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Biblical Prophecies Religion and Politics Spiritual Insights

When Lawlessness Abounds

When Lawlessness Abounds top image

Jesus warned His disciples that in the Last Days — meaning those days that occur just before His ultimate return to take charge of His Kingdom on earth — that lawlessness will abound (Matthew 24:12 NKJV). What, exactly, do you suppose He meant by that? To answer this, all we need to do is define the words “lawlessness” and “abound”. Lawlessness is the practice of being lawless. Lawless, by definition, can mean one of two things: 1) having no law in place, or 2) behaving as though no law is in place. That second definition means, essentially, ignoring whatever law is actually in force. If you have more confidence in Merriam-Webster’s definition of lawless, you can read it in their online dictionary.

The word “abound” is the root of the word “abundance”. So, having an abundance of anything is having more than enough of it. An abundance of lawlessness, then, means more than enough of it, which, in turn, means it’s basically everywhere you look. You can read Merriam-Webster’s definition of abound as well, if you like.

Truly, there has always been lawlessness among men since the fall of Adam — it evidently was the hallmark of the time which prompted God to send the Great Flood (Genesis 6:5-6) — but such an ethos of lawlessness has not existed globally on the earth since that time. Indeed, this sudden acceleration of lawlessness in our time appears to be one of the other key harbingers which Jesus has warned us to watch for: “. . . as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man . . .” (Luke 17:26 NKJV). By “the days of the Son of Man,” Jesus means the days of His return, His Second Coming.

In my humble opinion, the reason for this abundance of lawlessness is because Satan understands that he can accomplish so much more if he simply convinces his human minions to ignore all those laws — enacted by both God and men — that either hinder or outright bind him/them from accomplishing what they want to do, while simultaneously holding truly law-abiding humans to strict adherence to those same laws, even though their adversaries are obviously not obeying them. In the case of God’s laws, God wants our obedience to be voluntary, but He certainly wants us to understand the consequences of disobedience before we make our decision. I believe Satan was fully aware of this voluntary option for obedience or disobedience from the beginning, yet he chose disobedience. Furthermore, I believe it is because God created the angelic beings with near-unfettered access to His Presence and a full comprehension of His Divine Nature that He did not offer an opportunity for redemption to them as He has done for humanity. In fact, Jesus said this is precisely the reason that Hell was created (see Matthew 25:41).

The prophets Isaiah (14:3-27) and Ezekiel (28:1-19) both explain all about Satan’s rebellion and demise. Don’t be confused by the address of these biblical statements to the king of Babylon and the prince of Tyre. They all refer to one entity, the being we call Satan. The name/word “Satan” is actually the Hebrew word for adversary. When you read carefully the descriptions of these individuals by Isaiah and Ezekiel, you can easily see that they could not possibly refer to any mere human beings, because they possess super-human characteristics, including a wisdom that exceeds that of the great prophet Daniel. Ezekiel 28:3 states that “There is no secret that can be hidden from you.” Really? No secret? What mere mortal man possesses that ability? Ezekiel 28:13 states, “You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. . . .” How was the prince of Tyre “perfect in beauty,” and when was he ever in the Garden of Eden? The Garden of Eden was most certainly destroyed from the earth at the time of the Great Flood, if not earlier, and the prince of Tyre lived a couple thousand years after that event. Furthermore, Ezekiel 28:14-15 makes the case complete when God says, “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.”

When was the human prince of Tyre ever an “anointed cherub who covers” anyone or anything? When we read what the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12, however, it is easy to understand that the king of Babylon and the prince of Tyre are descriptions of one and the same entity — a spirit principality we call Satan.

