Prophecy Line
The Twinkling
You and many others who have chosen to read this commentary are likely in agreement. We find ourselves at a time in which the future is indeed murky. The very fact makes it a time of uneasiness–of profound uncertainty.
With so many existential threats (factors portending possible, even probable, future disruption for our lives), many look to November 8 with a shadow of oppressiveness clouding their thoughts.
We have watched our American way–our laws and traditions–dismantled. We have watched the process happen with the acquiescence, even the complicity of those with whom we entrusted our vote to stop that degeneration.
More troubling is the almost certainty that if the presidential candidate presently leading in polls (according to most polls) succeeds, the tearing down of America as founded will be put on the fast track. The “promise and change” declared by the current president–issued in January of 2009–will, it is feared, soon after this election be completed. The global architects will, in that case, have removed what I believe to be the last roadblock from their ambition–to tear down national sovereignties.
America, in the earthly sense, is that roadblock–thus the all-out effort by national and world politicians as well as media–both news and entertainment–to utterly destroy the candidate in opposition to their vision for one-world order.
With most everything else in place for setting up for the Tribulation (Daniel’s seventieth week), including Israel again in the spotlight, hounded by UNESCO in denying Israel’s historical right to the land, we have as of late added some truly profound rumors of war. Russia and the American presidential administration have entered into an extremely dangerous era of international intrigue and gamesmanship. With the Clinton campaign and the administration of Barack Obama pointing the finger of blame at Vladimir Putin and his regime as guilty of hacking emails and giving to Wikileaks in order to influence the outcome of the election, not just the Cold War, but a hot war might be forthcoming it is conjectured by some.
The Russians have moved, uncontested, into the Middle East. They have naval power and growing ground and air force capabilities in position to defend the Syrian dictator. This American administration has lifted not a finger to oppose this shift of Russian power into the region that is mentioned in Bible prophecy like no other.
Obama has, through his ineptness–or, as I more am prone to suspect, his deliberate action–allowed the development of the forces of ISIS (ISIL, as he calls them). America has U.S. Air Force assets now in regions that some believe equates to a provocation-of-war-incident waiting to happen. Again, I’m convinced it’s all part of the globalist orchestration being used by Satan himself to bring his own son of perdition to power.
So many who consider all of this sense an incident or action in the immediate future that will explode in uncontrollable ramifications. Yet, nothing, no matter the circumstances, has to this point happened to initiate the long-anticipated catastrophe.
The Russians are seemingly trying to instigate direct confrontation with American aircraft. China is trying to provoke, seemingly, a confrontation in the South China Sea. Iran is firing, through proxies, upon U.S. warships, apparently begging to be hit in return so as to start something.
The economic bubble of insanity continues to build to the bursting point. And, we have a presidential election in two weeks that some believe will bring on an even greater national schizophrenia and possible civil war, no matter who wins.
My great friend, the late Jack Kinsella, had tremendous insight, as many reading this column know. He left us some God-engendered thoughts for just this time in which we find ourselves. He wrote the following in one of his Omega Letter commentaries.
“We live in the most terrifying time of uncertainty in human history–the wrong move by the wrong guy could set off a chain of events that could potentially exterminate the human race. We have but a short time to spread the message of salvation, and it doesn’t help if we are paralyzed by fear.
The Lord knew the conditions that would exist just before His return. Which is why Paul ends his explanation of the Rapture with this exhortation:
“Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1st Thessalonians 4:16-18)
Jack had just written a fabulous piece on the Rapture. The “comfort” of which Paul assured us was all about that twinkling of an eye moment that Jack and I–and, I hope you–believe is about to occur based upon all of these things that have begun to come to pass (Luke 21:28).
Buildup to Sudden Destruction
Rumors of war in the Middle East continue and grow by the day. We have heard of such Armageddon-like conflict that is coming for most of a decade. It’s almost like the little boy who cried “wolf,” but not quite.
Anyone with any sense of the potential for conflagration in that volatile region that could bring worldwide war knows that the breaking point has now about been reached. Iran’s nuclear weapon development project–or the fear that their nuclear program is for developing weapons of mass destruction—is, of course, the primary reason for the tensions involved.
Three observable factors are on the stepped-up agenda of potential war consideration: 1) Israel is in a top-alert configuration, talking more or less openly about its most advanced defensive capabilities; 2) Iran is expressing fear of imminent attack from Israel, and is hustling to protect its nuclear program; 3) The Israeli prime minister and his military have a strong sense that they must depend only on their own resolve, not that of their one-time staunch, superpower ally to defend the Jewish state.
Regarding point 1, Israel’s concern for its threatened citizenry is warranted.
For some years now Israeli intelligence has observed Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon progressing far beyond the scope reported by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Tehran has successfully developed a nuclear warhead for a Shahab-3 missile, which has a range of nearly 1,000 miles, putting the whole of Israel within the Islamic republic’s range.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, has long declared to the world Israel’s determination regarding Iran’s developing such capability.
“Every threat against the home front is dwarfed by one threat. Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.”
To punctuate the urgency, Israel’s home front command, in test runs of alerting the populace, issues thousands of text messages to alert people when rockets are launched on specific areas of the country. the text messages are given in Hebrew, Arabic, English, and Russian. The Israeli government also has made clear their preparation for attacks in reporting Israel’s increased national defense preparations in announcing deployment of advanced technologies such as Iron Dome and Arrow 2.
On point 2, reports grow about Iran’s fears of attack by Israel, thus convincing them to deeply shelter its nuclear program at a quickening pace.
Regarding point 3, Israel’s distrust for the American presidential administration’s support is understandable and that government these days makes little effort to hide the fact. While Israel’s government and military has presented evidence time after time that its most threatening enemy, Iran, is driving for a nuclear bomb, the U.S. intelligence services, obviously controlled by the Obama administration, say only that they suspect that the Iranian regime–although that regime has declared that it is committed to removing Israel from the earth–is seeking a weapons capability but that no decision has been taken on actually making one.
