Thursday, September 30, 2010

Another Critical Juncture

Read this quick news story first.
It is probable that Israel is being given time to move public opinion to the point where cessation of settlement construction becomes necessary for these negotiations to succeed.  This is a diplomatic maneuver that is often used to enable a nation to persuade its people that what was necessary yesterday is now in their best interests to abate.  Nevertheless, this is a serious matter in regard to the “peace” process.  It is the stumbling block that everyone knew would be the first and the biggest. 

In the quotes in this article by Reuters, it is clear that Mr. Obama and the rest of the Gentile nations intend to make this treaty happen, one way or another.  If not by negotiation and suggestion, then by coercion and force if necessary.  Daniel was careful to say that the beast would confirm the covenant, not that Israel would do so.  This leaves the door open for much diplomatic wrangling.  The settlements are a big issue to most Israelis, but to the government, they are little more than bargaining chips.  They know that they will have to surrender them.  The longer they hold out, the greater the concession will appear when they finally submit to the will of the world.  Two key quotes from Reuters:

We think it's important for the Palestinian people, for the people of Israel, and we think it's in the United States' interest and indeed the interests of people around the world that this conflict of long-standing be brought to an end.”  This, by George Mitchell.

Mitchell met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, saying the United States was ‘determined more than ever’ to achieve Middle East peace.”

It is not only the United States that is bringing heavy pressure to bear on both sides, but the entire Gentile world, under the auspices of the United Nations, is demanding an end to what has been endless antipathy and war.

Even in the unlikely event that these talk break down, we can bet that Mr. Obama will persist in this effort, as he has always considered Middle East peace a critical component of his legacy.  If he can pull this off, then he will silence his critics regarding his award of the Nobel Peace Prize.  It will be a signal to the world that a man of great “wisdom” has arisen, and they will look to him for guidance in the terrifying days following the rapture of the Church.  He will not disappoint, at least not for another three and a half years.  The world does not realize that the “light” that he shines is all darkness and deception.

As we state often, one must not get caught up in the day-to-day vicissitudes of diplomacy.  What is today a great success may be tomorrow’s great failure.  Today’s acorn is tomorrow’s feces.  Conversely, what today seems a horrific turn of events may be tomorrow’s shining moment.  We cannot know what a day may bring, but we can discern the face of the sky, and we can discern the seasons and the times of our Lord’s return for His bride.  We can trust that the Holy Spirit is not deceiving us, but that He will bring to pass precisely what the prophets have written. 

How long the process will take is already written in the foreknowledge of God, and we are not to attempt to discover a date that is hidden by God.  But He has graciously given us many clues as to the seasons and the times.  We cannot predict the rapture’s date, but we can observe the things on earth as they move into full alignment with the objective circumstances on the ground, as predicted more than twenty-five hundred years ago.  It is by these things that we can know that the rapture is near, if the things that must follow it are moving toward fulfillment.  The next prophesied event, after the removal of the mystery Church, is the confirmation of a covenant between Israel, the beast, and many other peoples. 

How clear must it be before Christians will take notice of what is going on around them?  How clever of the devil to introduce, four hundred years in advance, a preconceived idea of the geopolitical stage at the end of this age, so that Christians would not notice that the end of the age was already upon them as the days grow short.  He blinded the Jews, and he is attempting to blind the Church.  This treaty is going to happen, and we will be gone before it does.  It is as plain as that.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Face-Saving

Click this link which demonstrates at last the form that the face-saving will take in the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.  Israel has negated the possibility of extending the 10-month settlement construction moratorium that ends this month.  The Palestinians have repeatedly said that they will walk away from the negotiating table if the moratorium is not extended.  It seemed an impossible impasse (there’s a redundancy for you).  Now, the Palestinians have said that they will not necessarily leave the talks if the moratorium is not extended.  So how do both sides save face (an important aspect of all political compromises)?

Israel is not forced to do something that they cannot do politically at home, extend the official moratorium.  And the Palestinians?  By an unwritten moratorium imposed on building by the Israeli government, an undeclared moratorium will continue.  In fact, the moratorium that ends on Sunday, September 26, did not include building in East Jerusalem, but only in the West Bank.  Nevertheless, Israel has quietly stopped building in East Jerusalem as well recently, an indication that this will be the way that the Palestinians can expect Netanyahu to continue with the building stoppage, while using rhetoric to assure domestic voters that the official building moratorium will not be extended.  The current moratorium will end on the 26th, but an undeclared building stoppage will continue in both the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  Is not the Washington administration almost Solomonic in finding ways to satisfy both sides?  Neither Carter nor Clinton nor the minor push by G.W. Bush at the end of his second term were able to arrive at compromises that allowed both sides to placate their peoples while still moving forward toward “peace.”

While it appeared that the negotiations might be scuttled very early in this process, a way has been found around the political obstacles that both sides face domestically.  This is an important factor in any successful clearing of a diplomatic impasse.  Neither side can be forced into any sort of action, or even appear to be coerced.  Both sides must have ways to claim victory for their peoples.  Both parties understand that the other side will use inflammatory rhetoric to satisfy the high-strung emotions of their constituents, while bending the will of their people gradually peace-ward; first, by claiming victory in these disputes, and then by presenting to their people the concessions and conciliatory responses by the other side.  Aristotle described this process in his book “On Rhetoric.”  Machiavelli would bulldoze any opposition to his plans, in much the same way that the war in Iraq began under G.W. Bush (who insisted that his staff read Machiavelli’s “The Prince” every year!).  Such tactics have always been the forte of right-wing governments – not persuasion, but force.  Lasting peace treaties have generally been handled diplomatically, not militarily.

