In a way it's kind of funny to think that an election in one country could change God's prophetic timeline. Of course it won't change a thing. But it does seem that some of our brethren have relaxed in terms the ideas that we are at the very very end of this age. The gathering up of the Church Saints will fundamentally change the world in an instantaneous and dramatic moment. That will be the final stage setting for the rise of the antichrist and not a moment sooner. Below are some articles elaborating on that very point:
Are happy days here again? I am sensing that even Rapture-watching believers, some anyway, now think that event is delayed while America returns to prosperity. Thanks to the 2016 election results, we may now return to the role of international leader. Is America about to be great again with a return to prosperity?
A report on Friday said that in the wake of Brexit and Donald Trump, the European Union may fall apart. Have prophecy watchers been proven wrong? Neither of these fit into the presumed agenda.
{Footnote: Don't forget, we know from Daniel 2 that the revived Roman Empire will not remain united, and we will see 10 Kings result from its evolution}e
What About the Globalist Agenda?
The globalist agenda has hit a road block because President-Elect Donald Trump is not one of them. How can that possibly fit with end-time eschatology? The opposite should have happened. The ardent globalist, Hillary Clinton, should have won November 8 to keep that freight train on the tracks and the end-time clock racing.
But Donald Trump's election is the single largest setback to the one-world aspiration of modern time. This even dwarfs Brexit. Brexit is in the little leagues compared to our election result. Surely the global cabal won't allow this to stand.
Then there is Israel. As predicted in Zechariah 12:3, she had become friendless. Now America is circling back to be her staunch ally. How does this line up with end-time scripture? Does this perhaps delay everything?
America in Prophecy
Online prophecy writer Matt Ward states, "Trump's promise to 'make America great again,' is, I believe, a genuine aspiration. His nomination may be a reprieve, a last chance type of situation for repentance and the renewal of a once great nation and power.
"But I am not sure that America, or the world, have that kind of time left. When I look around today, I can see the obvious convergence of end-time Bible prophecy in a way never witnessed before. This convergence is coupled by the clear speeding up of prophetic events. We are careening toward a point of no return. These two facts alone clearly point to the lateness of the hour."
Business as Usual
Let's say for the sake of discussion that America and even the world go back to "business as usual." Is that not what the climate will be at the time of the Rapture? As Bill Perkins writes in his Compass publication, "The Trump victory does seem like it fits better with Matthew 24 and Luke 17. Those verses say things should be normal before the Rapture. They specifically mention 'planting and harvesting,' 'eating and drinking,' 'building,' and social events. In other words, normal things in life. If Trump rights our sinking ship a bit, it would fit scripture like a glove."
Perkins says, "Contrary to what was predicted, the stock market is rallying. The money people think Trump will do better than Obama on managing the economy. By His grace, God has given us our own Brexit moment--maybe even a Nineveh moment. Maybe this is God's answer to our prayers by temporarily slowing the progress towards the Biblically prophesied 'one world order.' He may have amazingly given us a reprieve from the illegal and unchecked madness of those in power."
Imminency still reigns
The important thing to remember as it concerns Rapture timing is "imminency." This suggests any moment. It's why the early church greeted each other with "Maranatha." From the earliest days of the church, the apostles and first-generation Christians nurtured an earnest expectation and fervent hope that Christ might suddenly return at any time to gather His church to Heaven. The writers of the Bible suggest nothing has to precede it.
"Be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door." (James 5:7-9)
Paul was convinced he himself might be among those who would be caught up alive to meet the Lord! That's imminency. A solid conviction that Christ could return at any time permeates the whole New Testament.
Perhaps we have more time to delay the decay. We are to "occupy until He comes," be salt and light, and rescue the perishing while there is time. Many believe it is the Rapture of the Church that will devastate the world. Once this small but powerful remnant of believers is removed, all hell breaks loose. It matters not who is president, king, ruler, or emperor.
False Teaching Alert
Bill Koenig alerts readers in his weekly e-newsletter that,
"There are people in the Kingdom Now/Dominion Theologycommunity who believe that President-elect Donald Trump will have a major role in establishing the Kingdom on earth beginning in the United States and expanding worldwide."
Koenig also says, "There will be many prophecies by self-appointed prophets in the days ahead who call President-elect Trump the modern day King Cyrus. They did the same when President George W Bush was elected and took office. However, his fate changed dramatically when he called for a Palestinian state and then pushed for it."
Perhaps today
The spirit of the Antichrist seems to reign even in America. The progressive left is rioting, burning, and behaving as though they cannot wait for the man of lawlessness to arise so they can worship him. I believe he is still waiting in the wings. Nothing has changed. The birth pangs will continue to reverberate around the world.
As for Europe, the more it destabilizes the more it sets the stage for the Antichrist. The coming together of the ten kings that shall arise shall do so AFTER the Rapture. What is taking place now in Europe is not all that important.
