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Has Putin shot his bolt?

· by · In: Current events, Insights, The Future and Endtime

There was almost no fear greater than the fear of Russia. But now Putin’s had to (as they say in poker), “Put what you’ve got on the table.” And it hasn’t looked good so far. No one expected Ukraine to be able to withstand Russia. But they have.

One year into the war, it’s rather a stalemate. But that’s a defeat in many ways for Russia. They were our greatest fear and have been for over 70 years. And now? You can feel they have perhaps two choices. Go fully nuclear, the unspeakable alternative that’s remained our global fear since World War II. Or they can continue to send 10’s of 1000’s of their young men (in a nation desperate to repopulate itself) into the meat grinder of eastern Ukraine, to face resolute Ukrainians and the best weapons the Western powers can provide. Simply put, it’s not looking great for the mystique of Russian superiority and ultimate world dominance, as so many of us have bought into for so long.

And what if you study Bible prophecy? What about “the king of the north”? What about Ezekiel 38? My friends, we’ve been counting on these guys, haven’t we? No need to squirm, I could do the same. I think there are a lot of folks around who’ve been counting on Russia to provide a good deal of the power and “evil” to be fulfilled that’s been predicted in the end time build up, spoken of in the books of Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation.

But presently, Russia is losing huge numbers of troops and equipment on the plains of eastern Ukraine. And those resources in blood and treasure are not something that springs freely up out of the ground. They are depleted, they’re being exhausted and so very many look at it and feel it’s a fool’s errand that Mr. Putin has sent Russian power and prestige into. “All for nothing”, so many feel of the present war in Ukraine. My prophecy aficionado friends, how will Russia invade the Middle East if they can’t even take the eastern most part of Ukraine?

I hope you’re not expecting me to pull the cookies out of the fire and the rabbit out of the hat on this. I’m as stumped as you are. Perhaps some scenario develops where Putin is overthrown and a new leader arises who’ll lead Russia into a wiser and more prosperous future, more than at any time in its past. But as always, “what if’s” abound at every turn.

How does this all impact the picture of the unfolding end time, which in other areas continues to proceed most forebodingly? I really don’t know. And in my searching the internet for anyone else out there who sees all these data points leading us toward… what!…, I haven’t heard of anyone coming up with a clear, cognizant foreseeing of where all this is leading.

New and stranger goings on proceed briskly in the secular nation of Israel in the Middle East. Will the new, ultra religious government there clear the way for the building of the Third Temple in Jerusalem? And artificial intelligence meanwhile is gathering pace by leaps and bounds; some now predict that “the singularity” is only 7 years away. Tragic natural disasters fall on top of immense refugee crises, war against Iran is a daily storm on the horizon, Western nations muddle through their internal befuddlements and suicide rates for young people increase year by year.

And the latest fear is that China will come to the aid of Russia with an infinity of weaponry, matching what the West is giving Ukraine. My, how that would be an unfathomably ominous turn of events in this saga. Would that not bring us face to face with the full scenario of World War III that was so before us at the height of the Cold War?

How does it all turn out? Will Russia ultimately sue for peace (as Germany did in World War I) and be defeated on the battle field after human losses unheard of before that time? Will China come to the side and aid of Russia, creating a new axis of power internationally? Will there be a cease fire where both sides get just enough of what they want so that both can claim a type of victory? Your guess may be as good as mine.

Still, I remain convinced that the end of the matter of these wars and rumors of wars is that through the haze and heartbreak will be the unfolding of Bible prophecy that will ultimately lead to the so welcomed second coming of our dear Jesus Christ to bring peace to the earth, after “a time of trouble such as was not since the beginning of the world”, to establish His righteous government, ordained and foretold by God and the prophets.

Of course that sounds ludicrous to the unbelievers who are in the majority now. But as the final events unfold, I believe so many will see ultimately that the only sane explanation of this present world is one that takes us to what turns out to be truly our only hope: God Himself and His intervention to save us all from ourselves and each other, where the people of the earth accept and welcome the intervention of God to pull our existence out of the destruction we have brought it to.