Of course, every informed Christian knows that this treaty will not last more than three and a half years, culminating in the military campaign we know as Armageddon.  Most expect that Iran will attempt to start a war in the Middle East within days of the signing of the treaty.  This is entirely possible.  The true Church will, however, have departed this depraved planet before the Tribulation period is inaugurated by a comprehensive Middle East peace treaty.

Click the link above or just go here!


Friday, September 24, 2010

Midnight Rising is NOT a Political Statement

Let me begin by saying that I am decidedly not anti-American.  I served in the Navy, and received injuries that have broken my skeletal structure down permanently.  The United States has taken care of me; first, through Social Security, and then through VA Disability Compensation.  Without this very government, our personal situation would be utterly desperate and desolate.  This is the best system of governance that man has yet devised, by a huge margin.  But man devised it, not God. 
There is no place on the earth that I would rather live than where I am living today.  If called upon in any capacity, I would serve my country to the best of my ability.  Among the nations of the earth, I pledge my allegiance to the United States.  I hope that this little book will serve as a warning to those in power, who are engaging in the Middle East “peace” process.  “For, when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.  And they shall not escape” (1 Thes 5:3).

But the book is not a political statement; it is, rather, a theological exposition of the claims of those who say they believe that the rapture is very near.  Those who say we are near the end of this age, if they really studied the matter with fresh eyes, would see how clearly everything on the earth fits into the prophecies concerning the end of this age, like pieces in a puzzle.  It is not anti-American to see the gravity of the present time and to warn both saints and sinners alike that this treaty will be the undoing of Gentile dominion over the earth. 

Look at Daniel 9:24-27.  If yours is a good study Bible, it will explain that passage accurately.  Many, indeed, most conservative study Bibles provide clear expositions of those verses, in accordance with their fulfillment throughout history.  Verse 9:26 is in the past already, when the Roman Empire destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D.  Verse 9:27 has never been possible, from 70 A.D. until 1948.  There was no Israel with whom to negotiate any sort of covenant, or treaty.  Now, 9:27 is at the very door of our time.  These negotiations are being viewed by the world as both sides’ last chance before a pact is imposed upon them.  Mr. Obama, with the approbation of the entire world, has made that fact perfectly clear to all parties.  Far better to reach some understanding and lose some of what you have, and gain what you may, than to butt your heads until the Gentile world gets together and determines what the final outcome will be, and then imposes it upon you. 

That is precisely why Netanyahu, after his snubbing first trip to visit Obama, when he left after his second visit, his tail was between his legs and he was yelling for the Palestinians to meet with his administration and resolve their differences.  Obama made it very plain, and his determination to see it through was displayed by the 180 degree turn that Netanyahu made after the second visit, with the clear warnings he received.  Both sides will be able to save some face in the final agreement, but both must bring heavy concessions to the negotiating table.  It takes time to move a whole nation or a people, and that is why Obama gave them a year to persuade their constituents that peace is better than war; that commerce is more profitable to nations than killing one another.

Those engaged in the current negotiations are committed to producing a two-state solution within one year, and we are already two or three weeks gone.  The more time that passes, the more we are seeing the rest of the world pressing hard and harder for Netanyahu to stop construction in the occupied settlements, and for the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish nation.  In order to achieve this end, both sides know that Israel is going to have to bargain away a part of Jerusalem.  That is not yet a stated fact, but the pre-1967 borders constitute the land that the Gentiles gave Israel in 1948.  Concessions will definitely be demanded from both sides, but they will also be made, benefiting both sides in the deal, and ending sixty-two years of war and unrest.  This giving away of Jerusalem is the thing that invokes the full fury of Almighty God (cp. Joel 3:1-2).

Now, George Mitchell and Hillary Clinton are in talks with both Lebanon and Syria, seeking to bring them into the fold of this new political arrangement.  Jordan is already on board.  So are the Saudis and the Egyptians and the entire Arab League (Iran is not Arab, but Persian – a different culture, said to be allied with the northern powers that invade Israel about halfway through the Tribulation).  Russia and her allies are on board, as is the European Union.  The United Nations approves heartily the plan that President Obama is pushing.  It is going to happen, and it is going to happen soon. 

Before that treaty is ratified, and possibly even before it is agreed upon, the Church is going to be translated and removed.  What a privilege it is to be numbered among the sole generation, from Adam till the end of the Kingdom Age, that does not ever face death, but is instantaneously translated from mortal to immortal.  What a sobering honor it is.  What a profound hopewillfully ignorant of the times in which they really do live.

What to do?  Go to a mountaintop and wait for Jesus to shout, ”Come up here!”?  No, we continue with our lives as we have been, but perhaps being a bit more prayerful concerning fruitfulness in however many ministries the Lord will engage us if we are willing.  Before this peace process is done, we will be gone.  That is certain.  The rapture of the Church is that close.

Midnight Rising is not about nationalism, but it is an exposition of the end-time world stage, as it has never been presented before.  That is why Dr. Radmacher read it in one sitting, and in that short time, he changed his view of the end times to coincide with what I have written.  He is the Editor of the Nelson Study Bible, and was president of Western Theological Seminary (a Baptist school) for thirty-five or more years.  Others have seen this material and changed their views also. 
I’m not the first to suggest an American antichrist, for I have been corresponding with people for the past twenty or so years who have held that view.  It is now, however, with this book, emerging into mainstream theology, and is getting the attention it deserves in the places where it needs to be studied.  Truly, the churches need to study it and to heed its clear warning and promise.

