my own grandfather, Gideon Johnson James, said way, way back there when I was about ten years old that there was coming a great divide in the nation. He said there would be another civil war.
Listening to the debate between the president and the former vice president did nothing to assuage the fear of such a coming conflict. There was a divide right down the middle. Well, I would put the moderator in there as part of the divide, based upon his constant input of assistance at times one of the debaters began to stumble. The media, as I said, as a whole is in the blue-state category. It showed in that September 28 forum.
Make no mistake: a divorce is coming. It will be a much greater a parting of the ways than ever seen in any divorce court at any time in national or world history. Believers will be instantaneously divorced from the evil of this earth.
I’m talking about the moment when believers in Jesus Christ leave this judgment-bound sphere. Those “engaged” to the Lord, the Creator of all things, the King of Kings, will split the heavens to be forever with the Bridegroom in a symbolic wedding that can never be dissolved.
Let us look for this “blessed hope” as instructed in Titus 2:13. But at the same time, let us witness of Christ’s saving grace and God’s desire that all come to repentance (2 Peter 3: 9).
The Rapture is imminent! Even so, come Lord Jesus!
God’s Staying Hand
Author’s note: While looking through correspondence from my friend Ed Merrick, a well-known school principal and public educator in our region, who died at age 83 on September 4, 2020, I came across an article he found to be especially compelling, and in his always encouraging way let me know. It was posted as a terryjamesprophecyline.com blog article on July 6, 2020.
It is an article I think needs looked at again as we rapidly approach November 3, 2020.
The past weekend this nation celebrated Independence Day 2020. The holiday is a sort unlike any celebrated by any other country in earth’s history. There will never be a holiday of its like again this side of Christ’s next intervention into the sordid and sorry affairs of man.
I can say this with certitude—at least within my own view—because America is the last hope, in human terms, for freedom to the extent America has enjoyed that blessing for 244 years. We are witnessing liberty’s last gleaming.
When thinking on this commentary, I first thought to title it “Why America Is Lost.” The thought was that the nation has since some time in the 1950s begun the dismantling of all that is good about her, as French philosopher and admirer of America, Alexis de Tocqueville, would have it.
By the late 1950s, influences by Karl Marx and especially of Charles Darwin, as well as by other anti-God minions, had so invaded the educational process in America as to weaken the undergirdings that held erect America’s “goodness.”
That “goodness” is the Judeo-Christian principles upon which the founding fathers placed the republic they created. By 1963, those principles had eroded to the point that prayer and Bible reading were banished in public classrooms. The Ten Commandments became anathema to the new masters of education. There were actually statements made to the effect that the commandments should not be posted anywhere in public places—especially not within public classrooms. The rationale? Because the children might actually read them and begin to think they have to obey and practice them. That insanity is recorded for anyone who cares to research it. I’m not making it up, as they say.
I remember a thirty-something-year-old professor standing before my political science class in my freshman year at college lauding the marvels that Marxism-Leninism offered as opposed to the evil presented by American adventurism and bloody war-making since the founding. By then, the erosion of American “goodness,” thus its “greatness,” was well underway.
So, as I say, I started to give this commentary the title, “Why America Is Lost.” I thought to present the fact that the disease of anti-God inculcation has so infected America at its core that the nation cannot be spared the inevitable fall that God’s righteousness—the only goodness that exists—ultimately demands.
As de Tocqueville and any observer within the realm of rationality would rightly conclude, America has lost her goodness, her godly foundational mooring. So she has lost her greatness (the gleaming of freedom as testimony to God providing certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness).
We have allowed the “wickedness in high places”—those principalities and powers in the lofty perches of academia and government—to replace the godly foundations. The nation has been and is at this moment being deconstructed by lawlessness in an avalanche of tearing down all values formerly held to as suitable for a good and moral people.
Founders like Franklin and Adams forewarned about dangers intrinsic within the populace ever abandoning the Judeo-Christian base they had erected. Any other people than a morally based, truly free people, they consistently forewarned, are unsuitable for God-given governance. Any people not firmly moored by such providentially influenced foundation are ultimately destined to lose their liberty, was the message.
That those liberties implicit and explicit within the Bill of Rights are even at this moment under assault cannot be denied. The anarchists, arsonists, and so-called deconstructionists of the radical left make liberty’s last gleaming a manifest destiny for Americans.
The Democrat party champions those who are fomenting a cultural revolution that mimics those of Mao and others. Lawlessness rules in major cities where the reprobate thinking of Democrat mayors and governors agrees with the Marxist demands that law enforcement be eliminated through defunding and other means.
The Republican Party for the most part refuses to stand up against the evil that has taken over much of the nation’s youth—the Millennial generation. From kindergarten through doctoral programs, these have been victims of a satanically influenced cabal of anti-God educators for more than six decades. The title, “Why America Is Lost,” therefore, would be appropriate for an article in this day and time.
But the impression struck as the depression deepened in thinking on these matters. “You have left out one ingredient to all this seeming madness afflicting the nation and world.”
Indeed, I had left out the most important ingredient when thinking on the insanity raging within our nation and beyond. That factor is God’s staying hand.
America, although it shows every indicator of precipitous decline from which there seems no escape, remains the freest nation on earth. Its economy, already untenable because of debt extrapolated into hundreds of trillions of dollars for future generations, remains intact, despite suffering a complete shutdown due to a largely contrived virus threat. Most of the nation’s heartland continues to function and show progress toward a return to a degree of normalcy, despite the most vicious attempts imaginable by globalist diabolists in DC and other capitals of the world to rip American sovereignty and autonomy to shreds.
