Terry James commentary on two important books concerning Israel in these critical days.

“No matter which way news cameras and microphones turn to capture the troubling issues and events of the hour, they will always turn back to Israel and to Jerusalem in particular.”

This is a statement I have made in one form or another in most every book I’ve written. It is as if that most volatile point on the globe is like the magnetic north is to a compass. The needle’s tip can’t resist the tug God’s chosen land presents.

One senses, if attuned spiritually while watching the times around us unfold, that the world is on the precipice of truly prophetic movement. Observers of the American presidential election process of 2016 were for the most part stunned by the election of Donald J. Trump. Shock waves so shattered the polling-predictions and punditry-prognostication that political and social equilibrium continues unrecovered. Our national environment quivers and reels under the anger and anxieties of those who expected a different outcome of the election in which they believe their worldview was unfairly defeated.

There is no doubt—in this writer’s view, at least—that this election turned out as it did, with Trump becoming president because God intervened. I do believe wholeheartedly that 2 Chronicles 7:14 helped bring about the intervention. However, this is not because America is a godly nation or that Mr. Trump is a godly individual. But the dramatic shift in direction the United States is in process of taking, I’m convinced, portends prophetic developments beyond what most believers might consider.

Prophetic movement, I believe, will, from this point forward in 2017, shape America and the world in ways no other generation has experienced. Attention at the moment is concentrated—the cameras are turned—on hatred of the man God has raised up for this hour. There can be scant denial that the forces of globalism, liberalism, and news and entertainment media, D.C. establishment-types and even some corporate entities in America are bent on destroying this presidency.

However, those cameras and microphones are about to turn dramatically back to capture issues and events of far greater import. I believe we are on the cusp of seeing the world truly being shaped for the wind up of the Dispensation of Grace—the Church Age.

Israel is about to again step front and center upon the world stage. This year and beyond will perhaps bring the prophet Zechariah’s foretellings about God’s chosen nation in to focus as never before.

The new president has said he is seriously considering moving the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This action, alone, will, if it eventuates, likely cause Middle Eastern ramifications we can’t totally foresee.

Mr. Trump’s expected embrace of Israel and its prime minister is exciting to think upon, but troubling in its prospective results.

Next year marks the 70th anniversary of Israel’s rebirth into modernity. Might that year bring the ratcheting up of prophetic stage-setting? —For the Jewish state’s starring role as the Lord brings mankind’s rebellion to a head?

Dr. Thomas Ice, the foremost scholar on matters involving the Pre-Tribulation Rapture view, is a long-time friend and colleague. There is no one, in my opinion, who possesses a more in-depth knowledge of Bible prophecy, particularly as it relates to Israel. If we are to grasp the true meaning of prophetic developments exploding upon the scene day by day, it’s essential that we look intensively at Bible prophecy as given in God’s Word, the Bible.

Again, there is no person of whom I’m aware more qualified to break God’s prophetic Word so that it can be understood in terms of where we stand on His Prophetic Timeline than Dr. Ice.

I’m excited and pleased to be among the first to be given opportunity by his publisher to offer you—in a very special package—a book that is one I’m convinced the Lord is providing at this crucial moment. It is a volume that every believer should read in advance of what is going to be, in all likelihood, tumultuous years ahead for Israel, the Middle East, and for the whole world.

The Case for Zionism: Why Christians Should Support Israel  

Dr. Ice, like many of us who observe things involving Israel today, is troubled by the way that nation is viewed by a growing number of clergy and others within Christianity. A synopsis of this outstanding work reads as follows in that regard:

“The modern state of Israel has been a nation for almost 70 years. When she was formed, and fought her early wars of existence, most Bible-believing Christians believed there was a real connection with what was going on in the Middle East and Bible prophecy that predicts an end-time return of the Jews to their land. While support for Israel remains high in most evangelical communities, we are seeing the beginning of a decline, especially among younger evangelicals, who question whether modern Israel really relates to end-time Bible prophecy.

“The Case for Zionism attempts to bring together biblical, historical, and legal arguments for the legitimacy of the startup nation known as Israel as it:

-Explains controversies such as anti-Semitism and Replacement Theology
-Details the biblical and legal rights of Modern Israel
-Explores the prophetic nature and future of Israel.

“In this presentation, Thomas Ice answers many of the contemporary arguments being used by both secular and religious communities to undermine what he believes is the hand of God at work in our own day.”

Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, in my opinion the foremost scholar on Israel today from the standpoint of Bible prophecy, gives Ice’s book high marks indeed.

Fruchtenbaum, in his foreword, writes of the various forms of anti-Semitism that is more and more becoming manifest at this time. He implies that it is essential for believers to appropriate an understanding of the opposition against Israel.  He writes in conclusion, the following:

“This is exactly where Dr. Ice’s book makes a valuable contribution and shows biblically why all Christians should support Israel.”

New Leaf Press Publishing Group is presenting Dr. Thomas Ice’s book in a very special package—and at a low price—for our Rapture Ready family.

This outstanding book can be purchased by itself, of course. However, the publisher is including in this package the following book about God’s Chosen nation:

Miracle of Israel: The Shocking, Untold Story of God’s Love for His People by Gary Frazier and Jim Fletcher is a book I’ve written about before.

Both Gary and Jim are great writers who I’m thankful to call friends. Jim, a superb investigative journalist, and editor, of course, writes our weekly column on Israel, about which I receive compliments over and over.

