Prophecy Line
Osama’s and Jihad John’s Deaths
Many Americans broke out in celebration when Al Qaeda mastermind Osama Bin Laden’s death was announced Sunday night, May 1, 2011. The demonstrations of glee weren’t nearly as wild as the scenes from almost every Muslim nation the day the twin towers in New York fell. There was no firing of AK-47 weaponry into the air, but it was ebullient demonstration nonetheless.
President Obama was said to have turned to an aid and remarked: “We got him!”
There was the same sort of reaction recently when the terrorist known as Jihad John was said to be killed in a pinpoint bombing. The terrorists was infamous for beheading people, including Americans, on camera and putting the murders on YouTube.
How did you react when you heard the news? My only reaction was to think that now Osama and Jihad John face not the seventy-two virgins promised to all Muslim men faithful to Allah once they assume room temperature, but that they confront something far different. Their deaths gave no pleasure, no sense of retribution or vengeance–but neither did I then or now have any regrets that they are gone from this world.
Had I lost a family member or dear friend in the World Trade Towers, the Pentagon, or the crash of the airplane in Pennsylvania that day, or if one of the people beheaded were personal relatives or friends, perhaps I would be satisfied to the point of elation at the news of their deaths. But, I don’t think so.
The satisfaction I receive is that of knowing that they can no longer add their demented thought processes to those of their fellow Islamist madmen. To me, there is no joy in the demise of anyone, except in knowing that, in each of these cases, they won’t be in on planning future murders in the name of Allah. This is indeed a significant volley in the war declared on terror by George W. Bush following September 11, 2001. Killing Osama Bin Laden and Jihad John, however, can’t change the fact that they and their henchmen murdered thousands of people. It can’t alter the fact that thousands of U.S. service men and women have died or been wounded in pursuit of dealing with the evil these men and others perpetrated and their fellow terrorists continue to carry out.
These terrorists’ deaths don’t stop the trillions of dollars and counting cost of the military action against radical Islam the U.S. has and is footing. In this, the two now dead terrorists have been successful–helping achieve their vow to bring the great Satan to its knees, economically speaking. So, their being killed isn’t reason to declare victory, even though it is obviously a cause for celebration by those who are so inclined.
There are thousands, even millions, to take their place. There is little time to spend reveling in these two, demonically driven men’s deaths. Their assassinations are that sort of violence on which the jihadists feed. Violence feeds Islamist war-makers like the warm Gulf waters feed a hurricane.
Am I saying that Osama Bin Laden and the one termed Jihad John should not have been dispatched? Of course not. I am saying that to vigorously celebrate their being killed should not be allowed to become, either individually or collectively within the American psyche, a visceral bloodlust to render evil for evil. Especially, this should not be the mindset of the Christian, in my view. Such action should be taken only in order to try to make civilized society safe from such beastly activity as carried out by these murderers and their ilk. The Bible condones such action by duly authorized governments because this is a sinful, murderous world, and such killers must be stopped to promote the general safety of peace-loving people.
Hypocrisy and worse is front and center in all of this taking down of these terrorists, while the mainstream media takes no notice. The present American president operates within a political philosophy that disdains capital punishment, no matter the crime–primarily, I believe, because he thus wins the hearts, minds, and votes of minorities who view themselves as victims of injustice. Yet he and his political associates see nothing wrong with the taking out of the two terrorists in question, because it was the politically expedient thing to do. Executing a man–within the American judicial system, for murdering a person–is something the liberal mindset considers barbarism. They slap each other’s backs, however, for the good fortune–or well-executed plan—in sending Osama Bin Laden and Jihad John on their eternal journey. Their poll numbers might benefit from the action taken.
Such duality of thought shows a trend toward the same sort of madness carried on by the fanatic Islamists. Fanatic Muslims see nothing wrong with killing, when it serves the best interest of their cause and is sanctioned by their “holy book,” the Koran. It is justice of a grossly perverted sort by which that self-indulgent mindset operates.
So, those who name the name of Christ should not find carnal enjoyment in the deaths of Osama Bin Laden, the one called Jihad John, or anyone else. They are gone, and I am glad. They presented danger to those I love, as well as to everyone who might fall under their unalloyed evil plotting. But, I take no pleasure in their deaths–only a degree of solace. The Lord of heaven Himself has set the example for what should be the Christian’s attitude in such matters: “’As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways!’” (Ezekiel 33:11).
Sovereignty and Climate Change
One priority heads the list that the principalities and powers in high places of Ephesians 6:12 must achieve in order to build the neo-Babel tower of world control. There can be no doubt of what that geopolitical goal is if one truly considers the things going on within the COP (Conference of the Parties) held in Paris November 30 through December 11. That was the twenty-first get-together of the globalist organization whose membership now numbers more than 190 nations.
There declared intention is to establish global agreement on what to do about so-called climate change. The aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions brought about by human activity. Their proclamation of such danger to the environment through continuing sophistry that includes falsifying data on supposed global warming has been debunked over recent years.
These “de-growth” environmentalist nonetheless continue to shout through their world-wide media accomplices that green house emission-caused global warming will be the thing that will bring an end to planet earth. Thus even though they’ve had to alter their fear-mongering rant to call it “climate change” because of scientific proof to the contrary.
The most recognizable religious figure on the planet is all in, too. Pope Frances, flying on the papal plane when leaving Africa, weighed in when asked to comment on whether anything constructive might come of the COP gathering.
“I’m not sure, but I can say that it is now or never,” he said.
The pope went on to say: “We are on the edge of suicide…but I am sure that just about everybody meeting in Paris is aware of this and wants to do something.”
He concluded:
“The other day I read that in Greenland the glaciers have lost billions of tons… In the Pacific there is a country that is buying another country in order to move, because in 20 years it’s going to disappear. I believe in these people, [the COP leadership] that they will do something. I hope so, and I pray for it.” (Source: “POPE: CLIMATE CHANGE AGREEMENT ‘NOW OR NEVER,’ HUMANITY ON THE ‘EDGE OF SUICIDE’,” Thomas D. Williams, DECEMBER 1, 2015, http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/12/01/pope-climate-change-agreement-now-never-humanity-edge-suicide/).
