Life on Earth in the Millennium

By Jack Kelley
GraceThruFaith.com

Hal Lindsey once speculated that at his judgment Satan hurled two accusations at God. “You’re not just and You have no love.” In our last study we saw how God demonstrated His perfect justice with Israel and His perfect love with the Church. Israel lived under an absolutely just system of law. It was clear and concise, made no exceptions, and showed no favoritism. There was blessing for obedience and punishment for disobedience in an obvious cause and effect relationship. What they did determined what they got. God said to them,

“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:5-6)

The Church was shown the incomparable riches of God’s grace. We’re the most blessed of any group of humanity and the only thing asked of us is that we accept by faith the free gift of salvation, purchased in advance for us with God’s own life. Yes, God is pleased if we live our lives in a manner that expresses our gratitude to Him, but the only thing He requires is that we believe in the one He has sent.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

In the Kingdom Age believers will be saved by faith, like the Church, but will be required to keep the Law as evidence of their belief, like Israel. Perfect justice, perfect love. This will be God’s final answer to Satan and His final attempt to dwell among His people in peace. Will it work, or like Israel and the Church before it, will the Kingdom Age end in failure?

We’ve only talked about Law and Grace but there were actually four other attempts at peaceful coexistence between God and man leading up to them. For a complete understanding of man’s history with his Creator, we’ll need to review these others as well. They’re called dispensations, or administrations, and all together there are seven of them.

The 7 Dispensations

Throughout history God has dealt with His people in different ways as part of the process of revealing His character. Each of these dispensations began with an agreement between God and man that man subsequently violated, ending the relationship in failure and requiring a judgment from God.

1) Innocence … Between the Creation and the Fall of Man God interacted freely and personally with man. Man was created immortal and while he had agency (the power of choice) he didn’t have a sin nature. God placed Adam and Eve in His garden and gave them only one restriction. But they violated this restriction and were expelled from the Garden. Adam, Eve, and the Serpent were all judged, the Creation was cursed, and sin entered the world.

2) Conscience … Between the Fall of Man and the Great Flood God allowed man’s conscience to rule without Divine interference. Because of man’s newly acquired sin nature, the result of this was...

“the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5)

After repeated warnings, God destroyed all but 8 members of the Human race in the Great Flood.

3) Human Government … from Noah to the Tower of Babel. After the Flood, God allowed man to establish his first system of government. But the people disobeyed God’s commandment to go forth and replenish the Earth, setting about instead to build a great city and a tower to protect themselves from another flood. They also used the tower to study astrology, a corruption of the Gospel that God had written in the stars using the names of 12 constellations. So God gave each of the 70 families of man a unique language that other families weren’t able to understand. This caused confusion and distrust among the people and they drifted apart to be scattered through out the world, and God destroyed the tower.

4) Promise … God set Abraham’s descendants apart as His Chosen People and promised Abraham and Sarah a son through whom He said He would bless the world. But they grew tired of waiting for Him, and they produced a son on their own, calling him Ishmael. Later, when God gave them Isaac, the son He had promised, Ishmael was sent away causing bad blood between Ishmael (Arabs) and Isaac (Jews) that continues to this day.

5) Law … from Mt. Sinai to Pentecost. After God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, He gave Moses the 10 Commandments and offered the Jews the land He had promised to Abraham along with a life of peace and plenty if they obeyed His Law. After 2000 years of vacillating between obedience and rebellion that resulted in them rejecting the Messiah, God finally had enough, expelled them from their land, and dispersed them throughout the world.

6) Grace … The Church Age. No longer requiring that righteousness be earned through obedience to the Law, God imputed His own righteousness to man by grace through faith in the completed work of the Lord Jesus, promising eternal blessing and a place in His own house to all who accept. It was the most outrageously lavish gift ever bestowed, free for the asking. But by the end of the Age of Grace most of humanity will have rejected His gift, choosing instead to live on their own terms, betting that either God doesn’t exist, or if He does He’ll allow them into His kingdom anyway. After removing the relative few who have accepted His gift so they’ll be safe with Him, He’ll punish the rest through the most severe time of judgment ever visited on Earth.

7) Kingdom … the 1000 Year Reign of the Lord, also known as the Millennium. At its outset Satan will be bound, all unbelievers will be expelled from the planet, the curse will be removed, and God will once again dwell in the midst of His people. You would think that finally man could live in a manner pleasing to Him. Whether he will or not is the subject of our study.

Who Are You Calling a Failure?

Some in the Church might question the view that the Age of Grace has been a failure, but that’s because we’re among the few who have accepted the Lord’s free gift of pardon and will therefore enjoy its benefits. Remember, God’s desire is to reconcile us to Himself (Colossians 1:19-20). He doesn’t want for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). And yet over the last 2,000 years most people have turned down His gift and gone their own way. After doing everything He could, short of violating man’s free will and forcing him to accept the pardon He offered, most of mankind will have rejected Him. Can you blame Him for being so angry as to unleash the full fury of His wrath against them?

A principle of motivational compensation holds that when you give people something they haven’t earned and don’t deserve, you don’t gain their respect, you gain their resentment. Never before has God given the world so much more than we deserve, and never before has the world resented His presence more than today.

Even in the Church the response to God’s gift of eternal Life has been more apathy than adoration. When less than 10% of people who claim to be born again have adopted a Christian worldview, it’s clear that there’s been a serious disconnect between His gift and our gratitude. When compared to the desired goal, the Age of Grace has been a failure.

None of this is any more of a surprise to God than the outcome of His previous attempts. He doesn’t do things so He can see how we’ll respond. He already knows that. He does things so we can see how we’ll respond. Paul said everything that was written in the past was written to teach us. (Romans 15:4) So far the lesson has been that no matter what God has done to draw us near, man is untrustworthy and rebellious, pushing God away and bringing judgment upon himself.

Now for the Kingdom

OK, so what about the Kingdom Age, will it be a failure too? A study of the Kingdom Age shows that at the beginning life will be as close to heaven on earth as one could imagine. There will be peace on Earth and goodwill toward man, just like the angel promised to the shepherds on the night of the Lord’s birth. (Luke 2:14) The newly freed creation will respond eagerly to man’s husbandry. Perfect weather and overflowing bounty will make his work a joy instead of a burdensome toil. Long life spans will return as sickness and disease become a thing of the past.

“Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with cane in hand because of his age. The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.” (Zech. 8:4-5).

This will be true throughout the world because the Lord will settle disputes between the nations and peace will flow like a river.

The Bible only describes the beginning and end of the Kingdom Age, but because of the shocking difference in the two, we can surmise that after a period of time things start going downhill fast. The Lord’s administration will be just but inflexible. He’ll rule them with a rod of iron and His punishment for disobedience will be harsh and swift. (Remember, the Age of Grace will end at the Rapture.) At some point the people of Earth will rebel. Psalm 2 tells the story.

Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One.

“Let us break their chains,” they say, “and throw off their fetters.”

The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.” (Psalm 2:1-6)

Once again created beings will presume to free themselves from the rule of their Creator. But the King ruling the Earth was put there by God Himself, and that makes Him the King of their kings. Then He’ll remind them of their position in the hierarchy.

I will proclaim the decree of the LORD : He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. (Psalm 2:7-12)

In an event that was later modeled in the Biblical adoption ceremony (Galatians 4:4-7), the Father formally named His Son heir of His estate and bequeathed His inheritance to Him. All the nations are His, and He has the authority to rule them as He pleases. Man’s choice will be to obey or suffer the consequences. Obedience will be rewarded with blessing, but rebellion will bring swift destruction.

We’re neither told how many will be saved during the Millennium, nor what their destiny will be. What we are told is at the end of the 1000 year Kingdom Age Satan will be freed and will have no trouble recruiting a large army for one last attempt to regain his lost empire. He’ll find a ready audience for his deception and his army will soon be as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore. From all over the world they’ll come to surround God’s people and His Holy City. But in one sudden burst of flame from Heaven they’ll be devoured and Satan will be cast into the Lake of Fire for eternity. (Rev. 20:7-10) Once again, man rebels, God judges and another Age ends in failure.