Gary is one of the most knowledgeable Bible teachers, lecturers, and frequently interviewed experts on Bible prophecy. Together, he and Jim have produced a book that should be in every home library. Israel, as Dr. Fruchtenbaum wrote above, should be thoroughly understood by Christians today. This book, in tandem with Dr. Thomas Ice’s book, will go a long way toward providing the depth of understanding needed as we face these next years that are bound to be fraught with prophetic stage-setting realities.

Authors Frazier and Fletcher invite the reader to join in watching God’s hand as He directs these closing years of the age.

“This is a book about miracles of history that affect each and every one of us, whether we recognize them or not. We will ponder how the Creator God has and is working in the history of His world. In the end, we will see that God has done and will do exactly as He promised as recorded in Isaiah 46:9–10, where He states:

“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done. saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.

“The Creator God had a plan from the very beginning, and if we look for His hand in world history, both past and present, we can be certain of His hand in the future.”

These are two truly outstanding books that can help immensely in your study of Bible prophecy. I highly recommend this special offering of two great volumes in one package at a great price.

Another thing to consider is that Rapture Ready will receive a part of the price of the book offer, meaning you will help contribute to funding the site by buying the package.

As you know, we have had the site completely reworked to bring it into the age of the highly-advanced devices now available. This will give Rapture Ready an even greater reach for our Lord’s great cause. The work on the site wasn’t without considerable cost. We will appreciate any funding help, as always.

From now until March 31, you can take advantage of a very special offer. You can purchase this two-book pack: The Case for Zionism by Thomas Ice and Miracle of Israel by Jim Fletcher & Gary Frazier for only $20 (this includes free shipping). Follow this link to order—> http://www.nlpg.com/the-case-for-zionism-info.

Just beneath the boiling surface of seething hostility there can be sensed a moving and shaking. Talk of the building of a Jewish temple atop the Temple Mount is beginning to escape into the back-channel atmospherics of the Mid-East misery. How can such not be the case? Every direction the student of Bible prophecy looks, stage setting for the final act of this quickly decaying age is already on the scene.

God’s land is being further divided (Joel 3:2), which portends God’s bringing all nations into the Valley of Jehoshaphat─to Armageddon. The Roadmap to Peace is being dusted-off and reintroduced as the blueprint for peace and safety for not only Israel and its blood-vowed enemies, but for the whole world, as insulation against the initiation of World War III.

The European Union (EU) is in turmoil. It is turmoil, however, that seems to have a smelting effect, preparing the iron of the legs, feet and toes of Daniel’s interpretation for Nebuchadnezzar — into their end of the age configuration. Technological wizardry of every description has made possible the bringing together of all peoples of planet Earth into one world─the New World Order, so desired by the globalist powers that be.

The economic upheaval experienced by most every nation cries out for a master manipulator that will institute an electronic funds transfer system in order to bring stability and order to the financial distress and perplexity that bedevils presidents, potentates and dictators. Such a man can’t be too far into the shadows of emerging world togetherness.

On the forefront of religious change is the call for a melding of every form of pathways to Heaven. The pope and Islamist Imams seem to be forging a synthesis of sorts in discovering many ways to God, a thing unheard of until very recently. Protestant America in large part seems not oppose the feelers crawling toward their forms of Christianity. So-called Chrislam is appealing to them, and ecumenism beckons with allurement at many levels.

So, with all of this and much more going on, the talk of the building of a Jewish temple should surprise none of us. It is a key ingredient in the coming Tribulation mixture within God’s cup of wrath. The talk of late on the possibility of a Jewish temple in the making revolves these days around the words of a Jewish Rabbi.

The Nascent Sanhedrin is calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin and US president-elect Donald Trump to join forces and fulfill their Biblically-mandated roles by rebuilding the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Hillel Weiss, spokesman for the Sanhedrin, contacted Breaking Israel News to announce that the election of Trump, who has promised to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, coupled with Putin’s expressed desire for the Temple to be rebuilt, prompted the Jewish court to send a letter offering the two the opportunity to act as modern-day Cyrus figures: non-Jewish kings who recognize the importance of Israel and the Temple… (BIN EXCLUSIVE: Sanhedrin Asks Putin and Trump to Build Third Temple in Jerusalem, Breaking Israel News, https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/78372/bin-exclusive-sanhedrin-asks-putin-trump-build-third-temple-jerusalem/#dGX8XEZip3ChWz9l.97

This train of thought, of course, conforms to the long-held opinions of some within the universe of those who observe matters involving plans to build a Temple on Mount Moriah. Bible prophecy foretells, through the vision given John, God’s Hand on the Tribulation temple. “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months” (Revelation 11:1-2).

The prophecy indicates, according to those with this view that:

1. During the Tribulation era there will definitely be a temple sitting where Solomon’s Temple sat.

2. There is more than enough room surrounding where the temple must reside for the Muslim shrines to sit.

There is a ton of chatter going on about all of this within the Bible prophecy community. Many voices within this blogosphere hold that those Muslims who seem to be letting it slip (that Israel’s Arab-Islamist enemies might be willing to talk about accommodation of a Jewish Temple) must never be trusted. It is all being done for some surreptitious evil known only to the Imams and to the master architect of their evil blueprint─Satan.

The very fact that there is talk coming from Israel’s enemies about the heretofore, unthinkable possibility of allowing a temple on Mount Moriah is significant, I think. A phony─and deadly─peace is at the center of Satan’s blueprint for usurping the throne of God on earth. We can know this from Daniel’s account of the covenant Antichrist will confirm, assuring peace for seven years (Daniel 9:26-27). Also, Isaiah the prophet says so, (Isaiah 28:15, 18).

