Prophecy Update: Friday, June 2, 2017
On Tuesday, I participated in the ordination exam of a young man seeking to serve the Lord as a pastor. It went really well and God has blessed us with two new young men who are entering the ministry. The zeal for God and the handling of the Word of God was evident in the conversation. It warms my heart that the Lords work is moving forward in the midst of the dark days in which we live.
The ordination exam made me think of what God said in Zech.3. There are a few participants in the narrative, Satan, Joshua the High Priest, the angel of the LORD, and God our Father. 3:1 says, “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.” Notice that Satan was accusing Joshua and wanted to stop God from using Joshua for His work. Satan is always accusing and opposing the work of the LORD. Satan is always opposing Christians who are sharing their faith. Satan inspires evil leaders to harass, persecute, and kill Christians across the globe. According to Open Doors ministry, they list the top five nations who kill Christians as North Korea, Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sudan. Notice that the top five includes four Muslim countries and one communist country. In fact, there top twenty includes 16 Muslim nations and 2 communist countries. Notice how Satan is using Muslim nations in the greatest persecution and murder of Christians ever in history.
Does it make sense to you that Satan is also opposing the work of God in Israel? Notice that the LORD speaks to Satan in Zech.3 and says, The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” I am amazed at this passage because God dropped into the conversation a statement about Jerusalem. A few observations, this is a Trinitarian passage. The Lord, meaning Jesus who stands with Joshua asked God the Father to rebuke Satan. That is powerful, our prayer life should be Jesus centered and we should pray like Him. If Jesus asked God the Father to rebuke Satan, then we should also. Second, we need the work of God to stop Satan and his work in our lives, churches, cities, nations etc. Third, God has chosen Jerusalem and Satan is opposing the work of God regarding the great city.
In Zech.3 God cleanses Joshua and takes away his sin. Only God can do this and Jesus is the only savior and Lord over Israel. As High Priest, Joshua represented the nation of Israel and he needed the great High Priest Jesus to take away of his sin. In 3:9 God says He will “remove the iniquity of that land in one day.” It is thrilling that as Jesus prepares the land and the people for His coming, the land will be cleansed as Joshua was cleansed. This is why it is so important for believers to recognize the day in which we live. We live in the day that the Lord is giving back the land to Israel. It is preparation for what is coming!
President Trump went to Israel, Saudi Arabia, Rome, and then went and talked to the European nations (NATO). Whenever someone goes to these nations and cries peace, peace, I get a little nervous. There have been two responses from Christians who comment on current events; those who see the positive sides to what the President did and those who see how it heads towards the negative (AntiChrist rise and rule). Some have seen that what President Trump said and did on the trip was very positive towards stopping terrorism, pushing Muslims to stop the terror themselves, and to recognize Israel and her capital being Jerusalem. The negative focuses on the speech in Saudi Arabia where the President equated Allah, Yahweh, and Jesus as all the same God.
Last week I wrote on the Wahhabi religion of Saudi Arabia and the desire of the Muslims to take over the world for Allah. This desire is what unites most Muslims. When Trump goes and thinks that he can move the Muslims to stop supporting terrorism especially ISIS and Al Qaida, it is a pipe dream. When the Saudi’s give lip service back to Trump it is as bad in my mind as the lip service of all gods are the same nonsense. No Muslim will ever agree that the god of the Christians and the Jews is on the same level as Allah. The very nature of their confession, Allah Akubar means our God is greater than your god. I am glad that our president is pro Christian and pro Israel and that he is at least making it clear that the enemy is Muslim terrorist murderers. Our president does not mince words on this issue, I am very glad about that. However, the antichrist is going to cry peace, peace also and will not ever teach the exclusivity of the gospel and that Jesus is God.
The President said, “Saudi Arabia is home to the holiest sites in one of the worlds great faiths” and “I will travel to Jerusalem and Rome the holiest places in the three Abrahamic faiths, if these three faiths can join together in cooperation then peace in this world is possible.” This is the pipe dream, how will these three faiths come together? Cooperation means that they agree on terms that each agree to. Jesus is not going to agree to something that is profane. Profane means reducing Jesus to just one of several gods! Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life—not just another way. No one comes to the Father thru Mohammed, law, or any other religion.
