As we begin part 2 of our study tonight, we have a lot to talk about in this section so let’s just dive right in and see some of the turning points that show us the Lord’s return is getting closer.
4. THE ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT
The book of Daniel speaks of the last day’s government as being worldwide, part of the revived Roman Empire and being led by the world leader we know as the Antichrist. Now some see this empire as being Europe but if you look at where Europeans have spread out over the years, I tend to see this as a worldwide empire with a European influence. In Daniel 2:40-43 we are told, “And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.”
And as we read on, it is during this time that the Messiah will come, when this empire is in power as Daniel 2:44-45 tells us, “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold — the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.”
Let me show you why I believe this is a worldwide government and as you are listening to this, think about how the free trade agreements are being drawn up, how what was said back in 1973 is coming to pass in the days we are living in. Way back in 1968 the Club of Rome had its beginnings with leaders from ten different countries gathering together for solutions to the world’s problems and their claim was that they had the answers for peace and prosperity for the world. Then, on September 17, 1973 the Club of Rome released this report: Regionalized and Adaptive Model of the Global World System. This document divides the world into ten political/economic regions that they call “kingdoms.”
This seems to follow the free trade agreements that are being made. In fact, on July 18, 1993 Henry Kissinger, a CFR member and Trilateralist said the following in the Los Angeles Times concerning NAFTA: “What Congress will have before it is not a conventional trade agreement but the architecture of a new international system . . . a first step toward a new world order.” The phrase “new world order” is speaking of this one world government. Thus, these ten toes of the multi-metallic image of Daniel chapter 2 are the ten political/economic regions that will represent a one-world government in which we are moving quickly towards!
Carl Teichrib tells us:
Five years ago at the United Nations Millennium Forum, Steven C. Rockefeller – Chairman of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund – introduced the Earth Charter to the UN during a special UNMF side-event. That same year, the Earth Charter was officially launched in the presence of major dignitaries at the Hague, Netherlands. Since that time the Charter has been affirmed by UNESCO, incorporated into a variety of global education programs, and formally adopted by a number of major cities – including Seattle, Berkley, and Urbino Italy. In fact, the US Conference of Mayors passed a resolution on June 25th, 2001, stating:
The US Conference of Mayors endorses the Earth Charter and commits the organization to the realization of its aim. And urges its mayors and their cities to formally review and debate the Earth Charter and its relationship to its work.
In the same year that the US Conference of Mayors gave its blessing to the Charter, the Ark of Hope was unveiled at Shelburne Farms, Vermont, in the presence of such notables as Jane Goodall and Steven Rockefeller. This ark, a specially constructed wooden box complete with handles and adorned with artwork representing air, water, fire, earth, and spirit, contains a handwritten Earth Charter on carefully prepared papyrus paper.
For those who may not be familiar with it, the Earth Charter is a series of principles meant to guide governments and civilians into an Earth-centric way of thinking and living. This document, which is considered by many to be a set of “soft laws,” was the brainchild of Maurice Strong, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Steven Rockefeller. And for the last number of years, the Charter and its visible home – the Ark of Hope – have been circulated and presented at a number of United Nations and UN-affiliated events.
But where is the Ark now, and what’s become of the Earth Charter?
Granted, much of the worlds leadership, including significant segments of the environmental movement, seem focused on the war/anti-war debate rather than on items such as the Earth Charter. However, even though the Charter doesn’t appear front-and-center in global affairs, it hasn’t gone away.
During 2004, the Earth charter was given attention at the World Social Summit, at the Swedish International Consultation on Education for Sustainable Development, and at the Nairobi UNEP conference on Intergovernmental Strategic Planning. In Canada a fundraising concert was held which incorporated the Earth Charter, and in October last year the Charter received The Peacemaker Award. It was also adopted by one of the most powerful environmental lobbying and policy groups on the planet, the World Conservation Union.
