Prophecy Update #769 – Masters Of (Mystical) Arts

Someone has said, “Because the Bible is the only book which gives us an accurate forecast of the future, we must turn to its pages in order that we may be delivered from inexcusable ignorance and be prepared as God unfolds His prophetic program.”

We reserve a few minutes to discuss current trends that you’d expect from reading Bible prophecy.

We are futurists. We interpret all unfulfilled prophetic passages as future events in a literal, physical, apocalyptic, and global context.

Biometrics, Artificial Intelligence, cashless commerce, the manipulation of human DNA, global government, the exponential growth of human knowledge, one-world religion, instantaneous global communication, and the rebirth of national Israel are End Times developments the Bible predicts.

All of these are increasingly trending in the news.

We haven’t talked much about the predicted rise of the occult. In The Revelation we are told, “The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood – idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts” (The Revelation 9:20-21).

That passage discusses events in the seven year Time of Jacob’s Trouble that we call the Great  Tribulation. It makes sense that interest in the occult would be rising prior to the Tribulation… and it is.

Witchcraft is on the rise. According to a January 2023 article I read:

• Wiccans or Pagans number 1 to 1.5 million people in the U.S [2014 Pew Research Center].
• Both religious and nonreligious Americans hold New Age beliefs [pewresearch.org].
• Google searches for “spell casting” have increased fourfold since 2016 [Global News].
• Witchcraft influencers have thousands of followers on Instagram.
• Almost 19 billion views are recorded in a community of TikTok called “WitchTok.”

The millennial generation and Gen Z have fallen victim to witchcraft more than any other age group. Just in time for the antichrist. He will be the greatest influencer the world has ever known.

A Master of Arts (MA) degree in witchcraft, magic, and occult science is scheduled to be offered starting September 2024 at the University of Exeter in England. The professor says she’s seen a ‘surge in interest’ from students.

I went to the college website. It’s for reals, as we like to say for emphasis. While poking around, I came across this incentive: “Graduate with the skills to, and knowledge needed to, influence and drive business strategies that make a positive contribution to the environment and society.”

What department do you think is offering this degree? The program is part of the Department of Arab & Islamic Studies.   

I’ll briefly mention UFO’s. Or maybe I should simply ask, “What is up with all the positive talk about UFO’s & aliens?” All of a sudden it is mainstream.

For example, thehill.com posted an article in mid-2023 titled, How the search for UFOs went mainstream. The UFO phenomena is completely compatible with supernatural activity. Many prophecy teachers have suggested that UFO’s will offer an explanation for the rapture.

The occult is on the rise – just as we expect it would be.

We live in the Church Age, between the first coming of Jesus and His return to establish and rule the Kingdom of God on earth. His return will be preceded by a seven year time of incredible trouble upon the earth. Most commonly it is called the Great Tribulation, but the prophet Jeremiah calls it the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. It is a reminder that God will use that time to reveal Himself to unbelieving Israel. By the end of the seven years all Israel will be saved.

Jesus promised His Church, “I… will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

He keeps us entirely out of the 7yr Great Tribulation by raising deceased Church Age saints, then rapturing “we who are alive and remain.”

When? The return of the Lord for us is imminent. It could happen any time. Nothing needs to occur before Jesus can come for us.

Are you ready for the rapture? If not, Get ready; Stay ready; Keep looking up.

Ready or not, Jesus is coming!

Prophecy Update #768 – If I Only Had A Brain

We read the Bible with a consistently literal interpretation.

We interpret the Bible according to the “plain meaning” conveyed by its grammatical construction and historical context.

One result of this approach is that we discover a lot of unfulfilled prophecies in God’s Word. The Book of the Revelation, for example, is all future to us beginning in chapter four and extending until the concluding exhortations in chapter 22.

We identify several prophetic topics that are predicted and we consider that the world will be trending in the direction of those prophetic topics.

• The modern state of Israel has fulfilled, and is now fulfilling, centuries old prophecies.