Then the end will come, when he (Jesus) hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.” (Psalm 8:6)

Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all. (1 Cor. 15:24-28)

God’s response to Satan’s accusations will be complete. Satan’s judgment will be final. Heaven and Earth will be purified. Eternity will begin. And God will reign supreme. Hallelujah!


Related Posts

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What Does A Dispensationalist Believe?
Releasing Satan
The Meaning Of The Millennium
Why Did God Wait?
Why Isn’t Everyone Saved?

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The Late Great U.S.A.

By Dr. Thomas Ice
Pre-Trib Research Center

"My son, fear the Lord and the king; do not associate with those who are given to change; for their calamity will rise suddenly, and who knows the ruin that comes from both of them?" - Proverbs 24:21–22

Former Clinton advisor and commentator Dick Morris announced:

"On April 2, 2009, the work of July 4, 1776 was nullified at the meeting of the G-20 in London." [1]

That is an amazing statement and a tragedy if true. One of my best friends in the ministry, with whom I have co-authored two books, Mark Hitchcock wrote a book, which was finished before last November's election, entitled The Late Great United States. [2] There are two other books listed on amazon.com with similar titles. Why are many concerned that our great country is on the verge of extinction?

Change

It is said after the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that a lady asked Dr. Ben Franklin the following: "Well Doctor what have we got a republic or a monarchy?" "A republic" replied the Doctor..."if you can keep it." [3] Well, apparently a growing number of Americans think that we have lost it after about 220 years. Some are suggesting that it was lost via suicide. What have we received in return for our once great republic? We are now part of an international oligarchy run by a bunch of global elites. How did this happen and when did this change take place?

Like many things that bring change, it has not taken place overnight. America has been gradually moving toward socialism for the last hundred years, but I do not want to trace that history in this article. I want to focus on recent events that are producing so much change since the election of Barack Obama as president of these United States.

Dick Morris notes that Obama at the recent meeting of the G-20 in London has agreed to enter the United States into an economical arrangement that will regulate our economy in terms of the international interests of this European dominated oligarchy at the expense of American interests. The agreement by which Obama has obligated the United States is called the Financial Stability Board (FSB), which is "a body of central bankers from each of the G-20 states and the European Union." [4] The head of the FSB is Mario Draghi, Italy's central bank president. In a speech on February 21, 2009, he gave us clues to his thinking. He noted that "the progress we have made in revising the global regulatory framework . . . would have been unthinkable just months ago." [5]

"Obama, perhaps feeling guilty for the US role in triggering the international crisis, has, indeed, given away the store," notes Morris. "Now we may no longer look to presidential appointees, confirmed by the Senate, to make policy for our economy. These decisions will be made internationally." [6]

So what does this mean specifically for the American economy? Morris said to Greta Van Susteren on Fox News the following:

Literally from April 2nd of this year—that is, today — it's a whole new world of financial regulation in which, essentially, all of the U.S. regulatory bodies and all U.S. companies are put under international regulation, international supervision. It really amounts to a global economic government.

...Just when Obama is accused of socialism, he's essentially creating world economic governance. This means that the FSB, ...will make the decisions on what standards our own SEC and Federal Reserve board should apply to all firms in the United States of any significant size about executive compensation, market activities, and a whole range of issues that used to be under free enterprise reserved for private decision making. [7]

A New World Order

In 1989 President George H. Bush spoke of a new world order in one of his speeches. However, it produced a flurry of criticism and he stopped using the term in public. Many have known for a long time that the phrase "new world order" is essentially a code word for global socialism. The last couple of years, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown can hardly give a speech without making reference to the new world order. During a speech he recently gave in conjunction with the G-20 summit in London, sounding like a twenty-first century Neville Chamberlain, Brown said the following about the new world order:

"This is Collective action, people working together at their best...I think the New World Order is emerging, and with it the foundations of a new and progressive era of international cooperation...From today we will together manage the process of globalization...To secure responsibility from all and fairness to all." [8]

In January 2009, Henry Kissinger made a remark about the new world order during an interview with CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" hosts Mark Haines and Erin Burnett at the New York Stock Exchange. When Burnett asked him what international conflict would define the Obama administration's foreign policy, Kissinger said the following:

"The president-elect is coming into office at a moment when there is upheaval in many parts of the world simultaneously," Kissinger responded. "You have India, Pakistan; you have the jihadist movement. So he can't really say there is one problem, that it's the most important one. But he can give new impetus to American foreign policy partly because the reception of him is so extraordinary around the world. His task will be to develop an overall strategy for America in this period when, really, a new world order can be created. It's a great opportunity, it isn't just a crisis." [9]

No one can doubt that President Obama is currently taking advantage of the crisis. After all, Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have both noted that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.

Further the Chinese and Russians have called for a new global currency that would replace the dollar and would not represent any specific country. They want the new global currency to be issued by the World Bank, which is something that seemed impossible this time last year but now could be a very real possibility in the near future.

The European Union

Dick Morris not only emphasizes that the United States is now locked into the matrix of a global economic oligarchy but it is one that will be primarily under the control of the European Union. "You know, I've had a long experience in dealing with the European Union, and this is how they operate," explains Morris. "And in the meantime, they slip this in under the radar, which is absolutely creating an international economic union." [10]

Then Morris concluded with amazement, "This truly creates a global economic system. From now on, don't look to Washington for the rule making, look to Brussels." [11]

Thus, from a prophetic view, the Bible teaches that the tribulation will be a time in which there will be not only a global government during the last half of the seven-year tribulation, but that governance will emanate from the Revived Roman Empire. This means a Euro-centric power base is what we can expect and that is exactly what is developing. Morris concludes his article with the following comment:

"The Europeans have been trying to get their hands on our financial system for decades. It is essential to them that they rein in American free enterprise so that their socialist heaven will not be polluted by vices such as the profit motive. Now, with President Obama's approval, they have done it." [12]

Conclusion

Where are all of these explosive trends heading? As Bible prophecy predicts, there will be a one world government during the seven-year tribulation, headed by a person we know as the Antichrist. Since the Antichrist will arise out of the Revived Roman Empire, which the European Union appears to be setting the stage for just such an entity, we should not be surprised to see things trending in that direction even before the rapture.

Previously, the United States was often the one standing in the way of a global economy and government. We are not yet there, but who can doubt that since the beginning of the Obama presidency that we are indeed seeing change and moving into harmony with the one world government crowd. In the past the United States stood in the way and acted in her national interest, as I believe we should still do, but now we are the last domino to fall and nothing of significance appears to stand in the way of globalism. Only the future return of Christ after the tribulation will really bring change for Christians.

I have noticed on the internet that certain Bible prophecy ministries are noting the very things that I have just outlined and often call these things a "fulfillment" of Bible prophecy. Such language is an overstatement and an incorrect conclusion drawn from the signs of our times. Instead, it is best to see these events as preparation for fulfillment, which will take place during the tribulation that we are currently not yet in. We are seeing the stage being set for future events. Such stage-setting certainly is moving our pre-rapture world toward the one world government and economy that is predicted by Bible prophecy for this future time.

There are so many events taking place each day one can hardly keep up with them. Nevertheless, we are to always be looking up for Him. Maranatha!


Endnotes

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[1] Dick Morris, "The Declaration of Independence has been Repealed" (DickMorris.com, April 6, 2009).
[2] Mark Hitchcock, The Late Great United States: What Bible Prophecy Reveals about America's Last Days (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Books, 2009).
[3] Cited at Bartleby.com, number 1593.
[4] Morris, "The Declaration . . ."
[5] Morris, "The Declaration . . ."
[6] Morris, "The Declaration . . ."
[7] Dick Morris, "Obama a 'Disaster' at the G20 Summit," on Greta Van Susteren, "On the Record" (FoxNews.com: April 3, 2009).
[8] David Hinz, "Gordon Brown Declares New World Order is Emerging" (http://www.theminorityreportblog.com/ , April 2, 2009).
[9] Drew Zahn, "Kissinger: Obama primed to create 'New World Order'" (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/ : January 6, 2009).
[10] Morris, "Obama a 'Disaster'"
[11] Morris, "Obama a 'Disaster'"
[12] Morris, "The Declaration . . ."