 

The Bible Belt and the End Time

· by · In: Current events, The Future and Endtime

What could “the Bible Belt” have to do with the prophetic End Time? Bear with me, there’s ground to explore here. For those outside the USA and not familiar with the term “Bible Belt”, I’ll explain.

The Bible Belt is a term generally given to the southeastern United States. At the same time it’s referring to the large number of Christians in that part of the USA who’ve continued to keep the faith in fundamental Christianity. This region has continued to have more ardent believers who identify as socially conservative Christians, compared to any other part of the country.

The Bible Belt is where I come from and now reside. I was not raised a Christian. By the age of 12, I loved to debate Christians my age, to mock and break their faith. Most often, I was successful since so many were weak in faith and shallow in their Christian experience.

But all the while, there was the influence of my Methodist grandparents, back when being a Methodist meant something. Sadly, over that last 50 to 60 years, that movement has deteriorated into a gender-fluid miasma of quasi-Christian verbiage and has functionally ceased to be the Christian influence that it was for 200 years. But my grandparents were of the generation in which they still “flew the flag” of genuine Christianity and that strongly impacted me, even at the age of 5 or 6.

What in the world does this have to do with the prophetic End Time? The Bible says there will be those going through the final days before the coming of the Lord who “will be strong and do exploits.” There will be Christians here who’ll stand up against the Antichrist and will be victors, even as many are martyred.

“They overcame him (the coming Antichrist) by the blood of the lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.” (Rev. 12:11) This is in the chapter that speaks most clearly about “the woman in the wilderness”, which I believe to be the saved believers on earth in the final days.

There are a number of places in the Bible that clearly foretell of discipleship Christians alive and prospering in the end time before the coming of the Lord, who are teaching, witnessing and letting their lights shine in the final days before the return of Jesus to this earth.

As I survey my horizon, I do feel that those fervent believers across the USA “Bible Belt” have a reservoir of faith and conviction solid enough that, in the final end time, they’ll recognize what’s going on and will stand up to be some of the Lord’s strongest witnesses in the “great tribulation” (see Matthew 24:21, Daniel 12:1), before the Lord returns to establish His kingdom.

At this present time, these millions of “Bible Belt” Christians are being mocked and marginalized by the modern, Christ-less American media. They’re maligned as racist, bigoted, “homophobic”, uneducated remnants of a distant and indecent past. So the media voice of “this present world” would have us believe.

One place that shows the transformation happening to many American Christians is in the battle against the woke/Progressive agenda becoming fully dominate in public schools. Recently, I’ve been encouraged to see parents and grandparents realizing the necessity of standing up for their Christian values in the present battle for the soul of public education here. I wrote about my experiences with this in “Check out your local school board”.

I see many American Christians who are in a rather steep learning curve presently. They are seeing their American nationalism, a foundation stone for millions here, has to now be reevaluated as my nation daily moves more speedily away from the Godly moorings it was established on in earlier times.

Speaking plainly, I do feel that “the woman in the wilderness” of Revelation 12:6 & 14 may include these Bible Belt Christians who are now finding that the only thing they have left, as times “wax worse and worse”, is their foundation of faith in God that they learned from their forefathers. Ardent American Christians are increasingly realizing that the basic Christian decency this nation was steeped in for generations has been abandoned and swept away by the “woke/progressive” hordes who presently dominate our national debate.

As the final end times come ever closer, “Bible Belt” Christians will find that they’ve been tragically misled by those who’ve told them they will be “raptured just any minute”. And as one prop and falsehood after the other is seen by them to be a lie, they’ll come to find that the truth that they’ve known in Jesus is still as strong as ever. And probably much to their surprise, they’ll become some of the ones who’ll be the strongest voices for the cause of Christ as the darkness rapidly descends upon this world and this nation, before His return.

