A cursory glance would seem to indicate that the decision once made by Congress to flush the anti-piracy legislation into the sewer reserved for liberty-robbing legislation accomplished the preservation of Internet freedom.

Democrat Harry Reed and Republican leaders put aside the incendiary legislation after fearful resistance to the governmental grab for control of the internet.

It was hailed as a stunning win for Internet companies that staged an unprecedented online protest at the time. However, the congressional powers that be said only they would “postpone,” not eliminate the effort to control things involved in the future.

The Obama Administration displayed a moment of atypical behavior, quickly jumping on the bandwagon against the very legislation to govern Internet they had been championing.

White House officials weighed in, saying in a blog post that they had concerns about legislation that could make businesses on the Internet vulnerable to litigation and harm legal activity and free speech. the Protests erupted on Internet, turning Wikipedia and other popular websites dark for 24 hours. Google, Facebook, Twitter and others protested the proposed legislation but did not shut down. The protest had quick results: several sponsors of the legislation withdrew their support.

To put it bluntly, so many people within cyberspace communities went into fits

of rage that it threw Big Brother into shock. The Harry Reeds who are bent on controlling every aspect of our lives from cradle to grave instantly pulled back their meddling fingers that had just been bitten by the entities government was intent on collaring. But, again, the congressional leaders involved only “postponed” not eliminated the threatened intrusion.

These said they would “delay” action on such legislation until there was agreement–i.e., the hounds of Big Brotherism haven’t given up on ways to get into governing Internet. They are merely backing off for the time being to figure new ways to come at that area of freedom from other angles. And, they are indeed continuing to come at our freedoms from every angle.

Their intrusion is always in the guise of wanting to benevolently secure one area or the other of our lives. In the case of the Internet legislation, PIPA (PROTECT IP Act) in the Senate and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) in the House, solutions were promised to piracy and copyright infringement in America and around the world. Now, the forces are marshaling to come up with new versions that the enforcers are promising will not chill free expression or threaten the economic growth and innovation the Internet provides.

When reading about the backtracking of the would-be Internet masters, I can’t help but think on what Bible prophecy tells us will be the cry of the end times’ New World Order builders. It is a mantra we have heard time and time again in the Middle East land-for-peace deals these same types have been striving to knit together for a decade or more. They want to build an era of peace and security, with the land God gave Israel as the price for such an arrangement. Even Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, uses the phrase “peace and security.”

We know what God’s Word says about that humanistic process: “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

We have been witness to the results of demand for security. Since September 11, 2001, developments within the U.S. government and other governments of the world have been stunning in terms of prophetic import. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has, by itself, demonstrated how easy the taking of liberty from the American citizen really is. The pat-downs, body scans, and other violations of basic personal rights simply stagger the mind of one who still believes in the U.S. Constitution as a viable, governing document.

More and more federal government intrusion into daily life should cause even the most ardent anti-conspiracy skeptics to wonder…

For one example, Tuesday, January 17, 2012, residents of Leesburg, Florida had their tranquility disrupted when their local Social Security office suddenly became a random Homeland Security checkpoint. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers armed with semiautomatic rifles and accompanied by sniffer dogs forced locals to present identifications. At least one DHS officer was stationed at a door to the building with his automatic weapon at the ready, it was reported.

The action was apparently part of something called “Operation Shield,” an unannounced drill conducted by the DHS’ Federal Protective Service centered around “detecting the presence of unauthorized persons and potentially disruptive or dangerous activities.” –This, according to the local newspaper, the Daily Commercial.

One report gave the following account: “Thomas Milligan, district manager for the Social Security Administration office, said staff were not informed their offices were about to be stormed by armed FPS officers. DHS officials refused to answer questions asked by local media and left with no explanation at noon,” (Paul Joseph Watson, “Staff of Florida Social Security Office Not Informed of Drill, Homeland Security Officials Refused to Talk to Media,” www.infowars.com).

The fact that we are seeing our rights eroded at a frightening pace is bad enough. But, it is the staggering implications of what the present ground-laying assaults on our freedoms will likely mean in terms of the fulfillment of Bible prophecy that is especially troubling, but at the same time, quite fascinating. Big Brotherism, in its contemporary stage of metamorphosis, makes the lie that our lives will be more secure if we will just acquiesce to governing by those who know best the centerpiece of their enslaving master plan. The noose that is tightening day by day is the incrementalism being employed in every facet of our lives.