The climate change/environmental save-the-planet social engineers intend to change human consumption patterns in every possible way. They intend to reduce private land ownership to the point that all will be forced to live in restricted communal areas. This is what is meant, in part, by the “de-growth” term mentioned above. The ultimate outgrowth of the de-growther plan is to reduce the population of earth to 500 million or less.
Talk show host Mark Levin, in chapter 7 of his recent book Plunder and Deceit, mentions America’s own neo-Babel de-growther in addressing the environmentalist movement:
Much of the so-called environmental movement today has transmuted into an aggressively nefarious and primitive faction. In the last fifteen years, many of the tenets of utopian statism have coalesced around something called the “de-growth” movement. Originating in Europe but now taking a firm hold in the United States, the “degrowthers,” as I shall characterize them, include in their ranks none other than President Barack Obama. On January 17, 2008, Obama made clear his hostility toward, of all things, electricity generated from coal and coal-powered plants. He told the San Francisco Chronicle, “You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal . . . under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket.”
Recently we have learned they are determined to eventually do away with air-conditioning and other comfort/convenience technologies. We in the West must be brought down to the same level of the Third World societies and cultures. Equality will then be achieved and Utopia established. They will have created their version of heaven on earth.
The real story behind all of this, of course, is the matter of sovereignty.
The plan of the builders of the end-times Tower of Babel know that to begin to achieve their goal of de-growth, the apex nation of the world, America, must be stripped of her sovereignty. The U.S. is the holdup. Europe, the one-time bastion of civilization, has all but given its sovereignty over to the socialistic globalist would-be masters. Now, we are seeing America being channeled into that European model. Sovereignty must be and is being stripped. Barack Hussein Obama has been chosen to be primarily instrumental in the stripping process.
That’s what this climate change mantra and drive is all about. It’s what the incessant call to get the guns out of the hands of average Americans is all about. Sovereignty can be maintained only when it is defended by force. Armed Americans stand in the way. That is what the open borders and invitation to a massive invasion from our south and from the Middle East is all about. No more borders–i.e., no more sovereignty.
But of course all this is but the tip of the proverbial iceberg of impending destruction.
The real sovereignty issue is that of the True Sovereign–the Creator of the universe and of all things. The master of the would-be one-world engineers–the neo-Tower builders- wants, as he did from the time of the war in Heaven- to overthrow the sovereignty of God.
Lucifer the fallen has brought today’s globalists to the point of the psalmist’s predicted end-of-the -age arrangement.
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. (Psalms 2:1-6)
Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Been Dying to Write This…
Note: I was re-reading my recounting of the clinical death I suffered on Good Friday of 2011. This prompted me to want to again share the Testimony that I believe is in that strange though wonderful trip into that realm, which I believe with all that is within me was a Heavenly one.
The experience still affects my every waking moment. It continues to be as real to me as the moment my heart stopped on those 3 occasions.
–Terry
Please bear with me in reading this week’s commentary. I don’t like to get “up close and personal,” as ABC sportscasters used to say in announcing an interview with one athlete or the other. It’s just not professional, in my view, for purposes of communicating in forums such as ours. But, personal I am going to get for this one. Hope you don’t mind.
Staying with the ABC sports analogy, I was doing my three- or four-times-per-week workout on Good Friday just past. I had done the warm-ups for the usual fifteen minutes or so, and the barbells (UGH!). Done were the push-ups–seventy of them, except very cheap ones (fooling myself, mostly, that I was doing them right). Then were accomplished the knee-lifts while lying on my back for five minutes. Doing the Body by Jake sit-up machine next had completed that part of the workout.
Then it was time for aerobics. I have this rowing machine with one hundred pounds on the back of it that is an excellent leg-press device, which is also used to do some upper-body stuff. I did all this in the usual fashion, the workout now flowing toward its one-hour and twenty-minute conclusion. I decided to skip the treadmill and go straight for the recumbent bike–to just sort of chill out, or cool off, or however one chooses to term one’s winding-down regimen.
A burning pressure began, then, just behind my sixty-eight-year old sternum. It was a pain I had felt slightly three days earlier while just sitting around working on something on the computer. At that time it had been mild, and I had thought of it as a case of a little more than usual heartburn–indigestion. I think I even popped a Tums or something.
This time, the pain worsened by the second, until it was a severe pressure gnawing at my chest, as if something wanted out of there.
I walked around, just knowing it would shortly ease. But it didn’t.
“Think you better call 911,” I said to my wife. She took one look at me, knowing that that was the very last thing I would ever do–want an ambulance. It almost was…
The medics arrived ten minutes later, I was told. I was conscious and answered their questions, even as in pain and as out of breath as I was. This, even though they tried feverishly to find a pulse.
“Can’t find one,” one of the guys said to the other, who joined him in frantically searching.
Meantime, I’m thinking, “No pulse…What does that mean? One is dead when there is no pulse…”.
They strapped yours truly to the gurney and we were off, the pain in my chest becoming excruciating. One of the rescuers put some nitroglycerin beneath my tongue, while saying to the dispatcher, “Think we have a coronary going…”.
The ride was rough. Ambulances of that sort aren’t built for the patient’s comfort; they just want to get you there. I felt every bump in the brief ride of ten minutes at most. I felt us stop, heard the door open, felt them jerking the gurney forward. I heard a high-pitched noise that sounded like a transition from one function to another within some sort of computerized system. Sort of like bprrrript.
I saw them, then. I was with them, and they were all beautiful young people in their twenties, it seems in retrospect. They were smiling brightly. Their faces glowed effulgently–not like something ghostly, but with the fresh glow of youth of those in perfect health. They beckoned me to join them.
I wanted to just be with them–to talk, and to enjoy that ambience, I remember. I had no thought of what had gone on before–the pain, the ride. This was real. It was real, and I loved it, and I could feel the love of these young people as we faced each other.
Then I remember thinking, “wait,” and there was something going on. I was in a nightmare. I was being transported with chest pains. I felt my bare chest with my fingertips, thinking, “Oh, no. I am on this gurney. I’m not in that beautiful–real place.” I was back in this nightmare–only this was reality.
People were working at high speed. They said I came back talking. I don’t remember what I said; neither did they.
One guy said, “We hit him with the paddles.” (Can’t remember if that’s what he called them.) I questioned that remark. “Paddles?” I asked.
“Yes your heart stopped,” he said.
