Most who will read this commentary are certainly at least cursorily familiar with the term “Gog-Magog.” This is the prophecy most who look at end-times matters from the pre-Trib perspective believe is the first foretold event that will likely be the prophecy to be fulfilled following the Rapture of the Church–either that attack on Israel or, possibly, the destruction of Damascus, Syria.

Likewise, most are also familiar with the term “automatic pilot.” This is the switch on an aircraft pilot’s flight-control console that, when activated, causes the plane to fly without outside help. That is, the aircraft flies the course the pilot sets in the flight plan with pilot’s hands off the controls.

I think we have just witnessed the automatic-pilot setting switched on that will culminate with the fulfillment of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. This is a plan of movement foretold long ago, and the course will be followed no matter what. Any external forces that are applied attempting to divert that course will fail.

It was astonishing to many that U.S. President Donald Trump, almost without forewarning, announced that U.S. forces and diplomats will be pulled from the Syrian theater of conflict. This, although he had said as part of his campaign for the presidency that he planned to remove America’s forces, which he believed had spent too much American blood and money in the war-torn area of Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He is, in fact, following up on that campaign declaration.

In so doing, he has caused many staunch supporters, including the likes of talk show host Rush Limbaugh, to say that they think it is a mistake to make this move at this time.

Yet Mr. Trump is making the move without much consultation with anyone, so far as we can tell. This is believed to be one reason General Jim “Mad Dog” Mattis is leaving the administration as secretary of defense. Whether it influenced the removal of General John Kelly as chief of staff is a matter of much conjecture. Certainly, it seems a strange course of events for one who has been as forthcoming (transparent) as President Trump.

To those who are considered more or less expert observers of biblically prophetic development, the move to remove American forces and diplomatic service types from Syria invites Russia, Iran, and Turkey to fill the power vacuum created with the evacuation. These three actors on the geopolitical scene in the Middle East are the key nations many, including this writer, believe Ezekiel the prophet referred to in his chapters 38 and 39 prophecy. Russia (Rosh), Iran (Persia),  and Turkey (Torgomah) are slated to attack over the mountains of Israel to take “great spoil.”

Not coincidentally, many believe, Israel is developing significant accomplishments in the production of oil and gas in the Golan area and in its Mediterranean coastal waters territory. Plus, Israel’s technological achievements in practically every area are becoming legendary. There is “great spoil” to be had as we move forward into the new year.

Whatever else is to be considered, the fact that America is being removed as a blocking agent to what goes on in the immediate area north of Israel is most relevant to prophetic development. The United States, by name, is not mentioned anywhere in prophecy yet to be fulfilled. The nation’s absence is particularly intriguing in the matter of the Gog-Magog assault.

The only reference anyone can find of any realistic possibility of the presence of America is when the nations observing the attack send their note of diplomatic protest.

Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? (Ezekiel 38:13)

The phrase “all the young lions thereof” are thought by many to refer to the nations that have sprung from the British Empire, which are thought to be “the merchants of Tarsish” entity that precedes the “young lions” reference.

At the very least, this abdication of American power from this region that has such prophetic significance portends dynamic prophetic movement for the immediate future. It is happening, again, as if on automatic pilot. Protests by people on the president’s side politically and by those who are rabidly against him don’t seem to affect his decision.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and other diabolists have praised the move. This would seem to give credence to the ludicrous claim by Trump’s political enemies that Mr. Trump colluded with Russia in “stealing the 2016 presidential election.” Still, even that collateral political damage consideration–that this proves collusion–has no seeming effect on Trump taking America out of the picture as a direct actor in the Syrian matter and, most likely, the Afghanistan matter.

The whole thing appears to be on automatic pilot.

God doesn’t cause individual leaders to make mistakes in the sense that He manages them a moment at a time. That would take away the free will in their ability to do right or wrong and to make decisions on a personal level.

Now, I know I’m getting into some deep water here–and probably some trouble.

What I mean is that the Lord doesn’t make these leaders think in one direction or another. God does know the end from the beginning, however, so He has given his prophets like Ezekiel the thoughts these human leaders will have. God will put “hooks” in the “jaws” of Gog (Ezekiel 38:4). Ezekiel tells us that the leader called “Gog” will have things come into his mind “and he will ”think an evil thought” (v.  10).

This seems to indicate that God is making Gog take the action he will take. However, I view it as God simply knowing what this leader will do. God’s holy will is bound to be done no matter what in the prophecy. The prophecy will be on automatic pilot at that point of the fulfillment process.

The year 2019 indeed looks to be one for students of Bible prophecy to “watch”–as given in Titus 2:13, which can be most comforting as the new year proceeds. In that sense I can say without reservation, Happy New Year!

Christmas 2018 is upon a world filled with anticipation, expectation, trepidation, and abomination. This year isn’t overly different from any other Christmastime in many ways.

Some anticipate a celebration of the first Advent when the Christ child came amidst tidings of great joy through angelic exultation. Some are filled with expectation that the time of Christmas celebration will bring at least some moments of peace to otherwise tumultuous, daily routines of life.

