Middle East Update

The Egyptian Revolution provided the model by which a people can unify and engineer a regime change. They, along with Tunisia, Jordan, Yemen, the Sudan, and now Algeria, experiencing the same sort of revolt as Egypt’s; they have made many of the other sultanates, emirates and kingdoms squirm, lest their own people come to resent the vast riches that their leaders have acquired from the labors of the poor and downtrodden. 

Every economy that man has devised needs its poor class, and the larger the number of the poor becomes, the richer are those at the top.  It is short-sighted to over-expand the number of poor, for there will be fewer people, in the long run, who have the means to purchase their products.  They choke themselves by oppressing the poor and middle class.  It has been thus from time immemorial.  When the working class prospers, those at the top have an eager market, and they could make far greater fortunes.  But they look to short term profits and avoid discussion of long term costs.

The Lord has a government and an economy that will be equitable and fair.  We know that the  world government during the Kingdom Age will not be a democracy or communist or socialist or capitalist.  It will be a Monarchy, with our Lord Himself seated on His throne.  As there are in some monarchies, there will be also a class of noblemen when Christ reigns in Jerusalem.  The nobility in various kingdoms differ, except insofar as they are all rich.  Church Age saints become the lords and the earls and the dukes and princes. 

Since Jesus is the Lord of lords, and the King of kings, we can deduce that His form of government will be a Monarchy, and that there will be ranks of nobility.  We know not what sort His nobility ranks will be, nor what form His economy will take.  But let us not drift too far ahead.

The world watched with unparalleled awe as the Egyptian people deposed their dictator with hardly a shot fired.  They flooded the streets and alleyways, living in tents, boycotting their jobs. 

Just as many nations danced in the streets when President Obama was elected in the U.S., so were there fireworks and street parties around the world when Hosni Mubarak was deposed.  The people of the world are sick and tired of the tyranny of the rich over the poor.  There is a coal that is beginning to shine more brightly, and with greater heat, in the hearts of the people of the entire Middle East.  And not the Middle East alone, but the world over there is an upwelling of desires to be free, to live with dignity, security and privacy, and comfort.

While the situation in the Middle East is potentially volatile, we are also seeing the potential to provide the very opening needed in order to bring forth a comprehensive peace agreement.  The governments are worrying about war, while the people want peace and prosperity.  The potential for danger only diminishes when some more equitable arrangement can be made so that those at the top do not rob those already suppressed and oppressed.  The essential unfairness of every sort of economic model is what lies at the heart of the movements that we are seeing in that region of the world today.  Almost everyone is willing to work, but they expect to earn enough to live comfortably, as the middle class lives in the U.S.  People want a say in their nations’ form of government.  Democracy is spreading like a wild fire, and many are they who fear what is to come.  They smell the smoke, and know that their straw houses can be overwhelmed by the working poor and middle class.

Egypt has now said that it will continue to honor and appreciate the treaty that they have with Israel.  In fact, Israel may well be the form of democracy after which Egypt will remodel itself.  Israel has been the most stable democracy in the Middle East, and the Arabs want to live in peace and prosper.

Yes, there are elements of aggression and intimidation – Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Syria and others – that are a deterrent to peace and tranquility.  Hezbollah gets its money and materiel from Syria and Iran, and Hezbollah is in the process of setting up another autocratic style of government in Lebanon.  Hassan Nasrallah may become Lebanon’s next strongman.  The people of Lebanon will not long tolerate it.  Democracies are sprouting all around them.  The truth is coming out about the assassination of Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri of Lebanon by Hezbollah.  That group is popular in Lebanon because of its hawkish nature. 

There is so much venom in the hearts of the militant groups against Israel that it is hard to fathom.  It is an ancient feud that stretches back thousands of years.  It goes all the way back to Isaac and Ishmael, sons of Abraham; back to Jacob and Esau, sons of Isaac, where the first-born sons did not receive their father’s inheritance.  That is the root of this ancient hatred.