Satan intends to place his “messiah” right on the spot where the Holy of Holies sat, where the Ark of the Covenant resided within the Temple of Solomon’s day. So, I believe it is reasonable to look for the possibility of a rebuilt temple to become increasingly, front and center in news and blog-chatter as the age draws to a close.

Israel, in the opinion of most of us who write, teach, broadcast and pontificate on the last days from the Pre-Trib perspective, is the number one signal that gives indication of where this generation stands on God’s prophetic timeline. It is among the very tiniest of countries, yet no nation in history has ever drawn the attention of the whole world, as does that little Jewish state.

Lest you think that is an overreach, I remind that at no time in history has the world had the global, instantaneous news coverage, as has been the case since Israel’s rebirth into modernity in 1948. That fact, alone, has made Israel the focus of interest. Add to the 24/7 coverage of the never-sleeping-media conglomerate today, the petroleum that drives the machinery of the world and the prospects for all-out-war in the region at any moment, and Israel as a focal point becomes all the more riveting.

In my presentations on Bible prophecy, I can’t help but always say something like: “No matter which way the microphones and cameras of the world’s news media turn to catch other issues and events, they always end-up focused again on Israel and upon Jerusalem, in particular. As a matter-of-fact, there are cameras that have the Temple Mount live via satellite at all times, for everyone on the planet to view.”

This, in itself, brings to mind the two witnesses scheduled to prophesy and preach to those left behind after the Rapture. These Jewish thorns in the side of Antichrist will make his life and the lives of his regime miserable as they point the prophetic finger of accusation and warnings at those rebellious earth-dwellers. We are told that everyone on earth will see these two witnesses killed and lying dead in the street in Jerusalem.

“And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.

“And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them” (Revelation 11:7-12).

Perhaps it will be the very cameras now focused on the Temple Mount 24/7 that will capture this for the initially jubilant, but instantly terrified anti-God rebels of the Tribulation. Just as Israel is the number one signal of where this generation stands on God’s prophetic timeline, I’m convinced that the second most glaring signal is the ongoing Mid-East peace process – The Roadmap to Peace as it is termed.

We have witnessed over the past decades, the many secretaries of state for the United States shuttle back and forth to that most volatile region of the world in search of peace. From Henry Kissinger to Hillary Clinton, to John Kerry, to now President Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of state, the quest never ceases. There is one incessant cry that rings in the ears of everyone who has the ability to receive newscasts by the world’s media. It is the call for peace and security by the world’s leaders.

Here are some examples in recent times:

George W. Bush, Address to the Nation, September 11, 2001: “America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world, and we stand together to win the war against terrorism.”

George W. Bush, Rose Garden Speech on April 4, 2002: “Israel has recognized the goal of a Palestinian state. The outlines of a just settlement are clear: two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side, in peace and security.”

President Vladimir Putin, Joint Statement with President George W. Bush, May 24, 2002. Taking this as their basis: “Russia and the USA intend to exert maximum efforts in order to realize this vision of a negotiated settlement of the conflict, which includes the existence of two states – Israel and Palestine – living in peace and security within recognized borders.”

Meeting between Prime Minister Tony Blair and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. January 28, 2013: “It is up to us to work for peace and security, and no one is more fitting to work on this than you,” he said (Netanyahu). Blair replied, “I look forward to working with you on matters of peace and security. We have many challenges, but I’m sure they can be overcome with good will and hard work.”

Condoleezza Rice, American Jewish Committee’s 96th Annual Meeting, 2002: “On April 4, President Bush articulated a vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.”

Hillary Clinton, November 30, 2012 address in Washington: “America supports the goal of a Palestinian state, living side by side in peace and security with Israel.”

President Barack Obama, Jerusalem International Convention Center, Jerusalem. March 21, 2013: “I’d like to focus on how we — and when I say “we,” in particular young people — can work together to make progress in three areas that will define our times — security, peace and prosperity. … First, peace is necessary. I believe that. I believe that peace is the only path to true security.”

The apostle Paul, as prophet, wrote the following:

For when they shall say, peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

The Greek word for “safety” here is “asphaleia.” It is a feminine noun meaning: security from enemies and dangers, safety.

In the preceding verse Paul had just foretold of the moment when the time of the Tribulation would begin breaking on a world ripe for God’s judgment.

“For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5: 2).

The rant we hear most prolifically today, with regard to the nation Israel, the city of Jerusalem, and the ongoing peace process in the Middle East is, “peace and security.” I could have added hundreds more such quotes.

Listen during the upcoming days for this cry from the diplomats of the world who will not have the God of Heaven rule over them (Read Psalms chapter 2 again.) It is a rant that pinpoints precisely just how near is the thief in the night moment that Paul forewarned─the Rapture.

“We must all be tolerant of other religions!” So goes the mantra constantly hammering us from the progressive, cultural watchdogs. Even beyond that, we must, according to the loving, liberal, politically correct give special “hands-off” status to a religion that harbors at its core hatred for all who don’t accept its tenets and condones murder of whom they term infidels.

Although case after case can be made that Islam as a whole is–by its silence if not by its actions–approving of the militants among its ranks who murder and terrorize all who don’t bow the knee to Allah, we in America are supposed to smile and accept that it is a religion of love, as the guardians of political correctness demand. Sharia law, which gives women less of a place within society than animals, and which approves of family honor killings for stepping one foot outside the bounds of the Muslim prescription for living, is given preference, it seems, over the U.S. Constitution and local laws in America in places such as Dearborn, Michigan. This sharia malignancy is metastasizing and little is being done to slow its spread.

