Sunday
Morning Bible Study
January
1, 2012
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
Every year we like to take time to look back at some of the year’s events
and talk about their possible significance in the prophetic scenario.
Are we close to the return of Jesus Christ?
The Usual
What “Prophecy Update” wouldn’t be complete without something on …
Earthquakes
(Mt 24:7
NKJV) …And there
will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.
On March 11,
Japan was hit by an earthquake and tsunami.
Earthquakes are part of God’s “wake up call”.
False Christs
(Mt 24:24 NKJV) For false
christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to
deceive, if possible, even the elect.
There is a new fellow claiming to be Jesus.
Literally.
He is an Australian
fellow named Alan John Miller (“AJ”), but he says that in a former life he was
none other than Jesus Christ Himself.
His girlfriend claims to be Mary Magdalene reincarnated.
Play AJ Miller
clip.
When you look
at his actual teachings on YouTube, you find that it’s pretty demonic – he is
teaching people how to contact and channel the spirit world.
Some of you might be tempted to think, “But what if he really is Jesus
Christ? Wasn’t Jesus rejected by the
people of His time?”
The Bible tells us exactly how He is going to return, and it isn’t by
reincarnation.
(Ac
1:9–11 NKJV) —9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was
taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they
looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them
in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you
stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you
into heaven, will so come in
like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
He will come with the clouds. Every
eye will see Him.
Gog / Magog
There will be a massive end-times war that we believe will happen before
the start of the Tribulation period.
(Eze 38:1–9 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, 3 and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against you,
O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. 4 I will turn you around, put hooks
into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your army, horses, and horsemen, all
splendidly clothed, a great company with bucklers and shields, all of
them handling swords. 5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya are with them,
all of them with shield and helmet; 6 Gomer and all its troops; the
house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops—many people are
with you. 7 “Prepare
yourself and be ready, you and all your companies that are gathered about you;
and be a guard for them. 8 After many days you will be visited. In the
latter years 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. 9 You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all
your troops and many peoples with you.”
Ezekiel describes a battle of many nations against Israel. Who are these nations? We have some ideas about some of them:
Rosh (vs. 3) –
Russia
Meshech and
Tubal (vs. 3) - Turkey
I will confess that I’ve taught and heard that Meshech could be related to
“Moscow”, but I’ve found evidence that places it in modern Turkey.
Persia (vs. 5)
– Iran
Ethiopia (vs.
5)
Libya (vs. 5)
Russia
Things are heating up again in Russia.
Like this headline:
Putin prepares Russia Empire to strike back
December 1, 2011
Vladimir Putin is running to again be Russian Prime Minister. He has plans to:
1) Renounce the
strategic arms reduction treaty (known as New Start) agreed with Washington two
years ago if the US did not abandon its European missile defense plans.
2) Bring the
former Soviet break away states back into the fold with Russia.
3) Tightening
Russia’s grip on Europe’s energy supplies – Russia has huge oil and gas
reserves.
Medvedev makes historic visit to
West Bank
January 18, 2011
Vladimir Putin worshipped as Saint
Paul
All female sect believes he is
reincarnation of the apostle Paul.
May 13, 2011
See video
The Arab Spring
I’m not sure what to make of all the upheavals happening around the Middle
East.
Play “Arab
Spring” video clip
Long time
dictators ruling over countries like Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya are all gone.
But what’s going to take their place?
Will it be democracy or Sharia law?
Because of all the “conspiracy theories” we hear of, I have to tell you
that at times I’ve
wondered if the U.S. is behind the uprisings. At other times I’ve wondered if Iran was behind the uprisings.
We will have to wait and see how it all plays out. I do wonder if this will
play into the Magog war.
Iran
Play background
video of Ahmadeinejad’s speech.
In February, Iranian president Ahmadinejad addressed a huge crowd in
Teheran on the 32nd anniversary of the revolution in Iran.
He told cheering crowds that the Mahdi, the Muslim version of the messiah,
is managing the Egyptian Revolution and global affairs, and that he will soon
deal with the 'child of Satan' - the United States.
Ahmadinejad: Egypt Revolution Reveals Hand of the 'Mahdi'
We have been
watching Iran’s nuclear ambitions grow and change. We have been concerned because Iran claims it
is willing to destroy Israel.
Even though the world seems reluctant to do anything too serious about
Iran’s nuclear threat, somebody has been busy.
Last year there
was the “Stuxnet” virus that crippled their nuclear facility.
This year in November there was a massive explosion which destroyed one of
their nuclear facilities as well as their “nuclear architect.
Here are some
“before” and “after” shots
of the site.
Iran claims it was an accident. Others claim it was
Israel’s spy agency, Mossad.
Iranian missile architect dies in blast – Mossad mission?