It is incontrovertibly true from the perspective of Bible prophecy, within the observations of those spiritually attuned. God continues to restrain the raging efforts to bring down this supernaturally inspired experiment in liberty. America will be here, I’m believing, until that restraint is withdrawn when Christ calls all born again believers to Himself.
Meantime, it is incumbent to pray fervently that He who sits in Heaven—and obviously has the rebels of planet earth in derision as in Psalm 2—continues to restrain the satanically enraged evil with His omnipotent, staying hand.
Spirit of Antichrist Manifesting
The title of our book to be released soon is LAWLESS: The End-Times War Against the Spirit of Antichrist. Is there any title that could more encapsulate what we’ve been witnessing in our nation for these past weeks?
The apostle John wrote of his own time that the “spirit of Antichrist” was already in the world:
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. (1 John 4:2–3)
The apostle Paul also spoke of this lawless spirit that would prevail at the very end of the age. Its growing manifestation, he wrote, will be a precursor to the Antichrist himself vaulting onto the world stage:
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. (2 Thessalonians 2:2)
The “day” Paul refers to is the “day of the Lord”—the beginning of the Tribulation, the last seven years of human history leading up to the Second Advent of Jesus Christ, as foretold in Revelation 9.
The great apostle foretold that this “day” won’t begin until there first comes a “falling away,” or “apostasy.” This word can be interpreted several ways, and has also been translated to mean several things wrapped up in one meaning.
One definition of “apostasy” is a “departure,” and it can be either a departure from faith (belief in scriptural truth) or a departure in the spatial sense—that is, literally leaving one place to go to another. I believe that in this case, “apostasy” carries both meanings: Paul is saying that before Antichrist comes on the scene to become the world’s last and fiercest tyrant, people will largely be deep into a state of departure from faith in Bible truth.
I also believe he is saying that Antichrist can’t come on the scene until there is a spatial departure—that is, a removal from one place to go to another, literally. This will be the Rapture of the Church (all true believers in Christ for salvation).
When the departure (as wrapped up in both meanings) is complete, the “man of sin”—Antichrist—will leap to the end stage of history for his horrendous reign of terror.
He is also referred to, like his father, Satan, as the “man of lawlessness.” The word departure also has within its meaning the thought of being lawless—denying the Creator who laid down how mankind should live.
The “spirit of Antichrist” has at its God-denying center the evil of complete lawlessness. That’s why God’s Word calls end-times man, as expressed in the KJV, “earth dwellers.” Those in unbelief are “earthy”—they care only about things that are of this sin-saturated existence on earth.
Paul the apostle, again, said that this “falling away” (apostasy) will first appear on the scene before Antichrist will be manifested before the world. The departure from faith will include increasing lawlessness, preparing the way for the most lawless one of all—Antichrist.
The following excerpt, I think gives a deep look into the “spirit of Antichrist” making literal inroads into the evil we see exploding in our cities.
In a June 13 conversation between Black Lives Matter (BLM) co-founder Patrisse Cullors and BLM-Los Angeles chapter co-founder Melina Abdullah, Abdullah discusses how the two of them have “become very intimate with the spirits we call on regularly,” and Cullors talks about how using a hashtag for BLM is “almost resurrecting a spirit so that it can work through us.”…
In the interview, Abdullah states, “maybe I’m sharing too much but we’ve become very intimate with the spirits that we call on regularly. Right? Like, each of them seems to have a different presence and personality. You know, I laugh a lot with Wakiesha [Wilson]. You know? And I didn’t meet her in her body.”…
Wakiesha Wilson was a black woman who suffered from bi-polar disorder and reportedly hanged herself while in LAPD custody.Her death has become a cause célèbre among BLM activists.
Cullors responds, saying that she was raised a Jehovah’s Witness but, “as I got older, ancestor, ancestral worship became really important.”
Cullors then explains how the hashtags such as #SayHerName and #BLM are a means to honor the dead and invoke them. (Alexander Watson, “BLM Leaders Discuss ‘Resurrecting a Spirit So That It Can Work Through Us,’” CNS News, September 24, 2020)
Based on what we see on the evil streets of America and the world today, can there be any doubt that we’re witnessing the spirit of Antichrist manifesting at this time so near the end of the age? The departure—in every sense—has begun in earnest. It will soon have its conclusion. That conclusion will mean God’s judgment and wrath for earth dwellers, and glory beyond all imagination for believers in Jesus Christ.
Suddenly – In the Twinkling of An Eye! By Jan Markell
“For you yourselves know that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’, then sudden destruction will come upon them like labor pains upon a women with child, and they will not escape.” I Thessalonians 5:2-3
Last days’ events happen quickly. Even suddenly. The word “quickly” (Greek word: tachos) is used eight times in Revelation. Think of an automobile tachometer which measures the working speed of an engine typically in revolutions per minute. And it revs up.
We often see sudden destruction falling upon the wicked in the Bible. The unrepentant living during Noah’s time, experienced a sudden and catastrophic flood (Gen. 6-9). They had 120 years to repent as Noah preached to them, but they chose to ignore him and judgment suddenly fell (Gen. 6:3-7).
Have you noticed that in 2020, everything has happened suddenly?
- Our fairly ordinary world suddenly vanished.
- Stores sold out
- Fear gripped America—and the world—suddenly
- People were ordered tosuddenly totally change their lifestyles.
- People lost businesses of a lifetime
- A U.S. President went from popular to “the cause of it all”
- Reality became surreal suddenly.
- Cities turned into ghost towns
- Mankind became lovers of self, treacherous, and without self-control
- Cries for global government transpired suddenly,as only a one-world system could slow down the wreckage.
