Things to Come in 2018

The year 2017 was an amazing year for prophetic progress. The top news item was Trump’s decision to relocate our embassy to Jerusalem, but there were a lot of minor events that showed the stage is being set for the tribulation hour. Bible prophecy was unfolding at a pace that I’ve never seen as a prophecy watcher.

This new year should be very interesting because we have several conflicts and scenarios that have built up to where they need to be resolved at some point. I see three examples that I would be very surprised if they ran into 2019:

North Korean

The first one is the North Korean Nuclear standoff. Trump has promised that he would not allow Kim Jong Un to gain the ability to attack North America with atomic weapons. Fat boy is pressing forward at full speed to develop a vast nuclear arsenal that could kill millions of people.

I don’t expect to wake up some morning to news of the world’s first nuclear war. If there was just a conventional war on the Korean peninsula, tens of thousands of people would be killed. In the short run, my expectation is for more missile tests and underground nuclear explosions.

The most likely resolution to this conflict will be a collapse of the dictatorship that keeps Kim Jong Un in power. The cold war ended when the Soviet Union imploded from the expense of keeping up with America’s military might. North Korea is starving its people to pay for all this nuclear hardware.

In the past few weeks, several soldiers have defected from the north. One of them was full of parasites from a poor diet. Two other defectors were found to have been exposed to high levels of radiation. North Korea may have already been turned into a nuclear wasteland from all the tests in recent years.

Trump Derangement Syndrome

One weakness of the human mind is the ability to maintain an attack mode over a long period of time. Most wars end because one side becomes mentally exhausted. The liberal media war on Trump is set to be a prime example of this phenomenon.

The term Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) has been coined to explain the hysterical reaction and belligerent behavior of people, directed towards anything related to President Donald Trump. The diagnosis is a satirical mockery of these people, but the psychological condition is real.

The Conspiracy News Network (CNN) seems to be the clearinghouse of all TDS news events. A couple weeks ago, it roasted Ivanka Trump for posting a vacation photo that showed a confederate flag on a boat in the background. A few days later, a White House intern was accused of flashing a ‘white power’ hand gesture in a group photo with Trump. The kid said he was Jewish and was only giving the “OK” sign. The weirdest incident was someone yelling at Donald Trump’s Animatronic in Disney World’s Hall of Presidents.

I pray that Trump will have unrelenting political success during this current calendar year. The press is so invested in causing his failure that just having his poll number break 50% would trigger a meltdown in news rooms. Since all reporters are compelled to read every tweet Trump posts, I find myself laughing every day at their insane reactions. Now that nearly half the population realizes that the press makes up negative stories about Trump, we are getting close to the point where CNN will be forced to wave the white flag.

Economic Bubbles

The event that has me the most fascinated is the financial bubble in various assets like stocks, bonds, and cryptocurrencies. We are seeing wild speculation that cannot be compared to any other time in history. Any reasonable economist would tell you it’s impossible for us to repeat last year’s performance.

In 2017 the Dow Jones increased every month, which has never happened before. Most investors are convinced that we have a stock market that can only go higher. A large number of stocks and bonds are at valuations that exclude the possibility of a future recession. Since it takes two quarters of negative growth before a recession can be declared, we only need to make it until the end of the year to break the record for the longest period of positive growth.

The rise of bitcoin in 2017 has been nothing short of spectacular. There is an ad on the web that says cryptocurrencies are at $200 billion. They are now at $800 billion. Once we reach the trillion-dollar level, we will be at a point where a collapse in cryptocurrencies could affect the overall economy.

I think that Bible prophecy is the key driving force in why the bubble continues to expand. Jesus said the time of his return for the Church would be marked by the tranquility of an eating and drinking party attitude. We could all be living in mansions if we poured our life savings into Bitcoin or Facebook, but the mansion I’m looking for is one that is not made by human hands.

“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2-3).

–Todd

---

Prophetic Rumblings 2018

The Devil at 4 O’Clock is a 1961 movie starring Frank Sinatra and Spencer Tracy. It involves three prisoners who are brought to an island in the South Pacific. The prisoners are to help evacuate a colony of children with leprosy from the island, which is on the verge of exploding because it is one enormous volcano.

The ground quakes constantly. Ominous rumbling in the background makes clear the urgency to evacuate. All on the island are doomed who are not removed in time.

This is one of my favorite movies. I have thought about it over the years, have even included it in writing these commentaries and in books. The analogy can’t be missed. Planet earth is a volcanic island in the vast sea of the cosmos. Rumblings that are increasing and the quaking that is being felt makes the diligent student of Bible prophecy from the Pre-Trib perspective know that things are winding up for human history’s final cataclysm.

