(Continued from Part 2.)
Important Biblical End-Time Trends Involving Israel and Iran “And He spoke a parable to them: Behold the fig-tree and all the trees. Now when they sprout leaves, seeing it you will know that summer is now near. So also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.” (Luke 21:29-31)
I wrote a recent article in SurvivalBlog concerning key trends that will trigger the Final Days from a Biblical viewpoint. Several of these are specific to Israel and Iran. As described in Matthew 24, a key condition to knowing these Trends are occurring during the end-times is they all will grow in Frequency, Intensity and Visibility like birth pangs until by Tribulation time they become Unstoppable. These trends involving Iran and Israel are as follows:
Knowledge (Exponential/Available) (Dan 12:4)
Deception (Clever/Diabolical) (Mat 24:11, Luke 21:8, 2Ti 3:13)
Weather/Heaven Anomalies (Luk 21:11)
Weapons of Mass Destruction (Zechariah 14:12, Rev 18)
Christian Evangelism (Mat 24:14)
Digital Money (Rev 13:17)
Global Hatred for Israel (Zech. 12:3)
Rebuilding the Temple (Mat 24:15)
Israel at War (Ez 37-39)
So, what still needs to transpire before we can know this is the end of current history. What specific Future Events do we need to look for and make the appropriate preparations?
Ever Increasing Knowledge – “But you O Daniel, shut up these words and seal this book until the time of the end for many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” (Dan 12:4)
Israel is only .2% of the world’s population but holds 20% of the Nobel Prizes. This is amazing when you think that Israel was a tiny, backward country just 75 years ago. They are a perfect example of the exponential increase of knowledge in our recent past.
Iran has grown from a country racked by revolution just 50 years ago to a major oil producer, military arms developer, and at the cusp of joining only a select few countries that can produce and deliver atomic weapons. And all this has been accomplished while under continuous embargoes and sanctions.
Deceptions – “Take heed that no man deceives you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many”. (Mat 24:4-5, 11)
This is where the current War of Deception is primarily being waged. False Peacekeepers (religious/political/social/military) will arise all around the world. Deceptions will make it hard to determine who is sincere. This is when trust becomes an important prep. We must trust that the Bible is true and applicable to our everyday problems and points the way to our future. We must also build a community of trust with our family, friends, and neighbors before it is too late.
The Iranian Ayatollahs are still pushing the Palestinian Cause, trying to keep the riots in the forefront of the world. The October 7 war and Israel’s retaliation to Hamas atrocities has exposed the worldwide convergence of Ultra Liberals (historical Reds) and Ultra Conservatives (historical Greens), The so-called Red-Green convergence. This Left-Right fascist convergence has been deceptively inculcated into our youth over many decades by extremists in our educational institutions across both the Western and Islamic worlds. Interestingly Israel, which has traditionally been a very liberal country, has not allowed this aggressive, fascist form of liberalism to be taught to their children, rather a more democratic libertarianism.
Mark Dubowitz, CEO of Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) stated recently “The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are fighting in one of the most dangerous and complicated urban environments in the history of warfare against an enemy whose entire strategy rests on maximizing the number of dead Palestinian and Israeli civilians. Hamas has run one of the most successful disinformation campaigns by lying about the number of casualties and how many are terrorists versus civilians. President Biden has fallen for this, even quoting Hamas casualty numbers in his State of the Union. In doing so, he has fallen into the political trap set by Hamas, their terror masters in Iran, and their supporters in the US.” Anti-Semitism incidents have increased over 350% in the past 6 months. Elon Musk just recently stated that DEI training and enforcement in America is inherently and deceptively anti-Semitic.
Therefore, Pro-Palestinian riots will continue through 2024. But that is just a cover to test the legal limits they can get away with. These riots will also test and improve the details of their liberal political cover (“Let them through, they are just expressing their frustrations”) and mainstream media cover (“Mostly peaceful protests”). Finally, these riots, controlled by Iran using useful idiots, are mostly a distraction while Iran builds up its forces and alliances with Russia, China, North Korea and countries surrounding Israel, getting prepared for the Magog War.
Finally, sometime around the 7-year Tribulation, which I believe is very soon, the Anti-Christ will arise, deceiving the world and espousing global peace. He will confirm a treaty with Israel that will allow them to build the 3rd Temple on the Temple Mount (see sec on Temple below).
War – “And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars” (Mat 24:6)
A hybrid WWIII with NATO vs Russia has already started and will intensify and spread beyond Ukraine. Then Iran will be tempted to take this opportunity to enact the ‘Final Solution’. The idea of ‘rumors of wars’ can easily be thought of as a new ‘Cold War 2.0’, with a hidden cyber and espionage war going on without the general populations aware of how serious the fight is and always right on the brink of a kinetic war. Today, with our advanced communication and media we hear of every rumor of war and constant brinkmanship being played. Initially, the focus of these cyber/espionage activities were aimed at Europe vs Russia. But this has been changing more toward Israel and Iran after the October 7 war and now the attack on the Iranian consulate and killing of the IRGF Generals. A great source to keep up with these behind-the-scenes activities is www.canadianprepper.com.
Weather Anomalies – “…and there will be famine and earthquakes…” (Mat 24:7)
Weather anomalies and the Ukraine and Israeli wars will intensify world-wide hunger and famine.
Prior to the founding of Israel in 1948, the land was either barren desert or mosquito-infested swamps. Now, Israel has become the citrus breadbasket for most of Europe and the Middle East. Where once completely denuded of trees, now large tracts of fruit, nut, and forest trees dot the landscape. In the 1940’s, Israeli agronomists discovered one of the original strains of wheat dating back thousands of years. This strain has allowed the world to now have a hardy short-stem wheat, resistant to disease with most of its growth going towards the grain heads. The land has truly returned to the Biblical ‘land of milk and honey’ This is all threatened now with potential war between Israel and Iran.
Heavenly Events – “And I will give wonders in the heavens above… The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood…” (Acts 2:19-20)
Strange events in the heavens will be shown around the world. Possibilities here include the 4 Blood Moons that have occurred in the past 10yrs, all just happening to align with Jewish Festival dates. Also, the “X’ing” of America with 2 total eclipses, one Aug 21, 2017, the other April 8th this year. Another possibility was the very rare alignment of planets and stars Sep 23, 2017, which some theologians have taken to be the completion of Rev 12. It is likely that even greater heavenly events will occur during the final Seven-Year Tribulation.
Earthquakes – “…and earthquakes in diverse places.” (Mat 24:7)
Earthquakes and Tsunamis will continue to increase around the world and be shown globally. The biggest worldwide news of Jan 1, 2024 was the 7.6 earthquake in Japan followed by a tsunami scare. Now comes the 7.4 earthquake near Taiwan, the 6.4 quake in southern Japan, and the 4.7 earthquake affecting New York and New Jersey. Both the event and the aftermath of these earthquakes has been shown around the world via television and the internet. Look for these events to continue, particularly around the earthquake zones of Israel and Iran.
(To be continued tomorrow, in Part 3.)