I preface these thoughts by saying that all conspiracy ranting goes against my basic worldview, with the exception of one conspiracy, which is not theory, but fact. Satan and his minions are out to destroy all human beings to the extent it is possible for them to do so. This is made clear in many Scriptures, but none is so concise as this one: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8).

It is in this context that we should be concerned about developments taking place with regard to economic rearrangements within the North American continent. We need to keep in mind that it is not politicians and diplomats who are conspiring to do sinister things in order to somehow create a hemispheric dictatorship. For the most part, I believe we can give them the benefit of the doubt. They believe economic rearrangements into a unified order will produce a higher quality of life for all concerned.

However, Satan intends something entirely different than that scenario, and he does indeed stalk about, orchestrating the rearrangements that will, ultimately, destroy the majority of mankind during the last seven years of human history known to Bible prophecy dispensationalists as the tribulation, also known as Daniel’s seventieth week. This era, of course, will be the dispensation ruled over in large part by Antichrist and his regime of absolute control. We can get the first glimpse of this coming tyrannical world government in the following:

“And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay” (Dan. 2:40-43).

The prophet Daniel interpreted Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a gigantic statue of a man. This, Daniel told the king, represented four world kingdoms, of which Nebuchadnezzar was the head. The final world kingdom was represented by the legs of iron, the prophet foretold, and the feet and 10 toes of that dream-vision image will represent the final world kingdom in its revived and most murderous form. Here is what God’s prophetic Word has to say about that final regime:

“And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast” (Rev. 17:12-13).

 This final world power, then, will have 10 separate spheres of influence that will all agree to come under the auspices of “the beast,” who will be none other than Antichrist. Read Revelation 13 to see the development of this satanically inspired, and ultimately indwelt, prince who will come (Daniel 9:26).

These will be “of one mind,” but will not “cleave” (or stick together) one to another. These will have great power, and it will all flow to Antichrist. The conglomerate whole will constitute a one-world order, or, as the concept used to be called under President George H.W. Bush, “the New World Order.” Powerful economic dynamics will drive this beast-regime. Remember, the root of all kinds of evil is the love of money, according to God’s Word (1 Tim. 6:10).

A large part of our charge by the Lord as watchmen on the wall is to watch issues and events of these times to determine where we might stand as a generation on God’s prophetic timeline; i.e., determining just how near we might be to the tribulation era, thus to the rapture of the Church, which will precede that time of God’s wrath. We have pointed and continue to point to the many signals that show how very near we must be to that world-stupefying event. All indicators show that we are very near indeed!

Israel is again a nation, surrounded by enemies, and is the center of attention for world media and diplomats. Paul’s perilous times of 2 Timothy 3 are exploding on the current scene throughout all societies and cultures. I’ve pointed to the fact that we seem to be in the midst of a revisitation by the fallen angels who again want to delude people, just as in the days of Noah, and like Jesus prophesied as recorded in Luke 17: 26-27. (I believe the words of Daniel 2: 43, “…they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men…” have something to do with these inter-dimensional beings insinuating themselves into the developing 10-kingdom mix, as they did in antediluvian times.)

Ancient Persia, in the form of modern-day Iran, is cozy with Russia, just as the Ezekiel 38 and 39 prophecies foretold the people of these geographical areas will be at the time of the end, when the Gog-Magog attack into the Middle East and Israel is scheduled to occur. All of these things are coming in wave after wave, in birthpang-like frequency and intensity, like Hal Lindsey likes to say, and as Jesus prophesied in the Olivet Discourse.

The European Union looks very much to be the matrix out of which the 10-power kingdom of Revelation 17:12-13 will grow, and out of which the man of sin, Antichrist, will spring to power. So, the question to ask, so far as the subject we are addressing now is concerned is: Do we see any indications of the separate powers developing that will “give their power and authority to the beast”?

Again, I’m not clasping onto any conspiracy theory in this regard, involving human geopolitical leadership. Man simply hasn’t the intellectual or derived powers to either formulate or carry out such a scheme. But, in my view, Satan certainly does have that ability –and, he is beginning to arrange things in preparation for his man of the tribulation hour, the guy whose number somehow equates to 666 –the Antichrist. The answer to the question is, I’m convinced, yes! We are seeing movement toward geographical powers trying to rearrange into configuration that might one day be the 10-kingdom entity that will give their power and authority to the beast. Rearrangements by the internationalist, human principalities in high places have been in process of manipulation and orchestrated to the tune of the old serpent, Satan, for decades. The North American Free Trade Agreement office in the Department of Commerce, commissioned to implement the Security and Prosperity Partnership, or SPP, would, upon full implementation of the globalists’ intentions, merge the U.S., Canada and Mexico into a new governmental, world trade bloc.

Developments around the world in geopolitical-economic matters, are shaping in a way that portends just the types of arrangements forecast in Daniel 2:43 and Revelation 17:12-13. GATT (Guaranteed Agreements on Trade and Tariffs), WTO (World Trade Organization) movement, and all of the other powerful monetary pressures for a one-world economy bring that final global tyrannical regime into view. The tribulation toes are forming rapidly in these troubling yet exciting times.

Perhaps no other classification of prophetic indicators exhibits more ubiquitous/prolific such end-time signs in this generation than the category “other gospels.” The Scriptures are found back-to-back, and are repeated by the Apostle Paul for emphasis.

“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any [man] preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8-9).

This specific prophetic warning for the last generation just before Christ’s return is again given by the great Apostle and prophet, Paul: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Tim. 4:3-4).