Now, back to Jesus’ warning that in the Last Days lawlessness will abound. Have you looked around at the world lately, especially here in the USA? Have you noticed that what started as a seemingly isolated incident in government when Barack Obama directed his attorney general, Eric Holder, to flatly refuse to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) has now become a full-blown, open defiance of any and every law that is intended to restrict governmental control and over-reach? Time and again throughout the late-summer and early-autumn of 2020 leading up to the November 3, 2020, national election we saw federal officials, state officials, and city officials all around the nation flatly ignore the election laws that were in place to prevent election fraud. Why? It was for the express purpose of flaunting those laws and stealing a Presidential election right in front of the world! If you don’t believe the 2020 U. S. Presidential election was stolen, go to LindellTV and/or FrankSpeech and watch the archived video evidence there. If you don’t watch any others there, be sure to watch Absolutely 9-0 and China Puts Biden in the White House. Using the cover of the so-called COVID19 pandemic, they illegally amended election laws and suspended long-established election day practices, such as extending voting hours beyond the usual time frames and accepting absentee and/or mail-in ballots after the posted deadline for counting them. In fact, many of these bogus ballots did not even contain a signature or other means of proper voter validation, yet they were still accepted. Interestingly, all of these bogus ballots were cast for Biden, not Trump. What are the odds of that happening without intention? In the wake of all this apparent election fraud, we hear an increasing clamor to enact stricter election laws. Folks, we don’t really need stricter election laws; we just need to enforce the election laws we already have enacted!

Government isn’t the only arena where we are seeing this increase in lawlessness. Throughout 2020, we saw repeatedly where rioters were permitted to loot and burn businesses in presumed protest over supposed racial injustice. That was merely a pretext to create chaos and mayhem, otherwise known as lawlessness. Those rioters weren’t required to follow the same pandemic rules set forth for every other citizen. They weren’t arrested for theft or arson, despite being caught in the act on video. They weren’t even fined for organizing a protest without a permit. Meanwhile, law-abiding citizens who wanted to protest were required to obtain a permit before they could hold a truly peaceful protest, and many times they were even denied those permits.

Unfortunately, the lawlessness doesn’t end with corrupt government officials or even with the hoodlums on the street. No, lawlessness is even rampant in the Church now. Pastors and lay leaders all around the globe have gone all-in for ignoring God’s Word not to “forsak[e] the assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews 10:25 NKJV) and to “obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29 NKJV) when it comes to a choice between submission/obedience to God and His Word or submission/obedience to governmental officials who couldn’t care less about God or obeying His Word. Perhaps this is what Jesus meant when He said the kingdom of God “. . . is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened” (Luke 13:20-21 NKJV). Folks, leaven doesn’t represent righteousness; it represents unrighteousness! This is partly why God commanded the Israelites to remove all leaven from their homes prior to the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:15 NKJV).

I don’t know what you are thinking right now, but I am thinking we are at the threshold of Jesus’ rapture of the Church! I personally believe the rapture will occur on a future Yom Truim (or Day of Trumpets; read my blog post about this assertion a few years ago, where I cover it extensively). When is the next Day of Trumpets? It begins at sundown on September 6, 2021, and ends at sundown on September 7, 2021. However, with so much inaccuracy in calendars, including the Jewish calendar for observing their feast days, it’s entirely possible that the actual Day of Trumpets could be on another date which God knows but of which we have no idea! Perhaps this is just one more reason Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only” (Matthew 24:36 NKJV).

Are you ready for that day if it were to happen today? Do you know where you will spend eternity if you die in your sleep tonight or in some freak accident today or from some dreaded disease like cancer, heart failure or even COVID? You can be sure where you will spend eternity! You simply have to humble yourself so that you can confess and repent of (that means turn away from) your sins and call upon the name of Jesus Christ to be both your LORD and as well as your Savior. The Bible has promised in multiple places in both the Old and New Testaments that “. . . whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved” (Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21, and Romans 10:13 NKJV). Making Jesus your LORD means you will submit to (that means obey to the best of your ability) His Word. The Apostle Paul — that same Apostle of Grace that everyone likes to quote from Ephesians 2:8-9, also wrote in Hebrews 12:14 that we are to “Pursue peace . . . and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord . . .” (NKJV). What is holiness? It is a sanctification, a distinction, a separateness, a differentiation between righteousness and unrighteousness. In other words, it is being set apart for eternal fellowship with the One True and Living God.