***

I’ve written on this subject before and it might be good to including links to those places, to provide context and a more complete view. I wrote, while in Bulgaria, about “the women fled into the wilderness”. Here’s the link to that:  https://www.propheciesofdaniel.com/fleeing-into-the-wilderness-in-bulgaria/

And is anyone presently living a brand of discipleship Christianity that could be an example and foreshadowing of the endtime Christians to come? I wrote this article about a young American family who currently remind me of future end time Christians to come. There’s even been a movie made about them. https://www.propheciesofdaniel.com/living-end-time-exploits-now/

Jesus returned to earth in 70 A.D.?

· by · In: Basic Christianity, Current events, Insights, The Future and Endtime

Did Jesus of Nazareth’s 2nd coming happen in 70 A.D? Did the fulfillments of dozens of prophecies reach their final climax then? Don’t laugh. Sadly there has been a ripple in the community of those who believe in the Lord’s return, somehow gazing toward this view that the return of Jesus to reign and rule happened in 70 AD.

Instead of sharing thoughts I have on this, I think it would be best to just share what the Early Church Fathers said on this subject. Several of these men died a martyr’s death. And they lived and led the Christians at the time when the vehement fires of Christian discipleship were at their strongest, in the first one to three hundred years after the ascension of the Lord.

If anyone had a close understanding of the original mindset of the “church” that Jesus left behind on earth, it would be these men and women. Did they believe the Lord had come back in 70 AD? Were they looking to that date as the time of the fulfillment of most all prophecies?

Of course you know the answer. None of them talked or taught that way. They all looked forward to the future, yet-to-be-fulfilled return of the Lord, after 42 months of great tribulation and the revelation of the endtime antichrist spoken of in prophecy throughout Scripture. Here’s what they said.

Barnabas, who  traveled with the Apostle Paul,  wrote: “The final stumbling block approaches…for the whole past time of your faith will profit you nothing, unless now in this wicked time we also withstand coming sources of danger….then the evil one Antichrist may find no means of entrance….” (Epistle of Barnabas, chp.4)

Justin Martyr (100-165) wrote: “The man of apostasy, [Antichrist] who speaks strange things
against the Most High, shall venture to do unlawful deeds on the earth against us the Christians..” (Dialogue with Trypho, chp.110)

Irenaeus (138-202)  a contemporary of  Justin Martyr, wrote: “And they, the ten kings who will arise, shall lay Babylon waste, and burn her with fire, and shall give their kingdom to the beast antichrist and put the church to flight” (Against Heresies, V, chp.26)

Tertullian (150-220)  a contemporary of  Irenaeus,  wrote: “The souls of the martyrs are taught to wait [Rev.6:9-10] that the beast Antichrist with his false prophet may wage war on the Church of God…” (On the Resurrection of the Flesh, chp.25)

Cyprian (200-258)  a contemporary of  Tertullian,  wrote: “The day of affliction has begun to hang over our heads, and the end of the world and the time of the Antichrist to draw near, so that we must all stand prepared for the battle…” (Epistle, 55, 1)

Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386),  wrote: “The church declares to you the things concerning Antichrist before they arrive…it is well that, knowing these things, thou shouldest make thyself ready beforehand.” (Catechetical Lectures, 15,9)

And there is much more than this, from the pillars of Christianity from the Early Church Fathers to modern times, pointing towards the future coming of the Lord as well as the end time events that the Bible says will happen in the very final days before His return. If you have an interest in these things and want to read more on this, you could go to this link, https://earlychurchbelief.blogspot.com/2008/08/early-church-fathers.html

But certainly some will ask, “Why does any of this matter?”

If the enemy of God can get us to drop our spiritual sword and shield, then he gains victory over us. And it can be a very disarming thought that virtually all Bible prophecy was fulfilled in 70 AD, that the climactic, world-shattering prophecies of Daniel, Revelation and many others in the Bible, not to mention the words of Jesus Himself, were all drained of their significance at the time of the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

It’s like that cartoon I put in another article on this subject, which I’ll add again here. “Relax, it all happened in 70 AD.” Exactly, if that’s the conclusion you come to. Relax.

