Jordan to Soon Sever ties with Israel!

Jordan to Soon Sever ties with Israel! By Bill Salus



With Arab protests sweeping throughout the Middle East, many pundits are pondering the fate of Jordan. Will the Jordanian government collapse alongside Tunisia’s, Yemen's, and Egypt’s? Interestingly, Jordan can be found in end time’s bible prophecy. If the prophecies centered on Jordan are about to find fulfillment, then the best days of the Hashemite Kingdom are behind it.

Someday Jordan will break ties with Israel. It’s simply a matter of time according to Psalm 83:6-8. Making matters worse, Jordan will befriend Israel’s worst enemies in the process. Rather than calling on America and the west at the time of dire need, Psalm 83 predicts they will call on Assyria, which incorporates modern day Syria and Iraq.

Syria is already a proxy of Iran’s and Iraq has been inclined to become one ever since the summer 2010 U.S. troop withdrawal. Thus, allegiance with Syria, Iraq, and by proxy, Iran, appears to be Jordan’s prophetic endgame.

Psalm 83:6-8 lists a group of ten Arab populations that will someday confederate in a final attempt to destroy the state of Israel. The goal of the confederacy is to wipe Israel off of the map and set up one last Arab state called Palestine. Jordan is identified inside the list of nations as Edom, Moab, and Ammon. Their modern day equivalents are showcased inside the image.



To Jordan’s credit, it appears the Arab nation possibly gets drawn into the war with Israel reluctantly rather than voluntarily. Psalm 83:8 tells us that Jordan is one of the weaker members of the confederacy.

“Assyria also has joined with them; They have helped the children of Lot.” (Psalm 83:8 nkjv)

Asaph, the Psalmist informs us the children of Lot who were Moab, the eldest, and Ammon require assistance in the war effort. They need Assyrian military support. The Hebrew word used for “helped” is zeroa and means forces, power, might, strong arm or shoulder and / or strength. Loosely translated the verse reads Assyria has joined the Psalm 83:6-8 confederacy and become a strong shoulder of military support for Jordan. Note that Assyria’s military support is only given to Jordan. This suggests the other Psalm 83 confederates are not lacking in strength at the time.

In 2010, King Abdullah II of Jordan warned on several occasions that the Middle East was on the verge of war. He told the Chicago Tribune in April, 2010 “The chance of conflict is always very high. War would be disastrous for the Israelis, for the Arabs, for all of us. If we hit the summer and there's no active (peace) process, there's a very good chance for conflict.” When a summertime war was averted he suggested in September 2010 that it could still occur by the end of 2010. The point he was making on both occasions is a Middle East war could break out at any time.

In December of 2010, King Abdullah II met with Iranian President Ahmadinejad in a rare meeting to improve bilateral relations between the two nations. One month later in January of 2011, he phoned Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to alert him of his concerns about Iran’s clandestine goals for the Middle East. The Jordanian King warned Netanyahu that Iran aims to form a Shia Crescent inside the Fertile Crescent.

Then in February of 2011 due to protests inside of Jordan, King Abdullah sacked his government in order to avoid escalating protests inside his homeland. King Abdullah’s recent pinball reactions remind us of “Humpty Dumpty’s” sad tale. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.

Jordan is the fish out of water in the Middle East. If Egypt falls then Jordan will likely soon follow. Egypt’s and Jordan’s treaties with Israel are earning them billions of dollars of American aid. However, many Egyptians and Jordanians are ready to throw their peace treaties out with the baby’s bath water. Even King Abdullah said in 2010 that his country’s economy was better off before his father made peace with Israel in 1994.

If Psalm 83 is racing full speed ahead upon humanity’s horizon, then Mideast events are going to heat up rather than cool down. Understanding the low ranking status and primary purposes of the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) sheds light on their need for military support in Psalm 83.

On the Southern Front of Psalm 83 is the Egyptian army that is world ranked at number #17 with an active military personnel strength of 450,000 and active reserves of 254,000. This doesn’t include Hamas units with about 10,000 personnel located out of Gaza and untold scores of Qassam and other assorted rockets, some of which Hamas boasted in 2010 could reach Tel Aviv.

On the Northern Front of Psalm 83 there is Syria, Lebanon, and Hezbollah inside of Lebanon. Syria’s army is world ranked at #34 and has active military of personnel of 296,000 and active military reserve of 132,500. Additionally, many experts believe Saddam Hussein transported his weapons of mass destruction into Syria prior to America’s invasion of Iraq in 2003. Lastly, Syria is thought to have the most advanced scud missiles in the world.

Lebanon’s army is world ranked at #42. Their active military personnel number about 72,000 as of 2008. Hezbollah units in Lebanon have about 1,000 active personnel and reserves estimated at 6,000 to 10,000, and according to Netanyahu has 60,000 rockets. Additionally, in April of 2010 Syria reportedly supplied Hezbollah with scud missiles.

The Eastern Front of Psalm 83 consists of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Jordan. The Saudi army is world ranked at #24 and consists of 124,000 active military personnel with an additional estimated 20,000 reservists. Additionally, the Saudis are attempting to procure $60 billion in arms from America and 2 nuclear weapons from Pakistan.

Information about Iraq’s army and arsenal is difficult to access due to its burgeoning relationship with Iran. Much like Hezbollah, Syria, and Hamas, some military analysts suggest Iran is covertly arming the pro-Iranian factions inside Iraq with advanced weapons as well. It appears Iraq is world ranked at #37. They have a relatively new US-trained Army of about 100,000 soldiers with zero reserves and a goal to reach a 200,000-man force. It remains an Army under construction.

The Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) has descended from the 1940's era British-led "Arab Legion." This force is purely defensive in nature and thus lacks any ranking among the world's armies. The JAF active military personnel number about 100,500 and reserves are estimated at 70,000. Their military mission objectives are to defend:

1) The borders of the Hashemite Kingdom,
2) The people within the Hashemite Kingdom,
3) The reigning Monarch.

This means the JAF is a combat ineffective force at best because as a whole it is not designed for and does not train for offensive operations of the type that Psalm 83 has declared will occur. The Jordanian's receive U.S. Army assistance of a technical and hardware nature which is overwhelmingly orientated toward defensive command and control (C2).

Therefore, it is of little prophetic wonder that Israel will literally conquer most of Jordan as a result of the Psalm 83 war, as confirmed by the prophecy in Jeremiah 49:2. Even with the assistance of Syrian and Iraqi forces the Jordanians will lose against Israel. Furthermore, America has taught the new Iraqi military a lot in counter insurgency (COIN) and defensive operations, rather than how to go on the offense against another nation state.

Lastly, we can’t forget the Palestinian Authority, a/k/a “Palestine,” is a lightly armed paramilitary police force known as the “Palestinian National Security Forces” organized into 10 battalions and trained by the U.S. in Jordan.”

