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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All the signals point to our going Home!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The turbulence atop Moriah has just begun.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brown wrote that he received no response to his inquiry.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There is something going on that I believe can no longer be considered anomaly. It smacks ominously of forewarning found within the apostle Paul’s perilous times prophecy of 2 Timothy 3: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be…despisers of those that are good” (2Timothy 3:1-2a, 6f)

Although the signs have been on the cultural and societal horizon for years, the manifestation of Paul’s forewarning became clearer during the school shooting in Littleton, Colorado, April 20, 1999. It was the first time in such a nationwide way that hatred for Jesus Christ raised its monstrous head, producing martyrdom for the cause of Christ in America.

On Rachel Scott, 17-year-old Columbine student:

Three weeks before the shooting she had witnessed to the shooters Eric and Dylan. Eric and Dylan were the odd pair out and students mostly stayed away from them. But Rachel tried to talk to them and encouraged them to leave their hateful feelings and turn to Jesus. But they hated her the more and even made homemade videotapes mocking her Christian faith.

On the day of the shooting, Rachel was outside the school building having her lunch. Eric and Dylan entered the school campus and first shot Rachel. They shot her in the leg twice and shot her again in the back. They left but returned seconds later. On noticing that she was still alive, Eric walked over to Rachel and grabbed her by the hair, lifted up her head and asked her “Do you still believe in your God?” Her response was unflinching and unwavering “You know I Do”, and that provoked Eric and he responded “Then go be with Him,” and shot her in the head. (FreeHeartDay.com. RACHEL JOY SCOTT – HER STORY MUST BE TOLD. By Sachin. April 20, 2013. http://www.freeheartday.com/rachel-joy-scott-her-story-must-be-told)

That singular, direct act of murder because a Christian wouldn’t deny her Lord might be considered no more than an aberration. The slaughter of Christians within the church of mostly black congregants in South Carolina a couple of months ago could, perhaps, be chalked up as merely an insane man coincidentally choosing a group of believers in Christ in his rage to kill. But, the deadly attack on the college in Oregon this past week should take all growing hatred for those who claim Christ as Lord out of the realm of anomaly and coincidence.

With this most recent shooting, it should, in my view, be considered undeniable that we have witnessed a key prophetic indicator. It is as if God’s finger is pointing directly to the fact that these are the perilous times to which Paul’s foretelling referred.

A gunman singled out Christians, telling them they would see God in “one second,” during a rampage at an Oregon college Thursday that left at least nine innocent people dead and several more wounded, survivors and authorities said.

“[He started] asking people one by one what their religion was. ‘Are you a Christian?’ he would ask them, and if you’re a Christian, stand up. And they would stand up and he said, ‘Good, because you’re a Christian, you are going to see God in just about one second.’ And then he shot and killed them,” Stacy Boylen, whose daughter was wounded at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., told CNN. (NYPost.com. Oregon gunman singled out Christians during rampage, By Chris Perez, Danika Fears and Natalie Musumeci. October 1, 2015. http://nypost.com/2015/10/01/oregon-gunman-singled-out-christians-during-rampage/ )

The term “despisers of those that are good” is more than obvious in its application to this news story in thinking on the apostle Paul’s perilous-times prophecy. This young, demented man despised Christians by his own admission through his words and actions. But, the word “despiser” takes on a much more condemning meaning for the evil day in which we live when considering the treatment of the horrendous event.

In almost all mainstream accounts of this story, the reports never mention that the shooter asked the specific question “Are you Christian?” and never do they include the statement that because they are Christians they will die in one minute. In nearly every case, the reports only indicate that the shooter asked what religion the victims were.

This is blatant bias in trying to keep the public from recognizing that Christians were specifically chosen to be murdered. This is, in my opinion, the mainstream press showing its own collective disdain for Jesus Christ–for Christians. They, by omission, demonstrate they are despisers of those who are good.

Why do I say that those who were murdered in cold blood were “good”? Let’s examine the declaration.

Jesus, when called by a man “good master,” asked the man why he had called Him “good.” Jesus told the man there was only one that was good, and that was God. (Read Matthew 19:17.) Jesus wasn’t scolding the man; rather, He was pointing out that all of man is fallen, but that God was without sin. God was the only good. Jesus was and is God. He said as recorded in another passage, “Before Abraham was, I Am.” Jesus was saying that He is God. He is the only good there is.

To further dissect the perilous-times prophecy in question, we next consider why we can legitimately point out that the shooter in the Oregon massacre of Christians in particular was a “despiser of those that are good.” Why the media’s deliberate refusal to mention that Christians were deliberately targeted seems to indicate that they, too, are “despisers of those that are good.”

Jesus, time and time again, declared that those who believe in Him for salvation because of His death on the cross for them are “in” Him–that is, in Jesus Christ. The believer is one with Jesus just as Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, is one with the Heavenly Father. (Read John chapter 17, and this becomes absolutely clear.)

