Hatred for America that pervades today’s discontented liberal culture is a matter that to my generation is for the most part mind-boggling. How an almost completely unknown, societal agitator with an ideological make-up that would champion such hatred could ever be elected president of the United States—twice—is even more mind-boggling.

That a congress that represents the electorate could sit by while such a president gives Middle East madmen, vowed to wipe out America, the wherewithal to produce nuclear weapons to do just that is…well…I can’t even give definition to my generation’s frame of mind in that regard.

America’s many contributions to the progress in improvement of the human condition throughout the world only seems to bring increased hatred to our nation. The United States has in modern times been in every instance the first with the most assistance anywhere in the world that disasters strike. Whether it’s an earthquake in Guatemala, a Tsunami in Indonesia, a famine in Ethiopia, or whatsoever the catastrophe, the U.S. has been there, never asking repayment for the help. The only exception of this generosity was in the case of some degree of repayment for expenditures to rebuild war-torn countries when economies improved there. These payments were, in most every case, eventually forgiven for the most part.

Let’s face it, if America had not gotten involved in World Wars I and II, the world would be under the control of the likes of Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin. It was America’s might and willingness to shed American blood of its youth that has given the world even the—admittedly—diminishing bit of freedom’s light that remains on the planet. Europe would still be clearing the rubble of World War II, if not for America’s vast contributions to the restoration of that devastated region.

Now, we face our own form of devastation. The American taxpayer has—without much push-back—allowed out-of-control government to spend trillions upon trillions of dollars on economy-crippling social programs—bankrupting the country. It has been an addled-brain act of politically-motivated largesse that has produced a welfare system filled with many non-job seekers who, because of anger over perceived cultural wrongs, readily join in the hate-filled rants against America.

The fallen human mind is full of envies and jealousies. It is no wonder, then, that the apex nation of world history so far as concerns material blessings should be hated. But, the animus goes far beyond mere human envies and jealousies.

And, this reality is why America, although not mentioned by name in the Bible, is a factor that plays heavily into God’s plan for His creation called man. That America was brought on the scene late in history in order to fulfill God’s purposes, there can be little doubt.

Because the Lord’s plan for humanity is opposed at every point by His greatest enemy, America’s role is, by association with that plan, a target—a major target. We can see God’s most hate-filled enemy firing his supernatural ordinance at this nation on an almost hourly basis.

Satan’s dark, spiritual firepower is directed at destroying America’s moral fiber. The national fabric is literally unraveling as each volley slams against our most basic institutions and against the Constitution God gave our founding fathers the wisdom and discernment to form.

The family is torn apart, with unwanted babies murdered in their mother’s wombs by the millions. Marriage is redefined as same-sex couplings being equal to—even superior to—heterosexual unions. Mention of Jesus Christ is becoming the equivalent of hate-speech. At the same time, Islam, whose holy book says it is acceptable, even incumbent upon Muslim men, to rape non-Muslim women—and even children—is protected and shielded by a governing system gone mad with sin-sickened, reprobate thinking.

America, I believe a study of this nation’s founding and subsequent comportment throughout most of its history will attest, has served two basic purposes in God’s great plan for humanity. First, it has served as the primary vehicle to get the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world. Second, it has served as the mid-wife to bring the nation Israel into modernity, in preparation for the wind-up of human history.

For this, Satan wages an increasingly virulent war against the United States. That war will continue to intensify by the minute, I have no doubt, until Christ calls His church into Heaven. This means to the Christian that we are to stand against this great assault as directed in God’s Word.

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Eph 6: 10-17)

During this soul-trying, end-times darkness, trepidation crushes in from every side, quenching the remaining, lingering rays of hope. This is the picture troubling issues and events force us to commit to the electronic page each week in these commentaries. But there is about to burst forth a dazzling spectacle of a future world brilliant beyond all imagination. It is this spectacular prospect I wish to present before you in this week’s commentary.

You and I, of all generations of all of human history, are hereat this moment in time–put here by the Creator of all that is. No other people of any previous generation have been so near to attaining the things the God of Heaven has prepared for those who love Him. Those who have chosen to accept God’s offer to be part of His family have at the forefront of their spiritual understanding,a spectacular panorama of what is to come.

We get this truth from the words of the apostle Paul:

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. (1 Corinthians 2: 9-12)

God’s love letter to mankind–the Bible–makes it clear that this world system will come to an end and a new era will begin in which planet earth will be restored to a perfect geophysical environment like that of the Garden of Eden. All hunger will be replaced by abundance far beyond any known since Eden was in full bloom. Human government, with its murderous, tyrannical, self-serving rulers, will be forever done away with, replaced by the absolute perfect reign of King Jesus.