The pressure again began building, agonizing–a fire thrusting to get out from behind the sternum.
Suddenly there was again the computer-like prompt. I was with the beautiful, young people, whose smiles were brighter than any ever displayed in toothpaste commercials.
Again there was regret, as I found myself on the table where they prepared the angiogram to find out the position of the blockage.
Then, I was with those youngsters again, only this time the memory becomes fuzzy, but I do know I was among them, talking with them in a serenely joyful place.
Back to the ER and the flurry to save my life. I had been hit with the defibrillator for the third time. My heart had completely stopped on three occasions, but now I sensed they had things under control.
A doctor, one of the most highly regarded interventionist cardiologists in the state, just happened to be down from the Arkansas Heart Hospital, which is twenty minutes away in Little Rock. He was only one room away, and was on my case and finished with the procedure within forty-five minutes.
I was told by this doctor that 50 percent of all who have the sort of heart attack I had die before getting to the emergency room. Most that do get to the hospital don’t make it. The attack was in an artery that is the most crucial. They call the blockage the “widow maker.”
Now, what do we make of this? What do we do with it?
Well, the Lord will bring you to Himself when He chooses is one lesson reconfirmed within my own faith. He wants something else to be done through me. Certainly, I believe writing this commentary is one of those things.
Was I in heaven? I don’t know. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, Paul the apostle tells us. I didn’t see Jesus, and He is my Lord.
But, we are all one in Christ, the Lord Himself tells us in John chapter 17. So, in one sense, I could have been with the Lord by being with those people who appeared to be in the full bloom of youth. And, I sensed the absolute peace and joy their demeanor–collectively—projected. Christ is within us and we are one.
But, there’s another side to this reality that seemed more real than the earthly nightmare to which I returned three times. The Lord didn’t show me that other side (the hellish side), but the thought pulses strongly within my spirit as I write this. Just as heaven is a place to be longed for with great anticipation, hell is just as real, and a place to be shunned at all cost. (Read Jesus’ own words on the subject in Mark 9:43-48.)
The choice of whether to accept Jesus Christ as Savior is your choice. The time of death is not yours to make. Even if by suicide, the death will not have taken God by surprise. Believe in Him today with every fiber of your being. Heaven is real. So is hell. Only accepting God’s love gift of His Son’s shed blood on Calvary can cleanse you or me from sin–the soul-destroying thing God cannot permit to come into His holy, majestic presence.
Jesus is the only way to heaven (John 14: 6). You and I must come to Him to ever be a heavenly citizen. The alternative is the nightmare world about which Jesus forewarned.
Here’s the only formula for going to heaven when you die, or at the Rapture of the church:
“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)
Jerusalem Intrigue
Today, things taking place around the world are thought by many observers to indicate we are at the very end of the age. I am one of those observers.
The Middle East is overheating, with the Russians coming together with Iran to exert strong-arm influence over that prophetic region. All of the activity seems almost certainly to be stage setting for things to come—rearrangement for the great Gog-Magog war predicted by the prophet Ezekiel.
Powerful dynamics within the world’s economy, religion, and geopolitics are at boiling temperature. Potent monetary forces are coalescing to create a central economic system of electronic currency control. The specious theme of climate change is apparently the rallying point around which these one-world fiscal masters intend to concentrate power.
Islam is raging and invading the West, upsetting societies and cultures from Africa to the United States. Fear is building from the ravages of unbridled terrorism running amok. At the same time, Pope Francis is moving throughout the world with his own unique message of encouraging Christendom to amalgamate with all religions for the cause of peace and love.
Geopolitically, Europe is in flux, buffeted about by destructive societal and economic winds generated by years of embracing socialistic humanism. Greece, the cradle of Western civilization, as the historians would have it, is at the heart of Europe’s suffering.
It seems more than coincidental, to this observer at least, that an especially intriguing leader from that very philosophical heart of where Western civilization sprung forth has stepped on the stage of history.
We have looked at him before in this column. I have mentioned that he seems to me an archetype of the one who will be Antichrist. I believe that his rise to power serves as example of how the beast of Revelation chapter 13 might emerge from a reviving Roman Empire.
Alexis Tzipras, member of the left wing pro-Palestinian Syriza party, when elected prime minister of Greece, was thought to be a leader who would all but destroy relations between his nation and Israel. One of the most stunning surprises to come from the new Greek leader’s time in power has been his desire to embrace Israel as a future partner in mutually beneficial economic interaction.
The following news item excerpt frames Tzipras’ friendly foray into Jerusalem.
Meeting with the Israeli leadership, opening a two day tour in Jerusalem and Ramallah, Tzipras praised the importance of the relations between Israel and Greece and showed that the partnership has survived the political change.
While in Jerusalem for a meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, Tsipras took an opportunity to sign the President’s guestbook, writing, ” With great honor to be in your historic capital and to meet your excellencies.”
(Source: In unprecedented move Greek PM calls Jerusalem Israel’s ‘historical capital’, By Tal Shalev, Shalev/ i24news, Published: 11/26/2015)
This reaching out to Israel with such profound inscription upon the guest book shocked the world of diplomacy and Israeli leadership, I think. No other national entity of any degree of stature within the international community dares call Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Tzipras has no such qualms. His signing the guest book as he did is a flattery that gripped even the heart of the always wary Benjamin Netanyahu.
Following meetings with Tzipras Wednesday, November 25, during which the leaders discussed how to cooperate in making deals on getting gas from the newly discovered underwater natural gas fields in Israeli and Cypriot waters, Netanyahu commented on the meeting:
We have a growing and enduring partnership between Greece and Israel.
We are two countries with ancient roots…– Although we are ancient peoples, we embrace the future, we embrace modernity… We’re the two democracies in the eastern Mediterranean and we are obviously aware that we have a world of opportunities – of technology, of development, of progress – to seize and we can seize it better through cooperation.
The Israeli prime minister turned to a smiling Tzipras then, and said, “There is, as you said, a natural affinity between the Israelis and the Greeks. It’s very obvious when you go to either country.”
Tzipras expressed the need for all to work together to rid the region and world of terrorism and to deal with ISIS in particular. He was scheduled to meet with Palestinian Authority leaders in an effort to bring understanding between the Israelis and Palestinians.