Nov. 14, 2011
Satellite views of Iran blast site
November 29, 2011
Iranian Nuke site explosion
Is Iran already under covert attack?
15 November, 2011
Assassinations
of nuclear scientists, a sophisticated cyber-attack, and now, last weekend, a
mysterious blast at a munitions base that has killed the "godfather"
of Iran's ballistic missile programme.
The explosion
at the Bid Ganeh base was so powerful, it killed 17 Revolutionary Guard Corps
soldiers and rattled windows in Tehran several miles away.
Iran says it
was an accident, but few who follow events there are convinced.
'Blast in Iran struck uranium enrichment facility'
The other current
developing situation has to do with Iran and its threat with the Strait of
Hormuz, located just off the Iranian coastline.
This is a narrow passageway through which 17 percent of the world’s oil
supply flows.
Stay tuned.
Iran rounds up Christians in crackdown
January 12, 2011
Turkey
It seems that Turkey is part of the Gog/Magog war.
Do you remember the Israeli raid on a supposed “aid convoy” of ships trying to bring
“supplies” to the Gaza strip back in May 2010?
Israel was condemned by sending in soldiers and killing nine people. Subsequent UN inquiries found that though
they thought the Israeli action was “excessive”, it was legal, and actually had
been met by an organized armed group.
Do you remember where the ship was from?
Turkey. All those who were killed
were Turkish.
Though Turkey has long been an Israeli ally, things have changed over the
last few years.
Since 2002, the
Islamic movement inside Turkey has been increasing to where they now control
the Presidency,
Prime Minister, Parliament, Judiciary, military, and police.
President Obama held up Turkey as a model for other nations in how it has
combined democracy with Islam, but I’m beginning to wonder if Turkey isn’t
moving in the wrong direction.
Here are a couple of disturbing headlines:
Turkey doubles the size of its army
July 5, 2011
This was done supposedly to reduce unemployment and end terrorism. They are going to add 500,000 new troops to their army. What would the world say if Israel were to do
this?
Israel halts arms shipments to Turkey
December 23, 2011
This gives you an idea of what Israel is thinking about Turkey.
Israel cancels a $141million contract for aerial surveillance systems.
Things between Israel and Turkey are deteriorating. Turkey was once a strong ally, but with
increased Islamic influence, Turkey is beginning to be more friendly with
Israel’s enemies.
The concern is that some of the hardware may be given to Iran against
Israel.
Middle East War
Overall, things are again a little tense in the Middle East. Could this lead to Magog?
Israel and Syrian bracing for war
December 5, 2011
Both are saying something could happen in the next couple of weeks. It might have something to do with the unrest
in Syria, but both Syria and Israel have made recent statements warning of a
possible war.
In addition, both U.S. and Russian warships have been moved into the
region.
U.S. stations troops in Jordan to protect from
Syrian attack
Dec. 13, 2011
Some of the U.S. troops leaving Iraq have been deployed in Jordan, near the
Syrian border to prevent Syria from attacking Jordan.
Israel
Israel is always the key to prophecy.
We always look at Israel.
The fact that the nation of Israel exists today is a miracle of
itself. It is proof to us that we are in
these last days.
In relation to the Gog/Magog war, there are some interesting things going
on with Israel:
How Israel could revolutionize the global energy
sector
March 11, 2011
Last year I mentioned the huge natural gas field discovered off the coast of Israel. The Tamar gas field is enough to supply
Israel with its own natural gas for 20 years, starting in 2013. The more recently discovered Leviathan gas
field is twice the size of Tamar and will be used to export gas to the world.
Now they’ve
discovered “oil shale”, and some estimates have it as the potential of
producing 250 billion barrels of oil.
That compares to Saudi Arabia’s 260 billion barrels of oil.
Could this be
the “spoil” that draws Magog to war with Israel?
Israel deploys Iron Dome missile defense system
March 27, 2011
Israel has now deployed their own missile defense system.
Maybe this might be a way in which the Magog invasion is stopped?
There are other Israeli news items that are interesting besides the
Gog/Magog war.
Rabbi: Arab unrest signals
Messiah’s coming
Israel Land of Milk and Honey
The Negev blooms
The Bible speaks
of events that will be taking place in the end times at the Temple. But there is no Temple. This helps us know that one day there will be
a Temple in Jerusalem. Problem? There is already something on the Temple Mount that keeps the Jews
from rebuilding their Temple, and it’s not very friendly to Jews.
Temple Blueprints
January, 2011
We’ve watched
how the “Temple Institute” in Jerusalem has slowly been preparing for the day
when Temple Worship would be reinstituted in Jerusalem. They have manufactured the implements for sacrifice, made the
priestly garments, trained the priests, made the items for the Temple like the
Menorrah, laver, and altar of incense.