• Other trends we look for involve globalism, e.g., global government and a global economy; and instantaneous global communication.
• We see technological advances in invasive surveillance and personal identification as setting the stage for the arrival of the world leader most commonly called the Antichrist.

• With regard to him we are told an “image” of him will be created that has “breath,” i.e., “life.” We are told “the image of the [Antichrist] should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed” (Rev 13:15).

This previously absurd prophecy could today easily be fulfilled by Artificial Intelligence.

AI and robotics is growing at a rate that frightens its creators. I read an article this week titled, Scientists create biocomputer combining circuits with real human brain tissue. They’re calling it “a living machine.”

Excerpts:

In what seems like a scene from a science-fiction movie, scientists from Indiana University have constructed a hybrid biocomputer that combines laboratory-grown human brain tissue with traditional circuits. This innovative technology, known as Brainoware, has the potential to integrate into artificial intelligence (AI) systems and advance neuroscience research models of the human brain.

https://studyfinds.org/biocomputer-human-brain-tissue/

Fox News reported, AI gives birth to AI: Scientists say machine intelligence now capable of replicating without humans.

https://www.foxnews.com/science/ai-gives-birth-ai-scientists-say-machine-intelligence-capable-replicating-without-humans

Meanwhile “a factory planning to pump out 10,000 two-legged robots a year is taking shape in Salem, Oregon, the better to help amazon and other giant companies with dangerous hauling, lifting and moving.

The robot, called Digit, is 5’9″ and 140 pounds, and can walk over and plug itself in when it needs to recharge.

https://www.axios.com/2023/12/05/humanoid-robot-factory-agility-bipedal-amazon

I am not saying that AI is going to be what gives the image of the Antichrist “breath.” But you can see how it could.

We live in the Church Age, between the first coming of Jesus and His return to establish and rule the Kingdom of God on earth. His return will be preceded by a seven year time of incredible trouble upon the earth. Most commonly it is called the Great Tribulation, but the prophet Jeremiah calls it the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. It is a reminder that God will use that time to reveal Himself to unbelieving Israel. By the end of the seven years all Israel will be saved.

Jesus promised His Church, “I… will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

He keeps us entirely out of the 7yr Great Tribulation by raising deceased Church Age saints, then rapturing “we who are alive and remain.”

When? The return of the Lord for us is imminent. It could happen any time. Nothing needs to occur before Jesus can come for us.

Are you ready for the rapture? If not, Get ready; Stay ready; Keep looking up.

Ready or not, Jesus is coming!

Prophecy Update #767 – The World Is Watching

The war in the Middle East has everyone thinking about Bible prophecy.

We point out that what is happening is that the modern state of Israel has fulfilled and is fulfilling prophecy:

• The rebirth of Israel as a nation and the regathering of Jews to Israel are direct fulfillments of prophecies.
• Israel causing trouble for all nations is being fulfilled.

The current nations coming against the Jews does not match any list in the Bible. At this point we say we are witnessing what Jesus alluded to in the first part of His prophecy update on the Mount of Olives when He warned there would be “wars and rumors of war.”

There seems to be a trend involving celebrities coming to Christ, or at least claiming conversion:

1. Daddy Yankee absolutely shocked millions of his fans when he announced that he will be devoting his life to Jesus from this point forward. You may not be familiar with Daddy Yankee, but he is a really big deal in the Spanish-speaking world. The music superstar used that platform to post a clip of his live, heartfelt message to fans.
2. Oliver Anthony shared how God radically changed his life and read the Scripture passages that have guided him amid his rapid climb to fame in a recent interview on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Anthony, who found overnight success with his song Rich Men North Of Richmond, told host Joe Rogan in an August 30 episode that a month before he shot to fame, he’d given his life to the Lord, changing the entire trajectory of his life.
3. Celebrity tattoo artist Katherine von Drachenberg, best known as Kat Von D, shared details about her conversion to Christianity and asked Christians pray for her husband, who is not yet a believer but attends church.

