One can sense the dark, coalescing thoughts that are going on within the 2016 presidential election cabals. No, I’m not talking about the U.S. presidential election smoke-filled, back-room wheeling and dealing. Rather, I refer to the intrigues that are no doubt presently taking place in the political chambers of Moscow. A very interesting Russian politician we all know about sits snugly ensconced within the seat of power at the Kremlin. He is no doubt contemplating the implications of the U.S. presidential election just ahead. Mysterious doings revolve around this self-promoting, sixty- something year-old former KGB officer with his ongoing macho performances, both actual and of questionable credibility.

We remember his photo ops on the shores of the Black Sea and other places where he proudly displayed his six-pack abs. Then, there is the story where he single-handedly dove into the depths of some body of water, then came up with hands full of treasure–treasure that no one, not even professional marine salvage crews were previously able to find.

Vladimir Putin seems to wield uncontested power at a time when all prophetic signs seem to be converging. There is little observable opposition to his power-brokering and manipulations, either officially or unofficially. It is as if his is a predestined leadership imperative for his most prophetically significant nation.

One billionaire Russian once accused Putin of trying to reprise a system at least somewhat similar to the Soviet Union, and opposed Putin’s ruling plans. One wonders what ever happened to the poor fellow. Such opposition is no longer allowed, it is obvious, considering the recent track records of those who opposed ol’ Vlad. Many of these are in gulag–or are no longer among the living.

This man who so dominates the news coming out of the country that many of us who observe prophetic movement believe will be the nation that will lead the Gog-Magog attack of Ezekiel 38-39 looks more and more like he could fulfill the Gog role. Putin’s thinking about Russia’s future differs from the old, Soviet model in some significant ways, according to his actions and reactions to events of recent times.

i find it particularly fascinating that His thought seems not necessarily to be bent toward taking over nations surrounding Russia, but in sucking those nations into an inescapable fiscal orbit.

One story from the years preceding his re-taking the reins of power in Russia speculated on his vision for empire building.

Vladimir Putin has a vision for a Soviet Union-like he hopes will become a new Moscow-led global powerhouse. But, his planned Eurasian Union won’t be grounded in ideology: This time it’s about trade. The concept of regional economic integration may be losing some of its allure in Europe, where a debt crisis is threatening the existence of the Eurozone. But some countries across the former Soviet Union, still struggling economically 20 years after becoming independent, are embracing Putin’s grand ambition… In anticipation of a new six-year term as president, Putin has made forming a Eurasian Union by 2015 a foreign policy priority. He is promoting the union as necessary for Russia and its neighbors to compete in the modern global economy. His broader goal is to restore some of Moscow’s economic and political clout across former Soviet space and thus strengthen Russia’s position in the world. (Peter Leonard, Associated Press, ” Russia’s Putin Dreams of Sweeping Eurasian Union,” 1/3/12)

Mr. Putin’s thought, obviously, was to convince those he hopes to lure within his orbit that great economic gain is a possibility in such a coalition as he proposes to put together. While his plans have not materialized in the altogether peaceful manner he gave for public consumption, his machinations, using economic manipulation, threat, and actual military force continue his drive toward hegemony within his sphere of influence. This kind of thinking, of course, might just be the nucleus around which could be built a much more ambitious and volatile plan of action. Might that plan include a future invasion to the south as outlined in the Ezekiel 38-39 prophecy?

Certainly, that prophecy indicates an ambitious and volatile plan of action following the Magog coalition leader’s “evil thought” of Ezekiel 38:10-12. Until relatively recently, Israel has had little prospect for great wealth of the sort indicated in this prophecy that would entice such a thought or action by enemies to the north. Oh, there has long been talk of great mineral wealth in the Dead Sea, which is within the territory of the tiny nation of Israel today. But there seems to be little interest of Israel’s enemies in those very uncertain riches. But, such wealth as would be sufficiently enticing to provoke that future “Gog” to think to attack Israel has appeared on the prophetic horizon–in my view, at least.

First, vast natural gas deposits have been discovered just off Israel’s coast, within their territorial waters. Secondly, there are new and, some believe, tremendously large oil deposits within the area of territorial dispute –that of Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights.

While the oil reserves continue to be matters of volatile contention between nations, will the genius that God has placed within the progeny of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob leap to the forefront of petroleum technology and produce the “spoil” that will provoke Gog to bring his coalition down over the mountains of Israel? This is a developing story to which every watchmen of Bible prophecy should pay attention.

Upon clicking through the religious channels at any given hour of the day–and there are many on my AT&T Uverse set up–there are certain catchphrases I hear consistently.

The most prominent, I’ve found, is the term “plant a seed.” Another is “seed faith brings harvest.” The phraseology is issued forth by the prosperity propagandists, as I term them. These invariably twist and convolute scriptural truth in pursuit of their gullible followers’ contributions.

While there is usually a “seed” of factuality in their pontification that claims planting financial seeds will bring increase, the whoppers I’ve heard some of these “preachers” tell are far beyond anything promised in God’s Word.