I love my country as much as any man, and that’s a fact.  I wear my U.S. Navy ring every day.  I go to the voting booth, and I gladly pay whatever taxes I owe without complaint, knowing that it takes money to run a nation as diverse and widespread as ours.  I don’t want to be painted as anti-American.  If this were a political discussion, I would stand beside and with my country without reservation.  But the Bible is amazingly accurate in its prophecies, and we are where we are

Should my allegiance be to my country, or to my God?  If it were not inarguably clear, I would not have written the book. We simply must separate our devotion to our nation from the reality of spiritual specifics.  One is definitely more important than the other.  What the Bible has declared would happen is happening right now, but the bride is busy acquiring temporal things and fulfilling temporal desires and designs and goals to notice.  It is a most humbling thing to be confronted so with the certainty of the times and the seasons, and to have such hope set before us daily.  That hope should impact our lives in many and diverse ways. 

It is a minor point of prophecy in the greater scheme of things, the region from which the antichrist will arise, but its implications are far-reaching and profound, at least for this nation; but really, for every nation, because we are doing what the antichrist is prophesied to do.  And we are doing it with a determination that the world has never seen.  The man in the Oval Office whenever the treaty is agreed upon, if the U.S. brokers the treaty, will be the antichrist, no matter which political party’s interests he serves.  “And he confirms the covenant with many, for one week…”

Where, but from the greatest nation man has ever devised, would one expect such a great world leader to arise?  It is a no-brainer.  The normal evolution of the geopolitical stage has already brought us to this moment in time when Israel will make an agreement with the Gentiles, in which she will surrender a portion of Jerusalem.  It is the gravest error of mankind since Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  It is as great a moment in time as the First Advent of our Lord, but the outcome will be vastly different in His return at the end of the seven-year period of tribulation. 

How can the true Church be so passé concerning this?  It dazzles the mind to think that so many are so badly fooled by an interpretation that was formulated before there was any United States of America.  Her mind is closed to this truth – the bride of Christ – denying herself the joy of a most present and precious hope.  It is time to stop being Americans, and start being ambassadors, citizens of heaven, sent to earth by God for a singular purpose – to minister the word of reconciliation to the lost; all the while, ministering edification to the saints.

I love my country just like most other Americans.  But I do not let that patriotism negate theological realities.  How I pray that God will get this word out to the Church in such a way as to awaken the bride.  I don’t care if I never make a buck on this project – it is costing me a fortune as it is – but my intention and my hope is to get the word out that the redemption of our bodies is about to happen.  Most of us will live to see it; but then the world will turn to its darkest hour.  The rapture has always been imminent, but the geopolitical stage today lends an air of immediacy to that imminence.  Finally, at long, long last, the Groom is going to come and take His bride to the home he has prepared for her in heaven.  Till then, we persevere.  

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Hope: The Forgotten Virtue

“Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words, and never stops at all.”

So wrote Emily Dickinson from her hermit’s nest in Amherst.  We have lost hope, and we plod along in our daily routines, trying hard to survive the moment, hoping for some temporary respite from our hopelessness.  Hope?  What hope?  We labor until we die.  That is the nut of the matter. What good is retirement if we only wait for death?  The closer a man gets to his hole in the ground, the more he realizes that the days of his life are numbered.  Funerals are sobering events.  There, one day, lie you and I.  In every suicide, the root is hopelessness, and that for which the person was hoping was beyond his grasp forever.  There is no temporal thing in all the world that can provide either happiness or hope; for it all ends at a hole in the ground.  And then, the judgment.

My God!  How terrible is the fear of those who do not know of, or who have rejected the grace of God!  They may not reveal those terrors to anyone, especially not to themselves, but as the grave looms large, they fear that they will cease to exist.  They fear the state of death, its long silence; though together in a field of ten thousand other decaying corpses, they fear the fear that will consume them, facing it alone.  What an awful way to die.  Bitter to the end, even if outwardly unflappable.  Brave, but rebellious toward God.  That is not bravery; it is arrogance.

But for the saint, the living child of God Almighty, there is a hope that is certain.  We do not wonder what will happen in the moment of our death; we already know.  We do not see death as the unsaved see it.  Rather, we see it as a Door (cp. Jn 10:7; Rev 4:1), through which we will reenter the eternal estate,  loosed from the bonds of temporal things, the shackles of time removed; free to relish and rejoice in Whom we were, and are, before we stepped from eternity into time when we were born in the flesh.  Christians see death as a most refreshing liberation from the affairs of this life; not an end, or even an unconscious state.  Rather, our spirits simply depart these tabernacles of clay, and we are able at last to stand in the presence of our Lord Himself, to be reunited with our flesh and bone at the rapture of the Church.  It is better to be absent from the body and present with the Lord (2 Cor 5:8).

This is the certain hope of the saints of God.  It is the only hope that has any substance for the soul (Heb 11:1).  Everywhere in the New Testament, where the word hope is found, the context concerns the resurrection of the saints at the rapture, and the translation of the living saints from mortal to immortality.  There is no other hope in the Bible.   The certainty of our hope of the resurrection lies in the certainty of our Lord’s resurrection.  His resurrection is the substance of our hope, the evidence of our faith.

What do Christians hope for?  The same as unbelievers, sadly, for the most part.  Their hopes are in temporal things:

“I hope I get that job!”

“I hope she will accept when I ask her to marry me.  What if she doesn’t?” 

“I hope this is the winning lottery ticket.  Man!  What I wouldn’t do with all that money!”

“I hope we can go to Tahiti this year.” 

“I hope the doctors can keep me alive.”

“I hope, I hope, I hope!”  “I hope in everything temporal.”