What’s wrong with the Greek prime minister doing these peace-oriented things? Absolutely nothing–so far as it goes. All that this commentary is meant to do is to point to the unusual nature of this “unprecedented move” by a European leader, as one Israeli official called it.
In this time of ultra-political correctness, when Israel is seen as the roadblock to the Roadmap to Peace, because of their opposition to being forced to give in to giving up land, to have one leader, with words flattering to the Jewish state, break from the pack of anti-Israeli diplomatic wolves and call Jerusalem its capital is possibly of prophetic significance. That that leader is one of unusual charismatic personality and from the very heart of the reviving Roman Empire, makes things even more intriguing.
Daniel the prophet was given a prophecy to share with those who would be on scene at the very end of the world governmental system. It is most interesting to consider as we enter uncharted geopolitical, socioeconomic, and religious waters.
And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant. (Daniel 11:21-22)
Global Sirens Singing Deadly Song
Homer’s protagonist in The Odyssey and the adventures through which the unknown author moved him are brought to mind with the many voices from the diplomatic world singing the same refrain without ceasing–even though egregiously out of tune. These days, I am reminded of how deadly such allurement can be.
Odysseus, the wandering Greek hero, is given instructions for how to safely negotiate his return home. One of the chief obstacles he is told that he will face on his voyage is that of passing by the island of lovely Sirens, the half-human, half-bird female creatures that lure mariners to their death on the island’s rocky shoals with their irresistible song-call, promising to reveal the future.
Odysseus follows his instructions and has his crew aboard the ship plug their ears with bee’s wax. He tells them to tie him to the ship’s mast and instructs them not to loosen the restraints, no matter what.
Odysseus is the only one who can hear the Sirens’ song, and he is driven mad with desire to be set free to go to them. But, his faithful crew just ties him all the more securely to the mast, and they move safely past the island to face the obstacles of the rest of their journey.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on a voyage perhaps not as Homeric, but certainly one through which he must negotiate his way with extreme care, if he is not to run the Jewish ship of state aground on some very deadly shoals. He is hearing the not-so-lovely “Sirens” from many directions calling for his government to give into international pressure–thus to assure a future of peace for all concerned. So far, he has remained securely lashed to the mast, and his government has kept the bee’s wax in their discerning ears of better sensibility.
The lyrics of the song the geopolitical Sirens sing are confusing, to apply the most generous description of their attempts at allurement. But the fact that the chorus spews insanity in their efforts to seduce Netanyahu to throw caution to the wind is the most realistic assessment of their attempt at seduction. The latest of the alluring words, it is hard to have to say, has seemingly induced the Israeli prime minister to change His own tune for the moment. One has to wonder what to make of this particular alteration in the siren call to Benjamin Netanyahu and his response, while he and his crew while they try to negotiate some of the most treacherous Mideast waters in history.
The Siren call further confuses. The globalist sirens are once again, and with greater volume and intensity, singing a familiar, deadly refrain in a not-so-veiled threat to the Netanyahu government.
The international community diplomats, as has been their tendency over recent decades, warn that if the Israeli government fails to present a new peace plan soon that is acceptable, they will consider officially endorsing instituting a Palestinian state within 1967 borders, with east Jerusalem as its capital. It is within this framework that Netanyahu is pressured to withdraw from the West Bank.
Perhaps it is just because Benjamin Netanyahu has learned to play the diplomatic games of his enemies’ methodology of delay and obfuscation, but the prime minister is indicating he might be hearing the siren call.
Responding to questions at the Center for American Progress think tank in Washington, Netanyahu said a negotiated peace deal would be better than unilateral steps by Israel to impose a solution to the conflict. But he indicated a unilateral approach might be possible under the right conditions.
“Unilateralism … I suppose that’s possible, too, but it would have to meet Israeli security criteria and that would also require, I think, a broader international understanding than exists now,” he said.
However, the prime minister stressed, even if Israel does pull out of the West Bank – whether as a result of an agreement or in a unilateral move – it will have to keep its security presence in the territories. (Netanyahu doesn’t rule out unilateral pullout from West Bank, Yael Friedson, Roi Yanovsky, Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report, Nov 11, 2015).
It should be considered truly a miracle of biblical proportion if our Odysseus–Mr. Netanyahu, strapped to that mast while the Israeli ship of state plows through the turbulence–doesn’t go stark-raving mad while listening to the cacophony coming from the beckoning Sirens who want to usurp what little land Israel possesses.
It seems to me that the wild-eyed beckoning by supposedly the brightest planet earth has to offer–the diplomatic elite—makes the case that they, themselves, suffer from madness of the sort that drove the mariners of Homer’s tales onto the rocks of destruction. Their wailing is enough to drive anyone crazy.
These are hearing the seductive words of the one being who, since iniquity was found in him, has wanted to usurp anything that belongs to the God of heaven. It is a deadly song they are listening to. It is a deadly song they are singing to God’s chosen people. It is a Siren call that will bring all nations of earth to Armageddon.
Almighty’s Analysis of America
What is your religious persuasion? The question is a standard one in the census polling process.
America’s population was 318.9 million as of 2014, according to Census Bureau statistics. Polling numbers that year showed that 70.6 percent of Americans identified themselves as Christians. This was a significant decline from polling done in 1990, in which 86 percent of Americans said they were Christians. Wikipedia has it that America has nearly 247 million Christians, the highest number of Christians of any nation, although there are other nations with percentages of Christians that are higher.
So, when asking people what is their religion the response will most often be, “Christian.” Or, they will answer by giving the particular denomination within Christianity with which they identify.
Such is the natural response in this land that was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. But, it is not the natural response that the Grand Poll Taker is seeking, but the supernatural. Based upon God’s analysis of His polling statistics hangs the fate of cultures, societies, and nations.
We can get a sense of Heaven’s polling methodology, I think, by looking at a specific case in which such census taking was employed—to an extent, at least. It is a most fascinating exercise considering planet earth’s apex nation, so far as super-power status, in human terms, is concerned.
The twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah—if we might think of them in that sense, such as we think of Minneapolis/St. Paul as “twin cities”—were powerful commercial societies of their time. These, of course, are infamous as cities whose fate is the stuff made of legend.
