To my way of thinking, things going on at present regarding Israel are most significant in light of Bible prophecy. Intrigues involving the status of Jerusalem are profound beyond any entered into in recent times. A strange setting of the prophetic stage is in process, with Saudi and Israel engaging in unprecedented overtures to each other. A key prophetic player is the chief cause of the strange bedfellows climbing between the geopolitical, diplomatic sheets. We get a flavor of  the Bible prophecy stage-setting from the following news excerpt.

Imagine an Israeli taking a direct flight on El Al airlines to Riyadh, or the House of Saud establishing an embassy in Jerusalem. Previously unthinkable, rumors abound of a desire by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS) to normalize ties between the two countries…

Israel’s relationship with the Saudis appears to be warming, with the countries allied in the struggle against a common enemy, Iran…

There are a number of reasons Riyadh and Jerusalem may be cozying up, outside of the desire to stop Iran’s expansionism. Both countries agree, for example, that the “Arab Spring” revolutions were destabilizing and unleashed dangerous forces. They likewise believe that a reduction in American influence in the Middle East left a power vacuum that risks being filled by enemies. (Inside the Prospective Israel-Saudi Arabia Rapprochement, Israel News, Jerusalem Post, By Ian May/ The Media Line)

Many prophetic observers–including yours truly–believe that Sheba and Dedan of Ezekiel 38:13 likely refers to the area possessed by present-day Saudi and surrounding territory. These will not be part of the Gog-Magog assault against Israel given by the prophet Ezekiel.

Instead they will apparently stand on the sideline and issue a note of diplomatic protest, along with others. Certainly recent developments, with Iran (ancient Persia) being the chief nemesis of both Israel and Saudi, have the Jews and Arabs coming together. They are doing so, at least, in their desire to promote their common defense.

At the same time, the Arab/Muslim world as a conglomerate body is making sounds of war. The reason: the rumors that American President Donald J. Trump will move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Another news excerpt frames the situation.

The Trump administration has notified U.S. embassies around the world that it plans to formally recognize Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel, according to a report published Thursday by The Wall Street Journal. The plan includes the future relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

According to the report, the plan has not been finalized, but envoys were being notified so that they can inform their host governments and prepare for possible protests…

“The president has always said it is a matter of when, not if, [the embassy will relocate to Jerusalem],” a White House spokesperson said. (White House Notifies US Embassies Around the World of Plan to Recognize Jerusalem as Capital of Israel, The Jewish Press, JewishPress.com, Hana Levi Julian, December 1, 2017, JewishPress.com)

It seems to this observer that we are about to witness the world’s geopolitical players take a sip from that cup prophesied by Zechariah:

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.

And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. (Zechariah 12:3)

Giving Jerusalem validation as the rightful capital of Israel is a thing that should be done. The president is right to do so, if he does move the American embassy to God’s touchstone city of the world.

But, doing so would almost without a doubt bring consequences–consequences which no American president has been willing to risk since Congress declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel with The Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act of 1995.

God said He will, Himself, make Jerusalem a cup of trembling  to those who deal treacherously with His chosen city and people. The world today is drunk with hatred for God and for the nation of Israel. Perhaps it is this American president who is chosen to be God’s instrument for leading the world to take a sip from that prophesied, deadly, cup.

This week for our blog commentary , I’ve chosen to use a small portion of a chapter I wrote for a book of chapters with colleagues. It is from the book: Blood on the Altar: The Coming War between Christian Vs. Christian (Defender Publishing, 2014).

I believe this is a message the body of Christ–the true church—needs to understand in these ominous times.

The latter part of the twentieth century brought profound changes to this once more morally anchored nation. Regardless of some of the less savory facts that have been brought out in recent times concerning America’s founding, this nation has truly been an experiment in principle based upon biblical precepts.

The year 1963, with Supreme Court decisions determined to try to remove God from public schools, proved to be a pivotal point in the slide toward oblivion that is even now picking up speed. Let’s have a brief review of the early part of that stunning century.

My research in writing the book The American Apocalypse: Is the United States in Bible Prophecy? (Harvest House, 2009) took me back to God’s harsh dealing with America in the 1930s. The things Americans suffered were considered by preachers and politicians alike to be God’s wrath and judgment.

One well-known writer, John Steinbeck, even gave his famous novel on that depressed time in America the title The Grapes of Wrath. America had gone through a tremendous time of growth and relative prosperity during the “Gay Nineties.” (For the younger readers, it had nothing to do with the Clinton years, nor with homosexuality. It was the 1890s, and the term “gay” still enjoyed its proper definition.)

Despite the early 1900s bringing about World War I, the nation leaped forward, and soon the “Roaring Twenties” brought forth the flappers and boisterous, even debauched, “good times.” Reformers tried to squash the hedonism, and with the passage of the 18th Amendment instituted prohibition against alcohol manufacture, sale, and transportation. The action only increased rebellion against morality. American gangsters took over, and illegal booze, gambling, and every other type of nefarious activity permeated culture and society.

Then in 1929 came the stock market crash in the United States, and worldwide depression quickly followed. The wrath of God had fallen!

Or had it?

No, it had not. Neither had His judgment against America’s sin fallen upon the nation, thus affecting the world—not in the sense of God’s great judgment that came upon the antediluvians, the wicked, violent, even genetically corrupted earth dwellers of Noah’s day. But God’s mighty hand of correction through the Great Depression and the horrendous “Dust Bowl” era came down hard on the backside of this nation He so manifestly chose to accomplish great things for His great purposes. Those things would include, in particular: 1) developing the technologies that would spread the gospel around the entire world; and 2) acting as midwife for the birth of modern Israel on May 14, 1948, and to become the Jewish peoples’ closest ally—an ally that just happened to soon become the most materially blessed, most powerful, and most influential nation the world has ever known.