This all means that the true believer in Jesus Christ is in God’s family for eternity. They will be in Heaven forever after this life. The only reason God the Father sees any human being as “good” is through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. When the shooter murdered the Christians, he showed that he “despised” those who were good in the holy eyes of God.

Not only the American news conglomerate, but many in the stratosphere of this nation’s political domain have demonstrated beyond much doubt that they are “despisers of those that are good.” The attitude of Mr. Obama and the tenor of the president’s time in that office demonstrate disdain for Christianity, as far as I’m concerned.

At the National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama reminded attendees that violence rooted in religion isn’t exclusive to Islam, but has been carried out by Christians as well…

“Unless we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ,” Obama said. “In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.” (Breitbart.com. OBAMA AT NATIONAL PRAYER BREAKFAST: “PEOPLE COMMITTED TERRIBLE DEEDS IN THE NAME OF CHRIST,” By: Charlie Spiering. Feb 5, 2015. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/02/05/obama-at-national-prayer-breakfast-people-committed-terrible-deeds-in-the-name-of-christ/)

This has been his consistent treatment of the subject of Christianity. He continually praises the godly attributes of Islam, but hasn’t lifted a presidential finger to help stop the genocide against Christians in the places where ISIS (ISIL, as he puts it) are butchering even women and children, including infants. I remember vividly the National Democratic Convention leading up to the 2012 presidential elections. In three separate voice votes, delegates were asked whether they supported the inclusion of God and the recognition of Jerusalem in their party’s guiding policy document. Three separate times, loud shouts of “no” all but drowned out the chairman’s gavel. Chairman Villaraigosa ultimately just declared that the “ayes” had it. –This, despite the fact that there was nowhere near the two-thirds “ayes” voice vote sounded in the hall. As God and Jerusalem were inserted back into the Democratic platform, the hall erupted in boos. Absolute proof that despisers of good were there in abundance.

Recent Supreme Court decisions and other court actions against principles from God’s Word, even going so far as to put Christians in jail and strap others with fines that cause loss of livelihoods, makes it clear that we are in perilous times. We are in the satanic process of being surrounded by despisers of those who are good.

Pope Francis might not be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, as some conspiracy-minded prophecy pundits might have it. That this pope is a climate -change cop in papal paraphernalia, however, is less easy to deny, if the pontiff’s barnstorming through our nation last week is examined in light of his preaching to us on the evils of America’s world-endangering carbon footprint.

I think there should be little doubt that this was a primary purpose of his coming here. Climate change is so low on the worry-meter of the vast majority of Americans–and of citizens of other nations as well–that something had to be done to rev up interest in global warming (or “climate change,” as it is now termed), because people are sick of hearing the specious term “global warming.” Additionally, with the hoaxers claiming  that global warming is a threat to the world now disgraced by revelation of their cooked-up, false data, another tact must be taken to gen up fear that the planet will soon be destroyed without action by what I term the global-warming Gestapo.

What better way to gen-up the numbers of climate-change believers than to have the “Vicar of Christ” conducting secular-type masses all over America–the wealthiest nation that global gulagists have pronounced the most guilty on the Big Blue Marble (now the dingy, greenhouse gas-colored ball of haze)?

And pronounce our guilt this pope has done, even while maintaining the gentle, papal smile and soft-spoken homiletic voice. The United Nations used the pope’s visit to America to kick off its Sustainable Development Summit as keynote speaker. He spent much of that secular mass pointing out that the U.S. is the guiltiest of all nations of polluting the planet, thus must lead the way in making amends.

While preaching to the U.N., America, and Israel-hating choir about America’s culpability in the damage to earth’s environment, the pope reflected on statements he has made as chief climate-change cop. Statements like the following:

• “God will judge you whether you cared for Earth.”
• “It is man who has slapped nature in the face.”
• “People occasionally forgive, but nature never does.”
• “The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all.”
• “Doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain.”
• “Climate change is a global problem with grave implications. It represents one of the principle challenges facing humanity in our day.”
• “Leaving an inhabitable planet to future generations is first and foremost up to us.”
• “Never have we so hurt and mistreat our common home as we have in the last 200 years.”
• “If we destroy creation, it will destroy us.”
• “The earth is protesting the wrong that we are doing to her.”
• “An international climate change treaty is a grave, ethical and moral responsibility.”
• “Human rights are not only violated by terrorism, repression or assassination, but also by unfair economic structures that creates huge inequalities.”
• “Money has to serve, not to rule.” (My thanks to Geri Ungurean for finding these quotes.)

On the surface, as with most all deception, the sophistry sounds common-sensible and the right course of action. However, there is harbored within the high-sounding phraseology deeply evil, prophetic stage-setting.

