As each year winds down, I like to review and see how Bible prophecy was fulfilled or has elements of fulfillment throughout the year. I always have too many options to choose from—and maybe that is a nice dilemma. We’re in a countdown to the close of the Church Age. Here are my top ten selections for this year. Many selections have ties to “black Sabbath”–October 7:
1) The world decided that Israel became the international burdensome stone (Zech. 12:3). Whoever expected this new malady, Israel Derangement Syndrome, in their lifetime? We know that “the Time of Jacob’s Trouble” will be a time of Jew-hatred, but in the Church Age? And this is a hatred of a people based only on identity. A people group that has been a blessing to the world!
2) Israel now longs for peace like never before. She will fall for Mr. Fix-Its peace plan of Daniel 9:27. She just wants to get along with her neighbors, the Arab world, the Muslim world, and all her enemies. She has had 75 years of conflict, preceded by the Holocaust. But with centuries of demonic hatred thrown at her, the Antichrist will be stunning in his deceit of a nation longing for peace and security. He will overwhelm them in his efforts.
3) For a segment of society, love has grown cold. This is a Tribulation reference in Matthew 24, but we’re in a run-up to that. We’re watching large segments of society favor barbarians. Millions have sided with the butchers of Hamas! There are Facebook groups praising Hamas. College campuses know no shame. Jewish students are hiding in secluded areas. And much of the world, and parts of the church, shrug in indifference and seem to enjoy cursing Israel.
4) Gog & Magog further align as they unite against Israel. One periodical reports that “Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan wants to lead the Muslim world against Israel so his country can become a great power.” Russia has pledged to come to Iran’s rescue if Israel attacks. The three power players of Ezekiel 38-39 are Russia, Turkey, and Iran. They are aligning more every day and particularly in 2023.
5) The church is slipping further into apostasy. Many churches revealed theology that has encouraged them to remain silent during Israel’s greatest crisis since the Holocaust. Many openly sided with the so-called Palestinians. The silence of the shepherds has been staggering and devastating to many church members. Too many won’t deal with prophecy, current events, or Israel and won’t take a stand. It’s time to call out evil and to love what and who God loves. Too many churches refuse, and this year exposed them.
6) The Jews are coming home in greater numbers and are more open to the gospel. Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, there has been a 149% increase in interest to return to Israel from Jewish French citizens and an 81% increase from North American Jews. The trauma of October 7 will leave deep scars on the nation and people forever. The crisis is driving the Jews to seek God like never before in history. Many are leaving secularism, mysticism, and more to call out to the God of the Bible.
7) Strong delusion (II Thess. 2) intensifies and abounds! The Biden Administration continues to give Iran billions. The White House expresses deep concern about Islamophobia, not anti-Semitism! Biden gives hundreds of thousands of dollars to mosques. We have seen young people praise Osama bin Laden in spite of the reality of radical Islam. The solution in the Middle East is a Palestinian state! Everywhere, evil is called good (Is. 5:20), and facts are irrelevant due to the delusions of our day. Only the righteous can see straight!
8) The intensified longing for a world leader as American leadership is weak and non-existent in the Executive Branch. Soon, world leaders will line up in Pied Piper-like fashion behind a man-with-a-plan who will guarantee peace and stability. He will exude global leadership. The world is ready due to America’s absence.
9) The intensification of perilous times (II Tim. 3), violence, and spirit of the Antichrist. We are warned of October 7 “copycat attacks” around the world! America’s southern border invites chaos. Rogue nations are threatening with nukes. World war seems inevitable. And the Tribulation has not even begun!
10) There is an explosion of global reprobate minds (Romans 1). Things have taken a dark turn unlike anything seen in modern times. The world has become unhinged on a greater level than WWII. People clearly have been “given over.” Up is down; black is white. Men can be women and vice versa. Israel is apartheid; Hamas are freedom fighters. Normal or Godly thinking does not come to these conclusions!
I could list 110 markers that reveal the hour is desperately late! You can’t tell the players without a printed program, and that would be the Bible—the most accurate chronicler of world events we could have ever been given! Jesus is coming—perhaps today!
Terry James Prophecy Line 
In Noah’s and Lot’s times, it was “business as usual” right up until the end of their respective societies. But incorporated into this “business” was that evil was not only accepted but relished.
In both cases it was necessary for God to step in and take control of these situations directly because no other remedy was available. I think we almost at that point already. Barring Divine Intervention, I have no doubt that the human race will come to the same end as the dinosaurs, except with us, it would be by our own doing.