Such naiveté at best and willful disregard for the facts at worst is itself heightening the danger of all-out war in the Middle East, in my opinion. The buildup to such conflict continues apace–and increases by the hour. It is obvious–to this observer, at least—that only the staying hand of God is holding back the inevitable. I am convinced that when the inevitable comes–the massive devastation that will involve the whole world—it will be the sudden destruction that will follow immediately the Rapture of the Church, as indicated by Jesus’ own Words: “But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke 17:29-30).
Genesis of Armageddon
The progressives’ Bible–the New York Times–is advising the president to pressure Israel all he can in these few months left of his presidency. The Jewish State must be forced to conform to the globalists’ demand that Israel, for the sake of world peace, give up part of the land it has “illegally occupied” since the Six Day War of 1967.
Globalism, as I constantly harp, is the unrelenting force bent on setting the stage for one world government. Perhaps unwittingly, for most of the globalists elite at least, they are doing their utmost to serve their father’s–the devil’s–primary purpose. That purpose is to set the stage for the prince that shall come, the first beast of Revelation chapter 13.
I was most interested to hear on a political punditry program this past week something Bill Bennett, a well-known Washington conservative insider, has written in his latest book, which I believe has the title Assassinating the Next President. Bennett apparently wrote that the globalists will try to assassinate Donald Trump if he is elected president. According to the talking heads I listened to, Mr. Bennett thinks with all that is within his experience and knowledge of these people that they will never give up the power they are in the process of gathering to themselves. I have absolutely no doubt that he is correct in his assessment. Everything since the Obama administration came into power has been put, in my view, expertly on the fast track to bringing America into a weakened configuration–thus to bring this nation under total globalist influence. Or, that is, all new world order cylinders were in sync until the candidacy of one Donald J. Trump took off in such an effective fashion.
As anyone with half an attention span should know, the powers that be within the globalist-elite cabal are literally foaming at the mouth with rage against the Republican candidate. The opposition party and its candidate are drudging up every bit of muck they can find here in October. This despite the fact that that the opposition candidate has enough putrid muck encasing her own persona, which would to anyone else bring a prison term. Certainly, her record of nefarious activity should forever prevent her from holding any political office at any level.
But, the mainstream media–the major networks, CNN, and others–are acting as her and her party’s propaganda mouthpiece. They are her campaign’s free advertising and publicity agents. Of course, this new world order movement began long before the current president took the reins of government. The point is that things of end-times rearrangements are seeming to be hitting on all sixteen cylinders within the one-world-order machinery. Many within the Republican establishment are joining the hate-filled anti-Trump force to urge Mr. Trump to step aside and let one of their chosen ones take over. The globalists around the world are frothing at the mouth, too, doing anything and everything they can to keep the Trump candidacy from proceeding.
Like Mr. Bennett apparently believes, I’m in agreement that the Republican candidate is in a precarious position. Lucifer’s legions are nothing to take lightly.
This is not to let Trump off scot free. His statements of eleven years ago are gutter moments. They are absolutely inexcusable. He has publicly apologized, however–something his opponent has never and will never do for the myriad evil their machine of power-grabbing has churned-up for more than two decades.
Globalism, then, as I have presented from my viewpoint a number of times lately, is what this election is all about. America and, more importantly, Israel, are at the epicenter of the end-times contractions taking place.
The United States must be diminished so it no longer has the strength to resist those who would tear down national sovereignties. This must be done before that power platform for Antichrist can be established.
Simply put, Israel is at the heart of the hatred Satan harbors in his sin-demented thinking, with which he has now infected the world at large. This is seen by the fact that the vast majority of the nations within the U.N. have at their heads dictators who vote against the Jewish state every time matters involving Israel’s nationhood is brought up for a vote.
Now, the progressives’ Bible, the New York Times, “advises” the president of the U.S. to “come down hard against Israel in the U.N.”
They want Obama to use America’s influence and votes to support a proposed resolution involving giving up land for peace.
In an article written by their editorial board, the NY Times writes, “The best idea under discussion now would be to have the United Nations Security Council, in an official resolution, lay down guidelines for a peace agreement covering such issues as Israel’s security, the future of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees and borders for both states.”
Obama is being pressured to join in such a procedure before he leaves the presidency in January 2017. The U.S. State Department is, to this point at least, sticking by the long-standing policy of resistance to falling in line with this globalist “advice.”
A spokesman for the State Department said recently: “With regard to the UN Security Council and any action at the UN, our position hasn’t changed. We’re always concerned, frankly, about one-sided resolutions or other actions that could be taken within the UN, and we’re always going to oppose those kinds of resolutions that we believe delegitimize Israel and undermine its security.”
We will watch to see if the exiting Mr. Obama flies in the face of this wise policy. If he does so, he will certainly be giving a boost to a major element within the globalist elites’ blueprint for bringing forth one world order.
When Israel is finally cajoled or arm-twisted into giving up the land in question, it will indeed be the genesis for history’s most horrific war called Armageddon.
“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).
Biting into the Apple
Stepping out of the Wellington Hotel on Seventh Avenue, my friend, Mike, and I traversed the concrete time after time until my now 74-old legs hurt. I say now 74- -year old legs” because I was sixty-nine when we were in New York City those several years ago, and I turned into a septuagenarian shortly upon returning home.
I really thought I was in the best of shape. That is, the best of shape for one who had just a year and a half earlier been clinically dead three times in the space of an hour due to a “widow maker” heart attack, on Good Friday, April 22, 2011. My cardiac workouts over those months sense the heart “event,” as I like to call it, took me on an hours-upon- hours ordeal of going nowhere on a treadmill with a vicious incline and speed of operation. Yet, I came back to the hotel room each time and lay with my legs draped over one of those large, round, tubular pillows that my wife tells me are really there just for decoration. Walking in the big city is much different than walking on the treadmill, I found out.
So, biting into the Big Apple was a painful experience physically, much as biting into the Edenic apple (or whichever fruit it was) was painful both physically and spiritually for Adam, Eve, and all of the rest of us. But take a bite out of the apple we did, and we are prayerfully hoping that the seeds planted during that visit will bear spiritual fruit.
