We have looked at the Lord Jesus Christ, the center of all Bible prophecy, and His mission of redemption. The bulk of prophecy focuses upon Him as well as the future of the nation of Israel. The Scriptures describe Israel’s unstable relationship with GOD in a series of rebuttals and condemnation for their unfaithfulness to Him and His commandments. We also read in the Scriptures that God desires His chosen people to come back to Him in a state of repentance and renewal of obedience and love toward Him and one another. There are periods of national and individual spiritual revival, but also periods in Israel’s history where God’s plea to His people falls on deaf ears and hard hearts.

Despite the warnings from His prophets, along with His personal intervention, there was little change in the conduct of the Israelites as the years passed. There were periods of reprieve under the reign of godly kings such as David, Hezekiah, and Josiah, but also periods of rank and defiant unbelief combined with a false formalism of worship during the times of Ahaz and Manasseh. God will not be mocked, however, and will bring about events to honor His Holy character and name. He did so by allowing the kingdoms of both Israel in the north and Judah in the south to fall into enemy hands as punishment for their wickedness.

Any nation that forgets God is bound for destruction, within and without. By the way, America is no exception.

The Bible focuses a great deal of attention to the fate of the southern kingdom of Judah, which began to decline in power and authority around the year 605 B.C. when the first wave of its citizens was sent to Babylon under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar II. This first group of exiles included Daniel, then a young man who was to serve as an aid to the Babylonian king and be one of the great prophets of the Old Testament. One of the other men whom God had called to His service was a priest named Ezekiel. His time of ministry took place during the early years of the Babylonian Exile (593-570 B.C.). His visions from God showed the decline, fall, and restoration of the people of Israel. His older contemporary, Jeremiah, witnessed this when the kingdom of Judah finally fell in 586 B.C. and the nation was no more.

The time in Bible History known as the “exilic period” started in 605 B.C. when the armies of Nebuchadnezzar defeated the army of Egypt, led by Pharoah Necho at the Battle of Carchemish. This victory secured the kingdom of Babylon as a major player on the world stage. Babylon established Judah as a “vassal” kingdom, which meant that Judah had to pay annual monetary tribute to them or face severe consequences if they dared to disobey.

After the death of the godly king Josiah, ironically at the hands of Necho, Josiah’s descendants turned back to the ways of their idolatrous ancestors, disregarding God and persecuting the prophets (Jeremiah 7:26, 36). King Jehoiakim (608-597) degraded the spiritual life of the nation (Jeremiah 7:1-15) and proved to be nothing more than a petty tyrant (Jeremiah 22:13-15). He foolishly decided to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar but died before the Babylonians could take action against him.

The next ruler, Jehoiachin, reigned for only three months before he surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 24:8-17; Jeremiah 22:24-30; Ezekiel 19:5-9). Nebuchadnezzar pillaged Jerusalem and took thousands of notable citizens back with him to Babylon.

It was at this time when Ezekiel began his ministry among the exiles (Ezekiel 1:1). Like Isaiah before him, Ezekiel witnessed a vision of the glory of God and His angelic host, who are at His bidding. They are described as glorious beings with their appearance conveying the holy magnificence of the LORD. The wheels he describes are symbolic of God’s war machine as He exercises righteous judgment upon a stubborn people. This vision of God’s glory is known as a “Theophany,” specifically an image of the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ. Upon witnessing this vision, Ezekiel falls on his face in awe and wonder. Here is where he gets his prophetic calling from the LORD. He is to preach to the people, although they will respond with stubbornness and reluctance to heed God’s Word. (Are we any different?)

Ezekiel’s responsibilities as a prophet are given in Chapter 3, vv.17-21. These words apply to anyone whom God has entrusted with the spiritual well-being and care of the people. They read as follows:

“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore, hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from me: When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked life, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way; he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.

“Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless, if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall truly live because he took warning; also, you will have delivered your soul” (NKJV).

These verses do not imply that we lose our salvation because we fail to warn someone to repent or perish, but it should awaken us to the fact that whether we are ministers in a pulpit, teachers behind a lectern, or any job where we are to be a light in the darkness, we cannot and must not remain silent or coerced into submission and fail to present the Gospel to everyone with whom we come into contact (Mark 16:15; 1 Peter 3;15). We will all be held to account by the LORD for what we did and did not do in terms of obedience and trust in His Word (1 Corinthians 3:11-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10). None of us are exempt, and that should stop us in our tracks, repent, and ask God to forgive us of allowing the things of the world and our own self-centeredness to come before His divine will.

God has an encouraging Word to anyone who does turn to Him:

“But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him, because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?’ says the LORD God, ‘and not that he should turn from his ways and live? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies, says the LORD God…. Therefore, turn and live!'” (Ezekiel 18:21-23, 32b, NKJV).

The apostle Peter reflects this same concern when he wrote:

“The LORD is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9, NASB).

The central theme of the Bible is the call from God to turn away from our sins and embrace the saving grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is freely offered to anyone who comes to Christ. No one is ever turned away (Matthew 11:28-30; John 10:28-30). Is this the message you are hearing from your pastor, trusted friend, or anyone who cares for the welfare of your soul? If not, I plead with you as a minister of the Gospel to turn from your sins and surrender your life to Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9-10, 13; 2 Corinthians 6:2).