Satan comes at this generation with a full, frontal assault that no Christian should fail to recognize. Tragically, most do miss the attacks, so wrapped in the entertainment hyperbole of the day are they, their eyes on the glitter and glitz of the Hollywood hucksters of lasciviousness. Two examples of the frontal assaults in this regard were the novel, The Da Vinci Code, and the archaeological artifact and subsequent documentary film, The Gospel of Judas.

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Browns sold more than 40-million-plus copies. A major motion picture of the same title drew multiple throngs and rang the cash registers at the box offices. In essence, the work is a clever, but complete fabrication of matters surrounding Roman Emperor Constantine and his treatment of and interaction with Christianity. The story distorts and totally misrepresents the relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus. It gives Jesus greatly diminished status and a nature that is willing to enter into collusion with those who would fake His death, burial and resurrection. As if those blasphemies were not enough, Brown takes up the line of fiction that follows the trail of the search for the Holy Grail from the Holy Land into Europe, where the British Israel theory was hatched –the preposterous notion that Jesus and Mary were married and issued forth offspring that still can claim royal lineage to Christ today.

Sadly, much of the replacement theology of our time is based in this satanic tripe because of the ignorance of those who hold to the belief that Israel no longer is heir to God’s promises to them. The blasphemy of claiming God would ever renege on an unconditional promise is held as doctrinal truth by major denominations within Christianity today. I believe it is one of the key elements of doctrinal integrity that will one day separate the Philadelphian Church from the Laodicean (read Rev. 3:7-19).

The second most overt frontal assault is currently being made by Satan and his minions through The Gospel of Judas. This is a complete upside-down lie that makes Judas not Jesus’ worst human enemy, but His best friend! It is incredible that we could come to this point in the perversion of God’s truth. But, here we are, right on schedule in relationship to all other prophetic signs of the times, so far as God’s prophetic Word is concerned.

One writer of a major publication framed The Gospel of Judas like this:

“…What will make this gospel famous—or infamous, perhaps—is that it portrays Judas quite differently from anything we previously knew. Here he is not the evil, corrupt, devil-inspired follower of Jesus who betrayed his master; he is instead Jesus’ closest intimate and friend, the one who understood Jesus better than anyone else, who turned Jesus over to the authorities because Jesus wanted him to do so. This gospel has a completely different understanding of God, the world, Christ, salvation, human existence—not to mention of Judas himself—than came to be embodied in the Christian creeds and canon. It will open up new vistas for understanding Jesus and the religious movement he founded” (Bart Ehrman, et al., “The Gospel of Judas,” National Geographic, 2006).

As disturbing as these blasphemies are, there are others far more troubling, in my view. They are far more troubling because they come, supposedly, from within Christianity. The most egregious examples are the new Bible versions based upon texts other than the authorized.

There isn’t space to go into detail here, but the new “Bibles” that tone down the blood atonement of Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection, or that relegate God to gender-neutral status rather than acknowledging Him in the masculine –that try to present a message that we shouldn’t concern ourselves with things like judgment, punishment, or Hell –that we shouldn’t concern ourselves with Christ’s coming again and the prophetic Word, are not Heaven-sent, but hell-spawned.

Let us not be deceived by those who seek to diminish Jesus Christ in any form. Let’s not fall for any other gospel, but be fortified and edified by that once given –the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev. 19:10). That is essential to understand in this last time.

Most every signal is appearing on the landscape of this generation. We’ve pointed to them time and time again in these commentaries. Primary in our look at prophetic matters are things wrapped up in geopolitics. Israel, in particular, we’ve pointed out numerous times, is at the center of the last-days analysis.

All of earth’s diplomatic machinery seems geared to deal with the potential for nuclear conflict in the Middle East. And, one can’t think of the Middle East turmoil without acknowledging that the tiny nation Israel would likely be the ignition point for what many fear will become Armageddon. Religion is an area that continually draws our attention as prophecy watchers, using God’s Word, the Bible, as the blueprint for the consummation of human history.

There is scheduled, according to that blueprint, the amalgamation of many religions, and an apostasy that will culminate in a vast religious conglomerate that will be antithetical to all that is the true Church of Jesus Christ. Even the evangelical members of the Body of Christ have begun to seriously give way to the apostasia predicted in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. Many have joined the entertainment-mad world of secularism in their delusion that greater numbers in the sanctuaries translates to a greater spirituality. The question that must be asked, however, is: to what “spirituality” does such clamoring after truly lead?

Signs in the heavens and the earth have begun to manifest themselves. This is not to say that these are the “signs in the heavens and the earth” prophesied by the Lord Jesus for the time of great tribulation. Those spasms will be infinitely more powerful and intense, no doubt. But, they could easily be viewed as early birth pangs that are leading swiftly toward the “time of sorrows” Jesus plainly predicted. The record hurricanes, droughts, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, and the rest are convulsions of a planet pregnant with judgment that continues to fill in God’s cup of wrath.

Jesus words, as I’ve suggested before, seem to be coming true in our time. He told the pious religionists who commanded him to stop the people from shouting “Hosanna!” while He rode the little donkey into Jerusalem to offer himself as Israel’s Messiah: “…I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out” (Lk. 19:40).

The people of Planet Earth are, for the most part, “holding their peace” –i.e., are denying Christ and rebelling against the Heavenly Father. The very elements in the astrophysical and geophysical realms are, in my view, therefore, increasingly crying out.