I received a request for the interview from a Canadian film company asking that I agree to answer some questions on camera about Bible prophecy. They particularly wanted to talk about the Rapture, after having visited www.raptureready.com and reading some of the thousands of articles on the topic posted there.
Todd Strandberg, the founder of the site– and I have agreed that any on-camera interviews will be done by me, since I’m such a ham. Actually, that wasn’t the reason we decided that I do the on-camera stuff, but the quip fits the jocular motif I wish to establish for the moment. Actually, there is some rather ironic humor in a blind guy doing all of the on-camera work–wouldn’t you agree?
That said, the subject and our purpose in agreeing to the request is a most serious matter. Talking about God’s prophetic timeline and the Rapture at this advanced stage of the Age of Grace is most critical for people around the world. The urgency made my answer to the producer’s request the only one we could give the filmmakers.
Whether to do the interview in the city that has been called “Babylon on the Hudson”–New York City—was a more serious twist of irony, as I considered and agreed to make the trip. I’m more than glad I did. I’m thankful for the opportunity to get the truth of where this generation stands at this crucial point in the nation’s history before the eyes and ears of America and the world. I am even more thankful that we put that truth on film in the most influential city and in the most influential part of that city, in the view of the people of most of the Western world.
Every year, the New Year is celebrated as it arrives at Times Square in the heart of that great metropolis. As the big, glittering ball drops, the masses gathered there shout the countdown in unison and break into deafening cheering when the ball reaches the bottom. The Canadian film crew placed me directly in front of where the ball reaches bottom, framing the interview within the area where the big clock is positioned in the background.
The masses went about their many activities while I answered the producer’s questions and the cameraman shot the film, occasionally stopping me to reload the cameras. The ambient noises in that great city are stunning, with people’s voices in conversation or shouting, vehicles honking, sirens blaring, and all the other sounds that town generates. Times Square is the center of the most frenetic activity, and although the producer stood near enough for me to hear his questions, my friend Mike and our friend Chris, a native New Yorker, said they couldn’t hear either the questions or the responses. Fortunately, the microphone was attached to my tie, just beneath my chin, so my words were easily picked up by the recording devices connected to the cameras.
The first question was simply a request, something along the lines of, “Will you tell us about the Rapture, and talk about what happens from now until the Rapture?”
Interviewers, particularly those in secular media, are often naïve with their questions. They have little understanding of matters involved in the pretribulational view of the Rapture, for example. To answer questions such as this one requires much longer than these venues have time to include. So, trying to be precise and to the point is always the challenge.
I responded that there is nothing that must happen from that point until the Rapture, so far as Bible prophecy is concerned. That was precise enough. But, then, I felt it necessary to go into what is in fact going on right now that makes us know the Rapture is imminent. That line-up of current issues and events and what the future of the Middle East–for example—might hold, seemed to pique the producer’s interest, and he wanted to know about what is the most important of these “signs of the end of days.”
They always like that phrase, “the end of days.”
My immediate, precise answer was, of course, that Israel is at the center of the world’s spotlight, with a diplomatic proposal in process of attempting to force peace between Israel and its enemy neighbors–all surrounding Islamic countries. These things are exactly as God’s prophetic word says will be the case at the very end of the age.
Most important, the interview offered me the opportunity to give God’s plan of salvation, which I hope I did to the Lord’s satisfaction. It was up to Him to make certain it survived the cutting room floor, once they began putting the documentary and weekly program together. I have no doubt that He saw to it.
When God Promises
Every presidential election in recent times has been talked about as one of the most crucial in America’s history. This election has added to it, however, anxiety among voters the likes of which I can’t recall.
Not everyone is so concerned, of course. Those I’m referring to who are so concerned are those who truly see the nation as on a pathway of rapid decline in most every aspect of society and culture. From the issues of the debauching of morality like instituting same-sex marriage and same-sex public toilet facilities…to a presidential administration that seems to have thrown the U.S. Constitution out the window of common sensibility…to the deliberate creation of an economic morass that has built to the point that the government routinely lies, fabricating statistics to try to convince the American people that they aren’t in reality in the portentous economic predicament their circumstances plainly indicates, intensive fear is building.
There is genuine worry within the heartland of America that we have a government that is no longer recognizable as founded. And, the even greater worry is that this condition has been deliberately brought about by elected leaders whose primary concerns is feathering their own personal and political power nests.
Certainly, looking across America’s landscape of the present hour, it isn’t easy to find a glimmer of hope to offer those with these concerns. The cajoling of voters for their votes by the politicians and their great, swelling promises of the campaign stump suddenly disappear when they win elections. They join in or revert to their old Washington ways once put into or returned to office. It would be foolhardy to expect that this election will see accomplished a different result.
Tremendous pressures exerted upon newly elected members of Congress to join the insider network or else be marginalized and rendered ineffectual has been made blatantly observable over the last number of mid-term elections in particular. Once the candidates have been within the D.C. Beltway for a certain period of time, they melt into the system. They seem to disconnect from their constituency until time to get out and shore up their support at home.
The politicians’ promises, almost without exception, fade into the canyons of lost memories, the destination for which they are intended all along by the Washington power brokers. Yet to so many amongst the citizenry, the government has come to demand god-like reverence. The largess that the power brokers provide from cradle to grave has replaced reliance upon provision by the true God of Heaven in the mainstream of life in America–this swiftly taking our nation in the opposite direction intended by the founding fathers.
Each succeeding election proves again and again that the politicians’ promises were never intended to be kept. Yet we the people continue to place trust in those who, in many cases, have been in those positions of power for decades. It’s a form of insanity, I think–reprobate thinking brought on by our sinful ways and activity. Again, the definition of insanity is trying the same thing time after time to solve problems even though it fails every time.
This brought to mind for this week’s commentary the distinctly defined difference–the contrast–between those promises given by the politicians and the promises made by our God in Heaven.