In contrast to their Psalm 83 enemies, the Israeli Defense Forces are world ranked at
#11 and their active and reserve forces in Israel number about 600,000 with another 2.8
million immediately available for military service. These additional reserves include
those with prior service and / or some partial training.

Suffice it to say, Israel is outnumbered, outmanned, outgunned, and needs divine
empowerment when it comes time to face off with the Psalm 83 confederacy. In my
book Isralestine, The Ancient Blueprints of the Future Middle East, I describe the
prelude, event, and aftermath of this climatic concluding Arab-Israeli battle.

*** Military specifics above and JAF comments provided by Sean Osborne of the Northeast
Intelligence Network. The Information was primarily collected from the U.S. Library of
Congress; Central Intelligence Agency, GlobalSecurity.Org, and Wikipedia. Sean Osborne’s
web/blogsite is http://eschatologytoday.blogspot.com/

There’s No Way Out Unless You Walk Heaven’s Trail…

There’s No Way Out Unless You Walk Heaven’s Trail…
Yesterday, 11 May, 2011, 7:41:56 PM (The Ignorant Fishermen)

As this world in which we live in today is spiraling frantically out of control, what hope is there at all for its doomed inhabitants? The reality is that this world and its inhabitants are at the end of its course. You know there's nothing like the real world to get one down. There's nothing like the world outside that turns one's world upside down. It makes one feel like they're heading down a one-way, dead-end street.

We are indeed headed down a one way dead end street. Not to rain on any body's parade but... we are at the end of the age with Divine judgment just ahead (Matt 13:26-30, Mark 13:28-30). No subjective delusional optimistic appraisal can make these sobering realities disappear. What are we to do?

"Adam and Eve in all their wildest dreams could NEVER have imagined the horrific consequences that would result that day by opening "Pandora's Box" in the Garden of Eden"

All of the world's accumulated technology and knowledge that we have acquired over the last 6000 years has only made us extremely more violent and oppressive. Time and technology have only served to show and reveal the absolute depravity and hopeless state and condition of man (Gen. 6:5, Isa. 53:6, Jer. 17:9, Romans 1:18-32). Adam and Eve in all their wildest dreams could NEVER have imagined the horrific consequences that would result that day by opening "Pandora's Box" in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3). Their trespass and violation against Almighty God's natural and ETERNAL absolutes had all the horrific effects of a 100 mega ton bomb (Isa. 24:4-6). So savage and violent had the pre- flood world become after Adam’s transgression that Almighty God wiped it out via the Genesis flood except Noah and his family (Gen 6:1-13). Is the hour and day in which we live in any different then Noah's day? So violent and corrupted have we – the inhabitants of planet earth - become that we as a world are now at the very door of the Day of the Lord as Almighty God has spoken of (Matt 24, Mark 13:28-30, 2 Tim 3:1-7). What makes anyone think that they can escape the coming wrath of Almighty God? We have exponentially transgressed His natural laws, we have exponentially violated His spiritual ETERNAL absolutes, and we have sown our own godless way and have reaped the horrific consequences. It is this horrific reaping that has led us to this very moment in time (Isa. 24: 4-6, Gal 5:19-21, 6:7-8).

Biblical Objectivity

Try to stand back and objectively look at the span of time here on earth; from the Tower of Babel with its global catalyst of godlessness and passion to live an existence with out Almighty God, to the worldly brilliance and idolatrous society of Egypt. From the autocratic power of the Babylonians, to the strength of the Media Persians Empire. From the conquering speed and philosophy of Greece, to the decadent and oppressive Roman Empire. From the genus and barbarity of the Aztec, Mayans and Incas, to the godless vacuum of the European nations and lust for war. All of these civilizations have been one GODLESS, violent, decadent and oppressive cesspool of death and horror to the world's inhabitants (Rom. 1:18-32). Almighty God describes some of these global empires as ferocious wild beasts to help us better understand them from a heavenly perspective (Dan 7, Rev 13:1-2). My friend what is most astounding is that we haven’t evened peaked as a fallen race until we reached the 20th century. There has NEVER been a more violent, murderous, oppressive, narcissistic and decadent century in the history of mankind. All of our world’s exponential technological advances made in this last century has given the world more power at their finder tips to show forth the fallen godless passions and violence of the human heart (Jer. 17:9). Of course we have had some noble occasions and humanitarian exploits through out this time, but these are but a faded blip and pale exponentially in comparison to mankind’s history of violence, lust and decadence (Rom 3:3-23). The out working and horrific consequences from the billions that have inhabited planet earth since Babel have completely ravished and laid waste the lands and the world's inhabitants. The godless Babelology that first raised its head 4200 years ago (Gen 11:1-9), has thoroughly engulfed and saturated the world. This Babelology has made spiritually stinking drunk its billions of inhabitants (from Babel to present- 4200 years) to the crucial realities of time and eternity (Eph. 2:1-3, Rev 17:1-2, 18:24).

"All of our world’s technological advances have exponentially given the world more power at their finger tips to show forth the fallen godless passions of our heart"

Even America, which was founded during the Philadelphia Church Age (from about 1700 to about 1900 – the church of the “open door” – Rev 3:7-13), was established on the bedrock of natural and moral laws and foremost acknowledged the Person of Almighty God. America was founded at the end of the world’s time line which spans about 4200 years. Just in these brief 235 years of our nation's history we have reached socially and culturally the point of no return. There has been no other nation in the world's history that has sent out the Biblical Gospel light as America has. America has been a beacon of freedom to the worlds oppressed and has been a global dam holding back the world’s anti-Semitism, oppressive tyrannies and the unbridled passions of fallen despots, especially in this last century. Let me ask you this very sobering question, “What do you think will become of the world once America restraining influence has been removed from the scene?” The very sobering answer is... GREAT tribulation and global anti -Semitism (Zech 14:2, Rev 6-16).

It‘s All Been Tried

Through the 6000 years of recorded world history countless forms of ruling classes have established governments dominated by their godless unbridled ideologies (Rev. 17:2). All of these nations have used Babel's blueprint in establishing their own delusional culture and systems. Out of all of these earthly (carnal) sensual ideologies (1 Cor. 2:14, 3:19, James 3:15) have sprung forth a vast spectrum of oppressive and damnable religions (spiritual philosophies), totalitarianism, fascism, socialism, oppressive dictatorships and despots, monarchies, democracies, republic’s etc... ALL, of which have met their end because of decadence or violence. The ones that remain today are on the verge of collapse. What hope is there at all for the future of the world's inhabitants when all of the world's kingdoms are nothing but oppressive and violent destroyers? The sane answer is an obvious NONE, absolutely NONE. Without Almighty God’s outside intervention (John 3:16-17, Gal 1:4) mankind will eventually make its self extinct. Mankind has repeatedly beat its drum to many different tunes patterned after the Babel blueprint and all have been disastrous (Rom. 1:18-32, Rev 17:1-2,5, 18:24).