One would think that, after all these millennia, people could just set aside their ancient hatreds and simply live peacefully together.  But their hearts are hardened and their necks are stiff.  It has been bred into them, so that they have an enemy upon which to look down their noses.

Before the Egyptian Revolution, the whole world was turning against Israel, in favor of the Palestinians.  They felt like Israel was being the provocateur by continuing to build settlements, that the U.N. says are illegal, even during the negotiation for peace. 

At last count, fourteen nations have recognized the Palestinian people as a separate and sovereign nation.  That is not very many, given the number of nations that there are in the world.  But it is an indicator of world opinion, and that opinion is ballooning.  Many nations have decided that the end of the currently suspended peace negotiations, which is in early September of this year, will be the time when they will look seriously at declaring Palestinian statehood.

The unrest in the region is heightened by the contest between Israel and the Palestinians.  Israel seems to get along fairly well already with Abbas, leader of the Fatah party, and Hamas has said that it would abide by the will of the people in a national election.  Of course, they said this before any election was actually proposed.  Now that Abbas has called for elections this September, the pressure is on Hamas. 

But Hamas is now saying that it will boycott the election, and that it will not recognize any change demanded by the election of new leadership.  The people have already begun protesting in Gaza, seeing another autocratic leadership dictating to the people and not allowing them to vote.  It puts Hamas in a tough place politically.  They are surely looking at what happened in Egypt, wondering when their own people will revolt.  Ah, stop wondering!  They are beginning to revolt already! 

Hamas is right to be concerned, because the threat is as real in Gaza as it was in Egypt.  The Egyptian Revolution has heartened the peoples of the region, as they see that oppressive regimes can be toppled peacefully if the citizens unite and act. 

Many Middle Easterners feel like they are prisoners in their own land, working for slave wages while the sultans and emirs and royal families live lavishly and luxuriously.  The Saudis especially need to heed what has just happened.  The Bedouins would rather ride in Cadillacs than on camels.  They want a more equitable distribution of the nation’s oil revenues.  We shall see how the Saudis will react when it is their turn to face the demands of an oppressed constituency.

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Yes, these are dangerous times for many governments in the Middle East, as their peoples are demanding a greater say in what their governments do and what values they espouse.  And they also want relief from abject poverty, while their leaders are wallowing in riches.  There is a blossoming anger in the Middle East toward the dictators and their cronies.

Thus, this is the very time for a seemingly very wise man to step onto the stage with a comprehensive peace plan in his hand that is irrefutable in its logic, and that must lead to peaceful and friendly coexistence.  It may be the time when that one man makes his mark on world history; as the antichrist, who begins the tribulation period by confirming a treaty among many with Israel.  As things now stand, the signatories will be the Israelis, the Palestinians, the European Union, the United Nations, Russia, the Arab League, the Saudis and, of course, the United States, who is now, and has been, serving as the primary broker of the peace plan.

There are still those who say that the United States must suffer a cataclysmic fall from world dominance, and that another entity will arise to broker the final treaty.  However, that interpretation is being proved incorrect every day.  Egypt has reaffirmed its close ties to Washington, and declared a commitment to its treaty with Israel. 

Everyone has a view of how things will be in the very last days of this age.  The consensus view was formulated four hundred years ago, when there was no United States of America.  Most of our theological leaders today adhere to the notion that the U.S. will not be a factor during the Tribulation.  The facts on the ground, however, insist that the U.S. will not only be a factor, but that the antichrist is going to be an American leader. 

The antichrist is not going to come from some small nation, but from a nation with the will and the resources to dominate any foe.  It will enter the stage of the last days with a peace proposal, not as the vicious ogre portrayed in the second half of the last seven years of Gentile world dominion.  He will come from the greatest nation the world has ever seen, will be seemingly benign and benevolent, but he will turn into the monstrous dictator, indwelt by Satan himself, who almost brings about the extinction of the entire human species.  If the Lord did not come when He does, the human race would become extinct.  But He will shorten those days, so that there will be many who survive the Tribulation and enter the Millennial Kingdom.

