Scripture: Matthew 24 v 4 - 8: "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows."
When Israel became a nation again after 1900 years being scattered across the world, the countdown to the end of the world began. This tiny nation is the centre point of the world. Everything that happens there affects the balance of power in the whole world. It's all about her.
In 1967 in the Six Day War with Egypt and Syria, Israel amazingly captured the Sinai, Gaza, West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. In the peace treaty with Egypt after this war Israel agreed to give back the Sinai to Egypt. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat came to Jerusalem to make a thank you speech and sign the peace treaty. He was later assassinated by his own troops for doing this.
Journalist Lance Lambert wrote a book on the war in Israel in 1973. He was in Israel at the time. On Yom Kippur, Israel's most holy day where nothing moves in that land, only a handful of soldiers were on the Golan Heights. Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement when Israel sorrows and repents of sin.
Syria, her ancient and present enemy, chose this quiet day to advance on the Golan heights with 2000 tanks. Under these conditions they could accomplish "from the River to the Sea" in under 24 hours without too much effort. Nobody in Israel even answered a telephone on this day or watched TV or had the radio on. Syria really wanted the strategic Golan Heights back.
When the troops on Golan saw the tanks coming they alerted the military watch but knew by the time help arrived it would be far too late. They cried out to God to save Israel. Unbelievably out of a bright blue sky a giant hand was seen with its index finger pointing to a specific place in the sand. Only the Israeli soldiers could see it.
Incredibly, the line of Syrian tanks stopped at that exact spot and never moved again. Israel won that war over three weeks.
Lance Lambert went up to the soldiers on the Golan Heights who were witnesses to this miracle of God. He found that the delivery trucks with cartons of cigarettes and thousands of bottles of beer were left untouched. All they wanted were Bibles and anyone who could interpret prophecy. They told him that the Hand of Almighty God spared Israel.
Lance Lambert went eventually to the Commander of the Syrian army and asked him what happened on that day of the Yom Kippur War. He said that orders had come from Central Command to stop the advance until further notice. No further instructions were given. Our God reigns and His promise to protect Israel holds true.
The scripture above concerns where we are now. We are on the cusp of the Seven Years of Tribulation. It's in two parts. "The Beginning of Sorrows" is the first half of the seven years. We are most definitely in the curtain raiser stage of the end times.
World War 3 will be a nightmare of nuclear proportions. Nuclear sabre rattling has been going on in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with thousands of nuclear warheads deployed in Belarus aimed at Ukraine and Poland and probably Finland by now. That the Allied Nations have nuclear submarines in position to retaliate is not common knowledge but they are quite definitely ready to fire back.
Dear Leader in North Korea is busting to drop nukes on America, where last night Joe Biden referred to former President Trump as "the sitting President"! If he is the means by which "how the west was won" the USA must choose more carefully in November.
From a spiritual standpoint as in the Yom Kippur War, our God is in control of everything. When we get to the brink of the world war precipice, He will allow prophecy to continue unfolding. There will be a Seven Year Peace Treaty between Israel and ALL Arab nations! The "Man of Peace" will step in and bring it about. He is the Antichrist! He will broker this peace.
Everything is unfolding as the scriptures have foretold. Daniel 8 v 23 - 26: "And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.
26 And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days."
When the Lord says "many days" He means centuries, like over twenty of them, which Daniel could not even comprehend. In fact he fainted at this prophecy that he could not interpret or clarify.
Looking back in hindsight we have been told about the Antichrist who is a man of great acceptance to a troubled world. At first. The threat of a world war needs a person who will be acceptable to both sides. East and West. Plus if the Arab nations are willing to stop harassing Israel that will be a biggie on the agenda.
When this day of signing said peace treaty arrives, set your clocks for the next seven years. The first part of Tribulation will be an increase in natural catastrophes. More earthquakes, violent storms, weather out of control, volcanic eruptions, severe food shortages, ongoing wars - there are over 100 active wars on Earth right now - another pandemic or two, particularly Disease X already killing every mouse it touches. No known cure etc etc.
We already had a trial run with Covid 19 so we all know what to do next time. The Antichrist has been very busy behind the scenes, his puppets are all in place and well known to most of us. Can we stop it? No, its Gods ultimate plan unfolding. Jesus is coming.
The Rapture is coming but the real impact of the Antichrist will bring millions of people to become born again Christians. The knowledge of how close we are to the end will inspire us to endure the Beginning of Sorrows to see the incredible miracles of salvation, healing and deliverance through our own prayers and ministries. World wide revival, we have all prayed for it for many years. Let's see it through.
We will not be here for the second half of the Great Tribulation. That is reserved for those who rejected salvation from God and continued mocking Him. It's called The Wrath of the Lamb. In the middle of the Seven Years the Antichrist is revealed to Israel when he steps into the Holy of Holies in the rebuilt Temple, and declares himself God.
Israel flees from him into Jordan, the land the British Mandate over Palestine created for those Palestinians to have as a home when Israel returned to the land God gave them. They refused to go there. They ended up in Gaza. They started a war against the Jews on day 1.
From the time Israel flees to Jordan horrible tribulations occur. Like Moses turned the Nile to blood and all the fish died, well God will expand that legal precedent to turn a third of the oceans into blood and many fish die. There will be many pandemics. There will be multiple violent hurricanes in many countries simultaneously. Major famine and hardship everywhere. Very few repent but many curse God. It was their last chance to avoid eternal Hell.
Finally, the Antichrist calls up the united armies of the world to take full control of Israel and destroy every Jew. It's called Armageddon. The Euphrates River has already dried up as Bible prophecy is fulfilled. Two hundred million soldiers advance on Israel. Jesus and all born again saints who were Raptured arrive on the Plains of Megiddo and out of His mouth a Sword appears and in one minute two thirds of that army are dead. The rest flee.
So whether we live or die in the Lord we will see the end of Armageddon and the rescue of Israel. Whatever you do, never curse Israel or the Jewish people.
Revelation 1 v 5 - 8: "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."
Now is the time to share our Lord Jesus with whoever will listen and receive His salvation. We know what's coming down upon the world and we are His Ambassadors. We must share the truth with the lost, the backsliders, the fence-sitters, and get them opportunity to make the right decision.
Our mighty God is in full control of everyone and everything. He is not willing for any to perish. He is making it hard for them to ignore Him but some will never change their minds. It grieves Him to lose any soul. Let's do our very best not to disappoint Him.
Prayer: Heavenly Father we do not need to look for signs of the end times as we are fully aware of how close the end is. Thank You for showing us so clearly. Help us to reach out to those we love to ensure their eternal salvation. In Jesus' name. Amen.