America, despite the Great Depression and war that took thousands of young American lives, came to know a standard of living and pleasures—both unsullied and debauched—like no generation of any people in history. The thing to keep in mind is that during all of that degeneration of America and the corrective measures the Lord was employing, Christianity stood firm. The church—the “born again”—faced up to those efforts to totally debauch this United States of America. The Billy Sundays—the great evangelists—were anchors in the pulpits of the nation, as were a vast number of genuine Christians in the pews across the land. Even a casual perusal of the national landscape of morality today evokes the question: Is there such resistance to evil in these troubling days?

Today, other profoundly disturbing questions to ponder are: Will God choose to again correct this special nation called America? Or, will He take His hand off to an extent, allowing the U.S. to find its own way, which is what the majority of the electorate seems to want?

I get email daily from people who fear this nation will now feel the Lord’s hand of wrath. The die is cast, as one of Shakespeare’s characters said. I don’t necessarily subscribe to that “judgment-and-wrath-are-about-to-fall” opinion, at least not in the immediate near term the way many who send the fear-filled emails believe. Nonetheless, God’s wrath is building. It will be unleashed when the “prince that shall come” confirms the covenant with Israel and Israel’s antagonists (Daniel 9:26–27).

That pouring out of God’s anger won’t happen until the church is removed. However, there is almost certainly a heavenly decision that has already been made, and is even now in the process of implementation. It is likely the decision to either take corrective measures as in God’s past dealings with America in order to get this nation back on the moral course to complete its work in His grand prophetic design, or to give rebellious masses what they more and more demonstrate they demand. They demand freedom to choose what is right in their own eyes.

God’s decision to take His hand off to some extent would be far more fearful than His again taking corrective action like world economic depression. To let the rebels do what is right in their own eyes, thus casting God away from any semblance of divine guidance, means America’s work is done. That is indeed a frightening thing to contemplate.

Much of what happens next is dependent upon the true Christian church—born-again believers. How we choose to confront evil might well determine our nation’s—even the world’s—immediate fate.

I must say that I, with reverential consideration, don’t expect immediate meltdown and correction from Almighty God. I believe with all that is within me that He has been demonstrating corrective movements over the past years and months—movements that have gone unheeded by even the majority of His people. These have chosen to bury their heads in the sands of watered-down messages that have practically no relevance to God’s message of doctrinal truth. Rather than revival, there have been false, emotional outbursts that have done disservice to the Lord who purchased each and every one who has been born again. It seems to me that the church’s work, like that of America, has almost run its course.

Dave Hunt once wrote a book called Peace, Prosperity, and the Coming Holocaust. His basic premise was that this fallen world system, and particularly the United States and even the church, would be drawn ever deeper into believing in humanistic salvation by seeming peace and prosperity. He demonstrated, then, through historical precedent and Bible prophecy both past and yet to come, that the world of fallen man will at a future time of unprecedented evil activity on earth endure a holocaust far worse than that perpetrated by Adolf Hitler. The end will bring, he concluded, God’s wrath and judgment on an incorrigibly wicked world.

I believe America and the world can yet have another burst of so-called peace and prosperity—although I see it as highly unlikely. The “change” the country and the world are clamoring for through trust in human governmental entities rather than God’s moral governance will certainly, if not rejected, as my friend Dave Hunt wrote, swiftly bring the holocaust of the Tribulation.

Let us, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, pray for the president—even when it seems to do no good—and for all governmental leaders, so that we might lead peaceful lives. This is commanded of us by the Lord. But, let us work to complete whatever He puts in front of us to do for the kingdom. Let us, as Oswald Chambers entitled his book of devotions, do “our utmost for His highest” while our fleeting time remains upon this fallen sphere.

Much has ben made over the deaths of celebrities such as in the case of actor Robin Williams, who commited suicide at age 63 some years ago. Truly, he was a talented man, with the gift of making people forget the darker moments of their lives with his comedy. Sadly, he could not escape his own dark moments. He tried to do so on Monday, August 11, 2014, but learned in the second following the cessation of his heartbeat that eternity was there to either embrace or imprison him. Like all others throughout history who made the choice to end their own lives, the decision was final and forever.

Is this going to be a piece saying that if one commits suicide he or she is to suffer the damnation of eternal punishment? Absolutely not, for there is only one criterion for eternal bliss in Heaven or torment in Hell. His name is Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world for mankind.

How one answers the question aimed at Jesus’ immediate disciples–and to each of us—determines where one spends eternity. It has nothing to do with what brings our life to an end.

Jesus asked each of those around Him: “But whom say ye that I am?” (Matthwe 16:15). This is the most important question ever posed to the individual human being. To repeat–how you and I answer this all-important question determines where we will spend all of hereafter. The answer to that question determines if your and my personal forever will involve never-ending joy and fellowship with God or never-ending torment, totally alone and in darkness beyond any that can be imagined.

Jesus asked the question to make His disciples–those present with Him, and those of us who would follow down through the centuries—understand the soul-salvation wrapped up in His coming to die, taking the sins of the world to the grave, then resurrecting to new life. He buried all of our sins that separate us from God the Father with His death and burial. The Lord assured with His resurrection a new spiritual birth (that one can be born again—John 3: 3). His sacrifice provides eternal life in Heaven for all who will do as Paul the apostle wrote later under divine inspiration: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

Peter answered Jesus’ question, saying, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). Peter believe this with all his heart, and Jesus said in response: “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:17-18).

We have heard of many self-inflicted deaths within the Hollywood community and in the so-called pop-culture musical community. Many overdoses, both intentional and accidental, have ended the lives of some of America and the world’s most famous, and, in the worldly sense, beloved people. Each year these deaths dominate the headlines as Robin Williams’ did in 2014.

