Doomsday talk is on the rise. It brings to mind the 1964 movie filmed in stark black and white on the topic of nuclear war, entitled Dr. Strangelove. This was a darkly humorous film that captured the fearful times at the height of the Cold War involving America and the Soviet Union.

A U.S. general, in this fictional account, went a bit nutso and ordered a strike on the Soviet Union by the B-52 bombers under his command. (Yes, Hollywood was liberal and saw the U.S. as more evil than the Communist world in those days, too.)

The president, played by Peter Sellers–who also played Dr. Strangelove, the former Nazi scientist in the employ of the U.S. Department of Defense–did all he could to direct the Soviets to bring down the final B-52 as it began its assault. But, alas, the bomber, although crippled by a nearby anti-aircraft missile strike, managed to unleash a multi-megaton hydrogen bomb.

This strike set in motion all-out nuclear war because the Soviets had developed a doomsday machine nobody within the U.S. Defense Department knew about. It became at that point a final war that could not be controlled or stopped.

Back to reality… President Ronald Reagan’s peaceful defeat of Soviet designs for world domination was believed to bring the Cold War to an end. Immediately the cries by the “progressives” went up to convert all of the Cold War military spending to social, do-good causes.

This call for ever-decreasing spending in America’s military roared during the Clinton years and again during the Obama administrations so that the U.S. military, in many of its aspects is now said to be at pre-World War II levels.

But, it is obvious to those who view things through the lens of reality that America’s old, Cold War foes–Russia and China–are building military war-making machinery. They are doing so technologically, if not in war-capable hardware, and now are reaching out to achieve super-power status. Other diabolist states are doing their best to establish their niches in the world’s nuclear power structure.   

We know all about Iran wanting to develop nuclear weaponry and the missile capability to deliver them. The Ayatollahs have even forewarned time after time just who these weapons when completed will be used against.

North Korea makes no bones about wanting to hit any target they can when they achieve the capability to accurately launch them.

All of this has brought the world to renewed fears of the world possibly meeting its end in fiery, nuclear doom within a decade or sooner.

European doomsday worry-warts are ginning up ultra-Cold War fears by warning citizens to prepare for disaster. With the prospect of the influx of millions of hostile militants migrating to Europe, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, as I reported last week, said, “We must give priority to security, so let’s start setting up a joint European army.”

The German government has instructed its people to prepare for disaster by stockpiling ten days’ worth of food and five days’ worth of water. Berlin is also considering re-instituting conscription (a military draft) in view of the tremendous surge of Muslims entering Europe.

One thing we haven’t heard much about in this volatile political season is that President Obama is also speaking in such terms. In June he said that Americans must be prepared “–by having an evacuation plan,” as well as “having a fully-stocked disaster supply kit.”  

All of this comes with increasing alarm by some military analysts who report that Russia is developing and testing new “hyper-weapons.” Russian TU-22M3 long-range Backfire bomber aircraft will now be armed with the new Russian Kh-32 cruise missile. The capabilities of this missile are astounding: It can fly at speeds of up to 600 mph to an altitude of almost 25 miles, and when it reaches the proximity of its target, fly downward at a speed of almost 3,000 mph with a total range of almost 600 miles.

There are unsubstantiated reports within some fear-forewarning supposition that “doomsday bunkers” have been prepared for Russian citizenry. Some of the fearful postulation is that many within Russian officialdom are taking to the especially prepared doomsday bunkers in the Yamantau Mountain complex that has been constructed.

Add to this increasing reporting that Russian President Vladimir Putin is in the process of purging all upper-echelon officers within his military that oppose future war with Europe and the U.S.

Turkey is said to be making tremendous changes within its military planning, in conjunction with Putin’s own maneuverings, as preparations for an eventual war in the Middle East and beyond are becoming more manifest.

Chinese leaders are all but declaring war on China’s neighbors in creating islands in the South China Sea–which it now claims for the most part to belong to China. The Chinese navy consistently challenges any commercial and other ships that want to pass through what the world still considers international waters.

China, like Russia, is believed to have produced weapons of a defensive nature that are designed to thwart nuclear missile strikes in retaliation for their own offensive assaults–thus in violation of longstanding agreements against such military technological development.