For example, I heard not long ago one man with whom most would be familiar because of his constant presence on the fund-raisers say that he once sowed $100,000 into a ministry. This greatly pained him at the time because of his amazement that the Lord would “tell” him to do such a thing.

He complied, despite his pain, and the result was a return of $100 million within a month or so. That’s right. The man said he received $100 million for his $100,000 seed.

That was the only reference I’ve heard to this phenomenal “harvest,” so I presume this sort of return isn’t all that unusual in the prosperity circles…or else such claims are just part of the pitch. Looks like, though, that this amazing sort of miracle return on investment should have made the financial news or something.

Another phrase the prosperity preachers are prone to issue on a rather regular basis is that, in the name of Jesus, they “bind Satan.”

Now, this is even more amazing than the $100,000 being turned into $100 million within a month. This implies not a promise based upon biblical return for faith in planting a financial seed, but claims for any human being who is a Christian direct, supernatural power to completely paralyze almost certainly the most powerful being God ever created.

There have been books sold by the hundreds of thousands telling of how this “binding” can be done. Most all of the prosperity ministries hold this teaching close to their statements of faith. This is often a declaration I’ve heard made as a reward for one ministry or the other receiving a large “seed faith” contribution. The on-air person will declare that he or she binds Satan in Jesus’ name for the benefit of the contributor.

Only–I can find no place in Scripture where Christians can “bind Satan.” The old serpent certainly doesn’t seem to be bound these days–does he?

The Bible tells us: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5: 8).

There is no chain on our adversary, according to God’s Word. There is restraint, to be sure, upon the old devil’s activity, but that comes from one source and one source only. The Bible reports the following incident, which gives clue to this restraint on our great enemy.

“Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee” (Jude 1: 9).

There will come a time when a chain will be used to bind Satan. We learn of this future binding in the following account which is prophecy yet future:

“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season” (Revelation 20:1-3).

So, that we can “bind Satan” is a false teaching. But, we are confronted constantly by the serpent and his minions. Here is the Scripture that tells about this constant confrontation. How then, can we deal with this powerful enemy in the biblically-prescribed way? God’s Word has the answer, of course.

First, we are told how to deal directly with that roaring lion–the devil.

“Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world” (1 Peter 5: 9).

We are to do certain things to prepare for this “resistance” against that old serpent, the devil. Here are our instructions:

“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:11-17).

We as God’s children cannot and must not claim to “bind Satan.” This is the most powerful instruction for the battle in which we find ourselves the nearer we get to Christ’s call to His Church.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4: 7).

Years ago I wrote the following:

Global economic chaos is driving the distress and perplexity of the nations of planet earth. The words of the greatest of all prophets, Jesus Christ, echo in cavernous reverberation with each succeeding news report from the capitals of earth’s monetary centers. “And there shall be…upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring” (Luke 21:25b).

Jesus’ Olivet Discourse spoke to conditions exponentially moved beyond norms. In other words, the “distress” and “perplexity” that nations will be experiencing as His Second Coming nears will be beyond any ever known by people of earth. And, in biblical terms, “seas and waves” refer to the masses of peoples. Jesus said that because there will be unprecedented distress and perplexity among the nations, the peoples populating those nations will be “roaring.”

“Distress of nations, with perplexity” has ratcheted up exponentially, since the time of that assessment. The bottom line is more than ever one that projects that America and the other nations of the planet have moved beyond critical mass, as far as reaching the point where economic implosion should have occurred is concerned. Observers of the prophetic times have concluded that only the staying hand of God prevents that inevitable collapse.

Yet, distinctive cracks are developing in the global economic structures. Those cracks are harbingers of things to come. The governmental heads of Greece and Italy have been symbolically lopped off by the European Union (EU) leadership, who are themselves largely unelected by Europe’s peoples. And, those peoples are becoming like “seas and waves roaring,” as Christ’s prophetic words would have it. The results of the incentive-crippling, socialistic economic model that most governments of Europe have for decades employed have come home to roost.

The inability due to Italy’s and Greece’s leaders to stick to strict austerity agendas brought the wrath of the economic powers elite down on them. The European bankers’ inner circle is blamed or credited–depending upon one’s view—for engineering the quasi-coup d’état. The action has thrown the whole of Europe into uncertainty as to what comes next. It is “distress…with perplexity” of the first order. Even Germany, the most stable of the European states, is feeling the pressures of the budding EU dictatorship–the banking money powers— in their demand that all of Europe conforms to their emerging new economic order.

America moves headlong down the same pathway as Europe. Economic cataclysm hangs like the Sword of Damocles over the heads of U.S. and state governments and those of the banking industry. While America’s people are for the most part still law-abiding and want to restore economic tranquility in a peaceful manner, leftist elements are doing all within their power to bring the seas and waves to a roaring state of self-destructiveness. The mainstream media seems determined to do all within its collective power to assist in the movement to rev up anarchy in this nation.

While forces here are determined to bring the United States into a new economic order just as forces in Europe are doing the same over there, it is vital to notice the difference between the two forces at work. It was the leftist-socialistic governance that operated in Europe for decades that drove it to bankruptcy. Now, it is a rightist movement that is demanding austerity and an almost fascist form of governance determined to save Europe.