This year, an Earth Charter eco-tour was launched in Costa Rica, and in Italy the Charter was part of an international conference on global environmental law development. But for 2005, the best is yet to come.
On October 8th [this article was written mid-September], in cities across the US and around the world, a series of Earth Charter Community Summits will be held. US cities participating include Indianapolis, Chicago, San Diego, Portland, Atlanta, Tampa, Oshkosh and Dallas, to name but a few. Other Summit locations include Calgary (Canada), Andhra Pradesh (India), Brussels (Belgium), and in Senegal (unsure at this time whether the event will be held in Thies or Dakar). The purpose of these Community Summits is to infuse new energy into the Charter process and rally a broad base of support for its principles. But the really big event, the staring show, will be in November.
Starting on the 7th of November and ending on the 9th, the Earth Charter’s fifth launching anniversary is being held at the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam. Expected Attendees include Maurice Strong, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Ruud Lubbers (former Prime Minster of The Netherlands), along with a host of governmental officials and Earth Charter supporters.
The big push for this event isn’t so much the seeking of global grassroots support, it’s the development of a specific governance structure for the Charter itself. In other words, the creation of an effective global administrative body that would propel the Earth Charter beyond its current status-quo. Aspects of this program include the renewed role of faith groups in the process, the prospects for integration into international law, and the role of the Charter in the total framework of global governance.
And all of this brings us back around to the Ark of Hope. Where is it?
At the time of this writing, the Ark is located at the Tropen museum in Amsterdam, where it will remain until the end of November. No surprise, the Ark of Hope is being included in the Earth Charter + 5 celebrations.
Looking back, it’s truly amazing what a few years can do. In 1997 when the Earth Charter was going through its drafting process, only a handful of people knew anything about the project. Even during the millennium year, knowledge of the Charter was confined to the research community and those active in the global environmental movement. And while today’s average citizen knows little, if anything, about the Earth Charter, it has firmly rooted itself into the tangled web of international politics and power.
The big question is, where will the Charter be in another five years – and what will be done to get it there?
- Carl Teichrib
But how can we, as a sovereign nation, an independent nation, join a world government? Our Constitution doesn’t allow for that? Listen carefully to what author James McGregor Burns published in The Power to Lead in 1984. We are told:
“The framers of the U.S. Constitution have simply been too shrewd for us. They have outwitted us. They designed separate institutions that cannot be unified by mechanical linkages, frail bridges, tinkering. If we are to ‘turn the Founders upside down’ – we must directly confront the constitutional structure they erected.
Then, back in April of 1974 the former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Trilateralist and CFR member Richard Gardner’s article The Hard Road to World Order, which was published in the CFR’s foreign Affairs and this is what he stated:
“The ‘house of world order’ will have to be built from the bottom up rather than the top down . . . but an end run around national sovereignty, eroding it piece by piece, will accomplish much more than the old-fashioned frontal assault.”
Now what if we don’t want this, what if we want to remain a sovereign nation? Too bad and I guess, too late! James Warburg said way back on February 17, 1950 this bold statement, and keep in mind that James Warburg was a member of the CFR, and before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he said these words: “We shall have a world government whether or not you like it – by conquest or consent.”
Folks, what may have seemed impossible only some 100 years ago, even 50 years ago, is now very possible, a one world government! It is not IF it will happen but more WHEN it will happen as Arthur C. Clarke tells us in Childhood’s End, “Fifty years is ample time in which to change a world and its people almost beyond recognition. All that is required for the task are a sound knowledge of social engineering, a clear sight of the intended goal – and power.”
What can we do to prevent this from happening? I just heard a Christian talk show dealing with this very issue and they felt it can be prevented, that we need to take a stand. Folks, the reality is, we are to stand up for righteousness, but we are not called to prevent this one world government from happening, as shocking as that may sound to some of you. Read the Scriptures, we are called to make disciples of all nations, to bring people to Jesus and then help them to grow in the faith. Don’t lose sight of the Great Commission but just be aware of where leaders of this world, where the movers and the shakers are taking us, into a one-world government whether we like it or not!