Annual family get-togethers, church Christmas presentations, and exchanges of gifts still reside at the heart of the Christmas season in America. But, there can be no denying that there is an overt design and dark, visceral movement to change America in ways meant to divide and conquer Christendom. For, if the evil that constitutes the nucleus of this movement has their way, Christ will be forever relegated to non-entity status as the way is prepared for the advent of their own version of Messiah.

Thus, for many believers, where there should be even greater anticipation and expectation of joy at Christmastime, there is increasing trepidation.

We sense that the spirit of abomination is a growing infection, a metastasizing evil intent upon invading and trans-morphing every vestige of cellular, founding principle built into the U.S. Constitution.

Politically, we watch daily the incessant assault on all that is rational. The growing numbers in the U.S. who fall under the spell of the insanity that rules the ideological left is frightening. They cannot see that we are losing the country that has provided the liberties we–and they–enjoy…freedom like no other nation in history has been permitted.

These see the turmoil and chaos in Europe, where the populace has to riot en masse to survive the impossibly heavy taxes their socialist leaders have imposed. Yet they, for some unfathomable reason, desire to embrace that system. The protesters have to die in some cases to make those leftist leaders understand that the people want no part of the climate-change rules, regulations, and taxation the globalists demand. Yet the so called “progressives”–the political left in America–cannot make the connection. The way things are going on in France is exactly the way this nation is headed, if they have their way.

Instead of learning and teaching a different ideology than socialistic insanity, America’s so-called higher education professors continue to preach from their academic pulpits the religion of ecological Mother Earth worship under the socialistic, ideological framework.

Religiously, the world–including much of America’s political establishment–embrace that socialistic, Utopian quest. At the same time they hold Catholic Pope Francis up as the kind of religionist the young should follow, if any religionist at all.

That Pontiff has said that all will eventually go to Heaven, that there is no Hell, and that there are many ways to God, not simply through the ways presented by the Christian faith–the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, whether wittingly or unwittingly, this pope, the ideological left and the globalist elite all look forward to an advent entirely the opposite of the First Advent, when Christ came to earth to seek and save those who are lost.

These who form the dark movement to bring America into compliance with the new world order, who are determined to destroy America as founded, look for the one God’s Word calls “the abomination that makes desolate” (see Daniel 9). They are looking for the great political leadership that will correct the horrendous mess they, themselves, have made of things. They are looking for the advent of Antichrist.

But, we who name the Name of Christ Jesus can take assurance as we observe Christmas 2018. We look back to that First Advent and that baby in the manger as proof that God the Father is still in complete control. All the evil we see tracking across the geopolitical and religious landscape is right on target to fulfill that great promise that the Second Advent–the Second Coming of Christ–is on the immediate horizon.

The first phase of that Second Advent will be the Rapture of the Church of Jesus Christ. Convergence of events prove beyond any doubt to the discerning believer that great event is about to happen.

“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28).

Now that promise straight from the heart of God is certainly reason to have a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas season is in moribund transition, if I may use the term. By that I mean the changes taking place with regard to what Christmas is all about  represents much more than simply a decline of culture. The change taking place is moving culture in this nation and the world in direction that will engender deadly consequences.

This world system is dying.

The thought first pierced my thinking while listening to a news program of some sort. The story was about how the leftist, politically correct machine is attacking Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Now, I know I’m right off the bat offending the Christmas purists who view any secular characterization in conjunction with the Christmas story as near blasphemy. But, I implore that we get past for the moment how the Advent of Christ has been paganized to whatsoever extent–thus to make the point I hope to make: that we can know how near we might be to the midnight of the age and the call of Christ to His Church.

To get back to the TV news story, the report informed how much of social media is making the story of Rudolph one of how evil American culture has stigmatized anyone who is different. The Millennial view for the most part seems to be that the story shows that group bullying is approved of, thus Christmas is just an American cultural invention to keep those not like the majority in a position of inferiority. The news program’s host said that those who hold such a view obviously haven’t read the whole Rudolph story. She said that it actually was a story of anti-bullying and anti-bigotry.

That, at least, was my take on the news report I heard. Many amongst the Millennial generation increasingly view many things about Christmas as a cultural/societal device to  oppress the downtrodden.

Of course, the birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, gets totally lost in all of this politically correct machination. Satan’s obvious plot therefore seems to be working effectively, as do many of the other nefarious elements of his blueprint to move mankind farther from their Creator and their only means of redemption.

Several items of news of late punctuate how the grand deceiver is working through human minions to bring about the moribund transition through subverting the true Christmas message.

One such story involves a city ordinance of municipal government in Austin, Texas, that  might force churches to hire LGBT people, including pastors. Gay and transsexual employees, including members of the clergy, will almost certainly soon be part of Austin churches if things proceed as they look now.

A second news story reports that Facebook censored a photo of Santa kneeling before a manger scene. The photo was covered up by the Facebook thought police.

Facebook censored an image of Santa Claus kneeling before the baby Jesus, deeming it “violent” or too “graphic.” There was never a reason I could find why they found the scene violent or too graphic. But there was answer to the effect that the scene might offend, although there was no explanation as to how it might offend.