- Virtual became the new way of doing all things
- The U.S. economy went from best ever to horrible suddenly.
- Church went from essential to irrelevant in the eyes of the world
- Hollywood suddenlystopped making sick movies as theaters suddenly
- Order turned to chaos suddenlywith racial tension.
- That tension suddenly turnedto lawlessness.
- Lawlessness turned to anarchy
- The cry for police protection suddenly turnedto “abolish the police.”
- Common sense simply turned suddenly to strong delusion.
Is there a message in all of this? Something else will happen suddenly—the Rapture of the Church. It will take place in the twinkling of an eye . That is so fast it can hardly even be measured.
When God begins to move, He doesn’t waste a moment. But He does take time to warn before He judges. And He seems to be telling us that things are going to change for Eternity suddenly via the Rapture of the Church.
Pope and “Mother Earth”
As we as a generation of inhabitants of Planet Earth pierce ever more deeply into the end of the age, the picture of the emerging Tribulation world order comes into view. Presently that view is in the process of tightening into high-definition focus.
We adjust the knobs of that focus with our new book.
LAWLESS: The End-Times War Against the Spirit of Antichrist, we believe, makes clear and in sharp relief against the darkening, prophetic skies that the evil and chaos being churned marks this as the very end of this dispensation.
This is a book of compilation. That is, seventeen authors –all top Bible prophecy writers, broadcasters, speakers, and teachers—have contributed chapters. Each has written in depth on matters dealing with the lawlessness we’ve been witnessing and what it all means. It is, I believe, truly a book for these troubled though exciting times just before Christ calls the Church to Himself. (The book will be released, Lord willing, sometime in October.)
I begin the book in my introduction with the following:
Planet earth needs a savior. This declaration is at the center of the demand by true believers that all people of this endangered sphere must acknowledge. Those deniers—nonbelievers—are branded as heretics. Those in denial of this unimpeachable assertion deserve to be, at the very least, incarcerated for their denial.
This mantra is central to the religious fervor of today. But, it is not the religious fervor of those who adhere to truth found in God’s Word, the Bible. The zealots who hold to this theology are, from heaven’s perspective, lawless in their anti-God demands. The elitists in government and the news and entertainment media who believe man is destroying the planet and only man can stop the destruction. There is no God to be considered in the controls they intend to exert.
And it is indeed religious zealotry. It is for certain a theological mantra that festers at the lawless hearts of those who rave about climate change and mankind destroying the planet through wanton disregard for the welfare of Mother Earth.
Right on schedule, a global religious leader has emerged to the forefront of prophetic stage-setting. He has been instrumental in igniting the fever for the global warming (now “climate change”) fanaticism we see developing. Many, even among top Catholic clergy, have expressed they believe this man could be the final pope. A number among those believe him to possibly be the false prophet—the second beast—of Revelation chapter 13.
I don’t go that far. But certainly this man who came to papal power in such strange fashion exhibits characteristics of one who denies truth and leads the flock astray. Pope Francis has, for example, stated that even atheists will one day be in Heaven. He has said such things as all religions should pray to their gods for relief from COVID-19. He has said there are other ways to Heaven than through Jesus Christ. He has called for world governmental authority over all people. I have all these declarations documented in my files. These are not false accusations.
This pope has made no secret of his disdain for the current president and his administration. Trump’s anti-globalist, “Make America Great Again,” determination has driven the one-worlders into frenzy. Pope Francis is proving to be their champion, as demonstrated by the following news excerpt.
Pope Francis asked Christians to care about creation, saying that the abuse of ecosystems is a “grave sin” while lamenting the negative impacts of global warming and targeting President Trump “everyone abusing the ecosystem should be held accountable.”
We must look after our common home, “to the earth and to every creature,” the pope said during a speech in the Vatican’s San Damaso, “all forms of life are interconnected, and our health depends on that of the ecosystems that God created and entrusted to us to care for.”
“Abusing them, on the other hand, is a grave sin that damages us, and harms us, and makes us sick,” he explained.
“Everyone who abuses the ecosystem and avoids accepting the fact that our ‘common home’ is in danger should be held accountable,” the pope stated referring to President Donald Trump.
“It is easy to fall prey to an unbalanced and arrogant anthropocentrism, the ‘I’ at the centre of everything, which gives excessive importance to our role as human beings, positioning us as absolute rulers of all other creatures,” he continued.
“A distorted interpretation of biblical texts on creation has contributed to this misinterpretation, which leads to the exploitation of the earth to the point of suffocating it,” he added.
“Exploiting creation: this is the sin. We believe that we are at the centre, claiming to occupy God’s place and so we ruin the harmony of creation, the harmony of God’s plan,” the pope explained.
“We become predators, forgetting our vocation as custodians of life,” the pope continued…
Our poorest brothers and sisters and our mother earth lament for the damage and injustice we have caused, and demand we take another course,” he added. “demands of us a conversion, a change of path; taking care of the earth too, of creation.” (“Pope Francis Takes Aim At President Trump In A Recent Speech: ‘Abusing The Ecosystem Is A Grave Sin, Trump Should Be Held Accountable’,” ConsROOM, Rapture Ready News, September 18, 2020)
I write further in my introduction to LAWLESS: The End Times War Against the Spirit of Antichrist:
Mother Earth worship is the central unifying concept the father of lies has perpetrated that fits most propitiously within this spirit of Antichrist model. Branding against deniers of climate change as being the worst sinners within the religion of humanism is designed to make Christianity appear to be a false worship system. This is because the Bible declares that Jesus Christ, who is the very Word of God (John 1:1–3), is who has this earthly orb in His grip. It is not man who controls planet earth.