Take heart. God is in control. Although Antichrist’s forces can be sensed forming, and his noose tightening, the final page of man’s long, brutal history will be written by the finger of Jesus Christ: “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” (2 Thessalonians 2:8).

Thinking on the rise of Adolf Hitler to power in the Germany of the 1930s immediately produces realization that the bringing together of ruthless enforcement entities was key to establishment of der Fuhrer’s dictatorship.

It started with the brown shirts, headed by Ernst Rhome, a homosexual thug who did Hitler’s bidding in creating chaos and fear in a failing German republic. When the future Fuhrer began to consolidate power through eliminating opposition, the German Wehrmacht (Germany’s army) soon had to share controlling authority with the Waffen-SS, the black-uniformed, select group of supposedly Aryan troops assigned as Hitler’s personal body guard. The brown shirts were eliminated, and the SS, headed by the now infamous Heinrich Himmler, began the implementation of the final solution—the genocidal war on all Jews in Europe.

At the same time, the civilian police establishment was turned into the dreaded Gestapo, the police force that locked the Nazi regime into place. The Nazi military and civilian policing establishment became, in effect, a single force against which there was little resistance.  

And, this brings us to the crux of things going on in that same geographical area from which Hitler terrorized the world.

There is seen by some the development of a movement to establish similar tyrannical controls within the European Union (EU) at the present hour. A recent article frames the growing threat the concerned observers fear. It states the following to begin the piece.

As the European Union and the establishment behind it become increasingly totalitarian, paranoid, and unstable, the EU super-state is raising up and training its own transnational military-police force. According to reports and its own propaganda material, the EU “Gendarmerie,” as the force is known, will apparently be charged with putting down protests and civil unrest, raiding illegal political meetings, propping up foreign governments, and even confiscating weapons. (“EU Building Potentially Tyrannical Military-Police Force” by  Alex Newman, http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/europe/item/23163, May 10, 2016)

The article states that the EU’s military-police force is merely one component of the broader transnational police-state apparatus being quietly imposed on the formerly sovereign peoples of Europe. The force includes the bringing together of “transnational police” with “transnational army units” and “EU air and naval operations.”

The bringing together of the forces has all been accomplished in the shadows, but is now being thrust into the light of geopolitical reality, according to the concerned observers reporting–those of Breitbart’s U.K. operation.

It was a controversial training operation taking place in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia in April that sparked concern and alarm within Europe and beyond.

Media reports stirred fears of the rise of a tyrannical, controlling force. According to those reports, the training consolidated 600 troops and police officers in order to prepare for crises of the international and civil war sorts.

The EU military-operation information branch reported about its training scheme that the aim of the [April 15, 2016] Comprehensive Live Exercise will be capacity building of police and gendarmes who will participate in international stabilization missions and projects with a police component. The force is aimed at preparing the hybrid military-police force for “future” missions.

The troubling reports said that forces from Islamic Turkey, and Tunisia, as well as the African nation of Cameroon, participated in the “scheming.”

There remains, of course, considerable resistance to the reuniting of Europe. There is at the same time all of this is going on, a strong trend toward nationalism. The threat from the Islamist world, with deadly attacks such as that in Brussels, make the populations, if not the one-world order leaderships of EU nations, deeply concerned about a reviving, unified, European empire that takes protection against dangerous, Islamist, “migrants” out of the hands of local and national authority. Yet, crises that loom, particularly involving Greece-type financial meltdowns and rioting, make probable over-arching EU police controls and military involvement inevitable.

Remember, it was severe fiscal crisis that brought Hitler to power, along with and through his all-controlling military/police monstrosity. There are those who agree with George Santayana that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

God’s Word foretells that history repeats time after time. Every empire has eventually fallen, even, arguably, the greatest of all world empires, the Roman Empire. The same basic ingredients have constituted most every such collapse.