In America, we are witnessing a Marxist-Leninist-style attempt from the political left to bring new economic order in the form of the current presidential administration as it strives to bring about socialism to this country. The effort has succeeded on a level beyond even that which destroyed the USSR. By that, I mean it has succeeded more profoundly than the dynamics that destroyed the former Soviet Union, because we are now more than $19 trillion in debt–an amount the Soviets could not have imagined.

Two political ideologies, working at changing the world in their parts of the globe, move toward each other from opposite directions. It is an amazing thing to behold! The so-called super committee, appointed years ago to find creative new ways to cut trillions of dollars from federal spending in the U.S., dramatically presents the degree of “distress, with perplexity” that is front and center on today’s prophetic landscape. They failed miserably, as if by design. No cuts were agreed to by anyone.

The “seas and waves” (the discontented and malcontents who are in the process of uprising against any suggestion of cutting social programs) threaten to desert and/or vote out politicians who cut off their handout lifestyles. More than this, threatened anarchy and destruction of inner cities simmers at the fear centers of our political leaders’ thinking.

Those leaders thus help generate and incubate the “distress and perplexity” of these troubling times. They choose to placate their political power bases rather than to transcend selfish ambition. They choose the path of least resistance–the one to destruction–rather than working toward securing the blessings of liberty and promoting the general welfare of their nation, which each has pledged to do.

As disheartening as the “distress and perplexity”–now so evident–are, Jesus’ words have never resonated more clearly: “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28).

Those of us who examine world issues and events of our time from a pre-trib eschatological viewpoint consistently pronounced that the uprisings that began years ago in the Middle East would result in an expansion of Islamist control over the region. Mainstream news pundits of the secular ilk proclaimed it a great day for democracy’s spreading among the tyrant-laden nations of the Middle East. Mainstream religionists, at the same time–including, sadly, many of the neo-evangelical sort such as Saddleback’s Rick Warren— declared it a new day for all faiths to come together in peace and understanding. The Arab Spring, as it is now known, was to bring in a kind of Mideast utopia, it was gleefully expected by the uprising’s cheerleaders.

Soon Egypt’s president-dictator, Hosni Mubarak, was forced out as the nations surrounding Israel on three sides fell one by one into the hands of peoples that are under the control of…well…that’s another matter into which we will have to have a look. No matter what news network or outlet, the talk was at the time centered on something peaceful and good coming out of the so-called Arab Spring. The movement was a supposedly righteous rebellion to oust dictators that would bring the installation of democracy to most if not all of the nations in the region that has been the most volatile on earth since Israel was reborn in 1948.

But a funny thing happened on the way to all of that promised freedom to choose.

We have watched and reported on the unrest that began those years ago, including the disastrous Egyptian election that resulted. Since December 18, 2010, there have been revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt; a civil war in Libya; civil uprisings in Bahrain, Syria, and Yemen. Major protests were launched in Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, and Oman, as well as on the borders of Israel. There were protests in Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Western Sahara.

Moammar Gadhafi of Libya has met his fate, and Bashar al-Assad perhaps faces the same in Syria, as the Islamist uprisings build toward a fever pitch in that tyrant’s kingdom. It is interesting that Satan has trouble controlling his own diabolist minions within the Mideast madness, even as some rebellious leaders infesting Christianity fight against the good the God of heaven wants to get done during this dispensation. Of course, this shouldn’t surprise. The fomenter of both incendiary actions is one and the same.

In the case of things going on in the Israel-hating nations that surround the tiny Jewish state, the fingerprints are obvious. The same satanic general that instigated and carried out warfare in high places during the prophet Daniel’s time has been turned loose today to stir the boiling Middle East cauldron. His most visible involvement is evidenced within the Islamist fury that rages under the guise of democracy on the move. The most overt evidence of the immediate danger this general poses is the nuclear threat Iran presents against Israel.

The whole region is being prepared –the stage set– for the Gog-Magog attack against God’s chosen people. It has been both amazing and, in a way, somewhat gratifying to see Russia being drawn into the Syrian/ISIS/Syrian rebel conflict. I say it is “gratifying,” because God’s prophetic Word is coming alive day by day in all of these doings. We are privileged to be here, at this time in history, to see His Truth unveiling. Plus, it all means the Rapture must indeed be near.

Jesus said in His days of Noah, days of Lot prophecy of Matthew 24: 36-42 and Luke 17: 26-30 that things will be going along in a relative business-as-usual manner when He next catastrophically Intervenes into human History.

When the Gog-Magog attack occurs, it will be world-rending in many ways. It won’t be business as usual as Jesus said will be the case when He comes for His Church.

Therefore, we can believe with confidence that the Rapture is near, if we are witnessing the build-up for that Gog-Magog assault. And, there isn’t any doubt in this observer’s thinking that we are witnessing that build-up.

Some believe that the attack might occur almost simultaneously with Christ calling His Church in the Rapture, and I think this is very possible, if not likely.

One thing sure, the prince of Persia (Daniel 10:20) is on the loose in these last of the last days.