The main point of this article is to reassure those who eagerly await the Lord’s calling out of His bride.  The worse things appear in the Middle East, the greater is the opportunity to devise an equitable peace.  We are apparently so close to the brink of this age that our toes are hanging over the edge.  It is a complex problem, and the solution will also be complex.  But then, Satan is far more complex than any group of men.  The terms of the treaty will be of his subtle devising.

For the saints of God on the earth today, this is our blessed hope.  Before that treaty is ratified, the true Church will be translated from mortal to immortal, and will be removed from the earth before the wrath and fury of God break forth upon the earth.  We have never had greater reason to be hopeful than we do today.  Take heart!  Persevere!  Endure to the end of this age.  Preach the Word, be diligent, study these things, fulfill your ministries; praise God to know that the King of kings is close, coming for His bride.

Middle East Update: 1.24.2011



We watch as world events take their twists and turns. Those of us who watch the Middle East are sometimes frustrated because the process toward peace seems to have stumbled. But things are unfolding nevertheless.


     The reason that we have such interest in the Middle East is because a comprehensive Middle East peace agreement marks the point in time by which the Church must be translated. The closer we see that treaty coming, the closer we know that the end of the Church Age must be very near. For that treaty will mark the beginning of the last seven years of Gentile world dominion. The Church must be gone before that treaty is ratified.


     Leaked records show that the Palestinians offered major land concessions to Israel in past negotiations, which the Israelis declined as insufficient. This is from a leak of secret Palestinian papers.


     I mention this because the Gentile world is rapidly turning against Israel. It has been predicted that by September of this year, most of the nations of the world will have recognized the nation of Palestine as an independent state. They will force the U.N.'s hand. The position of the U.N. will be that Israel must return to the borders she held before the 1967 war, plain and simple.


     The leak of those papers was probably a very purposeful leak, with the approval of the government, in order to sway more nations to recognize their plight and press the case for statehood, to make make themselves appear more fair than Israel; to make themselves look beleaguered, which they are.


     In the eyes of the world, Israel is increasingly perceived as belligerent, not peaceful; insincere in their negotiations with the Palestinians, and unjustified legally in continuing to build on lands that are yet to be negotiated, and which the world views as "under Israeli occupation."


     To the Arabs, the Jews are a people who bulldoze the homes of families – sometimes hundreds at a time – in order to build settlements for Jews. The things that are coming out in the press are increasingly hostile toward Israel.


     What the world does not take into account is that God owns the city of Jerusalem. He said many times that He had placed His name there. He told Joel explicitly that Jerusalem is His own city, and He has never relinquished claim to it.
     What He has said is that He will take control of all of the nations of the earth and place His throne in this same Jerusalem which is the bone of contention today, and where His name remains to this day.


     The Lord said to Joel that the division of His land by the Gentile nations would result in His great fury being poured out upon the whole earth. God’s Word is certain, and it has never failed. Man cannot stand against our God.


     Yet here, at the end of the age, the devil is about to lure mankind into a treaty that will result in the near-extinction of humanity. Satan knows what he is going to unleash upon the earth as his time grows short. But he doesn’t care. He is fighting for his own survival, becoming more and more desperate as the time draws nearer for him to be bound and thrown into the abyss. Mankind is about to do the very thing that will turn the love and longsuffering patience of God into wrath and vengeance.


     Clearly, the nations of the world are discussing the peace process among themselves without even the slightest hint of reference to Bible prophecy. They consider themselves wise men, men who have achieved great heights in their lives, not recognizing that God raises up whomever He will to accomplish His purposes on the earth. The negotiators are each seeking advantage for their own countries.