While Santayana’s bit of philosophy has been proven true time after time, he left out a key element in phrasing his thought. It should be: “Those who do not acknowledge God and cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Every world empire has ignored the true God of Heaven. Prophecy tells us that the final empire–that of Antichrist, the Roman prince of Daniel 9: 26-27—will be the most God-hating empire of all history.

Along with all other signals of Christ’s soon return on the world-scene today, the reviving of the Roman Empire is more and more coming into view. It is a sure signal that this generation is at the end of the Church Age and that Christ’s call to His Bride must be near indeed.

It is always with reticence that I write about government intrusion into our lives. This is because so much wild-eyed speculation is thrown around in cyberspace that one must be alert to what is and is not true in this incendiary area of concern. We get an endless parade of alerts that FEMA camps are almost ready to begin herding Christians, in particular, into the American version of Nazi-style concentration camps. The reports never cease of things such as the claim that gigantic, coffin-like containers are stacked and ready for mass burials at such a time when citizen resistance will be met with deadly force to put down rioting throughout the homeland.

The very term “homeland security” evokes thoughts of 1930s Germany and the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and his genocidal Nazi maniacs. Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security director, is referred to caustically in some circles as “Big Sis,” a takeoff on George Orwell’s sinister symbol of tyranny, Big Brother. It is a matter concerning which she is said to recently have expressed her considerable irritation.

No matter how one chooses to frame in words the growing hold the federal government progressively exerts on our lives, it is essential that we look seriously at the problem while there remains freedom to do so. I dislike triteness, but the trite is true in this case. Where there is smoke there is fire. There is a lot of smoke clouding our future with regard to whether Americans will remain a free people.

The most concerning news that sparked this writing was the report so close to the doings of Hitler’s rise to power as to be chilling. At the same time, the news item seemed so low key at first glance as to be innocuous. But, after that first glance, it became so blatant that even the strangest of bedfellows were, in my mind, joined in resistance to the intrusion.

Children in the Long Island, New York area a few years back were strapped with monitors to keep a running check on their health. The program was the results of the school administrators’ desire to know about the condition of the kids’ problems with obesity. The action was apparently taken without the parents’ knowledge in many cases.

Reports were that this would soon become a full-scale program to monitor the children’s physical activities around the clock. The devices were like wristwatches, and counted heartbeats, monitored body movement during daily activities, and even measured sleep habits, according to the news story of that time. It was all an attempt to get a handle on what the powers that be considered a growing obesity problem, according to those doing the monitoring.

The information was displayed on a color-coded screen and got transmitted to a password-protected website that students and educators could access.

The devices, ostensibly to keep check on health status of those monitored, were put on children in public school systems around the U.S. without the knowledge of many of the parents whose children were involved. Considering the government-controlled health system voted in before 2010 by Congress and signed by President Obama, we can only imagine what the system has produced thus far, and where use of this kind of information might lead.

The matter was and is of sufficient concern that even an entity traditionally sycophantic toward any liberal government program was at the time of its implementation expressing concern. Jay Stanley, of the American Civil Liberties Union, said, “When you get into monitoring people’s biological vital signs, that’s a pretty intrusive measurement. There are key privacy interests at play.” Stanley said that at the very least, parents must have a say in how long the data will be stored and who will have access to it and schools must obtain parents’ consent. “A program like this should only be voluntary. Nobody should be forced to reveal biological indicators,” Stanley added.

The Hitler “Youth Corps” comes to mind when thinking on this and other of today’s government power grabs to control the structure of the American family and the day-to-day rearing of our children.

When Congress–and the president—decided in 1963 to try to kick God out of the American public school system, a flood of insanity gushed in to fill the void. It hasn’t stopped gushing. We have reared generations of children who are becoming ever farther alienated from the family model the God of Heaven instituted. Government has become the keeper of our children. The results are not greater freedom, but an ever-more restrictive way of life in what was once called “the land of the free.” Big Brother’s noose of enslavement, like that Hitler perpetrated those many decades ago, might be on America’s horizon.

Next, we will look at how other signals of government control threaten the American way of life.

The cure for what ails this, or any nation, of course, is found in the most notable of scriptural prescriptions found in God’s Holy Word. It is an Rx that speaks directly to all born-again children of God today–the Church.

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

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).