5. THE CASHLESS
SOCIETY
We are quickly moving towards a cashless society and the words that John wrote almost 2,000 years ago might have been impossible back then but they are very possible today, in fact, it is happening! In Revelation 13:16-17 we are told, “He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
Today we are beginning to track people, what they buy, where they are going. In Illinois and their famous Tollway system they now have the I-Pass with a transponder, which allows you to drive through the tollbooths, and the money is deducted from your account for the toll. They are building tollbooths now that you don’t even have to slow down, you just drive and as you pass under these arches, it deducts the toll from your account! From what I understand you can actually hear the money being sucked out of your pocket!
This article is from Grant Gross, IDG News Service, October 26, 2005 and we are told:
By October 2006, the U.S. government will require nearly all of the passports it issues to include a computer chip containing the passport holder’s personal information, according to regulations published this week.
Starting in early 2006, the U.S. Department of State will begin issuing passports with 64-kilobyte RFID (radio frequency identification) chips that will contain the name, nationality, gender, date of birth, and place of birth on the passport holder, as well as a digitized photograph of that person.
The chip’s contents will match the data on the paper portion of the passport, improving passport security by making it more difficult for criminals to tamper with passports, backers say. U.S. government efforts to make passports harder to forge began in response to the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
- Grant Gross, IDG News Service, October 26, 2005
This is from the Chicago Tribune, September 14, 2005:
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS – The Dutch government plans to open an electronic file on every child at birth to help spot and protect troubled children of the future.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2007, all citizens will be tracked from cradle to grave in a single database – including health, education, family and police records the Health Ministry said Tuesday.
- Chicago Tribune, September 14, 2005
This is from the Guardian, April 21, 2005:
Governments are building a “global registration and surveillance infrastructure” in the US-led “war on terror,” civil liberty groups warned yesterday.
The aim is to monitor the movements and activities of entire populations in what campaigners call “an unprecedented project of social control.” . . .
National ID cards, they warn, will become a “globally interoperable biometric passport.” The setting up of airlines’ passenger name records (PRNs) could include more than 60 different kinds of information, including meal choices which could revel personal, religious or ethnic affiliations. . . .
They also point to an agreement between Europol – the EU’s incipient police headquarters – and the US giving what they say will be an unlimited number of American agencies access to sensitive information on the race, political opinions, religious beliefs, health and sexual life of individuals.
The groups point to increasingly close cooperation between national police, security, intelligence, and military.
To achieve their ends, they say, governments have suspended judicial oversight over law enforcement agents and public officials, concentrated unprecedented power in the hands of the executive arm of government, and rolled back criminal law and due process protections that balance the rights of individuals against the power of the state.
- Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian, April 21, 2005
And from World Net Daily, July 22, 2005 we see this regarding a chip implant:
Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson has volunteered to get an RFID electronic chip implant to show the world just how safe the new technology is. . . .
Thompson, who recently joined the board of directors of VeriChip, said he believed the technology was an important and secure means of accessing medical records and other information.
- World Net Daily, July 22, 2005
Here is an article that points to Big Brother watching us. The article is called, Global Positioning Systems Monitor The Masses. We are told:
It’s late and your teenage daughter is not home yet. You call her phone, but she does not pick up. A little concerned, you sit down at the computer and look her up through an online tracking service. Her car is fitted with a GPS tracking device and sure enough, the satellite system shows that she’s still parked at the library. Just to make sure, though, you look up her cell phone – also fitted with a GPS tracking device. The cell phone shows up across the street from the library. You look up the address. Ah, Starbucks. Suddenly your cell phone rings. “Hey Mom,” you hear. “You want me to bring you home a decaf Mocha?”