Today’s social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram feed the young and not-so-young egos of America and the world with desire to achieve acclaim. They seem to sense somehow that they are destined to become the stars they worship. Many devote their every hour to telling all about their lives–even making up much of the “biographies.”

Psychologist report that there is growing fear that such instantaneous and widespread acclamation as the suicides of celebrities such as Robin Williams’ death produced is contributing to suicides within those communities of self-seeking self-aggrandizement. We have all heard the news reports of social media inducing teens to commit suicide because of being ridiculed by their peers in those media forums.

The threat to youth that promises one can instantly become celebrated rather than ridiculed by taking one’s own life is real and growing. Satan, the destroyer, lures the young and not so young to the glitz and glitter of entertainment celebrity. He is a liar and the father of lies, God’s Word tells us. He stalks about seeking whom he may devour.

The devil tells us to do what is right in our own eyes, but the Bible tells that the wages of sin is death. Tragically, it is a broad way that leads to destruction, and many choose that pathway of least resistance.

There are two first eternal seconds, as the title of this commentary headlines. One is the first second after the heart of a Christian stops, and the other is the first second after the heart of a person who doesn’t know Christ for salvation stops.

I can speak firsthand for the Christian’s first second after the heart stops. Mine stopped three times and required defibrillation paddles to restart it on Good Friday, April 22, 2011. Each time my heart ceased to beat, I was in the presence of heavenly young people instantly in that spectacular moment that is in my thoughts constantly. It was a glorious experience beyond any I can adequately describe–although, as many of you know, I have tried to do so.

For the person who doesn’t know Jesus Christ as Savior, I can only pass along what the Word of God has to say about the one whose heart stops beating for the final time. Jesus, who died on the cross at Calvary so that no one has to go to the horrible place of punishment for eternity, said the following in telling of an unbeliever who died:

And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seethe Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. (Luke 16: 22-24)

I’m not judging Robin Williams or any other person. I don’t know the disposition of their souls. Only the Lord in Heaven knows. I do know, however, that the first second after the heart stops beating is a matter of enormous eternal consequence.

Colorado Springs is a beautiful and fascinating place to be sure. My brother-close friend, Mike Hile, and I had a “room with a view,” as is said in hotel rhetoric.

The fourteen-thousand-foot peaks filled the skyline just outside our seventh-floor window in the Marriot. Of course, being blind for many years due to a hereditary retinal disease, I couldn’t see the scenery, but the descriptive I heard from Mike and others filled my memory and imagination with more than enough visual reality to convince me of the vista that lay just outside.

We were there for me to speak at the second annual Prophecy in the News Pike’s Peak prophecy conference. The rarified air–and I mean literally as well as spiritually– was troubling on the one hand and fortifying on the other. Literally, I could just not adjust the second year to the thinner oxygen level as the first when I spoke there. It seemed almost as if the air had changed–that my body just couldn’t quite catch up to the oxygen intake level required to be comfortable.

However, the human ambience and fellowship were fortifying and refreshing. The speakers were up to the task of filling our need for rejuvenation of mind and spirit. The renewing of friendships and acquaintances more than met our expectations.

The conference, held at seven thousand-plus feet above sea level, seems, in retrospect–for me, personally–a sort of metaphor for this strange moment of history. With all of the powerful dynamics going on in the world at this moment, life for the prophecy student is both troubling and at the same time exciting. The times that are pressing in on us sometimes make it hard to breathe in the sense of the anxiety produced when thinking on what’s coming down the proverbial pike that might adversely affect our lives.

Knowing that just outside our cocoon of earthly angst, however, lies the most beautiful scenery imaginable– and knowing that we will soon be inheritors of the glory that vista represents–is exciting and uplifting to our born-again spirits.

Bible prophecy from the pre-trib viewpoint makes understandable much of the troubling aspects of things transpiring all around us. This viewpoint makes these troubling times negotiable–i.e., able to get through until Christ shouts “Come up hither!”

The speakers at that second prophecy summit described in vivid terms the vista that Bible prophecy presents. They spoke superbly of the things that are leading to the brilliant time that awaits the Christian. Like in the matter of my own inability to see the beautiful Colorado Rocky Mountains surrounding our hotel, our earthly, physical limitations prevent our seeing the magnificent reality that is our future. The Power Point words and pictures the speakers presented lit our imaginations the way the descriptive of those marvelous mountains I was given made my memory of once seeing those scenes come alive.

The stormy times we are currently going through serve only to make us know just how near might be Christ’s shout that will set us upon our journey with Him as recorded in John 14:1-3.

The conference presenters spoke to issues and events of prophetic matters both familiar and to those rarely explored. Some who study Bible prophecy are off-put, even disgruntled, when, for example,  such matters as those of the Genesis chapter 6 story are fully explored. But, Jesus, Himself, spoke to the fact that times will be like they were in the days of Noah when He returns to planet earth. Despite the fact the seminaries teach almost exclusively that the “sons of God” of Genesis 6 are not fallen angels, even a cursory study of Hebrew terms show in crystal-clear fashion that the “sons of God” are exactly that rebellious horde. The giants of those antediluvian times, like it or not, believe it or not, were a part of Noah’s day. The very genetics of mankind were totally corrupted, biblical description affirms.

That particular Pike’s Peak Prophecy Summit addressed some of these lesser-explored things of earth’s past and what it all portends for earth’s future. At the same time, other prophetic indicators we see all around us were thoroughly explored. Chief among those signs of the end times examined was the nation Israel and its increasingly becoming the focal point of world hatred.

Anti-Semitism is on the rise, as shown by movement within Europe. Likewise, America is more and more exhibiting hatred for Jews.

One of my Power Point presentations at that Colorado Springs conference was on Israel and the satanic rage that is growing throughout the world today. This, I am convinced, is the number-one signal of just how far advanced this generation is in nearness to the Tribulation. All the Bible prophecy student who adheres to the pre-trib view has to do to know we are on the very cusp of entering that glorious realm just outside these bonds of this fallen planet is to observe treatment of God’s chosen nation hour by hour. We are almost there!