The Rapture is not delayed. The theme of the Bible is perhaps today. Don't grow weary in waiting. Keep watching expectantly. Jesus Christ will soon take His own to the Father's house (John 14:1-3). We are awaiting our "blessed hope" (Titus 2:13) and it is imminent.
The new president’s priorities are, of course, important. We welcome new direction as we sense reprieve from the God of Heaven this election has brought. The prayers of God’s people, as I’ve pointed out previously has, I believe, helped win that reprieve from what seemed impending judgment.
Perhaps correction would be the most appropriate term. God’s people prayed that God would hear from Heaven and would put the nation on a course correction.
So, while Mr. Trump’s political agenda is important, even critical, to achieving worthy, laudable goals in turning America in the right direction, Heaven’s priorities are truly the matters for which God’s reprieve have been so mercifully given.
Of course, the Church (all born-again believers) should take this reprieve as a mandate to recapture moral ground–to roll back some of the social evils the Obama administration has brought forth–most through executive fiat. It is that very Church which has, in my estimation, allowed this slide toward the moral abyss through her acquiescence.
However, that said, I am convinced that the same two major issues are involved in this God-given reprieve.
Heaven’s post-election priorities again involve 1) seeing to it that the gospel message is carried forth throughout the world; and 2) that the nation Israel continues to have the most powerful nation on the planet as an ally and protector.
It is beyond argument that God doesn’t need the United States to protect Israel. But, it is also beyond argument–to my way of thinking, at least–that the Lord has used America to act first as midwife in birthing Israel into modernity and then to act as guardian during decades since that rebirth. The Lord of Heaven has chosen America for this specific function, it is likely, for as long as the planet remains in the pre-Tribulation era.
There will come a time when Israel will be under the wrathful hand of Antichrist and the rest of the world. God will intervene directly at that time. Daniel the prophet, passing along the angel’s words, puts it this way:
“And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” (Dan 12: 1)
So, while we watch the unfolding of post-election aftermath, let us view things through the prism of Bible prophecy. We are not about to go into an era that offers prospect of the Church building Heaven on earth as the Kingdom-Now purveyors would have it. All is further stage-setting for the Rapture of the Church and the appearance of the son of perdition .
But, it is a reprieve from Heaven we are witnessing and living, so let’s keep in mind Heaven’s priorities.
The Great Commission is still the top priority. Bringing as many lost people as possible into God’s family before the time of Tribulation is our post-election mandate.
Make no mistake: the Kremlin is not waiting for the Trump-Pence administration to staff up and figure out its policies in the epicenter.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev are moving aggressively to meet with Middle Eastern leaders, court them, woo them, sell them weapons, sell them nuclear technology, and whisper in their ears that Moscow — not Washington — is the friend and ally they can trust over the long haul.
Last week, just days after the stunning American elections, I arrived in Jericho to host a conference of Palestinian pastors and ministry leaders and their wives. As it happened, when my wife and I arrived at the hotel where the conference was to be held, we found it surrounded by heavily armed soldiers. There were new checkpoints on all the nearby roads. There were snipers on the roof. There were armed bodyguards everywhere, and the lobby was filled with dozens of advisors and protocol officers, standing around smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee.
Why? Because Medvedev was on his way to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (aka, Abu Mazen).
Medvedev’s first stop on this Mideast tour was in Israel where he met privately with Mr. Netanyahu. Officially, they marked the 25th anniversary of the establishment of formal diplomatic ties between Israel and the Russian Federation. But they also discussed Netanyahu’s concerns about Russian military involvement in Syria, and the growing Iranian threat to the region, even as Moscow keeps selling Tehran nuclear technology and advanced military equipment.
So why did Medvedev decide to come to the epicenter now — for the first time in two and a half decades — and just hours after the American presidential elections?
The answer is obvious: the Russians want to be the dominant global power in the Middle East. Putin and Medvedev see an enormous vacuum in the Middle East created by President Obama’s steady and foolish retreat, and they are making all kinds of moves to fill that vacuum with Russian money, arms and technology before the next President decides exactly what U.S. foreign policy in the region will be.
Consider just a few examples of Russian efforts in the region:
Shortly after Russia admitted that it was moving nuclear-capable rockets to the exclave of Kaliningrad in explicit retaliation for NATO encroachment on its borders, something it had not done until today, another old hotzone has flared up again when moments ago the Russian military reported that Ukranian security operatives have abducted two Russian servicemen in Crimea, and are attempting to press criminal charges against them, the Russian military is reporting.
Moscow considers the kidnapping a "flagrant provocation," and is demanding the immediate release and return of Maksim Odintsov and Aleksander Baranov to Russia, according to Sputnik.
"We consider such actions by the Ukrainian security bodies against Russian citizens as another flagrant provocation and demand their immediate return to Russia," a statement by the ministry's press service said.