All citizens of the millennial kingdom will prosper in every way. Although sin will still exist, Christ’s perfect rule with a “rod of iron” will assure that all sin will be kept beneath the surface of the society and culture of that marvelous era. Crime will be instantly dealt with, as nothing can be hidden from His Majesty’s omnipotent law enforcement.

Who knows? If you are a child of God now, in this pre-Tribulation dispensation, you might be one of the King’s millennial, perfect law enforcement agents during Christ’s one-thousand-year reign.

All of God’s children who have lived and died during this Church Age or Age of Grace will, at the moment Christ calls “Come up here,” be instantly changed into immortal beings –supernatural citizens of God’s Kingdom.

As Christ’s Bride, Church Age saints will Reign with the Lord,  judging even the angels of Heaven. Having the perfect, sinless mind of Christ, each of His beloved family members will bless the millennial earth with contributions commensurate with the heavenly administration rewards received at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

Each raptured saint will be fellow possessor of all of God the Father’s heavenly riches.  When you accept Christ while in this present dispensation, you become joint heirs with  the Lord Jesus Christ. All of God’s treasury will then be yours when you find yourself in the presence of the Lord Jesus at the moment of Rapture.

That instantaneous movement into the heavenlies at the time of death or Rapture is without even a microsecond of hesitation. I can testify to that Truth whether I am believed or not by those who I no doubt keep boring with my own Good Friday experience of April 22, 2011. Regardless of that risk, I cannot help but proclaim yet again that, as Paul the apostle said: “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord!”

The instant my heart was stopped three separate times by a “widow-maker” heart attack on three occasions that day and the doctors declared me dead on arrival, I was instantaneously staring at the cloud of witnesses of Hebrews 12: 1-3. I didn’t see Jesus, but then, again, I wasn’t kept in that eternal realm, but was sent back to, for one thing, write today’s column!

I’ve been shown in my spirit that they were cheering the very things we are considering in this commentary in thinking on the promises of God’s prophetic Word regarding Christ’s any-moment call to His Bride, the Church, and the glorious post-Rapture things to come.

I am of the strongest conviction that all believers are about to instantaneously find ourselves looking directly into the soul-piercing gaze of the Creator of all things –into the eyes of Jesus, Himself. Everything points to the certainty that this Age of Grace is on the cusp of completion. The very next event that is prophetically scheduled is, from what I believe the Bible foretells, the change from mortal to immortality–the Rapture.

What a glorious prospect! As our Lord escorts Heaven’s newest citizens into the Father’s house, the effulgence of the glimmering, shimmering spectrum of colors, sights, and sounds never seen or heard this side of eternity will drench our supernaturally enhanced senses while we proceed. This is not pie in the sky, as mockers often taunt in scoffing at those who have faith that God’s Word presents the Pre-Trib Rapture view of prophecy. This is really about to occur!

The ultimate fulfillment of prophetic promise for believers in Jesus Christ, securing their future life that will never end, rather will only increase in pleasure and power beyond the ability to fathom, is at hand.

We too easily forget Jesus’ promise to come for us and take us to His Father’s House:

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14: 1-3)

While we involve ourselves in the daily pursuits of life, thinking on jobs, our children, our friends and social obligations and functions, our pleasures and our problems, we must, as believers in our Lord’s Promises, look around us at the prophetic signs and discern these strange times. We must understand that Jesus could at any moment stand from his seat at His Father’s right hand and come to gather and take all of those who are but strangers upon this fallen planet into the Father’s house–into Heaven.

All the signals point to our going Home!

With stage-setting for fulfillment of Bible prophecy during this Church Age winding up for the final throes of satanic hatred against Jews, turbulence surrounding Mount Moriah shouldn’t surprise. It comes right on schedule with things shaping up for the Gog-Magog assault foretold to come against Israel. The winds of conflict into which the seeds of Islamist rage have been sewn, nurtured by the likes of the United Nations and the international community, will soon cause the whirlwind of man’s final war to be reaped.

The great military hero, Israel’s General Moshe Dyan, following the June 1967 Six Day War, it is sad to say, prepared the way for seeding the disastrous storm to come. He turned over the Temple Mount to the Jordanian waqf, or Islamic trust, that continues to administer the site. He did so after a thorough victory had been won over a much-greater-in-number combined Arab world army determined then, and determined still, to wipe Israel off the Middle East map. Dyan’s action has given a sense of possession to the Islamist world that should not, in my opinion, have been allowed.

