USA & Babylon/USA in Prophecy: Is It Really There? - By Ron Ferguson - https://www.raptureready.com/2020/08/19/usa-babylon-usa-in-prophecy-is-it-really-there-by-ron-ferguson/
 
Before you read this, I need to explain that I am not American but an outsider about 13/14,000 km away, but for 60 years I have tried to study the USA and what happens there. Don't be too hard on me!
 
American Christians are concerned about the morality cliff over which the nation is plunging, and seek to identify with something biblical to explain what they see around them. The decline in the United States is on all fronts - church attendances are declining; lawlessness is becoming unstoppable; the rise of anarchists and radicals is most alarming; there is a breakdown in co-operative government; financial problems are escalating; Hollywood produces social agenda garbage; the quality of education and the curriculum are in freefall; crime rates are increasing; people are beginning to lose faith in and respect for the judiciary.
 
How do the United States Christians identify with that? In fairness, those problems are not just confined to the United States these days, but are symptomatic of our times in all but authoritarian nations.
 
With recognition of what the country has become, there is fear as to where it is heading. People want answers. Christians want answers. They look to the Bible for these, and the desire to "find it in the Bible" is great. However, the danger is to write into the Bible what it never intended, and then from silence, to develop a systematic platform for resolving the place of America in the world of the Bible. That then gets hooked into a biblical prophetic distortion that must include the United States at all costs. How rational is all this when considered against the accepted and proper exegesis of scripture? Does the USA really feature in the prophecy of the Bible?
 
I will seek to answer all this, for I find it unacceptable that Christians would distort scripture to make the square peg fit the round hole. I was very surprised to find that some of those accepted views on the United States and prophecy are quite common. I did not think it was until I did Google searches, and there seems just so much. Why would this be?
 
To begin with, I want to say something that is going to brand me badly, I feel, but remember I am an outsider, an observer who has reacted with Americans for over 60 years in a lesser way, but sufficient to form some subjective opinions.
 
In my nation, many consider the average American to be quite parochial, that is, very much absorbed nationally with not too much knowledge of the outside world. In other words, the United States is everything, and all must conform to the United States standard. Not too much leeway is granted for the opinions and attitudes of those outside the United States. I cite franchises here that, when they operate in other nations, they must conform to the very inch how the buildings are constructed (McDonald's, Subway, KFC, Wendy's, etc.) and to the exact style and colors of uniforms, etc. That gives the message, "We know what is best for everyone else."
 
I don't want to be misunderstood here. I want to say that it can breed a subtle impression that "We are the best," and "We are right."
 
When you believe you are the world leader (probably justifiably so), then the next step is to think you are important enough for God to take note and include you in the prophecy of the Bible. If that is so, then why did God not do the same for the great Empire of Spain or Britain or France or China? What is so special about the United States that it must have specific prophecy relating just to it?
 
I must be honest here. Every one of these specific prophecies I have seen mentioned by people when they claim them for the United States has been taken out of context, and that makes a distorted exegesis and does harm to the Bible.
 
It is in the same boat as those who take Ezekiel chapter 1 and build into it a doctrine of alien visitation.
 
Why would God speak of the United States or put secret things in the Bible that the educated find and make a connection to the United States? It just makes no logical sense.
 
Prophecy must be logical and must be interconnected. That is why the entire body of prophetic writings is integrated into a network that is entire, WITH ISRAEL AT THE CENTER. What connection did China have with Israel in the days of the prophets? What connection did the United States have with Israel 2 and 3 thousand years ago?
 
The answer is obvious and is why all nations outside of the biblical references are not included in any specific prophecy. God is consistent about that. Many HOPE the United States is in prophecy because they think their country is too important not to be there. That, though, does not make it work.
 
I have covered two reasons why the United States is omitted from prophecy. In summary -
 
All biblical prophecy that is specific and not general is related to the nations of the biblical times. That is why so much centers around the promises for Israel, the armies of the invaders, the future Tribulation and restoration of Israel, and the downfall of so many of the idolatrous nations surrounding Israel.
There are a few general prophecies also, the best ones being the ones related to "In the last days" as in Timothy, and the Rapture in 1 Cor 15 and 1 Thess 4. In none of these is any country mentioned or alluded to.
 
Prophecy connected with the nations had a connection with Israel. Canada never did. Australia never did. Thailand never did. The United States never did, and that is why all those nations do not feature in any way with specific prophecies for them. Do not make it do so. It is wrong and dishonoring to do it.
There are very few instances where more widespread nations have the slightest mention. These are not actually named nations, but generalities. I will give a few (all NASB):
 
Psalm 97:1 "The LORD reigns. Let the earth rejoice. Let the many islands be glad."
 
Isaiah 49:1 "Listen to Me, O islands, and pay attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called Me from the womb, from the body of My mother He named Me." ("Islands" - often distant countries)
 
Jeremiah 6:22 "Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, a people is coming from the north land, and a great nation will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth." (Reference to Babylon).
 
Ezekiel 38:6 "Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops - many peoples with you." (It really means the far remote places, way up north.)
 
Zechariah 12:3 "And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.
 
Zechariah 14:2 "For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured."
 
Gentile nations are ONLY EVER mentioned if they had a connection with Israel in biblical times, either with war or blessing or destruction. The United States can only be included where I have underlined above.
 
So why do people desire for the United States to be included in specific prophecy?
 
Is it for a sense of fulfillment?
 
Is it for a sense of pride? Is it that God just possibly could not have overlooked the United States? I think that is a question that should be examined.
 
Khomeini called the United States the great Satan. Mao Zedong called it a paper tiger, but God has called it nothing. It does not make the Bible record. The United States is a nation that has done a lot of good in the world (promotion of Christian material, evangelists, saving Australia in WW2, protecting free nations of the world), and still does a lot of good, but also produced a lot of evil (Hollywood, the porn industry, greed).
 
It is a nation God has blessed, and I think will continue to bless while it supports Israel with the current president.
 
However, we all know that the great sadness is that it is decaying from within (or, if you like, "coming apart" like a mix of iron and clay), but so is almost every nation of the world. The United States is a member of the world community and shares its destiny with the nations of the world. It has no prophetic links to Israel. Christians are not bad people, and the misguided views of the United States that some of them have, in a certain way, are understandable. "We want to find our destiny. We hope we are there in the Bible." Some Americans hope they are there. As nations, specifically, neither the whole of North and South America, nor Australia, nor sub-Equatorial Africa, nor SE Asia have specific prophecies attached to them.
 
Because the United States is or was so rich with trading and enterprises and in military hardware, then certain ones have looked on the United States as being Babylon, even Great Babylon, or Babylon of Revelation 17 and 18. Some want to relate the current move to apostasy in the United States to Babylon - a mixture of truth and utter confusion. It might be understandable that Americans would want to do this, but that again is problematic because of the introverted nature of the American psyche in a few, where SOME Christians think that their nation MUST be in scripture.
 
In the history of Babylon, we begin with Nimrod, who established Babel, a place of rebellion against God. He and his wife/mother Semiramis and son Tammuz (Read The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop) created a commercial and religious organization that infiltrated the whole known world. It confused the true worship of Jehovah (Babel means confusion).
 
Babel grew into Babylon that eventually became a world power (the first and the finest [head of gold]) that had an impact on Israel. The Pharaoh dynasties did not really impact Israel as a world power as did Babylon, Media Persia, Greece, and Rome. Babylon conquered Judah around 597 BC under Nebuchadnezzar, and the Jews have never been a free and nationalized people since that time until 1947/48.
 
Of course, Babylon continues as Iraq generally today, though borders have come and gone. Assyria covered much of Syria and Iraq. However, I will distinguish between Babylon the nation, and Babylon the system. No more mention is made of Babylon as a nation in the Bible outside of the Old Testament, apart from passing references in Acts 7:43 and an improbable one in 1 Peter 5:13. It is not until Revelation that we read of Babylon, but what is the Babylon here?
 
In 312 AD Constantine the great had his great victory at the Milvian Bridge, which he attributed to a supernatural vision of a cross and words saying, "By this you shall conquer." He renounced paganism and allegedly became a Christian. Then he made all his soldiers to be baptized, and they joined (flooded into) the church. The problem there was that, in the main, they were unconverted, and they consequently brought all their pagan practices into the church. In time, some of the old Babylonian elements became incorporated in Christian doctrine; and over the centuries, they became absolute doctrine in the Roman Catholic church.
 
I won't try to give a comprehensive list of practices, but they include the adoration/worship of the Mother/Child deity, the doctrine of the Queen of Heaven, the wafer as a round symbol of the Sun god, and the wearing of vestments. The scholarly study of these, and a whole lot more, is found in The Two Babylons.
 
Now, what you have in the above is the functioning of the Babylonian system. This system has infiltrated all religions of the world and brought confusion and degeneracy of belief. The system is alive today.
 
What of the nation of present-day Iraq? There is no prophecy for that nation as a specific item, though no doubt it will become an adherent of the power base for the World Leader after the Rapture (the Antichrist, if you like). On the other hand, its system is energized and will form the basis of the Revelation Babylon.
 
Let us move to those Revelation references. There are 7 references: one in chapter 14 and the remainder in chapters 17 and 18. Chapter 17 is the destruction of religious Babylon, and chapter 18 is the downfall of commercial Babylon. The great question among scholars is what does Babylon represent here - an actual new construction of Babylon, or a site somewhere which assumes the name Babylon, or a religious and commercial system that follows the millennia confusion of this evil system? And - - - the United States?
 
The first question we ask is how and why would a new Babylon be built? There is no logical sense for this, for it would have to be absolutely huge. The timeframe is against it as this system operates through the Tribulation, and such a construction would take years. This notion was popularized by the Left Behind series of books. There is absolutely no reason for it except to satisfy a wrong understanding of Babylon in Revelation that some presume has to be a place or city. It makes no sense.
 
A site somewhere that assumes the name Babylon is likewise a silly notion. One can understand through a careful reading of Rev 18 that commercial Babylon is worldwide and totally comprehensive. That is way beyond the suggestion of a specific location.
 
The third option of it being a system is the one that has the only credibility.
 
Babylon is an octopus-strangling system that controls the whole world religion and commerce in the Tribulation.
 
The influence of Babylon is already in religion, but after the Rapture, its evil will be paramount. The study of Revelation shows clearly that the worship under the False Prophet will be a satanic, drug-induced, evil system. That is more in fitting with a Babylonian system than a particular city with that name. It means functionality and interactive trade made rich by the evil of the Antichrist and False Prophet and favoritism, until the Antichrist and False Prophet turn on Babylon at the end.
 
There is an interesting verse in Rev 17:9; "Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits." We have here a twofold possibility. "Mountain" in prophecy means a kingdom/nation as in Isaiah 2:2; "Now it will come about that In the last days, the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills, and all the nations will stream to it." However, it has been noted since the time of the early Church fathers that Rome is the city of the seven hills - The seven hills are Aventine Hill, Caelian Hill, Capitoline Hill, Esquiline Hill, Palatine Hill, Quirinal Hill, Viminal Hill.
 
This has caused some commentators to say that Mystery Babylon of the Tribulation will be the Roman Catholic church as the Vatican is in Rome.
 
I reject that. I do think it is most likely the headquarters of the Tribulation apostate church. This Mother of Harlots will be in Rome, and the Vatican will play a part, as will the apostate elements of all of Christendom and all other world religions. The Roman Catholic church may be "babylonian" in some beliefs and practices, but it is not THE religious Babylon of Rev 17.
 
The fourth option some promote is that the United States now is the Babylon of the future post-Rapture. That is just wrong. The timeframe is wrong; the concept is wrong; why not make it China, as that nation is a match for the United States in commercialization, but more cunning and more apostate than the USA. To claim the United States as the great whore or the commercial Babylon of Rev 18 is just another parochial introspection to try to force the nation into biblical prophecy when it is not there. If the United States was a righteous and clean nation, then students would not be making the Babylon claims.
 
It is likely that commercial Babylon will have an operations base somewhere in the world, as does the UN with its headquarters in Brussels, but if that is the case, then I'd expect it to be in Europe (a lesser possibility is the Middle East), considering that will be the powerbase of the Revived Roman Empire.
 
What is the backbone of the United States at present? It is not its military might; it is not its innovation; it is not its Constitution; it is not its capitalistic enterprises... it is the Christians. The morality of Christians and God's good hand on the nation is only because of its Christian confession. Once you remove that at the Rapture, then the nation sinks into the moral abyss that will be the feature of all the nations of the world post-Rapture. The world becomes a morality mess, out of which will rise a satanic worship system to be known as "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH," in God's eyes (Rev 17), and also "Babylon the great which has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird" (Rev 18) as the world plies its trading.
 
There is an especially errant internet site that tries to defend America as Babylon. People who do this will go to great lengths to strain scripture through the eye of a needle, and that is what this site does. As proof that America is the great Babylon, it proposes these reasons, all developed from Revelation 17 and 18:
 
Proof #1: Deep Sea Water Port - Because of the mention of ships and the sea in Rev 18:17-19, then America qualifies.
 
Proof #2: Top Financial/Military Power Rev 17:9, 18 and 18:18; has to be America as it is the chief economic power of the world and the greatest importer and (infamously) consumer of goods and resources in the world per capita.
 
Proof #3: Babylon Must Have A Recognizable Mother Country. "Unlike all the
other countries named" [by the site], America has a clearly recognizable mother country. Yes, Great Britain is the "Mother Babylon" of Jeremiah 50:12, which "Daughter Babylon" came from. Great Britain will watch as her closest and most powerful ally is destroyed in a single day, a single hour. (Putin boasted once that he could destroy America in half that time.)"
 
Then it goes on to talk about the eagle wings describing Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel and the American eagle. This is the type of distorted interpretation these advocates of America = Babylon contrive, attempting to prove a delusion unsupported by the Bible. I have just read an interesting article from a site called "Feed the Hunger" in Burlington, NC, and would like to add some quotes from it:
 
[Let's look at some aspects of Babylon the Great that are mentioned in Revelation. It is easy to see how America has brought prosperity to the earth, yet has caused the world to get drunk on her adulteries (Rev. 18:3). It also has a vast shoreline that would put its destruction in plain view (verses 17-18). There are several other compelling similarities. However, our country has not yet come even remotely close to persecuting and killing Christians (17:6 & 18:24). Currently in America, there are only rare cases of persecution, and they pale in comparison to what millions of believers in other countries have endured and continue to endure on a daily basis.
 
Another problem I have with the "America-equals-Babylon" viewpoint is that I sense there are strong and deeply rooted hints of nationalistic pride in the hearts of some of those who believe our country is God's best, yet also worst creation ever. God is not sitting on his throne draped in our flag and speaking English, but He does deeply care for every soul.
 
Lastly, my main hurdle with staking a vehement claim that America is now Babylon the Great is that it means you have to completely ignore the Middle Eastern context of the Bible. Yes, Revelation is perhaps the main book in God's Word that speaks of what happens to the whole earth, and America could be Babylon. But, in my opinion, this cannot be proven until all of the events of Revelation have taken place.
 
My bottom line: At the very least, America has the spirit of Babylon the Great, and that is enough for me to have grave concern for our country's future. What's worse, the main cause of this spirit, in my mind, is the failure of the American Church. The Body of Christ has made the downward progression from being the driving force at our nation's founding to being (spiritually) anemic and lazy pew sitters who don't live different from the country's non-believing population. We've turned a blind eye to sin and actually built our "faith" around self-indulgence, believing that God owes us whatever we ask.]
 