So, it looks like the old Dr. Strangelove Cold War fears are back. Despite the hyperbole and conspiracy theories, there is enough reality-based concern to be alert to the worries wrought by all this doomsday speculation.

All that said, the bottom line is that the God of Heaven will have the final say about the fate of nations–of planet earth. As a matter of fact, He has already given us all we need to know about that which this generation is now facing so far as the likelihood of doomsday is concerned.

This world is not at its end. It won’t be at its end until at a minimum 1007 years from now–and that is if the Rapture occurred within the next fifteen minutes.

“Doomsday” is a matter that must be viewed in terms of degree. It is true, biblically, that earth’s total obliteration will never take place by human use of the hydrogen bomb or any other device or doomsday machine. It is equally true, prophetically speaking, that earth as we know it will one day be done away with, then remade. That will perhaps take place through nuclear fission or some other phenomenon of natural physics. However, it is done, it will be God who remakes the heavens and the earth.

To most all of those who will be left behind and live through the Tribulation era following the Rapture of the Church it will be the time of doom. Most believers (those who accept Christ after the Rapture) will be martyred. Theirs will not be “doom” but severe persecution–and, in most cases, death. But, those who die will go instantly to an eternity of bliss beyond all imagination.

To the reader: You don’t have to concern yourself with “Doomsday.” Jesus Christ died on the cross at Calvary two thousand years ago to assure that your place of heavenly safety is forever secured. Again, the following is the way God has provided for you to escape the terrors the doomed unbelievers of the ages must face:

“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).

The year 2016 has, like those years just previous, brought with it strange geophysical manifestations. The heat and storms of recent days were once called unprecedented in many cases, in terms of records falling. Now the unusual weather is becoming considered the norm.

The tremendous rainfall in several regions of the U.S., particularly in southern Louisiana, have taken lives and devastated property along it’s swath. People are forced to move to safer ground and will likely have to completely rebuild their homes and their lives in the areas affected. Wild fires in California are even more destructive, with thousands left homeless, their lives thrown into chaos.

This outbreak of devastation is joined by myriad earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other geophysical phenomena that seem to be ratcheting up by the hour around the world.

Paul the apostle’s words provide the thought-provoking impetus for this commentary: “This also know, that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall…have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:1, 2, 5).

My own cerebral meanderings on what’s going on conjured the thought. This generation, through denying even the mention of the power of God’s dealing with mankind, might be resulting in an increasing lack of power of the electrical sort to energize the households and businesses of large parts of America.

A stretch, you say?

The supposition/postulation isn’t as far-fetched as might be thought at first assessment. To begin, we must ask: Using Paul’s perilous-times indicator, what is the “power”–albeit of spiritual nature–within the “form of godliness” that this generation is denying? The answer is found in the following Scripture. That power is He “who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence” (Colossians 1:15-8).

The name is Jesus. It is the name above every other name–now, and in the ages to come (see Ephesians 1:21; Philippians 2:9). Come to think of it, it is totally relevant to analyze these matters in this way. The One who owns that holy name holds in His mighty hand all power, whether of the natural or supernatural variety, according to God’s Word as given above. Without the Lord Jesus Christ, there would be nothing whatsoever upon which to cogitate–nor would you and I be here to think upon anything.

But, this is not the way many people in America now view the God of all creation. Jesus, in this country whose founders and other leaders invoked that holy name in many of their writings, is now considered persona non grata. His name can be used as a curse word in film and other public entertainment venues, and in private conversations. But, He isn’t to be mentioned in the public school systems, nor can public prayers be ended with His name for fear of offending those of other religious belief systems.

As a matter of fact, the Supreme Court ruled in 1963 that God will no longer be allowed in public classrooms. Our leaders have turned their backs on God, and, sadly, many of America’s citizenry prove by their daily way of life that they indeed follow the leaders. Jesus, as we’ve written before in these commentaries, spoke to the very conditions we see developing with regard to geophysical upheaval. While the Lord rode the little donkey toward Jerusalem to offer himself as Israel’s Messiah, the people laid palm fronds before the animal’s path. They praised Jesus, shouting, “Hosanna!” They were shouting, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

The pharisaical religionists told Jesus to make the people stop their praise of Him. These considered it blasphemous for the people to attribute the title of Messiah to this carpenter from Nazareth. The Judaizers hated Him and wanted Him dead. They would shortly get their wish, because Jesus would soon be crucified upon Golgotha.