All of the above are strong signals of the last time in which we live. But, the signal that makes even spiritually attuned prophecy watchers, who would be normally on guard for the subtleness of time as it creeps toward the era of apocalypse, like the proverbial frog in the boiling pot, is money. Mammon, the love of which is the root of all evil, slowly weaves its web like a deadly spider, networking and ensnaring, until liberty itself is encased in a cocoon of soul-destroying bondage. We see the ultimate outcome of the evil Babylonian system of economics. It is indeed a frightful picture for the generation of earth dwellers that will have to endure it. The captains of industry will lament its destruction by the wrathful hand of God.

“And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!” (Rev. 18: 11-18).

Just as we can see the many other signals of the gathering hurricane of apocalypse, we see that end-time economics –the world’s love of money—has long been in the process of gelling into a glue-like quagmire, out of which the people of earth will not be able to extricate themselves. As a matter of fact, God’s Word prophesies that there will be a group of economic masters who will one day enjoy power at the level just below earth’s supreme tyrant, Antichrist, himself! The Scripture says:

“And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast” (Rev. 17:12-13).

The proverbial frog continues to boil. Even God’s children are lulled into the false sense of security economic prosperity brings. In fact, lust for financial prosperity is at the very heart of some of the most profound problems faced by the Church today. Just channel through the religious networks, and watch and listen to the message that bombards your eyes and ears. The prosperity message is ubiquitous over the air and on cable satellite transmissions. The love of money is painfully obvious, while Christ’s gospel suffers, and the souls of men, women, and children hang in the balance.

We have mentioned many times the technologies that are enslaving the people of earth. The computer and surveillance cameras, the chips and the erosion of constitutional safeguards. But, it is the stratospherics of global economics to which average citizens can’t begin to relate.

More and more the European Union (EU) is at stage center in planning that involves world trade, just as the EU more and more asserts itself into the affairs of Israel, and the ongoing efforts to, if not bring peace to the Middle East, at least do something to avert nuclear conflict in the region. The Bible foretells that the Antichrist will come from the geographical area that is at the heart of the EU. We can sense his foreshadow, while the World Trade Organization (WTO) meets at Brussels and brainstorms to develop trading bloc regions around the globe. The EU, of course, is at the very center of all the grandiose planning.

Seems innocuous enough, doesn’t it? The world economic web, however, is being finely woven, and intertwined by collusion that will eventuate in Revelation chapter 18, when God must catastrophically destroy all that rebellious mankind has constructed.

Believers in Jesus Christ, in terms of the majority, don’t recognize the crucial prophetic times in which this generation finds itself. To prove this, just ask almost anyone you know –outside of the very few Christians of your acquaintance who might consider prophetic issues– and watch the blank stares, the smiles, with accompanying gesticulations that indicate they don’t worry, or even think about these things. Observe, while they quickly go onto other subjects, like “what’s for dinner,” “who’s getting married,” “who’s getting a divorce,” “who’s living with whom,” or a thousand and one other more generationally appropriate topics –in their view—than where we are at present on God’s prophetic timeline.

When the Christian who is truly a student of what God has to say about things to come stops to analyze the flood of prophecy-laden matters deluging this generation, he or she quickly realizes that we are at the very door that will open into the tribulation. But, he or she knows – if prayerfully diligent in studying God’s prophetic Word, (i.e., is led by the Holy Spirit to truth) and is thus discerning in analyzing world conditions– that another door is about to swing open. That is the door that leads through the fabric of space and time. The door that will be opened by Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, Jesus Christ IS that door! After all, He said”…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

And, the things for the discerning Christian to consider are staggering in numbers, and in prophetic relevance. Of these many things of prophetic import we could think upon, none is more glaring at this moment –in my view—than signals of Christ’s coming again wrapped up in the title of this commentary article: “Endtime Perplexity.”

The prophecy was given by Jesus in His Olivet Discourse, as recorded in the following:

“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring” (Lk. 21:25).

Review, for just a moment, the dynamics shaping up endtime world conditions while this generation rages toward Daniel’s 70th week –the seven years of tribulation, when God’s wrath will begin falling upon incorrigibly rebellious mankind.

Israel is at the very center of the last-time perplexity, just as Jesus and the Old and New Testament prophets foretold. Think of it! Everything of great significance, so far as world conditions are concerned, points right back at Israel!

1) Islamist Jihadists are in control of the Palestinian drive for statehood.  Muslim terrorists are on record, determined to expunge Israel from the region. These are blood-vowed to kill every Jew they find.

2) Iran’s leadership is threatening to develop (might already have) the ability to produce nuclear weapons. The purpose is to annihilate Israel –and any other nation that gets in Iran’s path.

3) Islamic hate-filled doctrinal differences perplex American military planners in trying to deal with the Syrian war where the Obama administration is on the side of the Muslim Brotherhood, which are bad actors at least the equivalent of Basher Al-Assad’s brutal regime.  The seas and waves of humanity are indeed “roaring.”

4) Islamic fascist-like, rage-filled terrorists on a world-wide basis, incite masses to attack and destroy even their own possessions in Europe and other places. Christ’s words “nation (ethnos –or ethnic entities) shall rise against nation…” have been fulfilled to some extent in our time.

Certainly, there can be no doubt that this is happening en masse across the world. Again, for most who are leaders of nations represented in the U.N., Israel is the chief reason for troubles everywhere on earth. Anyone who supports Israel in any fashion comes under the radical Islamic threat of sword applied to the neck. Then there is the cry for “peace and safety.” But there is total disregard for the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. At the risk of being castigated as “touching the anointed,” I must say that even the major players among pastors and leaders of churches in this Laodicean era have a P.E.A.C.E. plan for saving the world from perplexity.