In conclusion
 
The United States is not featured in biblical prophecy. It had no relationship to biblical events or lands or conflicts or prophetic promises that connect it with Israel. It has no more relevance to prophecy than has China, Japan, Mexico or Canada.
 
The United States is not Babylon or the Great whore or Mystery Babylon. In one way, it is becoming "babylon" in the sense of confusion, the meaning of the word, but so is every other western country.
 
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All Israel Will Be Saved - By Pastor Mike Taylor -
https://pastormiketaylor.blogspot.com/2020/08/all-israel-shall-be-saved.html
 
25 "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." (Romans 11:25-27)
 
(I have spoken of this subject in times past, but as the times grow closer to the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, these events become more apparent on the horizon. It was reported that Hezbollah in Lebanon would attack Israel this summer..it hasn't happened yet, but it will happen in God's timing. It could happen before I post this message on my blog and on Prophecy Update)
 
THE MIRACLE THAT IS ISRAEL
 
Have you ever stopped to consider in this fast paced world we live in, the miracle this is the nation of Israel? Of all people on earth, the Israelites, the Jewish people have been the whipping boy for the entire world. They have been persecuted wherever they went. The Gentiles around them abused and destroyed many of the members of this race, God called Israelites, or Hebrew in the Old Testament during the time of Abraham.
 
I see what the history of Israel has been since I've been alive, and all you can say, God has worked a miracle when it comes to Israel. Let us examine for a bit, the quick history of the establishment of Israel and the fight she has had to bring to her enemies who only wish to destroy her.
 
ISRAEL REBORN
 
In 1948, the tiny nation of Israel declared her independence and was recognized by our president at the time, Harry S. Truman, which gave them immediate credibility on the world stage. But it also brought about the swift action of the surrounding Arab neighbors who wished to drive them into the sea.
 
Israel should not have won. Their military assets were grossly inferior to the blood thirsty Arabs who wished only to destroy this fledging nation and remove her from the face of the earth once and for all...but that is not what happened. Anyone who wants to read about the unheard of "miracle" of the first war of survival that Israel was faced with can only come away with one impression., that is, God was on the side of Israel.
 
No one can explain how Israel won the 1948 War of Independence. The US Army War College at West Point doesn't even study Israel's victory. When asked why, they replied, "We don't teach miracles here."...Even our military realized that it was an impossibility for Israel to win against such odds, but she did.
 
She has been the recipient of God's blessings, and many of those who fought did not realize that they were a part of the Divine intervention of God Almighty. Fast forward to the war that developed in 1967, or the Six Day War.
 
ISRAEL RECLAIMS THE TEMPLE MOUNT
 
In May, 1967, Egyptian and Syrian troops began massing along Israel's borders. Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping. Egyptian President Gamel Abdul Nasser filled the airwaves with calls to drive the Jews into the sea.
 
Facing five well-equipped, Soviet trained Arab armies, Israel's defeat was virtually a foregone conclusion. But instead of defeat, Israel managed to achieve a stunning victory.
 
In just six days, Israel doubled its territory, capturing the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, Gaza, the West Bank and the Old City and Temple Mount.
 
This lightning speed war that gave Israel the victory against all odds, was called a miraculous victory, but it wasn't Israel's first miracle on the battlefield and it would not be her last. Every single battle that Israel has fought with her Arab neighbors has resulted in their victory in every single one of them and they all were miraculous.
 
There was a man that I was reading about during this Six Day War, that has a miraculous story to tell. The man Gershon Salamon tells a story of battling Jordanians forces just outside of his home in Israel. The man is a tenth generation "Sabra" or "native born Jerusalemite" who fought in every war since the 1948 war of Independence. The man was reported to had to have use of a cane to walk, and from that he told his story. The man's back was bowed and you would think he had some type of genetic defect that he was born with, such as Spina Bifida, or some similar defect that left him in this condition.
 
His wife reported that she stood on her balcony and saw the fighting in a field just behind their house. She pointed out that the Jordanians were "right there" as she pointed off into the near distance. She knew her husband was probably fighting in that field
 
Backing up, it was told in 1958, during a battle on the Golan hights, that her husband was wounded by an Israeli tank. Salamon told of how the tank accidentally rolled over him and ran him over. The tank caught his collar of his shirt and folded him over backwards, snapping his spine in two.
 
The Jordanians overran their position and were shooting wounded Israeli soldiers as they lay on the ground. As they were about to shoot Gershon Salamon, he told that they suddenly dropped their weapons and ran away.
 
Later, it was reported to UN officers these enemy soldiers had seen thousands of soldiers surrounding the crippled IDF officer and had, therefore, fled believing they were outnumbered..The event was corroborated by a UN document filed by a UN observer, as he went to see the injured Salamon because he witnessed the retreat and was mystified to its cause.
 
DIVINE MIRACLES FILL YOUR BIBLE
 
Gershon Salamon's story of angelic warriors is not the first I'd heard -- it was merely the first time I'd heard the story from an eyewitness. The bible speaks of another time, when Angelic host came to fight on the side of Israel.
 
In 2nd Kings, there is a recorded miracle of Divine intervention when the enemies of Israel surrounded the city and God provided a miracle that Elisha saw and told his servant "Fear not". :
 
14 "Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about.
15 And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?
16 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.
17 And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
18 And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha." (2nd Kings 6:14-18)
 
REPORTS FROM THE BATTLEFIELD
 
Soldiers have reported seeing angelic being on the the battlefield and this has happened in all of Israel's wars. There is an example of a Colonel Uri Ram that was welcomed into Shecham by enemy Jordanian troops during the Six Day War.
 
Somehow the Jordanians inadvertently mistook the Israelis for Iraqis and by the time they realized their mistake they had no choice but to surrender.
 
Another instance recalls of a lone Israeli soldier stumbling into a Jordanian trench where he single handed captured Ammunition Hill which led to the capture of the Old City of Jerusalem the following day.
And an Egyptian tank commander in the Sinai surrendered his entire column to less than a dozen Israeli tanks on the second day of the Six Days War.   He later said that he saw thousands of them. Remember the scripture that Elisha opened the eyes of his servant to the hills being filled with chariots of fire all about them?
 
17 "The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.
18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LordGod might dwell among them" (Psalms 68:17-18)
 
THE LIST GOES ON AND ON
 
Need a few more miracles that cannot be explained? I saw this on TV that was a depiction of this next miracle, when a group of Israel commandos were trapped in a minefield in the dark and they could not move, unless they trip a mine and kill them all. So they stayed where they were not knowing what to do. Suddenly, a strong wind came up and surrounded them and blew very hard for several minutes. When they finally opened their closed eyes from the blowing sand being expired, they could not believe their eyes. The wind had blown away all the sand around each land mine, and exposed them all to the soldiers and they were able to escape the mine field safely.
 
An Israeli documentary series entitled "Against All Odds - Israel Survives: The Complete First Season" details miracles a lot harder to explain, like strange beings with flaming swords defending a Jewish farming community from marauding Arabs. And the list just goes on and on.
 
I guess with any reported miracle, you could take it apart and try and explain it away as some natural cause rather than a supernatural cause. The Egyptian tank commander who lost his whole column could have been seeing only a "mirage" . Maybe the Jordanians had never seen an Iraqi tank and could not tell the difference between it and a Israeli tank.
 
Maybe the lone Israeli soldier was just "lucky" when he captured a whole host of Jordanian soldiers and the capturing of Ammunition Hill and the retaking their Holy City of Jerusalem.
 
I don't know what you could come up with to explain why the man Gershon Salamon survived and the enemy ran away seeing thousands of soldiers around him. I choose to believe that God has got Israel's back and will not let them be destroyed. Could it be coincidence? I don't believe God works in coincidence.
 
The Bible identifies the archangel Michael as Israel's guardian angel. (Daniel 10:13)
 
Daniel specifically notes that at the time of the end:
 
"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
2 "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." (Daniel 12:1-3)
 
The prophet Zechariah prophesied that in the last days, God would send His angels to fight alongside Israel.
 
6 "In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.
7 The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.
8 In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem."(Zechariah 12:6-9)
 
The war of Independence that Israel fought in 1948 is no less a miracle than the preservation of the Hebrew children in the desert when they took flight from Egypt under the command of their mortal shepherd, Moses. Or the miracles that Joshua commanded Israel to reclaim the land of Canaan for their promised land.
 
God has been doing miracle after miracle when it comes to the land of Israel, as God said that they would never be uprooted again.
 
20 "and when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of his land.
21 But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.
22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.
23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you." (Ezekiel 36:20-25)
 
Israel has had to fight for her very life, since she came back into her own land, that God gave to her descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for a perpetual inheritance...meaning it will never end.
 
Remember in the recent past when Saddam Hussein fired thirty Scud missiles in to Israel during the first Gulf War, hoping to divide the UN coalition? Most of the missiles landed in the inhabited portions of Tel Aviv to name one, where in comparison, a single Scud missile fired at the US barracks in Saudi Arabia killed 28 National Guardsman from Pennsylvania. But not one missile killed one Jewish resident of these major cities of Israel. Only two injuries were reported..a Saudi security guard, and an Israeli-Arab.
 
During this war, Israel had nothing to do with the conflict between Kuwait and Iraq, but Israel is always the ultimate goal and target of those who wish to do her harm in any war in the Middle East.
 
IN RECENT NEWS CLIPS
 
I have been reading the developments in the nations surrounding Israel and from all reports, the Syrians and the Lebanese are trying to create a noose around Israel's neck. I have reported this in the recent past, but the enemies of Israel are growing more bold, since they have as their junkyard Dog, the nation of Russia to give them confidence of their ability to wage war in the area. I note that Hezbollah has upwards of 150,000 short, medium, and long range guided missiles that in the next war will cause much devastation for the Israeli-Arab citizens. To the east, the Golan Heights are being enforced with Iranian Revolutionary Guards and their troops that are building bases right at Israel's front door. The likelihood of another war involving Lebanon, or/and Syria is not if, but when will the fighting start.
 
PSALMS 83 WAR IMMINENT
 
It doesn't take much imagination to see that the next war is shaping up to be fought very soon. I have been watching and wondering when the prophesied war of Psalms 83 would be coming forth, and I feel we are on the cusp of its fulfillment. Never has this prophecy been completed, even though Israel has fought many wars since her birth in 1948. God has promised Israel that they will possess all of the land promised to their forefather Abraham, and this war just might do it. When Israel is cornered and her existence is in doubt, the "Samson Option" will be put in place. I believe it might include a nuclear hit on the capital of Damascus, Syria and the fulfillment of the Oracle of Damascus being destroyed as prophesied.
 
FROM ONE WAR TO ANOTHER
 
As I have preached in the past, this coming Psalms 83 war sets the table for the next big war that will cause the earth to tremble when God will come down to defend Israel in all His fury and there will be no doubt who is doing the miracle here.
 
16 "And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus saith the Lord God; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man's sword shall be against his brother.
22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord." (Ezekiel 38:17-23)
 
Does it give you pause to know that each war is a domino, that when it falls, the next one is set up to be knocked over as well? What will the coming Ezekiel War produce? It will produce profound desolation of the invading armies that will destroy 85% or 5/6 of the invading army. The plague that will be produced will follow the survivors back to their home countries and the destruction continues in their own land, family, and countrymen. I believe Islam will take a powerful devastating hit, as the armies of this invading hoard are near total Islamic.
 
What is coming will be swift. It won't take many years before Gog-Magog will be brought down into Israel like a fish with a hook in his mouth and be destroyed on the mountains of Israel. When this happens, look for a charismatic man to arise who will attempt to prevent such a total disaster from happening again in this part of the world. The world has always been focusing on Israel as the problem with everything, including terrorism, the plight of the so called "Palestinians", and every ill they can conceive to cast upon Israel. Anti-Semitism is and will grow to make Nazi Germany look like a school yard picnic compared to what is coming. As you know, this man will "confirm" a pre-existing covenant to fulfill the coming 70th week of Daniel's prophecy concerning the people of Israel.
 
I see the whole scenario coming very quickly in our end of days, which we live in. But not to worry, if you be found in Jesus Christ, for that man will not be revealed until one thing happens. Can you say it before I do?
 
THE RAPTURE OF THE BRIDE OF CHRIST.
 
The removal of the Church from this planet, as that covenant confirmed will not be ratified before that time, and God will reveal that "man of sin" which we only can wonder who he is at the present time. He will be revealed at God's timing, and only God knows when He will remove the church from out of the way to bring His Holy Wrath upon this earth, and it starts with the signing of this 7 year "peace treaty" by the Anti-Christ and the government of Israel.
 
6 "And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 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:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." (2nd Thessalonians 2:6-10)
 
The Holy Spirit will be drawn back, and we who have a deposit, or earnest of His Spirit residing within us, will leave at that same time. THEN the Anti-Christ will be revealed sometime after that glorious event.
 
But, Israel still has a long "row to hoe" as she will face untold persecution in the foreseeable future. But God will bring a remnant through much suffering, and will come and fight for them, as Zechariah prophesied, and it is just over the horizon, just out of sight for us, but grows closer with each passing day.
 
2 "For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 "Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee." (Zechariah 14:3-5)
 
Israel will realize their Messiah through much death and persecution, where the Bible says 2/3 of the people will be slain, but a remnant will be saved.
 
8" And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God."(Zechariah 13:8-9)
 
Believe my reader, Israel's existence is a daily miracle, punctuated at times by a whole set of miracles, but you have not seen anything yet. Those who are still on this planet, will see much happening in the nation of Israel. They will see Divine Protection, but also Divine judgment to bring Israel to the realization of her Messiah.
 
"And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." (Zechariah 12:10)
 
This Divine protection over Israel, even their refining as silver is refined in the fire (Malachi 3:3), is not conditional. God will not remove His Hand from the protection of Israel, unlike what is happening in America. God cannot withdraw His hand from Israel, but it doesn't apply to the USA, as we do not have a covenant with God, as Israel does and ratified in the time of Abraham. America could collapse and go the way of the Roman Empire, but Israel cannot.
 
Israel is on the exact real estate that the Roman Empire evicted them from in 70 AD. Restoration began in 1948 and will never be annulled. God will not allow Israel to be destroyed and restored again. These are the final days of the end for this earth, and the fulfillment of Daniel's 70 weeks prophecy.
 
COUNTDOWN BEGAN WITH ISRAEL BECOMING A NATION
 
The restoration of Israel marks the beginning of the countdown to the return of Christ within that generation.   Israel can only be restored for the first time once.
 
"Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever." (Jeremiah 31:35-36)
 
Note that the word 'ordinance' means 'law.' God has decreed the existence of Israel forever as a matter of Divinely-settled law. Israel's miracles aren't over. Not by a long shot.
 
If anything, they are just beginning.
 
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
 
Israel has all kinds of Divine promises to protect, and restore her. You and I cannot say the same thing. We are a Gentile nation that God has a plan for us as well. Israel are a special people in His eyes, but He has another special people that He desires to be in His family, just as Israel are His chosen people. God has been working with a "people who were not His people"
 
We the chosen of this age are called "His people" His bride...
 