The Global Positioning Satellite system operated by the United States Department of Defense is no longer being used only to track the enemy. GPS receivers use signals from satellites to track their own locations and can be attached to just about anything. The technology costs have dropped dramatically in recent years, making these devices affordable to just about anybody. GPS vehicle-tracking services like OnStar are growing in popularity and by the end of 2005, most cell phones will include a GPS receiver for enhanced 911 service. One company, Wherify Wireless Inc. is planning to have a GPS tracker available at Wal-Mart stores within a few months. . . .
- Global Positioning Systems Monitor The Masses
One more point before we move on and that is found in Revelation 13:14-15 where we are told, “And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.” Notice that the false prophet gives power to this image of the beast after the beast or the Antichrist is mortally wounded and yet he lives. What does that mean? I’m not completely sure what this image of the beast is but let me share with you something that I found very interesting.
This is from the UK, March 31, 2005, Brain Chip Reads Man’s Thoughts. We are told:
A paralyzed man in the US has become the first person to benefit from a brain chip that reads his mind. Matthew Nagle, 25, was left paralyzed from the neck down and confined to a wheelchair after a knife attack in 2001. The pioneering surgery at New England Sinai Hospital, Massachusetts, last summer means he can now control everyday objects by thought alone. The brain chip reads his mind and sends the thoughts to a computer to decipher. . . . Studies have shown that monkeys can control a computer with electrodes implanted into their brain. . . .
. . . Recently four people, two of them partly paralyzed wheelchair users, were able to move a computer cursor while wearing a cap with 64 electrodes that pick up brain waves. Mr. Nagle’s device, called BrainGate, consists of nearly 100 hair-thin electrodes implanted a millimeter deep into part of the motor cortex of his brain that controls the brain signals. . . . He said there were millions of neurons in the brain involved with movement. The brain chip taps into only a very small number of these. But he said the work was extremely exciting.
- UK, March 31, 2005, Brain Chip Reads Man’s Thoughts
This is from the BBC News Online, March 24, 2004, Brain Waves Control Video Game:
A video game in which the character is controlled directly from a player’s brain without the need for wires has been developed by researchers. Mind Balance was demonstrated for the first time using a new wireless headset, at the MIT Media Lab Europe in Dublin last month.
Research laboratories around the world have been working on technologies which let people “jack in” to computes directly from their brains, including Cyberkinetics, whose BrainGate system is currently undergoing trials. But the Mind Balance game demonstration showed how brain activity could be harnessed and used without the need for plugs, jacks or wires. Instead of wires, it uses direct electroencephalography (EEG), cerebral data nodes and the wireless technology – Bluetooth – all fitted into the sophisticated Cerebus headset.
“One of the obvious applications is for someone who is locked in or paralyzed completely, somebody who has an advanced case of ALS [Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis], where they literally cannot communicate at all, but their brain is operating fine. They can still see and hear but can’t move or speak. If we had a direct link from their brain to their computer, they could communicate.”
- BBC News Online, March 24, 2004, Brain Waves Control Video Game
The technology is here and it is growing fast. Watch how this technology is being used, starting out for good but it will lead to evil as the Antichrist has control of every aspect of a person’s life! Obviously the church will be taken home to be with the Lord before the Tribulation period starts but we have some insight into the technology and how it relates to the Bible!
6. THE COMING WAR
In Ezekiel chapter 37 God gives Ezekiel a vision of dry bones and God asks him if these bones can live? Ezekiel says that only God knows that and God shows Ezekiel that these bones can live again as the Lord brings them back to life and he shows Ezekiel that this a vision of the nation of Israel coming to life once again, one nation, no longer a divided kingdom. In 1948 the Jews once again had a homeland and in 1967 they once again had the city of Jerusalem, the city of David! These bones came to life just as God said they would! It is after they are back in the land that a major war breaks out in the Middle East according to Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.
