Most every signal is appearing on the landscape of this generation. We’ve pointed to them time and time again in these commentaries. Primary in our look at prophetic matters are things wrapped up in geopolitics. Israel, in particular, we’ve pointed out numerous times, is at the center of the last-days analysis.

All of earth’s diplomatic machinery seems geared to deal with the potential for nuclear conflict in the Middle East. And, one can’t think of the Middle East turmoil without acknowledging that the tiny nation Israel would likely be the ignition point for what many fear will become Armageddon. Religion is an area that continually draws our attention as prophecy watchers, using God’s Word, the Bible, as the blueprint for the consummation of human history.

There is scheduled, according to that blueprint, the amalgamation of many religions, and an apostasy that will culminate in a vast religious conglomerate that will be antithetical to all that is the true Church of Jesus Christ. Even the evangelical members of the Body of Christ have begun to seriously give way to the apostasia predicted in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. Many have joined the entertainment-mad world of secularism in their delusion that greater numbers in the sanctuaries translates to a greater spirituality. The question that must be asked, however, is: to what “spirituality” does such clamoring after truly lead?

Signs in the heavens and the earth have begun to manifest themselves. This is not to say that these are the “signs in the heavens and the earth” prophesied by the Lord Jesus for the time of great tribulation. Those spasms will be infinitely more powerful and intense, no doubt. But, they could easily be viewed as early birth pangs that are leading swiftly toward the “time of sorrows” Jesus plainly predicted. The record hurricanes, droughts, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, and the rest are convulsions of a planet pregnant with judgment that continues to fill in God’s cup of wrath.

Jesus words, as I’ve suggested before, seem to be coming true in our time. He told the pious religionists who commanded him to stop the people from shouting “Hosanna!” while He rode the little donkey into Jerusalem to offer himself as Israel’s Messiah: “…I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out” (Lk. 19:40).

The people of Planet Earth are, for the most part, “holding their peace” –i.e., are denying Christ and rebelling against the Heavenly Father. The very elements in the astrophysical and geophysical realms are, in my view, therefore, increasingly crying out.

All of the above are strong signals of the last time in which we live. But, the signal that makes even spiritually attuned prophecy watchers, who would be normally on guard for the subtleness of time as it creeps toward the era of apocalypse, like the proverbial frog in the boiling pot, is money. Mammon, the love of which is the root of all evil, slowly weaves its web like a deadly spider, networking and ensnaring, until liberty itself is encased in a cocoon of soul-destroying bondage. We see the ultimate outcome of the evil Babylonian system of economics. It is indeed a frightful picture for the generation of earth dwellers that will have to endure it. The captains of industry will lament its destruction by the wrathful hand of God.

“And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!” (Rev. 18: 11-18).

Just as we can see the many other signals of the gathering hurricane of apocalypse, we see that end-time economics –the world’s love of money—has long been in the process of gelling into a glue-like quagmire, out of which the people of earth will not be able to extricate themselves. As a matter of fact, God’s Word prophesies that there will be a group of economic masters who will one day enjoy power at the level just below earth’s supreme tyrant, Antichrist, himself! The Scripture says:

“And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast” (Rev. 17:12-13).

The proverbial frog continues to boil. Even God’s children are lulled into the false sense of security economic prosperity brings. In fact, lust for financial prosperity is at the very heart of some of the most profound problems faced by the Church today. Just channel through the religious networks, and watch and listen to the message that bombards your eyes and ears. The prosperity message is ubiquitous over the air and on cable satellite transmissions. The love of money is painfully obvious, while Christ’s gospel suffers, and the souls of men, women, and children hang in the balance.

We have mentioned many times the technologies that are enslaving the people of earth. The computer and surveillance cameras, the chips and the erosion of constitutional safeguards. But, it is the stratospherics of global economics to which average citizens can’t begin to relate.

More and more the European Union (EU) is at stage center in planning that involves world trade, just as the EU more and more asserts itself into the affairs of Israel, and the ongoing efforts to, if not bring peace to the Middle East, at least do something to avert nuclear conflict in the region. The Bible foretells that the Antichrist will come from the geographical area that is at the heart of the EU. We can sense his foreshadow, while the World Trade Organization (WTO) meets at Brussels and brainstorms to develop trading bloc regions around the globe. The EU, of course, is at the very center of all the grandiose planning.

Seems innocuous enough, doesn’t it? The world economic web, however, is being finely woven, and intertwined by collusion that will eventuate in Revelation chapter 18, when God must catastrophically destroy all that rebellious mankind has constructed.

Believers in Jesus Christ, in terms of the majority, don’t recognize the crucial prophetic times in which this generation finds itself. To prove this, just ask almost anyone you know –outside of the very few Christians of your acquaintance who might consider prophetic issues– and watch the blank stares, the smiles, with accompanying gesticulations that indicate they don’t worry, or even think about these things. Observe, while they quickly go onto other subjects, like “what’s for dinner,” “who’s getting married,” “who’s getting a divorce,” “who’s living with whom,” or a thousand and one other more generationally appropriate topics –in their view—than where we are at present on God’s prophetic timeline.