7 "Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
8 'And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;
10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." (1st Peter 2:7-10)
 
God has chosen a people, who will become part of His family..the Family of God YAHWEH. We who accepted Jesus as personal Savior will not see much of what I have spoken of near the end. It is designed for the future after the church is gone. I invite you to become part of this family...The Family of God. It only takes belief in two scripture passages, as there are many more, but this two passages seal the gift of eternal life for all who believe.
 
16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3:16-18)
 
and the other passage I like to include in any message I write beside the above, is the following:
 
8 "But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
." (Roman 10:8-13)
 
Make that decision for Christ today, as Israel has a promise, you do not have. Jesus could come at any moment, and no one should be blinded by the soon appearing of our Lord...not SOON, BUT VERY SOON...
 
This is pastor Mike Taylor, praying for your salvation today. If you need prayer, counseling, or just a listening ear, email me at [email protected], ,
 
God bless you all. TILL WE MEET AT JESUS FEET

End-Times War in the Mideast: Part 3 - By Steve Ashburn -
https://www.raptureready.com/2020/08/18/end-times-war-in-the-mideast-part-2-by-steve-ashburn/
 
Nuclear War In The Mideast
 
The Bible predicts that there will be a nuclear war in the Middle East, in Psalm 83, Amos 1-2, and many other books and chapters in the Old Testament, followed by a third US-led coalition invasion of Iraq. I believe this war will take place by 2030, resulting in global disruption of trade, the deaths of hundreds of millions, and the restoration of Israel to her ancient boundaries of the land of Canaan.
 
These prophecies have been "sealed" (not widely understood) until now, but in this series of articles, I am going to prove to you, painstakingly and through extensive quotation from Scripture, exactly what the Bible says about this war. This event begins a 40-year period known as the "end times," which includes the rapture, the Ezekiel 38-39 Russian invasion of Israel, and finally, the tribulation as its last seven-year segment.
 
The Bible must devote as much text to describing this nuclear war in the Old Testament as it does in Revelation! Therefore, it seems that God really wants us to be aware of this event, which marks the beginning of the end times, as much as He does the events of His second coming 40 years later.
 
Understanding all this is crucial to having a properly developed end-times thesis, including the definition, timing and sequence of events of this great time period, scheduled to begin in the near future!
 
Having said that, I now want to focus your attention on one of the nations involved in this Arab invasion of Israel, and that nation is Gaza.
 
Modern-day Gaza is populated by descendants of the ancient Philistine people, amalgamated with Bedouin Arabs, Edomites (descendants of Esau), and Jordanian Arabs (descendants of Moab and Ammon). The land was largely uninhabited until the return of the Jews to their homeland in the twentieth century, and the subsequent economic prosperity that resulted. The present-day Arab population of Gaza largely consists of immigrants from surrounding Arab nations who recently migrated to the area to find employment, and because of the higher standard of living. Although God promised the land of Canaan to Abraham (Genesis 15:21), Israel never fully possessed this land.
 
After World War I, Gaza was administered under the British Mandate, then after the 1948 Israeli War for Independence, by Egypt. It was captured by Israel after the Six-Day War in 1967, and in 1993 was transferred to Arab control. Gaza is presently governed by the Palestinian Authority, whose main political faction is Hamas. In Hebrew, the word hamas means "violence," and true to their name, Hamas today seeks the violent overthrow of the Jewish state with frequent rocket barrages and other terrorist attacks against their neighbor.
 
Although Israel has never fully possessed the land of Canaan, this will finally be accomplished after the war which begins the end times. After decades of constant terrorism, murder and threats, the attempted military invasion by the nations which surround her will give Israel the impetus to fix "the Palestinian problem" once and for all.
 
Thus Israel will possess the complete land that God promised to Abraham-the Mediterranean coast from Zarephath (north of Tyre) southward to the "river of Egypt" (Genesis 15:18, easternmost delta branch of the old Nile terminating at ancient Pelusium, near present-day Suez Canal) - thereby including the Sinai Peninsula; thence from the Gulf of Aqaba northeastward through present-day Jordan and Syria to the Euphrates River; and thence southwestward to the Mediterranean Sea near Zarephath (Genesis 15:18-21; Exodus 23:31; Numbers 34:1-12; Deuteronomy 1:24; Joshua 1:4).
 
God's judgment on Palestine is set forth in Ezekiel, Isaiah, Obadiah, and Zephaniah. It makes sense for the Palestinians in Gaza to be judged at the same time as Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and other nations surrounding Israel since these nations together will launch an attack against Israel at the beginning of the end-times period. They also are inveterate enemies of Israel and the source of much present-day terrorism. Ezekiel 25 describes the judgment against Palestine:
 
"Thus saith the Lord God; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred; Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethims, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast. And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them" (Ezekiel 25:15-17).
 
The timeline here is indicated by "to destroy it for the old hatred," meaning the ages-long hatred of the Palestinians for Israel. Isaiah 14 also gives an account of this battle. God advises Palestine not to rejoice because "the rod of him that smote thee is broken" (indicating Israel during the Diaspora-the time period just preceding Ezekiel's account), since they will return as a powerful nation ("a cockatrice"). A cockatrice is a legendary, venomous serpent that could kill just by its glace, and which emerges "out of the serpent's root" (the military power of ancient Israel).
 
Isaiah here refers to the deadly force of the modern IDF. The timeline here is when "firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety," indicating a time of peace for Israel which results after Palestine is "dissolved." This period comes after a time when God "will kill thy root with famine"; this probably refers to the two thousand years of drought in Palestine during the Diaspora. Many people tried to settle the land during this time but were largely unsuccessful because of the drought.
 
Afterward, the modern IDF "shall slay thy remnant" in the Psalm 83 war:
 
"Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant. Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times. What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it" (Isaiah 14:29-32).
 
Isaiah says, "There shall come from the north a smoke," suggesting a great number of troops, probably Israeli. In addition, the "fiery flying serpent" which comes out of the cockatrice seems to allude to nuclear missiles, especially with enhanced-radiation warheads. A neutron bomb detonating over Gaza City, for example, would "fry" the entire population while leaving buildings intact-sting of a "serpent," indeed. By this display of extreme military force, the population of Palestine would be "dissolved"; the Hebrew word translated "dissolved" here (namowg) actually means "melted"-an accurate description of thermonuclear destruction.
 
In addition, aircraft of the IDF-which shoot "fire" out of their engines while using the afterburners (and also from rockets), and launch deadly guided (Sidewinder?) missiles from their wings-also could be described as "fiery flying serpents." However, the sense in which Isaiah uses this term denotes widespread, sudden, violent death ("dissolved"), indicating nuclear rather than conventional force.
 
Later, Israeli ground troops could sweep in to mop up whatever is left; thus, Palestine would be "dissolved"-physically and politically. It appears at this time that the cat-and-mouse game Israel has been playing with Palestinians in Gaza is over at this point in our narrative. Egypt cannot help the Palestinians, since they have been destroyed along with many cities and nations surrounding Israel.
 
Since Palestinians also live in West Bank and Jordan (ancient Moab, Ammon and Edom)-and they are as equally malignant as their brethren in Gaza-Scripture addresses their destruction also. Obadiah 1 describes an attack by Israel upon Edom-the present-day West Bank and southern Jordan, which also includes Palestine:
 
"And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it. And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south" (Obadiah 1:18-20).
 
This attack apparently occurs at a time when "the day of the Lord is near," which is a code phrase for the beginning of the end times (since the day of the Lord begins with the rapture), according to verse 15: "For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head."
 
The end-times attack on Israel by a coalition of Arab nations apparently includes the Palestinians in Gaza as well as Jordanians who occupy ancient Edom (the biblical land of Esau). Obadiah indicates Israel will destroy Edom with overwhelming military force (Obadiah 1:18), and presumably, this includes the Palestinians in Gaza as well (Obadiah 1:19).
 
It long has been the hope of Arab nations that a blitzkrieg attack against Israel would be successful, but as in past attacks (e.g., 1967, 1973), it quickly becomes clear that their hope is in vain. Unlike previous wars, however, this time the fix is permanent. Israel begins several decades of peace and prosperity, as indicated by Ezekiel 28:26: "And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God."
 
We'll cover more about this Mideast war in Part 4 of this series, including the description of Gaza as "the nation of the Cherethites" ("running assassins"), and the deportation of the surviving Arabs to other nations, basically as slaves. So stand by for Part 4!
 
I provide more details of this and many other end-times prophecies in my recently published book, END TIMES DAWNING: Get Ready! (available from www.endtimesrecord.com). Please read it! Also, if you would, please leave a book review on Amazon!
 
Yours in Christ,

End-Times War in the Mideast: Part 2 - By Steve Ashburn -
https://www.raptureready.com/2020/08/18/end-times-war-in-the-mideast-part-2-by-steve-ashburn/
 
LEBANON
 
In Part 1 of this series, we saw how Lebanon was destroyed as a nation because of their participation in the Psalm 83 Arab invasion of Israel. This event took place at the beginning of the end times and involved a blitzkrieg assault on the Holy Land by Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Gaza, West Bank, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya, and Sudan-followed by an equally swift and deadly retaliation by Israel.
 
This iconic war is described prominently in several books in the Old Testament (Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Psalms, Amos, Obadiah, Malachi, and Zephaniah). It is notable because it marks the beginning of the forty-year period known as the end times-and of Israel's complete restoration to their ancient land of Canaan. We continue now in our studies of this historic event with end-times prophecies in Ezekiel and Isaiah, which provide additional details of this conflict concerning Lebanon.
 
Tyre is an ancient city in modern-day Lebanon, located twenty-five miles south of Sidon. It was the capital city of the Phoenician empire. With its sister city Sidon, it formed a great commercial empire stretching throughout the Mediterranean, which was prominent from about 1550 to 300 BC. Among other things, it was famous for the production of a purple dye extracted from a rare shellfish, and garments so colored by it were worn exclusively by royalty.
 
Ezekiel 27 lists many other items which Tyre traded:
 

• cedars from Lebanon;
• oaks from Bashan;
• ivory from Chittim (Cyprus);
• blue and purple fine linen from Elishah (Greece);
• silver, iron, tin, and lead from Tarshish (ore from Europe);
• slaves and brass from Javan (Greece), Tubal and Meshech (Russia);
• horses and horsemen from Togarmah (Armenia);
• ivory and ebony from Dedan (Arabia);
• emeralds, fine purple linen and embroidered work, coral, and agate from Syria;
• wheat, fine flour, honey, oil, and balm from Israel;
• white wool and wine from Damascus;
• wrought iron, cinnamon, and calamus from Arabia;
• precious cloths for chariots from Arabia;
• rams, lambs, and goats from Arabia;
• spices, precious stones, and gold from Ethiopia;
• blue clothes and embroidered work, cedar chests of rich apparel bound with cords from Arabia;
• and shipbuilders from Gebal and Tyre.

 
The commercial activities of Tyre and the Phoenicians indeed were worldwide in their day.
 
Its great wealth and ultimate destruction are described in Ezekiel 26-28. It was first destroyed after a long siege by Nebuchadnezzar from 585-572 BC. The city was subsequently rebuilt by survivors on an offshore island, where it continued in prosperity for another 250 years. This city was finally overthrown by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, after he built a causeway to reach it.
 
Although the destruction of ancient Tyre is well-documented in history and in the Bible, Isaiah 23 also contains prophecies about Tyre relating to the end times.
 
"As at the report concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre. Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle. Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet shall carry her afar off to sojourn" (Isaiah 23:5-7).
 
One immediately becomes suspicious about the timetable for this prophecy when reading verse 5, because "the report concerning Egypt" occurs at the same time as "the report of Tyre." Egypt was not destroyed at the same time as Tyre when Nebuchadnezzar (572 BC) and Alexander the Great (332 BC) made their respective conquests; therefore, this passage must refer to a separate judgment, when both Egypt and Tyre are judged at the same time. In verses 4 and 12, Isaiah actually refers to "Zidon" (Sidon) as the target of this judgment; therefore, it seems reasonable to conclude that this particular judgment refers to Lebanon in general.
 
The Hebrew word translated "burden" in Isaiah 23:1 (massa) is only used in Scripture when the vision relates to extremely severe judgment: "The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste." A similar wording is found in Nahum 1:1, which refers to the complete and utter destruction of Nineveh: "The burden of Nineveh." The ships of Tarshish (Western nations) are told to "howl" because of the greatly deleterious effect that the destruction of Tyre has on their commerce. In context, this must refer not only to Lebanon but to the Middle East in general because of the end-times conflagration which will embroil all the nations surrounding Israel.
 
Tyre is referred to as "ye inhabitants of the isle" in verses 2-3. In verse 2 she is identified as "whom the merchants of Zidon... have replenished." In verse 3 she is further identified as "seed of Sihor, the harvest of the river, is her revenue; and she is a mart of nations," meaning she traded in wheat ("seed of Sihor") from Egypt ("harvest of the river") and generally speaking was a marketplace for the nations ("mart of nations"). The identification as "ye inhabitants of the isle" probably refers to Tyre post-572 B.C. when the city was relocated to an island a mile offshore from the old city, i.e., modern Lebanon. The inhabitants are advised to flee to Europe ("Tarshish"); they will evacuate Lebanon like a river ("Pass through thy land as a river," verse 6), and then are addressed as Europeans ("O daughter of Tarshish") in verse 10.
 
Tyre also escapes to Cyprus ("pass over to Chittim; there also shalt thou have no rest") where it is apparent that their cities (Lebanon) have been destroyed and there is no going back ("so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them"). At the conclusion of the war, Israel will be in possession of the Lebanese coast up to Zarephath, which is halfway between Tyre and Sidon: "And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath" (Obadiah 1:20).
 
Tyre also is referred to as "your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days" (v. 7). Isaiah probably would not refer to Tyre as a city of great antiquity because, in his day, it was a very modern city. This description refers to end-times Tyre (Lebanon), where the description as a city of great antiquity is much more appropriate. Isaiah then gives the reason for the destruction of Tyre-and by extension the end-times war that it refers to: "The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth" (Isaiah 23:9).
 
Ezekiel 28 speaks of the same battle: when God "shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered," then he "shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen... and they shall know that I am the Lord their God" (Ezekiel 28:25-26). In fact, the phrase, "they shall know that I am the Lord" is mentioned four times in Ezekiel 28:22-26. Once again, the Lord demonstrates that he alone is sovereign over the earth-and in particular, that Israel is his covenant nation, whom he has regathered back into their land, and that he is preserving and protecting them from their enemies.
 
Mercantile nations like Tyre (and, by implication, Western nations) tend to have relativistic policies based on money and will favor whatever nation is their immediate financial interest (e.g., Arab nations) rather than supporting Israel. Perhaps that is why God says he will "bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth." The ancient covenant that God made with Abraham, "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee" (Genesis 12:3), is still in effect; Lebanon and other nations involved in this war-including "Tarshish"-unfortunately, learn this the hard way.
 
In addition, an intriguing prophecy about the Antichrist ("the Assyrian") is found here: "Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof; and he brought it to ruin" (Isaiah 23:13). This passage indicates that the Antichrist will be instrumental in rebuilding Iraq after it has been destroyed (Isaiah 13; Jeremiah 50-51), building skyscrapers ("towers') and elegant buildings ("palaces") as the center of world commerce and government, until it is finally destroyed by God ("and he brought it to ruin") at the end of the tribulation (Revelation 18). This places this particular judgment of Tyre (Lebanon) in the end times.
 