It is my usual procedure to not respond to the virulent email I get almost daily from those who don’t believe in the pre-trib view of the Rapture. These days the hate email is coming from those who sometimes even write that they hope we who do believe that God’s Word teaches this doctrine be sent to Hell–the same place where they scream we are leading people with our “false teaching.”

There are a number of these anti-Rapture flame-throwers who send out their rants on a regular basis. They have extremely limited audiences, and they are no doubt hoping beyond hope that their angry protestations will somehow make it in front of the massive audiences such as that with which Todd Strandberg and my website ministry raptureready.com has been blessed.

Perhaps I am granting their wish by writing on the matter. However, the anger has reached such a fevered pitch that I sense it should be addressed. The rage is, I’m convinced, a sure signal that we are indeed at the very end of the age.

In fairness, there are those who have scriptural arguments for another view of the Rapture, or for the position that there will be no Rapture. These are, most generally, gentle and rational in presenting their cases. Those who present their cases in those instances are not of the group that I’m attempting to address in this column.

I will present here the full text of one email I have received. It is actually one of the milder of the sort of which I’m addressing. I prefer to not give those more radical than this one any space in this forum.

I’ve watched this particular blogger change from one who in earlier times seemed to at least present a scriptural case worthy of consideration to a person of scathing rants full of irrationality and outrageous invective. Again, he is one of the milder Rapture-position detractors I find in my inbox almost daily.

Here is his most recent commentary.

THE RIDER OF THE WHITE HORSE IS IDENTIFIED……………………. Revelation 6:2

This Scripture is describing a RELIGIOUS DECEPTION of a CROWNED rider on the deceptively WHITE horse having a BOW, which is a WEAPON OF WAR without arrows to kill the body, but rather to kill the mind with anti-Christian deception . He is CONQUERING MINDS with anti-Christian false doctrine. He is waging war, in the later years, against the doctrine of Jesus Christ as it is recorded in the Holy Scriptures.

The CROWNED RIDER’S name is C. I. Scofield. His BOW, without arrows, is the Scofield Bible. He has been CONQUERING the minds of ignorant Christians who are being deceived into believing the anti-Christian FALSE DOCTRINE OF THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE.

Jesus explicitly states, in His Olivet Discourse, that the rapture will occur as recorded in Matthew 24:31 “AFTER THE TRIBULATION” which He states will occur before the rapture as recorded in Matthew 24:29, If your mind has been “conquered” by the rider on the white horse into believing the anti-Christian false doctrine of a pre-tribulation rapture you had better wake up and repent because “Many are called, but FEW ARE CHOSEN.”

2 John 1:9

“Whoever transgresses and does not abide IN THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST does not have God. He who abides IN THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST has both the Father and the Son.”

Well, maybe this writer is not so “mild” as I thought on a second reading. Seems we who believe in the pre-trib Rapture are, according to his thinking, headed… well, not headed to heaven.

C. I. Scofield–the Antichrist, huh? Perhaps Billy Graham, another teacher of the Rapture, is the False Prophet–you think?

Again, I feel that I should apologize for giving such unscriptural nonsense so much space before such a wide audience. But, there is a point in doing so. I believe this gravitation toward–a free fall, really—into hatred for the pre-trib Rapture position shows just where this generation stands on God’s prophetic timeline. We are, I believe, in a prophesied period of false teachers and false accusers among the flock.

The apostle Paul foretold that the last days would produce perilous times that would bring false accusers (2 Timothy 3: 3). The apostle Peter said there would come scoffers mocking Christ’s coming again (2 Peter 3: 3-4).

God’s Word forewarns those who make falsehoods their message: “Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20).

The Scripture says further in defense of those–like C.I. Scofield–who proclaim the prophetic Word in truth: “Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm” (1 Chronicles 16:22 and Psalms 105:5).

Jude, through inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has ominous words for those who make it their priority to wreak destruction within the body of Christ. His words are given as what to watch for at the very end of the age, when Christ’s return nears:

“These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.” (Jude 1:12-13).

“But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.” (Jude 1: 17-19)

I prayerfully urge the angry, anti-Rapture detesters to reconsider their ungoverned use of rhetoric against a most important Promise made by the Lord Jesus.

“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).

You will, I hope, indulge me a bit of personal reflection in this week’s commentary. The message was a haunting one. It came from the television set in my office while I sat at my desk. I often like to take time out to click through the religious channels on the cable package that has several hundred channels. That probably sounds ludicrous—a blind guy going through the TV channels. But, I assure that, having been blessed with relatively good eyesight for more than fifty of my seventy-five years, I am, through vividly remembered sights and sounds, able to visualize (if that is the word) what’s going on with each channel. It almost seems as if I’ve been given second sight of some sort, so vivid are the cerebral images that are produced—i.e., I hardly miss not being able to see while locked into the channel surfing.

This is particularly true when it comes to “watching” and listening to preachers that were my favorites back in the pre-1994 days when I still had eyesight.

Dr. Charles Stanley sounds older, slower, and less dynamic in his presentations, as do Hal Lindsey and David Jeremiah. But, the power of the presentations they still faithfully give more than makes up for the diminished strength and quality brought about by their advanced ages.

Nonetheless, I still see them in my mind’s eye the same as they appeared on my screens those twenty-something years ago.

In the case of old reruns of the pastors and evangelists who have gone on to their eternal rewards, their images, of course, have not been tarnished by the lessening of strength and power in their speaking. They “look” and sound exactly the same to me.

So it was that last Sunday I clicked on a channel with the remote, and Dr. Adrian Rogers was holding-forth in his inimitable fashion.