During the course of most any week, I come across one TV documentary or the other on one of my favorite such channels that goes into great detail about these cultures. Most often, the documentarians spend their time debunking the true biblical account, choosing instead to give every conceivable reason why these great commercial centers no longer exist. The film-makers tell the biblical story—in their own usually warped versions—but then give natural reasons why Sodom and Gomorrah were obliterated.
Until relatively recent times, the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah and their destruction was most often scoffed at by historians. The cities were considered but mere legends. But digs at the southern end of the Dead Sea that continue to bring that civilization to the salty surface makes it crystal clear. These were real places that were devastated by fire and brimstone—just like God’s Word proclaims in the Genesis account.
Now, what does all of this have to do with America and statistics on the number of Christians in the nation? We remember the statement by Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth Graham. We’ve all heard the statement many times. The perspicacious Mrs. Graham famously said: “If the Lord doesn’t judge America [for its wickedness] He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Many of us are in total agreement with her assessment. The reason for that quite harsh assessment is that America, it can be argued, has in some aspects gone even beyond the sinfulness of those two ancient cities. We could examine any number of ways this is true, but for brevity’s sake, I’ll mention only two. We’ve looked at these in great detail a number of times in these commentaries.
First, the most glaring similarity, with regard to Sodom and Gomorrah as compared to the United States today, is the matter of homosexuality. That was the great sin emphasized in the Genesis account of God’s dealing with that culture in judgment. I don’t have to go too deeply into the similarity, because we are all familiar—totally—with things going on just in the past couple of years in this country. The God-ordained union between a man and a woman has been changed by the courts of this land to pervert the God-given institution called marriage. Sexual activity that the Creator calls “abomination” the lawless, God-defying of America call “gay.” And, this is not to diminish the equally abominable sexual activity within the heterosexual world—fornication and adultery.
Secondly, the matter of abortion comes front and center in the comparison. Babies in the womb and small children in that ancient society undoubtedly cramped the style of the deviants of the time. The products of the unbridled sexual activity made it easy to sacrifice those babies upon the altar of convenience. The deeper that people went into debauchery, the more self-absorbed and willing to go to any lengths to make their next thrill more exhilarating.
In Sodom and Gomorrah we are talking about cities of thousands; in America we are talking about an entire nation of more than 300 million. They could have aborted only thousands; we—it is fully documented—abort more than one million per year. Recent undercover video evidence flashes proof in our faces for all to see. Planned Parenthood and its like gives irrefutable evidence that we have gone beyond that ancient people in the degree of unrighteousness perpetrated. And, it is the term “unrighteousness” that is the heart of the matter in the polling question with which we began this essay. The question: What is your religious persuasion?
The nation is, according to the answers given the pollsters, overwhelmingly Christian, even considering the drop in the numbers from 1990 until 2014. We are supposed to believe that 70.6 percent of America’s 318.9 million people are Christians. Again, that’s more than 247 million claiming to be Christians.
Now we come to the title of our commentary this week, Almighty’s Analysis of America.
People can say they are anything. The human pollsters must take down what they are given. The term “Christian” is accepted at face value and marked on the polling sheet. The Lord of Heaven, however, the Creator of all things—including the human being—goes infinitely more deeply into His polling process. To Him, the precise definition of the term “Christian” is of eternal importance.
The term “Christianity,” in Heaven’s economy, is tied to “righteousness.” To be a Christian, one must be righteous. But, the Bible says the following: “As it is written, There is none righteous no not one” (Romans 3:10). How, then, can anyone be a Christian—that is, how can anyone be considered righteous?
God’s grace gift provides the answer. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
God sees as righteous only those who have believed in His Son, Jesus Christ for salvation from their sins. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23); “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).
When one is “saved,” he or she is “righteous” because God sees righteousness only in His beloved Son, who died as sacrifice for all of mankind.
Now we will get back to this matter of America and the percentage of those who say they are Christians. These figures don’t compute—don’t add up. Mrs. Graham was right. America’s degree of depravity, by any stretch, doesn’t come under God’s definition of righteousness. Revisiting our thoughts on Sodom and Gomorrah, God spoke with His servant, Abraham. He informed Abraham that he was going to have to destroy those wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of the great sins of those people. The account is found in Genesis 18:23-33.
Abraham was terribly grieved and pleaded with the Lord. He asked if God could find fifty people who were righteous would He spare the cities. God agreed, but could not. Abraham then pleaded for God to search for forty-five, then forty, then thirty, then twenty, then ten righteous people in order to justify not destroying those places. In each case, the Lord tried but couldn’t find even ten. Among the many thousands in Sodom and Gomorrah, the Almighty’s Heavenly Census Bureau couldn’t find ten people who believed in Him in order to be considered righteous.
As I said, the documentarians are still reporting the findings of the archaeologists who are digging up the destruction of those doomed cities.
More and more I’m wondering—like Ruth Graham must surely have wondered—about the possibility of America’s ultimate fate being, if not in fact, in very like manner to that suffered by the city prophesied in Revelation chapter 18. A most encouraging truth in thinking on these things is that God found the man named Lot, a citizen of Sodom, to be “righteous” in His holy eyes. A few of Lot’s family were obviously considered likewise, because the Lord removed them from Sodom before the fire and brimstone fell. God said to Lot about that removal to safety: “Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither” (Genesis 19:22a).
The Lord told Lot that His judgment couldn’t fall with its total devastation until the righteous Lot was first taken out of harm’s way, and that meant until Lot and his family were completely removed—taken out of—that wicked city. Be encouraged, those of you who are righteous—who believe in Jesus Christ for salvation. Jesus, Himself, in His ascended position at the right hand of His Father, makes a promise to a future generation. He uses the Greek verb “ek,” meaning “out of” in His promise. I believe that promise is made to the generation alive today. “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from [out of] the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth“(Revelation 3:10).
The Lord counts you among those who will, perhaps very soon, hear the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, “Come up here!” (Revelation 4: 1).
Israelicide
Forewarning of the fate that the nations of earth face leaps from Bible prophecy. Those who make Jerusalem and Israel the object of hatred will pay a terrible price. And make no mistake, the city and nation (Jewish people) are inextricably linked: “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth are gathered together against it” (Zechariah 12:3).
To “burden themselves” with Jerusalem and with Israel (Judah) in this case means to come against the city and people in a hostile sense. God is saying through Zechariah the prophet that at the end of the age, near the consummation of His dealing with this earth system, all nations of earth will make Jerusalem and His chosen people the center of their anger and aggression. The aggressors against God’s city (Jerusalem, the apple of his eye—see Zechariah 2:8) and the Jewish people will result in devastation for those attackers.