Isaiah 23:14 concludes this end-times passage by using the same phrase as in verse 1: "Howl, ye ships of Tarshish." These two phrases sandwich this passage in Isaiah, referring to the battle which begins the end times; Isaiah 23 then skips to the millennium.
 
How long will Lebanon be dispersed among the nations? Verse 15 reads: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as an harlot." Apparently, Tyre and its sister cities will be desolate ("forgotten") for the rest of the forty-year end-times period-and for thirty years beyond that, stretching into the millennial reign of Christ. Why the additional thirty years? Verses 17-18 give us a clue.
 
"And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the Lord will visit Tyre, and she shall turn to her hire, and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth. And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing" (Isaiah 23:17-18).
 
Apparently, faithful refugees from Lebanon who survive the tribulation will be reestablished in their homeland during the millennium and will manufacture food and clothing for other nations ("for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing"). It will take some time for the faithful remnant of Tyre to repopulate and establish agricultural and manufacturing industries-thirty years, in fact. Isaiah indicates her activity at that time will be honorable: "And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord."
 
We'll cover more about this Mideast war in Part 3 of this series, including the "dissolving" of Palestine (Gaza Strip) by a "fiery flying serpent"-alluding to the use of enhanced-radiation warheads. So stand by for Part 3!
 
I provide more details of this and many other end-times prophecies in my recently published book, END TIMES DAWNING: Get Ready! (available from www.endtimesrecord.com). Please read it! Also, if you would, please leave a book review on Amazon!
 
Yours in Christ,
 
Steve Ashburn

Last Trump Rapture - By Pete Garcia -
https://www.rev310.com/2020/08/last-trump-rapture
 
For those who have followed my writings over the years, know, that I am not prone to wild speculation, date setting, prophecy crazes, or any other sort of unbiblical theology. This will be a little different. So, let me caution you and preface this article with several points of consideration.
 
I do not know the 'day or hour' (Matthew 24:36). You will not find me saying here, on such and such date, the Lord will Rapture the Church. I'm simply giving a likely window of time that I feel, He could return.
 
Do not take my speculation here as Gospel. IOW, don't quit your job, sell the farm, leave your spouse, or any other life-changing decisions based on what you read here.
 
Do not lose hope if my theory is wrong, and we are still here after ____ date. You can fault me, but don't fault Scripture. I am errant, Scripture is not.
 
Do keep looking up. Do remain excited about our Lord's soon coming. I may be wrong by months and year(s), but I believe we are very close.
 
As believers who earnestly desire the return of the rightful King of Kings to the earth, thinking upon these things should bring joy, peace, and excitement. We should be excited about the return of Christ. With that said, let me break this down into six major points before I give you my conclusion.
 
1. Knowing
 
But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4 (emphasis mine)
 
The Apostle Paul introduces us to the mystery of the Rapture (Greek-harpazo) for the first time in his first letter to the Thessalonian church (1 Thess. 4:13-18). He reinforces the idea of hope again in chapter five. Remember, chapter and verses were not added to Scripture until 1560 (Geneva Bible), so in the original Greek, all of this (1 Thess.4-5) would have just been flowing narrative.
 
Here, Paul reiterates that there is some expectation by God that we should be able to look around, see the prophetic signs, and know we are near the season of His return. Jesus had a similar expectation of the Pharisees and Sadducees of His day when He rebuked them for either not knowing or purposely ignoring them.
 
Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." And He left them and departed. Matthew 16:1-4
 
The Pharisees and Sadducees came demanding Jesus do parlor tricks to prove who He claimed to be. He already knew in their hearts that they didn't believe Him, even if He did do signs for them. They had already accused Him of doing miracles through the power of demons-Matt. 9:34, 12:24. This is in part why he accused them of being wicked and adulterous and would only get the sign of the prophet Jonah through His three-day death, burial, and resurrection.
 
The other part of their wickedness was due to their hypocritical dismissal of the prophecies that had already been given to them via the Old Testament prophets. They had already written about WHEN the Messiah would come (Dan. 9:24-27), where He would be born (Numbers 24:17, Micah 5:2, Matt. 2:3-6), and WHAT He would be like (Genesis 49:10, Deuteronomy 18:18), and what He came to do (Isaiah 53, Psalm 22).
 
Therefore, the Biblical expectation is that when we see the super-sign of the last days (i.e., the rebirth of national Israel) we SHOULD KNOW we are in the season of the Lord's return. We know this is the super sign because of the numerous prophecies concerning her rebirth as a nation again in the last days (Deut. 30, Amos 9:14-15, Isaiah 11:11, Jeremiah 30:7-11, and Matt. 24:15-21, 31-35, Romans 11:25-27, etc.).
 
Again, we know what Jesus stated in Matthew 24:36 about not knowing the day or hour. However, those were not Jesus final word's on the subject. Here, in the letter to the church of Sardis (the dead church), He notes a peculiar command:
 
Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. Revelation 3:3
 
Translation: "If you will not watch....you will not know."
The opposite of that translation is..."If you will watch...you will know."
 
Summary: We are commanded to watch and be aware of the times in which we live. It would be impossible to watch if we didn't know what to watch for. Therefore, if we are watching for our Lord's return, we should be able to know the season with some reasonable expectation. (See also: Mark 13:32-36, Luke 12:38-40)
 
2. The Third Day
 
Time is a finite resource and each of us are only appointed so many days to live our lives. Likewise, the human race also has an end-date; humanity will not continue on indefinitely. If humans were meant to live in perpetuity, then God could have created mankind billions of years ago. However that is not the case. A biblical perspective shows a very limited window for the entirety of human history approximating around 6,000 years. According to Genesis 1-2, God created our universe in six days, and on the seventh day He rested. Thus, biblically and historically, we know there was-
 
2,000 years from Adam to Abraham +
2,000 years from Abraham to Jesus +
2,000 years from Jesus to today +
 
The 1,000-year millennial reign of Christ (still future) = 7,000 years, which were meant to mirror the seven days of Creation. Here is what the prophet Hosea wrote back in the eighth-century BC.
 
Come, and let us return to the Lord;
For He has torn, but He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight. Hosea 6:1-2
 
Historically, we know Israel was conquered by the Assyrians around 720BC. Judaea/Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians the first time around 605BC, and then repatriated around by the Medo-Persians around 538BC. This was their first regathering. They were then conquered and dispersed a second time in 70AD by the Romans. Now fast-forward 1,878 years, and Israel and Judaea were now restored a single nation (Ezekiel 37) for a second time in 1948. Most people would start Hosea's time clock from the AD70 date, however, given the Messianic overtones in the Hosea passage and Matthew 27:25, we should start in 33AD.
 
Therefore, if we use the 33AD date to begin Hosea's two days, we know there was 1,915 years from 33AD to 1948. If we add 70 years to 1,915 years (from 1948), we get 1,985 years and the year 2018. If we add another 10 years (see Psalm 90:10), then we are at 1,995 years and the year 2028. Not to get too into the weeds on this, but in the year 2020, we are two years away from the 2,000 year time-stamp God has used in previous ages.
 
Gregorian calendar:
 
Add 70 years (lifespan) = 1,985 years = AD 2018
Add 80 years (lifespan) = 1,995 years - AD 2028
 
However, the Gregorian calendar is 5.2422 days longer (in a calendar year) than the 360 day prophetic calendar. The 360 day calendar will accumulate more calendar years than the Gregorian calendar, given enough time; because of this fact. Thus, we must add 29 years to the total.
 
360 day prophetic calendar:
 
Add 70 years (lifespan) = 2,014 years = AD 2047
Add 80 years (lifespan) = 2,024 years = AD 2057
 
Summary: So we are either right at the cusp, or we are in extended over time depending on how you measure it. For those who would think I am reading too much into Hosea 6:1-2, keep in mind, it is not just hyperbolic language. We have two accompanying passages that also equate time from God's perspective as being very different from our own understanding of it (Psalm 90:4, 2 Peter 3:8).
 
3. Feast Sequence
 
Christ fulfilled the Spring Feasts in His death, burial, and resurrection. The church was then conceived at Pentecost and we have been in the spiritual incubation/maturation phase ever since. Since the rebirth of national Israel, we have been witnessing a rapid development of the birth pangs spoken of in Matthew 24, 1 Thess. 5, 2 Thess. 2, and so forth. Some might argue these are not birth pangs, but call them what you will, they are either Braxton-Hicks contractions, or the real deal.
 
The Spring Feasts
 

• Christ was crucified on Passover.
• Chris was buried on Unleavened Bread
• Christ was resurrected on the First Fruits
• The Church was conceived on Pentecost (Shavuot)

 
~These are then separated by the long summer months
 
The Fall Feasts
 

• Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah)
• Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)
• Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) Upcoming Feast of Trumpets Dates

 
If a consistent prophetic model can be applied here, the past 2,000 years would represent the summer months separating the spring and the fall feasts. The next feast (prophetically speaking) is the Feast of Trumpets. These are the dates for the next few years:
 
2020: Sept. 19-20 (US Election Year)
 
2021: Sept. 7-8
 
2022: Sept. 26-27
 
2023: Sept. 16-17
 
2024: Oct. 3-4 (US Election Year)
 
Summary: While I have never been dogmatic in attempting to align the Rapture with a particular Jewish Feast day, I thought I should include them given their prophetic significance in the life of Christ as we understand it. IF there is a correlation between the Feasts of the Lord and the Rapture of the Church, then the Feast of Trumpet's is the most likely candidate, because it is in keeping with the chronological sequence as the next Feast date requiring fulfillment on the prophetic calendar.
 
4. Apostasy or Apostasia?
 
As many seasoned Christian's have told me on numerous occasions, every generation has had their "antichrist." The Reformation Era had largely concluded that the Popes were the Antichrist. The 19th-century likely thought Napoleon was the antichrist. The WWII generation likely concluded that Hitler was the antichrist. To their credit, each generation were correct to a degree. They were antichrists, but none of them were THE Antichrist (i.e., the lawless one, the son of perdition, the rider on the white horse, etc.).
 
Nevertheless, the Apostle Paul tells us in 2nd Thessalonians 2 that we (Christians) cannot know who the Antichrist is, because we will be removed from the earth by way of Rapture, before He is revealed.
 
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
 
Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.
 
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 2 Thess. 2:3-8
 
I hold to the interpretation that the words 'falling away' (Greek-apostasia) speak to both a spiritual falling away, as well as a literal, physical departure from the earth. I believe there are very many good reasons to believe that (see here) and will not restate them all save one. If the "falling away" (apostasia) only meant a religious falling away, as in apostasy, then, which apostasy?
 
For those who only believe this word apostasia only applies to wide-spread apostasy, I would argue that there has always been wide-spread apostasy going back to the second century Gnostics and onward. From there we get about a thousand years of Roman Catholic domination over what was then, Christendom. From there we get a brief period of Protestant fire, but that is quickly drowned in tradition, creeds, dogma, and dead religiosity. There were brief periods of time in which revival in the west and around the world occurred (e.g., the Great Awakenings, missionary movements), but for the most part, true Christianity has always been the faith of the remnant.
 
Jesus states in His final letter to the last church, Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22) that they were lukewarm and nauseating, and He would spew them out of His mouth. Now, if these Laodiceans were truly Christians in the first place, this would be in direct conflict with dozens of other NT passages showing that when we first believed, we were sealed and indwelt by God the Holy Spirit, and new creations in Christ. In other words, it would be highly contradictory for Christ to spew out Christians who were sealed by God the Holy Spirit and also part of His body for falling away.
 
Rather, these were people pretending to be Christians but were noncommittal in their faith, and thus, had a form of godliness but denied the power thereof (2 Tim. 2:5). These were people playing church, but were not THE CHURCH. This is why in this letter, Jesus is standing on the outside, knocking on the door. They thought their wealth and their works were enough to save them, but they were really wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. This does not sound like a description of true, born-again believers. So how could they be apostate, if they were never really Christians in the first place?
 
We have been watching this happen on steroids to the western churches since 9/11. It began when liberal theology invaded the seminaries back in the early 1900s and began denying the fundamentals of our faith. It spread from there to anti-Zionism, and later, anti-Semitism. It then began to embrace liberation-theology and various forms of Socialism. The next surrender was to the pagan death cult of Islam. Then it was the capitulation to the perverse homosexual and sexually confused agenda. Next, the Laodiceans have moved into Critical Race Theory, Marxism and other new world order socialist agendas. Finally, and mark my words, we will see the inclusion of Pagans, Satanists, and pedophiles into the final stage of this nauseating Laodicean movement.
 
It has been one capitulation after another to some form of ungodliness. Like a tsunami of wickedness, we have witnessed wave after wave of godlessness crash our churches and leave nothing but rubble in the wake.
 
Summary: I believe that is why Paul was instructed by the Holy Spirit to use the word apostasia as he did. It speaks both to the rapid decline of Christianity in the final moments just before the Rapture (spiritual departure), as well as, to the actual event of the Rapture (physical departure). Without our physical departure, the Antichrist could not be revealed (2 Thess. 2:7-8). The elections of Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump, have only increasingly agitated and solidified the sides for which Christians now stand, at least, in this country. IOW, God is shaking off the fence-sitters and forcing people to choose sides.
 
5. Prophetic Shelf-Life
 
And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Luke 21:24
 
For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Romans 11:25
 
Bible prophecy is not some open ended concept with no definitive conclusion. The late Chuck Missler used to say, bible prophecy was just history written in advance. Bible prophecy has a shelf-life because it must find its fulfillment in its specified time and place. Keep in mind, God is always precise in the execution of His plan. While I support the idea of imminence, I do not support the idea of imminence as being random or unplanned. Let me explain.
 

• Could God rapture His Church tomorrow? Yes.
• Could God rapture His Church, 500 years from now? Yes.
• Could God have raptured His Church 500 years ago? Yes.
• Would God pick a random date to rapture His Church? I do not believe so.

 
For everything we've seen in Scripture, from the six days of Creation, to the Flood, to the sacrifice of Isaac, to the exodus, and the arrival of His Son to the earth- there was always a rhyme to the reason. There was always a shadow or type it was meant to convey. When Moses sinned by striking the rock twice at Meribah Kadesh, he was judged harshly for breaking typology and was not allowed enter into the Promised Land.
 
So while I could be wrong in stating that imminence (in the strictest sense of the word) is not in keeping with God's nature, it could also be that the Rapture happens on a day we don't yet fully understand. However, if we are going to have that view, we must also then apply that same level of fairness to things like the Blood Moon Tetrads and the September 23, 2017 'Revelation 12' sign. Perhaps those things meant something, but we just don't understand their significance yet either.
 
Setting imminence now aside, we have come to the execution of God's prophetic plans by the players involved. For example, we see the nations as mentioned in Ezekiel 38-39, lined up exactly as God said they would. For 2,600 years, the nations of Russia, Turkey, Iran, and Libya have always been at odds with each other.
 
Turkey had been an ally of the west for most of the 20th-century. Libya had been ruled by a washed up despot for decades. Russia was focused on their own national identity crisis with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Only Iran (who had been an ally of Israel and the West until 1979) remained singularly focused on destroying Israel. These nations are now allied for a variety of reasons (economic, political, scientific, and militarily).
 