While we enter the year 2018, prophetic rumblings are consistent. The ground, symbolically speaking, is quaking. Despite the time when all seems calm and the rumblings seem to have subsided, a true, eschatological seismologist knows what is happening.

The biblically prophetic sensors cannot lie. The planet is doomed. There is  need of an evacuation plan. There is one available, and we will look at that momentarily.

Getting back to the Pre-Trib prophetic sensors the student of eschatology possesses–the spiritual seismometer–I will look with you at three indicators I think it is good to watch as 2018 counts down.

First: Israel will come under greatly increased hatred.

Second: The threat of war will ratchet up dramatically.

Third: National and Western world economies will appear to be booming.

There are, of course, many more foreshocks to be examined, but these are the ones I think are most obviously in view.

Like in The Devil at 4 O’Clock, this is an island in the sea of the cosmos that is about to be devastated. We must help as many to evacuate as possible before history’s most horrific time of cataclysm erupts.

1) Israel will come under greatly increased hatred.

Jesus, in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, tells His disciples to expect greatly increased hatred while the time of His Second Advent nears. He indicates in these prophetic words that He, Jesus, is the reason they will be hated.

This has certainly been the case in modern history. The Nazis, for example, stirred hatred for the Jews by claiming them to be “Christ killers.” Jews in many parts of the world are still accused in this way.

Mostly, though, they are hated because they are accused of being “occupiers” of land that doesn’t belong to them. They are considered intruders in the land that belongs to the so-called Palestinians.

Anti-Semitism, of course, is Satan’s tool to bring the entire world’s ire against the nation that is God’s chosen people. The devil is more than just a word used in the title of the movie I mention. He, Lucifer, now Satan, is working diligently to bring about the destruction of the Jewish people–the nation Israel. And, it is the “Jewish problem,” as Adolf Hitler and his beastly cohorts put it, that must be dealt with in the eyes of much of the diplomatic world today.

We saw this as the year 2017 came to a close. The matter of the U.S. president calling for the move of the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem brought squeals of outrage. These squeals came not only from the Arab Islamists, but from some of our supposed closest allies.

Although some nations now seem to be trying to climb back on the Trump bandwagon of support for Israel, the vast majority still is screaming hate-filled protests against the Jewish state and all it represents.

I believe this president has been brought forth at this point in history for the specific purpose of supplying American support to God’s chosen people. Far from this being a measure intended to bring peace, however, I think it is becoming obvious that the Lord is using American support to further enrage Israel’s blood-vowed  enemies. Additionally, it is making manifest the anti-God, Antichrist global cabal that wants no deity to rule over them (Psalm 2).

The Lord of Heaven might just be stirring the end-times volcano, bringing it to an explosive head. All this might accomplish not only bringing into focus the Zechariah 12:1-3 prophecy, but the prophetic matter I wish to address next.

2) The threat of war will ratchet up dramatically.

We are, I believe, on the precipice of entering the time of the “cry for peace and safety” as given in the prophecy of Paul the apostle: “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

This forewarning was issued for those indicated by the pronoun “they.” Paul was speaking of those who are not under the salvation protection of Heaven.

Paul says right after the “peace and safety” foretelling: “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” (1 Thes 5: 4-5)

The people of earth–particularly the diplomatic world–will be crying “peace and safety.” But, those who are in God’s family—the “we” Paul mentions, indicating the pronoun for believers, should know the cry for peace and safety doesn’t apply to them.

The believer in Jesus Christ for salvation is under God’s protection. The rebellious earth and all of its dangers are not for them.

As stated above, I believe we are on the precipice of great, collective fear of war–nuclear conflict–exploding across the globe. This comes partly from the North Korean threat, with it becoming more apparent that China is backing North Korea, rather than trying to damper the North Korean dictator’s reckless behavior.

The sense of looming world war could also come from threats from a growingly hostile and Israel-hating Iran. That whole cauldron of boiling rage might be about to overflow.

Again, this president might be a catalyst to galvanize the developing situations. He is not one to take the path of least resistance as has been the tact of his most recent predecessors.

And, yet again, it is this president who is at the center of the last thing I will mention as possibly bringing the year 2018 to a prophetic tipping point.

3) National and Western world economies will appear to be booming.

I wrote last week, and a number of times before in this column, that I’m convinced Christ’s “days of Noah, days of Lot” prophecy is the most relevant for our time. I believe we are entering the time Jesus spoke of as I pointed out last week.