In order to receive this salvation, you must start by humbling yourself, because until you do that, there is simply no way you will ever acknowledge your sinfulness or personal need of divine forgiveness. Once you can kneel before God and confess your need of His mercy, you can then call upon Him for pardon and salvation. After you have accepted His mercy and grace, you should then rise to your feet with a fiery zeal to live a life that is pleasing unto Him — that is, a life of holiness, righteousness, love, kindness and gentleness.

Contrary to popular misbelief, this does not mean that you become a pacifist pansy who never fights back or defends yourself, your family or friends, or what is right and good. While a Christian will seek to avoid conflict with others insofar as it is possible (read Romans 12:18), he/she will not shrink from defending truth and righteousness according to the Word of God — the Bible.

If you’d like to read more about what this salvation is all about, why it is necessary and how you can obtain it and know you’ve obtained it, I invite you to read my book The Salvation of the LORD. It’s available here in the Parson Place News and Views Shop in both EPUB and Kindle eBook editions, or you may purchase the print edition from the publisher’s online store.

If you made a decision to call upon Jesus Christ for salvation after reading this article, would you please let me know? I would be absolutely elated to know that and will gladly offer you any mentoring or discipling you may request. Just send an email to at your convenience.

Categories
Biblical Prophecies

Jesus Is Coming Soon

Jesus at the Rapture
Jesus at the Rapture

I’ve been proclaiming that Jesus is coming soon for most of my life. However, I’m convinced that it is now upon us and I’m actually starting to get quite giddy about it! After listening to other respected evangelists preach and teach about the fulfillment of end times prophecies over the years, I’ve gained a great deal of insight both from their instruction and from my own research about these two events we call the Rapture of the Church (which I personally believe will happen just before the start of the Seven-Year Tribulation) and the Return, or Second Coming, of Christ (which happens at the very end of the Seven-Year Tribulation). Naturally, since world news is pointing more directly every day toward events that are prophesied to occur during the Tribulation, I’m looking for the Rapture of the Church to happen very, very soon.

One of the insights I’ve learned over the years that helps me understand this more clearly is that the seven feasts which God instituted for Israel to observe each year actually have prophetic significance as well as historic significance. When we look at each of these feasts from a broad perspective we see that they are laid out in the order of the annual seasons. You can read each of God’s commandments concerning them in Leviticus 23.

First, Pesach (or Passover) happens in the spring and is to be the beginning of the year for Israel (see Exodus 12:2), although somewhere along the way they changed their New Year to Yom T’ruim or the Day of Trumpets, better known today as Rosh Hashanah, which literally means Head of the Year. I’ll say more about that one when I get to it.

The second feast actually follows the day after Pesach, and it’s called Yom Matzoh or Day of Unleavened Bread. This feast lasts for seven days, and somewhere during that week is a regular weekly Sabbath (or Shabbat). The first day after the Sabbath following the Day of Unleavened Bread is observed as Yom Reshyth or Day of First-fruits. Thus, all three of these feast days occur within the space of one week. Then there is a period of 50 days, counting from the Day of First-fruits, which includes seven Sabbaths or weeks. The fiftieth day is called Yom Shavuot or Day of Weeks, better known to us as Pentecost (which is derived from the Greek word for 50 days).

It is interesting to note here that Jesus fulfilled each of these first four holy days at His first coming. He was crucified on the Day of Passover; He was entombed during the Day of Unleavened Bread; He resurrected on the Day of First-fruits; and finally, just ten days after His ascension back into Heaven, He sent His Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost to launch the Church Age. The long gap between the Feast of Shavuot (or Pentecost) and the Day of Trumpets signifies the longer-than-expected duration of the Church Age to allow time for the Good News of Christ’s Salvation to be spread all around the globe.

