"But at midnight there is a cry, Behold, the bridegroom! Come forth to meet him.…And while they went away to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage feast: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Master, Master, open to us. But he answered and said, Truly I say to you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for you know not the day nor the hour." (Matthew 25:6, 10–13).

"In this manner says Yahweh of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest shall be raised up from the utmost parts of the earth. And the killed of Yahweh shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the face of the ground. Wail, you shepherds, and cry; and wallow in ashes, you principal of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions have fully come, and you shall fall like a good vessel." (Jeremiah 25:32–34).

"You, O king, saw, and, behold, a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before you; and the appearance of it was terrible. As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet part of iron, and part of clay. You saw till that a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image upon its feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them: and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

"This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. You, O king, are king of kings, to whom the Elah of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory; and wherever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens has he given into your hand, and has made you to rule over them all: you are the head of gold. And after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to you; and another third kingdom of bronze, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, because iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things; and as iron that crushes all these, shall it break in pieces and crush. And whereas you saw the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, because you saw the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas you saw the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cling one to another, even as iron does not mingle with clay. And in the days of those kings shall the Elah of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty of it be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Because you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great Elah has made known to the king what shall come to pass after this: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation of it sure." (Daniel 2:31–45).

Are you alert to the current development of world events which are being reported in the news media, or has your perception of the drift of the times been dulled by the spirit of this world in these last days? It is imperative that you open your eyes and become fully awake so that you can be aware of the errant direction this world is taking.

War in the Middle East

As the author was watching a television newscast, the news anchor made the statement, "War has come to the Middle East!" The anchor then went on to describe the recent developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In addition, there was the report that Allied (United States and British) war planes had destroyed Iraqi radar defenses in the "No Fly" zone.

The Holocaust that occurred in World War II when the Nazis destroyed the lives of 6 million Jews (along with another 6 million or more of other nationalities) was a most tragic event wherein one-third of the Jews of the world died. Thereafter, the world knew that a secure homeland for the Jews must be provided. Consequently, the way was opened up to inaugurate the State of Israel and allow Jewish immigration back to the Middle East. This development was ferociously resisted by the Arab nations in the Middle East when the state of Israel was declared to exist by the United Nations on May 15, 1948. Immediately upon the withdrawal of the British Mandate forces war broke out. The Jewish people were forced to fight for their lives. The nation of Israel has been in a constant struggle for its existence ever since.

Fight for their lives they did! In 1956, when Colonel Nasser seized the Suez Canal, Britain and France joined Israel in pushing Egyptian forces through the Sinai back to Egypt. The United States President Eisenhower demanded that they withdraw again.

Present Major Escalations in Israel-Palestinian Conflict

Moslem suicide bombers have been active against Israel for the past eight months. Many terrorist attacks have been launched against the Israelis. In almost weekly (sometimes daily) occurrences, terrorists strike. Young Palestinians are urged to strap explosives on their bodies, to go to a place where many Israeli people have gathered (bus stops, markets, etc.), and then set off the explosives, killing themselves along with as many Israelis as they can. For the past four or five months there has also been continual shelling of various Israeli settlements. Sniper attacks have been frequently launched.

A very tragic situation occurred about a month ago. A young couple was playing with and enjoying their little tenth-month-old child, Shalhevet Pass. Suddenly a shot rang out and Shalhevet was instantly killed. Why should an Arab sniper train the sights of his rifle on an innocent baby? How would you react to such an incident if this was your child? The Palestinian response was that the mother had become insane and shot her own child because the child was retarded. What a despicable, outright lie!

Then there was the incident of the two murdered boys who lived in the Jewish settlement of Tekoa. Ya’acob (Koby) Mandell had immigrated to Israel with his family from Silver Springs, Maryland, six years ago. Koby was a happy, fun-loving, outgoing student.

He and his school friend Yosef (Yossi) Ish-Ran were hiking in caves on the outskirts of their home town, Tekoa (located near Bethlehem). When they failed to return by nightfall, their worried parents began a search for them that was concluded the following day with the discovery of their two dead bodies. These boys had been stoned to death and were nearly unrecognizable. Ten thousand shocked Gush Etzion residents participated in the funeral.