Increased violence in Israel, in east Jerusalem, and in the West Bank has marked recent days. So-called lone-wolf attacks have apparently been ordered on Jews by militant factions within the Palestinian Authority (PA) and other organized terrorist commands. The proclaimed reason for the attacks is the lying charge of Jewish encroachment upon the Temple Mount compound.

The “lone” assassins use knives, screwdrivers, or anything they can get their hands on to stab Jewish people whenever opportunity arises. Israeli authorities have taken subsequent action to deal with the attacks. Not surprisingly, it is the Israeli authorities’ actions to stop the assaults that draw the ire of the world press–not the heinous, unprovoked attacks by the Islamist militants against innocent individuals simply trying to go about their daily lives in peace.

At least 52 Palestinians, half of whom Israel says were assailants, have been shot dead by Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza since Oct. 1. Nine Israelis have been stabbed or shot dead by Palestinians.

In the latest incident, a Palestinian was shot dead on Saturday after he tried to stab an Israeli security guard at a crossing between the West Bank and Israel, Israeli police said. (Reuters, “Kerry lays out steps to ease Israeli-Palestinian strife,” by Arshad Mohammed and Ori Lewis, October 25, 2015) 

Palestinians were prohibited for a time by Israeli police, who have law enforcement authority, from worshiping on the Temple Mount, something Jews are not allowed to do at any time. The temporary prohibiting of worship due to the stepped-up attacks against Jewish civilians brought stone-throwing and other acts of violence by the Arabs.

American Secretary of State John Kerry entered the fray surrounding the rage over al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam, which Jews call the Temple Mount, and the Islamist world calls the Noble Sanctuary, or Haram al-Sharif.

Kerry, after talking with PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah in Amman, Jordan, said the Israeli government had agreed to the “excellent suggestion” of King Abdullah that the Temple Mount compound be monitored twenty-four hours a day by intensive video surveillance. He said that Israel had assured that there will be no change in the status quo. I interpret that to mean that things will continue as agreed to by Dyan in 1967 for the most part. If so, the “settlement” assures only another brief lull–possibly–in a conflict that is destined to grow to be earth’s final conflagration.

As examined a number of times before in these commentaries, the Temple Mount matter is the most  contentious on the planet. The reasons for the unsolvable tensions are rooted in the very creation of the creature called man.

When man fell victim to the serpent’s lie in Eden that he would become like God if he disobeyed  the Creator’s prohibition against eating of the forbidden fruit, Mount Moriah–the Temple Mount- became paramount in man’s redemption. Satan (the serpent of the Garden of Eden) knows it is the one place on earth that is truly God’s touchstone to humanity. That is where redemption–Salvation–was to come into play. That is where, in fact, God’s redemption plan was completed when His Son, Jesus Christ, lay down His life as the sacrificial Lamb that takes away the sin of the world.

Lucifer the fallen–Satan–desires beyond all else to take charge of that Temple Mount where sat the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant. Upon Christ’s death, the veil was torn from top to bottom, ripping apart the curtain between God and mankind. We now have access directly to God’s throne through belief in God’s only begotten Son.

Satan will one day, according to Bible prophecy, have his man called the “prince that shall come”–Antichrist–stand exactly where that Ark once sat on Moriah. He will indwell that man–whom I believe might be a nephilim–and have the beast declare himself to be God.

The turbulence atop Moriah has just begun.

My “Nearing Midnight” column commentary of October 12 dealt with “Despisers of Good.” It pointed to the fact that recent history of school shootings at Columbine, at the mostly African-American church in South Carolina, and at the college in Oregon were directly aimed at Christians–the only people God sees as “good.”

This designation is not because the believer in Christ for salvation is, within himself or herself, better than any other person on the planet. It means that Jesus is the only person (God who came to earth in the flesh to live among mankind) who had no sin. He is the only “good” to be found. Jesus was perfect in His walk with His Heavenly Father. He, in fact, was and is God, the second Person of the Godhead–the Trinity.

Every person who accepts Jesus Christ–that is, believes that Christ died for them to take away their sins–is seen by the Heavenly Father as “good” because they are under the saving umbrella of His Only Begotten Son. God, in other words, sees the believer through Jesus, whose blood was shed as the sacrificial Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).

That commentary pointed out that the apostle Paul’s “perilous-times” prophecy that there will come in the last time “despisers of those that are good” is now upon this generation, as made manifest with the murders that are routinely aimed at Christians. Further evidence continues to accumulate that hatred for Christians is growing, thus proving Paul’s prophecy as accurate and identifying these as the very last days of the Church Age (Age of Grace).

