In Antichrist’s Shadow
I must admit up front that I’ve delved into now ancient archives of my own thoughts in writing this week’s column. The things under consideration, however, are more relevant than ever. As a matter of fact, it becomes quite fascinating to look back at earlier times of analyses of issues and events. New perspectives and postulations can sometimes be derived from such a retrospective.
Quite a few years ago, I put together (as general editor) a book with a number of prophecy scholars, broadcasters, and writers. That book was called Foreshocks of Antichrist. Its chapters dealt with issues and events of the times that the other authors and I believed were significant in considering prophecies about Antichrist coming to power, as described in the books of Daniel, Revelation, 1 John, and others.
That was about 1996, I think, and I believed at the time that conditions couldn’t ripen much more so far as the world being ready to reap the bitter harvest concerning what the Antichrist will bring.
I was wrong, of course, which proves we must never be too quick to think things can’t get much worse. They can get worse—and they have, since my late mentors/colleagues such as Dr. John Walvoord, Dr. Dave Breese, Zola Levitt, Dr. Tim LaHaye, and many others dissected the issues with the scalpel of God’s Word in that Harvest House book.
The shadow of the coming Antichrist looms more ominously than ever.
All one must do is to consider the following report I used many years ago to see that dictatorship might be right around the proverbial corner. An Austrian newspaper reported the following result of a question posed to the citizenry of that nation: What was their opinion of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi annexation during World War II?
Reuters Report—May 21, 2013:
Forty-two percent said life was not all bad under Hitler, while sixty-one percent said they would be interested in a strong-armed leader who did not have to deal with democratic challenges like political opponents and elections. The survey, published this weekend, is getting prominent play in the media in Israel, which is home to some 250,000 Holocaust survivors.
Antichrist and the False Prophet of Revelation chapter 13 will be the ultimate, final dictatorship. Their regime will be the driver of the geopolitical and religious juggernaut that will crush anyone and anything that opposes it during the Tribulation era. The engine that will power Satan’s cruel, soul-rending Beast of Revelation 13:1-2 will be an all-controlling, enslaving economy. We see the Beast described as follows:
“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority” (Revelation 13:1-2).
The control that Beast will wield is described in this way:
“And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” (Revelation 13:16-17).
The technologies for setting up just such a system of control over the people of the world have grown exponentially during the past several decades. Computer-satellite hook-ups between continents, linking most of the world in a geometrically progressing network of electronic funds transfer capability, bring this generation ever closer to the type of control prophesied in those familiar passages of Scripture.
The United States of America, the most materially blessed nation on Earth, has been concentric to the global networking. Most of the great contributions to the computer and satellite revolution have been spawned from this country. But other super-industrious peoples around the globe continue the “progress.” Other nations are now taking the relevant technologies to new levels of “achievement.” Now, it is America who seems to be dragging its feet in bringing in economic Utopia—or so it would seem…
As we looked at these matters of international finance more than a decade ago, it appeared that the US was the hold-up to bringing in a new world financial order. The refusal to relinquish paper and coinage as currency was viewed as blocking the establishment of that changed monetary order.
With the unbelievable swiftness of movement involving all things fiscal since those earlier times, it becomes obvious that the powers that drive monetary movement are determined to keep hard currencies in place with the US dollar as the standard (until other dynamics of financial interlinkages brought sufficient chaos) to create a critical need for a system other than paper and coins to avert world economic disaster.
The United States’ great wealth and power, represented in the mighty dollar, was thus held high as a criterion for international trade until just the right political changes within America had been engineered. That political change has, as of the coming of the Obama administration, now begun—and in a big way. The dollar’s fate is sealed. The advent of such profound technological intrusions as AI and Bitcoin is assuring the fate of paper and coinage.
Is America, then, a stumbling block to, or a catalyst for, the emerging system that will almost certainly serve as the framework for Antichrist’s Revelation 13 hegemony over the earth?
Rationale prompts one to believe something must happen to cause the US citizenship to come around to accepting a total e-money solution to the confusing state of currency exchanges, et cetera. But the process is agonizingly slow and would likely have to take place with powerful opposition from the American Congress and its constituencies and lobbyists.
Many observers of Bible prophecy, including yours truly, can’t see it taking decades for such a situation to develop. That is, we can’t imagine a scenario that would allow, in America, a lengthy transition to the coming global order essential to the future Antichrist regime’s system of control. This is because most other prophesied signals for the Tribulation appear to now be in place for setting the stage for the Tribulation.
In assessing all of this, Pete Garcia and I have just completed a book to soon be published by Defender Publishing with the title The Machine That Speaks: Building the Beast’s Image in Silicon Valley.
Again, the factor that fits perfectly into a scenario in which America is instantly brought to such a state of chaos that it acquiesces to the world’s call for a cashless system of digital economics, is—you guessed it—the Rapture!
—Terry
2025: A Prophetically Significant Year
Although the Rapture has not happened in 2025 (at least not yet), it was a significant year in terms of Bible prophecy. The past twelve months have brought the world closer to the Tribulation period and, for us, closer to the time we meet Jesus in the air.
