New
Year's Eve
December
31, 2010
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
Each year we like to present to you a compilation of some of the
interesting news items that seem give an indication of how close we are to the
soon coming of Jesus Christ.
Israel
1. The nation’s
existence
One of the things we might overlook when looking for prophecies that point
to us being in the end times is the greatest one of them all. The existence of Israel
as a nation.
We accept the existence of Israel as a nation because it has been a nation
for longer than most of us have been alive.
But prior to 1948, the nation of Israel had not existed for almost 2,000
years.
We will look at the prophecy of the war with Magog, but just prior to that
prophecy was one that spoke of Israel coming back together as a nation:
(Eze 37:12 NKJV)
Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause
you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
Israel’s very existence tells us we are in the last days.
In Jesus’ last week, He had a “run in” with a fig tree that didn’t have
any fruit (Mat. 21:19).
Later He spoke of how the nation of Israel was not bearing fruit. The fig tree
is one of the many pictures of the nation of Israel. In speaking about the last
days, Jesus said,
(Mt 24:32–33 NKJV)
—32 “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already
become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. 33 So you
also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors!
Are we in the last days? Yes.
2. Hatred by nations
(Zec 12:3 NKJV)
And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone
for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces,
though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.
Do you remember
hearing about the peaceful aid flotilla heading to Palestinian Gaza that was brutally
attacked by the Israeli Defense Forces?
This news blurb
was from that “unbiased” news source, Aljazeera
(June 8, 2010)
Israel condemned
at Turkey summit
The
Israeli attack on the aid flotilla has drawn condemnation around the world
[Reuters] Nearly two dozen nations have condemned Israel's deadly raid on a
Gaza-bound aid flotilla at the conclusion of a regional summit in Istanbul.
Abdullah Gul, the Turkish president, released a statement agreed to by 21 of
the 22 participants in the conference. (the one participant that didn’t
agree was Israel)
In case you haven’t heard – it was all a setup. There were armed terrorists
on board the ship.
3. Immigration
In Israel, the
term is “Aliya”. The Bible says it would happen in the end times:
(Zec 10:8-9 NKJV)
I will whistle for them and gather them, For I will redeem them; And they shall
increase as they once increased. {9} "I will sow them among the peoples,
And they shall remember Me in far countries; They shall live, together with
their children, And they shall return.
This from the Jerusalem Post
(Dec. 28, 2010)
Aliya rises
second year straight nearing 20,000 mark
Figures
indicate 16% rise in aliya compared to previous year; Jerusalem most popular
place for new Olim; oldest immigrant 99 years old.
4. Blessing the
nations
(Isa 27:6 NKJV)
Those who come He shall cause to take root in Jacob; Israel shall blossom and
bud, And fill the face of the world with fruit.
We have seen over the years that the nation of Israel is not only literally fulfilling
this prophecy by being one of the world’s largest fruit exporters, but is also
blessing and filling the world with many other kinds of fruit:
An Israeli company, IDE, is building desalination plants in 40 countries,
producing 2,000,000 cubic meters of water a day.
Quenching your thirst
with the sea
Champagne
glasses containing the finest fresh water were raised in a toast last month to
celebrate the opening of Israel's third desalination plant, this one in the
northern city of Hadera. Lauded as the largest reverse osmosis desalination
facility in the world, the plant that takes water from the Mediterranean Sea
and makes it safe to drink is expected to produce 127 million cubic meters of
water each year - enough to meet the water needs of one in every six Israelis.
Magog War
The war of Ezekiel
38-39 is around the
corner. There are some interesting things happening in the news.
1. Rosh, Meshech
(Eze 38:1–2 NKJV)
—1 Now the word of the Lord came
to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog,
the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him,
We have long thought that some of these names are connected to Russia.
I know that our Senate has just approved a new Nuclear Arms treaty with
Russia, but we’re not out of the woods just yet.