This, of course, is antithesis to the unimpeachable declarations of the environmental gurus who say man is destroying the earth with greenhouse gases from carbon emission. Only man, himself, through draconian actions to stop these deadly gases, can save himself from choking to death from unbreathable air or drowning because of the melting ice of the North and South poles.
Make no mistake, denial of God’s truth regarding creation and Jesus Christ is at the black heart of the lawlessness and evil comportment we are experiencing. The young are especially affected and infected by this Antichrist spirit. The rebellion is prophetically scheduled to get worse—much worse, and climate-change fervor will increase the nearer the age draws to the time of Tribulation.
While we move through this election season and watch the evil become increasingly worse, let us acknowledge that there is only satanic deception within the “Mother Earth” delusion being foisted particularly upon the young minds among us. Let us take the apostle Paul’s exhortation to heart:
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. (1 Timothy 2:1–6)
America’s Diminishing Role
One of the prime points of Bible prophecy, at least from the pre-Trib view, is that America isn’t mentioned in it by name or even in cursory reference. (That’s unless, of course, one sees the reference to the “young lions” in Ezekiel 38:13 as meaning the United States as offspring of “the Merchants of Tarshish,” referring to England.)
This is made even more intriguing when we consider all that we believe is going on in setting the stage for the soon fulfillment of prophecy.
We believe most, if not all, of Paul’s “perilous times” (2 Timothy 3) forewarning is now taking place everywhere we look in our nation—i.e., people are “lovers of themselves,” “without natural affection (abortion and homosexuality)”; they are “fierce” (think “BLM” and “Antifa”), and they’re “traitors” (in reference to the Deep State and others subverting the Constitution), etc.
All these things are, as I like to term them, “America-centric,” in their composition. America seems to be at the center of all the earlier-mentioned stage-setting.
Then we have this president stunning the world, really, with a peace arrangement that no one but perhaps he and a few others saw coming. It’s a stage-setting reality that is indeed profound.
To convince so many within the Arab world to come along with the plan Mr. Trump, Kushner, and the others of the administration have put together is just nothing short of phenomenal. It’s phenomenal when we think about the absolute volatility of the Israel haters within the Arab world, which is so heavily influenced by the chief terrorist regime, Iran (ancient Persia).
So America is at the center of most all primary activity as far as the current ebb and flow of issues and events. That makes it more than a curiosity, really, why God chose not to make this apex nation of history (so far as worldly achievement is concerned) the main focus of prophetic national disposition. Yet America is overtly omitted by name in biblical prophecy.
Why did I title this commentary: “America’s Diminishing Role”?
Again we come to what I see as the strangest presidency in our history. Certainly this is true, it’s reasonable to conclude, because we’re so near the end of this age (Age of Grace/Church Age). The prophetic Word tells us it will be so as the time of Christ’s return nears. Looking around, we’re not disappointed. Things are getting stranger and stranger.
One of the ironies, if that’s what we may call the strangeness, is that this president exerts the most powerful influence on the issue of Middle East peace as any leader ever. At the same time, he’s determined to pull out of that region to an extent that no other leader has attempted since much earlier days when isolationism ruled within American diplomatic spheres of influence. For example, he has announced troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and other areas, much to the chagrin of those in the defense department who are supposed to serve at his pleasure.
Trump doing so, as a matter of fact, constitutes one of the reasons the so-called Deep State opposes his every move. They like to determine such things and have always been able to do so with the cooperation or the acquiescence of those occupying the White House. It’s all part of the power wielded by the military-industrial complex President Dwight Eisenhower forewarned about.
America’s influence in the world, then, despite it being front and center in most every prophetic signal of the approaching Tribulation, is diminishing. The very president put in place by God to serve at this crucial time is an “America-First” chief executive, yet he also is withdrawing the nation from the most focal area of Bible prophecy—even while formulating a peace initiative that might lead to the very covenant Daniel prophesied.
The following news excerpt highlights this dichotomy within Mr. Trump’s presidential action.
Turkey and Iran are engaging in new operations in Africa… It is important to understand that this is in the context of the US generally reducing its global role and comes around 60 years after European colonialism was rolled back…
An article at The National in the UAE in May revealed that Iran has begun to play a role with military proxy groups in the Central African Republic (CAR). The article revealed that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Quds Force has played a role in cultivating “terrorist cells.” It has operated, funded, trained and directed proxy groups. Its role and influence in Africa is still far from mapped and known but the article implies it has recruited figures in the CAR and elsewhere. Iran has also been active in Nigeria and also in South Africa and Hezbollah has been active in West Africa…
An article at Al-Ain also asserts that Turkey and Qatar are now working to exert influence in Africa. The article asserts that Qatar has been trying to do influence peddling in Tunisia and that Qatar’s Defense Minister Khalid al-Attiyah has been coordinating with Turkey’s defense minister in discussions about Libya and Tunisia. They want to establish a “joint military training center” in Libya. (Seth J. Frantzman, “Turkey and Iran Are Engaging in New Operations in Africa,” Rapture Ready News, September 18, 2020)
With the key Ezekiel 38–39 players blatantly moving to fill the vacuum developing in the region because of America’s withdrawal—Iran (ancient Persia) and Turkey (much of what comprised ancient Togarmah)—it becomes quite clear that America, although prophetically scheduled to diminish, is nonetheless most prominent in this pre-Rapture era. It will, it’s therefore logical to conclude, take a dramatic set of circumstances to remove the nation so influential in the world power arrangement.