Perhaps it’s just the old advertising guy in me, but I want to coin a new word—”Israelicide”—for what the nations of the world are in process of doing. The word means two things in my thinking: 1) to commit satanically inspired genocide against the Jewish race; and 2) the collective suicide of Israel’s enemies whose coalescing unity of mind curse Israel.
It doesn’t take a historian’s knowledge to understand that the Jewish race–the nation of Israel—has been hated and harassed as no other people throughout the millennia. Although some—like Iran’s dictator, the so-called supreme leader—claim that the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis against the Jews never happened, that it’s all fabrication by the hated Zionists, the world knows the horrific truth about genocide against God’s chosen people.
The record of the demise of those who made the Jews the object of their hate was made manifest before the eyes of the peoples of all nations. Germany was completely defeated and divided. The remains of Hitler and his henchmen lie strewn in ignominy, their memories detested by all but those of like heinous anti-Semitic hatred. They committed Israelicide, in both meanings of my term.
The promise to Israel’s patriarch, Abraham, remains in effect: “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee” (Genesis 12: 3a). Nations of earth are in the process of committing Israelicide, in my view, collectively insisting that Israel is the central problem in the Middle East. It is the Jewish state that in the opinion of most of the diplomatic world is holding up progress in the Roadmap for Peace.
Those same diplomats, along with their mainstream news media cohorts, point accusatory fingers at Israel upon each retaliatory strike they make to try to keep their enemies at bay. At the same time, the murder of innocent Jewish citizens, including children, even infants, by Israel’s enemies is hardly mentioned by the diplomatic community or the mainstream journalists of the world.
Prophesied events are being set up on an hour-by-hour basis. The Islamist countries are in incendiary turmoil, as the headlines continually remind us. These nations have Israel encircled on all sides except on the side of the Mediterranean–the sea into which a number of the leaders of Arab states plus Iran’s mullahs have vowed to push the Jewish state. There is good reason to believe that all of this upheaval is being orchestrated by various elements in cahoots with the Muslim Brotherhood, in preparation for an ultimate effort to erase Israel from the earth.
Some are convinced this will all play out in a war they believe is predicted by a prayer recorded in Psalm 83. While I think that prayer will be answered in the Gog-Magog attack of Ezekiel 38 and 39, certainly, one can’t deny there are powerful dynamics moving and shaking in the land around which end-times Bible prophecy is centered.
The militant Islamists of the Arab nations and Iran are bent on committing Israelicide, there is no doubt. They have declared their intention loudly and for a long time. The Bible says Israel’s enemies will do just that, but in the sense of the second meaning of my newly coined word, not in the sense of the first definition. They will commit Israelicide.
Some day, such an attack will be their final death knell. For certain, Israel’s Middle East and northern enemies will pay the price for their hatred as recorded by the prophet Ezekiel: “Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.” (Ezekiel 39:4-5).
Israel’s Strange Silence
Middle East maliciousness is literally exploding, igniting fires of death and fear across the world. Europe feels the heat of the Islamist rage as ISIS (or ISIL, as Mr. Obama terms it) turns up the rheostat of hatred in France and other places.
Europeans, particularly the Scandinavian countries, the favorites for Muslims who set their sights on migration, are becoming desperate for ways to close borders forced open by European Union dictates.
Polling statistics show that Americans are increasingly concerned that soon that incendiary, religious fanaticism will infect this nation. “Lone wolf” actions by ISIS wannabees are, in fact, bringing the more fanatic brand of Islam to this continent, which was more or less insulated from that religious fervor prior to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Towers.
ISIS propagandists, through social media and other methods, are making it known beyond any doubt that they view America as the place they most wish to spread their special brand of terror.
All of this is going on simultaneously across the world. All the while, governments and military authorities are nearly at a complete loss for how to deal with the Islamic beast. At the same time, there is an almost complete lack of mention of the one entity that most of the world considers the prime reason that there is all of this voracious activity by the likes of militant Islam.
It is downright eerie.
That entity, itself, is inexplicably silent for the most part about the rage to its north. I’m talking, of course, about Israel, the tiny Jewish state that is claimed by practically every diplomat in the world to be, in one way or another, at the heart of the ever more dangerous situation in the Middle East.
Israel has for decades been at the center of most every action and reaction to Muslim terrorism in the region. From the time of the murders of the Israeli athletes in the 1972 Munich Olympics, to the downing of the World trade Towers and damage to the Pentagon during the 9-11 attacks, and until just recently, Israel has continuously been at the reportorial center of things. Not so now.
Israel is silent; the world seems to not be noticing that tiny nation for the moment. A legitimate question to ask is: Why is this so? Why, after decades in modern times—after thousands of years in the battle of Israel versus its enemies, is the modern Jewish state seemingly off the radar screen of the on-going conflict?
This, I realize, could change instantly—at any moment. Israel could be thrust in the middle of dire crisis before this column appears. It is an almost unnatural situation, if I may use that phraseology. The almost “natural” state is for Israel to be constantly and consistently blasted by its enemy, Islamist-antagonists and by the world community at large.
There have been, of course, occasional reports of Temple Mount turmoil of late on which we and others have commented. But, about the larger involvement of the entire Arab-Islamist world, and even Iran in the conflict with hated Israel, I find scant mention these days.
While Israel remains basically mute, and everyone else’s attention is turned to ISIS and the turbulence it is kicking up in Syria and around the world through its proxy “migrants,” Vladimir Putin and the Iranian mullahs are cooking up plans, the intentions of which only the Lord knows at this point. But, be sure of one thing, all of this means that the stage is being rapidly set for the final act of this pre-tribulation program that is about to begin.
To me, it almost seems like there is a circling around the intended prey by predators. The prey is being temporarily ignored while the pecking order is arranged for who will get the first spoils of the intended victim. This, I mean from a prophetic perspective.