When do we say, “I hope that God will make me fruitful today?”  How often do we contemplate the labors we perform on earth for the Lord in the light of the rewards we will be given when our reasonable services are fulfilled? 
Paul thought of it often, as evidenced by his many references to it in his letters to individuals and to the first century churches (cp. Phil 3:7-21; Gal 4:9-11).  He feared that he might lose a measure of his reward at the judgment seat of Christ if those to whom he had ministered did not continue in the faith and the hope and the love that are to characterize Church Age saints; if they did not serve God, being mindful also of their own eternal estates.  If they were fruitful, Paul’s treasure was enlarged.
If they became unfruitful, then all the reward for their service would amount to nothing, and Paul’s heavenly “account” (Phil 4:17) would be diminished by however much they ought to have laid up.  It is clear that Paul was always mindful of the treasure he was laying up in heaven, in stark contrast to the poverty and temporal persecutions that dogged his heels during most of his ministering life.  He rejoiced in his poverty, and was content in every circumstance, serving however he was led, no matter whether he was a prisoner in a dungeon or speaking before kings and lords.  He knew that whatever he lacked in his temporal life, he was laying up in great stores for his eternal estate.  That was the perspective by which he lived his life.  (cp. Phil 3:13-14).  It was the paradigm of his life, the principles upon which he stood.


Faith, Hope and Love, these three…

Faith is easy for children of God, for the regenerate.  It is simply trusting God from day to day, no matter the objective circumstances of our lives.  Rich or poor, great leaders or men of the alleyways and wharves, the saints look to God for provision and protection, grateful for His mercy and His love, depending upon His providence, attending to the only hope that we have this side of the grave, the rapture of the Church. 

We can engage one another in discussions of faith or love.  Love is the oil that lubricates everything Christian; that edifies, and does not tear down.  We all fail to love in the way that we ought to love, even one another.  We all love ourselves more, desiring the better cut of meat or the larger profit or higher praise from men.  These two virtues, faith and love, are open and free expressions of trust and adoration.  We love one another when the Holy Spirit gives us opportunity for fellowship, and we have a consciousness of it. 
Love is not something that we say or feel; it is a decision that we make many times a day.  It is entirely possible to love the convenience store clerk when you look her in the eye and tell her to have a blessed day, and then to walk out of the store and never see her again.  Love is something that we do.  It is a commitment of the heart and the will to do all that love demands for the object of our love.  It is not a decision to be taken lightly.  Our love for one another is a demonstration to all the world that our faith is in our God, of whom we are disciples (Jn 13:35).
Intercessory prayer is both a high privilege and a solemn responsibility.  It is the essence of love, bringing another person’s name or face before the throne of grace of the great Creator God.  If we do not have lengthy prayer lists, then there are few people whom we love, and where is our reward for that?  Failure to truly love results in all manner of evil intentions and desires.  The devil is in all of that.

Yes, it is easy to talk about faith or love, but when it comes to talking about hope, well, that changes the conversation from the ethereal, the eternal, to temporal matters.  In truth, there are many more regenerate Christians who have an unspoken fear of the rapture than there are those whose hope is heartfelt and steadfast in God’s grace and in the ministry of the word of reconciliation until that Day (2 Cor 5:18-21).  We have temporal hopes that  we speak about. We have temporal hopes also that we keep to ourselves. 
We seek that which we think will make us happy, but “buyers’ remorse” is almost immediate.  We rationalize our gorging in every way that we can gorge.  Sometimes, we are ourselves wolves in sheep’s clothing.  That old man in us is as depraved as any on earth, and we know it, but we try not to think about it. Yet, he is there, registering quietly in the backs of our minds (1 Jn 1:6-10).  He deceives us into all manner of unrighteousness when we walk in the flesh.  We make mistakes in time, and the repercussions that we heap down upon ourselves by our own folly are sometimes as heavy as the Lord will give us strength to bear. 
He has saved us from our sin, but not from our folly.  That, He does over the course of our entire lives, as we become less and less attached to anything worldly, and increasingly conscious that we have been set apart from the world, by God, to and for Himself.  If we pray for wisdom, God will give it to us liberally.  If we pray for hope, it stands before us like a beacon, illuminating and eliminating every fear and concern.

It is called sanctification.  We do not sanctify ourselves, but God uses the circumstances that we create in our lives, for good or ill, to teach us and to train us as children of God.  It is a process in which we interact with the world, but in our minds and in our hearts, we are separate from it. 
That new man comes more and more to the fore, and the Object of our hope becomes more dear.  Death bears no sting for the saints of God.  Death becomes a grand welcome to an eternal estate that our poor minds cannot conceive of today; but from which we came, and to which we shall return.  What can be seen of us is flesh, but we merely inhabit these cloaks of clay, and we look forward eagerly to the day when we shall put on the robes of righteousness and see with our eyes the majesty of our God and His heaven.  This, at the resurrection.

But wait!  Not only are the saints whose bodies have been sleeping raised bodily at the rapture, but there is one generation in all of time, from Adam till the last person is born during the Kingdom Age; one generation of saints that will escape even the experience of death, being translated from mortal to immortal “in a moment” (Gk. Atomos, “so small as to be indivisible – in this context, more quickly than an ‘atom’ of time).

And that is what many Christians fear; they fear that instant in which they turn from mortal into immortal.  They fear the recoil of being taken aback by finding themselves in a strange place, not knowing where to go or what to do.  It is not like that.  Not at all.  We have been in Christ since before the creation, existing personally and individually, but not bodily.  Chosen in Him, we lived in an eternal state in Him until time called our names and we were born.  If the rapture were a thing to be feared, it would not be called “our blessed hope,” but “our dreaded fear.”  We need not be afraid of that for which we are instructed to hope.

