CAULDRON OF CHAOS

By Matt Leasher - 

 

Ever since the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden, Satan has been influencing people and nations with various forms of deception.  Many times people think they are doing good, when in fact they are serving evil.

 

We live in a world of chaos and that chaos has shifted into high gear in the last few weeks.  I chose the word "cauldron" as an analogous replacement for the word "world" because of its secondary meaning:

 

"Cauldron: a situation characterized by instability and strong emotions."

 

That definition certainly describes the nature of the chaotic events that are transpiring in our world right now.

 

In the past two weeks we have seen people protesting in the streets all over the world with emotions running high on both sides of the fence. One of the biggest common denominators in all of these protests is the presence of humanistic personal agendas and rebellion against God and His moral precepts.

 

"For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God." (Luke 16:15b)

 

All of these immoral protests began the very moment that the Trump administration took office on January 20th.  The majority of the protestors were advocates of abortion, same sex marriage, women's rights and Satan worshippers.  All anyone has to do is Google images of these protests and they will see the most vile abuse of freedom of speech that this country has ever seen.

 

When our founding fathers adopted the First Amendment, abortion and same sex marriage were not even a thought.  I'm sure their intentions were to uphold righteousness in the eyes of the Creator and the biblical morals our blessed country was founded on. While it's true that we live in a free country where anyone can march for whatever cause they choose, every single person is still accountable to a Holy God and will have to give an account of "every idle word that came out of their mouths" (see Matthew 12:36).

 

Throughout the last few decades our nation has progressively waxed more and more immoral in every aspect of daily life and stirring up chaos in the most foundational areas of our society.  The LGBT agenda is being pushed in our elementary schools and as of last year a after school Satanist program has even slithered into the halls of our children's schools!

 

This chaos is escalating at such a rapid rate that even as I write this I have just found out that the Boy Scouts of America is now going to allow transgender boys to join the organization, reversing a century old stance of it being strictly "boys!"  All of this because of one transgender from New Jersey that had joined without telling them that he was a she, so they threw her out. Now after consideration they are going to allow kids in with whatever gender that they identify themselves as.  Now what if that person decides they want to return to a "she"?  How confusing that will be to the other boys in the troop!

 

While unbelievers shake their heads and wonder what is going on, those of us that are born-again Christians and see the world through the lens of the Holy Spirit know exactly what is happening.  The Bible tells us that in the last days "evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." (2 Timothy 3:13)

 

Satan has used the liberalism of our country to deceive and blind the minds of unbelievers and since the Bible was removed from our public schools four decades ago, we now live in a predominant society of unbelievers that were brought up being taught what the public school system considers "moral." That generation is now marching and protesting for things that God opposes and considers an abomination and they are sadly marching themselves right into eternal damnation.

 

"But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them." (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

 

The Bible informs us that the "god of this age" is Satan, the father of lies (John 8:44) and the great deceiver of the whole world (Revelation 12:9).  Satan has no sympathy for God's creation.  He hates every one of us and yet the streets have recently been filled with hordes that choose to follow him! Why would anyone want to follow someone that hates them, and whose end is destruction?

 

"The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are.  And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." (Revelation 20:10)

 

While not all of the protestors were Satanist, many are following him and don't even know it.

 

I saw one woman holding a sign that said, "God is with us, and she is mad!"

 

"She" is mad?

 

Not only is this woman deceived as to who the Creator really is, but she clearly has never read the Bible which distinctly confirms all three Persons of the One Triune God as being masculine.

 

This does not mean that our Lord is a male chauvinist but rather that God created an order to His creation for God does all things "decently and in order" (1 Corinthians 14:40).  He has ordained the woman to be submitted to their husbands and the husbands to be submitted to the Lord  (Ephesians 5:22-25).

 

If God did not have a chain of command in society, we would have chaos.  When this biblical precept is followed with loving leadership and not prideful lordship, the result is a happy home.

 

The women's rights movement of the 1970s resulted in a record number of broken families and divorces because the biblical order of how a family should be structured was overruled by self-centered humanistic pride.  Today, the women's rights movement is now tearing apart our society as Satan continues to instill pride in his cauldron of deception.

 

The deception of pride is never more evident in our society than with the LGBT community, (now considered to be LGBTQ which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer). Pretty soon they are going to run out of letters in the alphabet to abbreviate all of their identities.

 

These individuals have imposed their filthy lifestyles into the mainstream of our society at every chance they get causing chaos and confusion among our children to the point where many of them not only question their own gender but dictate which gender that they prefer to be!  This is Satanic!