Actually, it was the actions of the current president of the United States in Jerusalem attending the funeral of former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres that brought this contrast to mind. Mr. Obama’s White House publicity writers, while reporting Obama’s trip to Jerusalem for Peres’ funeral, made a faux pas that had to be quickly corrected.
Obama correctly stated in his prepared remarks while attending the funeral, “I could not be more honored to be in Jerusalem to say farewell to my friend Shimon Peres, who showed us that justice and hope are at the heart of the Zionist idea.”
However, the White House initially put in the announcement of the president’s going to the funeral that the ceremony would be in “Jerusalem, Israel.” The embarrassed White House staff put out within six hours of the faux pas the corrected statement that indicated that in fact Jerusalem is disputed territory.
In other words, Israel, in the eyes of U.S. politicians, has no claim to Israel more valid than do those who claim possession among the Palestinians. The U.S. State Department has, in fact, refused to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, placing the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.
The same politicians who make us promises election after election and quickly forget them once they’ve been voted in office tell Israel that, in effect, God’s promise to that nation is not valid. Yet while the politicians prove election after election that it is their own promises that are not valid, the God of Heaven, through the very nation of Israel, which is at the heart of so much worldwide anger and controversy, has proven beyond any doubt that He keeps His promises.
He has said that Israel, once established in the land, will never be uprooted again. He said it would be made a nation again in a single day. He said that Israel will never stop being His people. He has kept every promise. We can know therefore, beyond any doubt that while the politicians of this nation and world almost never keep even one promise, the God of the Universe never will break a promise.
That God has said to His people Israel regarding Jerusalem, “For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.” (Zechariah 2:8)
The Lord has also promised that because the politicians of this world will “divide my land,” He will bring the whole world into the Valley of Jehoshaphat–to Armageddon (Joel 3:2).
That’s why we watch Israel so closely in the observation of the unfolding of history in view of Bible prophecy. Israel is absolute proof of the veracity of God’s Word. He keeps His promises–and Israel is the proof! To apply this to the fear and trepidation that so many Christians are expressing today about the upcoming election and what lies beyond November 8, I urge that we consider our Great, Promise-Keeping God.
He has told us that we will be completely kept out of the time of the soon-to-come era of horror termed the Tribulation–out of His Judgment and Wrath (Revelation 3: 10). He will take the Bride of Christ –the Church– off this condemned planet when all of the troubling signals begin to come to pass (Luke 21: 28).
When God promises, it is as good as accomplished. This promise, I hope you will sense in your spirit as do I, is about to be kept.
End- of-Days Violence – Part 2
Our question in this commentary is: What is the primary characteristic of our day that is like that which was prevalent during the days of Noah and of Lot? As I hope we saw in the last article, Jesus recounted those ancient times in prophetic terms, pointing out that times at some future date will be just like those days were when He next catastrophically intervenes in the affairs of mankind.
We looked at how–in my view, at least—Jesus was talking about the time He will come for His church in the Rapture. He was not prophesying about the Second Advent at the time when all flesh will be on the cusp of destruction.
The title of our commentary is, of course, “End-of-Days Violence,” so, obviously, “violence” is the characteristic similarity prominent to both those ancient days and to our time, which I want us to examine.
There was much violence in the “days of Lot”–the days of the wicked cities of Sodom and of Gomorrah, to be sure. The violence was reported primarily through the sexual debauchery of that time. Homosexuality, in particular, pervaded society. While the days of those cities seemed almost civilized, the nights were filled with sexual violence and every sort of perversion.
We remember the angels were sought by the homosexuals of Sodom when Heaven’s messengers came to Lot’s home. But, the reference to violence that I want us to examine here–of the sort given in Jesus’ prophecy in Luke 17:26-30 and Matthew 24:32-44, as we looked at in last week’s commentary—is found in the book of Genesis: “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth” (Genesis 6:11-13).
While it can be said that violence–perhaps–hasn’t reached the level of Noah’s day, before the Flood, our present world can be called anything but non-violent. The murders and woundings of children in school houses, theater-goers and the slaughter of people in the pews at their churches of recent times are proof that man is as violent as at any time in human history.
We sometimes gauge everything that happens culturally and societally upon what is happening in America. This is natural, because we have a news and entertainment media that seemingly relishes dwelling on horrors such as the shooting that took place during the showing of the Batman movie of a number of years ago. It was nonstop punditry and interviews from every possible angle. It even knocked the political back-and-forth media war off the air, as both President Obama and GOP candidate Romney put their campaigns on hold for a time.
The killings were heinous acts, to be certain. But, if this were the only such act of the sort that is called a mass murder, it would hardly constitute violence that warrants me equating our times with those of Noah and Lot. Even if we count all of the recent such mass killings found in that one small area of Colorado, from the Columbine murders to the theater massacre in Aurora, we can’t necessarily make of that mayhem the equivalent of worldwide violence of prophetic significance. The literally millions upon millions of victims of war-making just since World War I is far greater evidence for Noah’s day-type violence in our time.
But, there is something about such impersonal bloodshed as found in the spree killings that viscerally affect the soul, which grabs and shakes to society’s core our foundations of pretend civility. These somehow bring to the surface of our time the sickness that proves to our collective minds that we are nearing the end of days –as secular journalists would term the prophesied end times.
And, despite some pundits in other parts of the world proclaiming that America is alone in this madness because we have such lax gun laws, a quick search of relatively recent history proves the violence is worldwide.
The following is based upon facts presented by Neil Cavuto in his weekday program for Fox News, Your World Cavuto. The history was presented on the program “Gun Violence Isn’t Unique to the U.S.” Cavuto was exercised over the fact that many on the political left were trying to once again call for more gun control. He made the point that despite nations in Europe and elsewhere having some of the strictest gun laws on the planet, this sort of murderous activity isn’t by any means restricted to the United States. I find the facts he presented to be proof that we live in a time as violent as any in history–including Noah’s day. Cavuto said he found the accusations of America as being unique in the perpetration of gun violence as totally beyond truth, and unfair.
