My threescore and ten years will arrive in about 30 months and I can honestly say that I have never seen anything like President Trump’s first week in office.

I try to keep up with the news that appears to be related to Bible prophecy, but his first week seemed to come like birth pains: faster and faster. That is one of those Biblical things.

Pres. Trump did several things that caused me to bow my head and say, “Thank you God.”

“Thank you for giving America a leader with enough courage to remove the Muslim prayer rooms from the White House.”

“Thank you for giving America a leader with enough courage to cut off the flow of money to foreign and domestic groups that fund abortion.”

“Thank you for giving America a leader with enough courage to select strong Christians and people that love Israel to help him rule over America.”

“Thank you for giving America a leader that is willing to give Christians who seek to legally immigrate to the U.S. priority.”

“Thank you for these, and all of the other, blessings that you have bestowed upon America.”

Your Word says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16),  and you have answered the prayers of multitudes.”

Nevertheless, we should not overlook the fact that the election of Donald Trump is causing the temperature to rise all over the Middle East. In fact, the fulfillment of other prophecies may be appearing on the horizon.

Pres. Trump’s promise to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is causing tempers to flare. Palestinian (and several Arab) leaders have already said it will be “a declaration of war.”

These persistent haters apparently don’t believe or don’t know that dividing Jerusalem will be a declaration of war against Jesus (Joel 3:2).

Pres. Trump’s condemnation of the UN’s anti-Semitic Resolution 5334 that calls East Jerusalem and the West Bank “occupied territory,” and his statements of support for Israel, have been interpreted by the Israeli settlement movement as permission to build more housing in East Jerusalem.

In the first week of Mr. Trump’s presidency, 566 construction permits were issued for new homes in East Jerusalem. Also, Prime Minister Netanyahu promised the soon approval of wide-scale building in all of the settlement blocks.

The Palestinians and other Arabs are going to have to act soon or their much desired two-state solution will essentially be a dream that never came true. And no matter what they do, when Jesus comes it will be gone forever.

As my good friend Don McGee recently said in the January 2017 issue of his Crown and Sickle Ministries newsletter, “The city of Jerusalem is called ‘the city of the great King’ (Psalm 48:2), and that great King is Jesus, not Allah or Mohammed or any other pagan religious icon.”

Then, there is Prime Minister Netanyahu’s upcoming visit to the White House (in early February, date not announced). Mr. Netanyahu said he will discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the situation in Syria, and the Iranian threat. That is the Psa. 83 war (if there is one), the destruction of Damascus (Isa. 17) and the battle of Gog and Magog. (Ezek. 38-39).

In 1995, Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act that requires the U.S. government to move the Embassy to Jerusalem unless the president of the U.S. signs a waver that is good for six months.

U.S. presidents have signed a waver every six months since then. Pres. Obama signed the current waver and it is good until June 1, 2017.

Pres. Trump will have to decide whether he is going to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem or sign a waver by then.

He hasn’t said what he intends to do, but the IDF is planning for trouble on several fronts (Arabs in Israel, Arabs in Gaza, nations on Israel’s border, attacks on Israelis in other nations, etc.) in case Pres. Trump decides to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.

It is not unreasonable to believe that the situation in the Middle East could quickly turn hot, several wars could take place, cries for a peace treaty could increase, or even that “a man with a plan” could be standing on the sideline.

Pray for Pres. Trump, but know that the future is in God’s hands and all of His prophecies will be fulfilled.

Prophecy Plus Ministries
Daymond & Rachel Duck

Rachel and I have been invited to a potluck meal tonight to celebrate the retirement and 65th birthday of one of my former church members.

As I understand it, a potluck meal occurs when different people prepare what they want to take to a meal and everyone takes a chance on what they are going to get. There is no menu and people share what each other takes.

Having said that, I need to leave for that meal in about four hours, but first I need to prepare a meal for those who read this (the Word of God is spiritual food: bread, meat, etc.), and I don’t have a clue about what to write. So here comes the potluck.

First, Jesus was talking about the time of the end when He said, “Ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake (Matt. 24:9).

In Volume IV of his Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee commentary the great preacher (now deceased) stated his opinion that this verse is about Israel after the Rapture. He stated that all nations won’t hate Israel before the Rapture because true Christians don’t hate Israel. They love Israel.

My thoughts turned to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address at the UN on Sept. 22, 2016. He strongly criticized the UN General Assembly for passing 20 resolutions against Israel and only 3 against the rest of the world.

The UN is a world body that treats Israel worse than they treat all of the other nations on earth.

That isn’t just the opinion of Mr. Netanyahu or this writer.

In early Dec. 2016, UN Sec. General Ban Ki-moon said there is an anti-Israel bias in the UN. He said, “Israel doesn’t get the same fair treatment that other nations get.”

It is an amazing thing that Jesus knew 2,000 years ago that Israel would be hated at the end of the age. And it will get worse after the Rapture because Israel won’t have Christians to stand up for her.

Second, don’t misunderstand what I am about to say because I don’t have words to describe my satisfaction with the way Pres. Trump is starting out. Up to this point, I am thinking that he is a Christian’s dream come true. But I find his desire to make peace in the Middle East troubling.

Since 1948 every President of the U.S. has had this disease and all of them have failed. But all students of Bible prophecy know that there will eventually be a treaty; the signs indicate that the end of the age could be very and a treaty could be very close; Mr. Trump doesn’t give up or back down; and his otherwise attitude toward Israel (which I totally agree with) is making him very popular with many Israelis. They might sign a treaty that is supported by this man or his Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Third, I am not a prophet, but Babylon keeps rising up in my mind. Right or wrong, I am one of those that believe the ancient city of Babylon (Rev. 18 calls it a city 7 times and there are many more reasons) will be rebuilt and a global false religion and economic system will be located there before the end of the Tribulation period.

Saddam Hussein started rebuilding Babylon in the 1980’s, but he didn’t accomplish much and he stopped and got caught up in the Persian Gulf War.

About that time, the UN World Monument Fund was financing several projects there. Pres. Obama gave $700,000 to the Future of Babylon Project there. And he gave $800,000 to Iraq to repair damages U.S. soldiers supposedly did there.

For several years, Iraqi and UN groups have wanted to build more, but they have been held back by a lack of stability in Iraq.

Pres. Donald Trump has come along and promised to completely destroy ISIS. He said it is time to eradicate radical Islamic terrorism off the face of the earth.

At the same time, the U.S. Senate is upset with the UN Security Council over its Dec. 23, 2016 Resolution 2334 that calls East Jerusalem and the West Bank “Occupied Territory.”

Several senators are even so upset that two of them (Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Ted Cruz) have drafted the “The Safeguard Israel Act” that will cut off U.S. contributions to the UN until Pres. Trump certifies to Congress that Resolution 2334 has been repealed.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, humorously suggested that Donald Trump should kick the UN out of New York and build condos on the property.

This may seem far-fetched, but Pres. Trump has made it plain that he doesn’t think the U.S. is getting its money’s worth from the UN. We might need to chew on this some more.

Bon Appetite.

Prophecy Plus Ministries
Daymond & Rachel Duck