These commentaries have for months been devoted in large measure to examining the building economic bubble that threatens to bring about worldwide cataclysm. I have written on, for example, things like the crisis involving collapsing currencies around the world, which is feared to be creating irreparable cracks in global financial structures.

Things stand out starkly.

• I am amazed that the economic bubble hasn’t burst;
• I believe that the longer the crises build, the greater will be the explosion;
• I maintain that only the staying hand of God has thus far prevented it from bursting; and
• I am of the opinion that it will likely be the Rapture of the church that will pop that bubble.

I was under the illusion that second only to Israel’s position at the center of world controversy; the impending global economic catastrophe has to be the next most profound signal of how near the very end of the age this generation finds us. Jesus, of course, didn’t first specifically mention either Israel or the global economy as being the most significant signs of His return when His disciples asked Him directly. He did, however, mention the subject of this commentary: “And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3).

The Lord described a number of things that would be on the world scene at the time He would return to planet earth–or at least above the earth. Among the first signals He mentioned are in the following: “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” (Matthew 24:6-7a).

As prophetically stunning as Israel being at stage-center is the global economic cataclysm looming above this rebellious, judgment-bound planet. The sudden proliferation of potentially world-rending military conflicts on the prophetic horizon is equally astonishing. “Rumors of war” are literally in every direction we look. We will have brief looks at a number of the “rumors of war” presently front and center in the news:

U.S. deploys B-52 bombers to Qatar for fight against Islamic State
The U.S. Air Force deployed B-52 bombers to Qatar on Saturday to join the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the first time they have been based in the Middle East since the end of the Gulf War in 1991. U.S. Air Forces Central Command said it last flew the long-range bombers operationally in the region in May 2006 as part of the war in Afghanistan, and during a U.S.-led military exercise in Jordan in May 2015.

North Korea ‘tests long-range missile engine’
North Korea says it has successfully tested an engine designed for an intercontinental ballistic missile. The new type of engine would “guarantee” the ability to launch a nuclear strike on the US mainland, the KCNA news agency said. The test was conducted at the country’s long-range missile launch site near its west coast.

Syria’s Assad shows no willingness to compromise
As the Syria peace talks resume next week, President Bashar al-Assad, backed militarily by Iran and Russia, shows no willingness to compromise, much less step aside to allow a transition Western powers claim is the solution to the conflict.

Rumors of war are indeed rampant upon today’s prophetic horizon. With the impending threats and military preparations, it becomes clear the coming “sudden destruction” of Paul’s forewarning (1 Thessalonians 5:3) cannot be far distant in time. Jesus’ words foretelling what this world faces when the Rapture occurs are starkly in view at this very moment.

“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.” (Luke 17:26-29).

Every week I find in my email inbox a number of predictions for this or for that concerning Bible prophecy. Many involve the writer’s prediction of the time of the Rapture, based upon a specific formula he or she has figured out, or has adopted from someone else’s `thoughts.

Some, such as the particular writer I’m thinking about in writing this commentary, send out each year a dozen or more predictions of the time of the Rapture to various forums, including mine. His predictions usually revolve around traditional Jewish holy days. Although every prediction has thus far failed to come to pass, the writer is persistent, becoming more adamant about the validity of his date-setting with each succeeding “forth telling.”

I must admit that I’ve come to sort of look forward to unwrapping these missives to peek at what we might have, kind of like opening a surprise package. One thing sure…it’s never a disappointing exercise. He always has something new and unusual to spring upon the recipient. If he remains so persistent–based upon the way world events are shaping up–he is bound to be at least nearly right about the timing of the Rapture at some point. One week in particular, his email offering was a little less absolute in its predictive tenor, but nonetheless given with confidence, as usual. At any rate, this one struck a chord, and prompted me to think again on the words of Jesus that have burned in my spirit since I wrote a ten-part series to which I gave the title, “Scanning a Fearful Future.”

–More about that momentarily.

The emailer wrote:

DOES THE BIBLE GIVE US THE DAY OF THE YEAR FOR WWIII (EZEKIEL 38–39)? I have written much over the past 3 years about my Biblical studies that show World War 3 (the Sudden Destruction) and the Rapture to be the very same day. If the start of the Great Tribulation is going to take place in the next 5 months, and I am totally convinced that it is, then we need to take a very close look at this BIBLICAL day (it is in the very near future… In light of current events all around the world, especially involving a very possible imminent attack, involving Israel and Iran and/or Syria, this rapidly-approaching BIBLICAL day takes on a very urgent and ominous meaning for this year. The Bride of Christ may have already celebrated its last Christmas on this earth.

Yes, well…I guess he was a bit more adamant about things than I remembered at first reading. Still, the prognostication was mild in comparison to many of his previous declarations about the Rapture and its timing. The date he predicted was April 11, 2012… So, another date-setter missed the mark.