It won’t work, of course. Peace –even if used in clever, marketing terms of acronym—–such as that mentioned above issued by Rick Warren some years ago–will fail. Only the Prince of Peace, and His godly, Heaven-sent peace will bring the raging seas of humanity under control, like He did the storm-driven waters on the Sea of Galilee those millennia ago.

Christians, it is past time to awake from the slumber under which the Church of Jesus Christ has –for the most part— been put, since allowing Satan and his minions to pull their deception over the spiritual eyes of many individual believers. We are at that point–in attitude–at the end of the age, about which Jesus forewarned:

“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” (Matt. 24:44).

To me, this is near the top among the most foreshadowing of the perplexities about which our Lord prophesied: the question of why Christians will not awake in this endtime era, and look around at all that points directly at the truth that we are, as a generation of earth dwellers, on the very cusp of the apocalypse, of tribulation.

This should make us, rather than be filled with only thoughts of earthly things, busily engaged in activities spiritually ripe with great anticipation of the “blessed hope” of Titus 2:13. He could come at any second, and all of the things of this fallen world instantly will no longer matter to the Christian of the Church Age. We will stand before Him, and see Him face to face, and give account for our attitude toward Him, and activities for Him, when we were in this life back on Planet Earth.

Replacement theology continues to be the most troubling aspect of the developing apostasy –which I believe could well be the endtime “falling away” of 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. I’ve given it –in my view– the more appropriate designation, “replacement theologofolly,” because that is just what it is. It is religious folly at its egregious worst.

It cuts to the heart of Satan’s war on God Almighty, and it is foolishness at the most profound level.

The prophet John wrote the Lord’s description and condemnation of the final false religious system: “And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (Rev. 17:4-5).

God’s Word further describes punishment for this final religious product the apostates will produce: “And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire” (Rev. 17:16).

So, God views through the prism of extreme, though righteous, anger this horrendous system that will dominate –at least for a time—the whole world with its anti-God activity. This one-world false system of worship will be presided over by the false prophet of Revelation, who will point all worship, ultimately, to the beast –Antichrist. The prophecy says: “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed” (Rev. 13:11-12).

One thing in particular will be at the root of this tribulation-era harlot system. That will be the hatred of Israel and all other things that belong to God’s perfect order. It is not a new world order, but ancient world disorder that will reign for a time on Planet Earth. Satan has, from his invasion at the Garden of Eden, sought to attack the seed of humankind, thus to try to prevent the Deliverer –Israel’s Messiah—from coming into the world and completing His mission. The mission is to offer himself as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world for the redemption of all who will accept Jesus Christ as Savior.

When Jesus said, “It is finished,” on the Cross at Calvary, that sacrifice was complete. Thus Satan was defeated at that time of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. But, the old red dragon, Satan, still is determined to deceive as many as possible, and to inflict as much agony as possible on the world. He particularly wants to inflict his horrors on the people chosen to be the seed through which Messiah would be born.

Israel –as any student of human history who approaches the study with an open mind will attest—has been vilified and persecuted as no other race of people. And, in this generation, the worst of all persecution of Israel is at hand, in preparation for the tribulation genocide against that race –the Jews.

The worst of all of history’s persecutions of Israel is at hand in this generation, because that persecution comes from within the Body of Christ. This is particularly manifest when observing the Presbyterian Church in America. The Presbyterian Church U.S.A. has for a number of years made it its official policy to divest itself of all business dealings with the nation of Israel. The policy was based upon the attitude that Israel is occupying territory that is rightfully the Palestinian people’s land. They view Israel as having no special right given them by God. As a matter of fact, the church’s almost universal belief is that the Body of Christ (all who believe in Christ for salvation) has replaced Israel so far as God’s promises to the Jews are concerned. They claim that the promises of God’s land grant to Israel was conditional, based upon Israel’s obedience to God. When Israel rejected their Messiah, they forfeited all claims to God’s promises to them.

For the world at large to claim Israel is an interloper and the key troublemaker in the Middle East is one thing, but for a major denomination within Christianity to claim that the Jew is finished in God’s view is apostate thinking of apocalyptic dimension. Thus, it is with interest we observe while the Presbyterian U.S.A. church changes its replacement stand to a very modest degree. Could it be that some who truly know Christ within the organization have absorbed a bit of Holy Spirit light?

The lead portion of a story from a number of years ago says: “The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted yesterday to back off from a decision it made two years ago to pursue divestment from companies that profit from Israel’s involvement in the Palestinian territories. The resolution, passed overwhelmingly at the church’s general assembly in Birmingham, Ala., responded to outcries by some church members and Jews who accused the church of insensitivity to Israel. The resolution apologized for ‘the pain that this has caused’ among ‘many members of the Jewish community and within our Presbyterian communion'” (Laurie Goodstein, Presbyterians Revise Israel Investing Policy, June 22, 2006).

The change in policy has apparently done nothing to negate Presbyterian theological folly that God is through with Israel. This said because that denominational sector continues to deny Bible Truth about God’s dealing with Israel. The earlier apology seems to have been simply nothing more or less than a return to good business practice. Good business, from the world’s standpoint, is precisely the accusation the prophecies of Revelation, Chapter 17, level at the apostate harlot who rides the beast regime.

We strongly urge all who hold to the folly of replacement theology to change their satanically-inspired view before it’s too late.