With the current pope seemingly totally co-opted by the global-warming Gestapo, it is interesting to consider the mounting Mother Earth worship system beginning to bring forth condemnation of unbelievers in the climate change diatribe. Just as in most leftist causes, the mainstream media takes the side diametrically opposed to the wishes of the people the leftists wish to force into their socialistic construct. And, that structure will bring the entire world of earth-dwellers under the Antichrist system at some future point, according to God’s prophetic Word.

The False Prophet–the second beast of Revelation chapter 13–will be in charge of bringing this global religious system of enslavement to fruition.

“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.” (Rev. 13: 16-17)

Mother Earth worship, I’m convinced, is the rallying cry around which the one-world-order builders wish us all to gather–thus chose this pope to begin changing our minds about global warming. We must be made to fear our world is being destroyed–which it is–by unrepented-of sin of the human population, not by some mythical carbon footprint caused by so-called greenhouse gases.

We get a sense of this mind-changing effort in considering what the global Gestapo’s propagandists are up to. The Associated Press (AP) has become one of the first of the mainstream media to begin the marginalization of those who speak against global warming or climate change as a scientifically established fact. The things they are doing in the area of becoming thought police for the global warming Gestapo are truly mind-boggling.

The AP will no longer use “skeptics” to describe people who don’t believe in climate change

Those who refuse to acknowledge that climate change is caused by human activity will no longer be called “skeptics” by the Associated Press, after the newswire service decided the term was too scientifically rigorous.

The AP explained their decision in a blog post:

Scientists who consider themselves real skeptics—who debunk mysticism, ESP and other pseudoscience, such as those who are part of the Center for Skeptical Inquiry—complain that non-scientists who reject mainstream climate science have usurped the phrase skeptic. They say they aren’t skeptics because “proper skepticism promotes scientific inquiry, critical investigation and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims.” That group prefers the phrase “climate change deniers” for those who reject accepted global warming data and theory. But those who reject climate science say the phrase denier has the pejorative ring of Holocaust denier so The Associated Press prefers climate change doubter or someone who rejects mainstream science…

But some environmentalists were displeased with the AP’s decision to opt for the term “climate change doubter” instead of outright “denier”.

Ronald Lindsay, president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry, said in a statement:

Referring to deniers as “doubters” still imbues those who reject scientific fact with an intellectual legitimacy they have not earned. The general public, we fear, will still not get a clear picture of which public figures are basing their positions on reality, and which are not.

The Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim asked his Twitter followers for alternative suggestions to “doubters” and was offered the following: Armageddon advocates, Canadian land speculators, climate itsallrightists, death cult members, drought enthusiasts, and grandchildren haters. (Http://qz.com/511723/the-ap-will-no-longer-use-skeptics-to-)

Should we be concerned about the environment–and should we desire to keep it as clean as possible, within reason? Of course. We are instructed by God Himself to be good stewards of the earth. However, we are not to make the planet out to be a goddess that demands our worship. Paul the apostle clearly points out the folly of those who have done so in the past (Read Romans chapter 1).

I prefer to remain among the “deniers” rather than follow the dictates of the global-warming Gestapo. I believe I’m in the best of company in so doing. The Architect of the Universe promises the following: “While the earth remained, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8: 22).

Zola Levitt and I were talking privately, and Zola was thoroughly exercised about the topic of replacement theology. Some mainline denominations were beginning at the time to adopt the rising theological position termed “progressive dispensationalism.” The “doctrine” put forward that Christ’s throne had been transferred to Heaven with the Lord’s sitting down at the right hand of His Father. Therefore, the Davidic throne (throne of King David,) was also transferred from an earthly throne to Heaven. This meant, according to the progressive dispensationalists, that Israel had, in effect, been replaced in matters involving God’s promises to the nation.

This was not much different than pure replacement theology, and Zola was about to address, as I recall, the Pre-Trib Research Center group at Dallas that December on this topic. Such once-conservative seminaries as Moody and Dallas Theological had begun to go strongly toward the progressive dispensationalist viewpoint.

Zola, as anyone who knew him will attest, was passionate like few others about Israel and God’s dealing with the Jews. I have never seen him quite so animated as during that conversation somewhere around the turn of the century, as I recall. He said that he and Dr. J. Vernon McGee had once “gotten into it” on a television program over whether Israel was back in the Middle East for fulfillment of prophecy. Dr. McGee held that while it was interesting that Israel had its nation restored after more than 1,900 years in its geographical homeland, he didn’t believe this meant that Israel was necessarily there for the final time. They could yet be put out of the land and return again at a later date.

This, of course, was like throwing a glass of gasoline on a raging fire. Zola said they really got crosswise. Zola held that Israel was there for the final time–for the wind-up of this dispensation (Age of Grace) and into the Tribulation. I told him that Dr. McGee knew the truth now, his having gone to be with the Lord at age 84 in 1988. Zola’s only comment was: “Well, I would hope so…”.