     It is uncertain whether President Obama would veto a U.N. Security Council resolution granting statehood to Palestine or whether he would simply abstain - not voting against Israel, but allowing the U.N. to enforce and re-impose boundaries upon Israel.


     That said, we find that Israel is in a most uncomfortable position. She must either make a different kind of negotiated settlement, or face the harsher proclamation of the United Nations before the year is out. In September of 2010, the two sides gave themselves one year to reach a treaty. Three weeks later, the talks broke up over the settlements issue. But the world seems fixated on getting this thing done within that year or the U.N. will act.
     Of course, it will take some time for the U.N. to take any action, and they will not be hasty in their actions. Nevertheless, the will of the world will prevail, and Israel will engage in some sort of treaty. Whether that happens in our lifetimes is an open question every day. We are left with the hope that, yes, indeed, it may very well happen today, let alone six months or six years or six centuries or longer from now. The things that are going on in the world today regarding Middle East peace are driving the saints’ hopes soaring that we may be the only generation of mankind not to face death. Our translation from mortal to immortal might happen today.


     Please tell your friends, and let them experience the hope of the saints. It is near. We need badly to get this important message to the saints. Don’t brush this aside, but urge your friends to tell their friends. I am new at social networking, but I’m gonna be here on this page much more often beginning today. I will answer your questions if I can, explain what the Holy Spirit gives me to wisdom to explain, and I will exhort and encourage every saint to serve God diligently in these last days. We stand at the brink of the age, hanging ten.  You can read more about it in the book, Midnight Rising: Warning Signs for This Generation.

Confusion and Chaos

From the pages of Midnight Rising: Warning Signs for this Generation, a glimpse of life after the Rapture...


"The whole world will be locked in fear and worry. Millions will have disappeared, money will have little real value, and people will be afraid that another mass disappearance may occur at any moment. They will not know what has happened to the millions who have already disappeared"(Simpson p.18).
                                                                       
To Read more about Wm. Anderson Simpson author of Midnight Rising-Warning Signs For This Generation-Deep River Books 2010. www.midnightrisingbook.net

Fire and Ice

The following news links, coupled with other news from the Middle East are interesting from the standpoint of their mutual timing.

 Fire & Ice

Buy support with Chocolate – Hamas.

Israel wins Round 1.  Settlement building continues apace.

Will Palestine win Round 2?  Tacit EU recognition, or at least a promise of it.

Many Mideast “peace-watchers” may be disheartened by the recent failure of the U.S. to halt Israeli settlement building in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.  However, God has spoken concerning what must happen in that process, and small setbacks ought not be overblown.  Nor should natural disasters be given too much weight.  But it is interesting that great fires ravaged northern Israel, followed by horrendous dust storms, hail and heavy winds.  The number of dead, lost and injured is rising – all this, as a new phase of Mideast peace talks are about to begin.  Before the fire in the north, the whole of Israel and much of the Mediterranean was subjected to a months-long drought.  They prayed for rain, and their crops were devastated by the hail.  Waves more than thirty feet high crashed onto Israel’s shore, and Egypt was also stricken, where the Palestinian leaders have been visiting with Hosni Mubarak and Egypt’s Foreign Minister.  God is clearly not pleased by what is going on.  It would be wrong to dogmatically connect the disparate events and processes, but God does bring rain on the just and the unjust alike.  As to His particular reasoning, we are not privy, to be able to say that it was this or that to which God was responding.  In truth, He was surely reacting from a myriad of perspectives.  But that God brought this devastation, as always, is certain.  His reasons and His purposes are His own. 

The bare naked truth is glaringly apparent:  The place where God has repeatedly said that He has placed His name, Jerusalem, is invaded by Gentiles.  The entire Gentile world is bent upon forcing Israel to surrender land that God has specifically claimed as His own, given to the Jews for an everlasting possession.  To possess is not necessarily to own.  God owns the land that men are attempting to take.  We ought not view the natural disasters as “punishment, but as warning.