Every year we observe D-Day in honor of the Allied forces who invaded parts of Europe, the action that began in earnest the drive toward victory over Hitler’s Nazi military in 1944.

I want to think with you about the present invasion taking place. This contemporary assault is infinitely more deadly than the dangers faced in that long-ago invasion of France. It is infinitely more dangerous because it is –in truth— supernatural, i.e., involves eternal matters. It involves the spiritual world rather than the physical. I should say it involves the spiritual MORE than the physical world, because both worlds are intricately intertwined.

Again, I see two primary areas of Holy Scripture involved in this warfare. Both emphasize the supernatural dangers and the spiritual nature of the warfare.

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5: 8). So, Satan is the general leading this endtime assault. He leads some quite terrifying forces in this stalking back and forth upon Planet Earth. “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” (Eph. 6:12).

With but a modicum of effort in searching through the Word of God about endtime things, we can make the linkage of how the contemporary assault by Satan and his forces of evil links to the devil’s past efforts. And, we can see where it is all leading in this wind-up of human history.

These last-days things are refreshed in my mind, while I recall promoting my novel of several years ago –The Rapture Dialogues. The subtitle: “Dark Dimension” says it all. The endtime warfare is with extra dimensional beings, not extraterrestrial beings. We can identify these supposedly unidentified flying objects if we open our minds and hearts through spiritual discernment written about in 1 Corinthians 2:14.

The linkage between the human, fleshly elements of this conflict and the supernatural or spiritual elements is undeniable if we properly analyze and dissect the matters involved.

Jesus –the greatest of all prophets (because He is God) said the following: “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Lk. 17:26-30).

Jesus foretold that history would repeat itself. Things will happen almost precisely like they happened in Noah’s day before the Flood, and in the days of Lot and the destruction of Lot’s hometown, Sodom, and its neighbor town, Gomorrah. What happened that was so grievous to the Lord that He determined to completely erase these societies from the earth’s surface?

I believe it was sin, of course, speaking in general terms. Sin always ultimately brings God’s wrath and judgment. The wages of sin is death, the Scripture tells us. But I see a much more specific sin that lies at the heart of the civilizations mentioned in those judgments of the antediluvian world, and the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The linkage is strong between the fleshly or physical realm, and the spiritual or supernatural realm in these cases. The linkage is made clear in the following verse –at least to me.

“And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities” (Jude 1:6-8).

Do you see that linkage? It is the phrase “going after strange flesh” that links the human to the supernatural, in considering the matter of this endtime invasion which Jesus prophesied will be a recurrence of soul/flesh-corrupting things that happened in antediluvian and ancient times.

In the matter of the supernatural realm, we see in Genesis 6:1-3 that the “sons of god” went after “strange flesh,” i.e., a number of angels who fell with Lucifer in the great rebellion, and were cast out of Heaven, saw the “daughters of men” (human women) and came down to them, and cohabited with them–producing hybrid offspring of the natural and the supernatural. Going after “strange flesh,” then, means doing something that is against the order God established.

These offspring were “men of renown,” the Scriptures tell us. These were doubtless the creatures from which Greek, Norse, and Roman mythologies derive to some extent.

Genesis, chapter 19, tells the full story of the “strange flesh” Jude alludes to in verses 6-8. This is expounded upon by Paul the apostle in Romans chapter 1. The “strange flesh” is men going after men, and women after women in the sexual sense –burning in their lusts one toward the other, and receiving in themselves the payment for their sin, which, God’s Word says, is a fitting punishment.

The endtime invasion Jesus prophesied is, I’m convinced, well underway. Key among the elements of Satan’s assault is a return of the dark, spiritual beings in high places –the extra-dimensional, not extraterrestrial, beings, again trying to corrupt the “seed” of mankind through the sightings, encounters, abductions, ghostly appearances, visitations, stigmata phenomena, and all of the rest of these strange things reported even by documentaries like those on Discovery and the History Channel every week. The prime-time invasion will, I’m equally convinced, take place in the tribulation era (Daniel’s seventieth week) as outlined in the “strong delusion” of 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2.

On the human level, the corruption is taking place through “going after strange flesh,” i.e., doing a thing totally against God’s established order. Men again are lusting after men, and women again lusting after women on a scale like in those ancient times, while Hollywood and many in government and media promote this lifestyle deadly to the continuation of the human race.

All of this indicates just how near this generation must be to the time Christ will step out on the clouds of glory and shout, “Come up here!” The final war called Armageddon that will result from this satanic invasion approaches rapidly. Rapture of those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior cannot be far distant.

Anyone who has read George Orwell’s 1947 novel, 1984, can’t forget the draconian methodologies the tyrannical regime inflicted upon the people of the areas of London and other places. “Big Brother” was watching everyone and everything. That ominous terms continues to reverberate within today’s vernacular. So does the concept of the ever-vigilant watchers of the citizenry continue to haunt us?

Government kept everyone under its eyes and thumb while Planet Earth divided into separate spheres of total domination. Chaos on a global scale drove people to first accept, then welcome, such controls, although the time came when the order became much worse than the chaos it quelled. Many will remember the hoopla –particularly those who read the prophecy books leading up to that much ballyhooed year. I was one such reader (and writer) of the speculation on how close we might be to the mark of the beast, etc. The Cold War was in full bloom, and Ronald Reagan was accused by his opponents, both in this country and around the world, of having an itchy trigger finger. Computers were on the rise, technology and knowledge was on the exponential increase. All looked in place for world crisis that might call for Orwell’s Big Brother to raise his ugly head.