Boy! Would old Dr. McGee have done a 180 on his view of the situation, if he could suddenly be shown developments since getting his–as Zola would later say of his own impending going to be with the Lord–promotion to that magnificent realm. As a matter of fact, I sometimes have wondered if they have not again had their conversation, with both now being in complete agreement on the veracity of God’s Word in regard to His promises to His chosen people.

Every day that passes brings into focus that truth. Israel is like a laser pointer indicating with pinpoint precision that these must indeed be the closing days of this Church Age. Stage-setting for fulfillment of Bible prophecy, as we have pointed out many times, literally fills today’s geopolitical, socioeconomic and religious landscape. Culture and society aren’t just headed toward the cesspool–we have arrived in the septic tank.

The world’s economy is poised to implode, with those in charge of the Fed (Federal Reserve Bank) not knowing which way to turn. to raise interest rates will bring the world’s economy crashing down. To not raise interest rates means that dynamic exigencies as part of the intricately linked world monetary system will heat up even further, making the ultimate crash far worse than any in history when it happens.

The pope is traversing the world apparently spouting strange doctrinal changes in his Catholic system and sticking his papal nose in every free nation’s business. He seems to me in cahoots with the Marxist ideology espoused by those who are said to have mentored the current U.S. president.

Russia looks to be making alliances that will one day -perhaps sooner rather than later–form a coalition like that forewarned by the prophet Ezekiel in his Gog-Magog prophecy. Iran occupies the geographical area of ancient Persia. This Israel-hating state of satanic rage is Putin’s client-state, as is Syria–these and other nations of the Islamist sort prophetically destined to be part of a horrendous end-times event.

Specifically, we must ask whether the most recent movement by Vladimir Putin might be, in fact, the actual staging for this great conflict of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.

Those who hold to the likelihood that a Psalm 83 war will precede the Gog-Magog attack will say this cannot be the time of that great Ezekiel 38-39 conflict. I continue to respectfully disagree with the proposition that such an inner ring of nations as given in what I believe to be an Imprecatory prayer by God’s chosen nation in Psalm 83 indicates a separate military action. I continue to believe that the prayer offered in Psalm 83 will be answered powerfully and unequivocally by the God of Heaven with the all but total annihilation of the combined Gog-Magog forces of all surrounding nations who come against Israel.

That Russia has inserted itself into the Middle East in ways that trouble America’s top military generals goes without saying. The Russians have said they won’t hesitate to send a large contingent of ground troops into Syria if the request is made by the Syrian regime.

The AP reported September 17 that Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said Damascus wouldn’t hesitate to ask for Russian troops if needed. At the same time he denied that Russian combat troops were already fighting in Syria. Proof continues to accumulate that the Russians are moving in to stay in the region. Many military and other intelligence officials are asking in television appearances what the build-up means. Ezekiel, we remember, said some would be asking the same question as the Gog-Magog invasion began to take shape.

One respected intelligence advisory writes the following.

The Russian military deployment to the Bassel al Assad air base in Latakia, Syria, is continuing at a rapid tempo, Stratfor can confirm. Previous imagery of the airfield, taken Sept. 4, showed significant engineering works underway. New imagery from Sept. 15, provided by our partners at All Source Analysis, reveals the completion of several large concrete aprons that were previously under construction. A large amount of Russian military equipment has also arrived at the airfield. A battalion-sized Russian contingent now appears to be located at the base, along with artillery and attack helicopter support. Several large Russian transport aircraft are also visible on the runway and the nearby ramps. (Stratfor, “Russia fortifies its position in Syria,” September 17, 2015)

With American fighter jets and other military assets in the same general area, there is growing concern that an incident of dangerous sort could happen whether by accident or by instigation. The Russian and American officials have been shown to be engaging in meetings over developments in the war-torn region.

Are we seeing the beginning of a Russian build-up for the fulfillment of the Gog-Magog assault?

I’m of the opinion that this is indeed a point in the staging for that prophesied war. Just what point is anyone’s guess.

My own thinking is that the Gog-Magog assault will take place some time after the Rapture of the Church. This is because this will be a world-shaking, cataclysmic event. Many other lands besides just this region will be affected. This war, in my view, will take the world out of the business-as-usual state that Jesus prophesied will be prevalent at the time He next intervenes into human history in a catastrophic way. Judgment will fall, the Lord said, that very day, just as in the days of Noah and the days of Lot (again read Matthew 24:36-42 and Luke 17: 26-30).

We see developing a sure signal that the Tribulation period is fast approaching. It it time for believers to work hard to bring as many of the lost into God’s family as possible. At the same time, we must remember to lift up our heads and keep looking up!