There is absolutely NO HOPE or WAY OUT of our temporal earthly confines and our un-regenerated fallen human state and condition (Rom. 5:12-19, 7:24-25, 1 Cor. 15:21-22). There are many voices and trails that lead to ruin, but there is only one trail that will lead us to a place of deliverance and redemption. That heavenly trail leads to Almighty God and His Son Jesus Christ. It is by FAITH alone that we look objectively outside of ourselves and choose to believe Almighty God and His unchangeable Word and promises (Mark 11:22, 2 Cor. 1:20, Titus 1:2, Heb. 11:1, 6). When we do, we will be set free delivered and set free from the oppressive bonds of this world and have access to Heaven's domain (Eph 1:3,Col 3:1-2).

My friend, there is absolutely no way out, no way out of this living hell, no way, no way out unless we walk Heaven’s trail.

Heaven’s Trail Leads To Eternal Life!

Almighty God has provided the solution, remedy and trail for Adam’s fallen race to follow. He promised Adam and Eve at the beginning that “the seed of the women would crush the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15, Rom. 5:12-19, Heb. 2:14-15, Rev 21:1-7)”. This theme of God’s saving grace and redemption is the life giving line that flows through out the entire Bible. God has provided a Savior (John 3:16-17, Acts 4:12, 1 John 4:14, 2 Peter 1:1)! There is a Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:19-20, Rev 13:8)! There is a narrow heavenly trail that leads to ETERNAL LIFE and REDEMPTION with Almighty God (Matt 7:13-14, John 14:6, 1 Cor. 1:30)!

Jesus stated, Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it (Matt.7:13-14).

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6).

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture (John 10:9).

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (John 11:25-26)

My friend have your eyes been opened to the horrific realities and conditions of the very hour in which we live in and you find yourself with absolutely NO answers or solutions? There is absolutely NO human remedy. There is absolutely NO human solution for the growing exponential global crisis of our day. No delusional optimistic human appraisal can give you the answers or solutions that you are so desperately looking for or need to give your heart the consolation that it is seeking. My friend with America on the verge of social collapse and anarchy before us, what is one to do?

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matt 6:33)"

My friend, the world needs to wake up and smell the coffee and let 6000 years of human history testify to it of our desperate need for our Creator and Savior (Heb 1:2-3). Time will not go on forever. A Day of reckoning has been foretold by Almighty God in which all will give and account (Rev 20:11-15). Eternity is where each one of us will abide forever. Our future destiny is not to be found in this temporal fallen world.

Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? It is ONLY through Him alone that we can be delivered from this present evil world (John 3:16-17, 1 Cor. 7:31, Gal 1:4, 1 John 2:17)! Jesus Christ is God's Heavenly trail that will deliver us from this living hell here on planet earth and the Lake of Fire which is to come (Rev. 20:11-15).

The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!

DJP I.F.

Persecution Report

An estimated 100 million Christians worldwide suffer interrogation, arrest and even death for their faith in Christ, with millions more facing discrimination and alienation according to Open Doors.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 10, 2011
Nigerian pastor’s wife, children among Christians killed in attack
by Obed Minchakpu

KURUM, Nigeria — As she lay on the ground after being shot and then slashed with a machete, Dune James Rike looked into her husband’s tear-filled eyes and asked, “Is this the end between us, so we shall not be together again?”

Pastor James Musa Rike told Compass he held the hands of his dying, 35-year-old wife and told her, “Hold on to your faith in Jesus, and we shall meet and never part again.”

Muslim extremists who attacked Kurum village, in the Bogoro local government area of Nigeria’s Bauchi state, had already killed two of the couple’s children in a rampage that began Wednesday (May 4) at midnight. Rike, pastor of a Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) congregation in Kurum, next heard the cries of his 13-year-old daughter, Sum James Rike, a few yards away.

“I rushed to my daughter, only to discover that she too was cut with a machete on her stomach, and her intestines were all around her,” he said. “I held her hand and began to pray, knowing she too was about to die. She told me that the Muslim militants told her they would kill her and “see how your Jesus will save you.”

The girl told her father that she responded by telling them that Jesus had already saved her, and that by killing her they would only be making it possible for her to be with Him. Pastor Rike prayed for her as she died.

Shooting and setting homes on fire, the Muslim extremists killed 12 other Christians in the attack. Bauchi police reported 16 people dead – one man, three women and 12 children.

Pastor Rike said that when the attackers reached his house, they tried to force their way into their bedrooms.

“I opened a backdoor, and we ran out into the dark night while the militants pursued us,” he said. “They shot my wife and two of our kids as they tried to escape.”

Pastor Rike said that after killing the two children, Faith James Rike and 1-year-old Fyali James Rike, the assailants cut his wife’s abdomen with a machete.

“I was shocked at what I saw,” he said. “I knew my wife would not last long, and the only thing I did was to encourage her to hold on to her faith in Jesus.”

The Muslim extremists set more than 20 houses ablaze before leaving the village, he said.

Pastor Rike and his son survived the attack, and he said his adopted daughter, Whulham James Rike, was injured and receiving treatment at the General Hospital in Bogoro. He said five others others were also receiving hospital treatment.

Among those killed, church sources said, were Murna Ayuba; Angelina Ezekiel; Dorcas Sunday; Asabar Toma; Rhoda Joseph; Dhunhgwa Zakka; Bukata Amos; Ishaku Amos; Kalla Amos; Amos Daniel; Samidah Joel; and Changtan Joel.

The Muslim jihadists also stole money and the other valuables from the Christian village as they withdrew, church sources said.

The area has a history of sectarian violence, and the attack follows the death of hundreds of people in Bauchi and other northern states last month after Muslims rioted over the April 16 election of a Christian, Goodluck Jonathan, as president. He defeated a Muslim candidate, Muhammadu Buhari. Saying more than 200 church buildings were burned, Christian leaders in northern Nigeria have called for a federal probe into the violence, in which Christians mounted counter attacks.

Northern Nigeria climbed to 23rd place in 2010 from 27th in 2009 on Christian support organization Open Doors’ World Watch List of nations with the worst persecution.

The church where Pastor Rike ministers has about 30 members and has been in existence for more than 50 years. Those killed were members of the three churches in the village – the COCIN church, St. John’s Catholic Church and an Evangelical Church of West Africa congregation.

Pastor Rike said the incident has strengthened his faith in Jesus.

“Whatever is the situation, I will never forsake Christ,” he said. “All human beings are created by God, and our attackers must know that they need to abandon anything that will lead them to destroy creations of God.”