Again, I don’t want to give the impression that I condone mixing Santa Claus with the manger scene–the secular with the truly important truth about the reason for the season. I can see where that might “offend” some in some way. I simply want to make the point of how the moribund transition is taking place incrementally. The Christmas story–that Jesus came to save the lost–is being used as a political tool and a psychological tool to move culture and society ever farther from man’s only hope of redemption. It is a deadly track down which the world is going.

And, it is a worldwide war, not just one confined to America, that is taking place in this regard.

Another report from Italy told of a ten-year-old school girl who fought to have the name of Jesus reinserted into a song that was part of her school’s Christmas celebration. The Lord’s name had been removed from the song because it would “offend.”

The charge in taking the name of Jesus out of the song was that it might offend non-Catholics. The real reason, according to the report, was that the name was taken out because they feared it would offend Muslims and cause violent reaction from that quarter.

These reports , I am aware, are not earth-shattering in comparison to many, much more profound, things being reported around the world. But in God’s Holy Eyes, such treatment of His Son, who died for the sins of a world full of lost and eternally dying people, no doubt is among the most serious offenses.

Bible history is replete with God dealing with generations of people who deliberately flaunt their rebellion in His face. The book of Job reports the Lord’s displeasure and reaction to such rebellion: “Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed” (Job 4:8-9).

Terry’s note: This two-part series is from a chapter by the same name I wrote in one of my books years ago. Also, I’ve presented it in other published/posted forums. It is more relevant now than ever, so wanted to share it again. (Foreshocks of Antichrist, Harvest House, 1997)

Continuing on the deadly effects of drugs in these last days…

A recent news item testifies that politicians and their mouthpieces view the drug problem as nothing to be concerned about, even if their own staff members are alleged to be heavily involved in illicit drug usage.

Barry McCaffrey, national drug control policy director, asked in Washington that all politicians stop trying to make an issue of whether an opponent has used drugs because “no good can come from it,” adding, “Drug use was a generational thing, and we should just accept that and move on.” Drug infection gushes through the nation’s and the world’s bloodstream, not only degenerating thought processes, but feeding lust and greed as well. Paul’s words ring true today: “The love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).

People of the great Tribulation era will not repent of their sorceries because, like the addicts and dealers of this present hour, they will be willing to pay any price to continue feeding their insatiable appetites. The tremendous growth we are witnessing in illicit drug trade is a foreshock of the coming Antichrist and his system–a system that will, no doubt, at the outset of Antichrist’s reign, promise seemingly brilliant solutions to all problems, including those involving illicit drugs.

The Economic Abyss

Governmental and business institutions grow increasingly concerned about instability within world money markets. Stock market record highs, followed by wild fluctuations, cause worry and sometimes panic for global financial analysts. Despite the chaos, international banking conglomerates continue to merge and meld and network into what surely will soon become a one- world economic order.

The exponential growth in computer technology is without question moving our generation toward the time prophesied in Revelation 13.

Again, Antichrist will offer solutions to unbelievably complex fiscal problems produced when the four horsemen of the Apocalypse ride across the world, bringing war, famine, pestilence, and death. “It’s the economy, stupid” might have been a catchy–if somewhat deceptive–political slogan during the 1992 U.S. presidential campaign. Such a slogan will not be necessary during that future time of tremendous economic turmoil. Everyone will be agonizingly aware of the abyss in which they will be mired. They will beg the beast and his totalitarian system of computer control to institute world order.

Gods of the Abyss

New Age thought runs throughout government, business, and religion at all levels. Sadly, even evangelical Christianity suffers with New Age infection.

The same serpent who seduced Adam and Eve with the lie promising that they would be as God when they ate from the forbidden tree now whispers in the desensitized ears of this generation the same lie: ” You will become gods when you follow the New Age pathways laid out for you by the ascended masters.” But they are pathways leading to the end-time abyss of apocalypse.

Lucifer’s soothing lie that proposes many ways to God’s salvation salves the guilt-ridden conscience of fallen man. It appeals to the supremely arrogant pride that mankind inherited from father Adam when that first man determined to disobey his Creator and instead accept Satan’s offer of godhood.

People today by and large think of salvation, of going to Heaven when they die, as obtainable through self effort. If one lives a good life, God will weigh this against the bad and the person will be found worthy based upon his or her personal accomplishments on the side of good. People need no atoning sacrifice by Jesus Christ to save them. Such is a narrow-minded concept they reject, even though the still, small voice convicts them of the truth during those lonely, empty times when their souls yearn for something, for someone, to fill the void.

Doug Groothuis, assistant professor at Denver Seminary and noted researcher and author on the New Age movement, recently pointed out who Jesus Christ is–rather, who He was, according to New Age thinking. He addressed the fact that New Age thought proclaims that there is no need for a Redeemer. Groothuis said:

The emphasis on Christ is not Christ as the unique and final liberator, the saviour of the human race because of what He’s done through His [crucifixion and resurrection], but that He is kind of an example, the model for what we can do. Jesus was a man who [tapped into] the Christ energy for the Christ Potential…. It’s not biblical Christianity at all.