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Will Ahmadinejad Stay?

By Joel C. Rosenberg

Keep your eyes on Iran on June 12th. That’s the date Iranian voters go to the polls to “choose” their next leaders. “Choose” is putting the best face on it. The elections are effectively rigged by the forces of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini. The man the Supreme Leader wants to be president will be “elected” president. Period. End of sentence.

The question is whether Khameini wants Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to remain in office. If so, Ahmadinejad should remain in power and the nuclear showdown with Israel and the U.S. will intensify dramatically. Thus far, all indications are that Khameini agrees completely with Ahmadinejad’s eschatology, or End Times theology. The Supreme Leader has occasionally reined in the President on social or economic issues, but never in Ahmadinejad’s outspoken view that the end of the world is near, the Islamic Messiah known as the Mahdi is coming, and the way to hasten the Mahdi’s coming is to annihilate Israel and the U.S. Last August, Khameini appeared to endorse Ahmadinejad for re-election. This week, 211 members of the 295-seat Iranian parliament endorsed Ahmadinejad for re-election.

Worth noting: Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria writes a bizarre cover story this week in which he asserts that Iran’s apocalyptic, genocidal leaders have no interest in building nukes when even the Obama administration’s top military expert says Iran most certainly is pursuing nuclear weapons. Excerpts:

“Everything you know about Iran is wrong, or at least more complicated than you think. Take the bomb. The regime wants to be a nuclear power but could well be happy with a peaceful civilian program (which could make the challenge it poses more complex). What’s the evidence? Well, over the last five years, senior Iranian officials at every level have repeatedly asserted that they do not intend to build nuclear weapons. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has quoted the regime’s founding father, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who asserted that such weapons were ‘un-Islamic.’ The country’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a fatwa in 2004 describing the use of nuclear weapons as immoral. In a subsequent sermon, he declared that ‘developing, producing or stockpiling nuclear weapons is forbidden under Islam.’ Last year Khamenei reiterated all these points after meeting with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei. Now, of course, they could all be lying.”

Exactly, Fareed. They’re lying. Like they were lying about not having secret nuclear research facilities until 2002 when an Iranian dissident group exposed those lies at a press conference in Washington and we discovered two advanced and dangerous facilities Western intelligence agencies hadn’t known existed until then. As I described in Inside The Revolution, Ahmadinejad and other top Iranian leaders have been crystal clear about their intentions. I quote them in detail and at length from their speeches and interviews. Why is it so hard for “experts” like Fareed and others to see the danger that such men pose not just to Israel but to Judeo-Christian civilization as we know it?

Related News

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Venezuela Selling Uranium to Iran? Israel Thinks So - ChattahBox
Rival Iranian institute slams president on nuke program - Ynetnews
In Iran, Ahmadinejad fires back at nuclear critics - PRESS TV

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Israel and Prophetic Proof - Part I

By Dave Hunt

"And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them....And they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God." ~ Amos 9:14-15

About 150 years ago, the King of Sweden had troubling doubts about whether the Bible was really true in every word. He asked Count von Zinzendorf, bishop of the Moravian Church, to give him proof that the Bible was truly inspired of God. The King had set aside 10 hours to hear what might be said. To his majesty's surprise, Zinzendorf informed him that the time allotted was far too much. He only needed to say one word. Astonished, the King asked what that could be. The Count replied, "Jews."

Today we would add one more word, "Israel." In Zinzendorf's day, that tiny and beleaguered nation, born on May 14, 1948, did not exist except in the hearts of Zionists who had never given up awaiting the fulfillment of the "God of Israel's" solemn promises. The continued existence of Israel today, surrounded by more than a billion Muslims who have sworn to exterminate her and who continually plot and repeatedly attack her in the attempt to do so, is one of the most astonishing miracles of modern times.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has blessed the Jewish people with a brilliance that generally far exceeds their cousins the Arabs and the rest of the Gentile world.

The Arabs have the oil, but the Jews have the brains. Lest I be accused of racism, one need only compare the numbers of Nobel prize winners among them. In the Arab/Muslim world of 1.4 billion there are 6 Nobelists: 3 for Peace, and 1 each for Chemistry, Physics, and Literature.

In the Jewish population of 14 million (one hundredth of the Arab world) there are 165 Nobelists: 51 for Medicine, 45 for Physics, 27 for chemistry, 22 for Economics, 11 for Literature, and 9 for Peace. This is astonishing!

Supporting the amazing facts surrounding Israel, there are literally dozens of biblical prophecies foretelling her sudden rise to become the world's premiere military power, the persistent attacks upon her from Muslim nations, and the fear of Israel that grips hostile Arab neighbors today. Yes, well might they fear her. Israel could wipe them out very quickly if she chose to do so. Instead, she has all too patiently endured their outspoken hatred, insults, repeated open threats of extermination, persistent rocket and terrorist attacks, and their continued feverish efforts to build the nuclear capability to destroy her.

Israel's patience ends when the threat becomes too dangerous. As it was with Syria, that may soon be the case with Iran, which is hoping one day to launch a nuclear attack on Israel. Iran would then become the hero of the Islamic world. If such an attack became possible, it would force Israel to preemptively destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, as it did after Syria's attempt to develop nuclear capabilities.

For months, by satellite, Israel followed ship after ship from North Korea as they landed in Syria and watched the convoys of trucks as they discharged their cargo in a "secret" desert destination. She patiently watched the construction of a nuclear facility disguised as a "cement plant" and ridiculously surrounded by the latest Russian radar and surface-to-air missiles. The evidence was shown to President George W. Bush, including photos taken inside the facility and missiles and radar protecting the unusual "cement."¹ (Condoleezza Rice, whose "Replacement Theology" prevents her from being a true friend of Israel, was not consulted. The State Department has long been the enemy of Israel.)

With Bush's tacit approval, Israeli planes went in and destroyed the nuclear facility along with the latest Russian protection surrounding it. How did Israeli planes pierce these sophisticated defenses? They are not sharing that secret with anyone, least of all with our "friends" in the State Department.

These current events, like so many others, have been foretold in the Bible. In spite of their accuracy, critics deny their relevance. Some claim to be former Christians. One can only wonder what kind of "Christians" they were to remain in such complete ignorance of the Bible while pretending to know it so well. Gary Lenaire, for example, says that he "spent 15 years in the church...released nine contemporary Christian music albums, was nominated for six Gospel Music Awards...preached the gospel...around the world [and] served as a voluntary Chaplain for the Military Department."² He writes in An Infidel Manifesto:

Biblical prophecy is perhaps the most powerful tool for religious delusion....Look at any so-called prophesies [sic] in scripture: the wording is so general that you could attach almost any event and say, "Look, this is a fulfilled prophecy!" That is exactly why there are thousands of people today saying that they are witnessing prophecies being fulfilled in our generation....Most of the so-called prophecies were never intended...as prophetical in the first place...the words are so general you could make them to mean almost anything. Take a look at them without the dogma of your local preacher.³

This is so pitiful that it is embarrassing. This "expert on Bible prophecy" offers little more than inexcusable ignorance and prejudice. He says, "any so-called prophecies." While some prophecies are difficult to understand, there are hundreds that clearly have been fulfilled to the letter and some are still in the process of being fulfilled.

"So general you could make them to mean almost anything"? In fact, they are so specific that Lenaire's statements would be laughable were they not influencing so many to turn from God.

Here is one of numerous prophecies (circa 600 BC), of which the specificity cannot be denied.

"Therefore behold the days are coming, says the Lord, that they shall no longer say 'As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,' but 'As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I have driven them'" (See Jer 16:14-15; 23:7-8).