Dr. Rogers, who was pastor at Belleview Baptist Church in Memphis for many years, went to be with the Lord a number of years ago. But, his Love Worth Finding television ministry continues. It is one of my favorites; much like Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s Thru the Bible program is one of my favorite radio presentations that has continued since his death in 1988.

Dr. Rogers often spoke on the decline of the America we all love and want to see return to morality more in line with those ways the Founding Fathers first sought to institute. He was dealing with one such theme in the sermon last Sunday.

That message is what sparked the thought to write on “Harbingers and Hedges.”

America has, Rogers said, had a great, heavenly hedge of protection. He was thorough in emphasizing that the United States was in no way under the same covenants as God’s chosen nation, Israel. But, he did want it known that, like in the case with Israel, the Lord of heaven chose this nation for special purposes.

The proof of the hedge He placed over America is the material blessings it has been given. No other nation has ever existed that has produced for the entire world material goods that have brought the world out of the darkness of the past.

The US has been among the most spiritually blessed nations ever to grace the earth’s surface, he correctly stated.

There is a kinship between America and Israel that cannot be denied, he further instructed. Both nations have had at the centers of their foundings God’s providential Influence over the leaders who were instrumental in bringing both countries to birth and to apex positions among the peoples of history.

Just as Israel’s brilliance of conceptual level of functioning blessed all of mankind, America’s industry and ingenuity blessed the human race and continues to do so.

Israel brought the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ to the entire world. America continues to carry to the very ends of the earth the gospel message that Jesus Christ alone is the way, the truth, and the life—the only way to God the Father and eternal life.

Then the pastor, who so loved both Israel and America, painted the not-so-flattering picture of ancient Israel and modern America. They both were given great hedges of protection.

Rogers used Job, the faithful man after God’s own heart, as an example of the hedge that God provides for His people. When Satan came, wanting to test Job’s faith, the devil said the following:

Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. (Job 1:9–10)

We know how Job remained faithful and was blessed far beyond any loss he suffered during his ordeal of testing by Satan.

Adrian Rogers then brought home the truth of what happens when God takes His mighty hedge of protection from any person or nation that becomes incorrigibly unfaithful and rebellious. The biblical stories are replete with Israel acting like an unfaithful wife to her husband, the Lord God. The nation has suffered immensely because of such egregious sin. Prophecy foretells that Israel will yet suffer the worst of all persecution for remaining in rebellion and unfaithfulness.

When the nation finally does recognize Christ as Messiah—while He is returning to put an end to Armageddon—she will again be the apex nation of the world. Like Job (who did not rebel or become unfaithful in any sense), Israel will be blessed of God beyond all the nations of planet earth. She will receive far more than anything she lost in all her history of being persecuted.

America was in gross sin and immorality even those many years ago when Dr. Rogers gave that sermon. And we have witnessed God’s great hedge of protection being removed a layer at a time, because there is a concerted effort by leaders and people alike to move farther and farther away from the God of heaven who has so wonderfully blessed this nation.

My prayerful hope is that, one day, America will be restored and become one of the “sheep’” nations, not one of the “goat” nations, Matthew chapter 25.

The harbingers are all about us, as I believe Jonathan Cahn did a God-ordained job of presenting in his novel, The Harbinger. Still, there seems little movement back to the Lord, rather a government and increasing majorities within the populace that demonstrably prove daily that they prefer to remove any and all godly ties.

I believe God’s hedge of protection will remain, but to a diminishing extent—for the sake of His children, all born-again people, including, of course, those not in America—until the moment He calls “Come up hither!” (Revelation 4:1).

Let us pray that that is the case, while we watch and work in God’s great cause: the salvation of souls.

Those who are watchful for Christ’s soon return from the pre-Millennial, pre-Trib view of Bible prophecy see this present time as inundated with significant signs. We more and more often these days hear the term “convergence” bandied about. “Convergence” is used to define the coming-together at once of most of the indicators the prophets–particularly Jesus–gave for the end of the Church Age (Age of Grace).

Two signals fitting within that definition, I believe, are in the news while we continue to observe these troubled but exciting times. I say “exciting,” because the signs are indicators that our Lord must be very near that moment of shouting from the clouds of Heaven, “Come up here!” (Revelation 4:1-2).

First, I would like to again look at the prophecy Jesus gave about when He will next be revealed to mankind in a catastrophic way. As those who read these commentaries regularly know, I believe Christ was talking about our present time very near the end of the Church Age in this prophecy.

The Lord, as recorded in Matthew 24:36-42 and Luke 17:26-30, said it would be just like the days of Noah and the days of Lot when He intervenes or is revealed. I believe this has to be the time of the Rapture. He said people will be buying, selling, building, planting, marrying, etc. It will be business, I believe He was saying, even better than usual when the Rapture occurs.

But, we have to look into other aspects of the way it was in Noah’s day in order to find reference to the prophetic signal I wish to examine here. We go to Genesis chapter 6 for that perspective:

And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. (Genesis 6: 5-6)

Paul, the great apostle, further enlightens on how it was in Noah’s day:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.  (Romans 1: 21-25)

The following item in the news is quite telling, in my opinion, regarding how this generation fits within God’ prophetic timeline.

“So many millennials read their horoscopes every day and believe them,” [Coco] Layne, who is involved in a number of nonreligious spiritual practices, said. “It is a good reference point to identify and place people in the world.”

Interest in spirituality has been booming in recent years while interest in religion plummets, especially among millennials. The majority of Americans now believe it is not necessary to believe in God to have good morals, a study from Pew Research Center released Wednesday found. The percentage of people between the ages of 18 and 29 who “never doubt existence of God” fell from 81% in 2007 to 67% in 2012.