Groothuis, in further explaining the insidious influence the New Age movement inflicts on this generation, talked about Jean Houston, the New Age guru who spent considerable time with America’s First Lady in the White House during the summer of 1996 as part of the now-famous Eleanor Roosevelt contact incident.

Groothuis said:

[Jean Houston] is very influential. She leads seminars all over the country and in fact all over the world basically on how to release the divine potential within us all. She has referred to herself as a global midwife. She means by that…we all have god within us. We all have the fullness of [deity] within us. But that somehow this god within us is stuck and we don’t realize it, we don’t actualize it so it’s up to people like her to tell us we are divine and how to put that energy out into the world.

Groothuis went on to say that New Age theosophy purports that there is a latent, divine energy that makes up the universe. God is that energy. But there is no distinction between the Creator and the creation. Everything is one and we are all part of that great cosmic unity.

Groothuis said that according to Jean Houston and other New Age thinkers:

The problem of the human race, the reason we have ecological problems, military crises, economic crises, etc., is not because of human sin against a holy God that has affected us all. It’s because somehow we are suffering from a kind of divine amnesia. We have forgotten the divinity within ourselves. So her role is to be a catalyst or midwife to bring out the latent divinity inside of all of us.

Groothuis said that consulting channelers, mediums, and indulging in other occult techniques to achieve one’s goals instead of going to God in prayer is dangerous. He said, “in fact, doing this sort of thing can lead to some kind of encounter with the demonic. We have to remember that Paul said Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light…. If [anything] is leading away from Christ and His gospel, then it’s not of God.”‘

Despite such warnings, mankind strives pridefully closer to the abyss and eternal separation from God. One of the New Age movement’s most renowned contemporary leaders sums up the audacious claim that man does not need God because he is God!

The great and growing interest in Eastern philosophy and religion, in reincarnation or the law of rebirth and the power of mind over matter, is part of a great shift in consciousness taking place everywhere and is a direct result of our sense that the old molds of thought and feeling are no longer adequate to express our growing awareness of reality, thus revealing a readiness for a new revelation.

This spiritual awakening must eventually lead to an era of world brotherhood–the keynote of the coming Age of Aquarius.

What is happening now is the outcome of inner forces that are affecting great changes in human thinking and consciousness. This will result in the complete reorganization of the world’s institutions and social structures that no longer answer man’s true need. This will entail the reorganization of our political, economic, and financial systems along more rational and just lines.

New Agers will achieve their paradigm shift to a society that is the antithesis of what God intended for man. The most vicious dictator ever known will then rule over that darkest period in human history, the black abyss of Apocalypse.

The Bridge over the Abyss

People do not need to discover, then nurture, the Christ-consciousness within themselves. No such entity exists. People need Jesus Christ to fulfill the God-shaped void that exists within every man, woman, and child born since Adam brought sin into the world, thus separating himself and his progeny from God.

The Carpenter of Nazareth rebuilt the bridge over the abyss of eternal separation with timber constructed in the shape of the old rugged cross, upon which He willingly bled and died for you and me. Christ’s atoning sacrifice is God’s chosen way to reconcile us to Himself. There is none other.

Foreshocks of the coming Antichrist are everywhere. Those fearful signals that the Beast of Revelation 13 could very soon make his appearance upon the world stage should produce for the Christian not excitement based upon fear, but excitement based upon joyful anticipation. We are promised not Antichrist but Jesus Christ! (Read Revelation 3:10 and John 14.)

No prophecy stands between this generation and the Rapture. Christ’s return for His Church in the air above planet Earth is imminent. You, too, can be part of those who excitedly anticipate that unimaginably exhilarating microsecond when Jesus shouts “COME UP HITHER!”

Accept Him today and receive God’s inward peace which assures that in life or in death, you are His own. So shall we ever be with the Lord.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

News moving a headline at a time today is like an army of angry marchers intent upon tramping the most friendly society and culture to humanity ever to exist into oblivion. Beats anything I ever saw, to put it the way my old Daddy used to say.

I’ve chosen a few news items in my attempt to make the point. We are in the strangest of times, if we apply rationale to existential lunacy assaulting us not just daily, but hourly.

The first might seem innocuous enough. But it is a sort of pet peeve with me and I can’t help but comment to waiters and waitresses every time they bring a Coke or glass of water to the table. I tell them, if you were in California you would be fined a thousand dollars…and possibly put in jail for a month or two.

They, of course, think they have a crazy old guy on their hands. But, they politely and patiently smile and ask with incredulity in their voices–as if they were genuinely interested in my nonsense. “Why?”

Then I explain that such is the penalty in California for those serving customers plastic straws with drinks, etc. Well, the Governor Moonbeam-type infection has spread and now includes our nation’s capital as part of the serve-straws-at-your-own-peril insanity.

Here’s a brief excerpt of the story”

Washington, D.C., will begin enforcing its ban on plastic straws on Jan. 1, which would penalize churches for offering free coffee if it comes with a stirrer.