However, their alliance will not remain indefinitely. All of these countries are facing significant economic and cultural-stressors at home that for now, are forcing them to unite against the West. However, these same stressors (sanctions, declining populations, political instability, etc.) do not afford them the luxury of time.
 
Secondly, for 2,000 years, the technology the Bible mentions, in places like Revelation 11 and 13, did not exist in the world. It has only been since the late 1980s, that satellite television came into being. It has only been since the late 1990s and early 2000s, that digital currency was even possible. From then until now, we are increasingly living in a world where the Beast technology is becoming a frightening reality. In fact, it is becoming so obvious at this point, that even non-believers are joking (half-heartedly that is) about things like the mark of the beast.
 
We are in that weird in-between stage now where half the people are waking up to the prophetic reality that we are living in the last days, while the other half are becoming conditioned to accept it as the new normal. As my friend Matt Ward once wrote, the technology of Revelation is the technology of now, not the technology of 2040. All of the technological aspirations that corporations like Google, Apple, IBM, Bill Gates, etc., want to take mankind, go beyond what Revelation where Revelation says we will be.
 
Summary: Thus, we must conclude that the geopolitical arrangements, as well as the technological limits, will come to some form of 'fullness,' but go no further. Man will not download their souls into computers. Man will not colonize Mars. Man will not invent time machines. As much as man desires to do these things, and could (see Gen. 11:6), God will not allow it any more than He allowed the tower of Babel to be finished.
 
6. The Last Trump
 
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 1 Cor. 15:52 (KJV)
 
I am not a KJV-onlyist, nor do I think one translation is superior to all the rest. I will say though that the KJV is the most well-known and most-read translation ever written. With that said, isn't it divinely ironic that the most popular translation of the Bible ever written, uses the word "trump" in its translation instead of "trumpet." From the 1611 version-
 
"In a moment, in the twinckling of an eye, at the last trumpe, (for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.)"
 
Some may smirk at the association I am making, but if for nothing else, the term "trump" has been associated with this passage and the Rapture for around 400 years now. The miraculous victory Donald Trump had in 2016, just so coincided with the 70th anniversary of Israel. President Trump had every excuse in the book to do like every president before him had done, and ignore the recognition of Jerusalem as the true and undisputed capital of Israel. He could have kept the tradition of keeping the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, but he didn't. After declaring Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel (December 2017), many in Israel's Sanhedrin began comparing Trump with Cyrus.
 
If you look at Donald Trump's family tree, it was Trump's German grandfather (Friedrich Drumpfe) and grandmother (Elizabeth Christ) who adopted the anglicized version (Trump) sometime between the years 1885 and 1904. In 1905, they gave birth to their son Frederick Christ Trump (Donald Trump's father) in New York. The name Frederick in the Germanic tongue, means, peaceful ruler. Frederick's father, Friedrich, would later die in 1918 due to the Spanish Flu. Frederick, however, would carry on the family name and industrious success in the real estate and construction business and later pass it on to his son, Donald.
 
Summary: We must remember that it is not unprecedented for God to name names in Scripture. God, through the prophet Isaiah, named the Persian King Cyrus (another friend of Israel) some 150 years before his rule (see Isaiah 45). Is it possible that God has been signaling to us that there is a connection between the Rapture and Donald Trump's time as leader of the free world?
 
Conclusion
 
With all the things I have provided above, it is my estimation that we are now between four and ten years away from the Rapture of the Church. Now, if all of my reasons above prove wrong and we are still here beyond 2030, then, by all means, give me flack. However, I feel ten years is a reasonable estimation, especially given all we are seeing now.
 
Granted, it would be much easier (and safer) if I came out and said the Lord will return by the year 2050. That is a safe, no-risk answer, because, well, most of you reading this now, won't be here in 2050. Many of us would have already graduated into glory by then should the Lord tarry. Heck, I would be 76 if I lived that long. But 2050 (using the Gregorian calendar) holds no special significance to either Israel or to Scripture.
 
If Jesus' Parable of the Fig Tree is to be understood reasonably, then the phrase this generation shall not pass away, is the generation that sees the rebirth of Israel. The rebirth of Israel happened in 1948. Israel's 70th anniversary happened in 2018, two years into the Trump presidency. And since there is no consistent specification from scripture as to how long a generation is exactly, we are left to conclude that a generation is the length of a man's life. This length then, according to the only Psalm written by Moses, is between 70-80 years long (Psalm 90:10), and then we "fly away."
 
So what does the 2020 election and Donald Trump have to do with all this?
 
Well, as I've stated in previous articles, the world's leaders are desperately seeking a global crisis of such magnitude that they have an excuse to put us all under one governmental system. They are so desperate that they've even drummed up our present "crisis" in an attempt to stop Donald Trump from winning reelection.
 
We know that according to Ephesians 6:12, spiritual forces are presently at work, behind the scenes, attempting to carry out their dark and wicked machinations. They do this often times, through their human agents, who seem to now (since 2016) to be working overtime to stop Donald Trump.
 
But why?
 
What is Donald Trump to them that they would throw every political caution to the wind, and openly commit: treason and spying, spend three years and $30M on a hilariously hoaxed Russian-collusion investigation that they created, then drumming up a pointless impeachment over his investigation over crimes they actually committed, while simultaneously destroying the economy with a fake pandemic and tearing this nation apart with anarchy and violence, and now attempt to steal the election through mail-in ballots? Seriously, when you say it all together like that, the left and their demonic overlords, REALLY DO NOT want Trump to win again.
 
Nevertheless, knowing we are right at the 6,000 year-mark of human history; that the election of the highest office, of the most powerful nation in human history, is timed in the fall; at the same point in time where Christendom is abandoning the faith in record numbers; while our geopolitical enemies are growing desperate and anxious; while a man named Trump is our president, I would say, it looks like we have arrived in the season of our own fullness of time.
 
I suspect, and I could be wrong here, but Trump has more of a connection to the Rapture than even we know. As a point of fact, if the Rapture happened sometime between now and 2024, then the Rapture would happen at the last Trump.
 
Maranatha!

The Apostate Church - by Pastor Mike Taylor -
https://pastormiketaylor.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-apostate-church.html
 
"Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. \
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" (James 2:18-20)
 
Most of us would agree that we are living in the last days of mankind's rule on this earth. But are we living like we believe it? We see the evil around this nation manifested in grotesque shootings of the innocent in our schools, on our streets,BLM and Antifa looting, destruction of people's lives and businesses and the multitude of sins that are growing exponentially as each day passes and we scream, "WHEN IS THIS ALL GOING TO END?" Of course, we know that the last days will become more and more evil as time passes, because the Bible prophesied it would be so.
 
Paul writes in 2nd Timothy:
 
2, "For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5, Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away"(2nd Timothy 3:2-5)
 
There is evil rampant all around us, but is there nothing we can do about it? Are we powerless to stop the flow of evil that is overtaking our nation, our families, and our culture? (Maybe).
 
14 "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.
15 Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.(2nd Chronicales 7:14)
 
True, the scripture above says that the times would be evil, but is that all we can expect? Is mankind in it's evil nature the only fault of the nation going into the dark times we see? The evil of man is a given according to scripture. But I say that there is a symptom that is growing in this country and has been festering for a long time, probably for the last 50 years. What is that symptom that has coming to a fulfillment? Give up? Let's look at what scripture says about where we are and why.
 
THE LAODECIAN CHURCH ERA
 
14, "And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. v.16, So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17, Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: (Revelation 3:14-17)
 
" I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry." (2nd Timonty 4:1-5)
 
In the opening passage, Paul warned Timothy to preach the word of God, not turning to right or to the left from what God's Word said. But to use it to rebuke, exhort and teach sound doctrine. He also warned what we are experiencing today, in that the LAME stream religions, from Roman Catholic (which always has strayed) to now infecting Protestant churches with fables of men. Those who sit in the pew on any given Sunday morning want a "new modern" religion that will make them feel good, entertain them, and not face what they really need, and that is repentance from their sins and turn to Jesus Christ as Personal Savior and the only remedy for their God forsaken immorality, and sinful lives.
 
We as born again Christians, lament how the church of this modern era has grown cold and preaches a watered down version of salvation through faith, applying God's mercy and grace to the broken and contrite heart that sees their lost condition and realizes that without God and the Lord Jesus Christ, they are doomed for a devil's hell. But the Laodecian Age of the church has come to pass, just as Jesus warned us in Revelation 3:
 
"14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:" (Revelation 3:14-17)
 
I spoke of this very thing in past sermons, so nothing has really changed and this is but a follow up of that message when I spoke of how this age has become nothing but lukewarm, watered down Christianity and anything else pagan.
 
If you be a church going believer, and there are many who are not, what was the atmosphere of the service you attended? Sadly, I would wager that most of you have not heard a good 'ole hell fire and brimstone sermon in years, or for that matter, even that calls out sin and it's forgiveness. Scripture says that we all have sinned and deserve death:
 
"20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;"(Romans 3:20-25)
 
"11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come."(Romans 5:11-14)
 
20 "For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."(Romans 6:20-23)
 
(sin is death, and death is hell fire or the Lake of Fire, remember those? It's high time the church tells the truth about sin).
 
The Gospel according to Jesus Christ has been watered down to the point of the average church service has become a social club gathering, that is intent on providing the masses the comfort they desire. Sin is no longer a subject discussed or preached on. Your local pastor may be into the social gospel of a feel good "Christianity". We don't want to feel bad about ourselves, and we sure don't want to upset that unbeliever that sits in your pews every Sunday. NOOO...that would be impolite, or politically incorrect and we need the support (ie. The money) to build that bigger and better sanctuary or expand our Sunday School classrooms, or the latest buzz project that has the member's attention. If you upset them, they may take their money elsewhere. Sad, but it's true.
 
And what of that member who leaves your churches and goes out into the world to work and play? Do they live their faith, or do they assimilate into the masses of the unbelieving world? Do you see where I'm going with this? The fault of what our generation is experiencing right now, falls into the lap of the one place where morality is taught and implemented into each of our lives. That blame is at the threshold of the Laodecian "church". (if you can call them that) and those sold out to speaking to itching ears by pastors of this era who don't want to speak the truth. I talk of faith, and so does James in the opening scripture, but what of this faith?
 
THE CHURCH IS TO TEACH TRUTH
 
You've heard the old saying, "actions speak louder than words"? In speaking of being a Christian, who has taken on the spirit of redemption, who has believed in their mind, the sinner's prayer, and believes in his heart that Jesus died for his sins, does our faith stop there? James addresses this in this chapter and following chapters...let's take a look at some of his admonitions. James chapter 2:
 
v.14 "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone."
 
(I believe James is speaking of faith misplaced in the wrong place or person)
 
If you neglect the nurturing of others through the application of your faith toward your brother, your fellow human being, then what has this faith accomplished? Faith is the beginning, not the end of our Christian walk. Out of sheer obedience, we are commanded to show fruit worthy of repentance. Let me elaborate, as I can just imagine the questions in your mind concerning this teaching. Let's take an agricultural product, say a plum tree. When the time to harvest the plums from a producing plum tree arrives, what do we expect to find on the branches? Of course, plums is what we would expect. What if we found rotten apples, or thorns, or some other illegitimate product that is in direct conflict to what this tree was suppose to be? Well, we would have say that we have been cheated by the seller of these trees we planted, or the seed that grew. So it is with the born again Christian. We are to produce good fruit. Let's not get the cart before the horse now, as many produce good works because, morally, they are good people, but they have not faith in Jesus Christ. Those of us who have faith in Jesus Christ are commanded to walk as He walked. If we truly belong to Jesus Christ, we will produce fruit just as sure as the sun comes up in the east and sets in the west or a plum tree produces that plum. We are commanded to produce fruit worthy of that calling of the Holy Spirit. Collectively, we are to be taught the right teachings according to the Bible, not some feel good gospel, and that's where the church is failing today. Jesus warned of this in the last days. Revelation 3:
 
16 "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."
 
The churches of today, including this abomination called the "Emerging Church" and those that preach a "Prosperity Gospel" relies on everything but the pure, unadulterated Word of God. They are into meditation, self awareness, motivational speaking, and anything and everything that is grounded in this world. They have lost touch with God and His requirements for being a true Christian built upon the Rock, which is Jesus Christ. The majority of the churches today Jesus said that they make Him sick.
 
I went to a church a few years ago, because my grandsons were being baptized and I was appalled by their service. I saw steel guitars, rock music, smoke rising through smoke machines, video cameras focusing in on the musicians on the overhead screen, and music so loud that I couldn't think. I thought I was at a Led-Zeppelin concert, not a church service devoted to the worship of the Living God. Is this an example of worship services in America's churches today? Sadly, it is more prevalent than I would care to admit. These churches are ripe pickings for the delusions that will come upon the earth in the near future of the rise of the One World Religion headed by none other the the False Prophet, ie. The grand Poopah in Rome
 
WHAT ABOUT OUR CHILDREN?
 
This gets down to the brass tacks of this message. Our children are our future. Are we teaching our children according to God's Word? I would say in the majority, the church is failing miserably. See all the crimes of insanity of young people who have lost hope, or desire suicide to end their sufferings. Of course, they want to take as many people with them as possible, hence the awful past shootings of Columbine, The Batman Rising shooter in Colorado, and the Newtown, Connecticutt school killer just to name a few in the recent past. Do you know what the #1 single killer of our young people today is? It used to be accidents, as in trauma from motor vehicle accidents, or accidents of dare-devils who think they are immortal, but that has been surpassed in recent years by SUICIDE. Yes, suicide of a lost generation that has no hope, no anchor or faith in something bigger than themselves. Morality begins in the home, nurtured by the church, and guaranteed by our laws of this land called the USA. But the last 50 years have seen morality take a deep six nose dive. We have raised a 2nd generation of unschooled, unbelieving, and godless people who now have kids of their own with no compass in their lives, and pray tell do they get it in the truth in our churches of today? The answer would be a hearty "NO"! Most of these stay away from church, as they have figured out that the churches provide nothing they need in their lives.
 
6 "And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart
7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates."(Deuteronomy 6:6-9)
 
14 "If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." (John 14:15)
 
3, "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4, He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5, But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him."(1st John 2:3-5)
 
This is not about works, but where your faith lies. Is it in Jesus Christ or in a religion of men? Who do you love? If you love this world, Jesus and the Father are not in you.
 
THE POLITICS OF EVIL
 
And what is the answer of our elected leaders? Gun control is their answer. The POTUS past (I'll not use his name, as it makes me sick) had a plan. I would call it a sinister plan in the same regards as Hitler had plans for Germany. And no Dorothy, we are not in Kansas!! The world we know has changed...was that the then POTUS idea of "hope and change"? It's not my idea, and probably was not yours either. And you can bet your bottom dollar, nothing is going to change for the better, until the heart of America changes and I don't see that coming in this life, unless this nation falls on her knees and cries out for redemption, and not to our government. That is the LAST place any sane American would look to today. Our leaders are as clueless about the root cause as the rest of the unbelieving world. The only answer is to teach our children the way they should go from the Word of God and as a nation, but we have failed miserably as parents, as a church, and as a nation...just look around you.
 
A clear command comes from God to give our children a Christian education. Are we prepared to say that not to do so is sin? After all, God orders it. How are we doing it? What have we provided for our kid's Christian education? How much time are we spending doing it? If we have children, we can be sure these questions will be asked.
 