He said this is:
Because last time I checked, Norway has among the toughest gun laws on the planet, not to mention a reputation for having among the most peaceful citizens on the planet. But that didn’t stop Anders Breivik from going on a rampage that left 77 dead–that’s right, 77–in 2011. The same year Nordine Amrani murdered seven in Belgium. Or 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer walked into a German elementary school and killed 15 people in 2009. Or a 52-year-old British taxi driver named Derrick Bird butchered 12 and injured 11 others in a four-hour violent spree back in 2010. Barely a year after Ibrahim Shkupolli stabbed and killed his ex-girlfriend, he went on to a shopping mall in Finland to kill four others. The same otherwise “peaceful” Finland, where only about a year earlier, a 22-year old culinary arts student walked into a school and killed 10 people. I could go on.
- the Birmingham, England man who killed three back in 2000.
- the Swiss kid who slaughtered 14 at the parliament in Zug in 2001.
- the 29-year-old who killed 11 and injured 6 in South Africa.
- the Slovakian man who killed 7 in a Netherlands shopping mall in 2011.
- or the 23-year-old Australian surfer named Martin Bryant, who shot dead 35 people at a popular tourist attraction there “just because he felt like it” that day.
My point is not to spread the blame but remind all, this kind of stuff isn’t unique to us. It happens everywhere. Among peoples who are peaceful, and those who are not.
In countries with tough gun laws, and those without tough gun laws.
And it’s been happening for a long time…
Like back in 1938, when Mutsuo Toi killed 30 in Japan.
Or in 1913, when Ernst August Wagner murdered 14 in Germany…(Neil Cavuto, Your World Cavuto, 7/23/12, http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/your-world-cavuto/2012/07/23/cavuto-gun-violence-isnt-unique-us]
Violence is exploding on a worldwide scale at the personal, one-on-one level to the mass and spree killings, to genocide perpetrated by the Saddam Husseins and Bashar Al Assads of the world. We are a violent race–racing, in fact, toward the Lord’s sudden and catastrophic intervention. He will bring judgment because lost mankind is incorrigible without Jesus Christ’s intervention.
God’s Word calls all to repentance before that great and terrible day of the Lord when God’s judgment and wrath must fall. Jesus wants to take all who will accept His grace gift of salvation out of the time of that judgment, which is surely almost at the point of falling upon planet earth. Here’s how to avoid being here for that devastating cleansing of this fallen world: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).
Power
Henry Kissinger once said that political power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. He should know. He was for many years at or near the very top on that political leadership chain that wields such power. Some believe he remains so today, even into his nineties.
Power is the one thing for which the global elitists lust. It has been that way since Nimrod first thought to establish one-world order on the plains of Shinar those millennia ago. The constant, incessant drive since the time God intervened and scattered the would-be globalist government architects at Babel has continued to be construction of humanistic world order under the absolute authority of a small number of power brokers.
Daniel the prophet and John the revelator both saw the same composite beast coming out of the sea of humanity at the very end of history. Each vision represented a single-governing, global entity. Daniel, in particular, saw that the monster was the composite of great world empires of the past.
Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first waslike a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. (Daniel 7:2-8)
John prophesied the following through his Patmos vision:
And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. (Revelation 13: 1-2)
It is clear that the great prophets Daniel and John were given almost identical visions of the monstrous hybrid entity that will one day crush all of humanity under its massively destructive power. Representing all of the great humanistic empires of history, the satanically driven final world empire will have at its head a single mouth–that of Antichrist–the first beast of Revelation 13. That mouth will speak “great things,” meaning it will propagandize the world’s inhabitants to such an extent that they will believe a great lie that will deceive all but the very elect of God–those saved during the Tribulation era (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12).
To anyone with eyes to see and especially with ears to hear, we are witness today of the development of that great power to deceive. The globalists are shouting with the all-in assistance of the world’s media and through actions that are louder than mere words. They want to transform the world into the new Babel–a neo-Nimrod platform upon that will erect, at least symbolically, a tower even more powerful and all-encompassing than that Tower of Babel of antiquity.
This, to me, is what is among the most troubling in this presidential election. There is a clear distinction between the directions the two major candidates want to go with regard to how America will be governed for the next four years.
The power struggle is immense. One candidate claims that he wants to begin returning the United States to the leadership of the world of nations, with maintenance of traditionally distinctive borders and ways of dealing internationally.
The other candidate’s driving imperative is clearly to continue taking America down the path of deconstructing national boundaries and forcing slavish adherence to more and more internationalist regulations. She is adamantly determined to bring this nation into compliance with the globalist, one-world design.
I say that to me this is especially troubling because Bible prophecy clearly presents that a beastly composite, world order will one day come to pass, if but for a short time. National autonomy and sovereignty will therefore have to at some point diminish and ultimately vanish.
Those of us who want to see America and other nations maintaining–or I should say returning–the international order to like it has been in the recent past seem on the wrong side of Bible prophecy. The globalists seem on the winning side, in that sense.
This election will supposedly determine whether we will go one direction or the other with regard to whether we will live under the U.S. Constitution or under Global Agenda 21 or 30, or whatsoever it’s called now.
Lucifer lusted after God-like power (Isaiah 14:14). All of fallen mankind since the time of the Garden of Eden has clamored for God-like power, which Satan promised through his original deception to Eve. Today, with a U.S. presidential candidacy that threatens to disrupt their one-world agenda, there is a desperate effort to hold to power in Washington, D.C., in the U.N., and in the echelons of principalities and powers in high places (Ephesians 6:12).
The die is cast, as Shakespeare would put it. The new world order is coming. It’s just a matter of when. Will it come during this presidential election cycle?
I believe the answer to that might depend upon the born again of this nation.
According to Paul’s prophecy in 2 Thessalonians, the Restrainer (the Holy Spirit resident within each individual believer in Jesus Christ) will restrain until He (the Holy Spirit) is taken out of the way. Then all-out iniquity will fill the vacuum left in the wake of His removal as Restrainer.
The Church–all born-again believers–just might have at its prayerful fingertips the power to hold back or restrain absolute evil until Christ’s Body–all born-again believers–is removed.