In this chapter we read of Magog being the leader of this group of nations that will come down against Israel. Now who are the people of Magog? This is not a city, for names of cities change over the years, sometimes overnight. It is a people, and you can go back in history and see where these people lived, they are the Scythians. And in Ezekiel chapter 38, verses 6 and 15, we are told that these people are coming from the “far north.” Go to a map and go straight up from Israel and you will run into Moscow. The area of Russia is where the Scythian people lived. The Russians are Magog! Still unsure? Still not sure that Russia is against Israel?
Back in 1983, during Israel’s war with Lebanon, the Israelis discovered a man-made cave extending 1 mile into a mountain. Packed inside this cave were tanks, all kinds of weapons, and ammunition that Russia was supplying to Lebanon. They were all Russian weapons! And there were so many weapons in this cave it took 3 days to empty the cave!
Russia has been working closely with Muslim nations, siding with them, since they own the oil! And as you look at the list of nations that will come down with Russia against Israel, the ones listed in Ezekiel chapter 38, you will see that many of them are Muslim in faith. We see Turkey, Iran and Iraq, Ethiopia, Libya, Germany maybe even some of the republics that broke away from the Soviet Union when the Soviet Union broke up, like Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tadzhikistan, and Kyrgystan. How close are we to a war in the Middle East? Listen careful to this article from the Israel Insider, April 21, 2005. We are told:
Israel has reportedly expressed its belief to Washington that Iran and several of its Arab allies are preparing for a full-scale war against the Jewish state, possibly following the expected US withdrawal from Iraq in 2006.
Israeli military intelligence reported earlier in the month that the Lebanese terrorist organization Hizballah is already planning a major offensive along Israel’s northern border, likely at the behest of Tehran.
But Washington has been largely dismissive of Israel’s assessments of Iran’s nuclear program, and therefore the presence of any serious threat in the near future.
“Our intelligence community has used in the past an estimate that said that Iran was not likely to acquire a nuclear weapon before the beginning of the next decade,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on April 13. “That remains the case.”
Why would America dismiss one of the best intelligence agencies in the world? Listen carefully as this report goes on to say:
America’s top priority in the region at this time, officials said, was to ensure Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria and the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state on the Jew’s biblical heartland.
The birth of Palestine, the Bush administration continues to insist, would effectively put an end to regional animosity towards Israel.
“If you resolve the Israeli-Palestinian issue, you’ve resolved the problem with extremism,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.
The Jewish state, however, suffered three full-scale Arab-initiate wars and countless terrorism attacks during the 19 years prior to taking control of Judea, Samaria and Gaza in 1967.
- Israel Insider, April 21, 2005
Is Israel a little jumpy? Have they come to the wrong conclusion about Iran and a war in the Middle East? Again, listen carefully to this article by Bill Wilson from watch.org, December 6, 2005. We are told:
Russia, the Gog in the Ezekiel 38 prophecy that predicts joining forces with Iran (Persia) and others against Israel in a huge end time battle, has seized control of the entire Iranian nuclear conflict by supplying nuclear technology and expertise to Iran and by convincing the West it is the best position to broker a peace compromise. . . .
In the past ten days, the European Union revealed that Iran has drawings showing how to cast the inner core of a nuclear bomb. Iran is also threatening to resume uranium enrichment at its underground plant in Natanz. After much debate, the 35-member board of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency decided to give Russia time to broker a compromise. . . . Iran has said that Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth. It wants the same for America. . . .
- Bill Wilson, watch.org, December 6, 2005
In another article titled, Iran Only Months Away From Nuke? from December 5, 2005 we are told:
International Atomic Energy Agency chairman Mohamed ElBaradei affirmed Israel’s assessment that Iran is only a few months away from creating a nuclear weapon, the Jerusalem Post reported. Iran decided to resume uranium processing at Isfahan in August 2004, in clear defiance of its promises to the EU-3 – France, Germany and Britain – that uranium processing would be stopped while negotiations were underway. . . . A military strike against Iran would be much more complicated than Israel’s 1981 strike that took out Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor. At that time, Iraq had one nuclear facility; today, Iran has at least a half-dozen critical nuclear facilities, if not more, that would need to be targeted. . . . Corsi noted Israeli officials have been making statements indicating Mach 2006 is the deadline for the Iranian nuclear crisis to be resolved. “If no progress is made diplomatically by March 2006, the likelihood that Israel will launch a nuclear strike regardless of the consequences increases dramatically,” Corsi said.