I give this article the title “Rapture and Sudden Destruction” because I believe although he was obviously wrong on the date, the persistent emailer is, at the same time, right in this instance without even realizing it. He was not correct on the date, of course.  He was not correct in that his figuring was based upon Jewish traditional holy days. All such figurings have failed to produce the Rapture. Besides, no man knows the day, we are told by the Lord. There is no relationship anyone has been able to show, so far as I can tell, between any Jewish traditional holy day and that “twinkling-of-an-eye” moment prophesied in 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Thessalonians 4, and, I believe, by Jesus Himself as recorded in John 14:1-3, and given by John in Revelation 4:1-2. The Rapture of the church will be sudden, unannounced, and unanticipated by most of the world’s population.

Paul the apostle, who, of course, was chosen by God to prophesy the Rapture, foretells much about that coming time when millions of believers will go to be with Christ in one atomos of time (an increment of time so brief that it cannot be divided). Paul writes further about the time immediately surrounding the moment of the Rapture:

But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 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. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. (1 Thessalonians 5:1-6)

Paul tells Christians to be ever alert to the times that surround them. He exhorts them to “watch.” Jesus said the same thing as recorded in Mark 13: 37: “What I say unto one, I say unto all; watch.”

Jesus and Paul were referring to watching the events and issues of the times in which they will be living. There is no specific sign that signals the Rapture, but all of the signs of societal conditions will signal that the time of Christ’s coming in the Rapture is very near, even at the door. The day of God’s judgment beginning to fall upon rebellious mankind, the apostle Paul wrote, would begin like a “thief in the night” breaking into a home. Jesus had likened His coming to a thief in the night as recorded in Matthew 24.

While writing that series of articles I called “Scanning a Fearful Future,” I sensed the Lord impressing upon my spirit that Jesus’ words were all important in foretelling exactly when all of His impending judgment would suddenly break loose upon a world that has shown its hatred for His Son, who came to die for the sins of mankind. There will be no world-rending things, like all-out war or total economic collapse at that time. Even though portentious signs of the times will be prevalent, it will still be, relatively speaking, business as usual when Christ breaks in upon a world ripe for judgment. The persistent emailer was on the right prophetic page in this instance. It will be the Rapture that brings the awesome judgment of God upon this fallen planet.

Again, Jesus foretold:

And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. (Luke 17:26-30)

One-time French President Nicolas Sarkozy didn’t know the microphones were switched on when he spoke in hushed tones to President Barack Obama. “I cannot bear Netanyahu, he’s a liar,” he said.

The American president, equally unaware that he was being recorded, responded: “You’re fed up with him, but I have to deal with him even more often than you.”

The technical gaffe took place years ago at the G20 Summit in Cannes, France, when the microphones were activated prematurely in the process of allowing reporters in separate locations to listen in to translations of the meetings. The “accidental” broadcast was almost as interesting as that so-called Stuxnet worm computer virus that years ago disrupted Iran from bringing its nuclear program on line, in my view. By that, I mean the revealed thoughts of the two men who were at the center of wanting to prevent Israel from militarily attacking Iran’s budding nuclear facilities show the truth about the enemies Israel faces in this end-of-the-age time frame. It seems, to me at least, that worms are being introduced and switches are being manipulated in high places.

If Benjamin Netanyahu is a liar, then he has joined the “Liars Club” that has been a part of the diplomatic world for many years, and one that has been lying to him and the world in recent times–particularly since he again became Israel’s leader. Practically every leader of any significance in Europe has in these last several years held up Israel as the sticking point to Mideast and world peace. Certainly, this U.S. administration has played surreptitious games with the Israeli prime minister, and has done its best to make him look and feel like a second-class world citizen.

Remember, for example, the American president’s treatment of the prime minister when Netanyahu came to the White House early on in this administration? Obama promptly dismissed the meeting that was set as an important time of talks on the Middle East situation and that was to be a photo opportunity to show solidarity between the two nations and their leaders. Instead, Obama abruptly stopped the meeting, summarily dismissing the Israeli leader. The president said he had to go to dinner with Mrs. Obama, or some such excuse.

Even the mainstream news media was stunned at the snub, but quickly let it drop from the ongoing reportage of those hours. Most of us would never have learned of the insulting behavior of our president if not for all of the alternative news forums through Internet and the cable news outlets.

All the while the diplomatic speak–the language of lies as it has come to be—was telling us that the president was as strong an ally to the nation Israel as any in the history of relations between the countries. But, behind the scenes and more and more often in the glare of the spotlight of unfolding news coverage, the Europeans and the U.S. State Department, under Hillary Clinton’s leadership, did their worst to make the back-door deals that would pressure Netanyahu to cave to demands made by the international community. Always, the pressure involved–as it still does—demands that Israel allow the powers that be to bring about the two-state solution to Mideast turmoil based upon the boundaries they stipulate. These lines are much the same in configuration as Israel’s Islamist enemies in the region demand.

We remember the diplomatic subterfuge wrapped up in the short, but telling, conversation of the leaders of two of the most central nations in the “Roadmap to Peace.” While they smiled and claimed to have Israel’s interest at heart, they showed utter disdain for the leader of the Jewish state. They call him a liar, and I, at least, infer that much deeper detestation rages just below the surface of that accidental broadcast.