Paul Speaks to Us
Bombardment every waking moment, through constantly churning news cycles, presents an ominous unfolding that can’t be missed by the truly spiritually attuned Christian. We’re well into the “end of days,” as the secular writers and other pundits like to term it.
We’re seeing in geopolitics the powers and principalities in their high places of wickedness doing all within their considerable abilities to bring about global government. Satan’s one-world effort to establish his Antichrist regime is well underway. Only God’s restraining hand has kept the devil from being able to complete his prophesied task—to bring to earthly power the first and second beasts of Revelation chapter 13.
In these commentaries, we’ve talked about this luciferian effort and the Lord’s staying hand at work to delay its implementation. The effort at that implementation has been especially aggressive within the United States. Attempts to bring down the American president who is anti-globalist in every respect has been almost beyond description or even belief.
In the religious realm, we’ve seen a marked refusal to stand up against the evil going on within society and culture. There is well underway an apostasy of the first order. The “falling away,” in terms of departure from faith among a growing number of Christian ministries, is made clear in the lack of opposition offered from the pulpits to that proliferating evil.
The current pope has endorsed the apostate declaration that all will eventually be in Heaven for eternity, no matter whether saint, agnostic, or atheist. He has embraced climate change as part of the growing trend toward the worship of Mother Earth. Whether Catholic or Protestant, many of the clergy in what is called Christendom are either totally in for, or totally silent on, the issues within the social justice movement so in vogue today.
Regarding those social justice issues, the apostle Paul’s words of forewarning can almost be heard echoing down through the corridors of this eerie time in history. Perilous times are indeed with us—again—every waking moment while we get the hourly and even minute-by-minute news reports from the nation and from around the world.
Paul, in 2 Timothy 3, is, it seems to me, speaking directly to this generation when he says:
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.
Let’s look at a few of these characteristics of end-times humans as the great apostle gives them and as we think on our experience as of late.
“Blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy”
Video and audio of the rioters in the various cities they have destroyed, burned, and looted contain some of the most blasphemous language imaginable. They are so vulgar, so blasphemous, that one hears almost a constant beeping the news organizations use to keep from violating broadcast etiquette and regulations.
Many of these are pampered Millennials who are college students that have never been disadvantaged in any way. They directly disrespect parents and rules of civil comportment. They exemplify Paul’s terms “unthankful” and “unholy.”
“False accusers, incontinent, fierce”
The anarchists who join the likes of Black Lives Matter and Antifa are traitorous to the nation that gave them the privileges they now violently protest. These are Communist/Marxist organizations that hate everything about America and foment its destruction. Those who, like the “useful idiots” Marx wrote about, “falsely accuse” people of America in general and the police across the country of wanting to murder people of color, particularly African Americans. These arsonists and thugs are “incontinent”—that is, they are unwilling and/or unable to control their desires to commit these insane acts of rage. They are “fierce” and launch bricks, bottles of frozen water, and Molotov cocktails at police and even at owners of private property and businesses.
All of this demonstrates, I believe we should conclude, that we are in the very last hours of this fleeting age. We must, of course, defend against the forces that want to destroy and even kill to do the service of their master, the devil. But, even though it is difficult to understand all involved in His Instruction, Jesus has an even stronger defense for us to follow while we guard against those who would do us harm. We must obey Him no matter what, and leave all the consequences to Him.
But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. (Luke 6: 27–28)
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE in Prophecy – By Bill Salus
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE in ProphecyBy Bill Salus “Saudi Arabia Opens Airspace to Israel” (NYT – 9/2/20)
“After UAE, Bahrain deals signed, Trump says 7-9 countries seek peace with Israel”
“Soon after historic Abraham Accords ceremony at the White House, US president includes Saudi Arabia among those nations also now ready to normalize ties with Jewish state.” (Times of Israel – 9/15/20)
Saudi Arabia is back in the news again and that has some Bible prophecy pundits warning that a 2600-year old biblical prediction could be about to happen! In one of his most detailed apocalyptic writings, the prophet Ezekiel identifies the nation of Saudi Arabia in his 38th chapter.
This ancient prophecy informs of a forthcoming massive invasion of Israel in the last days. It identifies an invading coalition that appears to be led by Russia and includes Turkey, Iran and nine populations in total.
In addition to this intimidating list of invaders, Ezekiel identifies a group of nations that appear to be contesting the evil intentions of this coalition. The verse below explains the sinister motives of the invaders and identifies the concerned protesters.
“Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you, (Russia), gathered your (coalition) army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’” (Ezekiel 38:13, NKJV; emphasis added)
This passage identifies Saudi Arabia under the banner of Dedan. The Saudis are assembled alongside Sheba, (Yemen), Tarshish, (UK), and their Young Lions, (USA, and maybe Canada and Australia). This grouping of countries appear to be actively protesting, rather than militarily preventing this invasion of Israel.
The concerns of these sideline spectators are lodged in several questions, which help us to recognize that the primary goal of these invaders is to conquer Israel for their own capital gains. These belligerents intend to seize control over all aspects of Israel’s economy.
Due to the budding relationships between Russia, Turkey and Iran, several Bible prophecy teachers believe that Ezekiel 38 could be the next event to find fulfillment on the end times prophetic calendar. But is it?
Saudi Arabia is actually identified in at least four unfulfilled prophecies and when they are laid out sequentially, it turns out that Ezekiel 38:13 is seemingly the last of the four to find fulfillment. In addition to Ezekiel 38, Saudi Arabia, as Dedan, is the subject of biblical predictions in Jeremiah 49 and Ezekiel 25. Moreover, the Saudis appear to be represented as the Ishmaelites in the 3000-year old prophecy foretold in Psalm 83. These prophecies will be presented in their apparent chronological order, but beforehand it is important to connect the ancient territory of Dedan and the Ishmaelite peoples of the past with modern-day Saudi Arabia.