The Department of Energy and Environment tweeted Thursday that Mayor Muriel Bowser has a “list of recyclables and compostables” banning plastic straws and stirrers. [Mayor Bowser‘s list of recyclables and compostables now requires the use of compostable and/or reusable straws and stirrers when selling food or beverages in the District. Enforcement begins January 1, 2019!…] (“DC Bans Churches From Handing Out Straws With Free Coffee,” Washington Free Beacon, by Elizabeth Harrington, November 17, 2018)

Now, if you are a cantankerous old guy like me, you might wonder what is a church doing handing out coffee in church in the first place–but, that’s probably just “back-number” thinking, as ol’ Dr. Vernon McGee used to say.

The next news item also touches upon a matter that ruffles my feathers. I’m referring to the climate-change mantra that gets more invasive by the hour–that is, it has evolved from the global-warming push by the globalists elite. These are the one-worlders who want to rob the U.S. Treasury–a thing that has within its mostly empty vaults  IOUs, not true wealth these days.

Man-made global warming has been proven a hoax, and now man-made climate change is well on its way to being proven the same, according to some experts.

Researchers who were attempting to prove evidence of climate change recently published a study claiming that ocean temperatures were increasing at a dramatic rate, much higher than previous estimates.

The study was blindly accepted by believers in the climate change/global warming theory.

But the researchers have had to retract their bold claims after a mathematician studied their findings and immediately debunked it, spotting errors that called the legitimacy of the entire study into question. (“Mathematician Exposes Global Warming Study Inflating Temp Rise By 600%,” Rapture Ready News, by Neon Nettle, November 17, 2018)

The first news item referenced–about the plastic straws–is somewhat whimsical. But it gives hint of more serious things in society and culture. Concern over plastic straws that might affect the environment in deleterious ways should be analyzed in light of other concerns these same environmentalists hold.

I’m thinking particularly of their concern for what human beings are doing to the environment. The radical among them claim that people are polluting the planet. Humans are over-populating Mother Earth.

These, therefore, are among the strongest of supporters of women’s right to choose in the matter of whether to abort their babies. The thinking is, among the more adamant, that the fewer people on the planet, the better. So there are legitimate reasons for babies to be thus gotten rid of…more than 60 million of whom have indeed been removed since Roe v Wade in 1973. The straw of plastic that would otherwise go into your Coke, you see, is intrinsically of like non-value to the unwanted child that will never see the light of day.

But, the environmentalist –whether radical or less so–will put the egg of the spotted owl or a field mouse and its habitat on a list of protected species. This is what the Apostle Paul called “reprobate thinking” (Romans chapter 1).

This is a generation of reprobate thinking. That mindset has led to problems wrapped up in the second word in the title of this commentary: rebellious.

A third news item shows, I think, an example of reprobate thinking spawning rebellion in our nation.

A report in the Christian Post contends that the number of witches (and Wiccans) has dramatically increased since the 1990s, to the degree that there may be at least 1.5 million witches in the United States, which is higher than the 1.4 million mainline Presbyterians.

“[The practice of witchcraft has grown significantly in recent decades; those who identify as witches has risen concurrently with the rise of the ‘witch aesthetic,’”reported the Christian Post in October, citing data from Quartz, a Trinity College study, and the Pew Research Center.

Between 1990 and 2008, the number of Wiccans in the United States grew from 8,000 to 340,000, according to three religious surveys conducted by Trinity College in Connecticut. In addition, the Pew Research Center reported in 2014 that 0.4% of the population — 1 to 1.5 million Americans — “identify as Wicca or Pagan.” (“Number of Witches in U.S. on the Rise, May Surpass 1.5 Million,” CSN News, by Michael W. Chapman, November 18, 2018)

You might remember the bizarre story of a Los Angeles writer saying she had joined with thousands of witches to put a “hex” on Donald Trump. Diana Wagman said on May 23, 2017, that she and others intended to join forces ” to cast a binding spell on President Donald Trump “under the waning crescent moon.” She said, “It was not meant to physically hurt him, only to keep him from succeeding at his tasks…. I found an orange candle in a box of multicolored ones we use for our Hanukkah menorah. I printed the required tarot card off the Internet and propped it up. I cut an unflattering photo of POTUS out of the newspaper, and I burned it while chanting the words of the spell…. I plan to complete the ritual again.”

Such might be humorous in some sense, but it is profoundly indicative of rebelliousness that has taken root in society and culture.

God proclaims such rebellion is ruinous to any people. His example people, the Jews, fell into such rebellion–and their rebelliousness led to a ruinous future that reached its most heinous manifestation with the Holocaust of Hitler’s day. Moses reported the following in warning the Jewish people about such rebellion:

When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God. For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do. (Deuteronomy 18:9-14)

With the abortion infanticide since the implementation of Roe v Wade, we have, in effect, condoned the passing of children through the fires, just as the pagans did. It is abomination, the Lord says. We have reached the point of reprobate thinking that has spawned rebellion against God. He is a God that does not change. He is the same today as when He had Moses warn these things those millennia ago.