The ministry announced on Monday that the two soldiers were kidnapped on November 20, and taken across the border to the Nikolayev region of Ukraine with an apparent goal of pressing charges against them. They also expressed concern that authorities may use psychological and physical torture to coerce the two men into falsely confessing to crimes against Ukraine.
Crimea has long been a geopolitical "hotspot" ever since the Ukraine presidential coup, which resulted in a proxy civil war in the Donbas region and resulted in Crimea rejoining Russia after a 2014 referendum, one which however has not been accepted by western states, many of which still consider Crimea part of the Ukraine, even if they tacitly admit that it is now part of Russia.
While the detente between Russia and US president-elect Donald Trump could not have come at a more tense time, the Kremlin appears to be accelerating its head-on collision course with NATO, and as a highly placed defense official said on Monday, Moscow will deploy S-400 surface-to-air missiles and nuclear-capable Iskander systems in the exclave of Kaliningrad in retaliation for NATO deployments, confirming previous media reports of Russian intentions to once again blanket central Europe with potential nuclear ICBM coverage.
While Russia has previously said it periodically sends Iskanders to Kaliningrad, until now it has always said these were routine drills. Moscow has not linked the moves explicitly with what it says is a NATO military build-up on Russia's western borders.
However, perhaps sensing that the Kremlin has a supportive voice in the White House, and thus negotiating leverage, Putin has decided to tip his cards diplomatically and alrt the world that Russia will escalate in what it sees a tit-for-tate game theoretical regime.
According to Reuters, after the election of Donald Trump, who has said he wants closer ties with the Kremlin and has questioned the cost of protecting NATO allies, some analysts predict an emboldened Moscow could become more assertive in eastern Europe. With recent military overtures in Syria and now Europe, this appears to be taking place.
Additionally, Vladimir Putin also on Momday was quoted talking about how Russia has to respond to what it perceives as a threat from U.S.-led forces in eastern Europe.
"Why are we reacting to NATO expansion so emotionally? We are concerned by NATO's decision making," RIA quoted him as saying in an interview for a documentary that will be broadcast by Russian TV later on Monday.
"What should we do? We have, therefore, to take countermeasures, which means to target with our missile systems the facilities, that, in our opinion, start posing a threat to us," Putin said.
Now this should have been done a long time ago, but reports are indicating that President-elect Donald Trump will be to push Congress for a bill that would ban the Muslim Brotherhood and designate them as a terror organization. Trump has said that Shariah "is incompatible with the Constitution."
It's true, and Donald Trump is right on this. If one were to merely go back in time to our founders, they would acknowledge that both Islam and Shariah law are incompatible with the US Constitution. Why? It's because our foundations are based upon biblical law, not that which was perverted by Muhammad
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Several people are happy to hear that Trump is taking the position he is taking with regards to Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood and Shariah, including yours truly.
Foreign policy adviser Walid Phares is happy to hear Trump's position and supports the designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terror group.
Philip Haney, who is a founding member of the Department of Homeland Security and author of "See Something, Say Nothing: A Homeland Security Officer Exposes the Government's Submission to Jihad," was happy to hear the news as well and indicated that DHS may just be going back to the reason it was created, albeit unconstitutional.
"This is what the Department of Homeland Security was created for in the first place – to protect the American people from the threat of terrorism both foreign and domestic – so all he's doing is following the policies of the original purpose of DHS," Haney told WND. "This is what we were actually supposed to do clear back in 2003 when the agency was formed."
"It's long overdue and much needed," said Pamela Geller, president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative and author of Stop the Islamization of America. "We can only hope that it will stop Muslim Brotherhood infiltration into the U.S. government."
It would be high time the US came around to designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terror group since Egypt has done the same.
Of course, the Muslim Brotherhood backs virtually every mosque in the West and they also provide many front groups who are opposed to the united States, including Hamas-CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations), the Islamic Society of North America and the Muslim Students Association, just to name a few.
Re: Is the Rapture on Hold
ReplyDeleteOne of my major concerns regarding the whole topic of the End Times, is whether it was a projection from people who just did not like where the world was going, who was president, etc. I often ask myself if what people claim as signs are indeed true signs in my discernment of situations. If we are in fact in the true End Times on the cusp of the Tribulation, the signs will be there regardless of who is president, or leaders of any other country. I would also surmise that my originally stated concerns could possibly be a way of exposing charlatans who do not know what they are speaking of, nor know how to interpret situations properly. I would therefore state that those who suddenly find themselves thinking there is a reprieve, were more likely to be projecting their own concerns and using End Time prophesies as a way to scare people, rather than truly be seeking signs and wonders. It is still too early in this shake up of politics to predict what will happen, so thinking we have "dodged a bullet" is premature and lacks true discernment of the sign of the times.