Since Jesus fulfilled each of these first four feast days to the very day during His first coming, can we expect Him to do the same with the remaining three feast days at His second coming? I think we can. So, which is the next feast day in line for fulfillment? It is the Day of Trumpets. And which event will Jesus use to fulfill this feast day? It is the Rapture of the Church. What is the evidence for that? Well, it is the sounding of the trumpets, of course, and as the Apostle Paul stated so clearly in 1 Corinthians 15:52, it is “at the last trumpet” that “the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” He writes similarly in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up [raptured] together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

Note here in both of these passages that Paul uses the pronoun “we”. He clearly expected this event to happen during his lifetime. For all of the revelation God had given Paul about this event, He kept hidden from him the fact that it was not going to happen for quite some time. However, we are nearing the time when the Rapture is about to take place.

Of all the feasts of Israel, the Feast of Trumpets appears to be the least understood. It seems to have no major significance to them, because it does not appear to commemorate any historic event as the others do. Passover commemorates when God spared them while He punished Egypt by killing the firstborn of every household and even of the livestock. Unleavened Bread commemorates their departure from Egyptian bondage. First-fruits commemorates the sacrifice God commanded them to give from their first harvest in the Promised Land and from every harvest thereafter. Shavuot commemorates their receiving of the Law of Moses on Mt. Sinai. Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement, commemorates God’s annual examination of His people to determine their worthiness for blessing or judgment, and the Day of Tabernacles commemorates Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness and their living in tents (temporary dwellings) for 40 years prior to their entry into the Promised Land.

Since the Feast of Trumpets represents Christ’s Rapture of His Church, the Day of Atonement represents the Seven-Year Tribulation when God will once again turn His attention to delivering His chosen people — the nation of Israel — from their sins and the Feast of Tabernacles represents Jesus’ millennial reign on earth prior to the Final Great White Throne Judgment and the commencement of our eternal life with Him in the New Heaven and New Earth.

See now how Jesus will fulfill these final three feast days with His second coming. When the time to close the Church Age has come, Jesus will call up His Church in the event known as The Rapture. The word “church” comes from the Greek word “ecclesia” (pronounced ek-lay-SEE-ah) which means “called-out ones”. These are called out from the world to be His own people. Nevertheless, His people called Israel who have not acknowledged and accepted Him as their Messiah, along with all the wicked and those who pretended to accept Jesus without actually living for Him, will be left on the earth for judgment and revelation. Only those who finally accept God’s revelation will receive deliverance. This will take place during the Seven-Year Tribulation.

One of the strongest arguments against anyone trying to determine the time of Jesus’ return to Rapture His Church has always been Jesus’ words, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mark 13:32 NKJV). This hasn’t stopped some, like Harold Camping and others, from setting dates nonetheless, but others have so eschewed the idea of trying to ascertain the time of Jesus’ return that they quote this Scripture as their proof text that we are not even to consider it. Since Jesus Himself commanded us to watch, how are we supposed to watch without seeming to set a date for His return? Consider this analogy: If you’re watching for the cab which you personally called, is it bad if you mistake a blowing horn or the flash of yellow of another passing car as the cab you are watching and waiting for? Of course, not! That’s just part of the process of watching and waiting. The same is true with our earnest and hopeful watching for Jesus’ return.

The reason Jesus said no one would know the day or hour of His return is because of a couple of facts. First, because it is a secret which God has kept to Himself, no one can know it for sure. The very word “know” means to have absolute and certain information about someone or something. Since God hasn’t revealed the date of Jesus’ return, we can hazard a lot of guesses, but we can’t know any of them to be true.