With America’s midterm elections done, except for all the shenanigans going on in Florida and Arizona at the time of this writing, focus of President Trump’s agenda seems destined to soon turn to Israel. His friend, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has election problems of his own looming. Trump’s actions and reactions with regard to Israel, therefore, present intriguing potentiality.

The intrigue involves a primary matter of Bible prophecy set for fulfillment in the near future. The peace process involving the Jewish state and its enemy neighbors is at the heart of the intrigue, of course. There is, it is well known in diplomatic circles, a “deal” in the works.

The Trump administration is holding the key elements within this brewing deal close to its presidential vest. But, the man who is known for the “art of the deal” is obviously operating in his interaction with Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the same way he always deals. He is a master of keeping his counterparts in negotiations off-balance, most often coming in with proposals at the most crucial time, forcing decisions that leave interlocutors within negotiations without recourse but to agree.

There is no more important negotiation in which Trump could possibly be engaged than this one. We are talking about the very heart of Bible prophecy yet future. This matter involves getting dangerously close to what God, Himself, calls “the apple of my eye.” The nation–the people called Israel–is a most sensitive matter in God’s holy view.

The Israeli prime minister has for years now been subjected to much the same sort of accusation and innuendo Donald Trump has faced. He is embattled on all sides by opposition politicians and by both Israeli national and international news media.

Still, according to polls, it looks like Netanyahu will be reelected in the upcoming election.

He will almost certainly be forced to dissolve the present government and call an election. The question is whether the election will be called next year or sometime very soon–before the end of the year.

One opinion piece explains:

Two clocks are ticking, one in Jerusalem and one in Washington. The problem is that for the time being, they are not synchronized.

With the midterm elections over in the US, President Donald Trump now has the bandwidth and time to shift his focus back to foreign policy issues, including the so-called “deal of the century” that he longs to broker between Israel and the Palestinians. The finishing touches are being put on the plan, and it could be rolled out as early as next month or in January.

The US schedule doesn’t seem to match up with Israel’s schedule, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is apparently toying with the idea of moving up the elections, scheduled now for November 2019. No one in the coalition believes the government will last until then, and almost everyone thinks something – either the haredi draft bill or Netanyahu’s criminal investigations – will prompt the prime minister to dissolve the government in the coming months.

This is important because if the government is dissolved in December, there would be no point in rolling out a peace deal that Israel will not be able to embrace…

This is important because if the government is dissolved in December, there would be no point in rolling out a peace deal that Israel will not be able to embrace. (What will come first – Israeli elections or the U.S. peace plan rollout? by Yaakov Katz,  Opinion – Jerusalem Post, November 10, 2018)

Benjamin Netanyahu wants to show the world that he wants to say yes to Israel’s good friend America in the matter of a peace deal. He has most always answered “no” to pressures by American presidents. This is understandable, because these pressures have been brought about by the likes of President Clinton and President Obama. These–and even George W. Bush, with the likes of James Baker pushing matters–have wanted Israel to give up too much to enemies blood-vowed to push all Jews into the Mediterranean.

But now Netanyahu has a president to deal with who has demonstrated both a love for Israel and the ability to accomplish what few, if any, have been able to accomplish.

Does the Trump plan, held closely to the presidential vest, include giving the Palestinian Authority the state they want? Will this mean dividing God’s most beloved city? These are intriguing–and dangerously so- questions to be sure.

Proceed very cautiously, Mr. President.

Satan, the great deluder–the infernal illusionist–has muddled one of God’s most wonderful promises. As a matter of fact, it is the second most wonderful promise in God’s Word. Both promises, numbers one and two, are inextricably linked.

Paul the apostle reveals that second promise as follows: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

Paul further elucidates this tremendous promise of God to those who belong to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Again, Satan–Lucifer, the fallen one–has used every nefarious tool in his bag of tricks to muddle this great promise from the Almighty. He has particularly done so during the last several centuries.

Muddling this promise fits into the devil’s scheme to strike at the very heart of God’s redemptive plan for mankind. That plan–the salvation of the souls of lost human beings–is the first of the two great promises from the heart of God. This first is linked to the second by the one and only way to receive redemption, explained by none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is that link. The Lord answered His disciple, Thomas: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14: 6).

Man’s understanding of how to “cometh to the father” is the  matter Satan desires to muddy. He has done a dangerously good job of doing so.

Even the current pope of the Roman Catholic Church preaches that there are many ways to Heaven. This is in direct violation of what the Lord Jesus Christ said. He is the perfect, sinless, Lamb who died, was buried, and resurrected for the redemption of mankind and should know. Yet the religionists of the world promote their own particular ways to attain salvation.

Again, Pope Francis has said that everyone–even atheists–will one day be redeemed. Satan has indeed managed to darken humanity’s pathway to redemption.

So, it is no wonder that there is such controversy–so much misunderstanding and deliberate confounding–about this second most important promise so closely linked to salvation itself. Sadly, in my view, even Christian theological seminaries join in the corruption of truth regarding this great “mystery” Paul unveiled in that 1 Corinthians 15 account of the Rapture of the Church. These institutions for the most part hold that Jesus’ own words about this great promise to God’s people–the Church–have nothing to do with the Rapture.