Although a great many events from this past year point to the rapidly approaching Day of the Lord, I want to focus on those that pertain directly to Israel. The nation’s existence is the key indicator that we live in the last days, and what we saw during 2025 points to the soon unveiling of the antichrist on the world scene, which cannot happen until after the Rapture (2 Thessalonians 2:3-8).
The Inauguration of President Donald Trump
President Joe Biden’s administration held back key shipments of sorely needed armaments to Israel, ones that Congress had already approved. After Donald Trump became president, he immediately released the weapons, bombs, and bulldozers for delivery. In the months leading up to the war between Israel and Iran, Amir Tsarfati’s Telegram posts reported a constant flow of anti-missile systems and bombs into the Jewish nation.
These things wouldn’t have happened if President Trump had lost the 2024 election and his opponent had taken office in early 2025. It’s highly unlikely that Harris would’ve supported Israel in such a dramatic way.
I believe the Lord saved Trump’s life in the assassination attempts of 2024 because of the backing he would later provide to Israel in fighting its wars during the past twelve months.
The War Between Israel and Iran
On June 13, 2025, Israel launched surprise airstrikes on Iranian military sites and facilities while at the same time assassinating senior Iranian leadership, including IRGC commander Hossein Salami and armed forces chief Mohammed Bagheri. During the course of the war, Iran retaliated by firing over 550 ballistic missiles and 1,000 suicide drones, some of which struck Israeli civilian centers, military bases, energy sites, and even a hospital. Israel’s Iron Doom, however, intercepted almost all of the missiles.
The U.S. joined the war effort on June 22, 2025, by bombing three Iranian nuclear sites. Although the bombs inflicted considerable damage, it seems as though some of the weapon-grade uranium might have survived. Israel agreed to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire two days later.
The pause in hostilities, however, has not stopped Iran’s determination to destroy Israel. Its mass production of missiles continues, with recent reports of it supplying many of them to the Houthi terrorists in Yemen for future attacks on Israel. Iran’s threats to annihilate the Jewish state continue unabated.
Why is all of this significant prophetically? In Ezekiel chapters 38-39, we read of Iran’s leadership in a future coalition of nations that invades Israel. Most students of Bible prophecy place this attack between the Rapture and antichrist’s covenant agreement with Israel. The fact that Iran survived to fight another day is significant because of the role it will play in the future Gog/Magog war. Could the fact that this future battle seems to be a land-based invasion of Israel rather than an attack from the air point to further Israeli/U.S. attacks on Iran’s missile and nuclear capabilities?
The Gazan Peace Deal
Until recently, I didn’t understand the reference to “the many” in Daniel’s prophecy concerning the deal that a future “prince,” the antichrist, will make with Israel (Daniel 9:26-27). President Trump’s ceasefire accord, which has somewhat decreased hostilities between Israel and Hamas, adds clarity to what this future covenant might look like.
His deal involves many nations, mostly from the Middle East, in the process of bringing peace to Gaza and the region. The latest details of the President’s plan are raising eyebrows among those of us watching for Jesus’ imminent appearing.
A recent article on the Prophecy News Watch (PNW) website provides the following details.
President Trump is forming a “Board of Peace” made up of ten international leaders from Arab and Western nations–leaders who will collectively oversee the next phase of governance, security, and reconstruction in Gaza and the broader Middle East peace framework.
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- Ten leaders.
- Ten seats of authority.
- Ten influencers shaping a new order over the most prophetically central land on Earth.
President Trump will announce the identification of the ‘ten” in early 2026. My prayer is that his desire to be a peacemaker doesn’t interfere with Israel’s future security.
Everything about his peace plan seems eerily similar to what we read in the books of Daniel and Revelation. Could it be a template for what the globalists and antichrist will use in the future?
I believe the fulfillment of Daniel 9:27 will allow Israel to build the third temple. If that ever becomes a part of any future deal, it will surely be the time for us to “look up” (Luke 21:28).
The Nonstop Determination to Destroy Israel
The nonstop aggression of Israel’s enemies also signifies that we live in the last days preceding antichrist’s rise to power.
- Despite a devastating defeat, Hezbollah continues to rebuild and rearm in preparation for a future attack against Israel.
- Despite repeated bombings by both the US and Israel, the Houthis in Yemen continue to rearm with missiles from Iran.
- Despite great losses during its summer war with Israel, Iran continues to build missiles, rearm Israel’s enemies, and continues to boast of its intention to destroy the Jewish nation.
- Despite a thorough and catastrophic defeat, Hamas refuses to disarm and boasts of future attacks against Israel similar to that of October 7, 2023.
What does this tell us prophetically?
- All current and future efforts to bring lasting peace to the Middle East will fail.
- Sometime in the future, Israel will welcome the terms that the antichrist offers to them as relief from its almost constant warfare and threats of destruction, but that will lead to the nation’s worst nightmare.
- Only Jesus, at His Second Coming, will bring lasting peace to the Middle East and to the world.
All of these things signify that everything is falling into place for what Scripture says will happen after the Rapture. If we already see such widespread stage-setting for the Tribulation period, and we do, how much longer can it be before Jesus appears to take us home to Heaven?
-Jonathan