• Rogan is the top podcast in the world with 15m subscribers and 3b total views.
• Daddy Yankee has 49 million followers on Instagram.
• Kat Von D has 10m followers.

In that same talk that Jesus gave He said, “This Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).

• We see the ultimate fulfillment of world evangelism in the Great Tribulation and relating to the return of Jesus.
• It is not necessary for everyone on the planet to be evangelized before the resurrection & rapture of the church.

We would expect that the Gospel would go out to the world in big numbers. It is.

Jesus promised His Church, “I… will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

He keeps us entirely out of the 7yr Great Tribulation by raising deceased Church Age saints, then rapturing “we who are alive and remain.”

When? The return of the Lord for us is imminent. It could happen any time. Nothing needs to occur before Jesus can come for us.

Are you ready for the rapture? If not, Get ready; Stay ready; Keep looking up.

Ready or not, Jesus is coming!

Prophecy Update #766 – The Dr. Evil Project

We are futurists; It’s a good thing!

We believe that all yet-to-be fulfilled prophecies will be fulfilled in a physical, literal, global, apocalyptic context.

There is much Bible prophecy that is yet-to-be unfulfilled. For example, beginning in chapter four, we believe that everything in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ is future to us.

It makes sense that the world would be moving in the direction that the unfulfilled prophecies predict. Here is a list of a few signs or trends that we follow:

• The reemergence of Israel as a nation (Isaiah 66:8).
• International conflict over Israel (Zechariah12:3).
• The alignment of hostile nations against Israel (Ezekiel 38).
• The efforts of Israel to rebuild their Temple (Matthew 24:15).
• Growing apostasy in the Church (Second Timothy 3:1-9).
• Instantaneous global communication (Revelation 11:4).
• The move towards a global government (Revelation 13).
• The move towards a global cashless society, accessed by a personal identifier (Revelation 13).
• An exponential leap in human knowledge (Daniel 12:4).

All of those are trending as never before.

I want to highlight the exponential growth of human knowledge. It was predicted by Daniel as a sign of the times. Are we experiencing this?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a leap in human knowledge. It is so extraordinary that many who work with AI are concerned it will exceed human intelligence.

AI is dangerous. It is revealing itself to be the greatest threat facing mankind. Let me illustrate what that means. I came across a 2022 article titled, AI suggested 40,000 new possible chemical weapons in just six hours.

Excerpts:

Researchers put AI normally used to search for helpful drugs into a kind of “bad actor” mode to show how easily it could be abused at a biological arms control conference.

All the researchers had to do was tweak their methodology to seek out, rather than weed out toxicity.

The AI came up with tens of thousands of new substances, some of which are similar to VX, the most potent nerve agent ever developed. Shaken, they published their findings in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence.

One of the researchers said, “For me, the concern was just how easy it was to do. A lot of the things we used are out there for free. You can go and download a toxicity dataset from anywhere. If you have somebody who knows how to code in Python and has some machine learning capabilities, then in probably a good weekend of work, they could build something like this.”

We are not predicting something like this is an imminent threat. We are producing it as evidence Daniel 12:4 is being fulfilled before our very eyes.

In the 6^th century BC Daniel predicted an exponential leap in human knowledge. We point to AI as what you expect if you are a futurist reading the Bible literally.

Jesus promised His Church, “I… will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

He keeps us entirely out of the 7yr Great Tribulation by raising deceased Church Age saints, then rapturing “we who are alive and remain.”

When? The return of the Lord for us is imminent. It could happen any time. Nothing needs to occur before Jesus can come for us.

Are you ready for the rapture? If not, Get ready; Stay ready; Keep looking up.

Ready or not, Jesus is coming!

Prophecy Update #765 – 2+2=Daniel 12:4

The Bible is estimated to be 25% to 35% prophecy. Its very specific prophecies have thus far been 100% accurate.