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

The New World Order in Action

The following news story from Reuters shows a president who remains totally committed to the Middle East peace process.  He is reacting aggressively after the Israelis refused to agree to a ninety-day moratorium on settlement building.  We see from this that, while the previous attempt not working, he will attack the problem from a different perspective: drawing proposed borders himself and taking them to both Jew and Arab.  Small matters, he will probably resolve by fiat, dictate, or decree.

Those who keep up with the Middle East news daily, take heart.  We are not looking for peace plan; we are looking for the Lord Himself.  The peace process will continue, but it will take a new direction.  See the article below:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday the United States would push Israeli and Palestinian leaders solve the core issues standing in the way of peace, and that both must seek a deal despite a breakdown in U.S.-brokered direct negotiations.

Clinton, saying she shared frustration over the impasse in peace talks, said the United States would launch a new round of indirect shuttle negotiations aimed at making real progress in the next few months toward a framework peace deal.

"The United States will not be a passive participant. We will push the parties to lay out their positions on the core issues without delay and with real specificity," Clinton said in an address

"We will work to narrow the gaps, asking tough questions and expecting substantive answers," she said, adding that the United States would also offer its own proposals to move talks along "when appropriate."

Clinton's speech marked her first Middle East policy address after the United States abandoned efforts this week to persuade Israel to stop new construction of Jewish settlements, a step the Palestinians said was essential if they were to resume direct peace talks which collapsed just weeks after their September launch.

The breakdown was a setback for President Barack Obama, who has made Middle East peace a key U.S. policy goal, and sowed tension between Washington and its most important Middle East ally as both face challenges including Iran.

U.S. Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell will head back to the region next week, and Clinton said diplomacy would now concentrate on a range of "core issues" -- all of which have proved difficult to resolve.

These include borders and security, settlements, water, refugees, and Jerusalem itself, which Israel says is its capital but which the Palestinians also hope will serve as the capital of their future independent state.

"Their seriousness about achieving an agreement will be measured by their engagement on these core issues," Clinton said.

A CHANGE IN TACTIC?

U.S. officials have little to show for months of shuttling between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, both of whom are limited by domestic politics in how far they can go.

Daniel Levy, co-director of the Middle East Task Force at thee New America Foundation think tank, said Clinton's speech broke little substantive new ground but could signal a shift in U.S. tactics.

"They are doing what might have been wise much earlier -- that is making indirect talks 'substantive 2-way conversations'," Levy said. "These are now the real thing."

Clinton paid special attention to the question of final borders, suggesting this could be a future U.S. focus.

"They must agree to a single line drawn on a map that divides Israel from Palestine, and to an outcome that implements the two-state solution," she said. "The Palestinian leaders must be able to show their people that the occupation will be over."

Clinton's speech followed a hectic week of personal diplomacy that saw her meet the chief Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators, former Israeli foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as well as Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who both attended Friday's address at a Brookings Institution event in Washington.

Barak, in his own speech to the group, gave a strong endorsement to the peace effort, saying that only through allowing the Palestinians their own state could Israelis be secure in theirs.

"Two states for two peoples is the only true path of Zionism today," he said.

Clinton repeated the "rock-solid" U.S. commitment to Israel's security, while underscoring yet again that the United States regarded as illegitimate continued Jewish settlement construction on Palestinian land occupied in the 1967 war.

The United States cannot impose a solution, she said, and Israelis and Palestinians themselves must take responsibility for peace and refrain from assigning blame.

"There is no viable alternative to reaching mutual agreement. The stakes are too high, the pain too deep, and the issues too complex for any other approach," she said.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)


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

Middle East Update

It has been a bizarre diplomatic couple of weeks.  In an effort to entice Israel to impose a three-month freeze on settlement building in the West Bank, the U.S. offered an amazing set of concessions.  Obama agreed to three things:  1.) to give Israel twenty of our most sophisticated new generation of stealth fighters, the F-35.  That is a three billion dollar giveaway.  2.)  He also agreed to veto any move by the United Nations to declare a Palestinian state. And 3.)  Obama agreed not to ask for any further moratoria on building in the “occupied” territories.  All of this for only a ninety-day construction halt is an astounding offer.