The diminishing of our hope is the very thing that the devil is most trying to accomplish in the saints these days.  He is attempting to divert us from our hope, even as the events that will mark his imprisonment in the abyss are already beginning to unfold upon the earth today.  The devil and his legions are fighting harder against us this day than in any times past, but it is not as overt today as feeding us to lions.  Rather, it is more subtle (Gen 3:1). 
The world has such a vast array of things for which to lust, of delicacies for the palate, of clothes and masks to hide behind.  The world is a wonderland of distractions – the Internet, smart phones, video games galore, satellite television, the highest of high technology and weaponry – and the devil uses them all more deftly than we can detect.  He doesn’t have to distract our bodies through their lusts; he can use our minds against us.  Every good thing on earth that our minds can conjure is not to be compared to the treasure that the saints will inherit through steadfast service to our Lord.

Now, as we see the clock about to strike midnight on Gentile world dominion, it is time for the bride of the Lamb to awaken and fill her lamps with oil (a symbol of the Holy Spirit), and to be watchful, for the times and the seasons of the rapture of the Church are upon us.  Let us not forget, in our morning prayers, to be watchful and hopeful, for the shout and the trumpet may sound even today.  It truly appears to be that near.  Hope has long been the forgotten virtue, but let us now realize, make real, our hope, before the Lord comes to resurrect the saints who sleep.  Let us not sleep!

Hope is in each of us, but as we turn our minds to earthly things, we immediately become discontent.  We want whatever it is that our hearts desire, and we forget about the treasure we ought to be mindful of in heaven.  Without a real hope that the Lord may come today, without the yearning for that to happen, life has no luster, no joy.  When we begin our day by praying, “Thy kingdom come,” we acknowledge that the tribulation must take place before God brings His visible Kingdom to the earth.  We know that the rapture happens before the days of darkness and despair that will afflict the earth during the last seven years of Gentile dominion over the earth. 
          As we see the very things that the prophets wrote about in ancient times unfolding all over the world in complete accordance with the Bible’s prophecies, our lives ought to be transformed by the hope that is in us. 
Perhaps the tribulation period will not begin for another ten thousand years.  That is certainly possible.  But the stark fact remains that every named nation is behaving toward Israel as they are said to be during the Day of the Lord.  We are told that a peace treaty will mark the beginning of the pouring out of the fury of God upon the earth (cp. Joel 3:1-2; Dan 9:27).  We see in the news daily, some new detail involving the process toward a comprehensive Middle East peace treaty.  We have a man on the throne in Washington who is the rave of the peoples of the world, and he has made it clear, even during his campaign, that he intends to resolve the thorny issues that divide the Arabs and the Israelis. 
Already, the Arab nations are joining our president in his pursuit of peace in the Middle East.  Not only the Arab world, but all of Europe and Asia and Africa – indeed, all the nations of the earth, under the auspices of the United Nations – are pressing harder and harder to make these negotiations succeed.  It is a climactic time in the history of the “times of the Gentiles(Lk 21:24), and in the history of the world.  Yet, the whole world is unaware, except for a few disciples who have looked at the world through the eyes of the prophets, and have seen ourselves as that highly honored generation who will not see death, but who will be translated at the rapture.  If that is not your earnest hope every morning, how can you make it through the day in such a corrupt and depraved world as this one, who kills its own children?
The world is not getting better and better, though its “technology” has leapt forward dramatically in the past two hundred years or so.  All the while, the secret iniquities of mankind were and are being broadcast more and more openly by the prince of the power of the air.  Morally, the decline of the world is as dramatic as the explosion of its technology has been stupendous.  It cannot last much longer, lest it devolve into anarchy.  That day is fast approaching.  The faster it comes toward us, the more quickly comes the rapture.  There is the only hope of the saints, its eternal hope, its blessed hope.  Let the virtue of hope burn brightly in the breast of every saint, and may the light of His grace shine from our lips into the tortured hearts of the lost!  Let us be found doing the works that God has prepared for us; that we should be found walking in them when He comes for us.  Never has our reason to be hopeful been so keen or so plain.  Let us remember always our hope.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Make Peace or Peace Will Be Imposed?

The pressure is being ratcheted up almost alarmingly.  The “last chance” stature of these peace talks is weighing heavily upon both sides.  For the first time ever, the entire world is focusing on this tiny patch of ground and is telling those disparate peoples to make peace, or peace will be imposed.  That is the thrust of these comments.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100912/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_clinton_mideast_talks

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100912/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestinianspeace -- the core issue as a beginning point for Israel

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100912/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestinianspeace  Israel is willing to divide the land, as negotiated with the Gentiles.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100912/ts_nm/us_palestinians_israel - Informal settlement construction freeze likely

These may seem like the sorts of things that sensationalizers would jump on.  The problem is, they are not looking for a peace treaty with the U.S. being the primary broker.  They are looking down the road a long stretch to find any rationalization for their interpretation of this point of doctrine.  In doing so, they risk the danger of being found teaching unsound doctrine, as the prophesied events are in the headlines of every newspaper worthy of its name.  It is happening even today, right now, and the Church is willfully ignorant or completely passive concerning these last days.

The argument is made that every generation, even Paul’s, had its reasons to be hopeful.  However, in Paul’s day, the objective circumstances on the geopolitical stage were not as they were prophesied to be during the times and the seasons of the last days.  The world stage was not yet set for the events surrounding the rapture of the Church and the beginning of Daniel’s seventieth week.  Today, that statement cannot be correctly made.  Yes, in WWI and WWII, people supposed that the end of the world was at hand.  Wars and rumors of war; but only in that great tragedy did the geopolitical stage begin to shift toward the alliances that are in place now.  The Soviet Union had to fall, because Gog and Magog were one people, allied with those others who are named, concerning the world stage in the last days.  They were not a union of disparate peoples; Gog and Magog has allies in the invasion of the Holy Land, and those allies are named.  Some of them were members of the former Soviet Union, and some were not.  The point is, never before in the history of the world can it be said that the stage was fully set for the things that must follow the rapture, but now it can, and we find the U.S. serving as the broker of Middle East peace.  This is the most important time in the history of the world since John the Baptist was the forerunner of our Lord.  For those things that must follow the rapture are already beginning.  This is how we determine the times and the seasons.