Secondly, we can’t know the day or hour of the Rapture because of the nature of time and the position of the earth in relation to the sun. At any given time throughout every 24 hour day, half of the globe is in light and half is in darkness. This is what Jesus was referring to when He said, “I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left” (Luke 17:34-36 NKJV). Let me ask you: What women grind at the mill at night, and what men work in the field at night? Why did Jesus say “in that night” instead of “in that day”? Due to the global undertaking of the Rapture, half the earth will be asleep and half will be awake. Furthermore, at some point during every 24 hours half the earth will be on one day of the week while the other half will be on the next day of the week. It is because of these two facts — that God, first and foremost, has kept the date secret and, second, that half the earth will be in the night and half in the day — that no one can know the day nor the hour of Jesus’ return.

This, however, does not mean we cannot speculate about the approximate day of Jesus’ return. Since the Rapture is signified among the divine feast days as the Day of Trumpets and since Jesus fulfilled the first four feasts to the very day during His first coming, I think we can expect Him to fulfill the final three to the very day at His second coming. While we can’t know which Day of Trumpets He will choose to rapture His Church, we can expect that He will do so on one of them in the future; and while we can’t know the hour of the Rapture (because various segments of the earth’s population will be at a different hour of the 24 hour day) we can believe that it will be sometime during that day. In fact, because the Day of Trumpets is the only one of the seven feast days that begins on a New Moon (or the first day of the lunar month), and because the official declaration of the beginning of that day must be corroborated by two witnesses (priests) when they see the first sliver of the New Moon, there is a period of two days in which no one knows the day or hour they will actually see the New Moon. It is entirely possible that the Lord could rapture His Church at the precise point when the day side of the earth is at the end of the Day of Trumpets and the night side of the earth is just beginning the Day of Trumpets. While God can do this any way He chooses, it seems most reasonable to be me that He would do it this way.

For those who may wish to accuse me of setting a date for Jesus’ return, please tell me which date I have set here. The nearest I have come to setting a date is to say that Jesus will Rapture His Church on a future Day of Trumpets, but the date is yet unknown. Will He choose the year 2015, since it is the conclusion of another seventh Shemitah (or year of rest for the earth) and the commencement of another Jubilee, which occurs once every 50 years? Your guess is as good as mine, but it certainly seems to me that either 2015 or 2016 would be an excellent time to do so, especially since 2017 will be the next time the celestial alignment of the stars will match the description in Revelation 12:1. You can also watch a nine minute video depicting some very interesting points for consideration. Of course, the author of this content was thinking of a possible 2013 Rapture.

You see — no one (and that certainly includes me) can know the day or the hour of Jesus’ Rapture of His Church. However, if you happen to be among those left behind after the Rapture, you can calculate the precise day of Jesus’ return to the earth to set up His Kingdom and begin His millennial reign on the present earth, because it will be exactly seven years to the day from the day “the prince who is to come” (Daniel 9:26, better known to us as the Antichrist) enacts the seven-year peace treaty with the world (see Daniel 9:27 where the phrase “one week” refers to a week of years or seven years). Since we can calculate to the day when Jesus will actually return to earth to establish His Kingdom, Jesus must have been referring to the mystery of the Rapture when He said no one would know the precise day or hour when He would come for His Church.

Even though we can’t know the precise time of the Rapture, we can know it is near. As I said at the start of this article: Jesus is coming soon. Are you ready? Ready or not, here He comes!

Categories
Biblical Prophecies

Prophetic Evangelism

Perhaps one of the most overlooked opportunities for Christian evangelism is in the realm of prophetic fulfillments. While many folks enjoy debating or even demeaning the truth of prophetic warnings regarding the return of Christ, the end of time, and earth’s ultimate destruction and re-creation (whether in biblical Scripture or elsewhere), once we begin demonstrating the indisputable fulfillment of biblical prophecies compared with non-biblical sources, people will be required to decide whether to explore them further and eventually believe or to continue with their proverbial head buried in the sand and argue against them. It truly is that “cut and dried.”