All religious thought must be respected and tolerated, the political correctness police demand. All, except the tenets of one particular religion. True Christianity is fair game, and the politically correct crowd of Christianity-haters doesn’t just look the other way when true Christianity is attacked; it joins in the fun. These people attack at every opportunity and are never condemned for their hate diatribes; rather, they are joined by the priesthood of the entertainment world at the center of their ranks.

Eyebrows are no doubt raised at the use of my term “true Christianity.” I make no apologies for the use of the term. There are a number of counterfeit forms of Christianity, and more are coming into existence each day as strange winds of doctrine blow across our nation and the world. There is but one true Christianity. It is found throughout the pages of God’s Word, the Bible. If I could choose only one Scripture to encapsulate true Christianity, it would be these words spoken by Jesus to His disciple: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

And therein lays the anti-Christian diatribe. That is why all other religions are acceptable–are tolerated–except true Christianity.

But, wait! Islam claims Allah, Mohammed’s creation, is the only way, and will even slaughter those who don’t believe or accept that religion’s god. Yet the diatribe never goes against Islam–rather always against true Christianity’s claim the Jesus is the only way to Heaven–to salvation. The hatred for Christianity runs the gamut of artistic blasphemy, such as, we remember from some years ago, the crucifix submerged in urine, and, later, the actress, who upon winning an award held it up and shouted for Jesus to “**** this!” The increasing hostility becomes more blatant by the hour, with cultural crucifixion of Christ on the rise, as this excerpt of a story once reported attests:

Last month, it was reported at various online outlets that Ryan Rotela, a junior at FAU, was suspended for refusing to participate in a class assignment from a textbook for an Intercultural Communications class titled Intercultural Communication: A Contextual Approach, 5th Edition. The assignment called for students to write the name “Jesus” on a piece of paper, put the paper on the ground, and stomp on it. Rotela told local media that he went to school officials to protest the assignment. (http://www.christianpost.com/news/fla-university-puts-stomp-on-jesus-professor-on-administrative-leave-93009/#bGGbBz5MwzVTh5fi.99)

The teacher who gave the assignment  was reported at the time to have been put on leave, but not for the blasphemous assignment. He was put on leave out of fear for his safety. The school administration obviously has true Christianity mixed up with mainstream Islam, which puts bounty on the heads of those who blaspheme the prophet Mohammed. Jesus told that culture and society would react this way to His name:

“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. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.” (John 15:18-25)

Yet, God loves even the Jesus-haters of this world, and is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (read 2 Peter 3:9). We who are Christ’s are commanded to love sinners, as does our Lord. Let us in these closing days of the dispensation of grace lift the name of Jesus at every opportunity so that men, women, and children will be given gospel light by which to come to saving knowledge of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16).

A Fox News person–can’t remember who–reported that Paul Anka, writer of the song “My Way” had withdrawn from performing at one or another of the events scheduled during the inaugural festivities.

Anka reportedly said the inauguration gig conflicted with his schedule. He thus joined a long list of celebrities and performers who said they would not be a part of the Trump victory celebration.

CNN, it was reported, gave a news flash that Nancy Sinatra, daughter of the late crooner Frank Sinatra, was furious that Mr. Trump would use the song “My Way” in the presidential celebration. She was, it was reported, incensed because it was the song her father made famous by recording it.

Ms. Sinatra, however, it became clear, was incensed not at Mr. Trump, but at CNN for what has become known as a fake news story. She reportedly was angry because the story was not true and she was said to have responded, “It’s not true. Why should I care? Why would they (CNN) lie about this?”

That’s a question many voters asked themselves before the vote by the electorate was cast in this presidential election. The diatribes by mainstream news hounds, favoring one candidate over the other, included lying the likes of which has rarely if ever reached the level it did in this election cycle.

The song “My Way” and the lies surrounding it serve to open the way for me to issue this warning to our new president, as suggested by the commentary’s title. 

I’ll say this at the outset. I can’t help but like the song. I’ve always–Lord, help me–liked it, particularly the way ol’ Elvis sang it.However, it is one of the most anti-God songs ever created. It is straight from the mind of the old serpent himself, I have no doubt. That’s why it is so appealing to the human mind and why even believers such as myself–weak in many ways because of the fallen nature of man–can’t help but like the song.

“My Way” tells the story of how the person singing it lived totally on his or her own terms. These didn’t listen to or bow the knee to anyone. They did it all–their way.

It’s not just a matter that the song is one of boasting about how great one is; it is a repudiation of God Himself. That might not have been Mr. Anka’s thought in writing it, but if you study the words, it is hubris that reflects Lucifer’s own words in Isaiah 14:14.

Getting back to our new president and his choosing the song for inclusion in his celebratory festivities, such hubris is likely, one hopes, not Mr. Trump’s own attitude. We should prayerfully hope–and believe–that he doesn’t–by making this song a part of his celebration–harbor the thought that he is now president only because of his own greatness and ability.

We have heard him state his thanks to so many–to the whole national voting public that cast their votes for him, in fact. I have heard him say that God is the one who made America “great” in the first place, and will do so again.

Still, I’m concerned when I know he–like myself–can’t help but like this song. It appeals to the pride that can so easily swell within each human being.

The Lord tells us in His Word that he hates “a proud look” (Proverbs 6: 17). He further says “he that hath a high look and a proud heart will I not suffer” (Psalm 101:5). And, again, “An high look and a proud heart…is sin” (Proverbs 21:4).

God tells the end of all such pride in one’s self ability. “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).

Being blind, I, of course, couldn’t see any of the presidential ball festivities. I did hear them, and the song “My Way” seemed to be the central theme song at each of the three.

Again, I couldn’t see it, but was told that at one point the new president, while dancing with the new first lady, looked into a nearby camera and mouthed the words, ”I did it my way.”