Obviously, the church is not doing it's job. The parents are not doing their job, as they were not taught either. So the nation is falling apart. So the problem grows, and grows until we have a lawless society bent on destruction of other human beings because of their own pain and inability to cope. (of course we have evidence that the recent looting and mayhem in Democratic run cities are designed to bring America to her knees.) Men look to the government to fulfill their needs. Ask any bleeding heart liberal that is on food stamps and welfare. Pity the fool that looks to men and not looking to God for their salvation.
 
YOUR FAITH ON TRIAL
 
Let's take that evidence of faith and put it into a courtroom setting of this age. At the Great White Throne judgment or even the Bema judgment seat of Jesus Christ, at the end of the church age, the Judge has brought you before the high court and the prosecutor reads the charges. If we are asked about our faith, the Judge will ask to show us our faith by our actions as evidence for our defense. True enough that works cannot save anyone and we could get into the argument of works based salvation as the Pharisees of Jesus Christ day thought salvation was achieved by. They were wrong, as faith is all that is required, but what of the above verses? Is there anything required or let's say, expected for the truly converted believer to show this High Court if their faith was in God, or was it misplaced in something else? Maybe that faith was in their church, their denomination, or their parish priest or pastor. We see people everyday that we see in our churches, and you know, you can't tell them apart from the sinner down at your local bar drinking himself into a stupor. Listen to their speech. The action at the Bema Judgment seat of Christ are loss of rewards, but at the Great White Throne judgment is the loss of your life and facing eternal death in the fires of hell and the Lake of Fire. James explains it well found in your Bible:
 
3 "Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body.
4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm whithersoever the governor listeth.
5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell,
7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind
8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. "(James 3:3-9)
 
Understanding we live in a sinful world and evil talk and crude language is all around us. Do we take on the actions of this world, this Laodicean Age of apostasy? If we are guilty of this sin, what does it say to the unbeliever? Are they impressed with your aura of righteousness? Do you honor God in spirit and your actions? Do you esteem your neighbor above yourself? Are you kind, considerate, careful of your language, and project an aura of a bought and paid for saint for God's Kingdom? If no, then are they impressed? I think you know that answer to that one. They are not and they see no need for your luke-warm religion as it doesn't speak to them of their lost condition. Many on judgment day will think they are alright. They went to church, they paid their tithes, and they even believed in their heads about this person "Jesus Christ". Remember the portion of the opening verse. "thou doest well. Even the demons believe and tremble" But they are not saints. Let's examine what Jesus said about these pseudo-christians, in name only.
 
31 "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left."(Matthew 25:31-32)
 
If you are familiar with the parable, Jesus separates the true Christians apart from the fake, in name only Christians. This is after the Tribulation that Jesus will judge the nations. Both thought they were doing God's will. The goats on His left, they did what they thought right in their own eyes. Pseudo-Christians, or the ones in name only, missed one vital point, they were playing the game, but didn't have the power within their lives. They relied either on themselves being a good person, or their church, or their pastor/priest, or something else in a religious nature, but missed taking on the likeness of Jesus Christ and into their heart, and their very being. They put their trust in a false religions, a false god or even no god at all. They only had the label, not the power of God. Or. the seed planted by Jesus Christ had been over run with thorns and weeds and they were not really a new creature in Jesus Christ, but play acting. They spoke it, they read about it in their bible (rarely), they counted on their priest to get them to heaven, or they just thought being religious was good enough. You know what, it was not. That scenario can both happen before and after the beginning of the Tribulation, so applies even more so today before the true Church is removed. I speak of misplaced trust and faith in the wrong place and the wrong Person.
 
JUDGMENT PASSED ON MANKIND.
 
As in the final court case at the end of the age, noted above, the Judge is Jesus Christ, as God the Father has given Him all authority to judge mankind, the prosecutor is God's Holy Word found in the books opened. If you are not found to be written in the book of life, but who were just going through the motions and had not really taken Jesus Christ into your heart, then God have no choice but to repeat what was said at the sheep and goat judgment by our Lord Jesus Christ by saying:
 
41" Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" .
 
You will have no defense, and Jesus Christ cannot/will not defend you, as you have not taken on His likeness and have not been clothed with His righteousness. God the Father will see you in all your sinful nature without being clothed in the righteousness of His Son, as the only pardon for your awful condition. The sentence will be passed and you will be condemned for all eternity to separation from God and destruction in the Lake of Fire...the second death burning with fire and brimstone mixed with sulfur.
 
TIME RUNNING OUT
 
Understand one thing my reader, the nation of the United States is sadly going down in flames. How long it will take, I haven't a clue, as the time table is in God's hands, but going down she is. This past POTUS put it's demise on warp speed. We pray we have a reprieve with the current administration from the wrath of God and pray for 4 more years of such, but what if we don't receive it this November? The evil nature of men has only grown worse and worse. Morality and the love of anyone but yourself has nearly vanished, if it hasn't already done so. Men will tear each other apart just to get what they think they want or need. If a crisis develops, men will take guns and kill anyone and everyone in their way. This government we have elected found in Congress and the Senate (you did it, I didn't) will come down with both feet and declare martial law. The United States of Socialist America will be upon you and despair will be the order of the day.
 
There is coming a day, and I pray it is soon, where the righteous saints clothed with the blood of Jesus Christ will make a sudden exit from this earth. Men will be astounded. Men will be confused and looking for a reason for the calamity that has come upon this earth. Only the faithful will be removed. When I say faithful, I mean those who have taken on the likeness of Jesus Christ in all our imperfect attempt at following in His footsteps. Jesus knows each of our hearts and where our faith and our treasure lies.
 
Does yours lie in this world, or does it lie in the next life to come through Jesus Christ our Lord? Look at Matthew 6,
 
19 "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."(Matthew 6:19-21)
 
So where does your faith lie? Are you acting on that faith? Are you putting Jesus Christ first in your life? Paul said in Galatians :
 
26 "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ".(Galatians 3:26-27)
 
What does it mean to put on Jesus Christ? ,
 
11 "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfi the lusts thereof."(Romans 13:11-14)
 
We are commanded as believers, true believers to put on Jesus Christ. Emulate what he said, what He taught, and what He lived everyday of His short life and ministry on earth. To do so, is to "Show true faith". Nothing else is but playing around and hoping we are not a goat...Don't take that chance. Your final eternal home depends on it...
 
There is coming a day, where those who have played the game of the Laodecian Church age and think they are OK who will sadly find out that they were not OK...at least not in God's eyes. They have rejected the one thing, the One Person who could have changed their destiny and gave them the right to be called the "sons of God", but alas, they have succumbed to the spirit of the Anti-Christ and been lulled to sleep in a Laodecian mindset and having a form of Godliness, but denying the power there-of.
 
5, "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6, For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."(2nd Timothy 3:5-7)
 
This age is fast closing and the Tribulation spoken of in Daniel's prophesy could be right around the corner, just out of sight. When that time period begins, then to be a Christian will come with a higher price than even it does today. Let us not rely on man, or the apostasy that grows in luke-warm churches of this Laodecian Age, but let us turn to the only source of our salvation and victory over this world.
 
"For God so love the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.". (John 3:16-20)
 
Who does the Apostle John speak of? The only source of our salvation, Jesus Christ, the Lord
 
And again Paul emphasizes what Jesus spoke of and recorded by John the Apostle:
 
8, "But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:8-13)
 
This is Pastor Mike Taylor, praying your salvation through the Way, the Truth and the Life, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Should you have a need for prayer, counseling, or just a friendly ear to listen, then drop me a line at [email protected] , God bless you all until hopefully: WE MEET AT JESUS FEET

The Great Reset - By Pete Garcia - https://www.rev310.com/2020/08/the-great-reset
“The 2020 U.S. election will determine the fate of the whole world.” 1
~ George Soros


It has been 160 years since our last Civil War.


It has been 81 years since the start of the last World War.


Either way, we are long overdue for one or the other.


Both of these great tragedies acted as a reset of sorts.


The Civil War reset us from these United States, to the United States; while World Wars I and II, reset (terraformed) the global stage from nationalism, to globalism.


In fact, the main thing that held back globalism during the 20th-century wasn’t Islam or even Communism, but the American Constitution. These documents (the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution) were in my opinion, so divinely inspired that they prophetically laid out a system of governance designed to both prevent too much government, as well, as preventing us from ever subjugating ourselves to an international body-politic. Political power was too diversified amongst the branches of government. The closest we came to losing this wasn’t during the Civil War, but rather, during the time between the Great Depression and the end of World War II.


Can there be any doubt as to why God allowed the US to emerge victorious after both conflicts?


It wasn’t because God loved the Americans more than he did anyone else. It was to prevent this New World Order (NWO) from becoming too quickly. The NWO was, with the death of Woodrow Wilson, stillborn at birth, with the League of Nations. However, with the Second World War, the powers were determined to bring all the world together Vis the United Nations. And it sort of worked, except, the United States could/would not subjugate itself to it. Fast forward 70 plus years and I feel we are now at the end of that time of divine restraint, which is why I keep getting this haunting sensation that we are quickly heading for another reset.


But don’t take my word for it, just turn on the news and see how unhinged the world has become, let alone, the world’s lone-superpower, the United States. We are currently a two-party political system, with one side, the Democrats, openly advocating for national suicide. Nay, demanding it. The Republicans conservatives, are really, the only ones left trying to hold it all together.


Now, that is not to say, we haven’t had our issues in the past, because we have. But, we’ve always managed to find a middle-ground to rise up and let cooler heads prevail. However, those days are dead and gone and the gloves are completely off. No more pretending. No more fence-sitting. No more moderate-middles. The left has pushed their agenda so far to the political left, all they have left to embrace is outright wickedness. To anyone who still has a conscience, this is shocking. It is shocking to our senses and sensibilities that one party would applaud and cheer for the dismembering of unborn babies. It’s shocking that one party would applaud and cheer for men pretending to be women, and vice versa. It’s that they would champion anarchy and violence, so long as it’s done in the name of social justice.


But here we are in 2020. Generational insanity has swept the nation.


What’s worse, is that corporate and academic America, is now standing with the insane.


To stand against them and speak your mind, means standing against a tsunami of political, corporate, economic, judicial onslaught, as well as the mob of public opinion. You’re almost guaranteed to lose your job, lose your livelihood, and possibly even face jail time for disobeying the growing pockets of lawless governments. And to stand with them, surely means your approval of the demise of the United States, as well as abandoning the Judeo-Christian principles and the God of the Bible.


Which has me thinking a lot about the upcoming 2020 elections. These elections seem to weigh a lot on people’s minds these days, especially, as it were, George Soros. Which is why he’s poured billions of dollars, euros, pounds, rubles, yen, yuan, and pesos into defeating Donald J. Trump.


But why?


Because if you objectively look at the insanity in the world today, you’d realize, we did not arrive here in a vacuum. There have been forces at play for more than a century now, who have been busily plotting, and planning the demise of the biggest obstacle to world government, the United States. They know, that once she falls, the rest of the western world will fall in line with a newly empowered global system rather quickly, except with some odd-men-outliers (e.g., China, Russia, and Iran-more on this at the end). Nevertheless, large portions of Africa, the America’s, Europe, and parts of Asia will line up behind this new, globalist powerhouse. Which begs the question…what’s the present hold up?


Will we get another four-years of reprieve under Trump?


Or will we be handed over to the sudden destruction that will surely come at the hands of a Democrat president?


Only God knows the definitive answer to that question- however, I have a few thoughts.


The New World Order?


“The drive of the Rockefellers and their allies is to create a one-world government combining supercapitalism and Communism under the same tent, all under their control. … Do I mean conspiracy? Yes I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent.” 2 
US Congressman Larry P. McDonald
***


 “For more than a century ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents such as my encounter with Castro to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure–one world, if you will. If that’s the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.” 3
~ David Rockefeller, (Memoirs, p. 406)


The “New World Order” is an often maligned and misused phrase that most often centers on the idea of the creation of a singular, all-powerful, global government, presumably controlled by a small group of elites. It is also a phrase that is oft-mocked and lauded as a conspiracy-fringe idea that deserves the utmost derision.


But does it?


In truth, a “new world order” happens quite regularly. Anytime the global power shifts from one nation or empire to another, there is in a sense, a new world order. However, the phrase in question here is the idea of a singular, all-powerful, global government. If this had originated from a bunch of loser-nobodies hanging out in their parent’s basement, it should be mocked. Sadly, that is not the case. The idea of new world order, aside from being plastered to our national currency, has remained the buzz amongst the world’s political, economic, and military elite for centuries. This is not some passing fad or work of science fiction, but a real thing, whether we accept it or not.


In other words, this idea of a new world order is a serious one and is originating from the highest echelons of power amongst the leaders of this world. Considering many of these men and women have all the wealth and resources, and are seemingly, well on their way to making it happen; thus, it must be taken seriously. However, the news of it, or rather, the lack of news of it, has never diminished the intrepid march towards this goal.


“The loss of public interest, however, did not mean the end of world order aspirations. Quite the opposite; the “big idea” of world organization remained active within elite circles, largely operating beyond the knowledge or concern of the public. A corollary was this: As public memory fogged with the advance of time, the notion of world government – once openly identified and celebrated – faded into our cultural background, eventually slipping into the realm of “conspiracy theory.” 4
~Carl Teichrib


But as history has borne out, taking the world from nationalism to globalism, is not so easy a task. It took the Great War to create the League of Nations. It took the Second World War to create both the United Nations and the European Union. Those globalist-types, know, that so long as the United States remains the leader of the free world, there will be no true “new world order.”


This should explain by what method we have arrived at the lunacy of 2020. It has been a century-long, concerted effort to a) dumb down the population, b) get America’s youth to both hate our past and our present, c) take control over the major institutions that control the flow of information, and d) completely take over our two major political parties.


January 23, 2020


Liberal billionaire George Soros said Thursday that the U.S. economy could be headed for calamity as a result of President Donald Trump’s efforts to juice American business and stock prices ahead of the 2020 election.


“Trump’s economic team has managed to overheat an already buoyant economy,” Soros warned his guests at an informal dinner at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.


“The stock market, already celebrating Trump’s military success, is breaking out to reach new heights,” he said. “But an overheated economy can’t be kept boiling for too long. If all this had happened closer to the elections, it would have assured his reelection.” 5


Notice how Soros here states this last sentence in the past-tense? As if Trump’s defeat is already a foregone conclusion? Mind you, this was also around the same time that the Chinese Coronavirus was making its way to the United States.


It’s often hard to wrap our minds around the idea that our reality, is not just happening in the natural order of things, but rather, is being intentionally and artificially shaped to fit some agenda. Like the assassinations of Lincoln, Kennedy, and King, as well as the wars of Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, events are happening that are attempting to hijack our natural trajectory. These are human-driven events that are attempting to impose some will over where the world is headed.


Granted, we expect God to do this because He is the final arbiter of human history. However, there are things happening that are not of God. Events are being shaped by men and women under the influence of dark, spiritual forces, who are actively seeking the demise of the United States and to impose Satan’s original world order. (See Nimrod and the Tower of Babel- Gen 10-11)


Now, some of you are saying…wait a minute Pete, didn’t you just write an article last week where you all but spell out the divinely inspired demise of the United States?


Yes I did.