Where is Dedan?
Historic Mideast maps locate Dedan in Northwestern Saudi Arabia. Some Bible scholars, such as Gary Stearman of Prophecy Watchers,[i] suggest that in the Old Testament, Dedan might even extend beyond Saudi Arabia to also include the modern-day Gulf Cooperation Council, (GCC), countries of Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and the UAE. If Dedan represents the entirety of the GCC Arab states, this could be prophetically relevant in light of recent events.
“Israel signs accords with United Arab Emirates and Bahrain at White House ceremony” (USA Today – 9/15/20)
Presently, the UAE and Bahrain are in the process of normalizing national relations with Israel as part of the “Peace to Prosperity” aspect of Donald Trump’s, “Deal of the Century” Mideast peace plan. This economic part of Trump’s plan was introduced by White House adviser Jared Kushner in Bahrain on June 25, 2019.
“In Bahrain, U.S. Tries to Promote Mideast Peace Through Prosperity” (NY Times – 6/25/19)
In the process of achieving peace with the UAE and Bahrain, which are two Arab nations that never posed a real threat to the Jewish state, Israel has agreed to temporarily postpone its plans to annex territory in the West Bank. The annexation of this land was part of the political aspect of Trump’s Mideast peace plan.
“UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan: “I thank Netanyahu for choosing to stop annexation of Palestinian land.”” (Times of Israel – 9/15/20)
It’s interesting to note that UAE’s Foreign Minister considers the territory in question “Palestinian land.” In the cosmic CHESS MATCH between good and evil, it appears that evil moved two PAWNS, the UAE and Bahrain, forward and successfully put Israel into CHECK when it comes to the “Chosen People” expanding further into the “Promised Land.” How this newly formed alignment between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain may have prophetic implications will be explored near the end of this article.
Whether or not Dedan includes all of the GCC countries, most biblical scholars would agree that at least it identifies Saudi Arabia.
Who are the Ishmaelites?
Some suggest that Ishmael, the patriarch of the Ishmaelites, was the father of the Arabs and that he settled in Arabia. Ancient Arabia is now often alluded to as the Arabian Peninsula, and it is mostly encompassed by Saudi Arabia. The map and quote below it, reinforces these understandings.
“The Book of Genesis and Islamic traditions consider Ishmael to be the ancestor of the Ishmaelites/Arabians and patriarch of Qaydār. According to Muslim tradition, Ishmael the Patriarch and his mother Hagar are buried next to the Kaaba in Mecca… Ishmael is recognized as an important prophet and patriarch of Islam. Muslims believe that Ishmael was the firstborn of Abraham, born to him from his wife Sarah’s slave, Hagar. Ishmael is recognized by Muslims as the ancestor of several prominent Arab tribes and the forefather of Muhammad.”[ii]
The Four Unfulfilled Saudi Arabia Bible Prophecies
SAUDI PROPHECY #1
“Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan! For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, The time that I will punish him.” (Jeremiah 49:8)
This often-overlooked Jeremiah foretelling concerning Dedan was penned approximately two decades prior to Ezekiel’s issuance of his 38th chapter. Jeremiah issues a stern admonition to the inhabitants dwelling in Dedan to, “Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths.” This forewarning is given because “the calamity of Esau” is coming.
Apparently, when this future prediction happens, the Saudis will have joined forces with Esau’s descendants, and in so doing, will become positioned in the line of fire. The Lord is going to punish Esau severely, and for Saudi Arabia’s own protection, Jeremiah warns them to flee and turn back to the depths of their homeland. This infers that at the time of Esau’s calamity, that Saudi armed forces are involved in a military operation that is taking place on foreign soil.
The fifty-million-dollar question is, “what is Esau’s Calamity?” This topic will be addressed further down in this article, but beforehand it’s important to note what Jeremiah says happens to Esau’s neighbors as a result of the calamity.
And he, (Esau), shall not be able to hide himself. His descendants, (the Edomites), are plundered, His brethren and his neighbors, And he is no more. (Jer. 49:9–10, NKJV; emphasis added)
Esau’s neighbors are plundered. This would include Saudi Arabia, if they don’t heed the warning to, “flee, turn back, dwell in the depths.” In other words, back off and go back home or else be plundered alongside of Esau’s descendants.
SAUDI PROPHECY #2
“‘Thus says the Lord God: “Because of what (the) Edom(ites) did against the house of Judah (Israelis) by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended by avenging itself on them,” therefore thus says the Lord God: “I will also stretch out My hand against Edom, cut off man and beast from it, and make it desolate from Teman; Dedan shall fall by the sword. I will lay My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel, that they may do in Edom according to My anger and according to My fury; and they shall know My vengeance,” says the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 25:12-14, NKJV; emphasis added)
About two decades after Jeremiah pens his warning for the Saudis to disengage from their alignment with Esau, Ezekiel prophesies that the Saudis will fail to do so. As such, “Dedan shall fall by the sword.” In the Bible, “the sword” is often used as a typology for a war. Thus, this identifies the Saudis as one of the neighbors that get plundered in the related war when Esau’s Calamity comes.
This Ezekiel passage also explains why Esau’s Calamity comes and how this calamitous campaign is carried out. The Edomite descendants of Esau will be guilty of attempting to bring harm against the Jews, and in retaliation, the Lord will empower the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to execute His anger, fury and vengeance.