When the Christian who is truly a student of what God has to say about things to come stops to analyze the flood of prophecy-laden matters deluging this generation, he or she quickly realizes that we are at the very door that will open into the tribulation. But, he or she knows – if prayerfully diligent in studying God’s prophetic Word, (i.e., is led by the Holy Spirit to truth) and is thus discerning in analyzing world conditions– that another door is about to swing open. That is the door that leads through the fabric of space and time. The door that will be opened by Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, Jesus Christ IS that door! After all, He said”…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

And, the things for the discerning Christian to consider are staggering in numbers, and in prophetic relevance. Of these many things of prophetic import we could think upon, none is more glaring at this moment –in my view—than signals of Christ’s coming again wrapped up in the title of this commentary article: “Endtime Perplexity.”

The prophecy was given by Jesus in His Olivet Discourse, as recorded in the following:

“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring” (Lk. 21:25).

Review, for just a moment, the dynamics shaping up endtime world conditions while this generation rages toward Daniel’s 70th week –the seven years of tribulation, when God’s wrath will begin falling upon incorrigibly rebellious mankind.

Israel is at the very center of the last-time perplexity, just as Jesus and the Old and New Testament prophets foretold. Think of it! Everything of great significance, so far as world conditions are concerned, points right back at Israel!

1) Islamist Jihadists are in control of the Palestinian drive for statehood.  Muslim terrorists are on record, determined to expunge Israel from the region. These are blood-vowed to kill every Jew they find.

2) Iran’s leadership is threatening to develop (might already have) the ability to produce nuclear weapons. The purpose is to annihilate Israel –and any other nation that gets in Iran’s path.

3) Islamic hate-filled doctrinal differences perplex American military planners in trying to deal with the Syrian war where the Obama administration is on the side of the Muslim Brotherhood, which are bad actors at least the equivalent of Basher Al-Assad’s brutal regime.  The seas and waves of humanity are indeed “roaring.”

4) Islamic fascist-like, rage-filled terrorists on a world-wide basis, incite masses to attack and destroy even their own possessions in Europe and other places. Christ’s words “nation (ethnos –or ethnic entities) shall rise against nation…” have been fulfilled to some extent in our time.

Certainly, there can be no doubt that this is happening en masse across the world. Again, for most who are leaders of nations represented in the U.N., Israel is the chief reason for troubles everywhere on earth. Anyone who supports Israel in any fashion comes under the radical Islamic threat of sword applied to the neck. Then there is the cry for “peace and safety.” But there is total disregard for the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. At the risk of being castigated as “touching the anointed,” I must say that even the major players among pastors and leaders of churches in this Laodicean era have a P.E.A.C.E. plan for saving the world from perplexity.

It won’t work, of course. Peace –even if used in clever, marketing terms of acronym—–such as that mentioned above issued by Rick Warren some years ago–will fail. Only the Prince of Peace, and His godly, Heaven-sent peace will bring the raging seas of humanity under control, like He did the storm-driven waters on the Sea of Galilee those millennia ago.

Christians, it is past time to awake from the slumber under which the Church of Jesus Christ has –for the most part— been put, since allowing Satan and his minions to pull their deception over the spiritual eyes of many individual believers. We are at that point–in attitude–at the end of the age, about which Jesus forewarned:

“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” (Matt. 24:44).

To me, this is near the top among the most foreshadowing of the perplexities about which our Lord prophesied: the question of why Christians will not awake in this endtime era, and look around at all that points directly at the truth that we are, as a generation of earth dwellers, on the very cusp of the apocalypse, of tribulation.

This should make us, rather than be filled with only thoughts of earthly things, busily engaged in activities spiritually ripe with great anticipation of the “blessed hope” of Titus 2:13. He could come at any second, and all of the things of this fallen world instantly will no longer matter to the Christian of the Church Age. We will stand before Him, and see Him face to face, and give account for our attitude toward Him, and activities for Him, when we were in this life back on Planet Earth.

Replacement theology continues to be the most troubling aspect of the developing apostasy –which I believe could well be the endtime “falling away” of 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. I’ve given it –in my view– the more appropriate designation, “replacement theologofolly,” because that is just what it is. It is religious folly at its egregious worst.

It cuts to the heart of Satan’s war on God Almighty, and it is foolishness at the most profound level.

The prophet John wrote the Lord’s description and condemnation of the final false religious system: “And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (Rev. 17:4-5).

God’s Word further describes punishment for this final religious product the apostates will produce: “And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire” (Rev. 17:16).

So, God views through the prism of extreme, though righteous, anger this horrendous system that will dominate –at least for a time—the whole world with its anti-God activity. This one-world false system of worship will be presided over by the false prophet of Revelation, who will point all worship, ultimately, to the beast –Antichrist. The prophecy says: “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed” (Rev. 13:11-12).

One thing in particular will be at the root of this tribulation-era harlot system. That will be the hatred of Israel and all other things that belong to God’s perfect order. It is not a new world order, but ancient world disorder that will reign for a time on Planet Earth. Satan has, from his invasion at the Garden of Eden, sought to attack the seed of humankind, thus to try to prevent the Deliverer –Israel’s Messiah—from coming into the world and completing His mission. The mission is to offer himself as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world for the redemption of all who will accept Jesus Christ as Savior.

When Jesus said, “It is finished,” on the Cross at Calvary, that sacrifice was complete. Thus Satan was defeated at that time of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. But, the old red dragon, Satan, still is determined to deceive as many as possible, and to inflict as much agony as possible on the world. He particularly wants to inflict his horrors on the people chosen to be the seed through which Messiah would be born.