From RT.com (July 12,
2010) (Note: “RT” or “Russia Today” is a news service out of Russia)
Moscow arms
against nuclear attack
Nearly
5,000 new emergency bomb shelters will be built in Moscow by 2012 to save
people in case of potential attacks.
Play Video
report
Return of Satan
The
Russian military plans to introduce a up-to-date analogue of the most powerful
ballistic missile of all time - the RS-20, or SS-18 Satan by NATO
classification. …
The
announcement came as both Russia and the US were striving to find convincing
arguments for talks on further reductions in strategic nuclear forces,
scheduled for later this year.
The
RS-20 (SS-18 Satan) remains the ultimate ballistic missile. There is no
anti-missile defense system to counter it. It can carry 10 warheads (550
kiloton each) a distance of more than 11,000 kilometers.
2. Iran
(Eze 38:5 NKJV)
—5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them, all of them with shield and
helmet;
Persia is modern Iran. Have you noticed them in the news?
Joel Rosenberg
is a Jewish believer in Jesus Christ. Even though he is a man who has worked in
the political world as a speech writer and has many political connections, he
has become known over the years from the prophetic fictional books he’s
written. He has a new book that has come out recently called “The Twelfth
Imam”, dealing with the coming war with Iran.
3. Sheba and Dedan
(Eze 38:13 NKJV) —13 Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young
lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your
army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and
goods, to take great plunder?’ ” ’
Sheba and Dedan
are the Arab states on the Saudi peninsula.
We found out from the Wikileaks revelation that the Arab states are more
worried about Iran than they are Israel.
Qatari Leader
Praises Israel’s Quest for Peace
Jerusalem, Dec.
1 - Israel is still pushing for
peace despite threats from Hezbollah and
Hamas said Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.
He
said it is "suprising" that Israel still tries to advance regional
peace and that Iran "cannot be trusted."
In
the secret cables revealed by WikiLeaks, the Qatari leader makes the case that
Israel has been "under threat" for a long time and cannot be blamed
for not trusting the Arabs in peace negotiations.
From the
British Times
Online (June 12, 2010)
Saudi Arabia
gives Israel clear skies to attack Iranian nuclear sites
Saudi
Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defenses to enable Israeli
jets to make a bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal.
In the week that the UN Security Council imposed a
new round of sanctions on Tehran, defense sources in the Gulf say that Riyadh
has agreed to allow Israel to use a narrow corridor of its airspace in the
north of the country to shorten the distance for a bombing run on Iran.
4. The “booty”
What’s the “booty” these armies are coming for in Israel?
For years we have thought that the Arab nations around Israel were far
better off economically.
It reminds me
of an old cartoon where Moses is saying to God, “Now let me get this straight …
The Arabs get the oil and we have to cut the ends of our what?!”
There are some ancient prophecies
about the coming wealth of Israel including this:
(Ge 49:1 NKJV)
—1 And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you
what shall befall you in the last days:
(Ge 49:25 NKJV)
—25 By the God of your father who will help you, And by the Almighty who will
bless you With blessings of heaven above, Blessings
of the deep that lies beneath, Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
(Dt 33:19 NKJV)
—19 They shall call the peoples to the mountain; There they shall offer
sacrifices of righteousness; For they
shall partake of the abundance of the seas And of treasures hidden in the sand.”
(Dt 32:13 NKJV)
—13 “He made him ride in the heights of the earth, That he might eat the
produce of the fields; He made him draw honey from the rock, And oil from the flinty rock;
Yet in truth, Israel
is already by far the most prosperous nation in the region.
They have just gotten wealthier.
Leviathan natural
gas reserve said worth $90 billion
At
long last, Israel can call itself a gas power, with the confirmation yesterday
of a huge deposit of natural gas sitting below its shore in the Leviathan gas
field. Production from the field is still years off, though.
…Leviathan
officially became the biggest deep-water gas discovery in the last 10 years in
the whole world.