There is much Bible prophecy that is yet unfulfilled. For example, beginning in chapter four, we believe that everything in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ is future to us. We are called futurists. We believe that these yet-to-be-fulfilled prophecies will be fulfilled in a physical, literal, global, apocalyptic context.

It makes sense that the world would be moving in the direction that the prophecies predict. Here is a list of a few signs or trends that we follow:

• The reemergence of Israel as a nation (Isaiah 66:8).
• International conflict over Israel (Zechariah12:3).
• The alignment of hostile nations against Israel (Ezekiel 38).
• The efforts of Israel to rebuild their Temple (Matthew 24:15).
• Growing apostasy in the Church (Second Timothy 3:1-9).
• Instantaneous global communication (Revelation 11:4).
• The move towards a global government (Revelation 13).
• The move towards a global cashless society, accessed by a personal identifier (Revelation 13).
• An exponential leap in human knowledge (Daniel 12:4).

All of those are trending as never before.

I want to highlight the exponential growth of human knowledge. It was predicted by Daniel as a sign of the times. Are we experiencing this? The answer is one word: Artificial Intelligence.

The big news this week was the firing & rehiring of Sam Altman. As an aside, I found out something I didn’t know about the AI pioneer. Altman is a prepper. He said in 2016, “I have guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, gas masks from the Israeli Defense Force, and a big patch of land in Big Sur I can fly to.”

Altman is an AI pioneer, and his company is OpenAI. Why was Altman fired? According to reports, his company was reportedly working on an advanced system that is so powerful it caused safety concerns among staff at the company.

The artificial intelligence model triggered such alarm with some OpenAI researchers that they wrote to the board of directors before Altman’s dismissal warning it could threaten humanity,

The model, called Q* – and pronounced as “Q-Star” – was able to solve basic maths problems it had not seen before. The ability to solve maths problems has been viewed as a significant development in AI.

Many experts are concerned that companies such as OpenAI are moving too fast towards developing artificial general intelligence (AGI), the term for a system that can perform a wide variety of tasks at human or above human levels of intelligence – and which could, in theory, evade human control.

In fact, one of the theories is that it did develop AGI and the whole thing is getting out of hand.

One of the headlines about Altman read, Sam Altman’s Second Coming Sparks New Fears of the AI Apocalypse.

We are getting pretty close to SkyNet. No worries; Jesus said, “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:21-22).

In the 6^th century BC Daniel predicted an exponential leap in human knowledge. We point to AI as what you expect if you are a futurist reading the Bible literally.

Jesus promised His Church, “I… will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

He keeps us entirely out of those 7yrs by raising deceased Church Age saints, then rapturing “we who are alive and remain.”

When? The return of the Lord for us is imminent. It could happen any time. Nothing needs to occur before Jesus can come for us.

Are you ready for the rapture? If not, Get ready; Stay ready; Keep looking up.

Ready or not, Jesus is coming!

Prophecy Update #764 – Digital Doings Down Under

The Bible is estimated to be 25% to 35% prophecy. Its very specific prophecies

have thus far been 100% accurate.

There is much Bible prophecy that is yet unfulfilled. For example, beginning in chapter four, everything in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ is future to us. That is why we are called futurists. We believe that these yet-to-be-fulfilled prophecies will be fulfilled in a physical, literal, global, apocalyptic context.

It makes sense that the world would be moving in the direction that the prophecies predict. Here is a list of a few signs or trends that we follow:

• The reemergence of Israel as a nation (Isaiah 66:8).
• International conflict over Israel (Zechariah12:3).
• The alignment of hostile nations against Israel (Ezekiel 38).
• The efforts of Israel to rebuild their Temple (Matthew 24:15).
• Growing apostasy in the Church (Second Timothy 3:1-9).
• Instantaneous global communication (Revelation 11:4).
• The move towards a global government (Revelation 13).
• The move towards a global cashless society, accessed by a personal identifier (Revelation 13).
• An exponential leap in human knowledge (Daniel 12:4).