Israel –as any student of human history who approaches the study with an open mind will attest—has been vilified and persecuted as no other race of people. And, in this generation, the worst of all persecution of Israel is at hand, in preparation for the tribulation genocide against that race –the Jews.

The worst of all of history’s persecutions of Israel is at hand in this generation, because that persecution comes from within the Body of Christ. This is particularly manifest when observing the Presbyterian Church in America. The Presbyterian Church U.S.A. has for a number of years made it its official policy to divest itself of all business dealings with the nation of Israel. The policy was based upon the attitude that Israel is occupying territory that is rightfully the Palestinian people’s land. They view Israel as having no special right given them by God. As a matter of fact, the church’s almost universal belief is that the Body of Christ (all who believe in Christ for salvation) has replaced Israel so far as God’s promises to the Jews are concerned. They claim that the promises of God’s land grant to Israel was conditional, based upon Israel’s obedience to God. When Israel rejected their Messiah, they forfeited all claims to God’s promises to them.

For the world at large to claim Israel is an interloper and the key troublemaker in the Middle East is one thing, but for a major denomination within Christianity to claim that the Jew is finished in God’s view is apostate thinking of apocalyptic dimension. Thus, it is with interest we observe while the Presbyterian U.S.A. church changes its replacement stand to a very modest degree. Could it be that some who truly know Christ within the organization have absorbed a bit of Holy Spirit light?

The lead portion of a story from a number of years ago says: “The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted yesterday to back off from a decision it made two years ago to pursue divestment from companies that profit from Israel’s involvement in the Palestinian territories. The resolution, passed overwhelmingly at the church’s general assembly in Birmingham, Ala., responded to outcries by some church members and Jews who accused the church of insensitivity to Israel. The resolution apologized for ‘the pain that this has caused’ among ‘many members of the Jewish community and within our Presbyterian communion'” (Laurie Goodstein, Presbyterians Revise Israel Investing Policy, June 22, 2006).

The change in policy has apparently done nothing to negate Presbyterian theological folly that God is through with Israel. This said because that denominational sector continues to deny Bible Truth about God’s dealing with Israel. The earlier apology seems to have been simply nothing more or less than a return to good business practice. Good business, from the world’s standpoint, is precisely the accusation the prophecies of Revelation, Chapter 17, level at the apostate harlot who rides the beast regime.

We strongly urge all who hold to the folly of replacement theology to change their satanically-inspired view before it’s too late.

Every year we observe D-Day in honor of the Allied forces who invaded parts of Europe, the action that began in earnest the drive toward victory over Hitler’s Nazi military in 1944.

I want to think with you about the present invasion taking place. This contemporary assault is infinitely more deadly than the dangers faced in that long-ago invasion of France. It is infinitely more dangerous because it is –in truth— supernatural, i.e., involves eternal matters. It involves the spiritual world rather than the physical. I should say it involves the spiritual MORE than the physical world, because both worlds are intricately intertwined.

Again, I see two primary areas of Holy Scripture involved in this warfare. Both emphasize the supernatural dangers and the spiritual nature of the warfare.

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5: 8). So, Satan is the general leading this endtime assault. He leads some quite terrifying forces in this stalking back and forth upon Planet Earth. “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” (Eph. 6:12).

With but a modicum of effort in searching through the Word of God about endtime things, we can make the linkage of how the contemporary assault by Satan and his forces of evil links to the devil’s past efforts. And, we can see where it is all leading in this wind-up of human history.

These last-days things are refreshed in my mind, while I recall promoting my novel of several years ago –The Rapture Dialogues. The subtitle: “Dark Dimension” says it all. The endtime warfare is with extra dimensional beings, not extraterrestrial beings. We can identify these supposedly unidentified flying objects if we open our minds and hearts through spiritual discernment written about in 1 Corinthians 2:14.

The linkage between the human, fleshly elements of this conflict and the supernatural or spiritual elements is undeniable if we properly analyze and dissect the matters involved.

Jesus –the greatest of all prophets (because He is God) said the following: “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” (Lk. 17:26-30).

Jesus foretold that history would repeat itself. Things will happen almost precisely like they happened in Noah’s day before the Flood, and in the days of Lot and the destruction of Lot’s hometown, Sodom, and its neighbor town, Gomorrah. What happened that was so grievous to the Lord that He determined to completely erase these societies from the earth’s surface?

I believe it was sin, of course, speaking in general terms. Sin always ultimately brings God’s wrath and judgment. The wages of sin is death, the Scripture tells us. But I see a much more specific sin that lies at the heart of the civilizations mentioned in those judgments of the antediluvian world, and the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The linkage is strong between the fleshly or physical realm, and the spiritual or supernatural realm in these cases. The linkage is made clear in the following verse –at least to me.

“And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities” (Jude 1:6-8).

Do you see that linkage? It is the phrase “going after strange flesh” that links the human to the supernatural, in considering the matter of this endtime invasion which Jesus prophesied will be a recurrence of soul/flesh-corrupting things that happened in antediluvian and ancient times.