Israel might have had Obama backed into a diplomatic corner.  All they had to do was declare the three-month moratorium, delay and deny in the peace negotiations. After three months, Obama would be left with the status quo ante, with no diplomatic way to ensure that the Palestinians would have a state of their own.  It was an shocking deal, but Israel declined.  From the standpoint of strategy, that was apparently as big a blunder as any in history.

The question then arises, “Was President Obama so stupid as not to understand what a diplomatic impossibility the deal would put him in if the three months of negotiations failed?”  He is not a stupid man.  As Editor of the Harvard Law Review, he proved himself a brilliant man.  It is only the brightest of the students who achieve such lofty heights.  Why then would he make such an outlandish offer for such a small gain?

On the other hand, with Obama’s diplomatic future in their hands, why did Israel not agree to a three-month freeze?  With the promise to block any U.N. moves to declare Palestinian statehood, why would Israel not jump at the chance?  It doesn’t make sense on either side of that coin.

Thus, there must be something that we do not know about what is going on behind the scenes in Washington, Jerusalem, and Ramallah.  There must also be some quiet diplomacy to keep the Arab League and Egypt and others online with the demand for a peaceful settlement.  As always, we do not know what we do not know.  But there is a likely scenario.

It takes time to change the hearts of peoples who have been enemies throughout their histories, to diminish their hatred and bring about a state of genuine peace.  Like a heavy locomotive, changing a world is a slow process, but when it picks up a head of steam, it is difficult to stop.  Governments must turn their people from hatred to friendship before any real deal can be announced.  Every government employs psychologists in their quest to mold public opinion.  It is manipulation, pure and simple.

Perhaps there is already a framework that is generally agreed upon.  During the time that the governments work on their constituents’ psyches, they are refining the details behind the scenes.  If this were so, then it may have been agreed in advance that the U.S. would make such an offer, with the understanding that the Israelis would reject it.  That would give Prime Minister Netanyahu a great dose of face-saving among his own people.  They had their way, and were not enticed by the extravagant offer from Washington.  They stood up to the strongest nation in the world.

Why was there no outcry among the Palestinian and the other Arab states, knowing that Israel’s agreement to the proposal would seal their fate?  There was token outrage, but nothing on the scale of what it would be if Israel accepted the offer.  Why did the Arab League and every other group not protest vociferously?  They had to know also that the offer would be made and declined, else that outrage would have swept through the Arab world and the Islamic world like the wildfires that are decimating northern Israel today. 

When diplomats speak, every word is calculated.  Aristotle wrote the book on rhetoric, and every diplomat is likely required to read it. Certainly, every lawyer and politician should read and understand it.  The point is, governments do not make diplomatic statements unless they have figured every angle.  The real diplomacy is done behind the scenes, beyond the eyes and ears of the media, and they release what they release to the press in a very calculated way.

Let us suppose that there is some framework that all sides agree upon.  The first order of business would be to begin to manipulate constituencies.  All sides must be aware of everything that is going out of the inner circle to the news media before it is released.  Why did the Arab League not express a strong sense of betrayal by Obama’s offer to Israel?  They knew in advance what was going to happen.  Netanyahu needed to be strengthened politically at home, so that when he does agree to the treaty officially, the opposition will have been softened by his strong stand against another moratorium.

Why, during all of this, would Hamas soften its stand and state that it was willing to abide by a public referendum in relation to the peace talks?  In a recent survey, sixty-two percent of the people in the Middle East would prefer peace.  Such a referendum would tie the diplomatic hands of Gaza and Hamas.  Peace would win out, though there might be considerable public opposition from some of the violent cells in the Hamas organization.  The point is, Hamas acted quickly to suggest that such a referendum would be exercised if Abbas and Netanyahu were able to work out an agreement of peace.  That was a de facto recognition of Israel as a separate state.