A recent “Bible in the News” commentary broadcast by my longtime friend, Dr. Larry Spargimino, who is pastor of Southwest Radio Church Ministries, brought to the surface of these troubling days the virulence of the animus that boils for those who name the name of Christ. I thank Dr. Spargimino for helping spark this week’s commentary. Facts and threats surrounding what is going on must not be missed by discerning believers. There is an anti-Christian crusade underway, and we face perilous times, indeed.

Larry’s commentary largely reflected findings by Christian commentator and social analyst Michael Brown, whose gathering of quite troubling data should concern all Americans–but Christians in particular. Michael Brown, in his article, “When Committed Christians Are Compared to ISIS,” pointed to the many immoral, ungodly upheavals taking place at this moment in society and culture. His analysis is hard-hitting and he comes under attacks from organized opposition such as that within Human Rights Campaign.

The organization claimed that Brown is exporting hate because of his opposition to the radical agenda it pursues.

According to Dr. Spargimino, writing on matters reported within the Brown article, the invective is raging in answer to Brown’s exposure of the agenda:

One reader [of Brown’s article] claimed that Kim Davis is a terrorist. “Kim Davis, by virtue of defying the Constitution and the Supreme Court is NO BETTER than those men who conceived, executed and plotted those attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11.”

Another wrote to Brown: “You are just as brutal as ISIS.”

Already in May, 2005, John McCandlish Phillips, formerly a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter, pointed out how some of the major newspapers told their readers that evangelicals and traditional Catholics were engaging in a “jihad” against America.

Not surprisingly, Christians have been called the “American Taliban,” a label that reflected the sentiments of some Californians who opposed Proposition 8, the pro-marriage bill, and who carried signs reading: “Don’t Silence the Christians, Feed Them 2 the lions.”

In his Charisma blog Brown quotes Shephard Smith on Fox News who calls pro-traditional family Christians “haters,” and hypocrites for resisting Sharia Law while we hold to our conservative Christian values.

The caustic vitriol from the “tolerant left” is bitter. Just because Christians don’t want to participate in their ceremonies, Christians are now bigots.

Brown commented: “People don’t just hate you. They see you as downright dangerous, and that in itself is dangerous. And it’s not just some isolated wacko making an extreme internet comment or a crowd of protesters carrying signs.”

What does this hatred sound like? “I want them all to die in a fire,” said one man. Another said, “I would be in favor of establishing a state for them…If not then sterilize them so they can’t breed more.” A man with a doctorate said, “The only good Christian is a dead Christian.” A college educated man referenced evangelical Christians and said “A torturous death would be too good for them.” An elderly woman with a master’s degree chimed in and said: “They should be eradicated without hesitation or remorse.” (Dr. Larry Spargimino, commenting on article, “Townhall.com,When Committed Christians Are Compared to ISIS,” by Michael Brown,

September 13, 2015, http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbrown/2015/09/13/when-committed-christians-are-compared-to-isis-n2051359/page/full )

It is beyond obvious that those who respond in such a vicious way to Christian concerns about the raging ungodliness have a diminution of rationality in their thinking. Michael Brown questioned one woman who apparently had lost all reasoning ability and had launched a verbal attack that boiled with hatred. He asked the reasoning behind her outrage.

[Is your anger]…because we want to protect innocent babies in the womb? Because we care about marriage and family? Because we feed the poor and needy around the world? Because we want the whole world to know how wonderful Jesus is? Please be kind enough to explain your views.

Brown wrote that he received no response to his inquiry.

While Christians in America don’t yet face life-threatening persecution as do Christians who are being beheaded by ISIS, the Anti-Christian crusade is underway. It will one day–during the Tribulation, for certain–bring martyrdom to believers everywhere in the world. In 1 Peter 4:12, the apostle Peter wrote:

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

All of this is not meant to instill fear, but to exhort the believer to look for the Blessed Hope–the Lord Jesus Christ, who will call true believers out of this God-hating world before Satan and his minions can bring his anti-Christian crusade to fruition.

Meantime, the believer is to stand against the fiery darts of the opposition to godliness. Christians, in the final analysis, are invincible, according to their Lord.

Jesus promised believers of this Age of Grace: “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18b).

Observers of news and trends at present are watching, particularly, the Middle East and Russia’s entrance into Syria. Russia has had an interest in the region, of course, for as long as the Soviet Union and now the Russian Federation have been around. However, recent developments have ushered in a new and most fascinating era. Things happening in this regard are, to those who look at those developments through the prism of Bible prophecy, nothing short of phenomenal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has inserted his influence into that volatile region and is having profound impact on the unfolding of events. We have written in these commentaries a number of times, and others have written that Mr. Putin certainly appears to fit the archetype description of the “Gog” character of the Gog-Magog assault into the Middle East as prophesied by Ezekiel, presented in Ezekiel chapters 38-39.