All of those are trending as never before.

I always give two disclaimers:

1. We are careful to use recognized, reliable sources for news. Sensationalism about the future is detrimental.
2. We’re not saying the things we report are the fulfillment of prophecy. We’re saying that they are the things you’d expect to be happening in the build-up to the future Great Tribulation.

A recent news report in Australia noted, “A digital ID system could be operating between governments and the private sector as soon as next year.”

Alex Antic is a Senator for North Australia. He recently said this:

We’ve got Smart City programs being rolled out across the country. Invasive technologies such as facial recognition, cameras, license plate readers, smart light, smart poles, smart cars, smart neighborhoods, smart homes, and smart appliances – all connected to wireless networks and communicating with each other. So what’s wrong with that technology? Isn’t all this is for your safety security and convenience? Isn’t it?

Well let me tell you – your streets are spying on you; your mobile phone is spying on you; your cities are spying on you. You and the infrastructure for future lockdowns is being put into place right now.

Don’t be fooled. You’re being set up to be tracked through your movements and through your digital wallets by handing over your data. You’re handing over the ability to monitor your behavior, which will soon be turned into a social credit score, and once the Central Bank digital currencies are in place you won’t get to spend your money without approval.

Digital ID will soon become a reality in Australia. Eventually you won’t be able to access any government or public services and you won’t be able to travel across borders or access healthcare or the internet without a digital ID.

The stage is being set for the coming of the antichrist.

I mentioned we are futurists. We are also premillennial and pretribulational:

• Premillennial means that Jesus will return to Earth to establish a physical one thousand year kingdom.
• Pretribulation means that Jesus will remove His Church from the Earth before the Great Tribulation that precedes His return as king.

Jesus promised His Church, “I… will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

He keeps us entirely out of those 7yrs by raising deceased Church Age saints, then rapturing “we who are alive and remain.”

When? The return of the Lord for us is imminent. It could happen any time. Nothing needs to occur before Jesus can come for us.

Are you ready for the rapture? If not, Get ready; Stay ready; Keep looking up.

Ready or not, Jesus is coming!

Prophecy Update #763 – Yes We Scan

“Everything has happened just as I said it would; now I will announce what will happen next”

(Isaiah 42:9 CEV) 

Those are God’s words recorded by the prophet Isaiah.

• If we look back, we can verify that God’s former prophecies were 100% accurate.
• As we look forward, His unfulfilled Last Days prophecies will be 100% accurate.

We believe that the Bible should be interpreted literally within historical and grammatical contexts. We focus a lot on the spiritual relationship between Israel and the church, the biblical covenants, and the end of days.

When you read the Bible that way (which we think is the right way), you become very interested in prophecy. You realize that since the unfulfilled prophecies will be fulfilled, you should be able to identify trends in the world that are suggested by them.

For example since the Bible predicts a global economic system that involves a personal identifier on the hand or forehead, you ought to see that happening. It most assuredly is!

I read an article posted on various sites titled, Archaeologists claim to have found true location of Noah’s Ark.

Excerpts:

The discovery was made using advanced 3D scans of an area in eastern Turkey, believed to be the location of Mount Ararat, the resting place of Noah’s Ark, as described in the Book of Genesis. “Such angles below the surface is something you would not expect to see in a natural, geologic formation,” a researcher says.

The giant shape in the Turkish mountains matches perfectly the shape and dimensions of the Ark as given in Genesis 6:15.

Discovered in 1959 by Turkish army Captain Ilhan Durupinar and later investigated by American explorer Ron Wyatt and others this boat formation located in the Mountains of Ararat has intrigued ark hunters for decades. With these 3D scans they claim to see man-made structures below the surface, e.g., rooms and hallways.

https://www.israelhayom.com/2021/10/04/archaeologists-claim-to-have-found-true-location-of-noahs-ark/

You can find more on noahsarkscans.com

It would be totally cool to find & explore it. More thank that, however, Jesus told us “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:37).