 

All one has to do is look at the image of Baphomet, that Satan worshippers use, and one will see that this demonic image is transgender.  Those that advocate transgenderism are demonically influenced as this clearly goes against the natural order of creation and is an abomination to God.

 

Satan worshippers will say that the Baphomet image expresses equal duality, however, this is nothing but another deceptive trap from Satan himself.  Satan offers them a lie in the name of "equal duality" and "respect for diversity" which only leads to controversy and chaos. The Lord Jesus Christ does not promote controversy or chaos but rather He offers everyone and anyone eternal life with no partiality to any ethnic, race or gender.

 

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28)

 

Another concerning aspect of the recent demonstrations that have been going on in our country is the fact that these protestors are so deceived that not only do they fail to realize that they are putting themselves in danger but also the rest of our nation.

 

For instance, I wonder how many of the participators in the women's march on Washington D.C. realized that it was organized by a radical Muslim woman with suspected ties to the terrorist organization of Hamas. Her name is Linda Sarsour and she has been an advocate for Sharia Law in America for quite some time.

 

The fact that she is the organizer of the women's march whose mantra was "women's rights" is the epitome of deception as Sharia Law is responsible for the most abhorrent acts of violence  and abuse to women and children in the Islamic countries where it is sanctioned!  In fact, she wouldn't even have the right to stand in front of a microphone and voice anything in any of the Islamic countries where Sharia Law is the law of the land.  That is how deceived she is!

 

Many of the people that lead people into deception are also deceived themselves (2 Timothy 3:13).  As Jesus said, "Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch?" (Luke 6:39).   These people are lost in the cauldron of chaos and they need our prayers.

 

And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will." (2 Timothy 2:24-26)

 

While we are praying for these people to come to repentance and be released from the devil's snare, we must at the same time be vigilant and cautious while they are stirring the cauldron of chaos.  We need to take Jesus' advice and be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves." (Matthew 10:16)

 

As I am writing this there are myriads of protest going on all over our nation because President Donald Trump has enforced strict protective measures on our borders.  The liberal media and the deceived masses have twisted Trump's motives to insinuate racism and unconstitutional measures, however, this is not the actual case.

 

Trump is doing what Obama didn't do and that was protect our country from radical Islamic terrorist.  He is showing he has a backbone and not cowering to those that hate and want to harm the people of our nation.  What a concept!

 

The protestors in the streets are holding signs saying "Let Them In" without even acknowledging the real motive behind the cause.  They hit the streets quicker than the ink even dried on the executive order.  I'd like to know how many of these protestors would open the door and let a stranger in their own house without knowing that person's motives.

 

Furthermore, the streets of our nation are loaded with domestic homeless people, many of them veterans, that are not being taken care of as it is and people want to allow more refugees into this country without the proper inspections and protective measures?  That is a recipe for more chaos.  All one has to do is take a look at many of the countries in Europe that have haphazardly allowed the influx of mass Muslim refugees and see how badly that backfired!

 

Trump is also receiving much backlash for moving forward with his plans to erect a wall at the border of the United States and Mexico despite the fact that illegal immigrants having been pouring into our country for the last several years, many of whom could very well be ISIS members.

 

In biblical times empires and kingdoms were always fortified with walls and their enemies and/or anyone that was a threat to that kingdom would not be able to just walk right on in. Even the kingdom of heaven itself, and the New Jerusalem has a wall, gates and an immigration inspection!

 

"The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels." (Revelation 21:12)

 

"But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life." (Revelation 21:27)

 

We need to pray for our new President Donald Trump and his administration.  For the first time in about thirty years we seem to have a president that respects the Constitution and the protection of our nation and has filled the White House with a cabinet of moral decency.  Vice President Pence has openly declared his faith in Jesus Christ and the new director of the CIA, Mike Pompeo, recently stated openly that "Jesus Christ our Savior is truly the only solution for our world."  I almost fell out of my chair when I heard that!

 

But it isn't only the faith of these men that is important in their positions, but also the respect for the foundations that our nation was built upon.  Our nation was build upon biblical morals and foundations and the Godless generation that has developed since the Bible was removed from public schools forty years ago are hissing at them like vampires with a crucifix pressed on their foreheads.  Many of them are seething because they are afraid some of their evil practices will be revoked.  One of them being abortion!

 

It is no coincidence that both Satanist and abortion advocates were practically gathered together hand and hand at these recent protests since Satanist use baby fetuses for their sacrificial rites.  I'm not going to get into any of the horrific details of this wicked practice but just a little bit of research will expose this reality.  The Lord has seen it all and they will be severely judged unless they repent and turn to Christ.