In the matter of the supernatural realm, we see in Genesis 6:1-3 that the “sons of god” went after “strange flesh,” i.e., a number of angels who fell with Lucifer in the great rebellion, and were cast out of Heaven, saw the “daughters of men” (human women) and came down to them, and cohabited with them–producing hybrid offspring of the natural and the supernatural. Going after “strange flesh,” then, means doing something that is against the order God established.

These offspring were “men of renown,” the Scriptures tell us. These were doubtless the creatures from which Greek, Norse, and Roman mythologies derive to some extent.

Genesis, chapter 19, tells the full story of the “strange flesh” Jude alludes to in verses 6-8. This is expounded upon by Paul the apostle in Romans chapter 1. The “strange flesh” is men going after men, and women after women in the sexual sense –burning in their lusts one toward the other, and receiving in themselves the payment for their sin, which, God’s Word says, is a fitting punishment.

The endtime invasion Jesus prophesied is, I’m convinced, well underway. Key among the elements of Satan’s assault is a return of the dark, spiritual beings in high places –the extra-dimensional, not extraterrestrial, beings, again trying to corrupt the “seed” of mankind through the sightings, encounters, abductions, ghostly appearances, visitations, stigmata phenomena, and all of the rest of these strange things reported even by documentaries like those on Discovery and the History Channel every week. The prime-time invasion will, I’m equally convinced, take place in the tribulation era (Daniel’s seventieth week) as outlined in the “strong delusion” of 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2.

On the human level, the corruption is taking place through “going after strange flesh,” i.e., doing a thing totally against God’s established order. Men again are lusting after men, and women again lusting after women on a scale like in those ancient times, while Hollywood and many in government and media promote this lifestyle deadly to the continuation of the human race.

All of this indicates just how near this generation must be to the time Christ will step out on the clouds of glory and shout, “Come up here!” The final war called Armageddon that will result from this satanic invasion approaches rapidly. Rapture of those who have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior cannot be far distant.

Anyone who has read George Orwell’s 1947 novel, 1984, can’t forget the draconian methodologies the tyrannical regime inflicted upon the people of the areas of London and other places. “Big Brother” was watching everyone and everything. That ominous terms continues to reverberate within today’s vernacular. So does the concept of the ever-vigilant watchers of the citizenry continue to haunt us?

Government kept everyone under its eyes and thumb while Planet Earth divided into separate spheres of total domination. Chaos on a global scale drove people to first accept, then welcome, such controls, although the time came when the order became much worse than the chaos it quelled. Many will remember the hoopla –particularly those who read the prophecy books leading up to that much ballyhooed year. I was one such reader (and writer) of the speculation on how close we might be to the mark of the beast, etc. The Cold War was in full bloom, and Ronald Reagan was accused by his opponents, both in this country and around the world, of having an itchy trigger finger. Computers were on the rise, technology and knowledge was on the exponential increase. All looked in place for world crisis that might call for Orwell’s Big Brother to raise his ugly head.

It is easy, in retrospect, to see that much had to come into the mix of endtime elements, before the Orwellian-like society prophesied by John, under Holy Spirit inspiration—could come to fruition.

It is with recognition that those speculations leading up to 1984 presented room for all the phenomenal developments since, that it is wise to not go overboard, thinking and proclaiming that there is nothing else in the sense of stage-setting that can come about in order to issue in the time John foretold: “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six” (Rev. 13:16-18).

Development of the Internet; satellite and other communications technologies; the saturation of personal computer knowledge and use; the intertwining of banking through instant electronic funds transfer: all have come so far since 1984 as to make it clear that the decade of the 1980s –even the 1990s, comprised but a pioneering era. The analogy of those years could be made to the development of the steam engine and trains of the 1900s, leading to the age of modern technologies that gave us jet travel and beyond.

The factor that now enters into the equation of calculating when might arrive the God-foretold Big Brother system given in Revelation 13: 16-18 is the worldwide terrorism that threatens us. Nowhere has the threat been more pronounced than in London, which was the setting for much of Orwell’s novel. One such report from a number of years ago indicated the threat that still exists there today.

“LONDON – Police thwarted a devastating terrorist plot on Friday, discovering two Mercedes loaded with nails packed around canisters of propane and gasoline set to detonate and kill possibly hundreds in London’s crowded theater and nightclub district…” (Paisley Dodds, “London police foil major terror plot,” Associated Press, June 28, 2007).

Britain, in particular, has been the target for the Mid-East and other terrorist organizations. Whether this was an act of amateurs or from the mind of Al Qaida types, the fact seems to be that London, in particular, is the favorite targets in the western world for those who are determined to get their way through deadly violence.

It isn’t merely coincidental that England –particularly London, has governmental eyes in ubiquitous fashion like no other place on the planet. The news article reported further:

“[The London authorities] had the benefit of footage from closed-circuit TV cameras, hoping the surveillance network that covers much of central London will help them track down the driver of the Mercedes. The CCTV footage would be compared with license plate recognition software, British anti-terror police Chief Peter Clarke said. There are 160 security cameras in the Westminster Council, the district encompassing Piccadilly Circus and the Haymarket area, alone” (Dodds, AP).

Orwell, uncannily, had the city pegged that would have the most Big Brother like set up from his perspective of looking at the future. It is interesting to wonder if terrorism might one day soon provide the desperation and chaos that will cause the citizens on a global scale to cry for “peace and safety” in a loud enough collective voice to bring in the prophesied regime of Revelation 13.