There seems to be in the nebulous background of all this a power juxtapositioning of the apex predators and the scavenger types to determine what comes next with regard to the end times assault against the nation God chose long ago to remain standing when all others are vanquished. It’s as if Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s government are flummoxed as to what it all means—this violence that is on display to Israel’s north and, increasingly, around the globe. But, one thing sure, the Israeli prime minister and other Jews of good, common sense and a sense of history, know that it somehow all means that they—the Jews, Israel—are the intended prey. Somehow it will all come down to them having to consider invoking the Samson Option, in geopolitical terms of “them versus us.”
Israel is silent, but is not asleep. Netanyahu and the Israelis that have that sense of foreboding know that soon the hungry eyes of the predators will turn back to them just like they always do. Their deeply committed vow is “Never Again!”
Always the blame for the problems of the Middle East is directed at them. A news story this past week clearly indicates satanically-directed attitudes against God’s chosen people are as deluding as ever. Sweden is under attack by the so-called “migrants” from Syria and other areas that ISIS seeks to dominate in its determination to establish a world-wide caliphate. Swedish women and even young girls are being raped by the invading horde, it is reported. Despite this, one top Swedish government official manages to point a finger of blame at the strangely silent Jewish state.
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström linked Palestinian grievances with Israel to the Islamist terror attacks that killed 129 people in Paris:
“Obviously, we have reason to be worried, not just in Sweden but across the world—because there are so many that are being radicalized. Here, once again, we are brought back to situations like the one in the Middle East, where not least, the Palestinians see that there is not a future. We must either accept a desperate situation or resort to violence,” Wallström said in a television interview. (How Original: Sweden Blames Paris Attacks on Israel – Israel News, November 17, 2015).
That Israel is responsible for the Islamist rage is the message. Zechariah’s forewarning can be heard thundering, even if present day Israel is for the most part silent.
“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.” (Zech 12:2-3)
Prophetic Tech Part 1 – By Ed Wood
If you are reading this, odds are that not only do you have more than a passing acquaintance with the Bible, but that you also take it seriously. Odds also are that it makes you a growing anomaly in the Christian world as it exists today. Indeed, in much of the modern church here in the United States, it might even make you unwelcome. That’s not the case here because I know Terry James does take God’s Word as, well, God’s Word along with everything that follows along with such a belief.
Though I have never met Terry in person, I feel that over the many years we have corresponded, that I have gained a loyal friend. From my first contact with him via Rapture Ready, he has gone out of his way to encourage me in my study of the Bible, especially in the realm of Bible Prophecy, and has graciously provided me a venue to share my thoughts by way of various articles I’d written on this subject over nearly ten years for Rapture Ready. Now, he has invited me to once again share some of my thoughts on his new website and I am singularly honored to participate. Thank you very much, Terry. I will try very hard to rise to the occasion! So, that being said, let’s begin from a passage first from the Book of Revelation: (Note: Asterisks have been inserted to further explain the text as needed. Please see notation at the end of this article regarding the source for King James Bible passages used here.)
Revelation {11:3-12} And I will give [power] unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies [shall lie] in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
A much earlier passage found in Zechariah may be referring to these mysterious figures as well:
Zechariah {4:11-14} Then answered I*, and said unto him**, What [are] these two olive trees upon the right [side] of the candlestick and upon the left [side] thereof? And I answered again, and said unto him, What [be these] two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden [oil] out of themselves? And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these [be?] And I said, No, my lord. Then said he, These [are] the two anointed ones, that stand by the LORD of the whole earth. * Zechariah ** an angel
Exactly who these two witnesses are continues to be a source of speculation, but three possibilities top the list. They are Enoch, Elijah, and Moses. The first two are unique in that they never died but were taken directly off the earth by God:
Genesis {5:24} And Enoch walked with God: and he [was] not; for God took him.
2 Kings {2:11-12} And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, [there appeared] a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw [it,] and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
As for Moses, the Bible tells us that he died after seeing the Promised Land and after commissioning Joshua to take over as leader of the Israelites after their forty year journey from Egypt:
Deuteronomy {34:1-6} And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that [is] over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. And the LORD said unto him, This [is] the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see [it] with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And he* buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. *Joshua (Hoshea)
Though Moses did die while Enoch and Elijah did not, he does in fact show up again in person with Elijah during the Transfiguration:
Matthew {17:1-3} And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias* talking with him. *Elijah
Additionally, there are also accounts concerning Elijah in which he called down fire from heaven (1 Kings 18:36-38, 2 Kings 1:1-15) making him a particularly strong candidate.
Perhaps the idea that the witnesses will represent the “Law and the Prophets” also gives a nod once again to Elijah, being a prophet, and to Moses, the giver of the Law. Or it may be two other people entirely. Nevertheless, what we do know is that they will appear, withstand all manner of attacks from their enemies, until the final one the Antichrist unleashes on them kills them – something the world will celebrate. But the jubilation will be short-lived as they are miraculously resurrected.
With this background now established, let’s take a look at what happens after they are killed and think about what it suggests:
And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.
Not only do these witnesses get killed, but it seems very clear that the entire world knows about it just about in real time. This is nothing out of the ordinary in the Twenty-first Century, but one must remember that when the book of Revelation was written in the end of the First, the speed that news could be transmitted was limited by how fast one (or his or her animal) could walk, or cross by ship to a distant shore. And yet John sees the whole world instantly knowing what has happened and celebrating their demise. But the party doesn’t last very long because in the same manner it sees these once-dead men resurrected and bodily taken into heaven:
And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
The closest thing to instant communication that existed for centuries was restricted to such primitive forms as smoke signals, drum beats, signal fires, or the sounding of various types of horns such as your basic shofars or more technically refined trumpets. Out of sight or out of earshot meant that one was out of luck. It has really only been within the last 200 years that anything resembling actual long-range instantaneous communication has existed, the first being the telegraph perfected by Samuel B. Morse and Alfred Vail in 1837. This in itself required advances in the use, storage and generation of electricity, which up until the 19th Century was little more than a curiosity.
Two decades and a year later the first trans-Atlantic cable was laid between Trinity Bay, Newfoundland and Valenica, Ireland, but it failed in three weeks. A replacement was laid in1866. (Only in 1956 would a telephone transmission finally cross the Atlantic Ocean to Europe via cable.)
A huge development in the field of communications would follow Marconi’s successful wireless telegraph system in December 1901 from St. John’s Newfoundland to Cornwall, England. No longer was it necessary to run a physical connection between sender and receiver, and from this point on radio technology exploded across the globe. Using shortwave radio, it became possible even for amateur radio operators to communicate across the planet, marking the first time in human history that instant communication not only became possible, but commonplace.