Notice the detailed prophetic elements. As the deliverance from "the land of Egypt," spoken of in the book of Exodus, was what Jews looked back to each year in the Passover as a reminder of God's love and power, that event would fade from its prominence in their minds to be replaced by something more recent. The prophecy has two distinct parts: 1) a confirmation of many previous prophecies that the Jews were going to be led captive into "every nation" (Lk 21:24), and 2) their eventual deliverance and return to Israel would almost eclipse from the national memory their deliverance from Egypt. And so it has happened.

The great proof that the Bible repeatedly offers of its veracity is the fact that God, through His prophets, tells what will happen centuries and even thousands of years in advance. There is no arguing with the precise detail and accuracy of any of the Bible's hundreds of prophecies. Yet, Lenaire, in typical atheist fashion, declared that most prophecies were so general that one could make them mean almost anything. Not so!

Lenaire is either deliberately attempting to mislead his readers, or he is displaying an abysmal ignorance. Most prophecies are, in fact, so specific that no one could argue with their meaning.

In Joel 3:2 (circa 800 BC), God declared that the day was coming when all nations would join to divide the land of Israel:

"I will also gather all nations...and will plead with them [punish them] for my people and [for] my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land."

This is remarkable! Throughout its entire 3,000-plus-year history, the land of Israel had never been divided. It had been conquered by various nations, but even when the Turks held it as part of their Ottoman Empire for 400 years, they did not divide the land. A conqueror keeps the land he has conquered intact for himself. Why divide it?

This division of Israel has occurred only in our day. Britain, which had been placed in charge of "Palestine" by the allied forces who had conquered it in World War I, had been given the mandate by the League of Nations to see that this land should remain as a refuge for the Jews, who had been scattered everywhere.

Instead of fulfilling this mandate, Britain gave about 75 percent of the land to the Arab Muslims in exchange for oil. In 1947, the United Nations, through Resolution 181 and in fulfillment of Joel 3:2, formalized this breach of trust. Israel finally received a mere 13 percent of what they had been promised. This is now history. Britain and the UN infamously fulfilled Joel 3:2 and parted God's land.

The God of Israel, knowing all that would happen, had warned in advance that He would avenge Himself for this brazen robbery of His people. After being attacked by Muslim nations, who were following Allah's edict through Muhammad that all Jews must be destroyed, Israel, in self-defense recaptured some of this land.

Christ himself made a number of prophecies before His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Like many other Hebrew prophets, Christ foretold the scattering of Jews all over the earth and the coming Great Tribulation (Luke 21:24-26). Also in Luke 21:24, there is a remarkable and very specific prophecy concerning Jerusalem itself: Jesus declared "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled."

When did this "treading down" of Jerusalem by Gentiles begin? In fact, it has been going on for centuries, beginning with Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of Jerusalem(2 Ki 24:10-11), dated 587-586 BC. This prophecy tells us of what Christ called "the times of the Gentiles." As it has so often, the existence of the United Nations played a key role. In partial fulfillment of Christ's prophecy, a vital part of UN Resolution 181 was the declaration that Jerusalem would be a corpus separatum, never part of Israel and never under the control of Jews.

Consider how specific the following is from the prophet Zechariah:

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. (Zec 12:2-3)

Two groups are distinguished by the prophet: "all the people round about Judah and Jerusalem" and "all the people of the earth." These groups are identified by two separate prophecies. To the first group, Jerusalem will be "a cup of trembling" and to the second group, "a burdensome stone." The first group is further identified as being united together "in a siege" against Judah and Jerusalem, the second group as "gathered together" against her.

Why will Israel be a "cup of trembling" to her neighbors? As we have just pointed out, Israel is the premier military power in the world, and she could wipe out her Arab neighbors very quickly but refrains from doing so. As for being a "burdensome stone," how better to show the fulfillment of this specific prophecy than by the fact that from 1967-1989 out of 865 resolutions in the Security Council and General Assembly of the UN, 526 were against Israel.

As we have pointed out, that was the first time that Israel had ever been divided. Now we also see the first time that all nations surrounding it have been united in a common goal. Traditionally, these nations had been enemies. What unites them now? They are all Muslims, and it is Islam (which did not even exist at the time of the prophecy) that joins them in the common desire to destroy Israel.

For all nations to be united against Israel, there would have to be an organization of "all nations." The United Nations came into existence in 1945, just in time to be the means of fulfilling this prophecy.

This 2,500-year-old prophecy is both specific in its details and flawless in its accuracy.

Another amazing prophecy concerns anti-Semitism. There is no rational explanation for this implacable hatred that has continued over several thousand years. What fuels this insane obsession is the determination to exterminate the Jews. No other national people have been the long-term targets of such a goal. In The Secret War Against the Jews, Mark Aarons and John Loftus write:

For more than twenty centuries [Jews] have...been persecuted, uprooted, and annihilated. [Yes] many [other] groups have suffered grievously at the hands of tyrants, but there is a crucial difference....

In each of these cases, the genocide was intended to serve a deeper purpose - the conquest of territory, the acquisition of wealth, the enlargement of political power....In contrast, the genocide of the Jewish people was not...attempted in order to achieve a more fundamental purpose. It was the fundamental purpose. This is what makes the Nazi Holocaust unique.⁴ [Emphasis added]

Yes, many groups of people have suffered greatly. The Muslims wiped out more than a million Armenians as well as millions of other peoples throughout history. Thousands of blacks were transported from Africa to become slaves in a trade begun by Arabs and assisted by Africans. However, the quote above indicates that the intent was not to exterminate these people, as has been (and still is) the Muslims' goal with the Jews.

Incredibly, the obvious lie persists by religious and political leaders such as recent popes, former leaders President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and now President Obama, that Islam is a religion of peace and has been maligned by critics. In fact, Muslims have murdered millions in their long-standing goal to take over the world, and there is an ongoing slaughter that continues to this day in Indonesia, Sudan, Nigeria, and elsewhere.

In contrast to the persistent praise of Islam as a force for peace in the world, Israel, which has never voiced unprovoked threats against other nations and has acted only in self-defense, has been accused repeatedly in the United Nations of aggression against innocent neighbors.

Fulfilled biblical prophecy stands as undeniable proof that the God of the Bible exists. Furthermore, these many prophecies, of which we will, God willing, have more to say next month, stand as a warning to the world of coming judgment. We will also review the many promises of blessing for those who will heed God's Word concerning Israel.

Endnotes

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1. http://www.nysun.com/foreign/israel-north-korea-helped-syria-build-nuclear/64545/;also http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/20/AR2007092002701.html.

2. Gary Lenaire, An Infidel Manifesto: why sincere believers lose faith (Baltimore: PublishAmerica, 2006), back cover.
3. Lenaire, Infidel,120-21.
4. John Loftus and Mark Aarons, The Secret War Against the Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed the Jewish People (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994).

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Obama Tells Jews Where They Can Live

By Joseph Farah

Barack Obama is taking what he and his administration refer to as "a more balanced approach to Middle East policy."

Let me explain what that literally means in real terms.

It means the U.S. government is now using its clout with Israel to insist Jews, not Israelis, mind you, but Jews, be disallowed from living in East Jerusalem and the historically Jewish lands of Judea and Samaria, often referred to as the West Bank.

I want you to try to imagine the outrage, the horror, the outcry, the clamoring, the gnashing of teeth that would ensue if Arabs or Muslims were told they could no longer live in certain parts of Israel – let alone their own country.

Of course, that would never happen with "a more balanced approach to the Middle East."

It's the 1930s all over again. This time, it's the enlightened liberal voices of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama who are telling Jews where they can live, how they can live and how far they must bend if they want to live at all.

I know you haven't heard it put like this before. I don't really understand why. There is simply no other accurate way to explain the machinations behind the latest demands on Israel from the West and the rest of the world.

Israel is being reduced to "Auschwitz borders." Jews have already been told they can no longer live in the Gaza Strip. Now they are being told they can no longer choose to live in any of the areas being set aside by international elites for a future Palestinian state.

Again, I ask, "Why would internationalists seek to create, by definition, a racist, anti-Jewish state that doesn't even tolerate the mere presence of Jews?"

Can anyone answer that question for me?