The Gog-Magog attack is described as being like a “storm to cover the land.” Vladimir Putin has been doing what might be described as “taking like a storm” everywhere he asserts his influence.

An interesting news excerpt describes his rambunctious escapades and the way he is perceived in many quarters as follows:

Posters of Putin are popping up on cars and billboards elsewhere in parts of Syria and Iraq, praising the Russian military intervention in Syria as one that will redress the balance of power in the region.

The Russian leader is winning accolades from many in Iraq and Syria, who see Russian airstrikes in Syria as a turning point after more than a year of largely ineffectual efforts by the U.S.-led coalition to dislodge the Islamic State militants who have occupied significant parts of the two countries. (“Amid Russian airstrikes, a Putin craze takes hold in Mideast,” Yahoo News, Oct. 12, 2015)

There are even many in the U.S. who now see Putin and the Russians as doing God’s work-literally! I have read a number of accounts of clergy and others who say that Putin is showing “Christian leadership” in doing what President Obama is unable to do or is unwilling to do-that is, take it to the ISIS or, as Mr. Obama insists on calling the horde, ISIL.

Imagine! A hard-liner Soviet communist—once head of, or at least near the top of the old KGB, seen as a true Christian who is out to eliminate the threat to the Christian world and the world at large!

Of course, the reality to anyone with the sense the Lord gave a gopher is that the head Russian is still a KGB guy in every sense. He is playing to his mesmerized audience by destroying some ISIS forces, but is 100 percent committed to destroying the American-supported rebels who want to dislodge Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad from power.

The reason, or reasons, he is so committed include the fact that he now has his voracious, bear-like eyes focused on the riches to the south. He has already achieved much of his goal. He has his navy docked now in warm waters, free to move about any time of the year to further his reestablishment of Soviet-style domination. He is increasing his insertion of Russian ground forces by the day. If this isn’t near-fulfillment of the Ezekiel prophecy that Gog will put hooks in Gog’s jaws and turn him southward toward the mountains of Israel, then I’ve misunderstood the meanings of that prophecy. I’m of the opinion that this is a part of that hooks in the jaws process that will likely play out over a period of time yet. There are many things that need to come into prophetic place before the Gog-Magog attack as described will be launched. Key to that preparation is the question: What is meant by the description of how Israel will be “at rest” and “without walls”?

At present, Israel is suffering attacks by “lone wolf” assaults, apparently ordered by ISIS and other terrorist organizations. Israel’s citizenry is being terrorized by stabbings conducted by individuals—actions that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will no doubt react to by instituting quite harsh measures at some point soon. This will bring more blame to Israel and sympathy to the Islamist murderers who are killed in the process of their obedience to their Islamist masters.

Into this mixture of satanic hatred now comes further arrangements of significance, in my view. To me, this matter involves further confirmation that proves the veracity of God’s prophetic Word. It just might prove to be part of the reason Damascus will one day receive the foretold blow from which it will never recover.  (Read Isaiah 17: 1).

It is the first inklings that the Gog-Magog forces’ top three diabolists are reportedly getting their heads together in thinking on the whole Middle Eastern region dilemma. To me it is more than merely coincidental these are beginning to coalesce.

ISTANBUL – Turkey would hold talks with Russia and Iran to work towards a political solution in Syria but would not take a foreign policy stance which “legitimizes the Syrian regime.” Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday.

Davutoglu said in an interview on NTV that Russian air strikes in Idlib and Aleppo in Syria could cause a further influx of refugees into Turkey. (“PM: Turkey would talk with Russia and Iran on political solution in Syria,” Breaking News, Jerusalem Post, Oct 12, 2015)

Many Bible prophecy students, including top scholars, believe Turkey occupies the ancient area described as Togarmah in the Ezekiel 38-39 prophecy. Iran, of course, occupies most of the ancient area known as Persia, with the Gog-Magog area being seen as the lands surrounding the southern Caucasus region and Black Sea area.

The fact that these key prophetic players are getting their heads together, apparently, in the biblically doomed city of Damascus, begs the question that should be directed to this triumvirate: Do your cogitations include how to eliminate Israel as part of any conquest ambition you might harbor?

Watching these developments, in concert with everything else taking shape at such a fast pace, makes the question a legitimate one—seems to me.