- Iran Only Months Away From Nuke? December 5, 2005
A war in the Middle East is coming, how soon, we are not sure but it looks like God is setting the players into position for this war that I believe will set the stage for the Antichrist to be reveled to the world that is on the brink of destruction. As I close this section, let me leave you with a few quotes that are very interesting. Gershon Salomon, leader of Israel’s Temple Mount Faithful said:
I consider it my duty to warn my people and all the friends of Israel that . . . the most terrible war [is coming] against the people of Israel as a direct result of . . . giving away to the enemies of G-d our Holy Temple Mount and the . . . Biblical areas of Israel . . . . We read in the prophetic Scriptures of Ezekiel and Zechariah about the terrible Gog and Magog war which is going to come on the people of Israel . . . in the time of redemption . . . when the Messiah . . . will appear [to] be the eternal King of Israel. This war will also open a new moral and spiritual page in the history of Israel. After this war the people of Israel will not be the same people . . .
- Gershon Salomon, The Voice of the Temple Mount, Autumn 1995, pp. 2, 7
And Ehud Olmert, mayor of Jerusalem said in an interview with Randall Price:
Now we are in Jerusalem, never to be divided . . . never to pull out from the most ancient and sacred place in Jewish history. Jerusalem is a commitment to our history [and] future. Jerusalem is the symbol of Jewish resurrection. And as such it will survive forever in the hearts . . . and in the actual life of the Jewish people.
- Ehud Olmert, November 1995
7. ISRAEL IN THE NEWS
I find it interesting that this tiny little nation the size of New Jersey is the focal point of the world. More time is spent with issues regarding Israel in the United Nations than any other topic! In Zechariah 12 we are told, “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. 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. . . . In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place — Jerusalem. . . . In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the LORD before them. It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” Zechariah 12:2-3, 6, 8-9.
What is interesting about this prophecy is that when it was made, some 2500 years ago, the ancient capital of Israel lay in ruins and was surrounded by wilderness, hardly a “cup of trembling” or a “burdensome stone.” But today it is!
We have talked about Iran and how in only a few months it will have the capability to launch nuclear weapons. But why do they need them? Who will they launch them at? Listen carefully to this article from the Associated Press from October 26, 2005. We are told:
Iran’s hard-line president called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” and said a new wave of Palestinian attacks will destroy the Jewish State, state-run media reported Wednesday. . . . President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also denounced attempts to recognize Israel or normalize relations with it. “There is no doubt that the new wave (of attacks) in Palestine will wipe off this stigma (Israel) from the face of the Islamic world,” Ahmadinejad told students Wednesday during a Tehran conference called “The World Without Zionism.” “Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury, (while) any (Islamic leader) who recognizes the Zionist regime means he is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world,” Ahmadinejad said. Iran announced earlier this year that it had fully developed solid fuel technology for missiles, a major breakthrough that increases their accuracy. The Shahab-3, with a range of 810 miles to 1,200 miles, is capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to Israel and U.S. forces in the Middle East.
- Nasser Karimi, Associated Press from October 26, 2005
There is so much more we can talk about, including the pull out of the Jewish people from Gaza and giving this land to the Palestinian people. Did this bring peace in the land? Of course not because that is not their goal, they want the destruction of the Jewish people. In fact, Hamas called this move”surrender.” The Islamic Jihad calls it “victory” The Palestinian Authority calls it the “first victory in the ongoing struggle for Jerusalem.” It seems that terrorism has worked in this case and will only encourage more! And even this nation of ours says that what Israel has done is not enough, it must go further. Secretary of State Condoleezzea Rice said that Gaza was only a first step!