Obama and Clinton – and, thus, by definition, you and me, the taxpayers of the United States – have determined they will yield to the racist, bigoted, anti-Semitic demands of the Palestinian Authority that no Jews be allowed to live in their new state.

I like to think that in any other part of the world, this kind of effort at ethnically cleansing a region would be roundly condemned by all civilized people. Yet, because most people simply don't understand the clear, official plan by the Arab leaders to force out all Jews from the new Palestinian state, the policies of capitulation retain a degree of sympathy, even political support, from much of the world.

Think about what I am saying: It is the official policy of the Palestinian Authority that all Jews must get off the land! Why is the United States supporting the creation of a new, racist, anti-Semitic hate state? Why is the civilized world viewing this as a prescription for peace in the region? Why is this considered an acceptable idea?

Is there any other place in the world where that kind of official policy of racism and ethnic cleansing is tolerated – even condoned?

Why are the rules different in the Middle East? Why are the rules different for Arabs? Why are the rules different for Muslims?

Why are U.S. tax dollars supporting the racist, anti-Semitic entity known as the Palestinian Authority?

That's what we do when we forbid "settlement construction," repairs, natural growth, additions to existing communities.

This is "balance"? Are there any impositions upon the Arabs and Muslims suggesting they can no longer move to Israel? No. Are there any impositions on Arabs and Muslims suggesting they cannot buy homes in Israel? No. Are there any impositions on Arabs and Muslim suggesting they cannot repair their existing homes in Israel? No. Are there any impositions on Arabs or Muslims suggesting they cannot build settlements anywhere they like? No.

Now, keep in mind, there are already quite a few Arab and Muslim states in the Middle East. Many of them already forbid Jews to live in them. Some prohibit Christians as well. But now, the only Jewish state in the world, and one that has a claim on the land dating back to the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is being told Jews must keep off land currently under their own control, but destined for transfer to people who hate them, despise them, want to see them dead and will not even accept living peacefully with them as neighbors.

All the while, Israel continues to hold out its naïve hand of friendship to the Arabs and the Muslims – welcoming them in their own tiny nation surrounded by hateful neighbors. Arabs and Muslims are offered full citizenship rights – and even serve in elected office. They publish newspapers and broadcast on radio and television freely.

But, conversely, Jews are one step away from eviction from homes they have sometimes occupied for generations. Gaza is about to happen all over again.

I hope my Jewish friends remember this well. Many of them voted for Barack Obama. Many of them voted for Hillary Clinton. These are not your friends. These are the same kinds of people who turned away ships of Jewish refugees from Germany in the 1940s. These are the same kinds of people who appeased Adolf Hitler at Munich. These are the same kinds of people who made the reformation of the modern state of Israel so difficult.

I say, "No more ethnic cleansing. No more official anti-Semitism accepted. No more Jew-bashing. No more telling Jews where they can live, how they can – and if they can live."

Related News

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'Special Report' Panel on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - FOX News
USA: Obama calls on Israel to stop sattlements- France 24
Arabs seeks immediate halt of Israeli settlements - eTaiwan News

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Jews Celebrate Pentecost

By Jimmy DeYoung

Early Friday morning tens of thousands of Jewish worshipers went to the Western Wall in Jerusalem at the Temple Mount for their morning prayers in honor of the holy day of Shavuot, the Jewish feast day of Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks with many of them having spent the night engrossed in study of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. This Jewish feast day has an agricultural connection in accordance with the Biblical command to bring the first fruits of the wheat harvest to the temple. But without a temple in Jerusalem, the emphasis has been on celebrating the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai some 3500 years ago - thus the all night study of the Bible.

Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News

Even though the Jewish people celebrate Shavuot, the Feast of Pentecost, on the wrong day of the week, Jesus Christ has and will fulfill all all seven of the Jewish feasts on the right day - according to Bible prophecy.

God gave the seven Jewish feast days to the Jews before they had entered the Promised Land and He was very detailed with his instructions found in the Old Testament book of Leviticus 23. I mentioned that the Jews observe Pentecost, Shavuot, on the wrong day according to the command given in Leviticus 23. Leviticus 23:15-16 says that Pentecost should be observed on the day after the Sabbath, which would be Saturday, and in fact the seventh sabbath after the feast of Firstfruits which the Jews no longer observe. The feast should be celebrated on Sunday - not Friday.

It is interesting to note that Jesus was crucified on Passover, buried on Unleavened Bread, and He resurrected on Firstfruits, the first three Jewish feast days. Acts 2 says that the Day of Pentecost was when the Holy Spirit came upon the Church. Jesus actually fulfilled the first four Jewish feast days on the proper day called for in the Bible. Jesus the Messiah will come back to Earth on the Feast of Trumpets, go into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, and begin His reign during His Millenial Kingdom on the Feast of Tabernacles.

Jews celebrating the Feast of Pentecost is indeed a reminder that Bible prophecy will be fulfilled.

Related Posts

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Pentecost and the Rapture of the Church - Jack Kelley
How Much Does Pentecost? - David Brickner

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Will a Palestinian State Fix Everything?

By Mike Evans

It would be absurd for President Obama to think that Benjamin Netanyahu – who went into politics inspired by the heroic death of his brother, Yonatan, in freeing terrorist hostages in the 1976 Entebbe rescue mission – would ever reward an Iranian-funded terrorist regime by again dividing Jerusalem. He would never shrink Israel as a goodwill gesture to help restart the so-called peace process, not in the absence of a genuine goodwill gesture by the Palestinians and Muslim world of recognizing Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state.

I was so moved by the Netanyahu family and Benjamin Netanyahu's moral clarity at the anniversary of the death of his brother in 1981 that I asked then Prime Minister Menachem Begin to give him a government job. I said, "I believe this man will be prime minister some day." Begin hired him the following evening.

What precisely is Obama doing? He has pressured Prime Minister Netanyahu to commit that Israel would not attack Iran, at least until the end of the year, so as not to disrupt Washington's plans to dialogue with Iran over its nuclear program.

Additionally, he has played into Iran's hands by tying the Palestinian situation into the Iranian nuclear crisis. In essence, he is telling the state of Israel: If you want my support in dealing with Iran, you are going to have to give the Palestinians a state.

Why does Netanyahu demand the Arab world recognize a Jewish state? Because they are bigots and they hate Jews.

Barack Obama should read Dr. Martin Luther King's words:

"You declare, my friends, that you do not hate the Jews, you are merely anti-Zionists. I say, let the truth ring forth from the highest mountaintops. Let it echo through the valleys of God's green earth. When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews. Zionism is nothing less than the dream and the ideals of the Jewish people returning to live in their own land."

Netanyahu wants the U.S. to reaffirm its support for Israel's right to self-defense against the looming threat from Iran. During the last three years, Israel fought two bitter campaigns to halt the bombardment of its civilian population by thousands of terrorist missiles – fired by the Iranian terrorist proxies Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Meanwhile, Iran denies the Holocaust while threatening to wipe the Jewish state off the map, as it develops nuclear weapons and tests long-range ballistic missiles.

Israel's prime minister takes Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at his apocalyptic word, as must the leader of a country that has suffered unrelenting Islamist terrorism for 61 years. In terms of Jewish history, Netanyahu considers Iran to be a threat similar to that posed by the Israelites' biblical scourge, the Amalekites, and more ominously by Hitler's Germany. President Obama, on the other hand, thinks Iran can be won over with patience and reason and is no real threat to America or world peace.

Obama's advisers reportedly consider the sole obstacle to peace in the Middle East to be the lack of a Palestinian state. The problem with this Pollyannaish vision is that it lacks hindsight. On Nov. 29, 1947, the United Nations voted to partition British Mandatory Palestine into two states, Jewish and Arab. The Jews accepted the resolution and the Arab states did not and invaded Israel in the first of many unsuccessful attempts to destroy it. The Palestinians could have had their state 62 years ago, but preferred to deny the Jews their own state. The only state the Palestinians have been capable of living in since then is the state of denial.