 

These demon worshippers were probably already plotting and planning when Hillary Clinton publicly announced that she would allow the killing of a baby right up to the last day of pregnancy during the 2016 Presidential debate. This wicked and atrocious woman is the alternative that these liberal protestors would rather have running our country.  We are living in bizarre world.

 

There are several underlying agendas to all of these recent protests and one of the major ones from all the groups combined is opposition to Christianity.  I saw a picture of one woman holding a sign that said, "If Mary would have had an abortion, we wouldn't have any of these problems."  My goodness, may God have mercy on her soul!

 

The world is becoming so evil that Bible abiding Christians are now considered the ones causing the problems. This is yet another sign of how close we are to the Rapture.  The world is going to rejoice when the Christians have been removed from the earth and there will be no God fearing men to pass moral legislatures to interrupt their evil ways.

 

In Revelation 11, there will be Two Witnesses of God giving testimony of Him and when they are killed it says that the whole world will rejoice over their death (Revelation 11:10), because they were tormented by their testimony.  We are already seeing a preview of this scene on our news stations right now.

 

Being a Christian in this world today is burdensome.  Christians  are being physically persecuted in the Middle East and Christians  are being mentally persecuted here in the West.  If the wretched things going on in our world today do not affect you, then you are not a Christian.

 

Too many people are living for the things of this world and sadly many of them are even professing Christians.  Sports and entertainment are their gods and Jesus Christ is just a name that comes out of their mouths when the opposing team scores a touchdown.

 

Our time is quickly running out and every Christian has a friend, family or loved one that does not know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and they will be left behind to experience the most horrific seven years this world has ever seen.  If you think things are chaotic now, wait until the horrors of the Tribulation period kick in!  There will be no mercy for the wicked and Satan himself will be running rampant during his final curtain call.  This is not a show you want a ticket for!

 

If you are a Christian reading this, it's time to preach the gospel to your loved ones like their lives depended on it, because it does!  If you are not a Christian reading this, you can be saved right now by calling on the Name and the only Name that all men under heaven are saved by, and that Name is Jesus Christ.

 

Simply confess that you are a sinner, ask Him to forgive you of your sins and to be your Lord and Savior right now.  Then thank Him for dying in your place and rising from the dead so that you won't have to die and will have eternal life.

 

If you have done that then congratulations, you have just entered the family of God and have obtained a ticket to the kingdom of heaven, bought and paid for by the King Himself.  Now follow Him and be not of this world anymore.

 

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world.  And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever." (1 John 2:15-17)

THE LAST DAYS ACCORDING TO EVERYONE

 Pete Garcia -

 

The ancient Vikings believed in 'Ragnarok'. The Buddhist believe in the coming of the 'Maitreya'. The Hindus believe that the 'Kalki' brings an end to the current Kali Yuga. Islam predicts that the end will come when the 'Mahdi' returns. Even atheists and skeptics posit that we are overdue for an occurrence such as a meteor, super volcano, global weather extreme, or other cataclysmic earth-ending event.

 

It is common for cultures and societies to look toward the future with a certain level of trepidation. The future represents change. It is the big and dark 'unknown'. With that said, every religion and/or belief system in the world today has some view, position, or opinion about what they consider the 'end-times' or the 'last days'.

 

Within Christianity, around 30% of the Holy Bible contains 'prophecy', and more applicable to the discussion at hand is what academics call 'eschatology'. (Koine Greek-Eschatos = last or final things, logy=the study of) That said, Christianity has become largely divided over how to interpret the passages pertaining to the 'last days'.

 

On one hand, the largely Protestant, mainline denominations (Episcopalian, Lutheran, Methodist, Anglican, Presbyterian, etc.) tend to view Bible prophecy in much the same way as their predecessor, the Roman Catholic Church viewed it...as already complete and spiritually in effect. To them, that means that much of what the Bible has to say about the last days was completed in the first century, and that what is ongoing now is the ongoing spiritual kingdom.

 

Granted there are disagreements on some of the finer points as to exactly how and when things like the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will be, or who the 'Antichrist' might be, but for the most part they agree in large measure on three main points:

 

1. The Church has replaced Israel as God's Chosen people (this is known as 'Replacement Theology' or 'Supercessionism').
2. Most, if not all of prophecy was completed with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70 by the Romans under General Titus and his legions.
3. The 'Kingdom', is in affect now, and Christ currently reigns through His church here on earth. Also known as Kingdom Now, or Dominion Theology.