Paul called this event a “mystery” that he was revealing. He was, he said, showing the facts surrounding that promise to all believers of this Church Age (Age of Grace). The seminaries for the most part say that this was the first unveiling of the Rapture–that Jesus or the prophets never previously revealed this promise of snatching believers from Planet Earth, both living and dead.

I beg to differ–dogmatically.

Paul the great apostle was revealing a mystery that was, until that point, wrapped up in the words from the lips of the Creator of all things–Jesus, Himself. The Lord told His disciples about His coming death and going to the Father. But, they understood none of it. It was a complete mystery to them. Paul unveils the truth of what Jesus was promising. That is the “mystery” the apostle was showing all believers who were to come afterward.

Here is the mystery the Lord Jesus pronounced that Paul was later to reveal: “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).

Jesus plainly laid out His next intervention into the affairs of mankind, as we have seen a number of times by examining the “days of Noah, days of Lot” prophecies of Matthew 24:36-42 and Luke 17:26-30. It should be noted that most seminaries hold that this has nothing to do with Christ’s coming in the Rapture, just as they that deny John 14:1-3 has anything to do with the Rapture.

These teach that, in both instances, the Scriptures involved allude to Christ’s Second Advent (Revelation 19: 1), not the Rapture. Again, I adamantly disagree.

Jesus says in John 14:1-3 that He “receives” believers to Himself and goes with them directly to the Father’s House, where He, Himself, has prepared places for them. In the Second Advent, He comes all the way to Planet Earth, bringing the saints with Him from Glory.

In the “days of Noah, days of Lot prophecy,” He says that business on earth will be going along in a rather brisk fashion–indicating, perhaps, even a “boom.” At the Second Advent, when He comes back with the saints from Heaven, as many as three-fourths of humanity will have died due to the great wrath and judgment that will come upon the planet during the Tribulation, the last seven years preceding Christ’s Second Coming. That certainly will not be a time of “business as usual.”

We are in a time of economic “boom” at this very moment in America–although the evil in the world is raging and growing worse. That “mystery” taught by Paul the apostle, unveiling the words Jesus issued in prophecy as recorded in John 14:1-3, I believe, is “even at the door” (Matthew 24:33).

It was somewhat shocking, what happened while “watching” the Lou Dobbs program on Fox Business Network a week or so ago. (Technically, being blind, I was “listening” rather than “watching.”) I heard Lou’s guest say the words “I am as mad as Hell!”.

Now, even Mr. Dobb’s wife, he has confided on the program, has gotten onto him for using during the broadcast what we might consider the milder cuss words in today’s vernacular. But, it wasn’t the show’s host who used the word this time.

Lou’s guest was Dr. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of the megachurch, First Baptist of Dallas, who uttered the word. That it was Dr. Jeffress who said it was slightly jolting.

As I recall, the topic revolved around the upcoming midterm elections. Specifically, it was about the vitriol the mainstream news conglomerate continues to spew against President Donald J. Trump. The host and Dr. Jeffress agreed that every effort was being made by the leftist cabal, consisting of the mainstream news and entertainment media and the Democrat Party, to demonize the president and all who adhere to his Make America Great Again agenda.

The pastor said something along the lines of, “The voters are angry. In this election, they might say, through their collective vote, something like was uttered in the old movie, Network. Like when the guy said, ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.’”

I’m not here casting a condemning glance at Pastor Jeffress. I have said worse–like the other morning when I knocked the “I Love New York” coffee mug given me by my much beloved, honorary, granddaughter from my desk and broke the handle. So, I certainly have no room to cast aspersions.

The quotation Dr. Jeffress used to express the need for voters to fight the political evil going on, ironically, was made by the character who was a network news anchor, Howard Beale, played by Peter Finch. He had become somewhat senile and was being removed as anchor. The character, during his broadcast, urged all to take action. He shouted, “I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell, ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Things have got to change!”

There is a lot wrapped up in that term, ”mad as Hell.” To be in that state of mind is, I am certain, beyond any mindset one can conjure.

To be that angry implies that the mindset has been reached like that of those who are in that eternal, infernal place. To anyone who has read Inferno by Dante Alighieri, the briefest glimpse of the madness might be achieved. But, being of human authorship, the descriptions of that fictional Hell can provide fodder for but the slightest imagining of what must be the reality.

The ultimate madness that is the final result of turning away from the God of Heaven comes to fruition in that place called Hell. But the mindset that determines to turn one’s back on the Almighty begins at birth. We are born sinful creatures–lost from our very conception because of original sin. When we mature to the point that we can know we must accept or reject God’s offer of redeeming grace, and when we choose the latter, the madness–spiritual and eventually mental–begins to fester. It incubates growing sinfulness–rebellion against Heaven and all that is righteous. Turning one’s back to the Lord of Heaven moves one down the road of madness as framed by the Apostle Paul.

