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

Many of us who study Bible prophecy have heard a multitude of professors, pastors and church members say that the book of Revelation is nothing more than a book of symbols and allegories that no one can understand.

I don’t believe God would say all Scripture is profitable (II Tim. 3:16), if the book of Revelation is nothing more than a book of symbols and allegories that no one can understand.

I don’t believe God would promise to bless all who read, hear and keep the things in the book of Revelation (Rev. 1:3), if it is nothing more than a book of symbols and allegories that no one can understand.

I do believe that the book of Revelation is a wonderful book that God knows is hard to understand. So He has explained many of the symbols and given us stories in the Bible to help us understand what He wants us to know.

Revelation chapter 17 is one of the most difficult chapters in the book. It is about a woman called “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth.”

She is called the great whore, with whom the kings of the earth (world leaders) have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication (they been corrupted or deceived by what she is doing).

She is arrayed in purple and scarlet (expensive clothes). She is decked with gold and precious stones and pearls (expensive jewelry). She is holding a golden cup in her hand (perhaps a communion cup or the Holy Grail).

She is drunk with the blood of the saints and the martyrs of Jesus (she has persecuted and killed many true believers).

She is riding upon a beast with seven heads (identified as a Satan worshiper in Revelation chapter 13 that people call the Antichrist) and ten horns (identified as ten world leaders that will rule with the Antichrist; Rev. 17:12, 3:10).

Her lovers (the Antichrist and ten world leaders) will make war with the Lamb (Jesus; the Lord of lords, and King of kings) and He will defeat them.

But before Jesus deals with her lovers God will put in their hearts to hate her, turn on her, make her naked and burn her with fire.

Now, instead of dismissing this story as nothing more than an allegory and symbols that no one can understand, we should look in the Bible for a something that will help us interpret it.

We find that in an Old Testament parable about Jerusalem (Ezekiel 16:1-43).

On the day that Jerusalem was born her parents abandoned her in a field. They didn’t cut her naval, wash, salt or swaddle her. And there was no one to pity or help her.

God passed by and saw that she was bloody and filthy. He picked her up and said, “Live.” He took her to His house cleaned her up, put clothes on her, loved her and raised her.

Time passed and Jerusalem grew into a beautiful young woman. God asked her to make a covenant with Him (marry Him) and she did.

He washed her (perhaps with the water of the Word), got rid of her filthiness (forgave her), anointed her with oil (perhaps the Holy Spirit), dressed her in expensive clothes, jewels, silver and gold (perhaps His righteousness), and He put a crown upon her head.

Jerusalem’s beauty derived from God and she became world famous. But it went to her head.

She became a flirt and committed adultery. She put her expensive clothes on idols (false gods). She used God’s jewels, gold and silver to make idols. She set God’s oil and incense in front of her idols. Jerusalem was a harlot.

Even worse, she took the children that she had bore unto God, killed some and made harlots out of the others. Yes, she was a mother of harlots (like Mystery Babylon) and she provoked God to anger.

So He decided to make her naked before her lovers, judge her as harlots and killers are judged, let her lovers destroy her and burn her houses in the sight of many people (like Mystery Babylon).

There is a lot more (such as the church is a mystery, she is the Bride of Christ not a harlot, clothed in linen clean and bright, etc.).

Just know that “harlot” and “prostitute” are words that God uses to describe spiritual adultery or false religion. And Mystery Babylon the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the earth is a false religion that began at Babylon.

Prophecy Plus Ministries
Daymond & Rachel Duck