With the advent of television and the space program, sophisticated communication satellites beginning with Telstar 1 in 1962 provided the means not only to transmit audio, but video as well in real-time. With the advent of the Information Age of the past few decades, the ease an accessibility of more and more people to instant communication has exploded. Now we take it all pretty much for granted – unless, of course, something prevents our devices from working!
What fascinates me personally about all of this is that for the Revelation passage above to become literally possible, all of the technological progress above had to take place first. It’s taken about 1900 years for that to happen, but here we are. We see from John’s description that what will transpire will no doubt be seen and heard by virtually the entire world – as it happens – and I have no doubt will be replayed over and over again on the global news media and Internet sites, all of them most likely under the direct control of the future world despot we have come to know as the Antichrist. I can certainly understand him splashing what he thinks is his victory over the two witnesses all over the media to further exalt himself on the world stage but that the resurrection of these two (the last thing he would want displayed) also manages to hit the airwaves shows it to be something so completely sudden and unexpected he does not have time to censor it.
As we can see, we have reached a point where our current state of technological development has made everything we’ve read about the world witnessing the events of Revelation 11:3-12 in actual time completely and literally possible for the first time in human history. It has been my personal belief that the Antichrist will not only use the supernatural abilities given to him by Satan himself, but will avail himself of the “tools at hand” to increasingly tighten his grip on a turbulent planet that will initially receive him with open arms. Next time, we’ll look at another facet of modern technology which will help him take over the world.
*Public Domain Source of Bible Quotations *
All Bible references are from http://www.davince.com/bible and are copied intact from that source.
End Times–The Bottom Line
Global economic chaos is driving the distress and perplexity of the nations of planet earth. The words of the greatest of all prophets, Jesus Christ, echo in cavernous reverberation with each succeeding news report from the capitals of earth’s monetary centers.
“And there shall be…upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring” (Luke 21:25b).
Jesus’ Olivet Discourse spoke to conditions exponentially moved beyond norms. In other words, the “distress” and “perplexity” that nations will be experiencing as His Second Coming nears will be beyond any ever known by people of earth. And, in biblical terms, “seas and waves” refer to the masses of peoples. Jesus said that because there will be unprecedented distress and perplexity among the nations, the peoples populating those nations will be “roaring.”
All one must do to understand that the roots of the upheaval rocking America and the world at this very moment involve economics is to think on the acceleration of events in the headlines since September 11, 2001. It has been a decade of powerful disturbances beyond any experienced before.
America launched retaliatory action against those in the Middle East deemed complicit in the attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. Iraq was “liberated,” and Saddam Hussein paid for his tortures and murders. But, from that action–which seems to be at least the beginning of fulfillment of Zechariah chapter 5—has come the unleashing of worldwide jihad.
The U.S. economic engine, which has made the nation the most productive industrial power in history, runs on the petroleum most easily accessible in the regions surrounding Saudi Arabia. Manipulative money brokers, in my mind, have managed to–for reasons of their own—prevent drilling and refining of this nation’s reserves, making America vulnerable to the economic danger we now face.
Compounding the dangers, some of our “leaders” have engaged in financial skullduggery. By damaging U.S. infrastructure through the banking debacle and politically engineering the trillions of dollars run up in debt—while selling the nation by offering Treasury bonds to perhaps America’s most dangerous enemy, the Chinese—they move America ever more swiftly toward third-world status.
The explosion of revolution throughout the, for the most part, oil-rich nations surrounding Israel paints the end-times picture. That incendiary anarchy that has ignited fires of unrest in the U.S. and in various capitals of Europe shows the world to be in distress with perplexity, the sea and waves roaring.
It is true that the twentieth century was one of tremendous turbulence. World Wars I and II brought death, destruction, pestilence, and starvation of monumental proportion. The economic abyss that was the Great Depression certainly was preached by ministers as akin to the biblically prophesied apocalypse—and it was even claimed to be so by many pundits of the times.
However, the crashing of the World Trade Center towers to the streets of New York City on that terrible Tuesday morning seemed to have unleashed demons that continue to cause destruction more violent than that wrought during the entire previous century. That cascading avalanche is increasing with destructive force while it roars through our time with each hour that passes.
The toll in loss of human life thus far in the twenty-first century hasn’t come anywhere near the death-dealing inflicted in the previous century. But, so far as the humanistic powers that be are concerned, the potential for apocalyptic-like carnage has reached near critical mass. To the money masters–the economic titans–the bottom line is not the human toll, but the fiscal Armageddon to be avoided while controlling the ongoing economic avalanche and using it to best effect for their own nefarious purposes.
Concern over the great monetary upheaval overrides all else with the globalists elite. The seas of human populations must be maneuvered in puppet fashion to bring in their idea of how the world system should run.
All of the above is to say that, in my view, Jesus’ words point precisely to the world conditions developing around this generation at this very hour. It is oil and the wealth it represents that Satan is obviously using to try to bring about the destruction of the human race. That destruction is Satan’s bottom line (1 Peter 5: 8).
But, of course, it will never happen, because Jesus said of the final seven years of this earth age, the Tribulation: “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24: 22).
I’ve mentioned the bottom line for the humanists who want to control the world through manipulation of economics. I’ve mentioned Satan’s bottom line–his desire to destroy all of mankind. Now we look at God’s bottom line, for this is the one destined to be achieved for all who will accept His Son as the only cure for the deadly soul disease from which they suffer.
God wants the souls of all people to be saved out of their lost condition, thus from His judgment and wrath that must fall upon earthly wickedness. This is why Christ hasn’t yet come for His Church in the Rapture. About this, the apostle Peter writes: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3: 9).
Sadly, not all will accept God’s offer of rescue from the coming seven years of horror we term the Tribulation, or from the lake of fire for all of eternity. However, it isn’t our worry to know who will and won’t believe. It is the duty of each who names the name of Jesus Christ as Lord to make sure the message is proclaimed that Jesus died, was buried, and resurrected so that all who believe in Him will have everlasting life. We must let the lost world hear the message that Christ might come at any moment for His own in the Rapture!
That’s the Christian’s bottom line for these end times.
Terry James Prophecy Line 