The movement toward a Gentile demand for whatever concessions must be made to be advanced, and to give the Palestinians a homeland in the West Bank and Gaza, in accordance with the pre-1967 borders has already begun. 

Brazil announced on the third of December that it was officially recognizing the state of Palestine.  Other nations have been making noise about the United Nations finally pushing Israel back to those narrower borders. 

By rejecting the offer made by Obama, Israel has freed the United States not to veto a U.N resolution for Palestinian statehood.  Israel has now pushed itself into the same corner in which it could have had the U.S. locked.  It makes no sense, unless there are workings behind the scenes, and unless the interested parties knew in advance that the offer would be rejected.

Why the charade?  Why put the world through such an ordeal, at least among those who follow the Mideast peace process?  There can really only be one reason, to move domestic opinion among the peoples away from conflict and toward some sort of peace in which each side concedes much.

It is likely that the final treaty will see the Palestinians and the Israelis agreeing to share East Jerusalem, which they are doing already.  The Palestinians will cede some portion of East Jerusalem to the Israelis, while keeping those neighborhoods that are currently settled by Palestinians.

The fact is, we do not know what is going on behind the scenes, but the political maneuvering of the recent weeks has been senseless unless the outcome was planned before it was announced.

If the world is already in alignment with the prophets concerning the geopolitical stage of the end times, and if the entire Gentile world is pressing harder and harder every day to force Israel to make peace and give up Gaza and the West Bank, then we may safely assume that the times and the seasons are upon us, and the world is closing in on that peace treaty, before which we will meet our Lord face to face and marvel over the glory of God’s heaven.

When people, Christians, agree that the times and the seasons are upon us, they are almost exclusively referring to Matthew chapter twenty-four.  Famines, pestilences, wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes in various places – these form the limit of most Christians’ knowledge of the times and the seasons.  But they ignore the realities on the ground.

Conventional opinion among conservative theologians is that the U.S. is going to suddenly collapse as the leader of the free world.  They argue that it must be deeply reduced to insignificance on the geopolitical stage.  Then another state – some say European, some say a Mediterranean nation, others say Iraq or the U.N. or the European Union – must arise to world dominance.  If this is so, then the times and the seasons must not be upon us. Why, then, do preachers insist that the end times are upon us already.  There is a contradiction inherent in such a position as to void their own stated convictions.

The Bible is very specific about which peoples are going to hold what attitudes toward Israel in the last days of this age.  There are not really very many named nations, but those that are said to be aligned in the last days are already aligned.  Why, then, do theologians ignore the obvious in favor of an interpretation that has already proven itself wrong?  If everything is in place for the events that must follow the rapture, why will conventional theology not examine the state of the world in the light of the prophets; especially given that the most powerful nation the world has ever seen is now pushing Israel into capitulation to its will, with the backing of the entire Gentile world? 

Israel cannot defeat the whole world.  It could, if it were spiritually aware and in tune with the will of God the Father.  But it is not spiritually alive, nor will it be until they say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” 

There is great frustration among the nations of the world – great indignation – over Israel’s refusal to stop building in the contested areas until the negotiations have settled the border issue.  Israel is rapidly losing favor around the world for what the world sees as intransigence.  By appeasing his hard line constituents, Netanyahu has placed Israel in the worst danger it has faced since its wars.  Israel is a nation by the authority of the Gentile world, and that body, the U.N., can revoke that charter or force Israel to move back to the borders granted them in 1948.

From a political perspective, rejection of Obama’s offer did Netanyahu a lot of good at home.  But from a strategic perspective, he may have chewed the straw that breaks the camel’s back.  The world sees that rejection as an arrogant affront.  Brazil’s recognition of the state of Palestine is going to be the first among many nations who will rise in support of what they perceive as “those beleaguered people.” 