Pope John Paul II Visits Syria

In early May, Pope John Paul II, on one of his recent journeys, spent three days on a visit to the nation of Syria. Speaking at the Pope’s arrival, the current ruler of Syria, Bashar Asad, the son of Asad, declared that the Moslems and Chr-stians should work together to destroy the Jews. Asad denounced the Jews as "those who try to kill the principles of all religions with the same mentality with which they betrayed J-s-s…" The Arab conflict is not about land, but hatred—of the Jews.

Why did the Pope visit Syria and listen to such incitement? Was it merely that he wanted to see Damascus? Perhaps Asad had advance information about the Pope’s sentiments, that he would unleash such a diatribe. Perhaps the Pope did not respond in opposition because he favors ruling over Jerusalem as an "international city."

Sharp Escalation

The Islamic militant, with explosives strapped to his body walked back and forth at the entrance of a crowded shopping mall as a security guard tried to push him away. He suddenly detonated his explosives killing five people and wounding more than 70. It blew the front off the shopping mall, a huge glass and concrete complex.

Hamas identified the suicide bomber as Mahmoude Ahmed Marmash, 20 years old, a carpenter from the West Bank town of Tulkarem. (What a different attitude than that displayed by Yahshua, ben Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth!) The Moslem preacher, Hasin Yousef, announced the name over the mosque loud speaker after noon prayers on Friday, the Moslem Sabbath. Yousef said the blast of the suicide bomber came in retaliation for the killing of five Palestinian policemen by Israeli security forces earlier in the week. At the main Ramallah mosque, Hamas activists distributed candy to the worshipers after prayers to celebrate the bombing. Israel continued to accuse Arafat of not restraining the terrorists.

Economic Conditions Still Tenuous

According to statistics, unemployment in the United States has recently crossed the 4.5 percent mark, prompting the Federal Reserve Board in their recent meeting to cut prime interest rates another half point. So far these current interest rate cuts have resulted in a three-point drop in interest rates. The Federal Reserve is hoping to spur investment. However, it may simply help people to refinance their high interest loans and some may borrow money to invest in the stock market.

Here in the United States today most of our consumer goods are being imported from China, and yet China continues to take a hard line against the United States.

Up to the date of the writing of this month’s "Prophetic Trends," China has still not released the American spy plane, which has been held for more than two months. The Chinese have forbidden the United States to fly the plane to one of our air bases for repairs.

McVeigh Still Alive!

Timothy McVeigh, convicted of bombing the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on June 19, 1995, that took the lives of 168 innocent victims (19 of them were children who McVeigh called collateral damage), was sentenced to be executed on May 16. However, suddenly the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found more than 3,130 documents (several additional documents have reportedly been found as this "Prophetic Trends" segment is being written).

How could a respected national agency that had enjoyed a very high reputation suddenly become so inept as to lose so many documents? McVeigh has now been scheduled to die to June 11, however, his lawyers may file various appeals beforehand.

Was Timothy McVeigh (assisted by Terry Nickels) the only bomber? There have been various individuals who testified seeing a so-called John Doe II. McVeigh insists there was no one else, but some reliable testimony confirms this additio-nal person.

This situation has become quite troubling to many people. Here was a high-profile case that the FBI has evidently bungled, although they claim that there is no evidence in these documents that would exonerate McVeigh. What happens to cases of less notoriety that are not under the close scrutiny of the news media? It is very troubling when we consider how individuals can be mistreated by this powerful government agency.

Midnight Hour Approaches

As can be seen from our examination of some of the news items currently prominent in the media, Bible prophecies of the end of the age can soon be fulfilled.

Are you making your preparations to meet Yahshua the Messiah in the air when He returns? Too many people are grossly absorbed in this worldly system. They are absorbed by the pursuit of materialism and the pleasures of the world. Worldly people appear to have little interest in living according to the commandments of the sacred Scriptures, or engaging in spiritual pursuits.

Conversely, Yahweh’s people continue to concentrate on learning His word while watching the developing news events carefully so that we do not fall asleep.

"But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that anything be written to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of Yahweh so comes as a thief in the night. When they are saying, Peace and safety, then suddenly destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief: for you are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober." (1 Thessalonians 5:1–6).

While the world today is filled with sin and wickedness, terrorism, and treachery are rampant, and the immorality of many people is evident, Yahweh will have the last word! "Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness. But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and they that forsake Yahweh shall be consumed." (Isaiah 1:27–28).

Yahweh commands, "Seek Yahweh while he may be found; call upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our Elohim, for he will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:6–7).

Will you answer the call of Yahweh and seek Him before it is too late? May we be of help in your quest for truth?