Islam is not an Abrahamic faith, it is another problem that I have with what the president said. Islam claims that the promise went thru Ishmael and not Isaac. It is not true and I can never agree to that. Arabs are descendants of Ishmael and do not have a claim to the Promised Land because the promise went thru Isaac! Arabs have an Islamic celebration called Aiid Al Athud called the ‘Great Feast of Sacrifice.’ According to Islam Abraham was willing to sacrifice Ismael not Isaac. This is why Muslims do not accept Jews being in the land. They will never agree to that because it is a violation of their so called history. It is a lie from the pit of hell and it is believed by one billion Muslims.
Meanwhile in Israel, the Israeli President Rivlin said, “I thank Pres. Trump for recognizing the significance of Jerusalem to the Jewish people all around the world. Jerusalem is the beating heart of the Jewish people as it has been for three thousand years.” Rivlin then went on to say, “Thank you for visiting the sites of all three religions, we all have different beliefs but we all worship the same God.” Jews are confused as Muslims are that they worship the same God- I think Rivlin needs to read the Ten Commandments again. To make things worse, Mahmoud Abbas had a sign erected that said, “The City of Peace (Bethlehem) welcomes the Man of Peace.” The mixed messages were brought up from Caroline Glick.
“During his speech in Riyadh, Trump repeated the obnoxious practice of his predecessors and left Israel off the long list of countries that are afflicted by terrorism. The notion at the heart of that deliberate snub is that terrorism against Israel is somehow different and frankly more acceptable, than terrorism against everyone else.”
Finally, even when Trump has adopted a position that repudiates the establishment’s line, the fact is that the establishment’s members dominate his foreign policy team. And as a consequence, they do everything they can to dilute the significance of his moves.
I see this trip as lining up what the Word of God says the last days will be like. President Trump wants peace, but many who are following Satan and his ways are pushing the President to dilute his support for Israel. As you know, God says that every nation will be against Israel in the last days. I pray for the president that he stays strong and moves the embassy to Jerusalem. I have had my doubts, my prayers were answered with a no. President Trump signed the waiver and went back on his promise. I wanted to cry when I read that. CBS news reported this, “While President Donald J. Trump signed the waiver under the Jerusalem Embassy Act and delayed moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, no one should consider this step to be in any way a retreat from the President’s strong support for Israel and for the United States-Israel alliance,” Spicer said. “But, as he has repeatedly stated his intention to move the embassy, the question is not if that move happens, but only when.”
The statement of ‘Not if but when’ is meant to give us hope but I have no hope in these our enemies who have once again did what is evil. Jerusalem is the city chosen by God and where He has put His name. When President Trump signed a deal with Saudi Arabia to buy military equipment, the further funding of military equipment is setting up Armageddon. The Arab countries are happy that Trump has not moved the embassy because it means to them that Trump has compromised with believing that Jews deserve to be in the land. They will manipulate this situation. Jordan has continued their assault on Israel.
“The Jordanian Ministry of Foreign and Expatriate Affairs sent an official letter to the Israeli Embassy in Amman protesting the presence of “Jewish extremists” on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem under police protection.”
Other nations will feel emboldened and the war in Syria is heating up as soon as Trump left the Middle East. As you may know, Is.17 talks about the utter destruction of Damascus. The problem with weapons of mass destruction in Damascus, like chemical weapons only increases the likelihood of the prophecy being fulfilled soon. Bashir Assad, the leader of Syria has shown a willingness to use those weapons. The desire of Assad is to transfer these weapons to the Sinai Peninsula and help ISIS attack Israel from the south. Although Assad hates ISIS, he sees the value of these weapons attacking Israel. Israel could be the one who destroys Damascus and maybe with the USA. There has been a massive movement of US troops and material in Jordan with British troops. These large amount of forces, 2300 people with tanks, helicopters with 4000 Syrian trained fighters, are preparing for something? They are about 40 miles south of Damascus which is just inside Jordanian territory. As this developed, Russia sent more troops to fight the Free Syrian Army that the US supports. Bad news and more wars and rumor of wars. This is no longer a civil war but a war of many nations armies. In early May, several news outlets had reports asking the question if the USA was preparing to invade Syria.
Trumps visit to the Middle East has not brought peace, it brought more problems. I wish I could say it got better, it got more confusing. Satan is laughing. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and clarity of truth!