In our childhood days–and maybe even in our adulthood—we’ve used the get-back-at-’em old adage: “It takes one to know one.”

Sarkozy in his day and Obama still, like most of the international community’s rulers-elite, are liars of the first magnitude, thus it angers them when they know they are being lied to. They know the routine so very well. Their very existence and power-grabbing prowess depend upon being able to lie.

Truth is, they are right. Benjamin Netanyahu is now lying to them. He smiles and nods agreement to their deadlines and their pressures to negotiate a settlement in East Jerusalem and all the rest. But, those sit-downs and negotiations that would give away Israel’s territory of vital importance to Israel’s security never eventuate. Like solutions to the world’s woes, the proverbial can always seems to get kicked farther down the road in the peace process. Netanyahu seems as slippery…well…as slippery as the Arab leadership of Israel’s enemy neighbors have always been in failing to live up to any agreement to negotiate peace. These have always spoken to the news cameras and microphones, promising to negotiate in good faith with the hated Israel. Remember Yasser Arafat, as one example?

To state it as plainly as I know how, Benjamin Netanyahu is now playing by their rules, and is beating them at their own game. The Arabs and the international community see nothing wrong with lying, if it achieves what they want: complete control over how the Middle East, particularly Israel, is divided. Arab leadership takes its orders from Allah–from the Koran. Lying to get what you want–of what serves Allah—is perfectly acceptable, even preferable, in efforts to conquer the world in as little or as large portions as the resistance allows.

This Israeli prime minister‘s repertoire of resistance now includes lies and subterfuge, exactly like that so long exhibited by Israel’s enemies. It’s driving them all completely nuts. Sarkozy’s words and Obama’s response those years ago demonstrated the frustration. How dare Netanyahu lie to them!

Benjamin Netanyahu continues to do the right thing by smiling before the cameras and saying Israel will participate in the peace process–a process that God’s Word says will one day be lethal to the Jewish people. But, for now at least, the prime minister plays by their cunning rules, beating them at their own game, while facing perhaps the most challenging situation for the Jewish state to date.

The current crop of those of the international diplomatic Liars Club –including the American presidential administration– are frustrated. They know Israeli leadership is onto them. Bibi Netanyahu is the most current form of the Stuxnet worm in the humanistic plan to divide God’s land. The powers that be know he is lying to them–that he could, indeed, applaud their “lethal sanctions” sophistry while planning strategic strikes of the deadly military sort.

How long kicking the can down the road of diplomatic flim-flam, false peace-making will last before it all comes to a head is anyone’s guess. But, the One who knows the end result has given us prophetic truth regarding where it’s all heading: “I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land” (Joel 3:2).

Many ministries and other forums send me their newsletters/information during the course of any given day. Some time ago I received such an information piece. Its contents hammered home that a profound disconnect exists in the minds of mankind brought on by the original sin in the Garden of Eden. Sin disrupted understanding between God and man to such an extent that it took God coming to dwell among humanity as a flesh-and-blood Person to restore the relationship that was torn when Adam disobeyed and brought sin and death into the world.

The item in my inbox illustrated the problem of denial of heaven’s plan for restitution of the God-man relationship. The words of an emailer to the information forum demonstrate the disconnect wrought by the disruption in Eden.

Isn’t it time to let that poor guy Jesus alone? He lived, he died and he hasn’t been heard from since. He gave his 33 years and just let him rest in peace. Good grief, why try to rebirth him into this crazy world? He would be overwhelmed. He was a poor, illiterate carpenter for heaven sakes. He never traveled more than 50 miles from his home in the desert. He espoused simple truths that anyone and many have also espoused. He didn’t have the only patent on spiritual truths.

Let’s move toward a new spiritual understanding that humans are responsible for their own actions and that they cannot rely on mythical characters or real characters that have been made into perfect myths. The major religions are all desert religions by some very backward and illiterate tribes. For instance, I am from Sweden . I should bow down to Thor as my god because that’s my tribe. Instead, I think for myself and I stand as a beacon of spiritual energy for my own life. Thor had his time and I’ve got mine.

Now we come to the purpose of this commentary. The title, “History’s Most Important Q & A,” encapsulates the problem and the solution manifested in the above-quoted thoughts about Jesus, the God-Man sent from heaven to be the sacrificial Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. The question, the most important ever asked, and its answer are found in the account of the Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples as they engaged in a Q & A while traveling in ministry.

When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:12-18)

Jesus first asked His immediate followers who people in general said He was. They answered that people had various opinions about who this miracle-working, itinerate preacher might be. Jesus then asked the question of the ages: “Who do you say that I am?”

Peter, the burly fisherman who was always quick to assert his thoughts into any situation, for once spoke up with the most profound answer ever given and won the total approval of the Lord: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!”

The big, rough-hewn fisherman had breached the gap that had formed when Adam disobeyed in the Garden of Eden. God, the Father, had himself given Peter that understanding. Jesus is the very Son of the Living God!

It seems that at no time in human history has that disconnect been more front and center than today. Jesus Christ is blatantly misunderstood, and that is bad enough. But it is the fact that His Holy Name is dragged through the muck of this fallen cesspool of a world that stabs most painfully the spiritual heart of the true follower of Christ.