So, it is hearsay, not a firsthand account. Perhaps some of the readers of this commentary witnessed this silent comment by the president.

I was a supporter of Donald Trump and continue to be so as he promises to move America forward and lead us out of the slide into the abyss into which we are headed. Mr. Trump is often audacious and outspoken, and to be frank, it is one of the traits that endeared him to many–myself included–that is, to the extent that I like his pushing back against the pay-no-attention-to-the-American-people arrogance of Washington D.C. insiders and mainstream media types.

That said, I must issue this warning, Mr. President. You, I, and America must do it  “God’s way,” not “My way,” as Mr. Anka, Mr. Sinatra, or even ol’ Elvis would have it. Our very national existence depends upon this truth.

I’ve found it always a good thing to do when striving to serve as a watchman on the wall: Always look at Jesus’ prophetic words when examining these times of omega signs. The best place to start is in the Gospels that record the Lord’s Olivet Discourse.

It was thus some years ago when I began thinking on what is most pertinent in the news. Something in particular almost always jumps out of the pages of the Lord’s recorded foretelling. Those years ago it was: “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring” (Luke 21:25).

Earlier I had been “watching” a news program, listening to a correspondent shouting to be heard over the noise of an angry mob. The network then cut to several other scenes of irate crowds shouting in unison words I couldn’t make out. The correspondent was saying the roaring of the crowds in the various locations shown was all about the decision by the Eurogroup to “haircut” depositors of the banks of Cypress. At the time, the Eurogroup, which was responsible for insuring deposits of the banks involved, had decided to grab money from the accounts of most everyone. Later the Eurozone powers that be decided on a less draconian action. They determined not to take as much from the accounts of the depositors with lower Euro amounts in their banks. Thus, the noise–the “roaring” in the streets–has lessened, if not completely abated.

I admit up front that I didn’t then, and don’t now, fully understand everything involved in the economic abyss into which Cypress had plunged, and into which, it was feared, much of Europe, such as Greece, France, Italy, Spain, and others might plunge. However, I did understand, as should anyone who has ever deposited hard-earned money into their bank, that for someone in government–or anyone else–to reach in and rob one’s bank account is the stuff of which riots are likely to be fueled.

Kind of makes you mad just thinking about it happening to you, doesn’t it?

And that sentiment was explored throughout the financial expert community during the time of that crisis, believe me. One of my favorite economic experts weighed in with a thought along these lines: “The decision of the government in Cyprus to simply take money out of people’s bank accounts there sent shock waves around the world. People far removed from that small island nation had to wonder: ‘Can this happen here?'” (Thomas Sowell, “Can It Happen Here?” www.townhall.com, 3/26/13, p. 1).

Exactly…

Was this a test to see how the masses will react to such overt robbery by those in authority? I’ve gotten that question many times and have asked it myself. Call it conspiracy “kookdom,” but the powers did start in the smallest of venues in their–shall we call it–experiment?

They, during that time of crisis, quickly decided to take a milder tact. However, such robbery will continue to take place in various forms as long as human greed remains. They just will reduce the size of their haul in their need for money to fix the horrible mess they’ve made of managing fiscal matters. Absolute power has indeed corrupted absolutely in Europe, as Lord Edward Acton would have it. The United States mess is infinitely bigger in terms of the amount of indebtedness. The only saving grace is that America is so gargantuan in its influences and so intricate in its linkages in monetary affairs worldwide that the powers that be will keep it propped up at all costs–at least until some unforeseen circumstance or deliberate action for purposes of serving the globalist banksters’ lust and greed becomes feasible to institute.

In either case, it will take a crisis or crises of major magnitude to bring the U.S.–thus all the world–down in one gigantic collapse into chaos. When that happens, there will indeed be a roaring of ear-shattering decibel. I am convinced that the roaring will be worldwide in its scope.

The economic morass that gets more quicksand-like by the day not only causes the sea of humanity to roar in distress, but draws other foretold end-times elements into the quagmire. Thus, the student of Bible prophecy attuned to Holy Spirit enlightenment can begin to understand how the last-days puzzle fits together.

As a student of Bible prophecy, one must consider the words of Ezekiel the prophet. He said that a group of leaders that sounds an awful lot like the current diplomatic lot of America and Europe will one day ask Gog, who almost certainly will be a future Russian leader: “Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?” (Ezekiel 38:13).

Economic matters will be, from now until the return of Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the catalyst that will cause the seas of humanity to roar in tumult and, finally, produce a war that will threaten to extinguish all life on the planet. Jesus has promised to intervene before that destruction can fully play out.

Again, I’m convinced it will be the Rapture of the church that will burst the building bubble and bring the financial structure of this fallen world crashing down around all who are left behind. Jesus is the blessed hope (Titus 2: 13). Accept His offer of salvation this very moment, and escape the carnage to come.

Biblical language when extracted from the King James Version has on occasion somewhat amused me. Like when it was said that David was “sore afraid” (1 Samuel 21:12, or when Saul was “sore afraid” (1 Samuel 28:20).

I once heard a comedian extrapolate on this term “sore afraid.” He said that when you are “sore afraid, you’re “flat scared…”

David and Saul, in their situations had every right to be thus as have many other people in their various situations throughout God’s Word─the Bible─as it recounted the dire situations in which those folks found themselves.

Now, I’m not meaning to be irreverent. I just find the language amusing, not the dire circumstances of David, Saul and the others. It was certainly no laughing matter to those who were sore afraid…

Another rather antiquated expression from the KJV amuses me, and again, I don’t mean to be irreverent. I had better view the term in question with great reverence, because I can’t think of a more relevant word for Bible-believing Christians of these increasingly troubled times.