President Obama has said he does not support regime change. Will this apply to Netanyahu's government, if Washington spins it as an "obstacle to peace"? A possible indication is that Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's spouse, former president Bill Clinton, is advising the leader of Israel's opposition Kadima Party, MK Tzipi Livni.

Obama made his feelings about Netanyahu's Likud Party clear during the recent election when he said,

"I think there is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt an unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel that you're anti-Israel, and that can't be the measure of our friendship with Israel."

The president wants speedy action and hinted so at a recent press conference with Jordan's King Abdullah. "I agree that we can't talk forever," Obama said, "that at some point steps have to be taken so that people can see progress on the ground." He said he expects such progress to take place in the coming months. If that is going to happen, Obama must first change the Palestinian regime to recognize Israel.

Related News

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SOURCE: Will a Palestinian state fix everything? - WorldNetDaily
Obama: Israel must halt West Bank settlements - USA Today
Nasrallah: Iran will 'gladly' arm Lebanon - Ynetnews
'Abbas wants US to push out Netanyahu' - Jerusalem Post
Israel dismisses US demand for end to settlement building - Telegraph.co.uk

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The New Tolerance: Root and Consequences

By Dr. David R. Reagan

This "New Tolerance" is a product of modern society's rejection of God. You see, if there is no God, then there are no objective standards. Every person's opinion is as good and valid as any other person's. And no one has a right to judge or condemn any one else — unless, of course, the person is exhibiting some form of intolerance!

That is the reason modern society hates the Ten Commandments so much. They are constantly ridiculed in the press. Ted Turner, the media mogul, has rewritten them, converting them into humanistic platitudes which he calls "The Ten Suggestions."

In colleges and universities across America, the worst thing that can happen to a student is to be accused of intolerance. Merely the accusation will often result in the accused person being required to take a course in sensitivity training, and this course must be finished before any other credit course can be taken! And what happens in the course? The person is bombarded with propaganda in an attempt to brainwash him into believing that all lifestyles have equal merit.

The Moral Consequences

The "New Tolerance" has created a moral vacuum that, in turn, has produced some very strange consequences.

A good example of what I am talking about can be found in the "Naked Guy" incident that occurred on the UCLA campus a couple of years ago. You probably remember seeing reports of it on television.

A student decided that he would start attending classes naked. For days he went from class to class stark naked, and no one was willing to stand up and say, "What you are doing is wrong. It is immoral. Put your clothes back on!" After all, to make such a statement would have been intolerant.

But when the incident got national attention through the media, the administration decided that something had to be done. So, the fellow was finally disciplined on the grounds of the politically correct charge of "sexual harassment."

Again, when God is removed from the picture, objective standards collapse, and all truth becomes relative.

This was illustrated vividly in a recent article in The Journal of Higher Education. Two college professors reported independently of each other that they had discovered their students were unwilling to make any moral judgments, even regarding the most obscene things. One reported that his students were unwilling to condemn the Holocaust; the other reported that his students could not bring themselves to condemn the Aztec practice of human sacrifice!

In the next part of "The New Tolerance," we'll look at how it has affected academia and American culture.

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The Biblical Number of Completion: Seven

By Joseph R. Chambers

The entire Bible must be understood by the mystery number of seven. It reveals the literal perfection in the “Book of Revelation.” The six days of creation, along with a seventh day of rest, was a literal truth. The six thousand years since creation, along with the coming one thousand years of Jesus Christ’s reign on Earth, is a prophetic fact. It cannot or will not fail. It was the Holy Spirit that stated,

“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (II Peter 3:8).

The greatest mystical number in the Masterpiece of Literature (Book of Revelation) is the number seven.

“The Holy Spirit chose this number in His holy revelation to convey or reveal subjects in a whole or complete form. Anything seen with this mystical number is important in every part but great and vast in its totality. It’s always associated as the number of completion, whether large or small, when used in a typological form.” (The Masterpiece, Joseph R. Chambers, Anamalos Publishing, pp. 60-61.)

When the Bible is taken as an infallible book and obeyed explicitly, our lives explode in spiritual joy. It is a living book full of the life of Christ. God’s final revelation was the “Book of Revelation.” It contains the word “seven” forty-four times. If you ignore the perfection of sevens - from the Seven Churches to the Seven Lamps of Fire - you cannot understand this great unveiling of truth. The Book of Revelation is a Masterpiece of Literature. No writer has ever transcended this book nor even come close. It is a house of words, completed and perfect. If you reject this book or misinterpret it, you are not likely to have a firm grip on theology.

Every doctrine in the entire Bible - all sixty-five previous books - is dramatized in this single final revelation. All of God’s commandments are defended. Even the fourth commandment is dramatized in Revelation 1:10. His Godhead of three distinct persons is upheld in unmistakable words. The danger of tampering with the total Word of God is a closing warning. The saints are promised a future that is star-studded and even greater than was given to Adam and Eve in the beginning.

His love for both His Church and the Nation of Israel shines like the sun. Seven letters to the saints in His Church are His last warnings and promises. When a church will model itself after the truth contained in these letters, that church will shine. One of the primary facts in those seven letters is our duty to never allow truth to go undefended. In those letters the Lord describes that His glory permeates the whole text. By His Holy Spirit, He walks in the midst of every true Biblical congregation. His absence is death to any church.

The Book of Revelation is an absolute proof of a Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Post-Millennialists, Pre-Wrath Adherents, Mid-Tribulationists, and Amillennialists reject the Book of Revelation as literal because this book rejects their theology. The Church of Jesus Christ disappears from the earth at the beginning of chapter four and the saints are then called elders. For the rest of the Book of Revelation, they have glorified bodies, wear crowns, and are clothed in white Heavenly garments. The worship of these saints in chapters four and five will be Heavenly. For the first time in history, the saints and angels will worship together.

Even praying as we are now commanded to do will be over and all the prayers of the ages will be united with heavenly incenses and then offered up to the Father. Those prayers will then be united with fire from God’s altar and cast into the earth. Then, judgment of sin takes on a fresh vengeance.

When someone argues over whether the judgment of the Great Tribulation is Seven years, it is because they have missed God’s perfect Book. Everything in the Book of Revelation is offered in the order of sevens. There are seven seals that open God’s book of the earth’s title deed. The seventh seal introduces seven trumpets. The seventh trumpet introduces seven vials. Even the Antichrist is manifested to Israel as a false Christ in the middle of seven years of time. It was Jesus Christ that made that plain when He confirmed Daniel’s prophecy,

“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (Daniel 9:27).

This book has been marginalized, put on the library shelf, or totally rejected for too long. As a man of the whole Bible, I am determined to see our present generation excited about the Book of Revelation. The Lord promised you a great benefit if you will love and study this great unveiling of the Lord’s glory and of His End Time truths.

“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand” (Revelation 1:3).

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One That Calls for a Response

By Jim Hutchens

Caroline Glick said: “As for Israel, it is a good thing that the IDF has scheduled the largest civil defense drill in the country's history for next week. Between North Korea's nuclear test, Iran's brazen bellicosity and America's betrayal, it is clear that the government can do nothing to impact Washington's policies toward Iran. No destruction of Jewish communities will convince Obama to act against Iran. Today Israel stands alone against the mullahs and their bomb. And this, like the US's decision to stand down against the Axis of Evil, is not subject to change.”

God says: “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-11).

The Jerusalem Connection says: Today is Shavuot/Pentecost. Today Jews celebrate the giving of the Torah. Christians memorialize the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell believers. The tradition of reading the book of Ruth brings the two believing communities together. In what way, you ask? It is obvious, as Caroline Glick has rightly noted, Israel stands alone since the coming of the Obama administration. America’s betrayal of Israel is a reality. So, what does that have to do with Ruth? Now, more than ever Israel needs real friends, committed friends, like the non-Jew Ruth. Remember her commitment to Naomi her mother-in-law; “Where you go I will go, where you lodge I will lodge. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God. Where you die, I will die and there I will be buried.” (Ruth 1:16-17) The day has arrived when Israel needs to have Ruth’s commitment reaffirmed by Christians, especially Christian Zionists.