The modern-day religionists and those who hate the name of Jesus Christ, because He represents to them a narrow-minded way of righteous living to which they will not conform, are doing all within their power to keep the people of the nation from seeing Jesus as the Savior of the world. The name of Jesus is suppressed at every level they can manage to influence.

Luke recorded Jesus’ words to the God-despisers of those times–those who had a form of godliness but denied the power thereof: “And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.” (Luke 19:40).

Jesus is again about to interject His majestic presence into this Christ-rejecting world. It seems to me that nature is shouting, “Hosanna!”

A time is coming, according to Bible prophecy, when the world will experience the most powerful leader to have ever lived upon the planet. He will far surpass in military capability any president of the United States of America who has yet held the reins of power.

The people of planet earth will literally become awestruck as they witness his exploits. The prophecy regarding the amazement over this future military man-marvel is seen in the following:

And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? (Revelation 13: 4)

We have looked many times at this future tyrant John calls through Holy Spirit Inspiration “the beast.”

He is the first of two beasts that John, through his Revelation vision, sees coming into world history. This beast will make his appearance during the period Daniel the prophet indicated will be the seventieth week that will wrap up premillennial human history. That will be the last seven years leading up to the return of Christ at Armageddon (Revelation 19:11). We know him better, perhaps, as Antichrist.

It is good to think for a bit on that Scripture about this man-beast. The Bible says the question will be asked by the populations of the world–who will actually worship him: Who is able to make war with him?”

In other words, it will look to everyone who witnesses Antichrist’s military exploits and other miraculous accomplishments that he is a god. It will appear, the prophecy says immediately preceding the question, that he is killed by a wound in his head and comes back to life. This is obviously, from our understanding and perspective today, a false resurrection. However, the world at that time of great delusion won’t see it that way.

The question “Who can make war with him?” will be one asked with mesmerized stares of eyes more glazed and glistening than were those as recorded on the black-and-white films of Hitler’s worshipers during the 1930s.

There is no such leader with that kind of power anywhere in view today. There are many, many military leaders and their armies who can and do make war with anyone and everyone in this present geopolitical climate. That future beast will be indeed an animal of unprecedented military capability and authority.

Besides the United States military–still the most feared on the planet despite the current president’s efforts to, in my view, greatly diminish its strength–Russia and China continue to build tremendous war-making machines. Iran, Turkey, and others constantly aspire to more powerful militaries. There will have to occur massive changes in the military power structures of the world to bring about this singular most monstrous war-making leader, against whom no one is thought to be able to fight.

We often conjecture about what happens to the United States. Why isn’t it in Bible prophecy? If there, it certainly is in a greatly changed configuration, because its military is nowhere in sight, prophetically speaking.

We believe that the militaries of Russia, China, and many others, such as Iran and Turkey, are in prophetic view. We believe we see many of these within the Gog-Magog assault into the Middle East toward Israel as given in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.

Our own view within the pre-Trib camp concerning the Rapture holds that the great changes needed to reconfigure things in alignment with end times Bible prophecy will unfold during the post-Rapture era. At least, that is my understanding at this point in time.

After that great Rapture event, the United States might fit into being aligned with those nation-entities that stand on the sideline as the Gog-Magog attack begins and simply make a diplomatic protest.

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

At any rate, the coalition that assaults into the Holy Land environs will be powerful, and unopposed–by human agencies, that is. God, of course, will completely destroy all but one-sixth of that Gog-Magog army in that future attack. After that destruction, only the great “kings of the East” juggernaut will remain as a force with which to be reckoned.

So, how does the great beast of Revelation 13 accumulate such awesome strength as to have the whole world ask: “Who is able to make war with him?”