Play “Temple
Plans” Video
This year they’ve unveiled their first set of blueprints for a portion of
the Temple itself called the “Chamber of Hewn Stone”, where the Sanhedrin will
meet. The plans were drawn by a top Israeli
architectural firm hired by the Temple Institute. The plans include internet ports, wireless
communications systems, computer data storage, elevators, air conditioning and
underground parking.
Where will this Temple be built if the Muslims control the Temple
Mount? We’ll deal with this when we get
to Revelation 11.
Rabbi calls for sacrifice on Temple Mount
April 5, 2011
As of yet, the Jews do not yet again practice animal sacrifice. There are often fringe groups that want to
perform a sacrifice, but …
This year a
significant rabbi came out endorsing the reestablishment of a Passover
sacrifice on the Temple Mount. He
addressed concerns about sacrifice and said, “Circumcision was ridiculed too…”
Will it happen? There will be a lot
to overcome. There’s no way the secular
government will allow this without some sort of agreement.
Europe
The Bible indicates that the antichrist will rule over a kingdom that will
be some sort of revived
Roman Empire. We get these ideas
primarily from Daniel 2,7.
The problem with a revived Roman Empire is that currently Europe is not
doing so well. Have you noticed?
The economic troubles of Greece, Italy, and Spain are threatening the
collapse of the Euro and possibly the world’s economy.
United States of Europe Beckons
December 12, 2011
One of the solutions being suggested is that the European countries take a
step towards unifying more into a single country. The idea is to give up some of their national
sovereignty in order to gain control of the economic crisis.
One of the possible “saviors” of Europe is …
New Germany rising in Europe
October 22, 2011
The Germans
themselves seem to be a bit reluctant at what is happening, but many of the
other countries in Europe are looking more and more to Germany to be the one to
lead them out of the economic chaos.
Germany is the one stable economy in Europe.
Seventy years ago Hitler took his armies across Europe and conquered these
nations. Now they are coming to Germany
and asking for help.
In describing the antichrist, John writes,
(Re 13:3
NKJV) And I
saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly
wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.
We’ve looked at this for years as if the antichrist would survive some sort
of assassination attempt. What if it is speaking
of a nation that was “dead”, but came back to life? The idea of the “heads” actually speaks
better of a country than it does a person in this context.
Stay tuned.
Israel and the European Union – seven year plan
New Euro empire plot
Oct. 22, 2011
Vatican calls for new world economic order
October 24, 2011
VATICAN CITY – The Vatican called Monday for radical reform of the world's
financial systems, including the creation of a global political authority to
manage the economy.
The Vatican is not just talking about reform, but about some sort of authority to make sure that
reform happens. Globally.
What is so odd about this article is the fact that the antichrist’s kingdom is so closely tied
to an apostate world religious system. (we’ll see this in Rev. 17&18).
Lesson
Ready to go
What do you think? Do you think we
are getting close? What do we do with
all this information?
Jesus said,
(Mt 24:42–51 NKJV) —42 Watch
therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
We ought to be
“watching” (vs. 42)
That means we are aware of the times we are in. It’s a good thing to study prophecy. It’s good to pay attention to the newspaper.
43 But know
this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come,
he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming
at an hour you do not expect.
We ought to be
“ready” (vs. 44)
We ought to have our lives in order. We ought to be living lives of which we are
not ashamed before God.
45 “Who then is a
faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to
give them food in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his
master, when he comes, will find so
doing.
We ought to be
“so doing” (vs. 46)
God has things for us to do in this world. We shouldn’t be running away from the world
and hiding in a monastery, we ought to be reaching the world.
47 Assuredly, I say to
you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. 48 But if that evil
servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ 49 and begins to
beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, 50 the master of
that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an
hour that he is not aware of, 51 and will cut him in two and appoint him
his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
When you’ve heard a prophecy update or two or three, there is a tendency to
think that it will never happen. Some
folks think we are just fooling ourselves with false hope. But Jesus said it was the “evil servant” who
falls into the trap of thinking that the Lord isn’t going to come soon.
It’s healthy to live as if today might be the day. Because it might be.
Other
UK police listening in on calls.
Iraq tourism hangs in balance at
Babylon
January 14, 2011
Economic Collapse – need for world
currency
February 10, 2011
America and God’s judgment – Isaiah 9:10 prophecy
December 13, 2011
Messianic Jewish rabbi from New
Jersey shows parallels between Israel’s fall and things happening in America.
Leaders like Daschle and Edwards
quoting the verse incorrectly – thinking to comfort, but really proclaiming
judgment.
North Korean with Nine Foot Tall
soldier
Pentagon Doomsday scenarios
The collapse of Pakistan, The rise
of militant China, The Collapse of North Korea
The Pentagon prepares for Economic
warfare
August 20, 2011
China and Russia could easily
destabilize the world’s and our economies.
China is the biggest player in U.S. debt. Russia has a huge stake in oil prices.