In fact, the Palestinians are trespassers on land that God claims for Himself (Joel 3:1-2).  It is the singular event, the dividing of Jerusalem, that will so arouse God’s fury as to spark the onset of the tribulation.  It does not matter what any or all of the Gentile nations think; if God has claimed that land for Himself and for the Israelis, then it does not belong to anyone to partition according to the will of man.  They do not reckon with such a God as the One who owns the land.  He is ignored, while the nations seek their own will. 

We know that Israel will eventually capitulate, else, Daniel and the others of the prophets would have misspoken.  Seeing that the words of the prophets are being fulfilled before our eyes this day, it is probably safe to assume that the end of this age is at hand. 

The Evangelicals are correct insofar as they say that the end times are upon us, and the rapture must happen soon, but their reasoning is twisted, denying what their eyes see and their ears hear.  They are right that the end of Gentile world dominion is near, but their “evidence” suggests that it is years in the future, after the U.S. collapses and some other nation rises to world dominance.  If only the saints would look at what is actually happening, rather than waiting for that which is not going to happen, they could easily see the truth.

This is an important message.  If we are reading this correctly, then the Church has little time to preach the Gospel, ministering the word of reconciliation to the lost.  If it is correct, then the rapture must be very near indeed.  

Midnight Rising Book Review

Midnight Rising-Warning Signs for This Generation

· Author William Anderson Simpson
· ISBN 193526530X
· Publisher Deep River Books
· Publishing Date September 1, 2010
· Price $14.99

William Anderson Simpson writes Midnight Rising-Warning Signs for This Generation , giving us a a deeper look into the scriptures and studies and its relationship to rapture. Simpson talks about not only reading the obvious signs of the end times drawing near but those of political view in his books. He brings to point how politically we need to change our world view on things. Which I agree with, he makes many fine points but one thing he wrote is that people , all people must want to change. We may say it, think it, but we’re only at the beginning of change I think.

I consider myself a Christian , reading how Simpson says how the “Evangelicals” can point out who they believe to be the Antichrist, has taken me back quick a bit. I’ll admit it took me awhile to finish this book as I would read something and have to walk away from it. Throughout his book he brings up many other views reading the same way, it was just a major snag for me. When I would pick it back up and start again, Simpson would write why they may be Antichrist, and dive deeper into a scripture that would explain a better meaning for his reasons. He does an wonderful job on taking you through some different views, even if I don’t agree with them. His take and explanation is well written.
The book is interesting and has brought may debates with my husband and I who read the book as well. We can literally sit for hours discussing some things in this book. The main things that heated up a debate were Simpson stand on the political view of things, which nearly always ruffle the feathers around here. My husband and I have the same stand politically, but add religion into the mix and it’s not always a very smooth discussion. We are both Christian but still have our own views and understanding of things.

I will say that Midnight Rising-Warning Signs for This Generation has sparked up some interest discussions ,amongst a few of my friends and family. Simpson breaks down and explains rapture and his take on the numerous scripture he shares throughout the books. It’s an interesting read and brings up many fine points on how we as a whole must come together. The cover itself draws you in with it's black cover and clock, with a flag in the background, Sparking the beginning of his compelling take on the signs drawing near in the future.

If your interested in reading further about the rapture this is a excellent book that can give you a better understanding of some scripture dealing with it as well as how it takes stand in today’s world.

**Disclosure-I received the book Midnight Rising: Warning Signs for this Generation to read and review. No monetary compensation was received for this post. Any and all opinions are and will always be my own. **


To Read more about Wm. Anderson Simpson author of Midnight Rising-Warning Signs For This Generation-Deep River Books 2010. www.midnightrisingbook.net http://itsmysideoflife.com/2010/12/midnight-rising-warning-signs-for-this.html