“Midnight Rising: Warning Signs for This Generation” presents the theology behind the emerging view of an American antichrist.  Dr. Earl Radmacher called this book a watershed in our understanding of prophecy.  If you wish to know and understand this view, you really need to read this book.  It can be purchased at http://www.amazon.com or http://www.bn.com or http://www.christianbook.com. Autographed copies are available at http://www.midnightrisingbook.net.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Did Jesus Name the Antichrist?

I have been asked several times if I have watched the YouTube video that asks the question, “Did Jesus name the antichrist?”  The answer is yes, I have watched it, just this morning.  It is interesting, but not conclusive.  The emphasis is upon the name of President Obama as found in two Hebrew words, for “lightning,” and for “heaven.”  The first is “baraq,” and the second is “bamah.”  The Scripture is Luke 10:18, in which our Lord says that He saw Satan falling as lightning from heaven.  The context is immediately after Jesus sent seventy disciples out to bring the Gospel of the Kingdom to the cities round about.  The disciples returned, marveling that even the demons respond to the name of Jesus.  That is when Jesus makes this pronouncement.  It was following a period of testimony that Jesus revealed this to his disciples, and He went on to say, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see…many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see and to hear what you have heard…”

In other words, it was a relatively dramatic moment in the ministry of our Lord, and certainly, the Hebrew words (Jesus probably actually spoke the Hebrew words in Aramaic) are pronounced Baraq and Bahmah.  Whether this is a reference to our president remains to be seen.  The author of the piece on YouTube said in his disclaimer that he was not saying dogmatically that it was the Lord’s intention to name the antichrist.  Neither do I make such a statement.  However, in my book (http://www.midnightrisingbook.net), I approach the possibility from different Scriptures, concluding that, if it is not Obama who bears that infamy, it will be a man like him, who is respected worldwide for his peacemaking abilities.

You can watch the video yourselves at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgHUZXgNAWo.  There are many interesting and indeed, fascinating things about Obama’s name, both in the language of his forebears, and now, in this.  I recommend the video, but suggest that it be taken with a grain of flavorful salt.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Is the True Church Blind To Prophecy?

Read this important article from Financial Times:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/acbc06d6-b915-11df-99be-00144feabdc0.html

This is the idea behind Daniel’s “many” of 9:27.  However, the “many” includes all of the signatory parties to the covenant, or treaty.  That body encompasses the entire planet, as the U.N. will sign off on it, as will Russia, the Arab League, the European Union and the United States, under the current negotiating process.  Any treaty will indeed involve “many” peoples, as virtually every Gentile nation on the earth is a member of the United Nations.

An earlier news story suggested a regional approach, but with an unspecified time period of probation, so to speak; a trial period.  Do you suppose that the time period of that treaty will be seven years?

Things are moving at a dizzying pace toward the Tribulation.  That the professing church is unconcerned is to be expected, but the true Church is largely blind to current events also, as they relate to prophecy.  They acknowledge that we are in the “end times,” but they are not exhorting their congregations to turn from the things of this world, to the things of heaven; for heaven is knocking loudly upon our hearts and we are not listening.  That blessed hope is about to be fulfilled, and the Church is silent and somewhat resistant.  They have become the modern-day Pharisees, losing sight of where we are and what is about to occur.  Not all, of course.  There are many who are preaching and teaching the Rock-solid truths of the Bible, but they are only a very tiny minority in the whole of the dragnet.

Nevertheless, our Lord began with only twelve; there are far more than that number who are preaching and teaching sound doctrine to others today who will be competent enough in the Scriptures to teach others also.  These are special times in the history of the world, climactic times, and nobody is noticing.  David Jeremiah is a wonderful example of a teacher of sound doctrine.  There are many bright lights who understand the times, and who bring the light of God’s grace toward the lost, and education and edification of the saints.  My new book, “Midnight Rising: Warning signs to this Generation,” explains the complex intricacies of prophecy so simply that anyone can understand the magnitude of our time in history.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Origins of the Conventional View of the Prophetic Structure

The Reformation was not so much concerned with prophetic themes as it was with establishing the doctrines that were compatible with the gospel of God’s grace, i.e., the theology behind the cross. This discussion began in the early sixteenth century, and truly carried forward through time until the early twentieth century. Prior to the sixteenth century, the professing church knew almost nothing about doctrine, as the Roman Catholics were more about behavior than about doctrinal issues. They certainly never taught the liberty of the believer to be who he is, nor the wonderful blessings that accrue to the saints apart from the works of the Law of Moses.

It was with the rise of John Darby in the early nineteenth century that men began to explore the Jewish prophets in order to come to an understanding of the prophecies of the Apostle John in “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” There had been a couple of papers published two hundred years earlier that spoke of a pretribulation rapture, but it was the publication of Darby’s work that gave Dispensationalism a structure and a name. He is rightly seen as the “father of Dispensationalism,” although the first references to Dispensationalism and a pretribulation rapture were discussed in the second and third centuries by writers of that era.

The interpretation of Daniel 2, 7, 9; and The Revelation that form the basis of what is the consensus view today was founded on a very different geopolitical stage than the current world stage. It was in 1806 that the “Holy Roman Empire” was dissolved. Therefore, it was natural to presume that the last form of that empire would be a resurrection of it, as the infrastructure was still in place, and could have been accomplished, had that been God’s purpose. It made sense at the time, and was the only interpretation of these prophecies that did. The United States was still in its nascent state when Darby presented his interpretation, and it was nowhere evident that the States would ever become the great empire that it has become.