One day I was listening to Glenn Beck as he chatted with his radio partner and his audience. I’ve listened many times to the famous Mormon talk-show host use the name of Jesus to claim his being a Christian. I’ve recently covered the points of difference between what God’s Word says about Jesus and Mormonism’s view of Jesus. In brief, that cult holds Jesus to be the created brother of Lucifer. Yes, the same Lucifer (the serpent) who brought about the disconnect between God and man through seducing Eve and tempting Adam to disobey God.

Mr. Beck was intimating how Jesus had no interest in “rapturing” His “people” from this world; rather, He wants His people to make this world a wonderful place of freedom–a heaven on earth.

That is Mormonism. The Mormon Church will be the final authority in any such new world order, according to its eschatology. Beck, in his usual way, became increasingly sarcastic and chiding while he mocked the Rapture. He talked about how if the rapturists wanted to really make a statement, they should, rather than set dates for the Rapture, simply state that they are leaving, go to some spot, and let their clothes drop to the ground as if they had been taken. Then they should stay out of the picture so the world would perceive they were gone. Thus, Beck implied slyly that those who believe in such nonsense would get out of the way so real religionists–the Mormons—could bring about Utopia.

This, as much as anything, proves two things. First, it shows that Beck has no thought of Jesus being the same Jesus in whom I believe and who I follow. Second, it reaffirms that the Rapture is very close because of Beck and others like him mockingly fulfilling a most relevant prophecy for these troubling yet exciting times. Appropriately, it is the same Peter who gave the following prophecy who gave the most important answer to Christ’s all-important question of history: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Peter 3:3-4).

My Jesus is God, who cannot lie. My Jesus says He, not the Mormon Church, will establish a glorious millennial reign. My Jesus keeps His promises, and He promises this: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).

The question that is the most important in all of human history is the one posed by the Lord Jesus, himself. It is asked directly to you who are reading these words. Who is Jesus to you? Who do you say He is?

Glenn Beck, like so many others, believes Jesus is something other than who the Bible says He is. The Bible, through the words of Peter, whom Jesus said gave the God-inspired answer, said Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Jesus is not a created being. He is God, who came to planet earth in the flesh to save you and me from sin that has all of lost mankind headed down the broad way to the lake of fire (Revelation 20:12-15).

Jesus said: “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

Jesus asks you: “Who do you say that I am?” How you answer this most important question of history will determine whether you go to heaven or to hell for all of eternity. Answer wisely.

Like it does from time to time while lurching toward the end of this troubled age, the world, prophetically speaking, seems to be pausing to catch its breath.

We’ve sometimes called it a “lull” because prophetic progression appears to be on hold. It’s kind of like in the south when a severe springtime storm is about to produce a big tornado. Everything gets eerily still.

What is actually happening, I’m told, is that the big super-cell thunderhead is sucking the surrounding atmosphere into its building vortex. All turns a greenish-yellow color and not a leaf is rustling.

One of the mistakes we who observe things on a global scale with regard to Bible prophecy make is to view things too much from our American perspective, I think. Things seem to be whirling around us, but the larger picture presents a different view.

You hear the rumbling and see the lightning flashing on the black horizon, but all is perfectly still, as if the complexion of the earth has taken on a sickly pallor. It seems that this humanistic system is holding its collective breath in somewhat of a perceived pause in these scary moments.

Presidential politics right now in the U.S., on the other hand, are anything but eerily calm. For example, the campaign rhetoric and vitriol are raw rough and tumble. Americans who see things through a strictly political prism believe this is a storm we are in–one that will determine where our world will be torn apart, depending upon who wins the presidency. The atmosphere is turbulent. We are in the midst of a terrible, national storm with the nation’s future at stake.

That might all be true, but on a global basis, thinking in terms of Bible prophecy, there seems to this eschatological weather observer to be an environment surrounding us with an ominous pallor that harbors far greater lethality. There portends within the building storm clouds far greater dangers than those given off by the political winds that are whipping us all into a frenzy here in America.

Internationally, the powers and principalities of Ephesians 6: 12 are working quietly behind the scenes. They are striving as hard as ever before to bring about that great, end-times tornado the Lord terms Tribulation.

One can sense, if spiritually attuned to the pre-storm goings-on, the very corruptive atmosphere of fallen man being drawn into the coming Tribulation vortex. Yet there seems to be for the moment an eerie calm, despite evidence everywhere one looks of brewing trouble.

The president of the United States is reportedly working with the United Nations to bring about a  two-state solution to the “Palestinian-Israeli problem” before he leaves office. Israel, itself, remains basically in a lull, while looking in every direction at a storm that is gathering against it. Russia and its headstrong president are making strange, unanticipated withdrawal gestures and movements in and around Syria and other entrant points to the Middle East. North Korea blusters ahead with nuclear and missile tests, actions intended to threaten it’s immediate neighbor, South Korea, and the rest of us as well. China builds islands in international waters then claims them as their territory, while building military bases upon the newly formed land to threaten anyone who dares question its intentions.

