Feb 12
Morality: The Old Faithful of End-Time Signs
One of the most important tasks for Bible prophecy watchers is the ability to know the direction that world events are
trending. Because everyone wants to know how close we are to the rapture, its important to keep track of events that
were determined by God to act as signposts.
Most end-time signs do not move in a straight line. They go through periods when they seem to be moving towards the
fulfillment of prophecy, and they go through periods when they seem to be moving away from their prophetic destiny.
The nuclear arms race is one good example. From the 1950s to the mid 1980s, the Soviet Union and the United States built up a
massive number of atomic weaponry. Once President Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev decided to great reduce their stockpiles, the
threat of nuclear war went into a sharp decline. It is now moving up as nations like Iran and North Korea seek to join the
nuclear club.
The end-time indicator that probably has the most turbulent history is the European Union. During the 1970s, prophecy scholars
such as Hal Lindsey, Dave Hunt and John Walvoord were very excited about the formation of this political and economic entity.
They knew the Bible had predicted the Roman Empire would some day reform. I doubt any of these men would have thought that the EU
would later experience such a bumpy road. After the rejection of the EU constitution by France and the Netherlands, it
looked like the organization was headed for the scrap heap. Despite all the setbacks, the process of integration moved on.
Morality is a rare end-time indicator that has not had any major ups and downs. It has been in steady decline for all of my
adult life. Morality’s relentless slide in the wrong direction is the reason I dub it the "Old Faithful of End-Time Signs."
There have been times when some groups have tried to retake the moral high ground, but they have always failed to accomplish
their goal. I have to go back to the 1950’s to find a trace of a significant revival movement.
Once a new form of immorality invades the land, it is very hard to remove it. Unless immediate action is taken to deal with wickedness,
people quickly become desensitized to its presence. With time, even the vilest of sins can become part of the mainstream culture.
The Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade fits this pattern. When the Court legalized the killing of unborn children,
conservatives dedicated themselves to overturn that evil act. They had to wait nearly 20 years before there was a conservative
majority in the Supreme Court. When Planned Parenthood v. Casey came before the Court in 1992, a majority of the justices
refused to turn the tide. In 2000, they even failed to strike down a Nebraska law that would have banned partial birth abortions. In
both rulings, the common view was that abortion was untouchable because it was now part of the law of the land.
To see the momentum in action, one only has to look at the news headlines of any given week. Here are four examples from the
past few days.
- "Grey's Anatomy" actor Isaiah Washington got into hot water when he called one of his fellow homosexual cast members a
"faggot" at a Golden Globe Awards backstage press conference. To save his job, he checked into a treatment center to address
his "homophobic issues." At one point, a person having same-sex relationships was regarded as being in need of mental
health. It blows my mind to think that the gay person is now seen as the sane one.
- An ad company working for the Cartoon Network sparked a terrorism scare in much of central Boston on January 31.
The advertising campaign featured blinking electronic devices wired to battery packs, and planted them in the transportation
infrastructure, leading police to fear they were bombs. The devices were placed in 10 cities as part of a guerrilla
marketing campaign to promote the cartoon, "Aqua Teen Hunger Force." With all the coverage this story received, few people in
the media took note of the fact that the cartoon figure represented in this ad was giving the finger.
- During the Super Bowl, singer Prince decided to give viewers a phallic halftime show. While in silhouette behind a
screen, he stroked an appendage on his guitar that resembled a penis. Critics were thrilled that the only potentially
offensive section of the game was a man pretending to masturbate in shadow box form. The NFL produced the halftime show, and
spokesman Greg Aiello said the league has received no complaints.
- The sudden death of Anna Nicole Smith sparked a media frenzy. The Drudge Report posted no less than 12 news items about
her. CNN and Fox News had nearly 24-hour coverage of every small detail of Smith’s death. With so much attention being paid to her
passing, a visitor from another planet might assume she was once a great political leader, a famous author, or maybe a
renowned military commander. Unfortunately, the fanfare was for a one-time topless dancer who gained fame by marrying an 89-year-old
billionaire. Judging by the video loops the media constantly ran while talking about Smith, it would appear that her main calling
in life was to show up at various media events and look pretty for the camera. The issue here is not that journalistic
standards have hit a new low. The Michael Jackson molestation trial still holds that the record for tackiness. The new
benchmark here is for a lack of remorse in the face of profound personal tragedy. Here we have a celebrity who wasted her life away on
perverse living, and the media has no regrets about influencing the young girls that might be following in Smith's footsteps.