In addition to a global economy we are particularly interested in the push for a global government, the exponential growth of knowledge, and the devaluing of human life. All of these are converging as never before. And, of course, the modern state of Israel is the key to all of it.

We consider what is happening setting the stage for the antichrist to rise and make peace in the Middle East. He will sign a 7yr pact with Israel. That event is the start of the Great Tribulation.

We can’t know when that is going to happen. We may have to endure much hardship. Factor in that God may bring judgment upon the US for our national sins.

We can be certain the church will not be in the Great Tribulation.

Jesus promised His Church, “I… will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world [the Great Tribulation], to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10). He keeps us entirely out of those 7yrs by raising deceased Church Age saints, then rapturing “we who are alive and remain.”

The return of the Lord for us is imminent. It could happen any time. Nothing needs to occur before Jesus comes for us.

Are you ready for the rapture? If not, Get ready; Stay ready; Keep looking up.

Ready or not, Jesus is coming!

Prophecy Update 762 – Jew Haters Gonna Hate

“Everything has happened just as I said it would; now I will announce what will happen next”

(Isaiah 42:9 CEV) 

Those are God’s words recorded by the prophet Isaiah.

• If we look back, we can verify that God’s former prophecies were 100% accurate.
• As we look forward, His unfulfilled Last Days prophecies will be 100% accurate.

We are approaching our 800^th Prophecy Update. Never in all that time have so many of the things the Bible predicts been so obviously trending. We are going to talk about Israel, but let me give you one other trend.

The prophet Daniel was told, “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase” (12:4). We take it to mean there will be an exponential explosion of knowledge in the Last Days.

I am not exaggerating to say we are experiencing the exponential explosion of knowledge like never before. A big part of that is AI – Artificial Intelligence. But there are other advances as well. One headline I read was, Scientists accidentally create new material that could make computer chips 1 million times faster.

If that’s not ‘exponential, I’ll eat a bug.

Israel is at the heart of the Last Days prophecies:

1. God prophesied that Israel would be scattered all over the world. That is fulfilled.
2. God prophesied that Israel would be regathered to her land. That is fulfilled.
3. God prophesied that Israel would be a nation again. That is fulfilled.
4. God prophesied that Israel would be a source of trouble for all nations of the earth. We are seeing this right now.

In the wake of Israel’s retaliation against Hamas for their brutal massacre of innocents, we are witnessing world-wide hatred for the Jews. CNN reported, A new wave of antisemitism threatens to rock an already unstable world. The article focused on the US, where incidents of antisemitism are up 400%.

Quote: “There is a climate of growing fear. Jewish day schools have canceled classes. Synagogues have been locked. Social media has pulsated with hatred against Jews, leaving a community that can never escape its historic trauma yet again wondering where and when it can ever be safe.”

Reuters posted an article titled, Open hatred of Jews surges globally, inflamed by Gaza war. Quote: “In Los Angeles, a man screaming “kill Jews” attempted to break into a family’s home. In London, girls in a playground are told they are “stinking Jews” and should stay off the slide. In China, posts likening Jews to parasites, vampires or snakes proliferate on social media, attracting thousands of ‘likes.’ ”

Elsewhere…

• In Milan, Italy anti-Israel protesters shouted “Open the borders so we can kill the Jews.”
• In Toronto, Canada pro-Hamas protestors harassed diners at Jewish-owned Cafe Landwer and demanded a boycott of the “Zionist Cafe.”
• In Thessaloniki, Greece a mural at a Holocaust memorial was defaced with Jews = Nazis and “Free Palestine.”
• The Argentine Federal Police arrested an individual who posted on social media a threat to “go to a Jewish school and shoot as many kids as I can.”
• In France almost 80 Stars of David were painted on apartment buildings and banks in Paris and its suburbs.
• Protesters outside the Opera House in Sydney, Australia shouted, “Gas the Jews.”
• A crowd of people stormed an airport in Russia’s mostly Muslim region of Dagestan, where a flight from Israel arrived on Sunday, chanting, “There is no place for child-killers in Dagestan.”