Iran continues to silently work on a nuclear program that it no doubt thinks will one day be used against the Great Satan and the little Satan–the U.S. and Israel.

The world’s building economic disaster expands by the hour like an embolism within the human brain. The silent bubble could erupt explosively at any time, bringing the global, financial catastrophe many fear.

Agents of the Father of Lies work feverishly and incessantly to implant within the fallen minds of mankind that Christianity is a viper’s nest of hatred. Just to our northern border, Canada’s supreme judicial body has ruled in a number of cases that biblical text can be construed as hate speech that must not and will not be tolerated. One pastor spent 10 years and more than $200,000 to finally get a reversal of such a charge against him. Americans would be foolish to assume that such a devilish invasion of evil jurisprudence isn’t in Satan’s plans for this nation. As a matter of fact, we’ve already  experienced such evil at some level. The cases involving the homosexual agenda and bakeries and flower shops that refuse to provide services for same-sex marriages come to mind.

All of the above and much more give evidence of the very atmosphere of liberty we have enjoyed since the country’s founding being sucked into the building thunderhead that will produce the greatest storm in human history.

While the world catches its breath, the  power of the storm continues to build. Satan seems as if he will have his way against all of humanity in this great destructive era that now rumbles upon earth’s angry horizon.

But, Jesus said:

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

The Lord promised the believer who is alive at the time this end-times storm threatens:

Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10)

It is altogether fitting and appropriate to echo the words of John the revelator: “Even so, come Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20b).

A science fiction film of 1956 called Invasion of the Body Snatchers riveted me as a kid of fourteen or so. Sinister, unseen—even unknowable—diabolical entities were taking over the personhood, bodies and all, of earthlings. The protagonist, a physician, was frightened and frustrated as to how to deal with the situation, and was unable for most of the movie to convince those around him that something disastrous was being set up to destroy humanity.

Almost the whole town was replaced by the invaders before…well, you will have to see the movie—I don’t want to spoil it for you.

The storyline was a grand scheme of delusion and deception. You wanted to shout at the big screen for the people to recognize what was going on. You are being set up for falling victim to the body snatchers! But, the course of the storyline could not be changed. It was inevitable that the other-worldly beings would soon take over, as they say, lock, stock, and barrel.

I find the movie and what is happening today in real life to be analogous in several troubling respects. I’ve given this commentary the title “Invasion of the Mind Snatchers” because it has become evident that the thought processes of people of this generation are being set up for the most profound deception ever perpetrated—well, that is, except for the original deception, when the serpent beguiled Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Jesus had told His followers He would be going away from them, but would return. He answered His disciples’ questions about when things He was prophesying would come to pass. They wanted to know when the end of the age would be, and when He would return.

He began His lengthy and in-depth answer with the words: “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:4–5).

So began what has become known as the Olivet Discourse. This section of Scripture is considered perhaps the most important of all prophecies in the Bible because it is from the mouth of God in the flesh. And, the very first thing Jesus told those disciples—and by way of His recorded words to them that day told us—was that deceivers would mark the very end of the age. Great deception would characterize the time just before He comes back. Jesus forewarned that His disciples must be on high alert for this particular societal condition.

The invasion by the mind snatchers is here. No matter which way we who observe the prophetic picture look, we see the delusion settling upon the thinking processes of men, women, and children. It has completely changed the character of our nation.

In America, it is relatively easy to look back and see that the entertainment industry has been a tool used by the master deceiver to pollute the common sensibility of the people. Hollywood has caused the suspension of disbelief to such an extent that the lines between fiction and fact have been catastrophically blurred. Morality guided by biblical principles has gone by the wayside in our society and culture.

The film industry, for example, has propagandized us to accept that it is okay to sleep around with other than one’s legally sanctioned spouse. As a matter of fact, the very term “sleeping with” is an entertainment industry-spawned term invented to help avoid the stigma attached to the sinful activity of having sex outside the God-ordained union of wedlock.

Deception is the progenitor of delusion—a mental illness that robs one of the ability to discern what is moral and what is not. Values clarification and situational ethics, through incessant inculcation, especially by the political, judicial, and educational progressives (liberals) since the 1960s, have declared that there are no moral absolutes (the Bible is irrelevant). The supreme evidence of how this has deleteriously affected life in the United States is seen in our political process and the results the lack of discernment has produced.

Socioeconomically, geopolitically, and every other way, deception has invaded and taken the minds of humanity farther and farther from God, thus from sanity. No element of this deceptive assault has been more deadly than has the false teachers and preachers of this Laodicean age. Strange winds of doctrine have joined forces with the humanist agenda to blow away every semblance of true spiritual discernment. These satanic psycho-babble concepts have constituted the ingredients for deception that has brought much of society to the point that it is now ready for suffering the great delusion of Bible prophecy yet future.

That prophesied delusion is outlined, of course, in 2 Thessalonians, as the apostle Paul writes:

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:7–11)

Like disease that causes dementia to progress within the human brain, the deceptive tendrils of willful godlessness are pushing this generation toward the strong delusion prophesied for the Tribulation hour.