Even then, and until now, expositors have adopted one form or another of Darby’s views. Some theologians have suggested a Mediterranean antichrist. Others anticipate a European state, since Rome was a European Empire. Lately, some have identified the rise of the antichrist with the formation of the United Nations, and still others, more recently, with the European Union. There are fringe groups that see Russia as the nation of the beast, or Iran, or even a revived city/state of Babylon, out of the ruins of the ancient city that are now being excavated.

The problem with all of those interpretations is that they offer little hope for the rapture occurring anytime soon, as many dramatic geopolitical changes must occur before the antichrist can arise. While the rapture has always had the quality of imminence, in this emerging view, it has also the sense of immediacy. The conventional view places the rapture at some point in the relatively distant future. Imminence is explained by saying that God is able, in an instant, to wreak the changes that must be made in order for prophecy to be fulfilled.

We know the things that follow the rapture of the true Church. If the United States must suffer a sudden collapse, and if some other state must arise in order to gain world power, then a considerable period of time must elapse before the world stage reflects the conditions of any of the conventional views.

Modern theologians are correct in saying that God can make the changes in an instant; indeed, He will certainly make many distinct and dramatic changes in a very short time during the Tribulation. Nevertheless, prophecy always been fulfilled through the natural evolution of political events. The prophets were not told that at such and such a time God would wreak cataclysmic changes, but that, when the objective circumstances on the ground matched the writings of the prophets, then certain things that were prophesied would occur.

For example, as far back as Moses’ day, in declaring the whole Law to the Jews, he prophesied that if they did not obey the Law, then they would be carried away captive. Nearly seven hundred years later, Hezekiah was king in Judah. He was a righteous king, and was favored by God for the steadfastness of his faith. Hezekiah became gravely ill, and was told he would die. He prayed that God would extend his life, and God agreed to do so. During those “additional” years, Hezekiah received emissaries from Babylon. His great error was to take them into the temple treasury and show them the riches of Israel, including the armory. Some few years later, after Hezekiah did die, Nebuchadnezzar was king in Babylon. He knew of the report of the emissaries of his father, and sent a contingent of men to capture some of the royal youths. Daniel was among this group. Jeremiah the prophet, was not taken, and his “weeping” prophecies concerning the impending captivity of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar were written, in which he laid out the specifics of Israel’s departure from God. Nebuchadnezzar did capture Judah, and did carry the Jews captive into Babylon, in 586 B.C.

All of this unfolded naturally, although God raised up those whom He knew would perform the dastardly deeds. (They weren’t actually dastardly, as God was using Nebuchadnezzar to chasten His people.) Though God raised Nebuchadnezzar to the throne, He was not responsible for the deeds of Nebuchadnezzar. Mankind has always been responsible for his own deeds, though God certainly foresaw every individual sin of every individual human being before the earth was even created. The point here, however, is that, though Moses predicted this same captivity, God didn’t stick His finger in the pot, so to speak, and stir it so that those things could come to pass. He allowed the natural evolution of political events to bring around the objective circumstances that would culminate in the fulfillment of those prophecies.

In that same manner, according to the emergent view of an American antichrist, God has allowed the world stage to evolve to its present state. Now, when one reads the prophets of Israel and the Church, he quickly sees that the objective circumstances on the ground of the world match precisely the things that must follow the rapture.

Not only are the named nations in the same relationship with Israel as they would be when the prophets wrote of them and when the prophecies would be fulfilled, but the most important reference point, the beginning of the things that follow the rapture, is the brokering of a Middle East peace treaty between Israel and “many.” Since we see the current world’s attitude in favor of this treaty growing in intensity on every front, we can expect a treaty to be imposed, if not actually agreed upon by the signatory nations and peoples.

The question then remains as to who constitutes the “many” of Daniel 9:27. First of all, no treaty between Israel and anyone has been possible from 70 A.D., until 1979, when President Carter hosted Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat at Camp David to hammer out the Camp David accords. That treaty was between Israel and Egypt, and did not constitute the “many” of 9:27.

When President G.W. Bush hosted a Middle East summit in the waning months of his presidency, at Annapolis, the attendees would all have been signatories of any treaty that might have been negotiated. Among those would have been several European nations, many Arab peoples, a representative of the United Nations, and, of course, the president of the United States. However, no accord was reached, and Israel essentially ended the negotiations when they began a large-scale retaliatory bombing campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians walked away and resumed a hostile attitude.

At this present point in time, President Obama has annealed the world’s heart toward finally settling this thorny issue once and for all. He is working tirelessly to make Middle East peace the crowning jewel in his legacy. Many are pessimistic that these negotiations will bear any fruit. But many also understand the intense intention of the Gentile world to see this thing done. It appears that Mr. Obama will do whatever is necessary to accomplish this mission, even if he must use coercion to force the hands of Israel and the Palestinians. He has gained the open, vocal support of Europe, Russia, the U.N. – all members of the Quartet – as well as of many individual nations and peoples.

Seeing that we may well at last be approaching the prophecy of Daniel 9:27, we must realize that the rapture, which precedes the ratification of that treaty in the Israeli Knesset, must be even closer. It was this fact that unrelentingly pressed me to write Midnight Rising.

In fairness, it should be noted that God could have translated the saints at any point in history, without reference to the tribulation period. If He had done so a thousand years ago, for example, the world would have gone on until now, when Daniel’s treaty was to be “confirmed.” That is, it has never been necessary for the Church to be on the earth until that time. If the body of Christ had been completed earlier, then the Church would have been gone, and the world would have continued until the objective circumstances on the ground matched the words of the prophets.

However, the rapture did not occur in times past. Nor, at any point in history, until 1948, was it possible for 9:27 to occur, because there was no nation of Israel with which to negotiate. Now, there is, and the negotiations are determined and almost certain.