This is Satanic; there is no other way to understand it.

We consider what is happening setting the stage for the antichrist to rise and make peace in the Middle East. He will sign a 7yr pact with Israel. That event is the start of the Great Tribulation.

We can’t know when that is going to happen. We may have to endure much hardship. Factor in that God may bring judgment upon the US for our national sins.

We can be certain the church will not be in the Great Tribulation.

Jesus promised His Church, “I… will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world [the Great Tribulation], to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10). He keeps us entirely out of those 7yrs by raising deceased Church Age saints, then rapturing “we who are alive and remain.”

The return of the Lord for us is imminent. It could happen any time. Nothing needs to occur before Jesus comes for us.

Are you ready for the rapture? If not, Get ready; Stay ready; Keep looking up.

Ready or not, Jesus is coming!

Prophecy Update #761 – This Means Wars

• Military Times headline 5 days ago: US Troops in Middle East Brace for Significant Escalation of Attacks.
• Hindustani Times headline 3 days ago: US Bombs Iranian Sites in Syria After Attacks on Troops in Middle East.

Russia, China, and Iran are allied against the US. They are being called the ‘new axis of evil.’ “Wars & rumors of war” abound. What are we being drawn into?

Believers and unbelievers are asking questions about Bible prophecy. We need a big-picture view of current & coming events so we have solid, not sensational, information to share with others.

The Bible tells the story of how a holy God can save sinful human beings without compromising His love or His righteousness. The only way is for God to become a man in order to substitute Himself as the acceptable sacrifice for the sins of mankind.

• In order to add humanity to His deity, God had to be miraculously born into the human race.
• In order to be miraculously born into the human race there needed to be a people, a nation, that was chosen by God to be those He would descend from.

Those people are the physical descendants of Abraham through the twelve tribes of Abraham’s grandson, Jacob – whose name was changed to Israel.   

Jesus was born according to prophecy. The leaders of Israel rejected Him. Jesus rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and promised to come again. When He returns all Israel will be saved.

In the interim it is prophesied that Israel would be scattered throughout the world, regathered to her homeland, and be reestablished as a nation resulting in trouble for all the nations. Do you see how Israel has fulfilled these prophecies?

Israel has not repented of rejecting Jesus Christ. God has designated the coming 7yr Great Tribulation for Israel’s repentance. He calls it The Time of Jacob’s Trouble because it is primarily for God to prepare the Jews to receive Jesus. When Jesus returns at the end of the 7yrs all surviving Israelites will be saved and enter the Kingdom of God on Earth.

Leading up to His return as King, there are three predicted military campaigns:

#1 Isaiah 17:1-3 & Jeremiah 49:23-27 explain that the city of Damascus will be completely destroyed never to be inhabited again. Syrian state media say Israel hit the airports in Damascus and Aleppo for a second time since the war with Hamas began. The US has targeted Syria.

#2 “Gog” will form a coalition of nations to attack Israel. This prophecy is in Ezekiel 38&39. “Gog” seems to be a title, like Pharoah. We read, “I will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army… you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely” (38:4&8).

Ezekiel lists the nations allied with Gog, The latest scholarship says they are Russia, Iran, Turkey, Libya (and possibly Algeria and Tunisia), Sudan, and the territories in the southern part of Russia that were formerly part of the Soviet Union, including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and northern Afghanistan.

#3 Psalm 83 reveals another war between regathered Israel and her enemies. It reads (in part), “They have said, ‘Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.’ For they have consulted together with one consent; They form a confederacy against You: The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab and the Hagrites; Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assyria also has joined with them; They have helped the children of Lot.’ ”

This is not Gog. The nations listed are not the same. The two campaigns are dissimilar in many other ways.