In my own cogitations upon the matter–and it is supposition to be sure–there is somehow a dividing line set between the occidental and oriental worlds. This is true to this point in history, I think. But, in that day there seems to be a supernatural demarcation–the Euphrates River or thereabouts. When it is “dried up” as given in Revelation chapter 16, the kings of the East–led no doubt by China–will invade at the time of Armageddon, it seems. At that time the demons appointed especially for that moment will be released from their holding places and will supernaturally indwell those hordes from the orient. These will kill one-third of earth’s inhabitants, the prophecy tells us. However, all of this will happen later, at the very end of the Tribulation–Daniel’s seventieth week.

At that earlier time of the Gog-Magog attack, I believe that Antichrist, resident within the nations who will send a note of protest (Ezekiel 38:13), will understand Bible prophecy to the point that he will think slyly to let the Gog-Magog forces go to their destruction by the God of Heaven. He will then move into the military power vacuum and build his mighty army–an army supernaturally enhanced by the dark powers of Satan.

Again, it is the view of most who hold to the pre-Trib view of the Rapture and to pre-Millennialism that this beast–Antichrist–is to come out of the geographical area now known as the European Union. He will come from the people who were at the heart of the ancient Roman Empire -the people who destroyed Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple in AD 70. I do not believe the beast will be a Muslim, although I do believe his ethnic make-up will be from the area of ancient Assyria. He will, nonetheless, I’m convinced, have been born and raised in the area of Europe, likely somewhere near Rome.

Today there is movement toward beginning a military establishment in that very region. The following excerpt is interesting in that regard.

The leaders of the Czech Republic and Hungary say a “joint European army” is needed to bolster security in the EU.

They were speaking ahead of talks in Warsaw with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. They dislike her welcome for Muslim migrants from outside the EU.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said “we must give priority to security, so let’s start setting up a joint European army”.

The UK government has strongly opposed any such moves outside Nato’s scope.

The Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Slovak leaders are coordinating their foreign policy as the “Visegrad Group.” (“Czechs and Hungarians call for EU army amid security worries,” BBC News, 8/27/16)

With the UK (Britain, possibly “the merchants of Tarsish”) leaving the EU in the so-called Brexit, the way might be clear to generate great interest in such a powerful military–absent NATO–as the beast can one day build upon. One thing sure, such a military monster will one day be constructed.

It will take the Lord Himself, returning from Heaven with the saints of glory, to bring Antichrist’s ability to make war to an end. Thankfully, Jesus Christ will do so. I believe our Lord will end the beast’s war-making capability with the same words He used that day on the stormy Sea of Galilee. “Peace. Be still.”

Even so, come Lord Jesus.

The G-20 meets occasionally to try to reach some degree of consensus on how to globally govern the rest of us. The phrase “some degree,” in combination with the word “consensus,” in my view, constitutes what is known as a non sequitur, or nonstarter. The sentiment, thus expressed, does not follow. Consensus is just that–consensus; i.e., it strongly implies harmony without substantial opinion to the contrary.

In international community diplomatic parlance, however, “some degree” is as close to consensus as it gets. And, this quandary is at the heart of the distress and perplexity world leaders face in trying to govern the rest of us in a global way. Globalism–as it has always been attempted–has been an abject failure. The contentiousness is just too great when efforts are made to get the nations of the world to agree on anything, much less on things as monumental as creating a one-world order. All such monolithic projects have failed miserably since the Babel builders saw their attempt at world order under one man, more or less, come crashing down when God destroyed the tower under construction and scattered the would-be, new-world-order masters and their subjects to different locations around the world (Genesis 11). There simply is no consensus in the matter of globalism.

The individual egos among world leaders are themselves monumental–as titanic as the tower of that Genesis 11 account. The lyrics in a country song sum up the gargantuan egos of today’s national leaderships: They are “legends in their own minds.”

Because of the pride and arrogance–not to mention the greed and lust–rampant within so many countries, neither consensus nor anything close to it can ever be reached to produce a single, governing global entity. Yet those of us who study God’s prophetic word believe there is ultimately to be a global order under one dictator, the man of sin, the Antichrist.

Since there can never be harmony on a worldwide scale that will bring order like that indicated in Revelation 13:16-18, how will the beast’s regime come to fulfillment? While thinking on such things, I was struck with the realization–upon reading an article by my friend Wilfred Hahn—that globalism is, itself, a non sequitur, a nonstarter.