Jesus foretold the time when that Orwellian orgy of control gets fully underway.

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt. 24:21).

The perfect prophetic storm is upon this last-time generation. To understand the darkly serious truth of America’s tinkering in the matter of forcing Israel to make human peace with its enemies, we must delve heavily into the relevant prophetic Scriptures. We begin by seeing the peace arrangement prophesied by the prophet Daniel:

“And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (Dan. 9: 26-27).

The great prophet Isaiah foretold the ramifications for Israel and by extension the entire world: “Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it” (Isa. 28:14-18).

Jesus himself prophesied Israel’s great trouble, which was previously given by Jeremiah the prophet as recorded in Jeremiah 30: 7. Jesus forewarned the following:

“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt. 24: 15-21).

Jesus foretells that there is coming the worst time in human history, and that time will be during the seven years immediately preceding His second advent –when He literally returns to the planet to put an end to Armageddon, then set up His millennial throne atop Zion at Jerusalem. Keep in mind that this time is after the holocaust of the Nazi regime and Adolf Hitler. The “prince that shall come” –Antichrist—will perpetrate horrors upon the Jews far worse than the Fuehrer perpetrated!

The question is this: Seeing as how the Lord of heaven always gave warning before pending judgments of the past, is it not logical that He would give even more pronounced warning in the times leading up to the era of His wrath and judgment, which Jesus, who is God himself, said will be the worst time of all human history? And, this brings us to the subject of this essay, “the perfect prophetic storm.”

To repeat the earlier assessment of what is going on in the world today –the strange, volatile times in which we of this generation find ourselves: It seems another perfect storm is coalescing while America’s interference in God’s plan for Israel is taking place. It is a storm that is part geophysical, part socioeconomic, and, to those of us who view Bible prophecy as literal, totally spiritual in the many fronts pulsing from its center.

Nature on the rampage over the past several years coincides closely with America’s and the Quartet’s (U.S., E.U., U.N., and Russia) attempts to force the making of a Palestinian nation upon land that is Israel’s by divine right. The geophysical upheavals have been on the increase in intensity, while America gets more deeply involved in formulating a peace agreement between Israel and her neighbors. The “Roadmap to Peace” has metamorphosed into a process that now demands that Israel give up not only land she has won with each succeeding attack from her enemies, but that Israel divide Jerusalem, allowing the new Palestinian state, when instituted, to make eastern Jerusalem its capital.

As I’ve written before, the action is the same as poking the Almighty in the apple of His omnipotent eye,. The action will not stand. I believe we are seeing not God’s judgment and wrath at this point, but His solemn warning of things to come. The perfect storm is thus brewing. It has been doing so for several years.

Hurricane Katrina boiled to the surface on August 23, 2005, just off the Horn of Africa, became a 175 mph hurricane on August 28 in the Gulf of Mexico, and slammed into New Orleans and coastlines surrounding that city. The storm claimed a total of 1,836 confirmed dead, with 705 missing. It was the most costly hurricane to date at $8.96 billion.

At the time it was announced that Jerusalem was on the table for division, thus to allow the Palestinians to build a capital there, California’s northern coast exploded in fires from more than 1,000 lightning strikes, an unheard of occurrence in that area of the state. The fires raged south and westward,requiring billions of dollars to attempt containment.

Floods gushed through America’s heartland at the same time, claiming lives and huge portions of land, much of the prime farmland made useless by the flooding. The plains, Mississippi Valley, and much of the Ohio Valley and other areas of middle America have suffered with tornado outbreaks since that time, causing losses in life and property on an ever grater scale. Following Katrina, Hurricane Gustav, followed on its heels by Hurricane Ike, brought further devastation, affecting petroleum supplies and uprooting people by the thousands. The southeast United States suffered by droughts, in some regions several years long.

While the American secretary of state continues to travel to Israel and other places, twisting the arms of Israeli leadership to divide Jerusalem, and otherwise give land for peace, the perfect prophetic storm continues to coalesce in matters involving the national and, by extension, the global economic markets.

Corporate giants once thought invincible against the blasts of deadly economic storms are in the headlines today. Todd Strandberg correctly assessed the extreme measures being taken to try to prevent the financial part of the perfect prophetic storm’s effects from wreaking total economic collapse.

Todd wrote some years ago:

“September 2008 will easily go down as the darkest month in U.S. financial history. We have never seen so many large financial institutions falter in such a short period of time:

1. Mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the U.S. government.

2. Lehman Brothers Holdings succumbed to the subprime mortgage crisis. It is the biggest bankruptcy filing in history.

3. Merrill Lynch was saved from bankruptcy by a shot-gun merger with Bank of America.

4. The world’s largest Insurer American International Group was saved from certain collapse by a $85 billion federal loan…” (Todd Strandberg, raptureready.com, Nearing Midnight, Monday Sept. 22, 2008).

The perfect prophetic storm rages as likely precursor to the truly cataclysmic tempests that will come upon a wicked, rebellious world ripe for judgment.

Jesus Christ is the only shelter to be found from that coming time of unprecedented turbulence upon Planet Earth.

The Lord promised those who accept His offer of salvation to be removed from that horrendous time (Revelation 3:10). He said the following: “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” (Jn. 14:1-3).