The antiquated term to which I refer is wrapped up in the apostle Peter’s description of Lot, who, of course, lived in Sodom at the time of that wicked city’s impending Judgment from God. Peter tells of how the Lord looked down into Lot’s situation…

“And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds) (2 Peter 2:7-8).

The first thing that stands out in this condemnation of the citizens of Sodom (and its twin sister city, Gomorrah) was that the conversation was “filthy.”

Lot was vexed: By the cesspool language that surrounded him.

There is a direct parallel today in this nation we call home, in that even professing Christians are caught-up in using the same “filthy” language that was obviously repugnant to the Lord then─and is undeniably so today. God changes not, His Word tells us. Certainly, the conversation that spews from the mouths of many of His professing children must grieve him greatly.

Here’s what James, the apostle has to say about this sinful language that must be a sorely vexing sound in the holy ears of our Heavenly Father.

“But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? Either a vine, figs? So can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom” (James 3: 8-13).

Vexing, too, is the deterioration of American culture and society. I wrote years ago for one of my books a chapter for which I gave the title, Days of Our Lives, as the World Turns. I found upon revisiting that chapter that much of what was written there is even more a part of the scene today. I share part of that chapter here:

Powerful forces are at work beneath the relative tranquility that masks the true state of our nation and the world. Ours is a society that boils with turbulence beneath a veneer of sophistication. It is a society mirrored by television soap operas and hedonistic movies, which have in turn mesmerized much of the American public. Life has indeed imitated art, while year after year morals have degenerated and the very concept of morality has been turned upside-down and inside out. We are a people given a thrill-a-minute fix to satisfy our insatiable cravings for instant gratification. We are a people all the while descending deeper and deeper into depravity.

Gleam and glitter and unparalleled technological gadgetry have procured for the American public hours upon hours of time for pleasure seeking, and it is more than abundantly obvious, for mischief making. While it is true that the moguls of science provide great benefits for human health, wealth, and achievement within the sphere of human potential, to see the direction in which all of this is truly sweeping us, one has only to consider any given local evening news broadcast. We are not as a society every day and in every way getting better and better, like the New Age evolutionary thinkers would have us believe. Feeding our voracious appetites for more exciting thrills and greater pleasures has served only to generate phenomenal growth in criminal activity.

Those who perceive themselves to be the have “nots, ravenously desire those material things which the American propagandists flash before their lusting eyes. Because Big Brother government has, in effect, destroyed work ethic through give-away welfare programs, but can in no way give this dependent class the shimmering lifestyle it lusts after. The rip in the fabric of society worsens daily as the ungovernable elements engage in the only occupation they believe can secure for them the thrills and pleasures they seek [the crime that grips our inner-cities, in particular.]

Can there be any doubt that conditions and activities which God’s Word predicts will be prevalent while the end of the age approaches are now being played out before our very eyes? The similarities between the biblical descriptions and the reports we witness on our nightly newscasts are stunningly evident. Man’s atrocities against his fellow man are pandemic. Stories of debased human behavior are so numerous that those items, which would have formerly been front page headlines now are relegated to pages farther back because even more heinous stories overshadow them. Jesus Himself prophesied about the generation that would inhabit planet Earth at the time of His Second Advent:

“But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:37).

Jesus Christ, who is God Himself, gave with that reference based upon Scripture recorded in the past, and Scripture He knew was yet to be recorded─an unmistakable characterization of the generation alive at the time of His Second Advent…

Like was written about the days of Lot, we can say with conviction that it is all truly vexing. Christ’s call to His church must indeed be near!

An interesting email appeared in my in box the other day. It set me to exploring in a slightly different direction things that looks to constitute a major quandary in trying to understand certain prophecies, juxtaposed against realities of these strange times.

The emailer–Dan—put his queries this way: “I do have one question that I have asked many, but to date no answer. I am still wondering how under the New World Order, led by the revived Roman Empire, [is the rising of the Islamic threat to Israel and the rest of the world going to be squelched]? Is this part of the “Covenant” that the Beast will confirm after the Rapture, or does a PS 83-type war need to take place first?”

–A couple of very good, and most relevant question, to be sure…

We have only to think about how Islam has made inroads into Western Europe–and, in fact, into this nation–to understand the seeming insurmountable problem the world faces with that religion, as implicit within Dan’s email queries. Only twelve short years ago, America was viciously attacked by the same religious zeal that over the years since has set our hourly news headlines ablaze. More than 3,000 people, the majority of them U.S. citizens, were forced to jump or be burned alive in the towering infernos, or die where they were on the hijacked planes and in the Pentagon, when nineteen Muslims carried out the orders of Osama bin Laden on America’s most tragic day in history.

Yet Islam is like a protected species adopted by the leftist do-gooders of the eco-freak sorts who think humankind should–except for them, I suppose–be eliminated, so that Mother Earth can return to her pristine condition. It is the same perverted, intolerant mindset that says it is the right thing to do to marginalize Christianity because Christians are intolerant, while embracing a religion whose “holy” book demands that all who will not bow the knee to Allah are legitimate targets for elimination by the most heinous methodologies available.

The Obama administration and its slavish mainstream media–both news and entertainment—have done all they can to try to convince us that Islam is a “religion of peace.” We have seen the president and his underlings go to extreme absurdities to blame anyone and everyone except Islamist terrorists for their dastardly deeds. We remember vividly the Benghazi murder of the American ambassador and some genuine American heroes, and the totally disproved claim by the White House and State Department that it was an anti-Mohammed YouTube video that caused a spontaneous riot, thus incited the good people of the area to commit the murders. That episode serves as prime example.