Only the Lord knows how long we can continue on this downward projection. The history of great civilizations tells us we will
reach a point when society decides to reforms itself or we will eventually disintegrate from corruption.
I've long given up hope that calamity can be avoided. My conclusion is not based on the feeling that mankind deserves judgment. It is simply the realization that apologetics is dead and there is nothing to prevent us from moving closer to the abyss.
The Temple and 666
Nearing Midnight is the home of ongoing reports of the signs of the times we consider relevant to Bible prophecy. One important topic that hasn’t been on the Nearing Midnight radar in quite some time, to any significant extent, is news that might portend a coming Jewish temple. But, that doesn’t mean that the temple is completely undetectable on the eschatological radar screen of these turbulent days.
A recent report reminds us that this vitally important element of the overall prophetic picture is in the mix of all the other signals that are telling the world where this generation is on God’s prophetic timeline:
“An Israeli archeologist said Wednesday that he has pinpointed the exact location of the Second Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount…”
Hebrew University archaeologist, Prof. Joseph Patrich, based his findings on the study of a large underground cistern on the Temple Mount. Additional examination of passages that run underground beneath the cistern led him to his conclusion.
“…Examining the location and configuration of the cistern together with descriptions of the daily rite in the Temple and its surroundings found in the Mishna, Patrich said that this cistern is the only one found on the Temple Mount that can tie in with the ancient rabbinic text describing elements involved in the daily purification and sacrificial duties carried out by the priests on the altar in the Temple courtyard…”
Patrich believes that his method of close examination of the area will accomplish a very important service regarding verifications involving Temple history.
The news item states further:
“…By thus locating the laver, the water wheel, the ramp and the altar, one can then finally map, again in coordination with the Mishna, the alignment of the Temple itself and its gates and chambers, he said…” (Etgar Lefkovits, "Archeologist: Ancient cistern proves location of Second Temple," Jerusalem Post, Feb. 7).
This is a valuable surveyor’s effort. Virtually all of Israel’s Arab antagonists claim the Temple never existed –that the site is sacred only to Islam, because that is where –so the fiction goes-- Mohammed flew into heaven from the stone that is now beneath the Dome of the Rock. This archeological find/proof, of course, will not quiet the claims of those who demand that Israel get out of town. But it does set the stage for satisfying those who will consider empirical proofs that the Jew does have at least a share in that most volatile piece of real estate on Planet Earth.
It is a proof that could one day be the catalyst for Antichrist weaving into that prophesied false peace of Daniel 9: 26-27 allowance of a temple being built atop Moriah. This he possibly would do in preparation for his own foretold destiny.
This gets us to the title of the commentary –"The Temple and 666." We find that prophesied time of Antichrist and the temple in the following:
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).
The son of perdition –the Antichrist—is scheduled to sit in the Jewish Temple, claiming to be God. I believe he will be personally indwelt at that time by Satan, himself, who will, with his evil angelic hordes, have been cast down from the heavens. This demonically possessed, flesh-and-blood tyrant will, I believe prophecy teaches, sit in the Temple after a deadly head wound that is supposedly miraculously healed. It will be a devilish deception.
Antichrist will then institute his infamous mark and demand that every person on earth accept it in the top of the hand or in the forehead. His personal designation in the numerical sense is six hundred, three score and six –666. That number will somehow be incorporated within the mark of this beast in a way that will be a declaration of allegiance to Satan, and which will doom every individual who takes the mark to eternity apart from God.
My friend and colleague, Arno Frose, whose magazine, Midnight Call, is probably Bible prophecy’s most widely read and respected publication, has written a dynamite book on the topic of this beastly system of control that is even now in the late stages of development, I’m convinced. Preparing for the Mark of the Beast by Arno Froese is one you don’t want to miss.
The technologies of control that come across our news sources on an hourly basis join the many other birth-pang developments that make the student of Bible prophecy know that we are nearing midnight –the Tribulation hour. But we look not for Antichrist, rather for Jesus, the Christ, our Savior and Lord (Titus 2:13) –the Rapture!