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What Will History Record?

By Stan Goodenough

That in mid-May, 2009, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to the United States to make a priority of stopping Iran from pursuing the nuclear bomb that threatens Israel’s existence.

That the Obama administration refused.

And that just over one week later, America was standing on the edge of a potential nuclear conflict with North Korea, which test-fired an atomic warhead and launched a handful of surface-to-surface missiles in a defiant show of force.

Let me be clear: I do not claim that what I am about to write is “a word from the Lord.” Some of the thoughts I will express here have simply “dropped into my head” over the last 24 hours; they came without any leading from a third party and, while they resonate in my spirit, they have not been confirmed by two or three witnesses; or even one. Nor have I had any dreams or visions about this. See below.*

On May 18, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in the White House with the president of the United States, Barack Obama.

Both the run-up to and aftermath of that much anticipated meeting have been spun every which way by the media, with a solid majority of columnists and talk show hosts focusing in on “the relationship,” on “reading between the lines” and on analyzing the “body language” between the two.

Some harked back to the days when frigid winds blew in the Clinton White House after a Netanyahu visit during the Israeli’s first tenure in office. Would “Bibi” again forget his “place?” Watchers saw a nervous “regional power medium weight” sitting opposite a self-assured “global superpower heavyweight,” and they gave the American kudos for not allowing Netanyahu to “deflect” him from the “real obstacle to peace,” that is, Jewish settlements. To other observers,Netanyahu strongly withstood the not inconsiderable pressures an American administration can bring to bear. He stuck to his guns, refused to subscribe to the “two-state solution” and should have been welcomed home as a hero. (He wasn’t.)

There was more; much more analysis, from serious reporters and from the fringe, underscoring why the profession is often referred to as a media circus.

But let’s put aside the fluff of press predilections and spinmeister speculations, and get to the substance of what’s really taken place.

It’s a matter of gravest consequence.

Netanyahu didn’t go to the White House seeking a photo opportunity. He went to ask for American leadership and support in dealing with the out-of-control Iranian nuclear threat that is primarily directed against the Jewish state.

From the day of his inauguration on March 31, Netanyahu has been looking for Washington to take Iran seriously.

“If you don’t stop Iran, I’ll have to,” he messaged Obama, just hours before being sworn in.

Instead of responding appropriately, the American dissembled. Get going with the two-state solution, Obama shot back, and we’ll be better able to deal with Tehran.

This was Obama’s response too when the two leaders spoke to the press after their May 18 meeting.

Netanyahu said “the worst danger Israel faces is that Iran would develop nuclear military capabilities.”

“Iran openly calls for our destruction, which is unacceptable. It threatens the moderate Arab regimes in the Middle East. It threatens US interests worldwide. But if Iran were to acquire nuclear weapons, it could give a nuclear umbrella to terrorists or worse, could actually give them nuclear weapons. And that would put us all in great peril.”

Netanyahu’s position was that it was necessary to deal with Iran first, and with the “Palestinian” question later.

But Obama publicly disputed him.

“If there is a linkage between Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, I personally believe it actually runs the other way,” the American said. “To the extent that we can make peace with the Palestinians — between the Palestinians and the Israelis, then I actually think it strengthens our hand in the international community in dealing with the
potential Iranian threat.”

The president went on to suggest that he might reassess his “let’s talk” approach to Iran if, by year’s end, there was no sign it was having an affect. Netanyahu expressed his appreciation, but administration officials “close to Obama” later quickly emphasized that no deadline had been set.

What, in fact, do we have here?

Israel’s leader has asked the US to help stop Iran from acquiring the means to inflict a holocaust on the Jews.

America’s leader is not willing to go that way. On the contrary, as The Jerusalem Post’s Caroline Glick reported, the Obama “administration has made its peace with Iran’s nuclear aspirations. Senior administration officials acknowledge as much in off-record briefings. It is true, they say, that Iran may exploit its future talks with the US to run down the clock before they test a nuclear weapon. But, they add, if that happens, the US will simply have to live with a nuclear-armed mullocracy.”

Two days after Netanyahu met with Obama, Iran successfully test fired a ‘Sajil’ surface-to-surface missile with a 1,200 mile range. Israel is less than 1000 miles from Iran.

Two days later, on May 22, a public survey indicated that one in four Israelis is so fearful of the specter of a nuclear Iran that they plan to leave their homeland forever if the mullahs get their hands on the bomb.

On May 24 Iran’s former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezai warned that his country “understands missiles and tanks as well as foreign policy and knows exactly where Israel’s sensitive spots are. It could stop them forever with one strike.”

On May 25, a grim-faced Bibi told his cabinet: If we don’t deal with Iran, no one will.

On May 27, a new poll found that 51 percent of Israelis want the IDF to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities now. This despite Bibi’s warning to expect a large number of Israeli casualties if a strike goes down. Iranians have boasted that they have the capability to destroy Israel within just 11 days.

Also on May 27, Iran deployed six warships and other vessels into international waters in what Fox News called a “saber-rattling” move.

For five days this coming week the world, and specifically the United States government, will watch the Israeli nation ready for full scale war in the largest ever national military exercise since 1948.

Bibi’s appeal for America to step up to the plate has fallen on deaf ears.

Instead, the Obama administration finds the idea of “reaching out to the Muslim world” more appealing just now.

And it knows that one of the most effective ways it can do that is by pushing Israel into compliance with the Arab Peace Initiative.

Thus did Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emphasize Wednesday the American “expectation” that Israel would immediately comply with the Arab demand that it halt any and all settlement activity.

President Obama “wants to see a stop to settlements - not some settlements, not outposts, not ‘natural growth’ exceptions,” Clinton said. “We think it is in the best interests [of the peace process] that settlement expansion cease. That is our position. That is what we have communicated very clearly. … And we intend to press that point.”

Do they?

How interesting then, that exactly one week after spurning Israel’s appeal, the United States this week suddenly finds itself confronting a nuclear-detonating, missile launching North Korea?

Is it really just happenstance that Hillary Clinton Wednesday evening, at the same news conference, in almost the same breath, was leveling stern warnings at both Jerusalem and Pyongyang?

Or is Someone Else fighting for Israel?

History will tell.

But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
For I am the LORD your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I gave Egypt for your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
Since you were precious in My sight,
You have been honored,
And I have loved you;
Therefore I will give men for you,
And people for your life.
(Isaiah 43:1-4)

Therefore please hear this, you afflicted,
And drunk but not with wine.
Thus says your Lord,
The LORD and your God,
Who pleads the cause of His people:

“See, I have taken out of your hand
The cup of trembling,
The dregs of the cup of My fury;
You shall no longer drink it.
But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you,
Who have said to you,[a]

‘Lie down, that we may walk over you.’
And you have laid your body like the ground,
And as the street, for those who walk over.”
(Isaiah 51:21-23)

* When, in 2004/5, the Sharon government was preparing to uproot the Jews of Gaza, destroy their homes and hand over that territory to the Palestinian Arabs, I widely - in my writing and in meetings across the United States - expressed my strong feelings that the Disengagement would not happen, that God would not let it take place. I based my position strongly on God’s word through the prophet Amos when He said: “…I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,” says the LORD your God. (Amos 9:15). It was also clear to me that God had, in the 1967 Six Day War, miraculously restored Gaza (and Judea and Samaria and “East” Jerusalem) to Jewish sovereign rule after nearly 2000 years. Despite the mounting evidence before my eyes that the plan was going to be executed, I held to the conviction it would not take place. It did, of course. And not long afterwards I was challenged by an emotional fellow believer who told me: “You had better publicly confess that you were wrong when you said God told you that there would be no Disengagement.” In fact, to the very best of my recollection, I had never said that God told me anything of the sort. All along I had expressed MY thoughts; MY sense, MY conviction, even MY belief. But I never said that God had spoken, because He hadn’t.