An insanity of sort pervades the minds of those who continue to insist that Islam asserts no threat to civilization, and that if we just embrace that religion, whose adherents refuse to assimilate, and who rather create enclaves within our own republic ruled by sharia law, they will love and accept us as fellow Americans and live at peace with the world. The truth is that the best thing one can say about that belief system is that at least you have a choice: bow the knee to Allah or die.

So, to get back to my emailer’s question. “How under the New World Order, led by the revived Roman Empire, [is the rising of the Islamic threat to Israel and the rest of the world going to be squelched]? Is this part of the “Covenant” that the Beast will confirm after the Rapture, or does a PS 83-type war need to take place first?”

The title of this commentary is “Why Islam Might Buckle.” Therefore, one can—correctly–presume that I infer that this unyielding religious system that harbors at its spiritually black center the murderous terrorism with which we are all too familiar will succumb to outside forces, or by implosion. It appears at this particular moment in history that such a thing as Islam buckling to any sort of pressure short of being defeated in war is nearly an impossibility. It is on the march across the Middle East, and around the world. The very civilization it wants to behead if their victims don’t bow the knee seems blind to the dangers of the scimitar-wielding juggernaut.

Will it be a Psalms 83 war that will cause Islam to buckle–to cease to be a threat? My own thoughts include the belief that Psalms 83 is an imprecatory prayer, not a prophesied war. It is a plea by the chosen people for the Lord to vanquish their immediately surrounding enemies (enemies within the Mideast region). It is a plea that I believe will be answered by God when He destroys all but one-sixth of the Gog-Magog forces who attack, according to Ezekiel, chapters 38-39.

I know all of the arguments presented by the growing numbers who believe Psalms 83 will be an actual war. If I’m wrong, I will profusely apologize for not seeing it coming. I have considered all of the thinking by those such as my good friend Bill Salus–who is an absolutely brilliant thinker and writer, in my estimation. However, I must listen to the inner voice speaking to my own spirit. I simply can’t see Psalms 83 as a war, but as a prayer that will soon be answered when God decimates Russia, Iran, and “many people with thee” (Ezekiel 38:6).

That said, I do believe that the Gog-Magog war will effectively eliminate Islam as any future threat–will take it off the table of war-making.

But, there is one other thought I would like to interject that could, in my thinking, cause Islam to buckle, as my article’s title would have it. God will send “strong delusion,” He says as recorded in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. This will happen post-Rapture. The Holy Spirit will withdraw as restrainer of evil. The minds of mankind–of all races and belief systems–will be open to unimaginable influences from Satan and his minions during that most horrible of times in history.

It is my belief that Islamists will be “deluded,” if you want to term it as such. That is, even the minds of Satan’s own religious deception will be profoundly affected by the delusion of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, thus will be easily persuaded to go along with Antichrist and allow the rebuilding of the Jewish temple atop Mount Moriah.

Certainly, anything that could change the mindset of the imams of Islam would necessitate supernatural action of the most profound sort. God’s prophetic Word says that just such profound, supernatural action is forthcoming!

One thing sure… Islam will one day buckle.

The year 2016 more than lived up to the anticipation it harbored back when I wrote my Nearing Midnight commentary at the beginning of last year. I want to present that article here, with the caveat that I anticipate even more profound prophetic unfolding in 2017.

Piercing the Perils of 2016

Never in my own memory has a new year appeared at its beginning to be more prophetically interesting. Never–in my thinking, at least–has one portended more perilous times, as the apostle Paul would have it. Yet I wouldn’t trade my time on this darkening planet with anyone of any other generation.

The fact that the Lord of Heaven has put me here at this strange, ominous, yet immensely fascinating time in history makes it all the more intriguing–even riveting, in terms of wanting to know what happens next. He has put you here, too, at this time when the final curtain is about to fall. He has trusted you to be an actor in at least part of the final scenes of this great, cosmic play called human history. No illustrious personages of the past–not Julius Caesar, not Napoleon Bonaparte, not Alexander the Great, not even Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, or Ronald Reagan were so privileged. We are about to serve as active members of a most especially commissioned cast who populates the end-times stage.

There is about to occur a schism–a separation–of cataclysmic proportion. It will rend one part of humanity from the other. It will not be a natural catastrophe that will inflict the humanity-dividing rift. It won’t be great political upheaval in America and around the world that will cause the tearing apart of life upon the troubled planet. Those things will certainly happen. But it won’t be acts of nature or of man that will bring about the very last scene of the age. That last act will be orchestrated by the Master Director of all Creation–by the Lord God of Heaven who is the final judge of good and evil.

The excitement presaging that grand climax of the age is building. Momentous events, written on the pages of Holy Scripture, are about to come alive. The final curtain will rise when Jesus steps out on the clouds of glory and calls all believers–His Bride, the Church, to Himself. If you are a believer in Christ alone for salvation, you will catch the grand finale as you watch from the luxuriant balconies of Heaven.

We see the drama building all around us for the tumultuous scenes set to play out during the times just ahead. The year 2016 is cloaked in the fog of malevolence this world continues to wrap itself in–an increasingly anti-God, anti-Christ vesture that embraces humanism forewarned about by the psalmist.

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 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. (Psalms 2: 1-3)

A quick scan of the news just the past week exposes, I believe, the arrogance of those the Scriptures call “earth-dwellers” who incessantly strive to break asunder the governance God rightfully placed upon His creation called man. The reports are laden with prophetic indicators.