Nigeria’s population of more than 158.2 million is almost evenly divided between Christians, who make up 51.3 percent of the population and live mainly in the south, and Muslims, who account for 45 percent of the population and live mainly in the north. The percentages may be less, however, as those practicing indigenous religions may be as high as 10 percent of the total population, according to Operation World.

Christian Church Burnings Are Happening All Over The World

Christian Church Burnings Are Happening All Over The World And The U.S. Media Is Deadly Silent About It by endoftheamericandream.com


Did you know that hundreds of church burnings have taken place all over the globe so far in 2011? For a large percentage of those of you that are reading this article, this is the first that you have heard of it. And do you want to know why? News stories about church burnings and the persecution of Christians around the world are not "politically correct" enough to get into the mainstream media most of the time. Have you ever noticed that an overwhelming percentage of news stories about Christianity in the mainstream media are negative? There seems to be an unspoken rule that you should never report on anything that would portray the Christian faith in a positive light - even if it is reporting on how churches are being mercilessly burned to the ground. Others fear that reporting on church burnings would somehow justify the endless wars in the Middle East. But the truth is that many of the regimes that the U.S. government has put in place or is propping up are actively involved in the persecution of Christians. Whatever religion you belong to, and whatever your political philosophy is, we should all be able to agree that church burnings are evil. If you cannot agree that there is something wrong with burning churches to the ground then something is wrong.


In the United States, our founding fathers established "freedom of religion" as one of our fundamental rights. Many of our founding fathers had escaped horrific religious persecution in Europe and many of them knew firsthand how insidious it can be.

Today, hundreds of churches around the world are being torched. I am a Christian and I am not going to be ashamed to shed light on these great crimes. If you don't like that, then maybe you should ask yourself why that is the case.

The following are just a few examples of the widespread church burnings that we have seen so far this year....

Egypt

In the aftermath of the U.S.-backed "Egyptian revolution", church burnings have become a regular thing all over Egypt. The recent burning of a Coptic church right in the middle of Cairo has plunged the provisional government in Egypt into crisis mode as a recent article in The Telegraph noted....

Egypt's caretaker government has held crisis talks after attacks by Muslim mobs on Coptic Christian churches in Cairo left at least 12 people dead and drove the country's growing religious tensions to the brink.

The following is the kind of video footage that is very rare to see on U.S. news programs. This footage is of Saint Mary Church in Cairo burning wildly after it was firebombed by Egyptian radicals on Saturday....


Can everyone agree that this is wrong?

I hope so.

Unfortunately, this is not just an isolated incident. Christians in Egypt now must watch out for attacks every single day. This latest round of violence against Christians really got going back on New Year's Eve when 21 people were killed and 43 people were injured when a massive bomb went off outside a Coptic church in the city of Alexandria, Egypt.

That attack was so horrific that it actually did get a little bit of attention in the U.S. press.

Egypt is spinning out of control and the horrific persecution of the Coptic Christian minority (about 10 percent of the Egyptian population) is rising to frightening levels.

Earlier this year there was an attack during which an estimated 4,000 Muslims violently assaulted Christian homes and burned a church in the Egyptian town of Soul which is about 18 miles from Cairo.

What would you do if there was a mob of 4,000 people rampaging down your street looking for Christian homes to burn?

Egypt used to be a fairly stable place, but unfortunately that is now no longer true.

Pakistan

It has become incredibly difficult to be a Christian in the nation of Pakistan. Church burnings and physical attacks on Christians have become commonplace.

The following is how an article posted on Asia News described the recent problems in one particular province....

Tensions are running high in Gujranwala, a town in the Pakistani province of Punjab, recent scene of repeated attacks by Muslim extremists against the Christian minority. Yesterday, a mob attacked Christian homes and places of worship, setting fire to a number of churches. Only the action of police prevented any loss of life and injuries.

For some Christians in Pakistan, the persecution goes far beyond just having a church burned down.

For example, one Pakistani Christian named Arshed Masih died after radical Muslim leaders, backed by police, burned him alive for refusing to convert to Islam while his wife was raped by police officers. This incident, which took place on March 19th, 2010 is just another example of how horrible things have become for Christians in Pakistan.

Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, dozens of churches are being burned. The international media is reporting that 69 churches in a single Ethiopian city were burned just in the month of March alone.

How would you like it if an angry horde came into your town and burned down all the churches?

The following is how Radio Netherlands describes what has been going on in Ethiopia ....

Evangelical churches and homes of Christians in Asendabo, about 300 kilometers southwest of capital Addis Ababa, and other towns in the Jimma region were torched earlier this month. Thousands of them have fled their hometowns to safer areas.

More than 46 churches belonging to the Pentecostal Kale Hiwot (Word of Life) Church and 23 belonging to other Christian groups have been burnt down, says Temesgen Wolde, coordinator of the Kale Hiwot department in Jimma City. His church shelters eighty refugee Christians in a tent.

Nigeria

In Nigeria, hundreds of church burnings have been reported so far this year. Many of them took place after the Christian candidate for president defeated the Islamic candidate for president back in April. Thousands of Christian homes and businesses were destroyed and nobody is sure how many Christians were actually slaughtered. The following is how an article posted on FRONTPAGEMAG describes what went down....

Angry that Christian President Goodluck Jonathan defeated Muslim candidate Muhammadu Buhari, Islamists in the Shariah-ruled north began rioting on Monday, April 18, 2011, after preliminary results of the April 16 election were announced. Soon newspapers featured grisly photos of charred bodies lining the streets. Hundreds of churches were burned and thousands of Christian-owned businesses destroyed, according to the Christian human rights group, Open Doors. And International Christian Concern reported that the Kaduna-based Civil Rights Congress was still "discovering more details of massacres that have been carried out in the hinterland." Upwards of 40,000 Christians have been displaced in the past few weeks.

But did you hear about any of this in the U.S. media?

Perhaps there was a "blip" or two about the "election violence".

Instead of focusing on real issues, our media at the time was absolutely obsessed with promoting U.S. military action in Libya.

The truth is that the U.S. government and the U.S. media have never really shown much concern for the good people living in places like Nigeria, Ethiopia and Sudan. For years and years, countless thousands of Christians in Sudan were being slaughtered by government-backed forces and countless thousands of Christians were actually being sold into slavery, and yet our government did nothing.

But then a handful of people died in a revolt against the government in Libya and our government "was forced" to act for "humanitarian" reasons.

What a joke.

The U.S. government does not really care for the people of Africa but the truth is that those people are just as valuable as anyone else.

When we see churches around the world being burned down we should care just as much as if churches in the United States were being burned down.

And you know what?

Persecution of Christians in the United States is growing too.

In California, one high school student named Kenneth Dominguez was suspended for talking about Jesus Christ with his fellow students. According to The Christian Post, Dominguez "didn't shout or preach out loud and he limited his talk to lunch breaks and the hallways, and not the classroom."