Just as the Apostle Peter prophesied centuries ago (2 Peter 3:1-4), the scoffers are everywhere, including among supposed Christians. Nevertheless, the truth is the truth and cannot be disproved, though it may be ignored, maligned, or even denied.

One such analogy of denying obvious truth may be found in the example of denying the reality of gravity and its profound effect upon everything and everyone on and around the earth. An individual may argue that he doesn’t believe in gravity and that it therefore doesn’t exist (presumably, simply because he refuses to believe in it), but that doesn’t alter the very real fact that gravity does indeed exist, and all one has to do to prove it is to try to escape the earth by jumping into the air. Gravity insists that he return to the earth, no matter how hard he jumps to try to escape the earth. He may succeed in jumping a few feet in any direction, but he cannot escape the earth without a significantly stronger propulsion, such as with a rocket. Now, considering that he can, in fact, escape the earth on a rocket, does that then prove that gravity does not exist? Of course not, but this is the same sort of lame refutation that atheists and other enemies of the One True God propose regarding the very real existence of God and the veracity of His Word, the Bible.

Let’s examine for a few minutes now some of the “end times” prophecies that are so often denied and/or maligned and relate them to a few other usually overlooked prophecies that are included with them. Jesus’ forewarnings about wars, rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes in various places, and roaring winds and seas are the most frequently disputed among scoffers as events that have always occurred throughout history (Matthew 24:4-8; Mark 13:5-8; Luke 21:8-11 & 25). While it is true that these events have occurred throughout history, the main fact that these scoffers keep overlooking is that Jesus forewarned these events would occur in concert with each other with ever-increasing intensity just before His return. He calls these events “the beginning of birth pangs” (Matthew 24:8 & Mark 13:8 NASB). In other words, this is likened unto the onset of labor for a pregnant woman culminating with the birth of her child.

Since these events have been occurring in greater frequency and intensity over the past 30-50 years than at any time in recorded history, we must be nearing the “big push” when that “baby” (the return of Christ) will finally arrive. The increased frequency of earthquakes alone is proof enough for the validity of this prophecy. You can review the statistics for yourself at the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) Web site (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqarchives/year/eqstats.php), if you’re interested. While the USGS disputes this increase with the clever claim that they’re better able to detect earthquakes than in years past (read their explanation here: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/increase_in_earthquakes.php), that seems to me like a rather fanciful mind trick which works only with the naïve and the willfully ignorant.

Two more, often overlooked, forewarnings that Jesus gives with these other warnings is to be on guard against widespread deception and numerous false Christ’s. In each of the passages referenced above, Jesus begins with a dire warning not to let anyone deceive us, because “many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He’” (Luke 21:8 NASB). While I haven’t heard of every false Christ, maybe you’ve heard of the same couple of more famous ones as I have: Sun Myung Moon and David Koresh. Just recently, however, while researching for this article, I came across a new one I haven’t heard of before: Maitreya Miranda, a “Feminine Christ,” as she calls herself. You can read her extensive blog at http://mirandalindaweisz.authorsxpress.com/category/jesuschrist/ for more details, if you care to. Someone who is this deluded is most likely possessed by an evil spirit who may have entered during a supposedly harmless yoga session. Shockingly, many Christians are embracing this Far Eastern religious practice in the name of “spiritual exercise.” If they only knew that they are opening themselves up for demonic attack (or even to demonic possession if they don’t already have a genuine relationship with the REAL Jesus Christ), they would not dare do this. Unfortunately, they have been deceived, even though Jesus has clearly warned to be on guard against this sort of thing.