…"A
day in which we learn about the Leviathan gas field, a day in which we pass a
two-year budget, and a day in which we are told that the Israeli economy grew
faster than most of the economies of the west and created 100,000 jobs - this
is a day to be very optimistic about the Israeli economy," Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Curiouser and curiouser.
Signs – Mat. 24
Jesus gave a message about things to look for at the end of time. I just
want to pick out one or two things from each section.
(Mt 24:4–8 NKJV)
—4 And Jesus
answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will
come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of
wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things
must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in
various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
1. Wars
Despite the fact that our current president is trying to bring peace and end
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the world continues to spend money on weapons
like never before.
Global military
spending soars despite economic crisis: Report
STOCKHOLM:
Global military expenditures soared to a record high last year, unscathed by
the economic downturn, with the United States accounting for more than half of
increase, a think tank said Wednesday.
2. Earth trouble
From the Reuters News
Agency (Dec. 30, 2010)
Magnitude 3.8
earthquake in Indiana, no damage
A
magnitude 3.8 earthquake occurred in central Indiana on Thursday morning and
was felt in several nearby states but with no reports of damage or injuries,
government officials said.
We might laugh at the kinds of reports coming out of Indiana from people
who experienced the quake, but earthquakes in the Midwest are quite rare.
2010's world gone
wild: Quakes, floods, blizzards
This
was the year the Earth struck back. Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes,
super typhoons, blizzards, landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter
million people in 2010 — the deadliest year in more than a generation. More
people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been
killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined. "It just seemed
like it was back-to-back and it came in waves," said Craig Fugate, who
heads the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number
of disasters in 2010. "The term `100-year event' really lost its meaning
this year."
…While
the Haitian earthquake, Russian heat wave, and Pakistani flooding were the
biggest killers, deadly quakes also struck Chile, Turkey, China and Indonesia
in one of the most active seismic years in decades. Through mid-December there
have been 20 earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or higher, compared to the normal 16.
This year is tied for the most big quakes since 1970, but it is not a record.
Nor is it a significantly above average year for the number of strong
earthquakes, U.S. earthquake officials say.
For years we’ve
been told about the fact of “global warming”, some say it’s not so … from the British
Daily Mail (Dec. 5, 2010)
What happened to
the 'warmest year on record': The truth is global warming has halted
…
Read carefully with other official data, they conceal a truth that for some, to
paraphrase former US Vice President Al Gore, is really inconvenient: for the
past 15 years, global warming has stopped.
If you look at
the AP’s top news stories of 2010, at the top is the Gulf Oil Spill.
From NOLA.com (Dec. 30, 2010)
Gulf of Mexico
oil spill continues to foul 168 miles of Louisiana coastline
Have you forgotten yet about the big Gulf oil spill?
I’m not sure whether this plays specifically into prophecy, but it does
give us a picture of what things will be like during the Great Tribulation.
(Re 16:3 NKJV) Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it
became blood as of a dead man; and every living creature in the sea died.
Back to Jesus’ teaching in Mat.
24 …
(Mt 24:9–14 NKJV)
—9 “Then they will
deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all
nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one
another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12
And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to
the end shall be saved. 14 And 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.
3. False prophets
This is nothing new in the news. There are always people coming up with
strange new ideas about God.
An interesting article I came across talked about people filling the
Christian pulpits of America who are not “believers”.
The following
comes from a blog by Terry
Mattingly
Voices of
unbelievers, in pulpits
On
Sunday mornings, you will find him leading hymns in one of the independent
Church of Christ congregations somewhere in South Carolina.
Call
him “Adam.” He is a church administrator, a “worship minister” and a
self-proclaimed “atheist agnostic.” That last detail is a secret. After all,
his wife and teen-aged children are devout believers and he needs to stay
employed.
“Here’s
how I’m handling my job. … I see it as playacting. I kind of see myself as
taking on a role of a believer in a worship service, and performing,” he said,
during an interview for the “Preachers
who are not Believers (.pdf)” report from
the Center
for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University.