Except that that’s not the voice of the Lord and the doctrine isn’t either.

I’ve tried to make this article short enough so that folks will feel they can read it without getting bogged down. If you’ve somehow come in contact with this doctrine, it’s technical name is “preterism”, I hope that these quotes on the subject from the Early Church Fathers will persuade you that the earliest Christians did not at all look at 70 AD as “the end”. But they looked forward, as many of us now do, to a coming return of the Lord to establish His Kingdom on earth. God bless you.

Perplexed in Texas

· by · In: Basic Christianity, Current events, Insights, My past

It’s perplexing to be an American right now. It’s difficult to express. There’s so much to be outraged about. Then also, there seem to be so few legitimate avenues to make things better here.

Part of it has to do with identity. Usually we’re not just “Americans”. There will be a word or two in front of that. It could be “Democrat”, “Republican”, “Conservative”, “Progressive”, “Christian”, “Gay”, “Male”, “Female”, “Trans” or “Straight”. Or African American, Hispanic American, Asian American or Native American. Once upon a time these secondary delineations were in subjection to the first sense of identity, of being citizens of this country. But no more.

Jesus said, “A nation divided against itself cannot stand.” (Mark 3:24) And most likely not since the 1860’s has that thought rung so ominously true for the USA. At the time of the final fall of Israel to Babylon around 586 BC, the foremost prophet of doom back then, Jeremiah, said to the Jews, “Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts in our hands unto God in the heavens.” (Lamentations 3:40 & 41)

Now and for recent years, there’s been a time of deep heart-searching for many Americans. I can make this personal. What’s my identity? I could say “Christian” but that leads into another of the perplexities of these times, “What do you mean by ‘Christian’?” The basic fabric of our language has been so skewered by competing narratives that our very vocabulary has to be explained nearly every time we try to say something.

For me, “Christian” has been within what can be called Christian discipleship. Specifically, I lived 37 years of my adult life abroad as a missionary in dozens of countries. So immediately most folks would conclude that I’m a Conservative, Republican, straight male. They’d be right about being a straight male. But then it really gets into the tall grass with the subject of “Conservative Republican”.

Some are already bristling. On the right hand and on the left. I probably already lost those on the left when I said I was a Christian disciple and a missionary, a straight white male. What could be worse, right? Hasn’t Christianity been the fount and fountainhead of all that’s gone wrong in the last few hundred years? Racist, misogynist, colonialist, patriarchal bigotry is the overriding evaluation of Christian influence on the world from a Progressive viewpoint. And that’s the predominate paradigm within the present Democratic party in the USA.

Ironically, I grew up in a deeply liberal (for those times) Democratic family in Texas. I actually planned on a career as a Democratic politician up until I was nearly 21.  Then a powerful near-death experience propelled me out of atheism and into an embryonic acknowledgement that there actually is a spiritual world, both here and in eternity, that is inhabited by both good and bad spirits. I wanted to be with the good ones. A few months later some teenage Christian “Jesus People” showed me the plan of salvation through Jesus from the New Testament. That was the beginning of my life as a Christian disciple.

But as I’ve had to ask my still-Democratic relatives today, “How can I be a Democrat in these times?” I’m not pro-abortion, I’m not gay and these have become the litmus test and gate passes to the present Democratic Party.

Because of my Christian faith and world view, I’ve begun working in the past months with some teachers and parents locally who’ve become appalled at the present condition of schools in the greater Austin area, which are reflected in many other schools across the USA.

Under the guise of “SEL”, (social emotional learning) an indoctrination is being brought into the curriculum of schools across American that comes from a far leftist, gender-fluid, virulently anti-Christian foundation. Just giving some highlights of the utter vileness that I’ve seen going on in local schools would be a whole article in itself and I won’t go further about it here. But I have been speaking at local school board meetings and trying to do what I can.