Meanwhile, more than half of young adults in the U.S. believe astrology is a science…

Melissa Jayne, owner of Brooklyn-based “metaphysical boutique” Catland, said she has seen a major uptick in interest in the occult in the past five years, especially among New Yorkers in their 20s. The store offers workshops like “Witchcraft 101,” “Astrology 101,” and a “Spirit Seance.”

“Whether it be spell-casting, tarot, astrology, meditation and trance, or herbalism, these traditions offer tangible ways for people to enact change in their lives,” she said. “…

Astrology isn’t the only spiritual field overwhelmed by demand: Danielle Ayoka, the founder of spiritual subscription service Mystic Lipstick, said her customer base is growing exponentially. The self-described astrologer sells a “mystic box” subscription, which includes crystals, “reiki-infused bath salts,” and incense customized to the unique energy of the current moon cycle for $14.99 a month. She says she’s seen 75% increase in her audience in the past year. (Why millennials are ditching religion for witchcraft and astrology, MarketWatch, Rapture Ready News, Oct. 21, 2017)

Second of the prophetic indicators I think appropriate to mention here involves the incessant assault by the globalists elite.

The drive to construct the New World Order, as President  Herbert Walker Bush termed it, continues at a stepped-up pace. President Donald J. Trump’s call to “Make America Great Again” has sent the one-worlders into a frantic effort to get our thinking back on track. –Back on the track upon which President Obama faithfully took the U.S., in line with recent presidents who came after Ronald Reagan, who, for the most part, was a staunch advocate for American sovereignty.

Now, the son of the first President Bush has weighed in, demonstrating where his strongest allegiance lies. Without mention of Trump’s name, Bush 43 unloaded on any thought of America being given first place over the more important globalist agenda.

Former President George W. Bush delivered a public repudiation of President Donald Trump’s political identity, suggesting many aspects of the current administration are fueling division in the United States and around the world…

“We cannot wish globalism away,” Bush said, noting that the United States must sustain “wise and sustained global engagement” for the future of the country.

Bush indirectly accused Trump of fueling dangerous ideologies that threatened the unity of the United States and global stability, spending a large portion of his speech complaining about social ills in the country…

Bush urged Americans to “recover our own identity,” citing a commitment to global engagement, free and international trade, and immigration.

“We’ve seen nationalism distorted into nativism, and forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America,” he lamented…

Bush’s decision to publicly criticize Trump’s presidency is unusual after he made a point of rarely challenging President Barack Obama while he was in office. (Source: George W. Bush Emerges to Bash Trump, ‘Nativism’: ‘We Cannot Wish Globalism Away,’ Charlie Spiering -Breitbart, Oct. 21, 2017)

George W. Bush had qualities I admired in a president. His holding to his father’s desire to bring the world back to configuration like it was during the days of Babel is not one of them. Globalism is a satanic, not a godly, concept. It will eventuate, however. We are seeing stage-setting for producing the platform from which Antichrist’s regime will rule with an iron fist.

Here’s what the Lord says about that effort we see in development at present:

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. (Psalms 2:2-9)

While ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), formerly ISIS, rampaged toward establishing its intended caliphate, some who propose that the prophesied Antichrist will come from the Eastern leg, not the Western leg of the ancient Roman Empire proclaimed they have their candidate for who will be the man of sin in view.

The late Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was one that some thought fit the description of the son of perdition, according to the proclamations.

A number of written and stated beliefs declared that the first beast of Revelation 13 will be a Muslim. A number of books, even by born-again former Muslim terrorists, have for several years been saying Antichrist will soon emerge as the Mahdi—the messiah figure prophesied in the Koran.

Headlines for the several years just past seemed to have validated that Islamist power was supernaturally growing as it set its sights on destroying Israel. What the military powers of Gamal Abdel Nasser, Hafez al-Assad, Anwar El Sadat, and all of the Arab hordes couldn’t do, the relative handful of ISIS terrorists seem to have been doing. For a time, they were able to move aside militaries of the region–like the American-supplied and trained new Iraqi armed forces. They were establishing sharia or Islamist law everywhere the butchers invaded.

The Trump Administration has taken a more strident and successful tact against militant Islam. Despite ISIL being in full retreat for now, there is still adamant belief by Eastern-leg prophecy pundits. These still make their point that soon history will prove the Antichrist to be not from the Western European sphere involving Rome, but a man of terror the Muslims claim will climb from a deep well somewhere to rule the world and make all bow the knee to Allah or lose their heads.

“See,” the Eastern-leg pundits say: “Islam’s primary means of execution is beheading. Revelation, chapter 13, plainly says the first and second beasts will demand the first beast be worshipped as God, or heads will roll.”

Everything, these say, points to prophecy shaping rapidly in which Islam will rule the day—will indeed establish a global caliphate.

So, let’s think on this punditry for a bit.

What does the Bible say about Antichrist and his rise to power? We should be able to appropriate a considerable degree of perspective on what we see developing in the Middle East presently and what the Bible has to say about this prince that shall come.

First, we look at the most familiar biblical truth on the man who will be Antichrist.

Daniel the prophet, under divine inspiration, gave us the following piece of the puzzle as we seek perspective:

And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. (Daniel 9:26)

Most everyone of the pretrib, premillennial system of eschatology agrees that this is referring to the destruction of the Jewish Temple and to the city of Jerusalem in AD 70.

Whether we look to historians such as Edward Gibbon (Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) or to the great Josephus, the Jewish historian, we learn that the forces that destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple were those of Emperor Vespasian, who sent his son, General Titus, to do the job.

These men were born near and raised in and around the city of Rome, not Mecca, Medina, or Constantinople. Their troops were from the legions of Rome, even though claims are being made that Rome enlisted many from the conquered regions of the Middle East.

The Scripture, nonetheless, points directly to the Romans.

Next, we ask: What characteristic will this beast, who will ultimately become the world’s last and most evil dictator, first exhibit when he comes on the end-times scene?

Again, we go to the prophet Daniel.