Hahn, an expert on global economic matters whose articles appear on Rapture Ready, wrote the following, quoting Moisés Naím, the well-known former editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy magazine and former executive director of the World Bank:

When was the last time you heard that a large number of countries agreed to a major international accord on a pressing issue? Not in more than a decade.… These failures represent not only the perpetual lack of international consensus, but also a flawed obsession with multilateralism as the panacea for all the world’s ills. It has become far too dangerous to continue to rely on large-scale multilateral negotiations that stopped yielding results almost two decades ago. So what is to be done? To start, let’s forget about trying to get the planet’s nearly two hundred countries to agree. We need to abandon that fool’s errand in favor of a new idea: minilateralism. By minilateralism, I mean a smarter, more targeted approach: We should bring to the table the smallest possible number of countries needed to have the largest possible impact on solving a particular problem. (Wilfred Hahn, ” The Bible on the Next World Leader,” Eternal Value Review, www.eternalvalue.com)

This recommended minilateralist approach seems to precisely foreshadow the global configuration that will vault Antichrist to his dictatorship and sustain his power. It will be constructed by the principalities the apostle Paul exposes as recorded in Ephesians 6:12. We see this global arrangement for the climax of history just prior to Christ’s return in the following scriptural passage: “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast” (Revelation 17:12-13).

Since the prideful human power wielders will never easily come to consensus on governing on a worldwide basis, the most powerful dictator ever to be upon planet earth will use his demonic force of will to wrest control from the holdouts.

After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. (Daniel 7:8-9)

Watching the G-20 in action –or perhaps watching the inaction of the G-20 would be more appropriate terminology– makes ever more obvious that the minilateral approach is likely the methodology that will be used by the powers and principalities of Ephesians 6:12 to bring about Satan’s final form of globalism.

America is more and more experiencing what citizenry in Britain has been going through for some time. The assault on U.S. privacy has been undergoing a metamorphosis for decades, but until very recently, the barriers have seemed to at least hold back unbridled Big Brotherism in this nation.

One journalist reported from England in a chapter for one of my books:

If you want to be a film star, come to Britain. We’re all on camera. All you have to do is walk through any town or drive down any road and you are watched, filmed, and monitored. When my wife, Pat, and I tour America , we feel neglected because the roadside cameras are no longer ever-present—not yet. As the world moves towards a “Big Brother” society beyond the nightmares of author George Orwell, who predicted a world in which the state watched everyone in his 1948 classic novel, 1984, it is like we are inmates of a high-tech prison. Big Brother really is watching us in Europe. The rest of the world is not far behind. (Alan Franklin, “Big Brother is Watching,” The Departure).

It seems that now Alan and Pat won’t be sensing that they are neglected when they come to America. Strides are being made–in the name of commerce—to make sure that we are all on Candid Camera.

We have been listening to the debate for some time now about the drones that have spied on, then, in some cases, hunted down and taken out high-priority terrorist targets in some places in the Middle East. Now, the drones are being seen and reported more and more in the homeland. U.S. Senator Rand Paul, some years ago warned that such surveillance is becoming akin to violating the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. That’s the one that, in part, prohibits illegal searches and seizures of private citizens and their properties.

One story around the time Sen. Paul issued the warning  outlined the technology’s invasive nature.

Planes able to photograph sunbathers in their back gardens are being deployed by Google and Apple. The U.S. technology giants are racing to produce aerial maps so detailed they can show up objects just four inches wide. But campaigners say the technology is a sinister development that brings the surveillance society a step closer. Hyper-real: 3D mapping services used by C3 Technologies (as purchased by Apple) will form the main part of the software giant’s new mapping service. Google admits it has already sent planes over cities while Apple has acquired a firm using spy-in-the-sky technology that has been tested on at least 20 locations, including London. Apple’s military-grade cameras are understood to be so powerful they could potentially see into homes through skylights and windows. The technology is similar to that used by intelligence agencies in identifying terrorist targets in Afghanistan. (Vanessa Allen, “Software Giants Will Use Military-Grade Cameras to Take Powerful Satellite Images,” Rapture Ready News, 07:04)

People have embraced their satellite-to-vehicle capabilities in searching out locations while traveling. Browsers on the Internet love sometimes taking the virtual tours down the streets of cities throughout the nation. The convenience and entertainment presented by technology continues their desensitizing effects on the American public to the dangers inherent in such surveillance advances.