It is easy, in retrospect, to see that much had to come into the mix of endtime elements, before the Orwellian-like society prophesied by John, under Holy Spirit inspiration—could come to fruition.

It is with recognition that those speculations leading up to 1984 presented room for all the phenomenal developments since, that it is wise to not go overboard, thinking and proclaiming that there is nothing else in the sense of stage-setting that can come about in order to issue in the time John foretold: “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six” (Rev. 13:16-18).

Development of the Internet; satellite and other communications technologies; the saturation of personal computer knowledge and use; the intertwining of banking through instant electronic funds transfer: all have come so far since 1984 as to make it clear that the decade of the 1980s –even the 1990s, comprised but a pioneering era. The analogy of those years could be made to the development of the steam engine and trains of the 1900s, leading to the age of modern technologies that gave us jet travel and beyond.

The factor that now enters into the equation of calculating when might arrive the God-foretold Big Brother system given in Revelation 13: 16-18 is the worldwide terrorism that threatens us. Nowhere has the threat been more pronounced than in London, which was the setting for much of Orwell’s novel. One such report from a number of years ago indicated the threat that still exists there today.

“LONDON – Police thwarted a devastating terrorist plot on Friday, discovering two Mercedes loaded with nails packed around canisters of propane and gasoline set to detonate and kill possibly hundreds in London’s crowded theater and nightclub district…” (Paisley Dodds, “London police foil major terror plot,” Associated Press, June 28, 2007).

Britain, in particular, has been the target for the Mid-East and other terrorist organizations. Whether this was an act of amateurs or from the mind of Al Qaida types, the fact seems to be that London, in particular, is the favorite targets in the western world for those who are determined to get their way through deadly violence.

It isn’t merely coincidental that England –particularly London, has governmental eyes in ubiquitous fashion like no other place on the planet. The news article reported further:

“[The London authorities] had the benefit of footage from closed-circuit TV cameras, hoping the surveillance network that covers much of central London will help them track down the driver of the Mercedes. The CCTV footage would be compared with license plate recognition software, British anti-terror police Chief Peter Clarke said. There are 160 security cameras in the Westminster Council, the district encompassing Piccadilly Circus and the Haymarket area, alone” (Dodds, AP).

Orwell, uncannily, had the city pegged that would have the most Big Brother like set up from his perspective of looking at the future. It is interesting to wonder if terrorism might one day soon provide the desperation and chaos that will cause the citizens on a global scale to cry for “peace and safety” in a loud enough collective voice to bring in the prophesied regime of Revelation 13.

Jesus foretold the time when that Orwellian orgy of control gets fully underway.

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt. 24:21).

The perfect prophetic storm is upon this last-time generation. To understand the darkly serious truth of America’s tinkering in the matter of forcing Israel to make human peace with its enemies, we must delve heavily into the relevant prophetic Scriptures. We begin by seeing the peace arrangement prophesied by the prophet Daniel:

“And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (Dan. 9: 26-27).

The great prophet Isaiah foretold the ramifications for Israel and by extension the entire world: “Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it” (Isa. 28:14-18).

Jesus himself prophesied Israel’s great trouble, which was previously given by Jeremiah the prophet as recorded in Jeremiah 30: 7. Jesus forewarned the following:

“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt. 24: 15-21).

Jesus foretells that there is coming the worst time in human history, and that time will be during the seven years immediately preceding His second advent –when He literally returns to the planet to put an end to Armageddon, then set up His millennial throne atop Zion at Jerusalem. Keep in mind that this time is after the holocaust of the Nazi regime and Adolf Hitler. The “prince that shall come” –Antichrist—will perpetrate horrors upon the Jews far worse than the Fuehrer perpetrated!

The question is this: Seeing as how the Lord of heaven always gave warning before pending judgments of the past, is it not logical that He would give even more pronounced warning in the times leading up to the era of His wrath and judgment, which Jesus, who is God himself, said will be the worst time of all human history? And, this brings us to the subject of this essay, “the perfect prophetic storm.”

To repeat the earlier assessment of what is going on in the world today –the strange, volatile times in which we of this generation find ourselves: It seems another perfect storm is coalescing while America’s interference in God’s plan for Israel is taking place. It is a storm that is part geophysical, part socioeconomic, and, to those of us who view Bible prophecy as literal, totally spiritual in the many fronts pulsing from its center.

Nature on the rampage over the past several years coincides closely with America’s and the Quartet’s (U.S., E.U., U.N., and Russia) attempts to force the making of a Palestinian nation upon land that is Israel’s by divine right. The geophysical upheavals have been on the increase in intensity, while America gets more deeply involved in formulating a peace agreement between Israel and her neighbors. The “Roadmap to Peace” has metamorphosed into a process that now demands that Israel give up not only land she has won with each succeeding attack from her enemies, but that Israel divide Jerusalem, allowing the new Palestinian state, when instituted, to make eastern Jerusalem its capital.

As I’ve written before, the action is the same as poking the Almighty in the apple of His omnipotent eye,. The action will not stand. I believe we are seeing not God’s judgment and wrath at this point, but His solemn warning of things to come. The perfect storm is thus brewing. It has been doing so for several years.

Hurricane Katrina boiled to the surface on August 23, 2005, just off the Horn of Africa, became a 175 mph hurricane on August 28 in the Gulf of Mexico, and slammed into New Orleans and coastlines surrounding that city. The storm claimed a total of 1,836 confirmed dead, with 705 missing. It was the most costly hurricane to date at $8.96 billion.