Let me clarify this seemingly juxtaposed, position. Men may shape the present events, but they cannot control the outcome. God alone reserves that authority. Mankind is very much become the tempest in the teapot, furious, but over-exaggerated. God has the ultimate say on what and when things happen. (Read Psalm 2 for more clarity on this)
​

Nevertheless, we know that according to Scripture that there is no nation like the United States mentioned in the last days. The final world superpower will come out of the boundaries of the old Roman Empire (Daniel 2, 7-9). Ergo, something must happen to us between now and then that knocks us down a whole bunch of pegs. Sadly, our demise is as inevitable, as the setting of the sun after a long day. We cannot prevent it, nor can we slow its approach.


So if our demise is inevitable, who cares which party wins the next election?


Well, primarily, because we don’t know when the Lord will return.


If the Lord tarries another 10-20 years, should we suffer unnecessarily under the totalitarian machinations of the Democrat-Socialist party? A party which lauds abortion on demand, genderless children, emasculated men, invites war and attacks, and promotes the general lawlessness of anarchy on every street?


Or should we occupy until He comes as our Lord instructs in Luke 19:13?


We are to be the salt and light until He returns. Furthermore, as history has borne out, it is much easier to share the gospel when you are free than when you are under a totalitarian dictatorship. One could argue that truer converts are made during persecution, and that may be true, but each of us here today, reading this, were at one point, converted. Is our conversion any less valid because we did it without duress? Can Christ still redeem the freedman? (Gal. 3:28)


Even though the public opinion or awareness has waxed and waned over the past hundred years, the plan has never wavered from the globalist mind. They are continually chipping away at the US so when it gets within range of a tipping point, they can simply nudge it with a crisis. Looking back, we can see the numerous attempts to unify globalist efforts by way of crisis, creating new, major, political bodies:

• 1920- The League of Nations (Woodrow Wilson)
• 1921- Council on Foreign Relations (Rockefeller since 1930)
• 1945- The United Nations
• 1954- The Bilderberg Group
• 1968- The Club of Rome (Rockefeller)
• 1973- The Trilateral Commission (Rockefeller)

Although these are the best known, there are literally hundreds of American and European organizations dedicated to a singular global system. Powerful esoteric groups have also long been involved in consolidating power into the hands of an elite few:

• The Vatican
• The Illuminati
• The Freemasons
• Skull and Bones Society
• National Socialists (NAZIs)

Below are listed some quotes from some of the most powerful men in the world and how they see globalism.


“In the next century, nations as we know it will be obsolete; all states will recognize a single, global authority. National sovereignty wasn’t such a great idea after all.”
(US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbot, July 20 l992.)


“The New World Order will have to be built from the bottom up rather than from the top down … run around national sovereignty, eroding it piece by piece will accomplish much more than the old-fashioned frontal assault.”

(Richard Gardner, US Council on Foreign Relations Journal Foreign Affairs, April 1974.)

“We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order.
(US billionaire David Rockefeller, to UN Business Conference, 1991.)


 “Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful. This is especially true if they were told there was an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead with world leaders to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well being granted to them by their world government.”
(US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.)


“To achieve world government, it is necessary to remove from the minds of men their individualism, loyalty to family traditions, national patriotism, and religious dogmas.”
(Brock Adams, Director of UN Health Organization.)


“We shall have world government, whether or not we like it. The only question is whether world government will be achieved by consent or by conquest.”


(US banker, financial advisor to President Roosevelt, and Council on Foreign Relations member, James Warburg to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, February 17 l950, as testified at the US Senate.)


There are literally, hundreds of quotes, from many, many men advocating for a singular world government. The main difference today (as opposed to decades ago) is that the new, technocracy (powerful technological corporations) such as Google, Huawei, Apple, Twitter, IBM, and so forth, are piling onboard the globalist bandwagon as well.


They’re piling onboard because of how interconnected the world’s economy has become in the age of information. There are hundreds of powerful, technological corporations that are involved in thousands of technological efforts: data processing, artificial intelligence, unmanned autonomous systems, 5G networks, low-earth orbit satellites, Internet-of-Things, cloud computing, digital currency, crypto-currency, gene-editing, 3D printing, holographic technology, etc. Although many of these products and systems were designed to makes our life here in the 21st century better, safer, and streamlined, these also have the potential for great and terrible abuse in the wrong hands. And according to Scripture, if we can be so bold as to read between the lines, they will be.


He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.


Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. Revelation 13:16-18


Crisis!


THE CONTEXT


The Covid-19 crisis, and the political, economic, and social disruptions it has caused, is fundamentally changing the traditional context for decision-making. The inconsistencies, inadequacies, and contradictions of multiple systems –from health and financial to energy and education – are more exposed than ever amidst a global context of concern for lives, livelihoods, and the planet. Leaders find themselves at a historic crossroads, managing short-term pressures against medium- and long-term uncertainties.


THE OPPORTUNITY


As we enter a unique window of opportunity to shape the recovery, this initiative will offer insights to help inform all those determining the future state of global relations, the direction of national economies, the priorities of societies, the nature of business models and the management of a global commons. Drawing from the vision and vast expertise of the leaders engaged across the Forum’s communities, the Great Reset initiative has a set of dimensions to build a new social contract that honours the dignity of every human being.6 (Source)


Nevertheless, we have two complementing agendas afoot. The first, is incrementalism, or gradualism, which continually seeks to chip away at the foundations of a nation or empire. An example of this is the introduction of post-modernism into our public education systems. These are slow moving agendas that ultimately aim their sights at undermining the foundation. The second is opportunism-which makes every crisis, and opportunity for rapid change. There are no shortage of examples for opportunism-climate change, global warming, pandemics, financial depressions, terrorism, etc.
Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable.
~Milton Friedman


Given Over


Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical letter, Laudato Si, was nothing more than a quasi-theological puff-piece promoting sustainable development (UN code for depopulation, wealth redistribution, global healthcare, and citizenry), the imminent perils of manmade climate change, as well as the virtues of globalism over nationalism. Mind you, the ‘vicar of Christ’ and the so-called leader of all Christians on the earth, has seemingly placed Al Gore’s false predictions above God’s promise (see Genesis 8:22), which tells me, perhaps he’s not as close to God as he seems to think. I only mention him in this article for his closing statement in the encyclical, which practically deifies Mary as the “Queen of Creation.”


VIII. QUEEN OF ALL CREATION


241. Mary, the Mother who cared for Jesus, now cares with maternal affection and pain for this wounded world. Just as her pierced heart mourned the death of Jesus, so now she grieves for the sufferings of the crucified poor and for the creatures of this world laid waste by human power. Completely transfigured, she now lives with Jesus, and all creatures sing of her fairness. She is the Woman, “clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev 12:1). Carried up into heaven, she is the Mother and Queen of all creation. In her glorified body, together with the Risen Christ, part of creation has reached the fullness of its beauty. She treasures the entire life of Jesus in her heart (cf. Lk 2:19, 51), and now understands the meaning of all things. Hence, we can ask her to enable us to look at this world with eyes of wisdom.7


It’s no mystery that the Roman Catholic Church has long venerated Mary above even Christ for centuries now. However, when you take the entirety of his encyclical, it is attempting to insert crisis into its deeply flawed theology in an attempt to promote unbridled globalism. His encyclical shows a complete departure from discernment, biblical understanding, basic science, and even common sense. Granted, he is just one man, however, he theoretically speaks for around one-billion people on the planet, which is a frightening thought. Perhaps even more now that the Reformation is “over.”


But because we here in the West have neglected our duties to occupy for some many decades now, the inmates are now broke out of the asylum, and still we are surprised. We should not be surprised that after decades of progressive, socialist, humanist, and Marxist indoctrination in our educational systems, a generation would rise up that can no longer understand right from wrong. They can no longer differentiate between up and down, or black and white. Their moral compass has all but eroded into dust and blown away by the winds of change.


And God has allowed it when we kicked him out of our homes, our schools, our businesses, and our government. Thus, God is allowing this fleeting moment for the wicked to appear victorious, as a means of punishment. In other words, He is restraining one form of wrath (the fire and brimstone kind) in favor of another, the wrath of abandonment, which is worse. Woe to those who fall under this form of judgment.


For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them….Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves…For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due…And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;…being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. Romans 1:18-32


Are we not here? Public acceptance of homosexuality is the final stage of this being “given over.” Not only have the homosexuals come out of the closet, but they have moved in, taken over, and demanded our children as recompense. They will move to legalize and push for the public acceptance of pedophilia next, because that is the final stage in their agenda.


Today, almost every Fortune 500 company, federal institution, public university, and many churches are now kowtowing to the LGBTQ+ mob. Not because they care mind you, but, they fear the economic backlash from the media and from Hollywood. The new “woke” generation ignorantly promote Marxism by masquerading it as “equality.” However, the new Brown Shirts are not walking around with swastikas, but with black fists and ANTIFA armbands. These mobs are the unofficial army of the liberal elite. Their purpose, is to promote lawlessness so that the people will demand for more authoritarian law and order. The Hegelian Dialectic being played out, right before our eyes.


They think they are evolving into more enlightened human beings. However, their progressivist-post modernism is clouding their judgment with lies and half-truths. They are becoming a generation, unable to come to the knowledge of the truth as to be saved. This has Satan’s fingerprints all over it.


Satan’s goal, as it has been since the days of Babel, is to unite the entire world under the leadership of one man, his Antichrist. This is what drove Alexander the Great, the Romans, the Muslims, the Mongols, Napoleon, Hitler, and will one day drive the world’s final ruler. The difference between the Antichrist and all those who came before him will be he finally has the technology to control the entire world. He will have the technology because corporations are feverishly “whoring” themselves out to create terrible systems of control that will one day fall into the wrong hands.


I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country… corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.
~Abraham Lincoln


The Return to Nationalism?


When Donald J. Trump announced his candidacy on June 16th, 2015, almost everyone believed he didn’t have a chance. Although he had long been connected to politics, he was a Washington outsider. He was a real estate mogul. He was an author. He was a reality television star. He was a larger than life character, who, for all intents and purposes, personified the very definition of success. Even by Barack Hussein Obama…
“[Americans have] a continuing normative commitment to the ideals of individual freedom and mobility, values that extend far beyond the issue of race in the American mind. The depth of this commitment may be summarily dismissed as the unfounded optimism of the average American—I may not be Donald Trump now, but just you wait; if I don’t make it, my children will.” 8
~Barack Obama, 1991


Therefore, it is no surprise that throughout the 2016 election year, nobody took his candidacy seriously. Nevertheless, one Republican candidate after another fell by the way side. Not to toot my own horn here (toot toot), but I did predict he would win the Republican Primaries back in January 2016, as well as the General Election, in September 2016 (see here). Mind you, I predicted that second part right about the same time the Access Hollywood tapes came out indicting Trump of saying some pretty crude things. However, even though I was not a fan of his then, I knew he would win for reasons I have already listed in the linked article. Granted, I am not the only one who saw him winning; there were a few others who also got it right.


The 2020 Election: Judgment or Reprieve?


Which brings us to today and the upcoming 2020 elections. I believe Trump will win again. Here are my practical reasons for believing this.


First and foremost- what Trump was selling in 2016, resonated with the average person. They (we) were tired of being preached at, scolded, and berated by the liberal elite for not being “progressive” enough. Apparently, we deplorables and bitter-clingers didn’t have enough common sense to recognize that men really could be women, or that Islam was a religion of peace, and that the government should run our lives. Trump was antithetical to all those points. Trump was in effect, the Anti-Obama.
Secondly, American’s have gotten an up close and personal look at the version of America the Democrats are trying to sell; both in their handling of the pandemic, as well as the riots and anarchy. The result- the Americans are horrified. Even liberals and democrats are mortified at what their party is doing. The majority of American’s do not want to turn America into Chicago, Seattle, Portland, or Baltimore.


Third- the Democrats have refused to offer up any substantive legislative reforms or efforts to make life better; they have literally spent the last four years singularly focused on attacking Trump, Trump’s family, and anyone ever associated with Trump. Literally, all they have to run on as their bonafides is how much they attacked Trump. What’s worse, is that they’ve failed at that for four years as well!


Fourth, the American public are now clearly seeing the blatant bias by the usual suspects- Hollywood, media, academics, liberals, progressives, etc. Even American’s who were not sympathetic to Trump, are seeing the outlandishly ridiculous and insane non-stop attacks by elitists. Their absolute negativism and increasingly anti-Americanism, is driving people toward Trump in droves.


Fifth, Trump’s base is more fired up now, than they were in 2016, in part, because he has kept his word (as best he can) to do the things he initially campaigned on. Secondly, because the façade of the moderate liberal is gone and we know what is at stake. Thirdly, because we’ve seen the length the Democrats and the left will go to destroy a sitting US President. If they could do that to him, what chance do we stand, unless we stand together?


Sixth, there is a growing number of black American’s who are leaving the Democrat Party. Trump won eight percent of the black vote in 2016; he’s expected to at a minimum, double that in 2020. Three polls (Emerson, Rasmussen, and Marist) have Trump at 30 percent or higher with the black community. In theory, if Trump even pulled half of that, he would win. Which begs the question…why?

1. The Democrats keep promising the black community the same old thing, with the same old results- poverty, crime-ridden communities, race-baiting, and high homicide rates
   1. More black American’s are waking up to the systemic racism of the Democrat party (Confederacy, KKK, Jim Crow laws, Planned Parenthood’s black genocide, etc., the welfare state, and the destruction of the nuclear black family
   2. Overtly racist comments by Joe Biden (corn pop, poor kids are just as bright as white kids, #you ain’t black, etc.), blatantly hypocritical cultural appropriation (Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren), and the fact their vote is taken for granted
   3. The fraudulent claims of the “Black Lives Matter” political movement has shown black American’s that their lives don’t really matter, unless, it can be used to promote a Marxist, pro-LGBTQ+, anarchist, anti-American propaganda
   4. The Democrats only care about the black communities on an election year. They all but ignore them for the rest of the time. In fact, Obama-Biden ignored the black community for eight-years
   5. Trump has listened to the black community throughout the tenure of his four years in office and has done more to address their concerns, than any other president, save, Abraham Lincoln. Don’t take my word for it. Take Alveda King’s.
   6. This is why there is, as Candace Owen’s accurately coined the phrase, a coming BLEXIT (Black Exit) from the Democrat party. It may not be 30%, but I guarantee it will be well above 10%.

Seventh, the world has watched a relentless, four-year, phony, smear campaign against President Trump. It began with the outgoing administration committing political espionage and treason, and escalated into a phony impeachment (what was he impeached for again?). In truth, Trump was impeached for investigating a real crime (i.e., Biden’s quid pro quo covering his son’s corrupt activities in Ukraine). When that inevitably failed, the left turned and weaponized a pandemic-flu in an attempt to artificially shut down Trump’s booming economy.


Lastly, there is an increasingly turbulent divergence growing between those who want a new world order, and those who want to keep the old world order. While our president isn’t the only one advocating for international, nationalism, President Trump just happens to be the tippy point of the spear. Nationalism is not just an American movement, but patriots from around the world are fighting this slide into this new world order. [Examples: the Austrians, the British (BREXIT), the Polish, the Indians, Hong Kong, the Iranian people, and many others are fighting, facing imprisonment, loss of livelihood, and death.]