It is incumbent upon each of us as believers, therefore, to appropriate that Power of restraint against those who would bring about the Antichrist, globalist power base for as long as we serve as Royal Ambassadors upon this judgment-bound planet.
The power of prayer is beyond anything the finite mind can fathom. Let us use the privilege we have been given to exercise this great weapon against the ultimate evil Satan plans for humanity.
Olivet Overview – Part 3 – By Ed Wood
We’ll pick up this third article in our Olivet series with the next item on our list of events yet to come.
Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21-22; Mark 13:19-20; Luke 21:25-26)
This will be a time worse than anything else in history as Jesus said:
Matthew {24:21-22} For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
Remember that we are now in the post-Rapture world where, quite literally, all hell has begun to break loose. The reason for this can be found in the following passage from Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians, written to dispel a false notion that the “day of the Lord” had already come:
2 Thess {2:1-9} Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and [by] our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 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; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [will let,] until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: [Even him,] whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders . . .
Now there is a lot of information here so it is well worth our time to explore this passage in greater detail. Let’s begin with the phrase “except there come a falling away first.” I’ve heard two interpretations of it, each with its own merit. The first says this refers to the Rapture, when all believers are rescued from Planet Earth to meet Jesus in the clouds (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). The second says it refers to a falling away from the faith. In other words, apostasy, something which is occurring in a widespread manner among the church in Europe and North America in particular, something we already discussed under “False Prophets” and “Christians Persecuted” in the initial article of this series. The original Greek term rendered as “falling away” in the above is“apostasia,” from which “apostasy” clearly comes. Therefore, in my opinion, this second interpretation has the most merit. If you think it’s bad now, during the Tribulation it will get a lot worse – along with everything else.
The reason for this is that “he (the Holy Spirit) who not letteth (wherein ‘letteth’ is translated from the Greek word ‘katecho’ which itself means ‘restrains’ in modern English)” will be gone, since those believers in whom he had taken up residence have been removed from the Earth during the Rapture. It is only then that the “man of sin” and “son of perdition (damnation)” otherwise known to us as the Antichrist is revealed and given power to ultimately bring the human race to the very brink of extinction. We also learn that this man will be imbued with satanic powers making him virtually irresistible to most of the planet’s population. Judging by just how much traction lies get over the truth these days, it isn’t difficult to believe the triumph of falsehood and evil for the last seven years of history, is it?
Many of those who study prophecy have applied the terms “Great Tribulation” to the last 3 1/2 years of the entire seven year Tribulation period and there is every reason to believe the this last half of it will truly be the worst. It will be the time after the Antichrist has suffered a fatal head wound, returned to life (Revelation 13:2-4), and invaded the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and claimed to be “God.”
Paradoxically, when this demonic figure first appears on the scene, I envision him gaining wide appeal in a very short time as the “Answer Man” appearing just as Earth thrown into turmoil by the sudden unexpected disappearance of believers (1 Corinthians 15:51-54) coupled with an intensification of all the present economic, political, social, and natural upheavals we are already experiencing today. In fact, the beginning of the Trib period might look just great.
For example, a long sought-after Middle East Peace Accord will likely come into effect with a seven year treaty that the Antichrist will confirm (Daniel 9:27), possibly averting, though only temporarily, the outbreak of a regional nuclear war that would have the prospect of growing into a worldwide cataclysm. Since we already see in our time that whatever happens in the Middle East has widespread implications, I also envision with the tensions relieved there a short-lived global economic boom. For the human race, it will undoubtedly look like Utopia is just around the corner – making it ripe for the Antichrist to exploit for his own sinister plans.
It probably won’t be very long before the euphoria begins to wear thin as Earth continues to be plagued by natural disasters and civic unrest begin to sprout up again as a result of their effects on food production and transportation. The general reaction of governments to such matters is generally one of tightening restrictions on individual liberty. If you think the population of United States would be immune from such a scenario, here is a small sample of what could happen here right from the Office of the Press Secretary of the White House as to who would control our resources in the event of an emergency:
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
March 16, 2012
Executive Order — National Defense Resources Preparedness
EXECUTIVE ORDER
NATIONAL DEFENSE RESOURCES PREPAREDNESS
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Defense Production Act of 1950, as amended (50 U.S.C. App. 2061 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows . . .
Sec. 201. Priorities and Allocations Authorities. (a) The authority of the President conferred by section 101 of the Act, 50 U.S.C. App. 2071, to require acceptance and priority performance of contracts or orders (other than contracts of employment) to promote the national defense over performance of any other contracts or orders, and to allocate materials, services, and facilities as deemed necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense, is delegated to the following agency heads:
(1) the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to food resources, food resource facilities, livestock resources, veterinary resources, plant health resources, and the domestic distribution of farm equipment and commercial fertilizer;
(2) the Secretary of Energy with respect to all forms of energy;
(3) the Secretary of Health and Human Services with respect to health resources;
(4) the Secretary of Transportation with respect to all forms of civil transportation;
(5) the Secretary of Defense with respect to water resources; and
(6) the Secretary of Commerce with respect to all other materials, services, and facilities, including construction materials.
(b) The Secretary of each agency delegated authority under subsection (a) of this section (resource departments) shall plan for and issue regulations to prioritize and allocate resources and establish standards and procedures by which the authority shall be used to promote the national defense, under both emergency and non-emergency conditions. Each Secretary shall authorize the heads of other agencies, as appropriate, to place priority ratings on contracts and orders for materials, services, and facilities needed in support of programs approved under section 202 of this order.
By virtue of this being an Executive Order which bypasses Congress, we have a declaration that puts every vital resource of this country put under the absolute control of individuals who were never elected by the voters of the United States. I am also left wondering just who it is that determines what an “emergency” is. Now if such a thing can happen in America, the land of the free and the brave, it can happen anywhere! People will characteristically give up a lot of their freedom for “peace and safety.” An examination of Hitler’s rise to power and the kind of Germany he created in his image proves this point in dreadful detail. The Antichrist will institute a government based on the total control of everything on a planetary basis. One major way to accomplish this is by controlling the economy. Let’s take a look at the specific way it’ll be done.