Producers of programming for the networks like The History Channel, Discovery, and National Geographic air documentaries from time to time that are titled something like “The Perfect Storm.” The documentaries look at the several large storms in the northeast United States in 1991 that coalesced off the coast of New England in the Atlantic and swept onshore as one, massive blow. The video shows then-President George Herbert Walker Bush’s home in Kennebunkport, Maine, being assaulted by the turbulent Atlantic.

The “perfect storm” was raging along the northeastern U.S. coast at the same time the Bush administration was involved in negotiating Israel’s future in Spain. Here we are, more than two decades later, following another Bush administration that positioned itself in the middle of Israel’s business, with then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice trying to get Israel to divide its land and the city of Jerusalem in order to create a Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state. It seems another perfect storm moves toward coalescing while this American interference in God’s plan continues to take place with Obama Administration efforts. It is a storm that is part geophysical, part socio-economic, and totally spiritual, in the view of many of us who analyze eschatological matters.

Many see as a miracle Israel’s being back as a nation-state with its own language. Hebrew was once thought lost to the Jewish people as a common language following the last diaspora around 135 A.D., when the Roman emperor Hadrian put down the Jewish insurrection and scattered the Jewish people. Yet it is again Israel’s national language, just as foretold for the time near Christ’s return.

America has been at the forefront of Israel’s birth into modernity. There can be no doubt, upon looking into the history of Israel’s coming back into its God-given land, that the U.S. has been first the midwife at its birth, then its protector–in human terms—assuring its right to exist among the nations of the world.

If I may do a mini-commercial for my book that came out with Harvest House Publishers in February of 2009, titled The American Apocalypse: Is the United States in Prophecy? I must say that while preparing the manuscript, my research brought home to me the stunning proof of America’s God-ordained destiny. No one can explain to any degree of satisfaction why America isn’t mentioned by name in the Bible. There are many speculations and postulations, but the answer to the question about why the United States is not mentioned in Bible prophecy continues to elude. The answer will have to await the unfolding of history. However, modern Israel is living proof that America was established for God’s great purposes. Those are: 1) the capability to preach the gospel message to the whole world; and 2) to bring Israel to birth on May 14, 1948, then to act as its protector as the Jewish state stood on its feet, as prophesied by Ezekiel, chapter 37.

America is living testimony to the absolute truth of God’s faithfulness to fulfill His prophetic Word. America is the most materially blessed and one of the most spiritually blessed nations ever to exist. God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 is thus 100 percent validated: “I will bless those who bless thee, and curse those who curse thee.”

The United States has been the recipient of the first part of that promise. Israel’s satanically driven enemies have been recipients of the second part of that promise, and lie strewn in abject desolation along the dark corridors of history. The proof of America’s coming to birth with a foreordained destiny planned by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, leaps from recent history in fashion that is thunderous. The United States has blessed Israel, and as a result, this nation has brought mankind from the dark recesses of the past to the brightness invented by its illuminated genius. Since the time Benjamin Franklin was shocked by lightning while he experimented with a kite and a key, thus–I am convinced–infusing the soon-to-be founding father with special ideas directly from the finger of God, this nation has electrified –literally—the whole world.

The flip side of America’s comportment as of late, however, is as frightening as its brilliant inventiveness and contribution to modern man has been electrifying. This country, so key to bringing fulfillment of end-times prophecy into focus in human, earthly terms by helping put Israel at stage center on the global scene, at present is now key to setting in motion the time of tribulation –the last seven years of human history preceding Christ’s second advent. The

“Roadmap to Peace,” the brain-child of geopolitical strategists in America and the European Union, is pushing forward the, perhaps, predecessor to what God calls “the covenant made with death and hell”.

As a result, God’s perfect prophetic storm of forewarning of wrath to come is blowing across this nation. Wrath and judgment could be just around the corner of the next crisis. We will look more deeply next week into the tempest that is sweeping America and the world toward a destiny foretold by Jesus and the Old and New Testament prophets.

Jesus’ words of forewarning ring in spiritually attuned ears today as never before.

When His disciples came to Him on the Mount of Olives and asked the Lord when He would come again, and what would be the sign of His coming, the very first and second indicators He gave in answer were the following: “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matt. 24:4-5).

I’m sometimes teased by my family –those closest to me–when I get on a soapbox to talk about Bible prophecy, world conditions, and what the Bible says about this or that. Perhaps, sometimes, my pontification is espoused just to be heard, rather than being of any spiritual good. We are all human, and we say things that mean little. We sometimes waste our and others’ time with our verbiage.

Jesus’ words were powerful every time He spoke. He wasted none of His or others’ time, like we do with our verbosity on occasion. So, when the Lord who created all that is –who IS the Word (John 1:1) says that the first sign to look for in terms of watching for His return is those who come saying “I am Christ,” we had better take heed. Thus, because what follows is the second sign –deception of an unusually virulent sort.

Jesus, by forewarning that people would come in His name, saying “I am Christ,” is, I believe, saying two things we should carefully analyze. First, He is saying that people will come in His name. They will invoke the name of Christ to get the ears and minds of many interested and to encourage belief in what they are claiming. Second, Jesus meant, I am convinced, that these people will be saying: 1) they, also, believe in Jesus Christ; and, 2) some will also claim that they are actually Jesus. These will claim to be Jesus, the Christ, returned to earth.