When will Psalm 83 & Ezekiel 38&39 go from prophecy to history? We are not told. We do know that Ezekiel 38&39 has not already occurred because it happens after the regathering of the Jews to their land (38:12). The Psalm 83 war likely occurs before Ezekiel 38&39. They occur between now and the return of Jesus to end another war, the Battle of Armageddon.

These conflicts could pre-date the Great Tribulation.

If they do, the church will witness them, and be affected by them.

Jesus promised His Church, “I… will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10). He keeps us entirely out of those 7yrs by raising deceased Church Age saints, then rapturing “we who are alive and remain.”

The return of the Lord for us is imminent. It could happen any time. Nothing needs to occur before Jesus comes for us.

Are you ready for the rapture? If not, Get ready; Stay ready; Keep looking up.

Ready or not, Jesus is coming!

Prophecy Update #760 – Digital Doings Down Under

The Bible is estimated to be 25% to 35% prophecy. Its very specific prophecies

have thus far been 100% accurate.

There is much Bible prophecy that is yet unfulfilled. For example, beginning in chapter four, everything in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ is future to us. That is why we are called futurists. We believe that these yet-to-be-fulfilled prophecies will be fulfilled in a physical, literal, global, apocalyptic context.

It makes sense that the world would be moving in the direction that the prophecies predict. Here is a list of a few signs or trends that we follow:

• The reemergence of Israel as a nation (Isaiah 66:8).
• International conflict over Israel (Zechariah12:3).
• The alignment of hostile nations against Israel (Ezekiel 38).
• The efforts of Israel to rebuild their Temple (Matthew 24:15).
• Growing apostasy in the Church (Second Timothy 3:1-9).
• Instantaneous global communication (Revelation 11:4).
• The move towards a global government (Revelation 13).
• The move towards a global cashless society, accessed by a personal identifier (Revelation 13).
• An exponential leap in human knowledge (Daniel 12:4).

All of those are trending as never before.

I always give two disclaimers:

1. We are careful to use recognized, reliable sources for news. Sensationalism about the future is detrimental.
2. We’re not saying the things we report are the fulfillment of prophecy. We’re saying that they are the things you’d expect to be happening in the build-up to the future Great Tribulation.

A recent news report in Australia noted, “A digital ID system could be operating between governments and the private sector as soon as next year.”

Alex Antic is a Senator for North Australia. He recently said this:

We’ve got Smart City programs being rolled out across the country. Invasive technologies such as facial recognition, cameras, license plate readers, smart light, smart poles, smart cars, smart neighborhoods, smart homes, and smart appliances – all connected to wireless networks and communicating with each other. So what’s wrong with that technology? Isn’t all this is for your safety security and convenience? Isn’t it?

Well let me tell you – your streets are spying on you; your mobile phone is spying on you; your cities are spying on you. You and the infrastructure for future lockdowns is being put into place right now.

Don’t be fooled. You’re being set up to be tracked through your movements and through your digital wallets by handing over your data. You’re handing over the ability to monitor your behavior, which will soon be turned into a social credit score, and once the Central Bank digital currencies are in place you won’t get to spend your money without approval.

Digital ID will soon become a reality in Australia. Eventually you won’t be able to access any government or public services and you won’t be able to travel across borders or access healthcare or the internet without a digital ID.

The stage is being set for the coming of the antichrist.

I mentioned we are futurists. We are also premillennial and pretribulational:

• Premillennial means that Jesus will return to Earth to establish a physical one thousand year kingdom.
• Pretribulation means that Jesus will remove His Church from the Earth before the Great Tribulation that precedes His return as king.

Jesus promised His Church, “I… will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

He keeps us entirely out of those 7yrs by raising deceased Church Age saints, then rapturing “we who are alive and remain.”

When? The return of the Lord for us is imminent. It could happen any time. Nothing needs to occur before Jesus can come for us.

Are you ready for the rapture? If not, Get ready; Stay ready; Keep looking up.

Ready or not, Jesus is coming!