I want to be certain that this Gospel message is to be read and shared by as many people as possible. Not for the sake of my ego but for the sake of those who need to hear this glorious message of salvation before it is too late (Hebrews 9:27).

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Hezbollah just rained down several missiles on Northern Israel from Lebanon, inching the war of Gog and Magog ever closer. Whether the “Iron Dome” failed or did not function properly is neither here nor there; all these many attacks could end up provoking the Israelis to not have mercy on Palestinian citizens who could – if they had any sense- turn against the terrorists themselves. Instead, they choose to side with them and rejoice when Jews are killed. Iran’s new president is supposedly a moderate, but he has to answer to the Ayatollah, who has the final say. Also, Iran’s government is still largely held by hardliners. So, regardless, it looks as if all-out war is inevitable and will likely happen soon.

Any Bible-believing Christian should be able to see this coming about. And insofar as the US is concerned, our present leader may be complicit in making /or letting this happen – just in time for the presidential election to cover for his and his families’ crimes against the American people. Ukraine is still on the long list of the Biden bribery fiasco, having given them tons of American money to wage a futile war against a ruthless and stronger adversary – Russia. (If I remember right, President Obama sent a pallet of money to Iran in the middle of the night while he was in office as well.) Hey! That was taxpayer money, not theirs!

Lie after lie, theft, and coverup are taking place in our government left and right, and tax-paying people would be astounded at the amount of corruption that goes on in Washington.

But you need not fret – God is in control and is letting mankind find out what happens when we forsake Him and his rules for life. Albeit things are beginning to heat up across the globe, both figuratively and literally. This, to me, is an indication that time is running out for mankind to get its act together and repent.

The temperature in South Florida is sweltering, with Hurricane Beryl barreling into Texas and beyond. Floods are happening in the desert, hail as big as tennis balls are falling from the skies while earthquakes and volcanoes ravage the earth. The weather has become increasingly wild across the world, and who can rightfully predict it? In the USA, the temperature in Las Vegas “Sin City” was 120 degrees yesterday, and our chastisement is becoming more and more severe everywhere. God is apparently asking all of us to “Repent!” before it’s too late.

Is it too much to think that a noble and loving God would have had it up to the brim with our perverse and sinful behavior? Didn’t he destroy a great portion of mankind during the Great Flood and the two twin cities (Sodom and Gomorrah) for their perversion? Aren’t we – as a whole – just as bad? We should, therefore, be prompted to ask, “Is this a chastisement for our extreme behavior? We’d better hope so and be grateful that it isn’t yet the judgment that comes a little later.

Yes, things will inevitably get worse as this generation finishes its Godless downward spiral. But God chastises those he loves,” and God chooses to chastise humanity – incrementally – just enough to make a person think twice about his actions and to hopefully get them to repent. Oh, and incidentally, “Judgment begins in the house of God.”

Talk about signs! Every day now, we hear or see videos of UFOs, aka UAPs, in the skies overhead across the globe. There was a time when we would laugh at such silliness (people who saw such things were delusional). Then, it was thought that maybe they did see something after all. Now, scientists are saying there is something going on in the heavens that can’t be explained. Today, they even have a name for the different alien visitors… blah, blah, blah – yada, yada, yada. Everyone wants a piece of the action to make a name for themselves. Even governments talk about these things matter-of-factly. You may have even seen a UFO for yourself but were afraid to tell anyone about it for fear of being locked up in a “Loonie Bin.” But those days are over, and it seems that people who should be in mental institutions now rule over us.

Not surprisingly, today’s internet headlines said, “UFO incident in New York as young girl sees two women abducted by white cubes.” Then my laptop crashed. The rest was already written, but I just injected this bit of information today. Is this the beginning of the rapture?

Book report:

Although I’ve never heard of this man, his book Living in the Haze of Deception is a dynamite book. Pastor Jack Hibbs is an excellent writer and discerner of the truth. He dives into social issues as well as spiritual ones, all of which make his remarks come alive with bite and relevance. I would recommend this book to anyone wondering why and how the world is in the state it’s in. It was recommended by a faithful reader of mine (Karen M.), who saw similarities in our assessments. Indeed, I couldn’t find one flaw in his way of thinking – not one. So, we must be reading the same Bible. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”

Jack Hibbs writes,

“Jesus warned that deception would grow worse and worse as we draw nearer the end times, saying “Take heed that no one deceives you” Matthew24:4. Distinguishing truth from error has become an increasingly challenging task – even in the church.”

And he’s a pastor! Jack Hibbs is the senior and founding pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in Southern California.

By the way, I’ve been entertaining the idea of baptizing people at the beach again after my first failed try earlier in the year – after I became ill. (You all know what a radical person I am.) I’d set up a folding table under a beach umbrella and lay out the little red Bibles with the plan of salvation in them (that I always carry with me) for people to read and take. Then I’d plant a sign in the sand saying, “Free Baptisms Here – Now!” I’d also take plenty of cold water in my ice chest along with me. Have I gone off the deep end or what?

Please write and tell me what YOU think.

YBIC

Jim Towers

You can write me at jt.filmmaker@yahoo.com or visit me atwww.dropzonedelta.com My book Visions, Miracles, Peace, and Power can be ordered on Amazon Books and Kindle. You can also find me on my newly restructured website www.propheticsignsandwonders.com which now features videos of worldwide events taking place in present time, as well as proof of God’s existence and the reality of Biblical places, and Moses himself.