The first of these indicators are in abundance, in my view. As a matter of fact, those signs are right in front of us every time we channel through our television programming. The false teachers and false prophets are there every night. They claim Christ as being at the center of all their ministries’ activities. In the name of Jesus Christ, they preach and teach false doctrines that feed on viewers who believe the lies that God is like a genie in a bottle. He will give us anything and everything we want, if we but use the power that is in our tongues. We speak it, and God must fulfill our fondest desires. We put our “faith” into action by sowing a seed –usually dollars in significant amounts—into their ministries. They claim we are guaranteed healing, no matter what, if we just believe strongly enough in our own “faith” that God will heal upon command. They sound for real, because they use the name of our Blessed Lord Jesus.

They make merchandise of the foolish in their audiences, just as the Apostle Peter forewarned:

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not” (2 Pet. 2:1-3).

The second of the first two forewarnings Jesus gave involves evil ones who will, the Lord said, say, “I am Christ.” The first meaning of that statement is, I believe, that these will say –in their deceptiveness—that Jesus is indeed Lord. They will be deceivers, nonetheless. But, the application to Jesus’ prophecy I would like to consider here is the other meaning wrapped up in the statement “I am Christ.”

There have been many who have claimed the title of “Christ” down through the centuries. However, that claim has become particularly pronounced in these latter times, as we see all the other end-time indicators simultaneously developing, and coming wave after wave –like convulsing birth pangs of a woman in labor. The following excerpted article from a number of years ago will illustrate the point [there has been a proliferation of such reports since]:

“At first glance, the congregation gathered in a warehouse in Doral, Fla., seems like a typical Hispanic evangelical group. There’s the 10-piece band, the singing and swaying, the whooping and hollering. But look a little more closely. There’s not a cross in sight. The lectern is emblazoned with a near replica of the U.S. presidential seal, except that it reads in Spanish, government of god on earth. Off to the side stand three burly guys in dark suits with Secret

Service-style earpieces. When a door by the stage opens, the guards leap into action. They surround the man with slicked-back hair who emerges and escort him to his seat. When the crowd spots him, it goes wild. People chant, ‘Lord! Lord! Lord!’ It quickly becomes clear that they’re referring to him. ‘It’s Jesus Christ himself!’ a preacher on stage announces. ‘Let’s welcome Jesus Christ Man!’ In the rapturous eyes of his flock, Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda is, in fact, the second coming of Christ. As the head of the Growing in Grace International Ministry, he presides over a sprawling organization that includes more than 300 congregations in two dozen countries, from Argentina to Australia. He counts more than 100,000 followers and claims to reach millions more through a 24-hour TV channel, a radio show and several Web sites…” (Arian Campo-Flores, “Meet the Minister Who Says He Is Jesus Christ,” by Newsweek, Feb. 5, 2007).

Jesus foretold that these two things –counterfeit Christians and counterfeit christs–will mark the days just before His return. He told believers how to react to such deception: “And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not: For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect” (Mk. 13:21-22).

Point is that, just as the Lord predicted, these deceivers are among us –and are right up in the face of this generation. Sadly, rather than following Jesus’ instruction, “Believe him not,” regarding any person who makes these false claims, huge numbers within Christianity are embracing the deceivers and the feel-good gospel they proclaim.

A sure signal –among all the others—that we are nearing the moment when Christ will say: “Come up hither!” (Rev 4: 1).

Looking at the world around us from so many different viewpoints separates and divides the human community, engendering hatreds, wars, and death. Jesus, speaking while on the Mount of Olives one day, prophesied the degree to which the differences would explode in the time just before His return. “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places” (Matt. 24:7).

We have pointed out often that the word “nation” here is from the Greek word ethnos, translated “ethnic” in English. Jesus was forewarning that the tribulation era will produce great hatreds that will be centered on racial and cultural differences of world view. These unprecedented uprisings of this sort will, Jesus foretold, eventuate in famines and pestilence—the inevitable result of all-out war.

Although we of this generation are not in the Tribulation era, about which Jesus here prophesied, we have diametrically differing worldviews on the national and international scenes that certainly must be setting the stage for the times Jesus foresaw.

The U.S. is mired in many ethnic problems and cultural differences within the various races themselves. Insistence on embracing multiculturalism by the PC crowd, motivated to their hyper level of championing the melting pot worldview by mainstream media, throws fuel on the fires of racial divides. The multicultural Nazis want Americans to stay separate, because most of these PC types are socialist-leaning globalists who want us to be citizens of the world, rather than citizens of a sovereign nation. Hyphenating, or mixing ethnic with national identities, into unique nomenclature seems designed to make America eventually forfeit national autonomy.

Worldview is being shaped in this nation to reflect the one-world builders’ blueprint for the global village, as one well-known probable second time presidential candidate put it. The worldview in question has never gone away. It is the perennial worldview that has been with mankind since Nimrod attempted to build the tower to Heaven not long after the flood of Noah’s day (read Genesis chapter 11). We see that blueprint manifested in the incessant attempts to bring everyone together in the Middle East peace process –at Israel’s expense, of course.

Jesus also prophesied that man would get himself deeper and deeper into trouble, so far as the nation state is concerned, the closer the Second Advent comes. “And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves Roaring” (Lk. 21:25).