Following that uprooting I watched, mesmerized, as Hurricane Katrina prepared to unleash its devastating fury on the south-eastern United States. Deep inside I just KNEW that this was the Divine response to years of America’s relentless pushing of Israel that had culminated in the Gaza disaster. Did God TELL me it was Him? Maybe He did - through what I read in the Bible and through the spiritual witness shared by so many others - among them Katrina’s victims - that this was indeed God’s judgment. Even so, what I did as the hurricane roared ashore in Louisiana was ask the question: Was Katrina the ‘fist of God?’ However certain I may be of the answer to that question, I never claimed to have heard from Heaven God saying “the storm is My response.” One day we will know.

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What is Polytheism?

By Ed Hindson

Q. What is polytheism and how does it operate? Is it still a factor in the worldwide religious picture today?

A. Polytheism is a belief in many gods (and goddesses). It is taken from the Greek words poly, meaning “many,” and theos, meaning “god.” Many Polytheistic systems permeated the ancient world, in the well-known civilizations of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, for example. They also existed in the Promised Land, among the peoples that God displaced, such as the Canaanites and Amorites.

The gods of polytheistic systems were somewhat limited either regionally and/or to their areas of expertise. Many ancient polytheistic peoples, having agricultural economies, had gods that controlled the aspects of their livelihoods. There were gods of the sun, the moon, rain, crops, rivers, and so forth. Their followers believed that, in order to assure good crops, these gods had to be placated. Sometimes, when one polytheistic group conquered another, the victorious people’s gods ascended in influence, while those of the vanquished declined in power. Obviously, in any such system, no god could have the absolute power and authority that the true God of the Universe has for us.

Some of the gods worshipped by the people of the ancient Middle East included:

Molech, the Ammonite god of fire, who demanded that parents sacrifice their children through fire in order to “purify” them (Leviticus 18:21; 20:2).

Baal, variously worshipped as a god of fertility, thunder, or war, with whose prophets Elijah had a dramatic encounter (1 Kings 18).

Dagon, a god of grain, who fell on his face before the Ark of the Covenant in Ashdod (1 Samuel 5:1-5).

Unfortunately, polytheism is still alive and well today. Its largest body of adherents consists of those in Hinduism. Over one billion Hindus, mostly in India, worship some 330 million gods. Smaller polytheistic groups include Shintoism, largely in Japan; Santeria, in Cuba and other parts of the Caribbean; and some of the animist religions still prevalent in Africa and South America.

Followers of polytheistic religions live with a great deal of insecurity, not knowing if the gods they worshipped will be vanquished by others or not. On the other hand, we who follow the one true God can rest in the assurance that He is on His throne forever, with our best interests at heart. So it is that the Bible tells us:

“Unto thee it was shown, that thou mightest know that the LORD, he is God; there is none else beside him,” (Deuteronomy 4:35).

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Pentecost and the Rapture of the Church

By Jack Kelley

Pentecost comes in the early summer (May-June). This year it’s May 31. It’s the only Holy Day between the 3 Spring Feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits) and the 3 in the fall (Rosh Hashanna, Yom Kippur, and Tabernacles). Its Hebrew name is Shavuot. Pentecost is a Greek word and translates “50 days” since it comes 50 days after the Feast of First Fruits, the day we should know as Resurrection Morning . The Feast of First Fruits is celebrated on the day following the first Sabbath after Passover and Pentecost on the day after the Sabbath seven weeks later, (Lev. 23:15-16) giving rise to its nickname “Feast of Weeks”. Since the Jewish Sabbath is Saturday, both these Holy days are Sundays.

What’s a Pentecost?

Jews celebrate Pentecost (I’ll just use its Greek name to avoid any more confusion than necessary) as the day Moses received the Law on Mt. Sinai in the wilderness and the nation Israel was born. (Exodus 19-20) Christians celebrate it as the day the Holy Spirit fell on the Disciples in Jerusalem and the Church was born (Acts 2).  If you agree with my view that the parables of Matthew 13 describe the church on Earth and that the parable of the yeast predicts there will be sin in the church, you’ll be interested in the fact that unlike all the other Jewish Feasts that call for unleavened bread, Pentecost requires bread baked with yeast (Lev. 23:17). Pentecost also began the annual wheat harvest, perhaps pointing to another of Matthew’s Kingdom parables, the Wheat and the Tares.

The Pentecost ceremonies reveal a subtle link to the coming church. In synagogues, the Book of Ruth is read on Pentecost. The story of Ruth has been called “The Romance of Redemption” wherein Naomi, a Jewish woman from Bethlehem loses land and position and is forced into exile in a foreign country where her husband soon passes away leaving her penniless and alone. She decides to return to Bethlehem and is accompanied by Ruth, a gentile woman who has sworn never to leave her. Ruth was a Moabite who had married one of Naomi’s sons (who also died) making her Naomi’s daughter-in-law and, like her, a destitute widow. Back in Bethlehem Naomi’s relative, a prominent Jewish man named Boaz falls in love with Ruth and marries her, in the process redeeming Naomi’s land and position according to the law. (Lev 25:25 & Deut. 25:5-6). The modeling here is dramatic, with Naomi in the role of Israel, destitute and alone; Ruth as the Church, the gentile bride; Boaz as the Kinsman Redeemer (Messiah) and the story a prediction of the relationship between them. On His way to redeeming Israel, the Kinsman Redeemer takes a gentile bride, saving both from destitution and restoring Israel’s land. The identification of the Church with Pentecost began in the prophecies of Ruth. To learn more about these incredible prophecies, and enjoy one of the world’s classic love stories, read Ruth’s Story.

By the way, Boaz was the son of Rahab, the harlot from the Book of Joshua (read “The Gospel in Joshua … The Story of Rahab” ), and 3 generations later his great-grandson David became King of Israel. Rahab and Ruth both show up in the Genealogy of the Lord Jesus (Matt. 1:5), and one of the pillars at the entrance to the Temple was named after Boaz.

When’s Your Birthday?

By tradition Enoch, one of the patriarchs from Genesis 5, was born on the day later to be known as Pentecost. Enoch’s name means “teaching”, a primary function of the Church. For this reason many scholars see him as a “type” of the church as well. Genesis 5:21-23 indicates that Enoch was very close to God and was actually taken alive (raptured) into Heaven before the Great Flood. Pre-Trib scholars see this event as hinting of a yet future disappearance of the Church before the Great Tribulation. These same traditions also hold that Enoch disappeared from Earth on his birthday. So here’s a model in Genesis 5 of a man identified with the church being born and raptured on the day that would become Pentecost, the day the church was born.

All this of course is merely an accumulation of circumstantial evidence. The Rapture is a secret event, and as such its exact timing is known only to God. But we are admonished to learn from Israel’s history (Rom. 15:4) and be aware of the times and seasons so that we should not be caught by surprise as events marking the end of the age unfold (1 Thes. 5:4).

For we will not all sleep (die) but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (1 Cor. 15:51-52)

Soon And Very Soon

One day soon now, all who are in Christ, having heard and believed the Word of Truth, the Gospel of our salvation, thereby receiving the mark of the promised Holy Spirit, will suddenly disappear from the face of the Earth along with all children and those mentally incapable of making informed choices. In one instant we will have been going about our daily routines on Earth and in the next we’ll be standing in the presence of our Redeemer, our sins forgiven and forgotten, and all our imperfections gone. Among us will be all the faithful dead of the Church Age, reunited with their perfected bodies and restored to eternal physical life. Together we will begin the most incredible journey of exploration and realization ever dreamed of.

Neither we, nor the unbelieving world, will have received any advance warning of the timing for this event; it will have come totally by surprise. Maybe it will happen on Pentecost, maybe not. But one thing is certain, when it does happen, none us will care one whit whether we had predicted its timing accurately. We will only express in unimaginable joy our gratitude for being there.

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephe. 2:8-9)

As it is written:

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him – but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit. (1 Cor. 2:9-10)

You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah.

Related Posts

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 Boaz And Ruth
 The Parents Of Boaz, Follow-Up
 Why Did The Lord Linger On Earth, Follow Up
 Spring Rapture?
 Between The Ascension And Pentecost

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