At the time it was announced that Jerusalem was on the table for division, thus to allow the Palestinians to build a capital there, California’s northern coast exploded in fires from more than 1,000 lightning strikes, an unheard of occurrence in that area of the state. The fires raged south and westward,requiring billions of dollars to attempt containment.

Floods gushed through America’s heartland at the same time, claiming lives and huge portions of land, much of the prime farmland made useless by the flooding. The plains, Mississippi Valley, and much of the Ohio Valley and other areas of middle America have suffered with tornado outbreaks since that time, causing losses in life and property on an ever grater scale. Following Katrina, Hurricane Gustav, followed on its heels by Hurricane Ike, brought further devastation, affecting petroleum supplies and uprooting people by the thousands. The southeast United States suffered by droughts, in some regions several years long.

While the American secretary of state continues to travel to Israel and other places, twisting the arms of Israeli leadership to divide Jerusalem, and otherwise give land for peace, the perfect prophetic storm continues to coalesce in matters involving the national and, by extension, the global economic markets.

Corporate giants once thought invincible against the blasts of deadly economic storms are in the headlines today. Todd Strandberg correctly assessed the extreme measures being taken to try to prevent the financial part of the perfect prophetic storm’s effects from wreaking total economic collapse.

Todd wrote some years ago:

“September 2008 will easily go down as the darkest month in U.S. financial history. We have never seen so many large financial institutions falter in such a short period of time:

1. Mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the U.S. government.

2. Lehman Brothers Holdings succumbed to the subprime mortgage crisis. It is the biggest bankruptcy filing in history.

3. Merrill Lynch was saved from bankruptcy by a shot-gun merger with Bank of America.

4. The world’s largest Insurer American International Group was saved from certain collapse by a $85 billion federal loan…” (Todd Strandberg, raptureready.com, Nearing Midnight, Monday Sept. 22, 2008).

The perfect prophetic storm rages as likely precursor to the truly cataclysmic tempests that will come upon a wicked, rebellious world ripe for judgment.

Jesus Christ is the only shelter to be found from that coming time of unprecedented turbulence upon Planet Earth.

The Lord promised those who accept His offer of salvation to be removed from that horrendous time (Revelation 3:10). He said the following: “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” (Jn. 14:1-3).

Producers of programming for the networks like The History Channel, Discovery, and National Geographic air documentaries from time to time that are titled something like “The Perfect Storm.” The documentaries look at the several large storms in the northeast United States in 1991 that coalesced off the coast of New England in the Atlantic and swept onshore as one, massive blow. The video shows then-President George Herbert Walker Bush’s home in Kennebunkport, Maine, being assaulted by the turbulent Atlantic.

The “perfect storm” was raging along the northeastern U.S. coast at the same time the Bush administration was involved in negotiating Israel’s future in Spain. Here we are, more than two decades later, following another Bush administration that positioned itself in the middle of Israel’s business, with then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice trying to get Israel to divide its land and the city of Jerusalem in order to create a Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state. It seems another perfect storm moves toward coalescing while this American interference in God’s plan continues to take place with Obama Administration efforts. It is a storm that is part geophysical, part socio-economic, and totally spiritual, in the view of many of us who analyze eschatological matters.

Many see as a miracle Israel’s being back as a nation-state with its own language. Hebrew was once thought lost to the Jewish people as a common language following the last diaspora around 135 A.D., when the Roman emperor Hadrian put down the Jewish insurrection and scattered the Jewish people. Yet it is again Israel’s national language, just as foretold for the time near Christ’s return.

America has been at the forefront of Israel’s birth into modernity. There can be no doubt, upon looking into the history of Israel’s coming back into its God-given land, that the U.S. has been first the midwife at its birth, then its protector–in human terms—assuring its right to exist among the nations of the world.

If I may do a mini-commercial for my book that came out with Harvest House Publishers in February of 2009, titled The American Apocalypse: Is the United States in Prophecy? I must say that while preparing the manuscript, my research brought home to me the stunning proof of America’s God-ordained destiny. No one can explain to any degree of satisfaction why America isn’t mentioned by name in the Bible. There are many speculations and postulations, but the answer to the question about why the United States is not mentioned in Bible prophecy continues to elude. The answer will have to await the unfolding of history. However, modern Israel is living proof that America was established for God’s great purposes. Those are: 1) the capability to preach the gospel message to the whole world; and 2) to bring Israel to birth on May 14, 1948, then to act as its protector as the Jewish state stood on its feet, as prophesied by Ezekiel, chapter 37.

America is living testimony to the absolute truth of God’s faithfulness to fulfill His prophetic Word. America is the most materially blessed and one of the most spiritually blessed nations ever to exist. God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 is thus 100 percent validated: “I will bless those who bless thee, and curse those who curse thee.”

The United States has been the recipient of the first part of that promise. Israel’s satanically driven enemies have been recipients of the second part of that promise, and lie strewn in abject desolation along the dark corridors of history. The proof of America’s coming to birth with a foreordained destiny planned by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, leaps from recent history in fashion that is thunderous. The United States has blessed Israel, and as a result, this nation has brought mankind from the dark recesses of the past to the brightness invented by its illuminated genius. Since the time Benjamin Franklin was shocked by lightning while he experimented with a kite and a key, thus–I am convinced–infusing the soon-to-be founding father with special ideas directly from the finger of God, this nation has electrified –literally—the whole world.