How could we help someone from a distance (i.e., via digital evangelism) who is this engrossed in evil? Well, it might not be possible, unless the individual is truly seeking for a better way than the one he or she has been following. So long as a person is content to continue on the way he or she is going, there’s nothing we can do but pray for God to reach out to them. Even then, if they reject God’s overtures, God Himself can’t help them, since He has purposefully limited His divine will in people’s lives in order to grant us all free will. Nevertheless, if we were able to engage such a person who is truly seeking salvation using digital evangelism tools such as IRC chat or an online forum or even email, we could invite them to pray for deliverance, such as, “Lord Jesus, please free me from Satan’s control, forgive me of my sins, and save my soul.” As long as they’re sincere and repentant, this is all anyone has to pray, and God will most certainly honor it. After all, the thief on the cross beside Jesus asked only to be remembered, and Jesus promised that he would be remembered that very day.

There are still two more prophetic fulfillments to consider before we close which are indicators that we are truly living in the last days. In 70 A.D. the Roman Army completely destroyed the city of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount. They plowed the entire city like a field, and gave the whole region a new name: Palestine, which is the English translation of the Latin word Palestina, a variant of Philistia (see Smith’s Bible Dictionary for more about each of these three words). A few centuries before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., however, the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel prophesied that this dispersion would happen and that God would gather them back together in the last days. For nearly 19 centuries the nation of Judaea (the only remaining remnant of the nation of Israel) was scattered with the rest of the nation of Israel to the four corners of the earth, continually driven from one country to another under unrelenting persecution. The original Promised Land itself became a barren wasteland. Against all odds, though, God restored Israel to a fraction of their original Promised Land in a single day just as He said He would (compare Isaiah 66:8). Based on the authority of a United Nations charter, David Ben Gurion (the first Prime Minister of the new State of Israel) announced in their new capital city of Tel Aviv at 4 p.m. local time on May 14, 1948, that Israel was a newly-established and independent nation. I believe this major prophetic fulfillment began the countdown to the end.

Then just 19 years later, the second major prophetic fulfillment was brought to fruition with the end of the Six Day War (June 5-10, 1967) when the nation of Israel regained national control of their historic capital city, Jerusalem. Despite regaining control of Jerusalem, however, they fearfully placed their Islamic enemies in political control of the Temple Mount in the misplaced hope of maintaining peace. Much to their despair, they are not even permitted to pray on their own Temple Mount now, and even Christians are arrested for even appearing to be in prayer there.

Whether a generation is determined to be 70, 80, or even 100 years in duration, we are definitely within sight of the end based on Jesus’ promise that “this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (Matthew 24:34; Mark 13:30; & Luke 21:32 NASB). Compare this with Psalm 90:10, but read the entire psalm, and notice it was written by Moses, who lived to be 120 years old. Gauging by the looks of world events, I’m more inclined to guess at 70 or 80 years than 100, and even 80 seems a bit of a stretch at this point. However, since Israel turned 65 on May 14, 2013, even if the Seven Year Tribulation began this year, it would go beyond the 70 year mark since Israel’s modern-day founding.

Although Jesus plainly said we can’t know the day or hour of His return (Matthew 24:36), He did command us to keep watch and pay attention to these signs as an indication of when the time of His return was drawing near (Matthew 24:42; 25:13; Mark 13:33; Luke 21:28 & 34-36). If we do our research and present the facts about these prophetic fulfillments in a clear and understandable manner, askers will receive, seekers will find, and door-knockers will gain entry (Matthew 7:7-8), while the willful opponents will have to make a deliberate choice to reject the obvious truth and continue on the broad way that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14). The true difficulty lies not so much in being able to face up to the belligerent rejecters as it does in being able to find some willing truth-tellers (Matthew 9:37-38 & Luke 10:2). Let’s be among the few willing truth-tellers and join the Lord in bringing in His harvest!

 

Categories
Biblical Prophecies Religion and Politics

Is the End Near?

Maybe you’ve seen the cartoon of two men standing by the roadside holding a sign that states, “The end is near.” A smug driver keeps on driving and calls them religious nuts. The caption beneath the cartoon simply states, “Maybe we should just change our sign to say, ‘Bridge out ahead.'”