This curse for curse in kind response comes directly out of the Genesis 12:3 playbook. This verse represents God’s foreign policy to the Gentile nations. Those countries that do good to Israel will be blessed, but those that do harm will be cursed. The Edomites seek to harm the Jews, so in turn, God lifts up the IDF to eliminate all of Esau’s descendants! Yes, I said ELIMINATE ESAU’S DESCENDANTS. The prophet Obadiah foretells it this way:
““The house of Jacob, (the IDF), shall be a fire, And the house of Joseph, (the IDF), a flame; But the house of Esau shall be stubble; They shall kindle them and devour them, And no survivor, (descendant), shall remain of the house of Esau,” For the Lord has spoken.” (Obadiah 1:18, NKJV; emphasis added)
Understanding the size and scope of Esau’s calamity, it’s understandable why Jeremiah previously warns the Saudis to back off and go back home before this war happens.
SAUDI PROPHECY #3
“They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” For they have consulted together with one consent; They form a confederacy against You: The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagrites; Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assyria also has joined with them; They have helped the children of Lot. Selah” (Psalm 83:4-8)
Saudi Arabia’s third unfulfilled prophecy is encapsulated in Psalm 83. I have covered Psalm 83 extensively in my book and associated DVD entitled, Psalm 83: The Missing Prophecy Revealed, How Israel Becomes the Next Mideast Superpower. In those prior works, I explain the connections between the three Saudi prophecies identified thus far.
ESAU’S CALAMITY
In my book I explain how Esau’s Calamity is described in Psalm 83 and the related peripheral prophecies provided below. This is not an exhaustive list; all told there are nearly 150 verses that chronicle this calamitous event. Within these passages we find out that the IDF is God’s tool to defend Israel when these prophecies happen.
- Psalm 83:1-18…………………………………. (18 verses)
- Jeremiah 49:1-29, 12:14-17…………………. (32 verses)
- Ezekiel 25:12-17, 28:24-26, 35:1-36:7, 37:10 (32 verses)
- Isaiah 17:1-14, 19:1-18, 11:14………………. (35 verses)
- Obadiah 1:1-21………………………………… (21 verses)
- Zephaniah 2:4-11……………………………… (8 verses)
- Zechariah 12:2, 5-6…………………………… (3 verses)
So who are Esau’s descendants today? They are the “Tents of Edom” in Psalm 83:6. Esau fathered the Edomites as per Genesis 36:1. In my Psalm 83 book I point out that the Edomites have an ethnical representation within the Palestinians. Not all Palestinians have an Edomite heritage, but many of them do.
The fact that they are identified as the “Tents of Edom,” infers that at the time of Esau’s Calamity, they are classified as refugees. In the Bible the “tents of” typically represents either military encampments or refugee scenarios. I believe that the Psalm describes the Palestinian refugees of today.
These Edomites are enjoined in the ten-member confederacy of Psalm 83:6-8 that wants to destroy Israel in Psalm 83:5. Below is a map that identifies the modern-day equivalents of these ancient populations. Observe that Saudi Arabia is included.
SAUDI PROPHECY #4
This fourth Saudi prophecy takes us back to the top of the article and Ezekiel 38:13. If the sequence of prophetic events presented thus far is correct, then by this future time Saudi Arabia has been plundered severely with the Palestinian refugees and their Psalm 83:6-8 confederacy.
Apparently, after being plundered, the Saudis decide to align themselves with the protesters, rather than the invaders in Ezekiel 38. Perhaps at this future point, when there is no further Palestinian plight to banner, the Saudis will abandon their Arab (Saudi) Peace Initiative in favor of normalized relations with Israel.
The Prophetic Implications of Israel’s peace with Bahrain and the UAE
If the first two prophecies about Dedan extend beyond Saudi Arabia to also include Bahrain and the UAE, then this current peace will be temporary. Those two predictions point out that Dedan gets plundered at the time of Esau’s Calamity. The IDF wouldn’t plunder Bahrain or the UAE if these peace deals were still in place.
However, there is another possible prophetic scenario to watch for that might include Bahrain and the UAE. Jeremiah 49:34-39 informs of an end times war with Iran. I write about this war in my book entitled, “Nuclear Showdown in Iran, Revealing the Ancient Prophecy of Elam.”
In a nutshell, this prophecy declares that Iran will experience a disaster, probably nuclear, and it appears that this results from a military attack by the enemies of Iran. The key verse is below.
“For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies And before those who seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, My fierce anger,’ says the Lord; ‘And I will send the sword after them Until I have consumed them.’” (Jeremiah 49:37)
Unfortunately, this verse does not specify who Iran’s enemies are, but it’s highly likely that if this prophecy were to happen soon, that Iran’s enemies would at least include Israel, the USA, the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. It’s common knowledge that a primary reason that Bahrain and the UAE are normalizing relations with Israel is to gain America and Israel as allies in the event of a future war with Iran.
If a war with Iran is forthcoming in the near future, these current peace deals between Israel with the UAE and Bahrain, could make it easier for an American, Israel and GCC Arab coalition to form and fight against Iran in fulfillment of this prophecy.
[i] Visit Prophecy Watchers website at: (www.prophecywatchers.com),
[ii] Ishmael quote taken from this web link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishmael#:~:text=Islam,-See%20also%3A%20Ishmael&text=Ishmael%20is%20recognized%20as%20an,and%20the%20forefather%20of%20Muhammad.
Book Review
BIBLE PROPHECY PANORAMIC CHART: God’s Purposes Through the Ages
By Neville Coomer and Jo Johnson
September 17, 2020
Review by Terry James
This new BIBLE PROPHECY PANORAMIC CHART book illustrates God’s purposes through the ages as revealed in the Bible. This excellent work has been compiled by Neville Coomer and Jo Johnson, two Bible students from Fife, Scotland.