Conclusion


For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12


Clearly, there are forces at work beyond the political boundaries. Spiritual forces are moving. Demonic princes are attempting to maintain their poisonous stranglehold over their territories. The Gospel is moving across enemy territory with the advent of the Internet and satellite television. The battlefield is aflame, and we are on the verge of a titanic shift in prophetic, global geopolitics.


The politicians and powerbrokers with means, are the ones who are using the mob to bring about the new world order. They have embraced the ever-changing tenets of post-modern progressivism. They have embraced the delusional machinations of intersectionality and social-justice. They have embraced the suicidal ideations of relativism. However, the George Soros’ and David Rockefellers of the world, are pawns too, to a much older, darker, power.


Let us not kid ourselves, nationalism is dead, and America is gone. There is no returning to the old normal after COVID19. While I believe that God has used imperfect men throughout history to affect change, change still came. Men like Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Washington, Lincoln, Churchill, and Trump are merely designed to carry out some facet of God’s plan, however, God’s plan is still to let the world to continue to worsen until He institutes the final crisis that drives the world together into the final Beast government.


Remember this one thing. From a political perspective, Donald Trump was/is the last divinely emplaced obstacle to a new, one-world order. How long God chooses to allow him to be this obstacle, depends. It depends on what final crisis the world needs in order to fully embrace a one-world government.


Does God allow the Democrats to win in November, and usher in the crisis of their making through their inability to run the most powerful nation on the planet? Or does God reserve that pleasure for Himself so that He sets the time and place of said final, global, crisis? I believe He will retain that pleasure, by allowing Trump to win, and then, executing the Rapture to occur at some point in Trump’s second term. I could be wrong about this, but, that is just what my gut is telling me.


Remember the former things of old,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure,
Isaiah 46:9-10

Sources

1. George Soros: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/23/davos-2020-george-soros-says-china-leader-xi-is-trying-to-exploit-trumps-weaknesses.html
2. Congressman Larry P. McDonald (1976) http://libertytree.ca/quotes/Larry.McDonald.Quote.5040
3. David Rockefeller, Memoirs, p. 406
4. Carl Teichrib, Game of Gods: The Temple of Man in the Age of Re-Enchantment
5. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/23/george-soros-warns-trump-of-potential-economic-doom-before-election.html
6. https://www.weforum.org/great-reset/
7. Laudato Si: http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html
8. B. Obama, R. Fisher, “Race and Rights Rhetoric”, 1991

Harvest Time - By Daymond Duck - 
https://www.raptureready.com/2020/08/16/harvest-time-by-daymond-duck
 
Thanks to all who are praying for my wife Rachel. She is now on a ventilator. It is a very dangerous situation. We are praying for quick improvement.
 
One, most of us have seen articles discouraging the use of Hydroxychloroquine for the Coronavirus even though it is readily available and not very expensive.
 
Many have also seen articles saying the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued emergency approval of an expensive, unproven, experimental drug called Remdesivir.
 
A reader sent me an e-mail that says the following:

• Remdesivir is made by a company called Gilead Biosciences.
• Dr. Fauci's wife works for Gilead Biosciences.
• Gilead Biosciences supported Hillary Clinton for President in 2016.
• Gilead Biosciences has a subsidiary called UNITAID (a group associated with the UN World Health Organization, WHO) that has an office near Wuhan, China.
• By agreement with UNITAID, China has a patent on Remdesivir.
• Gilead Biosciences is partnered with a company called Wuxi Pharmaceuticals that is owned by George Soros and is located near the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is accused of researching bioweapons in Wuhan, China.
• Some of the leading investors in UNITAID include George Soros, Bill and Melinda Gates, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, and the WHO.

 
Here is a link to the article: 
https://civilianintelligencenetwork.ca/2020/02/12/george-soros-bill-gates-partner-with-china-on-coronavirus-drug/ 
 
Don't forget that some of these people are on record as wanting to identify, number, tattoo, vaccinate and track everyone or earth, and they want to deny the right to hold a job or go out of one's house to those that refuse to cooperate.
 
Also, this may explain why doctors and others are being censored and fired for promoting Hydroxychloroquine.
 
Videos supporting alternative treatments are being removed by Facebook, Twitter, etc. 
 
Two, on Aug. 2, 2020, it was reported that the U.S. government and Yale University are working together on ways to convince U.S. citizens to take the Coronavirus vaccine.
 
Techniques under consideration include convincing people that it is in their best interest, that it is in the best interest of their community, that they should trust the experts, embarrassing people, and that it is to their economic benefit, etc. 
 
They are getting ready to indoctrinate the public one way or another. 
 
I am repeating myself, but there are new readers every week; the Church won't be here for the Mark of the Beast, but this most surely indicates that time is short.
 
Three, on Aug. 6, 2020, three professors suggested ways to force U.S. citizens to be vaccinated.
 
These professors suggested that COVID-19 vaccinations should be our patriotic duty, all objections (religious reasons, personal reasons, etc.) must be denied, those that refuse could be denied some government benefits, their health insurance premiums could be made very expensive, employers could be allowed to deny them a job, their children could be denied enrollment in school, refusers could be denied the use of public transportation (planes, trains, busses, etc.), and denied access to public events.
 
Four, I recently watched a video about the Red Heifer that was made on June 20, 2020.
 
According to the video, the Temple Institute recently inspected their two oldest red heifers that show no signs of blemish.
 
They are just under two years old and will be inspected again in the upcoming weeks.
 
If they continue to qualify, one of them will soon be selected, sacrificed, and the ashes will be gathered and prepared for use to purify those that are selected to rebuild the Temple.
 
Five, on July 25, 2020, it was reported that Russia is steadily taking control of the Golan Heights on Syria's side of the border. 
 
The Bible teaches that Russia and her allies will come against Israel like a storm (fast, violently, Ezek. 38:9). 
 
Taking control of the Golan Heights in Syria is putting Russia in position for a sudden attack.
 
This little detail appears to be shaping up, but God cannot be caught by surprise. 
 
"He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep" (Psa. 121:4). 
 
Six, on July 27, 2020, 3 to 4 members of Hezbollah crossed Israel's border with Lebanon and traveled several meters inside Israeli territory.
 
There was an exchange of fire and the attackers retreated into Lebanon.
 
On Aug. 2, 2020, 4 terrorists crossed Israel's border with Syria and tried to plant some explosives near the border fence. 
 
Israel spotted them and attacked, but there were no reports of casualties.
 
On Aug. 3, 2020, Israel retaliated for the border crossings by striking several Iranian targets in Syria. 
 
At least 15 Iranians were killed, and several weapons storage buildings were destroyed. 
 
Prime Min. Netanyahu said, "We hit a cell and now we hit the dispatchers" (Those that sent them). 
 
On Aug. 4, 2020, there were two massive explosions in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed at least 158 people, wounded perhaps as many as 6,000 people, some people are still missing, and there is widespread destruction in the city. 
 
On Aug. 5, 2020, Lebanon declared a state of emergency, and 300,000 people were said to be homeless. 
 
One expert compared the explosions to a nuclear bomb.
 
One report said the explosives that were planted near Israel's border with Syria on Aug. 2, 2020, were made and stored at that site. 
 
Some prophecy teachers say Lebanon cannot admit that explosives were stored at that site because it would be illegal for Lebanon to allow that. 
 
The Bible says no weapon formed against Israel shall prosper (Isa. 54:17). 
 
Seven, concerning the move to defund the police, a Gallup poll released on Aug. 5, 2020, said 67% of all adults in the U.S. and 61% of all Black adults in the U.S. want the police to spend the same amount of time in their area that they have been spending. 
 
Eight, on Aug. 6, 2020, it was reported that Democratic Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler authorized the police to try to stop the rioting because the riots are inadvertently helping Trump. 
 
He appears to be saying Democrats intended for the riots to hurt Trump, not help him. 
 
It is sad to think that elected officials might be using rioting, looting and injuring of people and police to bring down the President of the U.S. 
 
Nine, concerning persecution, on Aug. 7, 2020, a Superior Court 
 
Judge in California issued a temporary restraining order requiring Godspeak Calvary Chapel Church to close its doors until Aug. 21, 2020, and not hold indoor worship services anywhere in the U.S. 
 
The order came in response to a suit by Ventura County, Cal., alleging that indoor services could harm the public. 
 
Finally, in Matt. 18:19, Jesus said, "Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven." 
 
Pastor Keith Watts asked me to tell people that he is trying to get people to pray this prayer for our nation every day: "Heavenly Father, I pray that you will save millions of souls in America before the Rapture of the Church, in Jesus' precious and holy name, Amen." 
 
Pastor Watts has posted a 33-minute video on YouTube at this link:
 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcDg-vg5SL_9v3U0CKUFMhg  
 
He wants to start a prayer chain all across the U.S. for the preservation of America and a harvest of souls before the Rapture. 
 
It is harvest time, and prayers for America and souls are badly needed.
 
Prophecy Plus Ministries, Inc.
Daymond & Rachel Duck
[email protected]

The Final Charge - By Alice Childs -
https://www.raptureready.com/2020/08/06/the-final-charge-by-alice-childs/
 
Beloveds, we are very near the culmination of the great battle of the ages that was begun when Lucifer, Son of the Morning, rebelled against his Creator, and the mystery of iniquity that would result in the fall of mankind was born.
 
Family of God, everything in human history - every conflict, every lie, every act of violence, every theft, every ounce of pride, every cold-hearted and self-loving attitude, every murder, every torture, every war - ALL have been the result of man following Satan's lies in rebellion against Creator God.
 
This is the crux of the entire fallen, sin-wrecked, Hell-bound world. All that we are witnessing now and all that is yet to come is a result of the everlasting hatred and rebellion of Satan against Jehovah God.
 
We are living at the terminus of a revolt that was begun before man was created. Tragically for all mankind, Adam, the first man, deliberately chose rebellion, following the lies of the Serpent.
 
Satan has hated those of every generation who have, by God's grace through faith, believed and called upon God the Son for salvation. Satan has ALWAYS hated those who love God. He has persecuted God's people in every generation from Adam's until this very second.
 
We are the final generation. It should come as no surprise to us as this millennia-old conflict reaches its apex that we who are called by Jesus's name, washed by His blood, rescued from eternal death by His blood - like those believers before us - we too in these last closing moments of the great Conflict of the Ages will be mocked, abused, hated, and some murdered and martyred for His namesake.
 
Satan has killed billions throughout the ages. And those he has not killed he has, to one degree or another, persecuted in every way allowed to him.
 
We know that we are at the very end just before the rapture; therefore, we also know that Satan is pulling out all the stops because he knows his time is short. We know that all their masks are off now. We see Satan's agenda clearly among those who are deniers of God's truth and those who are openly hostile to God and His Word. We see all the masks of civility and common decency being ripped away. Behind the facade, the grinning, gibbering, insane hatred of Satan and his demons is being clearly revealed.
 
Believers in the first-century church saw the evil behind the political mask of Rome as millions died a martyr's death because Satan hates God. They saw the demonic hypocrisy of the religious Jews who also hated and denied their own Messiah and persecuted and killed ALL, both Jews and Gentiles, who did believe on Jesus as Messiah and Savior. Millions upon millions saw the glowering hatred behind the false and demonically deceptive piety of the Roman Catholic Church. Those who believed in Jesus alone endured untold horrors at the hands of the Church of Rome in the numerous waves of persecution throughout the centuries, including the spawned-in-Hell savagery of the Inquisition.
 
In every pagan culture that has ever existed, those who have chosen to follow God have faced Satan's wrath and fury. And although Satan tried his best and although billions have lost their earthly lives, they loved the name above all names, Jesus their Savior, more than they loved their own lives. Billions have been killed by Satan and his minions; nonetheless, God ALWAYS has a remnant that Satan cannot touch, cannot silence, cannot eradicate, and cannot defeat. God ALWAYS has a remnant.
 
In our GENERATION, WE are that Remnant. Depending on when Jesus calls us up, not all of us as part of the body/bride of Christ may make it to be alive at that glorious moment, but we WILL "ALL BE CHANGED." Dead or alive, we of this final generation will partake of this glorious event, either by being resurrected from our graves or caught up in the air.
 
Before God delivers His Remnant Church and His final judgment begins, we believers in these end times find ourselves face-to-face with the blazing, demonic hatred of the last generation of reprobate, God-hating, demon-possessed humanity who are rabidly crying out for the one who will be the Antichrist. These demon-possessed God-haters whose ranks even now are swelling to fill the earth are rabidly working to destroy every vestige of freedom and every mention of God, salvation, and the name of Jesus across the earth. We are witnessing their ranks swelling and their hatred and demonic fury rising. They hate us because they hate God. They despise us because they despise the name of the crucified and risen Savior Jesus Christ.
 
They hate His Word as well because it is through the prophetic Word - that has already been fulfilled, is being fulfilled at this moment, and that is shortly to be fulfilled - that Satan and all his horde know their doom is at hand. Prophecy coming will consummate the eternal defeat of Satan.
 
These modern reprobates, just like all who have hated and rejected God's so great salvation, hate the eternal triune God-head. They hate the incarnate Christ. They especially hate His infallible, inerrant, and immutable Word because it records their doom. And finally, they hate each of us who are believers called by His name and cleansed by His blood. They hate us because they hate Him.
 
We are so very close to the deliverance of the Church, both dead and alive, via the resurrection/rapture. Family of God, it is now that we MUST gird ourselves in our spiritual armor. We must wield the Sword of the Spirit effectively as we "earnestly contend for THE faith" (Jude 3). Any moment now, we will hear the sound of God's celestial trumpet. Any moment now, we will hear King Jesus's shout for us to "Come up hither!"
 
Family, we are in the last seconds of the last minutes of the last days just before the Remnant Church is caught up to meet our Lord in the air! Don't get discouraged now! No matter how bad things get here, keep sharing the gospel! Keep warning of coming judgment even if no one is listening. They may not listen now, but after we are gone, many WILL heed and remember. Finally, keep looking up!
 
Brethren, we KNOW Satan's tactics; they have never changed. He uses lies, deceit, discord, depression, fear, envy, pride, and intimidation. Nevertheless, regardless of his wiles and tactics, we KNOW that he is an ALREADY DEFEATED FOE. To the eternally saved and sealed believer in Christ, Satan and all his fallen angelic and demonic horde are nothing more than paper tigers who can do NOTHING to eternally saved and eternally kept believers. Oh, he may kill our body IF the Lord allows him that power, but he can NEVER have our blood-bought, eternally sealed spirits because WE BELONG TO THE ONE WHO BOUGHT US WITH HIS BLOOD AND SEALED US BY HIS RESURRECTION!
 
Family of God, don't be afraid of what's going on around us, no matter how bad it gets or how close it comes to our door. Don't cower in fear; stand in faith! We must pick up our Bibles, bow our heads and hearts before the Lord, and then stand firm upon His Word.
 
As we make our final charge - as we give our final push - let us contend for the faith until the moment that we either draw our last breath, or until our vile bodies are changed from corruptible to incorruptible, from mortal to immortal "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye."
 
Our deliverance is just barely beyond our line of vision. As the late Jack Kelly used to say, "We can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah!" Be encouraged, be bold, be wise, be faithful, and be EXCITED because the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23) draws (very) near!
 
"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also" (John 15:18-20, KJV).
 
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