Finally, the question remains, “Is this that treaty?” The truth is, we cannot know. It looks like it might be, and even probably will be, but there may come another treaty a few years after this one. Just as there is NAFTA in North America, there may be a MEFTA in the near future of the Middle East. Commerce is more profitable than war. It might be the MEFTA treaty that is the ultimate goal of even these present negotiations. The salient point in all of this discussion is that today, the objective circumstances on the ground match perfectly those which must exist during the Tribulation, and the United States is the primary broker of this desired treaty. If that does not sway rigid opinion, then many will be red-faced when the shout and the trumpet sound.


Wm. Anderson Simpson author of Midnight Rising-Warning Signs For This Generation-Deep River Books 2010.  www.midnightrisingbook.net

Thursday, September 2, 2010

The Brief Notation Is Enough

THEN, BEHOLD, 
THE VEIL OF THE TEMPLE
WAS TORN IN TWO
FROM THE TOP TO THE BOTTOM;
AND THE EARTH QUAKED,
AND THE ROCKS WERE SPLIT,
AND THE GRAVES WERE OPENED;
AND MANY BODIES OF THE SAINTS
WHO HAD FALLEN ASLEEP WERE RAISED.
(Mt 27:51-52)

     This is another of  those passages that we tend to read over without much notice.  The opening of the graves catches our interest momentarily, but then we move on to more “interesting” things.  There is, in that momentary catching of attention, however, the seed of all our hope.  For here is the first phase of the first resurrection.

     The first resurrection occurs in three distinct phases.  First, these saints (and Jesus Himself three days later) are raised.  We should note that it was not merely two or three graves that were opened, or only a handful of saints who were resurrected.  When the Bible speaks of this event, the word is “many.” 

     In a way, it almost seems an unnecessary detail.  Our hope would have found firm basis in Christ’s resurrection alone.  But God, knowing the skeptical human heart, understood that many would say that the resurrection did not pertain to anyone but the Son of God Himself.  The devil is always about the business of  tearing down our hopes.  Therefore God chose to give us a promise of the resurrection to come in the persons of those saints who were raised on the day of the crucifixion.

     On the other hand, it was no small event in its day.  The opening of the graves would have caused some small turmoil had it happened only in the context of the earthquake that also happened.  The disturbance of graves is a frequent occurrence during earthquakes, yet it always receives mention in the press.  Let us set the scene for this great event.

     It was dark.  Very dark.  In the middle of the day the sky had faded from daylight to a terrible and fearsome darkness.  This was no mere solar eclipse, where the light takes on an other-worldly cast, but the darkness of midnight, with neither stars nor moon to lessen the terror.  Surely, the thieves on either side of Jesus were moaning in their agony, but Jesus was silent apart from the several utterances He made before yielding up His Spirit.  That alone would have struck fear in the hearts of many.
   
     Then the earth quaked.  Again, this is no small detail.  It was more than a minor shaking of the ground, for the rocks split.  In darkness as thick as pitch the ground began its terrible rumbling, followed rapidly by a great shaking.  Consider the sounds the rocks must have made as they split.   Each one, like the crack of a high-powered rifle, made their fearful hearts quake a bit more as they split the darkness.  Few, if any, of the people in Jerusalem that day had ever experienced an earthquake.  They were a primitive people, and many probably did not even know that the earth could quake.
   
Because of the darkness, no one saw the saints arise from their graves.  It was not until the light returned that it could be seen that the graves had been opened.  Imagine the shock, the utter horror, as the people went to the various graves and found them empty.  Or their terror in meeting those who had formerly occupied those graves.

     No, it was no small event, and the real surprise is that it received so little “coverage” in the accounts of that day given in the Bible.  Yet, God is always the Master of Understatement.  A brief notation is sufficient to assure us that it happened.  A couple of verses are enough to place our own hope of resurrection on a firm foundation.

     If the resurrection of many saints on that day was big news, the translation of the saints at the rapture is going to be much, much bigger.  Far more is written in the Bible concerning the rapture of the Church than is written concerning that first phase of the first resurrection that occurred those many centuries ago.  But those were raised that we might know assuredly that the promises of our resurrection are sure.

Mideast Peace Pushes the Dial of the Doomsday Clock

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists first published what has been commonly referred to since June, 1947, as the Doomsday Clock.  It has moved back and forth between about a quarter to midnight and two or three minutes till midnight since then, depending upon the level of international tension.  The world views this “clock” expectantly as a sort of barometer of how near we are to destroying ourselves in some sort of nuclear holocaust.  It is evident that science is not very sanguine in their hopes that we might forestall a worldwide catastrophe.
     What the world, however, sees as Doomsday is not doomsday at all.  There will surely be a great military conflagration on the earth, but it will not signal the end of the world or even of humanity.  It would, but for the intervention of our Lord, who will stop the final conflict before it reaches the cataclysm.  No doubt, when the hostilities of the tribulation period begin, the science community will move the hands of their “clock” up to within a few seconds of midnight.  It is a silly notion, one that openly contradicts clear prophecies of the Bible concerning those times.
     Christians might better direct their attention toward what we could call the Rapture clock.  For, while we know not the day nor the hour of our translation, we do know that it will occur prior to the tribulation period, and that period begins with the ratification of a comprehensive Middle East Peace agreement brokered by the nation of the beast, and signed by Israel and her neighbors.
     While there are fluctuations in the peace process, the movement is inexorably toward the goal, now stated openly, of a comprehensive peace.  While the world watches their “Doomsday Clock,” let us lay hopeful eyes on the Rapture clock.  We do not know the day or the hour, but the season of Mideast Peace is surely upon us.

Article: Many clocks tick as Israel, Palestinians open talks 8/30/10