One more point before I bring this to a close this evening. That is the re-establishment of the Sanhedrin. Hal Lindsey said in World Net Daily from February 17, 2005:
Two remarkable developments took place recently that are extremely relevant to students of Bible prophecy. For the first time in 1,600 years, the Israeli Sanhedrin was re-established. It occurred in Tiberius, the site of the Sanhedrin’s last meeting in AD 425. On Jan. 20, IsraelNN.com reported:
A unique ceremony –probably only the second of its kind in the past 1,600 years – is taking place in Tiberius today: The launching of a Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish-legal tribunal in the land of Israel.
The Sanhedrin, a religious assembly that convened in one of the Holy Temple chambers in Jerusalem [before AD 70], comprised 71 sages and existed during the tannaitic period, from several decades before the Common Era until roughly 425 C.E.
Details of today’s ceremony are still sketchy, but the organizers’ announced their intention to convene 71 rabbis who have received special rabbinic ordination as specified by Maimonides.
These religious authorities believe it was necessary to re-establish the Sanhedrin because only this properly ordained body of sages can authenticate a Messiah when he comes. There is a growing expectation of the long-awaited Messiah to appear among devout Jews. The rebirth of the Jewish state and recapture of Jerusalem has increasingly influenced this conviction.
On Feb. 9, just a few weeks after the Sanhedrin’s re-establishment, another enormously important development took place. The religious sages began to consider the rebuilding of the Temple and reinstitution of ancient animal sacrifices as prescribed in the Law of Moses.
- Hal Lindsey, World Net Daily from February 17, 2005
It is just as revelation 11:1-2 tells us, “Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, ‘Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.’”
The temple will be rebuilt, the plans are drawn and in God’s timing this will occur. I realize we have covered a lot of ground tonight and I hope your hearts were stirred, that you see that the Lord’s return is getting close and you have a passion to share your faith even more. As I close this evening, keep watching the news and understand the times we are living in – even the chief Rabbi sees the imminent coming of the Messiah as this story tells us:
Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar believes the Earth will soon see the coming [of] a Messiah to judge all mankind.
“We know that he is very near at hand, but he needs not only to be born but also to come,” Lazar told the Gazeta daily. “The Messiah may well have been born already, but unless he is ordered by God he cannot reveal himself with God’s help and change the world for the better.”
Lazar explained his assumptions about the imminent coming of a Messiah.
“The world today is in a state described by our sages as “hevley mashiah,’ that is, labor that precedes the coming of a Messiah,” he said.
Lazar continued: “It is a time when many good things are created in the world and the progress of science and technology has made it possible to solve many human problems, to overcome disease, famine, etc., on one hand. On the other hand, it is for the first time since God created human beings that humans have taken hold of such means of destruction that the whole of our race and even the globe itself can be destroyed instantly.”
“We are living on the verge of history,” he said. “It can be felt everywhere.”
Recalling the comparison made by philosopher Maimonides, who likened the world to scales, Lazar assumed that “perhaps God is waiting for only one deed to be put on the good scale to order the Messiah to reveal himself.”
Speaking about it, Russia’s chief rabbi called upon everyone, “to add this good deed, as one’s contribution may prove decisive.”
- World Net Daily, August 12, 2005
Folks, He has already come the first time as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world, and He is coming again as the Lion from the tribe of Judah to pour out His wrath upon a Christ rejecting world. But if you have received Him as your Lord and Savior He is coming again to you apart from sin, for salvation! He will take us home before He pours out His wrath and then at then end of the tribulation period, He will come again with His Bride, the Church, to set up His kingdom on this earth! Let me close with these words from John and may they be our words, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” Revelation 22:20.