Not only that, there is no record of anyone ever complaining about it.

But he got suspended anyway.

You see, the truth is that the word "Jesus" has become a dirty word in the United States today.

Just try saying it (not as a curse word) at school, at work or at a public event some time.

One U.S. Navy chaplain even had to face a court-martial for standing up for the right to pray "in Jesus name" in the U.S. Navy.

So, no, this is not a "politically-correct" article.

But you know what? Since the founding of this nation a whole host of our countrymen have bled and died to protect our basic freedoms.

One of those freedoms is the freedom of religion.

When there is an attack on the freedom of religion we should all be alarmed because it is an attack on all of us.

If you say that you love liberty and freedom, you should be against the persecution of Christians wherever it is found around the world.

Headlines for a day - Friday, 29 April, 2011

Headlines for a day Friday, 29 April, 2011, 8:00:59 PM

Its amazing how many prophecy related stories appear in a single day now. I can recall several years ago, weeks would pass before we'd see anything prophetically related in the news. These days there are several such stories in the news almost hourly, and then there are days like this in which you can barely fit all of the stories into one post:

IAEA chief: Syria tried to secretly build nuclear reactor

The head of the UN atomic watchdog, Yukiya Amano, on Thursday said for the first time that Syria tried in the past to secretly build a nuclear reactor, which was destroyed by Israeli warplanes five years ago, The Associated Press reported. The IAEA carried out an agreed inspection of another Syrian plant earlier in April as part of a long-stalled probe into suspected covert nuclear activity.

Muslim Brotherhood Urges Protests In Syria

The banned Muslim Brotherhood has called on Syrians to take to the streets to protest against the regime ahead of Friday prayers. The declaration is the first time that the Brotherhood, whose leadership is in exile, have called directly for demonstrations since pro-democracy demonstrations against President Bashar al Assad's autocratic rule erupted six weeks ago.

European governments will discuss the situation on Friday

A push for the UN Security Council to condemn the crackdown was blocked by Russia, China and Lebanon on Wednesday night.

Fayyad: PA Already Moving to Make Jerusalem its Capital

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad used his weekly address to tell listeners the PA would be making unilateral moves to establish Jerusalem as the capital for a PA stat

Telling listeners the last two years [during which the PA adamantly refused to sit down and discuss peace with Israel -Ed.] had focused on resistance to Israeli "occupation" of eastern Jerusalem, Fayyad said that now it was time to focus instead on turning the city into a capital for a PA state.

U.S. dollar's dizzying drop wreaks economic havoc

The U.S. dollar’s long decline has turned into a sudden plunge, throwing currency markets into a frenzy that is complicating life for policy makers and executives the world over. The U.S. dollar is in the midst of what Nomura Securities International analyst Jens Nordvig called a “violent … weakening move,” as a confluence of factors drive investors to seek short-term gains outside the United States.

America's Fiscal High Noon

According to the unclassified 2009 report “Economic Warfare: Risks and Responses” by financial analyst Kevin D. Freeman, what’s referred to as “Bear Raid II” — phase III of an economic terrorist attack against the United States — is poised to fatally hit the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. dollar, causing the collapse of America’s economy.

It was a threat former Secretary of State James A. Baker III underscored on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS on April 10, noting if the dollar was replaced as the global reserve currency, it would be catastrophic for America.

Yet red flags galore signal that the train has already left the station.

US South drought Causes Massive Crop Losses

A devastating drought intensified across Texas over the last week, with high winds and heat causing "massive crop losses," and weather experts said Thursday that little relief was in sight. Ranchers were struggling to feed and water cattle, and farmers were left to watch their crops shrivel into the dusty soil. Some experts estimated that producers were giving up on up to 70 percent of the state's wheat acreage.

Fuchs said the drought in Texas was one of the worst in decades. The dramatically lower-than-normal amount of moisture in the soil has caused widespread crop failures, including to the state's hard red winter wheat crop.

Texas is a key production area for wheat. The losses there and in parts of the U.S. Plains hit by drought will aggravate already short supplies around the world.

Soaring crude prices putting squeeze on U.S. GDP

As crude prices soar, oil dependence is once again proving a glaring vulnerability for the U.S. economy and, ultimately, the global recession. “That’s the single biggest risk to the U.S. and the global recovery at this point, the risk that oil prices are not done with us yet,” said Doug Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Markets. “And they could rise further.”

On Thursday, crude futures neared $113 a barrel, up more than 40% since November and up more than 30% in the last three months alone. The current price was last hit in April 2008.

US at risk of war with China, Russia

The US is at the risk of a war with Russia and China as its main objective behind engineering the Libyan war and Syrian unrest is to remove the two world powers out of the Mediterranean, a former US official warns.

“Washington is all for invading against Libya and is putting more and more pressure to intervene in Syria because we want to … clear China and Russia out of the Mediterranean,” Paul Craig Roberts, former assistant secretary to US Treasury in Panama City said in an interview with Press TV.

“Once Russia and China come to the conclusion that the Americans simply cannot be dealt with it in any rational way and are determined to somehow subdue them and do them damage, all kinds of escalations can result. This is the real danger and we’re risking a major war,” the former senior US official cautioned.

Iran's growing clout

The fast-paced political earthquakes in the Middle East that we have been witnessing in recent weeks have one common denominator -- President Obama's influence in the region has shrunk to somewhere between a pittance and zero, while Iran's has been bolstered across the board.

By his inability to shape events, Obama created a political vacuum that Iran's theocratic rulers are filling at an accelerating pace

Abbas completely distanced himself from Obama by cutting a reconciliation deal with Hamas, another terrorist surrogate of Iran. Riding high, Tehran immediately blessed the Fatah-Hamas "unity' agreement, brokered by Cairo's new power elite, as "the first achievement of the Egyptian revolution." Hamas immediately vowed there would be ''no recognition, no negotiations'' with Israel with Hamas sharing power.

Barak reiterates: Israel won't talk to Palestinian government that includes Hamas

Defense Minister Ehud Barak issued an official response on Thursday to the announcement of Palestinian reconciliation, saying there was "no chance that we will talk with this government, if they try to create it."

"Hamas is a murderous terrorist organization that fires rockets on citizens and recently fired an anti-tank missile at a school bus of students," Barak said. "This is an organization with whom there is nothing to discuss, and therefore we will have no discourse with them."

Earlier in the day, Barak had said that Israel should negotiate with the planned Fatah-Hamas Palestinian unity government only and if it renounces terror activities and recognizes Israel.

In his official statement, the defense minister also demanded that Israel's international friends also refuse to speak with a unity government which includes Hamas, unless the group "undergoes a deep and fundamental change."

The Palestinian announcement was met with skepticism, with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman warning that a reconciliation deal could result in a Hamas takeover of the currently PA-ruled West Bank.