Homeland security agencies–which have proliferated since 9/11 and the radical Islamist attacks—seem oblivious to complaints that they are becoming increasingly invasive. It is troubling, although thoroughly fascinating, to witness how global control, long ago prophesied by the only source who knows the end from the beginning, is coming to fulfillment in our time.

It is no longer difficult to imagine how Antichrist and his regime of absolute control will have the technological facilities to keep tabs on every victim during the Tribulation. Developments in the global monetary world are moving along the necessity of bringing about that end-times system of control. The powers that be must find a way to make all conform to a singular methodology in transacting business. There must be a completely changed economic order in order to establish even a modicum of stability to a world gone mad in terms of economic insanity.

Satan moves malevolently on the minds of mankind, as the apostle Paul told us: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).

All people of planet earth must be made to cooperate with the regulations the powers dictate. This means everyone must be observed at all times, which is where this is all leading.In my view, this is the major reason for the surging surveillance society we are considering here.

Reports of atrocities coming out of Syria are reminders of the ongoing rage of man against man. We live in a world headed for a time in which God must deal in judgment with planet earth. We get an inkling of what faces the cities of this world with the declaration found in the book of God’s most terrible judgment. “And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath” (Revelation 16:19).

The great commercial center at the time of that judgment will suffer as perhaps no city or people have ever suffered, when God’s cup of wrath is full, and He gives it to Babylon to drink. Jesus Himself said it would be the most terrible time in human history–and that’s saying something! This earth has been witness to regimes that have dealt so fiercely with their peoples that we sometimes wonder how the Creator of all things could have allowed such treatment.

The Lord has acted at times to judge the murderous governments throughout history, of course. The Third Reich is an example. Hitler’s Reich was to last a thousand years, but lasted barely twelve, and is today looked upon as among the most heinous–certainly considered the most horrendous of the modern era. Yet there are elements among us that view the Nazi regime as a good idea, particularly because of the way that government treated the Jews.

Syria’s present tyrant-ruler is one such admirer of the Nazi attitude toward God’s chosen people. Like all Muslim states of the radical sort–and it’s difficult to find one that isn’t radical—the brutal Syrian dictatorship of Bashar Al-Assad, successor to his father, Hafez Al-Assad, hates Jews with satanic passion and has Israel in its crosshairs for annihilation. For this reason, it can be said with certainty that, barring repentance, the Syrian leader and his ilk are in for some very rough times indeed. God’s Word says about the people of earth and their treatment of Abraham’s progeny: “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:3).

But, it is not the Jews alone that the Syrian dictator comes against with luciferian anger. He slaughters anyone who would defy his self-anointed right to rule with an iron fist of oppression. He is doing so with abandon these days, even in the face of pressure –although milquetoast pressure—by the international community.

The world of opposition to what’s going on in Damascus and surrounding area is of the spineless sort because of threats from Russia and China. Putin and the Chinese leadership have made it clear that any military action to put Assad out of power will be met with Russian and Chinese force. It is much like in the cold-war days when the Soviets and the Maoists held the nuclear threat over the heads of the world’s diplomatic community.

As the death tolls rise with Assad’s military murdering people in plain view, yet blaming the opposition rebel forces of perpetrating the killings, the international community wrings its collective hands and seems totally unable and unwilling to take action that would truly cause the raging to cease in the region.

Satanic/demonic influence, with ISIS and other forces wreaking havoc on innocents, driving refugees along with terrorists to Europe and other places presents dangers the world has only begun to suffer.

There seems no chance of a Jonah-Nineveh sort of repentance by Assad and his ruling henchmen. We can say with certainty, then, that God’s judgment is on its way to Syria. But, it’s not just the fact that God will judge anyone who hates Abraham’s seed, or that judgment will come because of the obvious sins of the regime in murdering the Syrian people. We can know with certainty God’s judgment is coming because of the prophecy, with which most Bible prophecy students are familiar.

“Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap” (Isaiah 17:1). Damascus’ cup of wrath is about to be poured by the mighty hand of God. But, lest the rest of the world think this city that harbors most every Islamist terrorist organization that is blood-vowed to destroy Israel is alone in the prophetic promise to drink of that cup of wrath, consider again the following forewarning to all cities of earth: “And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath” (Revelation 16:19).

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu consistently insists Jerusalem will never be parted for the cause of peace negotiations. Despite his playing to the news cameras and to the international community diplomatic forces trying to force the Jewish state to divide the city where Jesus was crucified, when push comes to shove, Netanyahu says a resounding “NO” to Jerusalem being divided.

The prime minister has, as pointed out before, learned to talk the talk in playing the game to agree on matters of forging some sort of a peace. This is a trick long utilized by former terrorist and PLO head Yasser Arafat and most other Islamists when it comes to seeming to agree to move ahead with peace, but always changing some things at just the right time in the process to prevent negotiations from ever actually coming to fruition. Netanyahu, however, makes no bones about the status of Jerusalem in his thinking.

He said, upon becoming prime minister the first time around: “I will never allow Jerusalem to be divided again. Never! Never! We will keep Jerusalem united and … we will never surrender those ramparts… Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel for 3,000 years since the time of King David and we don’t expect to change that for the next 3,000 years!”

His consistent position, despite all of his jockeying to produce sound bites on occasion that make it seem he’s for doing most anything to bring about peace for the region, is as firm as ever. Netanyahu’s position with regard to Jerusalem is unchanged. As time has gone on, he has made his thoughts even more adamant about Jerusalem and what he considers the most vital matter involved in keeping the city undivided.

He continues to say that whoever proposes that giving up the heart of Jerusalem-the Temple Mount-will bring peace, is fatally mistaken. He declared that taking the Temple Mount out of Israeli hands, would bring decline, and even more horrendous radical Islam in the region and in the world…

Netanyahu has said, “Only under Israeli control, will this accessibility… and freedom of religion continue… The Temple Mount is in our hands and … it shall remain in our hands.”

Netanyahu’s assessment of the vital importance of the Temple Mount is far more profound than even he realizes, I suspect. If I might be so bold, I refer to my own writing on the matter, written some years ago.

Mt. Moriah sits at the southern end of the ancient city, crested by a golden dome that represents hundreds of millions whose religion demands of its adherents’ blood-vowed opposition to God’s chosen nation, Israel. This is the place God picked to have His temple on earth constructed. It is the precise location where the third temple will sit, the temple that will be desecrated by Antichrist, earth’s last and most beastly tyrant. Even more importantly, the Temple Mount will be the home of Christ’s Millennial Temple. Moriah, then to be known as Zion, will be supernaturally elevated by the tremendous topographical changes caused when the Lord’s foot touches the Mount of Olives at His return.

Diplomats of the world have, for the past four decades, engaged in effort after effort to bring stability to the region, at whose heart the city of Jerusalem sits. We remember the many jetting’s to and from Washington DC, Jerusalem, and other capitals of the Mideast. From Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Madeleine Albright, and Colin Powell to Condoleezza Rice.

America’s secretaries of state have burned mega-gallons of jet fuel in trying to find the formula for peace that would defuse the Armageddon bomb. And, the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, immediately upon resigning, was named by the so-called “Quartet” (US, EU, UN and Russia) as the overseer of continuing efforts toward constructing Mideast peace, which has eluded mankind for thousands of years…

To be even more specific about the importance of the temple mount, here is what one of the foremost Christian Hebrew scholars, Arnold Fruchtenbaum, tells us.

