Prophetic Trends

"And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy to them, and say, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Yahweh: In this manner says the Sovereign Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword up on you, and I will destroy your high places. And your altars shall become desolate, and your sun-images shall be broken; and I will cast down your killed men before your idols. And I will lay the dead bodies of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones all around your altars. In all your dwelling-places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your sun-images may be hewn down, and your works may be abolished. And the killed shall fall in the middle of you, and you shall know that I am Yahweh.

"Yet will I leave a remnant, in that you shall have some that escape the sword among the nations, when you shall be scattered through the countries. And those of you that escape shall remember me among the nations where they shall be carried captive, how that I have been broken with their lewd heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the harlot after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. And they shall know that I am Yahweh: I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them." (Ezekiel 6:1–10).

"Who is the wise man, that may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that no one passes through? And Yahweh says, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked in it, but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them; therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them." (Jeremiah 9:12–16).

No one desires to be on the receiving end of Yahweh’s judgment. In Revelation 6:15–17 there appears a description of how unconverted humankind will view the series of events that will befall mankind in the last days. "And the kings of the earth, and the princes, and the chief captains, and the rich, and the strong, and every bondman and freeman, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains; and they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?"

At that time it will be too late for the pleadings of unconverted people to be hidden from Yahweh’s judgment. Grace has ended!

Trends in the News

Too frequently individuals fail to recognize the developments related to Bible prophecy that appear in the world around them. Just recently one page in a local newspaper contained a collection of news items that related to the fulfillment of end-time Bible prophecy.

•  Volcano erupts in the Philippines. The Mayon Volcano near Legaspi City erupted with little warning for the second time in a month spewing lava 200 feet into the air and ash clouds six miles high.

•  Strong earthquake hits Greece. A powerful earthquake shook wide areas of Greece sending residents of Athens and some other cities into open areas for safety. The earthquake was centered about 85 miles northwest of Athens.

•  Mount Etna on the island of Sicily erupted with a vengeance sending rivers of lava toward the valley below. Mount Etna is the largest volcano in Europe.

•  A bright ball of fire the color of the sun and with a tail, streaked across the evening sky in the northeastern United States. It was sighted about an hour before sundown. Some thought it was an airplane going down. Now most reports indicate that it was believed to be a large meteor.

The Middle East—an Explosive Area

As this "Prophetic Trends" section is being written, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon appeared on a national telecast here in the United States to explain why the Israeli army is targeting locations which known terrorists frequent. When Yasir Arafat recently gave the command to escalate Palestinian terrorist activities against Israel, it was a VIRTUAL DECLARATION OF WAR! Last evening there was wide-spread mortar shelling by the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and in the so-called West Bank. The Israeli army retaliated with a barrage of rockets and mortars against the positions that were firing on them. A Palestinian gunman was shot and killed near the National Defense Offices in Tel Aviv after his bullets wounded ten soldiers.

Vice President Dick Cheney stated that he could find nothing wrong with Israel defending itself against known terrorist activities. Yet there are liberals in the administration and the news media who insist that the Mitchell Report should be inaugurated, and the Israelis held accountable for the current violence.

An article appeared describing how a Belgian legal commission is investigating Ariel Sharon to determine his part in the 1982 Sabra and Shatilla massacres near Beirut, Lebanon, in which hundreds of Palestinians were killed by Israel’s Lebanese Chr-stian militia allies. The plaintiffs wish to put Sharon on trial for war crimes. The 1993 law empowers the country of Belgium to try people accused of war crimes committed any place in the world, even if neither of the parties involved are Belgian.

The Israeli government has hired Belgian lawyer Michel Hirsh to try to head off the investigation before it reaches the stage of indictment. The Belgian embassy in Tel Aviv has received a great deal of hate mail over the Belgian court’s decision to begin investigative proceedings against Mr. Sharon. The Belgian ambassador, Wilfred Geens, said the perception is completely wrong. It is Lebanese citizens using a Belgian law to try to get damage reparations for their suffering in the Sabra and Shatilla massacres. However, the Israelis contend that it is only an attempt to embarrass the Sharon government.

Serious Drought in Israel

Israel has virtually stopped using water from the Sea of Galilee. After almost five years of drought conditions wherein very little snow has fallen on Mount Hermon, very little water is entering the Sea of Galilee, and the water level has fallen to alarming levels.

Wells on the Coastal Plain are being pumped. Plans are in motion to install 26 desalinization plants along the Mediterranean Sea coast to provide water for the cities and for agricultural irrigation.

The current American administration of President George W. Bush has taken an even hand in Middle Eastern politics. Again we remind the reader of the warning in Zechariah 12:3. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be severely wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it."

American Economy Slows

The American stock markets have reached a point of stagnation. The NASDAQ market is down by about 70 percent. By watching some of the financial programs they will be trying to generate interest and bring more money into the stock market. The United States stock markets are not going to produce large profits this year.

Yet it seems that some individuals would like to put money in the stock market instead of placing all of their retirement hopes in Social Security, which is actually a failed system. Begun in the 1930s to counteract the trends toward Socialism and Communism, at that time the check for one retiree would be paid by the tax of some 30 workers. Now five people are supporting one retiree, and such a system cannot continue very long. Rather than taking social security tax and channeling it through Washington, D.C., and a bureaucracy that taps off millions of dollars, a much better plan would have been for the government to enforce individual savings.

A Bright Future Ahead

Almighty Yahweh has promised to watch over His spiritual children. He has told His people that the angel of Yahweh will encamp around the righteous ones and He will deliver them. "This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him. And saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of Yahweh encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Oh taste and see that Yahweh is good: blessed is the man that takes refuge in him." (Psalm 34:6–8).

Bible prophecy indicates that a war will erupt in the Middle East at the end of the age. Thereafter, the events of the book of Revelation will begin to occur.

It is those individuals whose eyes have been blinded by worldly things who will not see what is going on in the world today. Most people of the world are not taking the Bible seriously.

Soon Yahweh will send Yahshua the Messiah back to this earth and He will reign supreme over the nations. This current worldly system will be brought to an end and the new Kingdom of Yahweh will take power.

"And the seventh angel sounded; and there followed great voices in heaven, and they said,

"The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Yahweh, and of his Messiah: and he shall reign forever and ever.

"And the twenty-four elders, who sit before Yahweh on their thrones, fell upon their faces and worshiped Yahweh, saying,

"We give thanks, Oh Yahweh El Shaddai, who is and who was; because you have taken your great power, and did reign. And the nations were angry, and your wrath came, and the time of the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to your servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear you name, the small and the great; and to destroy them that destroy the earth." (Revelation 11:15–18).

This prophecy will soon be fulfilled. Beforehand, the prophecies describing events that will lead up to the final fulfillment are on the verge of completion.

What are you doing at present? Are you still held in bondage to this Babylonish system? You should be preparing for the future by implementing the Kingdom way of life right now. Then you will be demonstrating to Almighty Yahweh that you are serious about your decision to submit to His authority, both now and in the coming Kingdom of Yahweh. Don’t delay or there may not be enough time for you to prepare sufficiently.