Lieberman told Army Radio of his fears that Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, would eventually take over the Palestinian Authority-ruled West Bank as well, making use of Hamas activists freed by Fatah as part of the new agreement.

President Shimon Peres also commented on the burgeoning Palestinian reconciliation agreement on Thursday, saying he felt the deal was a mistake that could prevent the formation of an independent Palestinian state.

Posted by Prophecy Update

Weeping With Wilkerson

Weeping With Wilkerson (or These Strange Manifestations Are Not the Holy Ghost)
Thursday, 28 April 2011 11:40 AM EDT Jennifer LeClaire

People will remember David Wilkerson, who was killed in a head-on collision in Tyler, Texas on Wednesday, for many different things.

Some will remember him for his books, like The Cross and the Switchblade, which became a best-selling phenomenon with more than 15 million copies sold in over 30 languages. Others will remember him for launching Teen Challenge, a nationwide ministry to reach out to people with life controlling habits. Still others will remember Wilkerson for his sometimes controversial prophetic words.

I will remember Wilkerson for all of that and more, but there is one particular message this general of the faith preached more than a decade ago that I believe needs to be shouted from the rooftops in these last days. (Indeed, many of Wilkerson’s uncompromising messages need to be trumpeted in this hour, but a particular sermon he preached in Moscow in 2000 has weighed heavy on my heart since I first saw it a few years ago.) As was often the case with Wilkerson’s sermons, it was relevant when he preached it but it grew even more relevant as time went on.

Wilkerson’s sermon topic addressed strange manifestations that people wrongly attribute to the Holy Ghost. Now, Wilkerson was an Assemblies of God man who was well acquainted with the Holy Spirit. He was certainly one to flow with the Spirit of God. He heard from God. And it grieved his heart to witness the rise of strange manifestations in the name of the Holy Spirit—manifestations that were certainly not of God.

In his sermon, Wilkerson tells a story of a woman who was confused about what was going on in her local church. She explained, “Many of our church don’t know what to do. We were having wonderful services. The Spirit of the Lord was with us. But our pastor thought there was more. The church wasn’t growing fast enough. And he heard of revival. He went to this revival. He came home three months ago. He got up to preach. And he started to laugh for half an hour. He couldn’t control himself. He just laughed and laughed. There was no preaching. And he told us, ‘This is a new move with the Holy Ghost’.”

I want to stress this point: Wilkerson went on to explain that this wasn’t a one-time incident at that local church. This wasn't some spontaneous outbreak of holy laughter. It went on for three solid months. There was no preaching for three months of Sundays. Only uncontrollable laughing. Wilkerson asked a pointed question: “The Holy Ghost who wrote [the Bible], who said, ‘The truth sets you free,’ will He cause the minister to laugh so he cannot preach this Word?” I'm not against laughing, but three months of laughing at the neglect of equipping the saints with the Word of God?

Without naming names, Wilkerson called out ministries where people barked like dogs and made other bizzare animal noises. He referenced unnamed churches where people hiss and wiggle on the floor like snakes. He described many strange manifestations—and explained how people call it the Holy Ghost. Fighting back the tears, Wilkerson said crediting these sorts of manifestations to the Holy Ghost makes Him look like a fool. Before the end of the sermon, Wilkerson was overcome with grief and began sobbing in his hands.

Did the Body of Christ heed this prophet’s warning? Perhaps some did. But I have witnessed those things Wilkerson called out and perhaps worse over the past year.

Please don't get me wrong. I am all for experiencing the authentic power of God. I am all for valid manifestations of the Holy Spirit. I believe in the gifts of the Spirit. I love to witness signs, wonders and miracles. I expect to see more of that in the days ahead. But I am concerned that some are ill-equipped to discern the difference between the Spirit of God and strange fire.

I’ve been to prayer meetings where a woman’s eyes were rolling into the back of her head and her eyelids were fluttering rapidly as if she was under demonic control. (Are you going to tell me that the Holy Spirit rolls your eyes in the back of your head when you pray in the Spirit?) During service I saw that same woman up on the platform singing, then she abruptly stopped worshipping to prophesy utter nonsense for 10 minutes. The pastor did nothing.

I’ve seen people “toking” imaginary marijuana cigarettes and passing it down the line as if the Holy Ghost is some sort of drug. Again the pastor did nothing. People meow like cats, grown men lay on the floor in a sweaty huddle for hours, either unconscious or in some sort of funky haze, and teenagers twitch and shake uncontrollably as if having a seizure.

Again, I'm all for genuine manifestations of the Holy Spirit and I've participated in plenty of them. But I never read about Abel’s eyes rolling in the back of his head when he brought his offering to God. There isn’t anything in the Bible about Enoch’s eyes fluttering rapidly and uncontrollably as he was raptured. Noah wasn’t passing imaginary joints to his family in the ark. Abraham didn’t have pileups with the 318 men trained in his own house. The Bible doesn’t record Issac, Jacob or Joseph meowing like cats (or even barking like dogs or hissing like snakes). Moses didn’t shake and twitch uncontrollably for an hour as if having epileptic seizure when he saw the glory of God.

If these heroes of faith didn’t record such strange manifestations of the Spirit of God, how can we be so quick to say it’s the Spirit of God? Can we automatically OK hissing, writhing and barking just because John said many things Jesus did weren't recorded in the Bible? Shouldn't we test the spirits, like the Bible says?

Some of you are probably angry with me for saying these things. Let me make it crystal clear. I am not coming against signs that were recorded in the Bible. A talking mule...OK. Not a person who grunts and bucks like a mule? Praying over hankerchiefs and giving them to sick people. I've done it. Dancing in the Spirit. Go for it. Let's keep the topic on the topic. This article is about none of those things. This article isn't about biblical manifestations. It's about extrabiblical manfestations that, instead of glorifying God and producing good fruit, appear more like a side show.

Instead of picking up stones, you should be weeping with me. The Holy Ghost doesn’t come to make us spiritual fruits, flakes and nuts. The Holy Ghost comes to convict us of sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of judgment. He comes to comfort us, to counsel us, to help us. The Holy Ghost makes us more stable, not less stable.

The apostle Paul said, “If the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind?” (1 Cor. 14:23, NKJV) The Amplified translation says “demented.” The New Living Translation says “crazy.” The King James version says “mad.” And the Message translation puts it this way: “If you come together as a congregation and some unbelieving outsiders walk in on you as you’re all praying in tongues, unintelligible to each other and to them, won't they assume you've taken leave of your senses and get out of there as fast as they can?”

Get out of there as fast as I can. That’s what I do when I see these strange unbiblical manifestations and that’s what I would suggest you do if you see people hissing, foaming at the mouth, and writhing on the floor in the middle of church. If Paul offered this warning about praying in tongues, what in heaven would he say about barking like dogs, meowing like cats, and the like? Selah.