Revelation {13:15-18} And he* had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number [is] Six hundred threescore [and] six. *The false prophet.
This is a subject which we covered in some length in “Prophetic Tech – Part 3″ but is worth a review. There is probably nothing else that affects an individual more than that which affects his or her personal finances. After all, what you eat, where you live, and what you wear, are the essential basics that are common to every single human being on Earth regardless of who and where they are. Control the purse strings, and you control the person. As we have seen before, those who don’t play ball with the Antichrist don’t get access to his economy. There may develop a black market of some type to circumvent the restrictions – a possibility that would explain how some post-Rapture believers will manage to survive to the very end of the Tribulation, but I have a hunch that there will be very few of them since those who refuse the mark will be systematically hunted down. One must remember that the Antichrist government will not only have advanced technology but the dark power of Satan himself on its side to do just that. In fact, the Bible tells us quite plainly that he will for a time, “prevail against the saints” until Jesus himself returns to establish the Millennial Kingdom upon a decimated and greatly depopulated planet:
Daniel {7:20-22} And of the ten horns that [were] in his head, and [of] the other which came up*, and before whom three fell; even [of] that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look [was] more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them. {7:22} Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. *The Antichrist – the “horn” or leader which eventually takes over the whole world from the other “horns” who ruled previously in some manner of global government. (See Daniel 7:24-25.)
Make no mistake: this will be the worst time in the history of humankind upon the Earth so terrible that if it had not been shortened by direct Divine Intervention not even the relatively few remaining righteous souls would survive, just as Jesus said:
Matthew {24:21-22} For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
If allowed to continue unabated, the Bible makes it clear that no one, not even the “elect” (probably referring mainly to the Jewish race and including post-Trib people who had come to believe in Jesus) would survive. The extinction of the human race would be total.
The implications of this are terrifying – it would mean that Satan wins in a scorched Earth policy from which none would be exempt. Why do I say this? Because if this came to pass, all the promises the Bible records that God made to the Hebrews in the Old Testament and true Christians in the New could never come to pass. Since it is our conviction that the Bible is 100% accurate, this would make it in error. Logically it would follow that God himself is likewise capable of error and therefore fallible.
It has always been the devil’s goal to thwart God’s plan from the very beginning (Genesis, chapter 3) all along. He has tried to destroy the Hebrews throughout history, he tried to do the same to Jesus himself and to his followers after the Ascension. The demonic persecution continues unabated even to this day and, as prophecy reveals, will intensify as we approach the close of this age.
Next time we’ll begin with looking toward the skies and examine what we might expect is coming from above.
***************************************
THE OLIVET DISCOURSE – WHAT JESUS TOLD US TO EXPECT – UPDATED
| Status | EVENT | BIBLE REFERENCE | ||
| Matthew | Mark | Luke | ||
| D | TEMPLE DESTROYED | 24:1-2 | 13:1-2 | 21:5-6 |
| I | FALSE PROPHETS | 24:4-5,11,23-28 | 13:5-6; 21-23 | 21:8 |
| I | WARS | 24:6-7 | 13:7-8a | 21:9-10 |
| I | FAMINE | 24:7 | 13:8b | 21:11 |
| I | EARTHQUAKES &NATURAL DISASTERS | 24:7 | 13:8b | 21:11,25b |
| I | PEOPLE GET WORSE | 24:12 | ||
| I | CHRISTIANSPERSECUTED | 24:9-10 | 13:9-13 | 21:12-15 |
| I | GOSPEL PREACHED WORLDWIDE | 24:14 | 13:10 | |
| I | FAMILIES IN STRIFE | 13:12 | 21:16 | |
| DURING THE TRIBULATION | ||||
| F | ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION * | 24:15-22 | 13:14-16 | (See ** below) |
| F | JERUSALEMSURROUNDED ** | 24:15-20 | 13:14-18 | 21:20-24 |
| F | GREAT TRIBULATION | 24:21-22 | 13: 19-20 | 21:25-26 |
| F | SIGNS IN THE HEAVENS | 24:29 | 13: 24-25 | 21:11, 25-26 |
| F | SIGN OF JESUS | 24: 30 | ||
| THE MILLENNIUM BEGINS | ||||
| F | JESUS RETURNS | 13: 26 | 21:27 | |
| F | ELECT GATHERED | 24: 31 | 13: 27 | |
NOTES:
D = DONE
I = IN PROGRESS (But we can expect all of these to intensify as time goes by.)
F = FUTURE EVENT
* Jesus told us here that the antichrist will desecrate the temple as did Antiochus IV Epiphanes as related in Daniel 8:9-14. In Daniel 9:27, the prophet describes a second similar desecration of the temple in the midst of the antichrist’s one “week” (seven years) reign.
** Luke’s version omits the mention of the Abomination. Perhaps it relates the siege of Titus in 70 A.D., while Matthew and Mark’s versions refer to that second event that Jesus mentioned which will occur during the Tribulation.
End-of-Days Violence – Part 1
The most profound foretelling in Bible prophecy is done by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Great I Am, and no prophet of the Old or New testaments speaks with greater authority. Other prophets speak with authority equal to His, the argument can be made, but only because Jesus gave them the prophetic truth to pass along to the rest of us. It is His prophecy in the first place.
Despite the tremendous importance of and power manifested in Jesus’ Olivet Discourse, the earliest part of that reporting of end-times matters takes second place to another area of prophecy, as far as we are concerned today, in my view. I find Christ’s words in the following passages to be the most relevant to this very hour in which this generation finds itself:
“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” (Luke 17: 26-30)
As many who read these commentaries are aware, I consider this to be the most relevant prophecy to our time because of specific factors. Jesus was prophesying here about exactly how things will be in culture and society upon the earth at the time He intervenes catastrophically into the affairs of mankind. He said in these and other similar passages that things would be pretty much normal for the times, so far as human activity is concerned, at the time of His thief in the night interjection into earth’s history. People will be eating, drinking, buying, selling, building, marrying, planting, and doing other things that seem to be normal activities at the time He breaks in and reveals himself.