We have looked at the scriptural condemnation before. Here it is again to reinforce with biblical description where I’m convinced this generation of the anti-God rebels is positioned:

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful. (Romans 1:28-31)

We have witnessed these anti-God characteristics grow and play out within American society and culture in recent decades. The madness has increased and the reprobate mindset Paul alludes to truly dominates the national political landscape at this very moment. For whatever time is left in this dispensation of grace, we must wrestle–God’s way–against the powers and principalities, against the wickedness in high places, as given in Ephesians 6:12.

The specific, God-ordained way to do so as we face this time of determining which way the United States will choose is to earnestly pray according to 2 Chronicles 7: 14–then to vote against the madness assaulting America.

Theological academicians–primarily seminarians–sometimes accuse those who look at issues and events of the hour in light of Bible prophecy of engaging in newspaper exegesis. By this, I presume they mean that such practice is improper because one cannot discern Bible prophecy unfolding based upon such examination.

While it is prudent to proceed with caution in such examination, it is commanded by the greatest of all prophets to understand the prophetic times. Jesus’  words to those who failed to discern the prophetic times are as follows:

He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? (Matthew 16:2-3)

I would much prefer being accused by those with the theological doctorates of engaging in newspaper exegesis than to stand one day before my Lord and know that I failed to understand these times. And, these are indeed prophetic times!

Looking at the wide view of the times in which we live under the microscope of God’s prophetic Word, it is a staggering vista to be sure.

•  Evil men and seducers are becoming worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. I just did a presentation on this massive assault on Truth during the Prophecy Watchers conference in Norman, Oklahoma. Paul’s warning about evil men and seducers growing worse and worse can be seen dramatically affecting religion, society and culture, politics and government and the news and entertainment media.
• Continuing to look at the times in a wide view of prophetic stage-setting for the wind-up of the age, the Middle East is most revealing.
• The Gog-Magog coalition, as we have examined many times, is forming to Israel’s north. This is precisely as the prophet Ezekiel foretold.
• Russia–ancient Rosh–is at the center of this forming agglomeration of hostile forces. Iran–ancient Persia–has of late made profound linkages to Rosh, out of which will come the Gog–indwelt leader who will have an evil thought. That thought, of course, will be to invade to the south–over what God calls “the mountains of Israel.”
• Turkey–ancient Togarmah—is in the process of leaving NATO and is drawing closer to Russia and Iran (more about this a bit later).
• Israel continues to be assaulted at its borders on a daily basis. The UN takes the side of Israel’s Islamist enemies in most every issue addressed within that corrupt, international body.

The Jewish state is under constant pressure to give up its already precious little land to the so-called Palestinians. Even the United States is complicit in trying to force a peace that includes a two-state solution.

Israel, we can see in our broad view of prophetic development, is rapidly becoming the cup of trembling and burdensome stone of Zechariah 12:1-3.

Many, many other prophetic developments are front and center each and every hour of every news cycle. So, through a broad, sweeping examination of developments in considering today’s issues and events, discernment should be forthcoming. Any Christian, each of whom is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, should be able to understand these times so near the dénouement of the Church Age (Age of Grace).

Now, back to the matter of Turkey–ancient Togarmah, as presented by Ezekiel the prophet in Ezekiel, chapter 38. As I wrote above, Turkey is in the process of leaving NATO, the Western alliance that has long been a policing force against the bad actors, particularly the aggressive sorts among those of the Eastern hemisphere.

This is where the microscope of Bible prophecy can be used to focus more sharply, looking closely at the issues and events of our time. I like to call it prophetic fine-tuning.

We are all familiar by now with the assassinated journalist who was somewhat involved with the Muslim Brotherhood.  He worked for the Washington Post and was, it is alleged by most pundits, murdered by forces from Saudi, Arabia. The murder occurred within the Saudi consulate in Turkey. The ramifications have been profound.

The bottom line of the matter, for my purposes here, is to express my contention that the mainstream news media and the Democrat Party–and much of the Washington, D.C. establishment–have tried to use the murder to destroy President Trump’s relationship with the Saud royal family. That relationship is one that was negotiated because the Saudis need American military equipment and support to fend off a growing threat from Iran.

Difference in the Islamic sects, one Sunni and the other Shiite, is at the heart of the hatred between Saudi and Iran. It is a schism that has driven the royal family to ally with the west in many ways. Now that alliance is threatened because of the journalist’s murder. Trump is expected to severely sanction the Saudis, thus threatening to destroy the relationship. Many billions of dollars in sales to Saudi and more than 6,000 jobs are at stake.

In fine-tuning the prophetic picture because of being able to discern the times, I’m confident in predicting that, ultimately, the relationship between the Saudis and the Western alliance won’t be destroyed.

Why? Because of Ezekiel the prophet’s foretelling:

Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil? (Ezekiel 38:13)

Many scholars hold that Sheba and Dedan here are in reference to the Arab areas that today constitute the Saudi Kingdom. If this is the case, the Saudis will be aligned with the Western alliance–which those scholars believe are referenced in the rest of Ezekiel 38: 13–at the time of the Gog-Magog assault.

This is prophetic fine tuning. Such examination of issues and events through the prism of Bible prophecy can help the spiritually attuned Christian discern the times–as the Lord obviously expects of those who are His.