At the end of the day, I look at Jesus. You don’t get any fuller of the Holy Spirit than Jesus. And I never saw my Jesus rolling around on the ground pretending to smoke imaginary weed or rolling his eyes in the back of his head or making animal noises. I haven’t seen one record of Spirit-filled saints acting that way in the Bible. You would think if such mad manifestations were genuinely of the Holy Spirit and fell on those who were desperately seeking God’s face we would see them recorded in the Book of Acts. Yes, we see strange miracles, but that didn't include hissing, barking, writhing, etc.

Now, I did read about an encounter Jesus had with someone who offered some strange manifestations. Indeed, a boy was experiencing some strange manifestations that heightened in the presence of God. Scripture reads, “When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth” (Mark 9:20, NIV)

What did Jesus do in the face of these strange manifestations? He rebuked the evil spirit and cast it out. So when I see people attributing animal noises, hissing, and other strange manifestations to the Holy Spirit, I weep with Wilkerson. Don't you? Please join with me in praying that the Church would have greater discernment in this hour. Amen.

Jennifer is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including the A Prophet's Heart

Last Days Revival or End Time Apostasy?

Last Days Revival or End Time Apostasy?


The topic on the minds of many Christians and Messianic Jews today is revival. Christian TV, radio and best-selling books persuasively argue that we are in the midst of the greatest revival in the history of the world. Enthusiasts point to the signs and wonders occurring in such places as Toronto, Pensacola, Benny Hinn's church in Orlando, Promise Keepers filling up stadiums, and their recent million man rally in Washington DC, as signs of this revival.

As a result, I've been thinking more about End Time revival. Knowing that we are drawing closer and closer to Acharit HaYamin (the Last Days), those days in which we can almost hear the footsteps of Yeshua approaching, I want us to consider the question, "Does the Bible predict there will be a great End Time revival that sweeps the world before the Second Coming?"

The twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew contains the Messiah's most comprehensive teaching on His Second Coming. In it He gave us specific signs to look for that would immediately precede His return. Some of the signs include: false prophets and false messiahs, wars, earthquakes, famine, the persecution of God's people, the moral decay of society, a great apostasy, or falling away from true Faith, the rise of the Anti-Christ, the rebirth of Israel, the rebuilding the Jerusalem Temple, a final outbreak of anti-Semitism, and unprecedented destruction on a world wide basis.

When you hear these precursors of His return, you might object, "Rabbi Loren, we have always had these things. We have had wars and rumors of wars from time immemorial. There have always been earthquakes and famines. Even in the first century there was the persecution of Messianic Believers. Humanity has usually been morally loose. There has been anti-Semitism since the time of Pharaoh. The people of God have always been plagued by false prophets and false messiahs." It's true that throughout history we have experienced many of these signs. But Yeshua gives us the key to understand these signs when He compares them to a woman in labor. He says that "all this is but the beginning of the birth-pains" (Matt. 24:8). Why does our righteous and wise Messiah compare the Last Days to a woman in labor?

A woman's labor pains increase in two ways: in intensity and in frequency. The labor pains become more intense and the contractions come closer and closer together until the very end, when the pain is most agonizing, and the contractions almost continuous, one right after the other, and then the child is born. Rabbi Yeshua is telling us that the world is going to go through more troubles and disasters, which will increase in frequency and intensity, until the very end, when they are almost unbearable, and nearly continuous, one coming right after the other. Then He will return, bringing with Him a delightful new time in history, the golden age of man.

Since Israel became a nation once again in 1948, the intensity and frequency of these signs have increased like the birth-pangs of a woman approaching her time of delivery, exactly as Messiah foretold. The first sign Messiah gave us in His message on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24) has been largely overlooked and His solemn warning neglected, and that's the one I want to focus on. While there has been spiritual deception ever since the Garden of Eden, we are forewarned that spiritual deception will reach its zenith in the Last Days.

"Yeshua answered and said to them, 'See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name saying, I am the Messiah, and will mislead many'" ... "Many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many"... "For false Messiahs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders; so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect" (Matt. 24:4-5, 11, 24).

In Matthew 24:4 Messiah issued this warning: "See to it that no one misleads you." The repetition of this warning three times in this chapter underscores its seriousness. The nature of this warning is specified: false messiahs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders. His four-fold use of the word "many" indicates a deception that involves multitudes.

According to Yeshua, this End Time departure from the Truth will be spearheaded by apparent miracle- workers. The false prophets of the Last Days, to whom Messiah refers, will use signs and wonders to support their false teachings. The signs and wonders they are able to perform are apparently so impressive that without discernment by the Holy Spirit, even God's elect sons and daughters would be deceived by them. Obviously, something more than mere trickery is involved. These miracle-workers are empowered by Satan, whom they unwittingly serve in the name of God.

Writing to the Thessalonians, Paul issued a similar warning: "Let no one in any way deceive you... (2 Thess. 2:3). Rabbi Paul goes on to explain that the deception of the Last Days will infect the professing community of believers. That is evident from the words "falling away," or apostasy, that he uses in the rest of the verse: ... "for it [Messiah's return] will not come unless the apostasy [falling away] comes first, and the man of lawlessness [Anti-Christ] be revealed, the son of destruction."

Rabbi Paul assures us that the Last Days will be characterized by apostasy, not revival. We are not to be deceived into thinking that the apostasy won't come; it must come first, or Messiah simply will not return! Therefore the teaching that there will be a world wide revival in the Last Days, however well intentioned, is biblically untenable. Paul's prediction can only mean that in the Last Days many professing believers will reject the biblical teaching that apostasy is inevitable.

Other scriptures confirm that false signs and wonders will be an integral part of the Last Days apostasy. In the Sermon on the Mount, Messiah declared, "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness'" (Matt. 7:22-23).

These apostates about whom Messiah speaks are high-profile Christians and Messianic Jewish leaders, who apparently perform signs and wonders in the name of Messiah! Tragically, they seem to think that their ability to prophesy, cast out demons and perform miracles proves that they belong to Him. Their signs and wonders are so impressive that the accuracy and truth of their doctrine and the purity of their lives no longer seems to matter. They are able to delude others by emphasizing experiences over doctrine - exactly the situation we see today!

Speaking of what well describes our own day, Rabbi Paul gave this warning to his young disciple Timothy, "the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths" (2 Tim. 4:3-4). We seem to be in that time.

I've been a follower of King Messiah for almost twenty-three years, and there is no question in my mind that there has been a definite trend away from sound doctrine, to a religion based largely on personal experiences. When someone points out bad doctrine, they are told that they are being too critical and should focus on the positive (as if bad doctrine can be swept under the rug, where it won't do any harm. But God's Word says that a little leaven will leaven the whole batch). They are told it is enough to confess that Yeshua is Lord (which is essential to good doctrine, but it is not all of good doctrine). They are told to "judge not" (which is misapplied - Yeshua did not mean that we are to stop using our faculties to discern good from evil, sin from holiness, right from wrong - He meant that we must not act as if we are the final judge. We aren't to condemn people to hell, thinking that God is finished with them, and that they are beyond redemption).