One such report is seen in the prideful claims by a U.S. State Department spokesman, as the boast involves the increasing call for “peace and safety,” While the situation in Syria grows intensely worse by the hour, with the Syrian people torn violently between the forces of Syrian dictator Basher Al-Assad and the hordes of ISIS murderers, Secretary of State John Kerry is lauded as bringing about a peace that just isn’t happening and will never come to pass.

State Department spokesman John Kirby wrote under the headline, “Bringing peace and security to Syria”: “Under Secretary of State John Kerry’s stewardship the United Nations passed a U.S. sponsored resolution to create a road map for Syria.” Again, the problem is that like in all of the humanistic efforts at bringing true peace, the only “peacemaker” is kept out of the peacemaking. Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, is denied at every turn by the president of the very country that speciously purports to be making the peace. (President Obama, remember, upon his very first week in office, proclaimed that the United States is not a Christian nation.)

The president of the United States of America, in effect, proclaimed regarding the governance of the God of Heaven: “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.”

We can believe what that omniscient, omnipotent, governing authority has to say about such arrogance and willfulness. The message is chilling for the planet’s inhabitants who will be left behind when the great schism aforementioned takes place.

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. (Psalms 2: 4-6)

Details of what is about to take place in 2016, of course, lurks in the murkiness of an ever-increasing pall of trepidation. But, for those who are secure within the unshakable, impenetrable shelter of their Lord and Savior, there is no reason to fear. Piercing that black uncertainty is an effulgence that lights the path to the brightest of all possible futures. It is that Blessed Hope of Titus 2: 13!

These days, it seems, we are more and more frequently given reports that a 100- year storm has occurred. These are happening about every other year, and many prophecy watchers believe that these great storms have biblically prophetic overtones.

Certainly, I have to admit that there appears to be some relevance, these storms to how Israel is treated. White House correspondent Bill Koening is one Bible prophecy student who writes on these kinds of weather and other occurrences with regard to, particularly, America’s dealing with Israel. John McTernin is another writer on these matters that I find fascinating.

We remember Hurricane Katrina, for example, when the Bush administration had pressured the Jewish state to move Jewish Israelis in order that so-called Palestinians could move in. Katrina entered the Gulf of Mexico during this time and the results was that thousands of Americans along the Gulf Coast and beyond were forced to leave their homes. The storm was one of the worst in U.S. history.

With major tornadoes in many areas and flooding along U.S. rivers having seemed to increase over the past number of years, some have attributed the virulent weather to climate change or global warming. Others have seen the significance of these 100-year-type storms as relating directly to the treatment the Obama administration has given Israel over the past eight years.

We remember that close to the very first thing the president did was to snub the Israeli prime minister, leaving him after a few minutes of their meeting in the White House to go to the family’s private dining quarters. Mr. Obama has continued with his coolness to Benjamin Netanyahu since that very first meeting. At the same time, Obama has made nice at every opportunity with the leaders of the Muslim world, while giving lip service to support for the Jewish state. As a matter of fact, Obama is on record as saying right up front of his eight years in office that he intended to “put space” between America and Israel. This, ostensibly, to develop better relationship with the Arab states so that there could develop a greater chance for establishing peace in the region.

It was the old George W. Bush effort revived–trying to show the Muslims and the world that we were really their friends. The question to ask, of course, is: Have relations improved? No, they have grown worse.

The 100-year storm to which I refer as given in this commentary’s title is the international, diplomatic storm in which Israel currently finds itself. The first such storm it faced happened almost a half century before it became a nation in 1948. Israel was promised territory for establishing a nation in the region of its traditional homeland when the British issued the Balfour Declaration, written by British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour and issued by the government led by Prime Minister David Lloyd George.

That promise read:

Foreign Office, November 2nd, 1917.

Dear Lord Rothschild,

I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.

While there is little doubt that there was a genuine desire to establish a Zionist safe haven with the declaration, it is even more certain that the action was primarily taken–in the view of most historians–to give the British access to the Suez territory for hegemonic purposes.

When British General Edward Allenby entered Jerusalem, there was relative peace for a time. The Arabs of the region began to create strife against the Jews shortly thereafter, determined to not allow the British to put their geopolitical plans into action.

British General Louis Bols, put in charge of Jerusalem, disliked Zionism and rather than see to it the Balfour Declaration accomplished establishment of a Jewish homeland and protected the Jews, looked the other way at the Arab atrocities.

The betrayal by the British instigated a regional conflict–an ethnic storm that is raging today. And now, one hundred years later to the year, there has been set in motion another storm, instigated by Britain–and sadly–by the United States of America.

The Palestinian Authority has since 2015 pushed to change the language by which UNESCO speaks of Jerusalem and the holy sites, so that they are referred to almost exclusively by their Muslim names. The U.N. and its Israel-hating membership has done all within that body’s power to de-legitimize Israel as having any historical ties to the Temple Mount, or to the region, for that matter.

And now the Security Council resolution condemning settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, unopposed by Israel’s allies, America, and Britain is a betrayal of the worst sort.

Secretary of State John Kerry said on December 28 that the only chance for Israel to live in peace in the future is to accept a two-state solution. Implicit within his words is condemnation of Israel as the sticking point to peace in the region. Also, I infer, he is, along with his boss Barack Obama, threatening to abandon Israel altogether if Netanyahu refuses to give land for peace.

This last-ditch effort of the Obama administration to intimidate Israel comes as too little, too late, for their nefarious plans. Donald Trump has reassured Netanyahu and the Jewish people that the betrayal will not stand. Maybe, for a time at least, there is to be a ray of sunshine beyond this 100-year storm.