The significance of Israel’ s reinstituting the Sanhedrin may be another event that leaves in place the possibility of how the Lord will work out His will with His people. Almost sixty years after a 1900-year absence, the nation of Israel came into existence. Jewish people from the four corners of the world have made Aliyah to live in the Land. The Temple Institute in Jerusalem has reconstructed the instruments for Jewish Temple worship; Jewish men determined to be descendants of Aaron, known as the Kohanim, are being trained in ritual practices to serve as Temple priests; and now we have the establishment of an authoritative body to speak to the nation of Israel on matters of Jewish religion. This is significant in light of such passages as Zechariah 12:10 and Hosea 5:15, which speak of a time when the people of Israel will be led into the acceptance of Jesus as their Messiah. The existence of a religious authority for the entire nation will facilitate the multitudes coming to faith. (Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Ariel Ministries Newsletter, Fall/Winter, 2004)

Make no mistake, the Temple Mount–Mount Moriah—is the burdensome stone that Zechariah the prophet foretold: “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).

Get Ready!

Watchmen on the wall should be alert as never before. It is becoming clearer by the day. The self-appointed governing elitists of planet earth are using the slothful inclination of fallen mankind as fuel for the engine of their drive toward a new world order.

We witness time after time the bringing down by angry voters European leaders who aren’t totally sold out to the socialistic promises of something for nothing–or at least many handouts for very little work in return by the citizenry of the nations they serve. We thereby begin to understand the means by which the Antichrist regime will eventuate. Chaos in the streets translates to first untenable, unsustainable promises by elected politicians to quell the unrest. Then, eventually, an absolute iron fist of control as forecast in Revelation 13:16-18 will be used to bludgeon resisters into submission to the beast-state.

One blog pundit recently interviewed an insider to the world economic elite. I’m not certain about the multibillionaire interviewee’s position within the global economic order of things, but his commentary in answering seems to indicate he sees great danger in the machinations of his peers who are part of the new tower of Babel builders.

Multi-billionaire Hugo Salinas Price told the blogger news service interviewer that the globalists elite plan to control the world. Now, that’s not a surprise to biblical prophecy watchmen. We of the literal view of Bible prophecy who comment on such matters have written countless times about this plan. We have done so, resisting the conspiracy-theorist mentality that tends to set dates and name names as if we were Old Testament prophets. The observations from a globalist insider, on the other hand, present possibilities too fascinating to resist reporting. Salinas told his interviewer that the globalists’ plan to completely rebuild the world order into a new one is a disturbing fact as time moves forward. He said:

“The problems we are seeing in the West are not going to be resolved in any positive way. What we have had in the West, in recent decades, has been the welfare state. The welfare state is, in my view, what I would call, “socialism light.” We’ve had “socialism light” and now we’re going to transition to full-blown socialism… [It is these] elite, who do not want to give up their control. The furtherance of their control lies in socialism.

“I think this comes from a central idea that has possessed the imagination of the world. It’s the idea that authority comes from below. In other words, that authority comes from the people. This idea of authority from the will of the people is a myth of our civilization…

“I’m just saying that those who control the world know they have to curry the favor of the people. To do this they went the way of the welfare state, and democracy to give people the fiction they (the people) are in control. Well, they are not and never have been.” (Eric King, Billionaire Hugo Salinas Price – Elites Plan to Control the World, KingWorldNews.com)

To watchmen on the wall, it is increasingly clear that what Mr. Salinas reports is based in truth. And it is easy to observe that America is in the cross hairs of those who are targeting the United States for the new world order methodologies with regard to bringing about the ever-increasing welfare state. This nation is on the fast track to becoming the completely changed nation Barack Obama promised during his first presidential campaign.

Added to the continuing push to garner ever-increasing votes through pandering to welfare recipients –and I mean those who “won’t” work, not those who “can’t” work—is the deliberate stirring of America’s malcontents. The Black Lives Matter, and other groups that are basically thugs for hire who foment chaos, in combination with feeding the welfare discontent with trillions of out of control, printing press dollars, constitute a deadly formula designed to bring America down. The purpose is so that Satan can bring in his long-desired one-world order over which Antichrist will reign for a time.

The United states is the hold-up. As the lone national entity still strong enough to resist the subduing of national sovereignty in order to make all people under one, central, authority world-wide, the globalist elite, under Satan’s authority whether they know it or not, must destroy America as it currently exists. The U.S. dollar must be taken away as the prime currency to which all others are in one way or another inextricably linked. Revelation 13: 16-18 outlines Satan’s ultimate plan in this regard.