“I
know how to pray publicly. I can lead singing. I love singing. I don’t believe
what I’m saying anymore in some of these songs. But I see it as taking on the
role and performing. Maybe that’s what it takes for me to get myself through
this, but that’s what I’m doing.”
The article goes on to quote from a Presbyterian minister, a Methodist
minister, a United Church of Christ pastor, and a Southern Baptist pastor.
Again, this is nothing new. There have always been wolves among the sheep. It’s
just a strange reminder to think that some of the “false prophets” might be
closer than we think.
(Mt 24:15–16 NKJV)
—15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by
Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him
understand), 16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
We will talk more about the “abomination of desolation” on Sunday morning,
but briefly – it’s about the antichrist waltzing into the Temple in Jerusalem
and declaring himself to be “god”. One of the assumptions this prophecy makes
is that there WILL be a Temple in Jerusalem.
4. Temple rebuilt
Temple Institute
Some of you may
not be aware that for years now there has been an organization in Israel called
the Temple Institute
which has dedicated itself to the rebuilding of a new Temple in Jerusalem. Over
the last couple of decades, they
have been training priests, making garments, and building the various things
that would be used when the day comes that a Temple is built again in Israel.
What keeps the Jews from rebuilding
their Temple? There is only one place the Temple can be built, on the Temple
Mount, currently occupied by several Muslim mosques, and considered by the
Muslims to be one of their holy places. Many think nothing short of a war would
allow the Jews to rebuild their Temple.
But they are still preparing.
Ads in Jerusalem
Posters: Destroy mosque, build 3rd Temple
now!
Jewish
activists in Jerusalem are using buses to deliver an in-your-face message to
Muslims by calling for the immediate destruction of the Al Aqsa Mosque and the
Dome of the Rock on the city's disputed Temple Mount.
According
to the Jerusalem Post, 200 buses now carry posters picturing the Third Temple
sitting atop the mount alone – with no Muslim buildings in sight – along with
the words, "May the Bais Hamikdosh [Holy Temple] be rebuilt speedily and
within our days."
Adding
fuel to the fire, the campaign's organizers told the Post they've targeted
buses with routes through predominately Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem.
Chief Rabbi Speaks
From the
Israeli newspaper Haaretz:
(July 10, 2010)
Dreaming of the Third Temple in a conflicted Land of
Israel
Tel
Aviv Chief Rabbi, do you still believe a Third Temple will be built?
Certainly.
We believe in that. We pray for that three times a day. It says in a Mishnah in
the fifth chapter of "Pirkei Avot": "May the temple be rebuilt
soon and in our days." That's one thing. The second thing is that all the
Prophets spoke about the fact that [the Temple] had been destroyed by fire and
would be rebuilt in fire in the future. Of all the prophecies of calamity that
took place and everything [the Prophets] said, none of their words fell to the
ground. That's also the way to understand their prophesies about consolation.
Strange Stuff
1. Setting Dates
Nashville
billboards claim Jesus will return May 21, 2011
There
are 24 shopping days left till Christmas.
And
171 days left until Jesus' second coming.
That's
the message on 40 billboards around Nashville, proclaiming May 21, 2011, as the
date of the Rapture. Billboards are up in eight other U.S. cities, too.
Fans
of Family Radio Inc., a nationwide Christian network, paid for the billboards.
Family Radio's founder, Harold Camping, predicted the May date for the Rapture.
I kind of think
that Mr. Camping has probably given us a date that it WON’T happen, only
because he made such a fuss that it would.
(Mt 24:36
NKJV)
—36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but
My Father only.
2. Synthetic Life
From Fox
News (May 20, 2010)
Scientists create
synthetic life in lab
WASHINGTON
-- Scientists announced a bold step Thursday in the enduring quest to create
artificial life. They've produced a living cell powered by manmade DNA.