My friends are almost all Christians, not all white but extremely determined to try to do what they can to turn the tide of perversion and indoctrination that’s going on in schools just a few miles from me. So the conclusion? “Mark, you’ve become a Conservative Republican!” Well in these matters, my views and heart certainly correspond to their view on this subject.

Except, most of you know what just happened three days ago at a school in Uvalde, Texas, 200 miles from me. An 18 year old Hispanic male bought an assault rifle on his 18th birthday and ended up killing over 20 people at a Uvalde elementary school.

Shocking? Sadly, not overwhelmingly so for most Americans. This kind of thing has pretty much come to be the order of the day in our times. Is there outrage? Of course. But for many there also has come a growing sense of impotence and resignation against this kind of recurring holocaust.

And the perplexity grows. Can I turn now to my new Conservative Christian friends to share my grief, my outrage and to band together with them to try to change things?! Well, no. Why not?! Well, um… the official line of the Republican Party is basically utterly pro gun. This is one of the most entrenched positions that is held by Conservative Republicans across America. No gun laws, no gun restrictions, just nothing.

The screaming irony is hard to match with words. Christian, conservative Republicans hold the views I do that sexuality should be the realm of parents to teach their children, not the prerogative of Progressive doyens of multigender confusion. But then when it comes to free and open immediate access to assault rifles which have no other use at all besides killing people [not rabbits, not deer; just people], then my Christian conservative companions are instant in voicing their view that there is nothing that can be done or should be done to limit guns. That’s just all there is to it.

Do I turn back to the Democrats then? In this case, centrist Democrats as well as the Progressives unitedly and for decades have called for some kind of legislation and initiative to try to make gun violence not as easy has it has been.

So it’s a real dilemma. My first allegiance as far as I am concerned is to the Lord and His rule which will ultimately come to this earth. But I really don’t find any political group here and now that has a monopoly on the justice and judgment of Jesus of Nazareth.

As for my country, state and community, I often just feel checkmated as to what direction to take. It reminds me of what I have read of World War I, where the troops were extremely dug in on both sides of no man’s land and this lasted for years in a stalemate of the armies while daily 10’s of thousands of young men died in battle. Today we have deaths through abortion on the one side, allowed by the Leftists and Progressives. But also we have deaths through gun violence which the Christian Conservative Right continues to ignore with all their strength. And while Left and Right enhance their intransigence, the killings continue on year after year.

Well, I like to end things on a happy note. But I’m finding that difficult. I don’t want to come across with some trite, shallow Pollyanna-isms. This whole situation is a real Gordian Knot, an enigma for minds and hearts small and great in these times.

If nothing else we can pray. We can stand on the certainties we have in the Lord and the values that were the foundations of this country over many decades, which served us well for so long. Maybe an ending thought could be what an ancient king prayed in his nation’s great dilemma, “Lord, neither know we what to do. But our eyes are unto thee.” (II Chronicles 20:12)

 

Living end time exploits, now

· by · In: Basic Christianity, Current events, The Future and Endtime

Sometimes it’s hard to keep the vision of the last days. The enemy of our souls wants to exhaust you with distractions, vanities, “rabbit trails” and meaninglessness. Without God, you ultimately crumble, surrender to the fog and become numb within the mists you’ve come to live in. Certainly, this is not the will of God.

But then tonight, it was like a fresh wind from God that blew through the house. We watched the movie about the “Free Burma Rangers”.  It’s the story of a man from Texas who was raised on the mission field of Thailand but then felt led to become a soldier. After having become an elite “Rangers” member of the US military, he felt the call of God to use his training and Christian/military background to help the marginalized peoples of Burma.

I realized, watching it, that this documentary/movie about real people in these times could be a glimpse of how reality will be for some Christians in the very final years, during the time of Antichrist rule. Some parts of the world are experiencing extreme “great tribulation” right now and God’s presence is being strongly seen and felt by those who continue to serve Him in those times and places.