And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many. (Daniel 8:25 a,b,c)

And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. (Daniel 11:21)

He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province. (Daniel 11:24a)

Get it? This coming Antichrist, Daniel tells us, will appear at first to be a peacemaker, although he will be the greatest deceiver of all time, second only to his father, Satan, in deceptiveness and ferocity. Revelation 6 foretells that he will come riding on a white horse and with a bow, but with no arrows in his quiver. This indicates plainly that he will come as a false peacemaker.

Now, what do we know about the Islamist Mahdi? According to the Koran, he will come lopping off the heads of all who won’t bend the knee as he sweeps with his supposedly divine scimitar across the world. He will come from his well of hibernation with hatred for everyone and everything that doesn’t agree with him or the Koran.

But, doesn’t Revelation say the means of execution during that horrible period known as the Tribulation will be beheading?

Yes, indeed it does so. Remember, however, that many regimes throughout history—not just Islamist ones—have used beheading to instill fear within the general populaces. Remember, too, that the apostle Paul himself was thought to have been beheaded—by the Roman Empire.

Daniel foretold that long before the prophet Mohammed, or Islam, or Constantinople—the Eastern leg of the Roman Empire— finally came on the scene, Antichrist (the prince that shall come) will be from Rome. The prophecy was fulfilled in AD 70, hundreds of years before Mohammed was born.

The Koran predicts a violent entrance of their messiah into the world, and certainly, the Muslim world seems intent on bringing that Mahdi in. For example, consider the many people recently crucified as ISIS attempts to establish its caliphate across the region. This is anything—false or otherwise—but a “peaceful” entrance onto the world scene, as Revelation and Daniel prophesy for the true Antichrist when he rides onto the stage of history.

However, we can see the geopolitical road being paved for that first beast of Revelation 13. That means that Christ’s call to His church—“Come up hither!”—must be very near at hand, indeed.

Prophecy coming to fulfillment was on full display while America’s number-one Christian preacher–in terms of numbers he draws to his events—gave the many thousands in attendance his version of “hope” for their lives.

Joel Osteen wrapped up his confirmation of this “hope” that resides within each by having them repeat his gleefully shouted words.

(I paraphrase, because I couldn’t find a transcript of the TV program.)

He said with a toothy smile, while holding up a Bible, “Repeat what I say!

He then proceeded:

“I am favored by God!” (The audience jubilantly repeated the words.)
“I am special!”
“I am destined for something great!”
“I am important!”
“I am deserving of all things good!”
“I will overcome all problems!”
“I will defeat all depression!”
“I will take control of my own destiny!”

You get the point. This went on for many such “”I wills” and “I ams.” The many thousands were in rah – rah ecstasy by the time the head cheerleader concluded.

I heard no mention in Mr. Osteen’s sermon, I guess you could call it, of any of the “I wills and I ams” giving glory to the one who makes hope possible. I heard nowhere America’s most popular pastor of the moment mention the biblical ”hope” that is in reality at the heart of the Christian’s glorious destiny–salvation from soul-destroying sin through the shed blood of the only begotten Son of God.

Instead, I heard the glorification of self, and how good everyone is, and how deserving everyone in attendance was to receive the very best God is obligated to bestow.

More troubling, as the program came to an end, was the perception that the “I wills and I cans” the mesmerized thousands shouted, repeating Osteen’s words of self-praise, reminded me of the “I wills” of Isaiah 14:13-15: “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”

Jesus, resurrected and at the right hand of His Father, gave John, who penned Revelation, a vivid picture of the church that will, literally, make Him sick. That church was the last one the Lord addressed while going through the seven churches of the Church Age: And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. (Revelation 3:14-17)

The Laodicean church bases its thoughts and actions on terms of 1) self-glorification and 2) physical prosperity, i.e., wealth. This end-of-days’ church is “lukewarm”; that is, it is tepid so far as teaching and preaching the gospel. This church preaches and teaches that people are good and deserving of God’s total blessings and adoration. It does not teach and preach that people are not good, that they are lost in sin, thus need a Savior.

The Laodicean church teaches and preaches that all is well, if money and physical comforts are in abundance. That prosperity is the key to a glorious future is the message sweet to the taste of those who sit in its luxuriant pews. It appeals to self, the same as did the serpent to Eve in Eden.

Another prophecy of Jesus comes into view when we consider the great moral degradation that has taken place in the last half-century. The prophecy is in line with the Laodicean church that, in my opinion, constitutes the majority of so-called Christendom today. Jesus, in His Olivet Discourse, forewarned first and foremost of deception which would mark the time just before His return. Many would, He warned, come in His name, proclaiming themselves to have Christ within themselves–to belong to Him. They would be deceiving themselves and those who followed them, according to what I see in my study of Paul’s words that in the last days evil men and seducers would come, deceiving and being deceived (2 Timothy 3:13).

Again, the apostle Paul put his prophetic finger on our time, and, I’m convinced, the sugary, feel-good sermonettes, the likes of which preachers like Mr. Osteen pour into the itching ears of today’s Laodiceans: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

Questions that must be addressed are: Where is the proof that this coming forth of a more sinner-friendly church has done harm rather than good? What’s the harm in embracing all sinners and bringing them into the fold, without the condemnation that the Bible passages on sin throws at them? Isn’t Jesus a Lord of love and all-inclusiveness? Isn’t that accusation of Christianity’s “intolerance” the thing that brings the disdain of the world for the very name of Jesus Christ?

All that has to be said to answer the above is: Churches of America have indeed increasingly moved away from pointing at sin as requiring condemnation and sinners as requiring redemption. The result has been that the increased inclusiveness–this greater toleration of sinfulness, in concert with every imaginable evil gushing from Internet debauchery–has produced a society and culture rivaling that of Sodom and Gomorrah.