There can be little argument against the obvious. Nations are indeed in great distress today—with much perplexity. We don’t have to look at the many nations of earth to prove this fact. Our own nation is divided right down the middle on most all issues of politics and morality. People are so distressed—even perplexed—that many have promised to leave the country, if they didn’t get their way in presidential election results. Others have written fictional books, venting their anger in wishful accounts of the assassination of a president they hate.

The problems involved all boil down to one issue—worldview.

Any other view of life on this planet than God’s view is –to put it bluntly, but truthfully—wrong, and destined to produce disaster. This is true no matter the area of life. Worldview is all-important in avoidance of trouble, and in achievement of success. There isn’t space here to go into the many areas in life today to which this truth applies. So, let’s briefly look at one key issue in considering worldview that gets to the crux of the most important prophetic indicator of this late hour. The issue is modern Israel.

The geopoliticians are in perplexity about Israel and its hate-filled enemies. The diplomats have no idea where the anger truly comes from, therefore cannot begin to understand how to solve the violence and hatreds. The world’s diplomats have a worldview—or combination of worldviews—that completely leave the God of Heaven out of the equation for peace-making. The result has been more than 5,000 years of war throughout recorded history. God says “be governed by my rules, because I created all that is, and know what is best…” The earthly rulers say, “we can handle it. If there is a God, that God is existential at best. We don’t need or want him to rule over us.” This doesn’t apply, of course, to Islamic fanatics, who slavishly accept the bloody demands of their god to make war. God says that everything is His, including the land of the Middle East He chose to give to the Jews –Israel. The geopoliticians say they will decide who owns the land and who doesn’t. The result: a world that is quickly moving toward all out war—Armageddon.

The same error in worldview is within the church today, i.e., those who name the name of Christ for salvation. The worldview of most mainline denominations today say God is through with Israel. The church—that worldview proposes—is now inheritor of all promises that the Lord covenanted with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God is through with Israel, and all about Israel that is in the Bible must be spiritualized, allegorized, or treated as history already accomplished.

Really?

They proclaim –through their worldview—that the Church is going to make the world better and better, until they have made it good enough through the political and diplomatic process, in conjunction with religious, do-good projects, for Jesus to come back and take over.

Really?

They aren’t reading the same headlines I am. If the Lord has given up on Israel, then it sure is some coincidence going on. We are expected to believe that Israel just coincidentally happens to be on the front page headlines every day, in the center of a desperate cry for peace, just like God’s prophetic Word forecast. Worldview is all-important in God’s economy. God’s worldview is –as legendary football coach Vince Lombardi once put it in talking about winning—not everything. It is the only thing!

Today’s advertising puts before the world of potential buyers certain words and phrases that the psychological studies and marketing tests show will most likely induce the buyer to make purchases. FREE! Sale! Half Price Today Only! 100% Money-Back Guarantee! These seem to mesmerize the hard-core shoppers and spark in some the compulsion to purchase merchandise at a frenzied pace. Sometimes–dare I say, even usually—the merchandisers fail to come near living up to the words of their huckstering. I should know; the arena of advertising and public relations/promotion was my livelihood many years ago.

This is not to say those engaged in the advertising business intentionally go out to deceive people, just that they believe wholeheartedly in applying the apothegm, caveat emptor: “Let the buyer beware.” They don’t spend a lot of time worrying about whether the promises are fully realized. The bottom line is the only line that really matters in the ad business. Words mean things in this fallen world. But, the things they mean are in the fallen minds of the beholders–i.e., a man’s “word” is not necessarily as good as his bond, as the old saying goes. You had best get the deal locked up tightly with a contract or agreement. And, even that doesn’t always make the deal secure. Consider, for example, the signed document guaranteeing “peace in our time” Britain’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain thought he secured with Adolf Hitler in 1939.

Now, after that bit of cynicism, let me turn our thoughts to an arena where a word is better than any earthly bond. I’m referring, of course, to the heavenly economy, and to God’s Word, the Holy Bible. No more manifest proof of God’s Word being 100% reliable can be found than through examining prophecy given to mankind by Jesus and the Old and New Testament prophets.

The first coming of Jesus was so meticulously prophesied that it took satanically inspired willfulness on the part of the pious Jewish religionist’s to deny at the time of their visitation that He was the Messiah. Their denial was the same people make today, and it is a denial of the veracity of God’s Word. We can say this without fear of contradiction, as they say, because Jesus IS the Word–and He is denied each and every time anyone claims that there are many ways to God. Jesus is the Word; Jesus is the only way to God the Father and heaven for eternity.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3).

“Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Col. 1:13-17).

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

We have only to look at the line-up of headlines to understand that our Lord is indeed the awesome God of creation. He is the one and only being who knows the end from the beginning. Prophecy coming to pass proves He, alone, is God. Whether considering the prophecy of Daniel’s 70 weeks –a predicted time-frame of 483 years that proved 100% accurate in the first 69 of those weeks, which not even the strongest naysayers can refute unless they speciously claim it was written by another man named Daniel AFTER the crucifixion–or considering Israel again being a nation, the Roman Empire reviving, a Mid-East peace plan being in process, or Israel becoming a cup of trembling to the whole world, God’s Word is validated as unerring truth.

End-times matters have eventuated precisely as given by Jesus and the Old and New Testament prophets to this point. Events prophesied to conclude human history will “100% Guaranteed” continue until God remakes heaven and earth. You have God’s Word –the Bible– on it!