It specially spoke to me as this man, with his wife and 3 children beside him, has lived a life of zealous Christian discipleship which has been similar to what I’ve experienced at times in my life on the mission field. What this couple has been doing in the last few years is very much like what I believe Christians, some at least, will be experiencing in the final 42 months of Great Tribulation before the return of the Lord.

The three and a half years before the return of Jesus is a period of time that is amazingly shown repeatedly in Scripture. I certainly can’t in this article get into all the aspects of it. But if you’re interested in the subject, here is a link to an article I did when I was in a remote part of Bulgaria some years ago, where I was struck by how that area could be like what it says about the Christians of the last days that they “flee into the wilderness” where they are protected during that time. It’s called “Fleeing into the Wilderness… in Bulgaria”.

I firmly believe there is no “pre-tribulation” rapture or gathering of the saved, before the coming of the Lord. In fact, I believe there are several verses that clearly tell what Christians will be doing during that time. Two from Daniel chapter 11 are “The people who do know their God will be strong and do exploits. And they that understand among the people shall instruct many.”

This movie touched me on so many levels. While I‘ve not had exactly the same life as this man and his family, I could very much relate to their commitment to the Lord and their willingness to put their lives on the line for Him in very extreme situations in the hinterland of Myanmar (Burma) for years and then in northern Iraq at the height of the ISIS threat there.

This dedicated family at the front of Christian discipleship in Burma and Iraq helped remind me to not “sit at ease in Zion” (Amos 6:1), as is so normal and acceptable to do here in Christian circles in America. It was a reminded to me of my calling and background, my experience and all that the Lord has invested in me and all I can still be used by Him to do, if I will be cautious to not get comfortable and settled in this present situation I’m in.

Desperation often brings on a clarity that comfort and ease really doesn’t. There’s so much confusion and vanity that every person here in my country is mightily assailed by every day. It’s like living in mists that effectively obscure spiritual realties. So we can end up quibbling about trifles while the starkest realities of the spiritual world mostly escape us in all the Babylonian chatter of our daily lives.

But watching these dear ones who were going all out for the Lord at the forefront of some of the worst conflicts in the world of our times reminded me of how it is going to be in the future where Christians are going to be laying down their lives, utterly involved with humanity around them and being burning and shining lights to multitudes of the lost and oppressed.  This was all a bit of a shakeup and a reminder for me of my calling and life up to this time.

One of the greatest dangers to Christians in my country is the incredible surge of sickening swill and sludge that flows at us night and day through every organ of the media. It’s virtually all tainted, brackish and deeply polluted by any number of agendas and outlets, trying to sell you their viewpoint or product.

Strange as it may seem, counter-intuitive as you might think it to be, those dear people in the jungles of Burma or the poor souls who were assailed for years by ISIS in Iraq and Syria had a leg up on many of us here. Because they didn’t have to try to sort out reality from fiction. The enemy was right there, real and clear and in their faces, ready to literally kill them physically right then.

We don’t hear much about Christian activists at the forefront of the worst conflicts of our time. But for them, it’s like they are already living in conditions much like the final last days will be. So this movie was very much like a look into the future for dedicated Christians. And although it was totally and utterly real and true, not a bit of fiction to it, it also had an element of Biblical futurism to it to see how these horrific conditions brought out the very best of Christian character and love for others in this dear man and his wife and kids.

It wonderfully concentrates the mind in situations like that. I haven’t experienced it a lot but I definitely have from time to time in my encounters on some far flung mission fields. It quickens you, clears your mind and mostly gets you very desperate as you are face to face with forces greater than you. And you realize perhaps as much as ever before how very much you desperately need at that moment the presence and power of God. Or you may die in the next minute. [Here’s an article I wrote about when I was about to venture into a city on the Syrian border when ISIS was at its peak and how desperate prayer was a life or death matter.]

If you want to see what the final days before the Lord may be like and how you and yours can be victors and “more than conquers”, even during the time that “the woman fled into the wilderness”, then I suggest you watch “Free Burma Rangers”. “And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.” (Revelation 12:11)