That prophecy is found in the Matthew 24:36-42 and Luke 17:26-30 accounts of the Olivet Discourse. (At least many, including myself, believe the Luke portion was issued during the Olivet Discourse.)

Jesus said business will be going along at a brisk pace when He is next “revealed”–when He next catastrophically intervenes into the corrupt, wicked affairs of mankind.

I believe we have about reached that point.

The economy is, I’m convinced, about to take off in a big way. Like him or not, this president–as mentioned in points 1 and 2 above–is at the heart of that economic boom I believe is coming. I more and more suspect the coming boom Jesus indicated would be in progress when He next intervenes catastrophically might be the one we see developing at this time.

The “boom,” as I’ve written previously, will be, in many ways, based upon smoke and mirrors because of computer manipulations. However, it is manifesting as a genuine uptick for America and much of the world. This is because of the world’s nations being intricately linked to the U.S. economic engine.

How does this all come together into prophetic synchronization? My own thought is that Israel must again become the focus of God’s course of prophetic fulfillment. He will again begin dealing with His chosen people and nation. To me, it is observably manifest that He is beginning to more directly influence matters in that regard.

Secondly, the “cry for peace and safety” is beginning in earnest. The U.N. and the Western diplomatic world in particular are calling for a damping-down of the possibility of nuclear conflict.

Israel, of course, is seen by these as the reason that such conflict might begin in the Middle East. Israel must give in to its enemies so peace can prevail. (And this is what will cause the Lord to bring all anti-God perpetrators to Armageddon–Joel 3:2.)

Again, Donald J. Trump doesn’t see things that way. He is fouling globalist plans to bring in the new world order they seek to construct.

Third, Jesus said it would be at “a time ye think not” when He next makes His presence known to the world. This is not the time of the Second Advent (Revelation 19:11), but the time when everything, economically speaking, seems to be humming along nicely.

We are hearing that hum even now as 2018 gets underway!

It is at such a time of business as usual–or even better than usual–when He will call those of us who Paul said are not “children of the night, but of the day” to be with Him in the clouds of glory. Let us work to see that as many as possible are evacuated from this satanically volcanic planet when the Rapture occurs.

–Terry

Israel and the UN

The United Nations was established in October of 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict. The UN did a good job of maintaining the peace between the Soviet Union and NATO block nations. During the Cuban Missile crisis, the organization helped cool tempers in what was the closest we ever came to nuclear conflict.

At the founding of the UN, there were 51 nations. Today, 193 nations have joined the club. The only non-members are the Holy See and the State of Palestine, which I don’t think are actual countries. If we add all the nationalities under the jurisdiction of other countries, one could argue that there are 247 different countries.

One of these disputed nations is Kosovo. On 17 February 2008, Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia. It has since gained diplomatic recognition as a sovereign state by 112 UN member states. On 22 July 2010, the International Court of Justice ruled that Kosovo’s declaration of independence did not violate international law, which its president said contains no “prohibitions on declarations of independence.” Kosovo remains tied to Serbia mostly because of apathy.

In 1971 the Republic of China (Taiwan) had its UN membership revoked and its seat was taken by Communist China. Citizens of Taiwan are not even allowed to enter the United Nations New York building. Great care is made not to anger the People’s Republic of China, which regards the territories administered by Taiwan as their own territory.

A possible reason why there are dozens of countries that should be recognized by the UN as free nations is because the UN spends most of its energy on one dispute: the State of Palestine. This so-called nation has no working monetary system, its government is a dictatorship, and its citizens are mostly made up of Jordanians. Without direct support from Israel, the State of Palestine would have collapsed into chaos.

The UN has spent more time worrying about Israel than any other nation. The UN human rights council has issued 135 resolutions, and 68 of them concern the Jewish state. Nations like Cuba, Myanmar and North Korea have camps that should have triggered all of this council’s red flags, and yet the UN worries more about perceived human rights violated in Israel.

When Israelis are the victims of terrorism, the UN only offers token condemnation. After a 2005 suicide bombing in Tel Aviv was carried out by Islamic Jihad, the Security Council issued only a “policy statement” urging the Palestinian Authority to “take immediate, credible steps to find those responsible for this terrorist attack” and bring them to justice.

The Most bizarre thing about the UN’s relationship with Israel is how it tries to micro-manage affairs that no other nation would tolerate. The UN passes resolutions that dictate where Israel can build a road or buildings.

When the UN voted to void Trump’s decision to move our Embassy to Jerusalem, there should have been outrage in the press. The US Congress had already passed a law directing the president to make the move. It was craziness for the media to cheer the UN’s attempt at overriding our constitution.