As I’ve written numerous times, this cannot be referring to the Second Advent (Second Coming at Armageddon–see Revelation 19:11). The twenty-one specific judgments of the scrolls, trumpets, and vials will have decimated this planet at the time of that glorious return with ten thousand of Christ’s saints. God’s wrath, Satan’s rage, and man’s gross sin and folly will have denuded the earth of, perhaps, three-fourths of human life. The radical environmentalists will see their dream come true–that of getting the planet’s population to its bare minimum.
Rather than the utopian existence they anticipate, however, it will be hell on earth at the time Christ’s foot touches down on the Mount of Olives upon His return. Remember –Jesus said that if He didn’t come back at that time, there would be no flesh left alive on this devastated sphere (Matthew 24:21). The violence that has plagued mankind will reach its crescendo as Armageddon explodes in all of its fury in the Middle East. And, the Bible indicates, no part of the globe will escape the effects of the seven-seals scroll found in Revelation chapters 6-19.
So, we look at Jesus’ Luke 17 prophecy to discover why, exactly, I say I believe it is the most relevant foretelling for our time. We first must think on the characteristics of the time of Noah and Lot’s days on earth. Again, that intervention has to be at a time when things culturally and societally are going along in a relatively normal fashion. Prophecy tells us elsewhere in the Scriptures that there will be a cry that peace and safety has arrived, when sudden destruction comes. Jesus’ break-in on the world will be like the break-in of a thief in the night, according to His own words. It will be totally unexpected by the children of the night, we are told by the apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians.
Point is, our present time frame seems to match up with another prophecy by the Lord Jesus that speaks to this business-as-usual profile. Again, we find the amazing words of Jesus himself laying out specifically how things will be. He tells these future events within the framework of the Olivet Discourse. Read carefully what He says about what those attuned to the promise of His coming can expect. Particularly, look at the last verses of this prophecy.
“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” (Matthew 24:36-44)
Jesus was talking about the “think-not” generation that would be living at the time of the Rapture of His church. I know the seminary position has most often been that Christ was talking here about the time of His Second Advent. But, we just looked at why this isn’t possible. Societal and cultural circumstances will not be business as usual at the time of Christ’s return at Armageddon. these Scriptures can refer to none other than the calling of believers into the air to be with Him forever. (Read John 14:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:51-55; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
So, we consider further the days of Noah and of Lot. What is the most common characteristic–and there is one in particular— that marked those times as unmistakably similar to our current time? Next week’s article will, I hope, provide an enlightening dissection of that characteristic.
The Wheel of Humanity
It is the geopolitical center of earth’s most dangerous dilemma from the standpoint of the threat of nuclear Armageddon. It even outweighs the gravity of threats from ISIS, Russia, China, or North Korea.
The very survival or destruction of humanity’s future seems to revolve around this nucleus geopolitical matter.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced the problem in a recent video.
Israel’s diversity shows its openness and readiness for peace. Yet the Palestinian leadership actually demands a Palestinian state with one pre-condition: No Jews.
There’s a phrase for that: It’s called ethnic cleansing. And this demand is outrageous. It’s even more outrageous that the world doesn’t find this outrageous.
Some otherwise enlightened countries even promote this outrage.
Out of 138 nations eligible to vote on United Nations Resolution A/67/L.28, only Israel, the United States, Canada, and the Czech Republic voted against the resolution, while forty-one abstained.
The resolution reaffirms: “the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to independence in their State of Palestine on the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.”
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, in a practically unprecedented such bias-tinged statement, declared recently that the Israeli “occupation” of Palestinian-controlled territories “must end.”
As the U.N. world leaders gathered in New York City the past week, the number one-collective thought, if not necessarily expressed as the all-out obsession of most gathered, was the idea to force Israel to give up land for peace. It was the same old, ages-long rant: There can’t be peace until Israel gives the Palestinians back their rightful land.
Only, it isn’t theirs. God gave it to Israel in perpetuity:
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)
But, if you don’t accept that biblical claim, then how about this one?
Israel took the territory in question in a series of modern wars, the most pertinent for this argument being accomplished in the 1967 Six-Day War.
The diplomatic world frets that this is the sticking point for Middle East peace. They fret further that if not forthcoming, acceptance of the demand that Israel give up the land in question for peace will mean World War III–nuclear conflict, and the end of humanity itself.
Actually the inverse is true–thus according to God’s Word, which prophesies the following:
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)
Most all of the leaders of the nations are dead set to do just what this foreboding prophecy foretells. They are determined to part or divide God’s land. At some point, this will be accomplished, because that’s what Armageddon is all about. All nations will be brought by the God of Israel into the Valley of Jehoshaphat–that is, to the place where Armageddon will unfold.
All of this is shaping up at a rapid pace while most every signal of prophetic significance is coming together in dramatic convergence. We have covered these converging signals of end-times alignment many times in this column.
There is perhaps no such prophetic element so important as the nations of the world dealing treacherously with God’s timepiece–Israel.
One of the great Bible teachers of these present days mentioned Israel in relationship to the world’s nations the other day. I was sipping my coffee and watching his thirty-minute Bible study at 5 a.m. It was Through the Bible with Les Feldick, and Les made a profound point. The fact that he had made it way back in 2001 when the program was taped did not diminish its profundity.
He said (and I paraphrase) that the world is like a wheel, with Israel its hub. All of humanity move in their orbits around this people as God permits with Israel, His chosen, at the center. He gave the following Scripture:
When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the LORD’S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. (Deuteronomy 32: 8-9)
This does not in any way mean that the Jewish people are better than any other. As a matter of fact, God points out on occasion that they have been among the most obstinate. But, make no mistake, Israel is His, and it will be the nations of the world forcing its version of peace on that nation that will bring about God’s wrath and judgment.
That great wheel of humanity and history is rolling ever closer to Armageddon.
Terry James Prophecy Line 