One article outlined some problems stemming from the church shirking responsibility in America.

The divorce rate has doubled, teen suicide has tripled, reported violent crime has quadrupled, the prison population has quintupled, the percentage of babies born out of wedlock has risen sixfold, couples living together out of wedlock have increased sevenfold, and gay marriage is now a legalized reality in a number of states, with many believing the end is not in sight. (Bert M. Farias, “The Great Deception in American Church,” Charisma News)

Paul prophesied as recorded in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 that the Restrainer, resident within the church, would one day be removed from planet earth. Antichrist and complete lawlessness will then rule the world when the true church–all born-again believers—are called into Heaven.

The Laodicean church now on display, as forewarned by Jesus, Himself, surely must be a major indicator of where this generation stands on God’s prophetic timeline.

One of the most telling signals of these last days I want to point to in this essay flashes daily in the spiritual eyes of observers of these prophetic times.

We are bombarded, of course, by things surrounding the nation Israel, which is the number-one sign of where we stand on God’s prophetic timeline. We see the violence that seems to be rising to the level, perhaps, nearly like it was in the days of Noah. The moral depravity hits us between the eyes hourly with homosexuality on the way to becoming the preferred lifestyle, not merely an alternative lifestyle, if Hollywood, the media, and the political left have their way.

We have become worse as a generation, just in America, than some of the most pagan of societies of past ages. I refer to the murder of more than 59 million unborn babies who have been sacrificed on the altars of convenience since Roe v. Wade in 1973. Abortion is indeed a religion of sort for those who worship the god of self rather than the God Who is the giver of life.

All of that said, I can think of no signal, sign, or attitude that more strongly signifies the lateness of the prophetic hour than that of the current, irrational anger toward Jesus Christ.

Those of us who hold to biblical values for maintaining sane, moral society and culture are accused of waging war on women, are said to be sexists, are called extremists of every description, or are designated homophobes and Islamaphobes. If we want an America like the Founding Fathers gave us and for which millions have fought and died, we are called judgmental and full of hate speech. We are insensitive, inflammatory, and in need of being locked away or sent for re-education/training.

The progressives brand us with all of the phobias they have coined or invented. They equate our belief system with irrational, schizophrenic behavior that is intolerant and that must be judicially dispatched so everyone else can forge ahead into a new age free of Christian restrictiveness.

They are absolutely right in one respect. It is the Christian worldview that is the holdup to wickedness being given free rein and/or reign, make no mistake. Paul foretells in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 that it is the Restrainer–the Holy Spirit, resident within each believer–the Church, that is indeed holding back evil.

Islam is not considered in the liberal mind as being part of things gone awry. This is because the same father of lies directs this sort of thought process like he directs the perverted theology of Islam. Muslim thought and action are, for example, given almost complete non-culpable status around the world by a large portion of those within our political system and by mainstream news media.

This same spiritually dark thinking was made manifest in the Benghazi matter when a video–which practically no one viewed—was blamed for an uprising that murdered the American ambassador and others. The truth is that it was Muslim hatred–Islamist terrorists— that planned then perpetrated those ghastly murders.

One example of this was a number of years ago when the Nigerian Christian schoolgirls were abducted in Chibok. Rather than blame the Boko Haram Muslim terrorists, the Obama administration line was leaked that it was the Christian government of Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan that was to blame for the abduction. It was proposed that if that Christian government had been less restrictive and more accommodating to those of Islam, the (group) would not have acted as they did.

That American president from the very beginning made it clear that he viewd America as a non-Christianity-oriented country. He announced right after taking the oath of office that this is no longer a Christian nation.

Now, I’m not saying I disagree with his assessment. America certainly is moving fast and furiously away from the docks of Judeo-Christian moorings to which this ship of state was safely attached by the Founding Fathers. But, it was Obama’s administration’s constant and consistent support of or silence about judicial action against Christians that was so starkly disturbing. I will just mention a few very brief examples here of the hatred by governmental agencies and others for Christian, Bible-based thought. These were from several years ago, but the Christ haters still strain at the bits to punish and destroy Christian businesses.

I could cite dozens, and I’m sure you’ve read or heard dozens of examples yourself.

A Methodist church in New Jersey was sued for not offering its facility for use during same-sex weddings. A judge ruled against them. (LifeSiteNews.com]

Christian photographers, Elane Photography, in New Mexico was approached by a same-sex couple looking to hire a wedding photographer. Elane Photography politely declined, citing their Christian faith. The studio was sued by the couple under the state’s antidiscriminatory laws, and the couple won. (Amicus Brief in Elane Photography v. Willock; cited by Eugene Volokh on November 2, 2012 in Freedom of Speech)

Twin brothers, Jason and David Benham, were preparing to launch a show on HGTV entitled Flip It Forward. In the show, the brothers would be helping families in need renovate their homes. But when their staunch Christian beliefs were brought into the limelight by Right Wing Watch, HGTV cancelled the show before it ever had a chance to air. Their crime? A strong stance against homosexuality, abortion, and radical Islam. (Terresa Monroe-Hamilton, “The Silencing of American Christians,http://www.rightsidenews.com/2014050934250/life-and-science/culture-wars/the-silencing-of-american-christians.html; published on May 9, 2014)

These post-Christian-era bastions of “toleration” call Christian “homophobes” and “Islamaphobes,” and accuse Bible-believing people of being “haters.” But, it is becoming increasingly obvious that they, themselves, are victims of the reprobate thinking–the turning toward insane ways of thought, as given by the apostle Paul in Romans, chapter 1.

They are “Christophobes.” They fear and hate anything to do with Jesus Christ. They see what is represented by His Holy Name as inflammatory and intolerant.

This doesn’t surprise. As a matter of fact, it is a major signal of where we are at present on God’s prophetic timeline.

Jesus said: “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.” (John 15: 18-21)