As well as being a keen student of Bible prophecy, Jo is also the artist who painted the prophetic chart on a 10 x 3 foot canvas.
Each page in the book features a panel from his hand-painted chart with detailed Bible quotes alongside, showing how God’s purposes of love towards the human race have unfolded through the ages of time. The final ‘showdown’ between ‘the Beast’ (Antichrist) and God is graphically illustrated and backed up by scripture.
The “Bible prophecy Panoramic Chart” will be a good tutorial course for those who know little about God’s plan for mankind. It will also be a good refresher course for those who want to brush up on many important scriptures in the Bible; especially the prophetic scriptures. The illustrations help guide the reader through the book in a way that keeps the reader engaged and anticipating the next prophetic event on God’s timetable. This will be a great book for individuals as well as for use in family devotionals.
For those who like to study prophecy in-depth, this is a book I heartily urge you to have available in your library.
BIBLE PROPHECY PANORAMIC CHART: God’s Purposes Through the Ages
By Neville Coomer and Jo Johnson
Publisher: Rosebine Press, September 2020
ISBN 978-0-9536238-2-2
The following link will take you to Amazon, where you can order your own copy:
getbook.at/BibleProphecyChartBook
Two Cautions for the President
Each succeeding week that produces fodder for another commentary brings with it the thought that things couldn’t be more in place for setting in motion the Tribulation.
The perception is always proved wrong.
This week is no different; prophecy stage-setting is still ramping up.
While many issues and events we explore seem at the moment to be critical in setting the stage for fulfillment of Bible prophecy, they most often turn out to be peripheral to the most crucial signals. The things developing now, however, are anything but minor.
Israel and the peace process can never be seen as a subject that’s on the outer edges of Bible prophecy. And what we’re seeing now certainly must be considered as profound a sign as any of where we stand on God’s prophetic timeline.
With all else that’s going on in this nation (which, by the way, is overtly omitted by name in biblical prophecy), we see the strangest presidency of our history at the very heart of astonishing prophetic stage-setting. And who can deny that this president moves the needle on history’s tachometer each and every news cycle?
Never has President Trump been as instrumental in so moving that needle as this past week or so. It’s as if the engine of biblical eschatology has revved once again to near max. I see this as a matter to be viewed as seriously as any we’ve yet seen—i.e., it seems to take us as near Christ’s call to His Church as any movement we’ve known.
With President Trump’s acting as an instrument of such profound prophetic movement comes danger, however. It’s a danger that we all should recognize.
The peace currently being brokered by the Trump administration between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) presents one of the two areas of danger about which the president must be cautioned.
The statement by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to reporters frames one of the dangers. Kushner said recently: “We were trying to save the two-state solution… If we kept going with the status quo… ultimately, Israel would have eaten up all the land in the West Bank.”
Kushner, husband of Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, is a Jew who apparently has little knowledge of, or else not much regard for, God’s promises to His chosen people. The Lord gave the Jews all the Land of Promise, including all the land in the West Bank. Mr. Kushner acts as if this is negotiable.
In God’s view, no area of land He gave Israel is negotiable. There is no room whatsoever for a “two-state solution to any problem Israel’s surrounding neighbors have in failing to be at peace with the Jewish State.
Here are the Almighty’s words on the matter:
And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. And I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. (Genesis 17:7–8)
I would urge men with Holy Spirit-provided savvy regarding Bible prophecy, such as Dr. Robert Jeffress, who have the president’s ear to counsel Mr. Trump about this promise and the serious consequences of attempting to interfere—whether wittingly or not—with that covenant.
Here is what God’s prophet, Joel, foretold more than two thousand years ago regarding the fate the nations of the world will suffer for doing exactly what this administration is trying to do. We’ve looked at it many times.
I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. (Joel 3:2)
This of course speaks of Armageddon, the killing field where the rebellious armies of the world will be slaughtered.
The second of the cautions I put forth here to this president—whom I very much support in most every way—concerns his possibly making the mistake of listening to those who push for mandatory vaccinations against COVID-19.
Here is a news item that encapsulates to some extent the issue:
President Donald Trump announced several weeks ago that the US government will purchase 100 million doses of Moderna’s experimental coronavirus vaccine, which is currently in late-stage human trials.
In addition to Moderna, AstraZeneca and the Pfizer/BioNTech alliance are also working on a vaccine.
Trump recently estimated that a vaccine for coronavirus may be produced ahead of the US presidential election on November 3.
The US has registered more than six million cases of COVID-19—almost a quarter of the global total—and 185,000 deaths, according to Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University. (“US States Told Be Ready for COVID-19 Vaccine by November 1,” US & Canada—Israel National News, September 4, 2020)
There is more than just conspiracy theory behind fears that some folks in high places have suggested that a computer tracking nanochip or something like that be injected along with the coming COVID inoculations. There is ample documentation that such ideas have been exchanged between Bill Gates and others who contemplate vaccinating the entire world.
I don’t pretend to suggest that this will be part of such vaccinations, nor am I saying this has something to do with the Revelation 13 “mark of the beast,” “666” system of buying and selling. No one needs to fear that they will take that mark this side of the Rapture, no matter what else the proposed COVID vaccine might mean.
But it all does smack of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-four and Big Brother, in which the ruling class is in complete control of the hapless masses and wields absolute power.
Mr. President, be aware. Christians who understand Bible prophecy as it is meant to be understood will strongly resist such “mandatory” impositions upon personal liberty.
Terry James Prophecy Line 