Trump did the right thing by cutting $285 million from its 2018–2019 United Nations budget. Regarding the cut, Ambassador Nikki Haley stated “we reduced the UN’s bloated management and support functions, bolstered support for key U.S. priorities throughout the world, and instilled more discipline and accountability throughout the UN system.” I would pull all funding from an organization that says Zionism is a form of racism.

Another good move was Israel announcing it is leaving UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency. The spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry said the decision was based on the organization’s “attempts to disconnect Jewish history from the land of Israel.” Last year, UNESCO said the Jews had no link to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. It is like saying that China has no connection to the Great Wall of China or that Egypt has no connection to the pyramids.

Unless the UN is slapped back into reality, its next moves will be to say that Israel is not really a nation and the Jews are not part of the human race. A very heavy burden comes with being God’s chosen people. The Bible plainly warns that the Jews would suffer relentless persecution at the hands of many nations:

“And among those nations you shall find no rest, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul” (Deuteronomy 28:65).

“Ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake” (Matthew 24:9).

–Todd

---

Unheralded Prophecy in View

We’ve been over it before in this column. However, things are shaping so rapidly it again needs our attention. Prophecy watchmen on the wall should pay close attention.

The seminaries consistently ignore this prophetic indicator altogether. Or they steadfastly say it is to be applied to Jews alive during the Tribulation. It is not for the Church.

I say–and have done so for years–that the prophecy is specifically for our time–that is, the Age of Grace.  I’m referring to Jesus’ foretelling of the time of His next intervention into the affairs of mankind. He described those days being like the days of Noah and the days of Lot.

‘m convinced the prophecy involved is so important for us to consider as this new year begins that we will include it here it in its entirety.

In the Matthew Olivet Discourse account, the Lord says that no one can know the day or hour of His coming. He next informs of what this time will be like and what to look for in being watchmen.

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. (Matthew 24:36-42)

Jesus further expands in the Luke account:

And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. (Luke 17:26-30)

We have looked numerous times at these words of Christ. We have noted that the time of which He spoke in prophesying these matters could not be the time of His Second Advent. The world will be almost totally destroyed when Armageddon is raging. perhaps as much as three-fourths of the earth’s population will have died as a result of God’s wrath and Satan’s evil through the Antichrist’s reign. it will not be business as usual.

This prophecy about Christ’s “revealing” indicates plainly that it will be a time of buying, selling, marrying, planting–all of the activities that indicate business as usual. I maintain that because Christ doesn’t emphasize things that are mundane; he was talking here about a time when business was much better than usual.

As long as five years ago, we expressed in this Nearing Midnight column our belief that it would be a time of economic boom, not bust, that would mark when the Rapture of the Church would occur. It would be the think not time because the world, economically speaking, would be doing quite well.

Of course, not all the world is doing well at present, economically or in any other way. This has always been the case. The poor will always be with us, the Lord, Himself, told us.

However, for the part of the world where economies have the capability to thrive, the world, Jesus said in this prophecy, will be doing quite well at the time He is next “revealed.”

Almost every economic indicator is moving upward in America at this moment. This nation is the economic engine for the rest of the world. The better the U.S. does, economically speaking, the better the other nations who have the capability to thrive will do.

I’m dumbfounded at the fact that the true, Bible-teaching seminaries of America see this prophecy as being only for the Jews of the Tribulation. It seems to be a blindness they suffer.

However, I do know why the tremendous economic potential that has burst onto the scene is unheralded by the mainstream news media. They hate Donald Trump, plain and simple.

Now, I’m not so foolish as to think that the economic upswing is one built on sound economic principles. We are in a tremendous financial bubble that continues to grow by the hour. At some point it is going to burst. It simply defies the fiscal laws for it to continue without imploding.

However, it will not come to that point of implosion, I’m of the belief, until the Lord Says so. He is allowing it to move exactly toward the prophetic point the Lord Jesus foretold in the above scriptural accounts.

As I’ve expressed many times, this president is God’s chosen man for this hour, a builder, an entrepreneur extraordinaire. But, the mainstream news prevaricators refuse to report the tremendous economic growth the nation is experiencing. To do so would move in the opposite direction of trying to bring America down so that the globalists can usurp its wealth and power to construct the world order they wish to establish. They want desperately to destroy this president’s efforts to restore the United States to its former, leading status.

Antichrist’s global platform will be constructed, I believe, when the Rapture occurs and this phenomenal economic bubble explodes and comes down around the ears of an unsuspecting world.

The year 2018 could be the time. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

–Terry