And just as it was in those past times, the almost all people of those two civilizations had no idea that their end would come about dramatically and completely.
Sounds a lot like 2023, planet Earth doesn’t it?
Ed, it does sound like 2023. Frankly, I’m a bit surprised we are still here but firmly trust God’s plan and timing.
It can’t be a surprise that the unsaved will be shocked by the Rapture and ensuing destruction of the Tribulation, but for the Church to be surprised is something else. A recent survey says that only approx 55% of Believers say we are in the last of the last days and our pulpits are largely to blame.
Eschatology is a VERY powerful tool for witnessing and the gospel, but if pastors are afraid to discuss it (or even worse, don’t know it) then how can Believers tell the world? They can’t.
Strange and perilous times we are living in. Nevertheless, we are greatly blessed among humanity, because we know Jesus is Lord, we know He is coming soon, and we know He is faithful and true.
You are right, Robin. By ignoring the part of the Bible that deals with prophecy, at least1/4 of it is being left out. If we consider that everything in it was inspired by God, that’s a terribly large loss.
As we see the time of the end approaching, the dilution and corruption of God’s Word by the increasingly apostate church, people are being deprived of vital information at the very time they need it the most.
We are indeed blessed, those of us who have decided to study the entire Word of God. In so doing we are following Jesus’ directive from the parable of the talents in Luke 19:
“Occupy till I come.” (Luke 19:13b)
In so doing, we are like the ancient Thessalonians:
1 Thessalonians {5:1} But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. {5:2} For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the
night.
And that day is certainly coming soon!
Everything you said is so true. Reprobate mind the most for the lost
As I revisit in my mind the Top 10 Signs of 2023, I reflect on whether our times are as bad as the days of Noah and Lot. I mean, have we really reached the point in Genesis 6:5 which says “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”? (I’m talking about the unredeemed world and not the true Church.) Yes, we have violence, and rebellion and lawlessness, and the LGBQT agenda is spreading like an unrestrained contagion all around the world. But are our times as bad as Noah and Lot’s days?
Then I realize, we are analogous to fish in the sea, who don’t even know we are wet. Me included. It’s our environment and we don’t realize there is a whole different world that is not wet. I’m speaking of God’s heavenly domain and His original plan for us.
Sexual perversions and the contamination of the gene pool of the human race are what seemed to finally exhaust God’s patience in the days of Noah and Lot.
Other than some rare Believers I know, I can’t think of any couples who didn’t have sex before marriage, or who have continued to cohabitate outside of marriage. It is “the norm” today; no one really thinks much about it. Add this to the divorce rate, sanctioned abortion, satanic/occultic ritual worship disguised by drug and alcohol abuse, porn addiction, gambling, and self-worship and we are truly saturated in disobedience and sexual perversion. Our society is made up of proverbial fish who are wet and don’t know it. We have totally lost an understanding of God’s design for His creation; it is utterly corrupted. And to openly say otherwise is an invitation to extreme and almost universal ridicule.
Days of Noah and Lot indeed. When we add in transhumanism and the intentional destruction of our societies, our food, our health and our children, the only question remaining is how long will the Lord tolerate the whirlpool of evil we are trapped in before He comes to our rescue?!
I continue to pray that glorious day is today.
Excellent, Robin!
Your analysis of the situation as it is now is right on target.
I think that the only thing keeping the world from turning into both a “Noah 2” and “Lot 2” simultaneously is the restraining effect of the Holy Spirit. Prior to that first Pentecost (Acts 2) he did not take up permanent residence in believers, hence evil was less restrained in the times prior to that.
Now that he does, his presence in believers is both a spiritual and physical countering force to the evil in this world. Spiritual in the sense of Ephesians 6:12, physical in the sense the concrete and visible resistance of of said believers to the wickedness all around them.
Of the latter, we see it right here in this website, and those like it. We see it in the letters to our newspapers and politicians calling them to task when they actively embrace those things contrary to what is right. Of course, many times we are ignored, but at the very least, the people we’ve contacted can’t plead ignorance.
Likewise, we give our own witness and evidence on a one-to-one basis, the results of which we may never know in this life.
And yet we do this even though those such as myself are “flawed tools” which have departed very much from the original design God wanted us to be – and yet, he hasn’t given up on us.
Amazing grace, indeed!