The flip side of America’s comportment as of late, however, is as frightening as its brilliant inventiveness and contribution to modern man has been electrifying. This country, so key to bringing fulfillment of end-times prophecy into focus in human, earthly terms by helping put Israel at stage center on the global scene, at present is now key to setting in motion the time of tribulation –the last seven years of human history preceding Christ’s second advent. The

“Roadmap to Peace,” the brain-child of geopolitical strategists in America and the European Union, is pushing forward the, perhaps, predecessor to what God calls “the covenant made with death and hell”.

As a result, God’s perfect prophetic storm of forewarning of wrath to come is blowing across this nation. Wrath and judgment could be just around the corner of the next crisis. We will look more deeply next week into the tempest that is sweeping America and the world toward a destiny foretold by Jesus and the Old and New Testament prophets.

Jesus’ words of forewarning ring in spiritually attuned ears today as never before.

When His disciples came to Him on the Mount of Olives and asked the Lord when He would come again, and what would be the sign of His coming, the very first and second indicators He gave in answer were the following: “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matt. 24:4-5).

I’m sometimes teased by my family –those closest to me–when I get on a soapbox to talk about Bible prophecy, world conditions, and what the Bible says about this or that. Perhaps, sometimes, my pontification is espoused just to be heard, rather than being of any spiritual good. We are all human, and we say things that mean little. We sometimes waste our and others’ time with our verbiage.

Jesus’ words were powerful every time He spoke. He wasted none of His or others’ time, like we do with our verbosity on occasion. So, when the Lord who created all that is –who IS the Word (John 1:1) says that the first sign to look for in terms of watching for His return is those who come saying “I am Christ,” we had better take heed. Thus, because what follows is the second sign –deception of an unusually virulent sort.

Jesus, by forewarning that people would come in His name, saying “I am Christ,” is, I believe, saying two things we should carefully analyze. First, He is saying that people will come in His name. They will invoke the name of Christ to get the ears and minds of many interested and to encourage belief in what they are claiming. Second, Jesus meant, I am convinced, that these people will be saying: 1) they, also, believe in Jesus Christ; and, 2) some will also claim that they are actually Jesus. These will claim to be Jesus, the Christ, returned to earth.

The first of these indicators are in abundance, in my view. As a matter of fact, those signs are right in front of us every time we channel through our television programming. The false teachers and false prophets are there every night. They claim Christ as being at the center of all their ministries’ activities. In the name of Jesus Christ, they preach and teach false doctrines that feed on viewers who believe the lies that God is like a genie in a bottle. He will give us anything and everything we want, if we but use the power that is in our tongues. We speak it, and God must fulfill our fondest desires. We put our “faith” into action by sowing a seed –usually dollars in significant amounts—into their ministries. They claim we are guaranteed healing, no matter what, if we just believe strongly enough in our own “faith” that God will heal upon command. They sound for real, because they use the name of our Blessed Lord Jesus.

They make merchandise of the foolish in their audiences, just as the Apostle Peter forewarned:

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not” (2 Pet. 2:1-3).

The second of the first two forewarnings Jesus gave involves evil ones who will, the Lord said, say, “I am Christ.” The first meaning of that statement is, I believe, that these will say –in their deceptiveness—that Jesus is indeed Lord. They will be deceivers, nonetheless. But, the application to Jesus’ prophecy I would like to consider here is the other meaning wrapped up in the statement “I am Christ.”

There have been many who have claimed the title of “Christ” down through the centuries. However, that claim has become particularly pronounced in these latter times, as we see all the other end-time indicators simultaneously developing, and coming wave after wave –like convulsing birth pangs of a woman in labor. The following excerpted article from a number of years ago will illustrate the point [there has been a proliferation of such reports since]:

“At first glance, the congregation gathered in a warehouse in Doral, Fla., seems like a typical Hispanic evangelical group. There’s the 10-piece band, the singing and swaying, the whooping and hollering. But look a little more closely. There’s not a cross in sight. The lectern is emblazoned with a near replica of the U.S. presidential seal, except that it reads in Spanish, government of god on earth. Off to the side stand three burly guys in dark suits with Secret

Service-style earpieces. When a door by the stage opens, the guards leap into action. They surround the man with slicked-back hair who emerges and escort him to his seat. When the crowd spots him, it goes wild. People chant, ‘Lord! Lord! Lord!’ It quickly becomes clear that they’re referring to him. ‘It’s Jesus Christ himself!’ a preacher on stage announces. ‘Let’s welcome Jesus Christ Man!’ In the rapturous eyes of his flock, Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda is, in fact, the second coming of Christ. As the head of the Growing in Grace International Ministry, he presides over a sprawling organization that includes more than 300 congregations in two dozen countries, from Argentina to Australia. He counts more than 100,000 followers and claims to reach millions more through a 24-hour TV channel, a radio show and several Web sites…” (Arian Campo-Flores, “Meet the Minister Who Says He Is Jesus Christ,” by Newsweek, Feb. 5, 2007).

Jesus foretold that these two things –counterfeit Christians and counterfeit christs–will mark the days just before His return. He told believers how to react to such deception: “And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not: For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect” (Mk. 13:21-22).

Point is that, just as the Lord predicted, these deceivers are among us –and are right up in the face of this generation. Sadly, rather than following Jesus’ instruction, “Believe him not,” regarding any person who makes these false claims, huge numbers within Christianity are embracing the deceivers and the feel-good gospel they proclaim.

A sure signal –among all the others—that we are nearing the moment when Christ will say: “Come up hither!” (Rev 4: 1).