It certainly helps to have a message that clearly conveys the truth of what one is trying to proclaim. So, when we as Bible-believing Christians say “the end is near,” what do we mean by that? I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’ll tell you what I mean by it.

When I say “the end is near,” I mean that the end of wickedness and demonic control and influence in this world is near. I mean that the end of human government as we know it is near, because Jesus Christ, our Savior, Lord, and King is close to returning and taking over the rule of this world once and forever. So, what makes me think the end is near? Well, the fulfillment of numerous prophetic Scriptures that are related to “the last days” is the primary reason I’m convinced that the time is at hand for Jesus to return.

Perhaps the most significant prophetic fulfillment that indicates the end of this age is near is the restoration of the nation of Israel as a people and a sovereign government in the ancient land of Israel. While this is prophesied in numerous places in the Old Testament prophets, let me just list three references and you can check them out for yourself in your Bible. They are Isaiah 43:5-7, Jeremiah 32:36-44, and Ezekiel 37:15-28. In each of these passages, God promises to bring the people of Israel back into their original land after they have been dispersed for many years all around the world. Although every last descendant of Israel has not yet returned to the Promised Land, they have nonetheless been a sovereign nation in their own land for more than 64 years now since they were “born at once” (Isaiah 66:8 NKJV) at midnight on May 15, 1948. Since Jesus foretold that the generation who gets to witness the fulfillment of last days prophecies will not end until Jesus returns in His glory (Matthew 24:34; Mark 13:30; and Luke 21:32), we know that we are that generation!

Based on my understanding of the last days prophecies, I am personally convinced that we now stand at the threshold of the period of time called The Tribulation which will be the final seven years before Jesus returns to earth to set up His everlasting Kingdom. I further believe that the next war between Israel and one or more of their enemies (Iran, Syria, Egypt, etc.) will result in Israel further expanding their national borders and will culminate with a seven-year peace agreement specified by the prophet Daniel (Daniel 9:20-27, specifically verse 27).

Now, I’m not a prophet or the son of a prophet, nor do I play one on TV, but just by studying the prophetic fulfillments and what’s left to be fulfilled, I’ve come to this conclusion. I won’t know if I’m right until Israel’s next war, of course. Either it will turn out as I’ve projected or it won’t. If it doesn’t turn out as I’ve predicted, then no harm, no foul, and I just back away from it as an incorrect guess. What is NOT an incorrect guess, however, is that eventually, Israel WILL make a seven-year peace agreement with the man we all know as the Antichrist. Just when it will happen is in God’s hands.

While considering the horrific conditions and events that will occur on the earth during the Tribulation as they are described for us in both Jesus’ warnings in the Gospels and in the book of Revelation, what is perhaps the most exciting part about the impending return of Christ is the preceding event known as the Rapture. Though the word “rapture” is not used in the Bible, the synonymous phrase “caught up” IS used (1 Thessalonians 4:17 NKJV). Thus, those who try to dismiss the actuality of the rapture based on the fact that the word is not used in the text are handily refuted because the concept of the rapture is clearly defined in the very phrase “caught up.” Although there is much debate as to the timing of this event – pre-Tribulation, mid-Tribulation, or post-Tribulation – there can be no denying that the event is clearly described by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Those of us who believe in a pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church find the prospect of the beginning of the Tribulation period all the more exciting, because we are expecting to be snatched from the earth at any time now. Since we don’t know when it is going to happen until it actually happens, we will simply have to wait and see if our understanding is correct. However, I believe that the recent political elections in the United States which re-elected the most anti-Israel American President in history will greatly contribute to this dramatic conclusion of the current age. Furthermore, I strongly believe that his anti-business policies will finish off the struggling U. S. economy, which will create a domino effect around the world that will culminate in the perfect environment for establishing the much-dreaded One World Government led by the greatly feared antichrist.

Yes, indeed, I believe the end is VERY near! In any case, I echo what the Apostle John wrote at the end of his book of the Revelation, “… Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20 NKJV).