Clearly, the Bible predicts a "signs and wonders" movement of the Last Days, but it will be empowered by Satan, and thus a delusion that will deceive many. After a solemn warning that in the Last Days "difficult times [not revival] will come" (2 Tim. 3:1), Paul makes this remarkable statement: "Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men [false prophets] also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected as regards the Faith" (2 Tim 3:8).

Jannes and Jambres were the magicians in Pharaoh's court who, through the power of Satan, duplicated (up to a point) the miracles that God did through Moses. Rabbi Paul thus declared that the Last Days opposition to the truth would be accompanied by demonstrations of power, though certainly not originating with God. These modern false prophets operate by performing apparent miracles in Messiah's name. However, they are actually empowered by Satan. In that way, they deceive and lead many astray. Shrewdly, they don't lead them out of the visible Community of Believers; instead they destroy them with false doctrine and thus false hope from within the Body of Messiah. Satan has no more effective tactic to damn souls!

The whole gamut of today's so-called revival scene, from Toronto to Pensacola, must be seriously faced! Videos of the services show people crawling on the floor, howling like wolves, barking like dogs, roaring like lions, going through bodily contortions impossible without the aid of some spiritual power, unable to speak or even remember their names when they try to give a testimony, and worse. Many of those being baptized at Pensacola seem to lose consciousness or shake so violently that they must be carried out of the baptismal tank lest they drown. Others flail about so wildly as to require several men to handle them. Such manifestations were also found in past "revivals" among the Shakers, the Mormons and many other cults. That such things could now be widely accepted as evidence of the Holy Spirit only testifies to the extent of the delusion that is already permeating the Messianic Community!

Jude exhorts us to "contend earnestly for the Faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). Contend earnestly against whom? Not against godless enemies outside the Messianic Community, but rather the warning concerns those who are within: "For certain persons have crept in unnoticed" (Jude 4). "Crept in" can only mean those who are inside the visible Body of Believers.

That we must earnestly contend for the Faith against those who have crept into the Messianic Community implies that the battle is not so much one of faith against unbelief, but rather of true faith against false faith. Those relatively few apostates who announce themselves as atheists or convert to Islam, Buddhism or Hinduism are not the primary focus here. Yeshua, Paul and Jude are instead warning of a falling away from the Truth from within the professing Community of Believers. That is precisely what we see today.

Is it possible for wolves in sheep's clothing to creep in unnoticed, and assume positions of leadership in the Messianic Community? Paul confirms the words of Jude when he addressed the Ephesian elders: "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them" (Acts 20:29-30). Rabbi Paul affirms that spiritual deception would arise within the Church.

Does the Word of God predict a great revival for the Last Days? It doesn't appear that Yeshua thought so when He raised the question, "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth" (Luke 18:8)? This does not bode well for a dynamic faithful Messianic Community when Yeshua returns.

Rabbi Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, also did not seem to think so. Instead, he predicted that the days immediately preceding the coming of the Messiah would be characterized by Anti-Christ, "whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive a love of the truth so as to be saved. And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness" (2 Thes. 2:9-12).

Again, the apostle to the Gentiles warns, "the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the Faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience" (1 Tim. 4:1-2).

Beloved brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit is warning us that false teaching is demonic in origin and frequently promulgated by liars who occupy places of prominence in the Church. This deception will take place in the later times. In the Last Days there will be those who fall away from the Faith into demonic delusion as a result of listening to these treacherous pseudo- Christian religious leaders. Does the Bible teach that in the Last Days the Church will experience revival, grow increasingly numerous and powerful, faithful and pure, and that it will take over more and more of the political and social institutions of society? Hardly. According to Messiah, it's a time for Anti-Christ to bring desolation. It's a time of unparalleled tribulation so overwhelming that no life would survive unless the Almighty intervened. It's a time of terrible persecution for Jews and Christians. It's a time for those in Israel to flee to the hills. It's a time characterized by false messiahs and prophets who deceive multitudes. (Matt. 24:15-24).

The book of Revelation gives us the most detailed picture of the Last Days, and it does not portray a powerful, faithful Church which has taken over the political and social institutions of the world. Yes, there will be a great harvest of humanity during that period known as the Great Tribulation, which immediately precedes the Second Coming. Yes, it will be a time of salvation for many, but it comes at a very high price. Revelation 7 records that a great multitude, so large that no one could count it, a multitude from every nation and all tribes and peoples and languages, will come to a saving faith in Messiah during the Great Tribulation. However, at the same time it will be given to the Anti-Christ to make war with the saints on earth and to overcome them (Rev. 13:7). There will be those who are beheaded because of their testimony about Yeshua and their faithfulness to Word of God. They will not worship the Anti-Christ or receive the mark of the beast on their forehead or hand (Rev. 20:4).

To summarize, the scriptural warnings foretell the growing delusion we find in our day:

A false signs and wonders movement led by many false prophets.

Many being deceived through these apparent miracles.


The replacement of sound doctrine with personal experience.

The rejection of the biblical teaching concerning apostasy and the insistence that we are in the midst of, or at least are building up to, the "greatest revival in the history of the Church."

Such is the prevailing teaching today among most charismatics and increasingly among evangelicals and Messianic Jews. The promise of revival will be part of the Last Days deception, so beware. Don't be part of it! Don't assume that the apostasy of the Last Days will take place in the distant future. There are too many signs of Messiah's return, and examples of false teaching and unusual phenomena taking place in the Church today, to make that assumption.

Instead, ask yourself a few questions: Is it not enough that Messiah indwells us? Is He not in our midst each time we meet? Are we not to be filled with the Holy Spirit at all times? Is not the Word of God enough for us? Is not His grace sufficient? Are we not complete when we are joined to Him by faith? Why then would we run after signs and wonders, as though they automatically prove that God is at work, while neglecting what the Lord has already given us?

It's really so simple: we are to learn what the Bible says for ourselves. We are to be like the members of the synagogue at Berea, who were "more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word of God with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11). We are to love one another, help one another, and reach out to a confused, lost, corrupt and dying world with the Good News of Messiah.

May God help us remain pure and holy in our faith, take a stand for the Truth, and be found faithful, doing those things He has called us to do when Messiah returns. "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" Let's hope that He finds some genuine faith on the earth, especially in you and in me.

By Dave Hunt's newsletter, "The Berean Call."

See also:

Who will left behind?

Rapture Alert! Make Sure You don't Left Behind

What Will You Do If You Are Left Behind?

After the Rapture

The Tribulation