While
such work can evoke images of Frankenstein-like scientific tinkering, it also
is exciting hopes that it could eventually lead to new fuels, better ways to
clean polluted water, faster vaccine production and more.
I’m not sure
what prophecy that fulfills, but it does remind me of a joke:
God is needed
One day a group
of scientists got together and decided that man had come a long way and no
longer needed God. So they picked one scientist to go and tell Him that they
were done with Him. The
scientist walked up to God and said, “God, we’ve decided that we no
longer need you. We’re to the point that we can clone people and do many
miraculous things, so why don’t you just go on and get lost.” God listened very
patiently and kindly to the man and after the scientist was done talking, God
said, “Very well, how about this, let’s say we have a man making contest.” To
which the scientist replied, “OK, great!” But God added, “Now, we’re going to do
this just like I did back in the old days with Adam.” The scientist said,
“Sure, no problem” and bent down and grabbed himself a handful of dirt. God
just looked at him and said, “No, no, no. You go get your own dirt!”
Whatever this new discovery proves, it doesn’t prove that we don’t need
God.
The Economy
One of the initial things that will happen when the Tribulation starts is
economic chaos:
(Re 6:5–6 NKJV) —5 When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living
creature say, “Come and see.” So I
looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in
his hand. 6 And I heard
a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for
a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil
and the wine.”
I know there are always doom and gloom prognosticators in the world of
economics, but this fellow (Richard Duncan) actually predicted the 2008
recession in a 2003 book:
The Present: On The Brink of Disaster
The
global economy is in crisis. Government intervention on a multi-trillion dollar
scale is the only thing preventing a worldwide collapse into a new great
depression.
…There
are just two problems. First, the government intervention is unsustainable.
Second, nothing whatsoever is being done to address the causes of the crisis:
the flaws in the global monetary and trade superstructure, and insufficient
aggregate demand.
…The
United States is the world’s largest economy, comprising more than 20% of
global GDP. Unemployment there is nearly 10%. The US economy is no longer
viable because wage rates in the US manufacturing sector are 40 times higher
than wage rates in the developing world. There is no sign that either political
party has a strategy that could reverse the country’s rapid economic decline.
The author goes on to say that he sees a collapse in the world economy
within 5-10 years.
I imagine the world is going to come to the conclusion that we need a world
leader who can save us from this economic chaos.
What do I do with
all of this?
To be honest, as I was wrapping up my message this morning, I was getting
kind of depressed and even a bit fearful.
Wow. Things are getting kind of
bad. I think God reminded me of a couple
of things to share with you:
1. Look up
(Lk 21:25–28 NKJV) —25 “And
there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth
distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 26 men’s hearts failing
them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the
earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to happen, look up
and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
If you’re not careful, you can fall into the trap of your heart failing you
because of fear.
The truth is, Jesus is coming back.
Don’t forget who prophesied all of these things. God is the one who has
told us that they will come to pass.
That ought to get you excited.
2. Look in
(1 Jn 3:2–3 NKJV)
—2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what
we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we
shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as
He is pure.
If you are not right with God, this is the time to change.
Jesus died to
save you from this world.
If you have gotten yourself caught up in this world system around us, that
wants to lull us to spiritual sleep with more toys, entertainment, drugs, or
whatever – this is the time to turn around.
3. Look out
Look outside of yourself.
(Mt 9:35–38 NKJV) —35 Then
Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their
synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and
every disease among the people. 36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion
for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.
37 Then He said to
His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38
Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that the answer is in running off to
the desert and building a bomb shelter.
We still have time to reach a few more people for Jesus Christ.
Are there people you know who do not yet trust their lives to Jesus?
Don’t just shoot your long range gospel gun at them.
Some folks think that if they mail a tract to a person,
that their responsibility is finished.
Reach out. Become their friends. Show them how God works in your life. Share
the gospel. Invite them to church.
Maybe you just don’t care about people getting saved. You need to pray for God to break your heart
for the lost.