 

Each of these major theological premises are accompanied and supported by their eschatological positions, which are predicated in how they interpret scriptural passages. So for instance, a 'literal' interpretation of Scripture, would not support the theological position of Replacement Theology (1). Romans 11 for instance, flatly rejects this notion.

 

They are then forced to select another form of interpretation such as the allegorical (or non-literal) method to make their theological position of Replacement Theology mesh with their view that they have replaced Israel as 'God's Chosen'. Simply put, they have to use the allegorical approach, because the plain reading of scripture (in context) does not back up their suppositions.

 

This makes the overarching end-times view within both Roman Catholicism and mainline Protestantism a mix between Post Millennialism (Church conquers the world before Christ returns) and Amillennialism [a-as a negative] (the world continues on perpetuity until some indefinite end as yet defined).

 

Another branch within Christianity is the Evangelicals. Evangelicals tend to take more of the literalist interpretation of Scripture (i.e...take the text at what it says, in context). Within Evangelical Christianity, there are still divergent views on how the end happens, but for the most part, the two major views are the following:

 

1. The Rapture of the Church before the Tribulation (also known as Pre-Tribulation Rapture view).
2. The Second Coming of Christ (also known as the Post-Tribulation view).

 

Assessment

 

So consider some of the older religions from groups such as the Sumerians, Babylonians, Greeks and Romans, Mayans, and Vikings...if their beliefs were true-then these civilizations would still be in effect. In other words, if their views had any merit to them...wouldn't their 'gods' have foretold the demise of their own civilizations in order to prevent that from ever happening?

 

So for that purpose, this article we will forego any religious system that is already extinct or of no effect to the world today, and simply apply how their eschatology fits into the world of today. This leaves the following list by order of number of devotees and the potential ramifications for their eschatological beliefs: 

 

Roman Catholicism/Protestant Christianity (2.2 Billion)

 

The Roman Catholic and mainline Protestant churches generally (not all) advocate the same type of eschatological views. The long term view is Amillennial, and their practical day to day view is Dominionist. Both of these support the repeated attempts at creating theocratic rule by the Church. Such was the case during the Dark Ages with its Crusades, Inquisitions, Geneva, and the new American colonies.

 

Islam (1.6 Billion)

 

The current divide between Sunni (majority) and Shia (minority) currently keeps the Muslim world divided amongst itself. The major division is over both their lineage and their eschatology. Divisions within each branch of Islam also keep them divided as they vie for power in an attempt to reestablish their own versions of the 'caliphate'.

 

Hinduism (1 Billion)

 

Hinduism is largely concentrated in India, with some bleed over to neighboring nations like Burma and China. Hinduism is not currently as driven for world-wide domination as say Islam and Christianity are, but tend to take more of a pantheist (everything is 'god') view with thousands of deities already on tap. Fits in with an ecumenical global religion very easily.

 

Buddhism (375 Million)

 

Like Hinduism, Buddhism will bring in the much needed "diversity" and deep-seated eastern philosophical underpinnings of the new global ecumenism. Christian missionaries to Nepal and India have described their experiences in these regions as even more spiritually oppressive than Islam.

 

Evangelical Christianity (100-300 Million est. worldwide)

 

Out of all the religions, Evangelical Christianity is a subset within the broader scope of what we would call, Christendom. It presents the most exclusive views on salvation as being solely based on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

 

Because of the exclusivity and nature of our salvation, Evangelicalism is also the least likely to embrace religious ecumenicalism as well as having the most cataclysmic view (in terms of consequential eschatological views) out of all the world's belief systems.

 

Two scenarios will likely bring about the end of the world and both center on a period of time known as the 'Tribulation' (Matthew 24, Revelation 6-19) or 'Daniel's 70th Week' (Daniel 9:24-27).

 

1. The Rapture of the Church would immediately remove an estimated 10-20% of the world-wide population.
2. The Second Coming devastates the entire world as Jesus Christ returns in the air and destroys all the armies of the world who have gathered at the Valley of Megiddo (in Israel).

 

Both upend the world's order and brings about the rise of a regional, than singular world order that allows for one man (Antichrist, Man of Lawlessness, Son of Perdition, Rider on the White Horse) to assume total power. Aided by the 'False Prophet', they are able to work lying signs and miracles that trick the world into following them in a disastrous set up against what remains of national and ethnic Israel...i.e....at Armageddon.

 

Remainder (1.1 Billion)

 

What remains is the atheistic/agnostic/non-religious population which make up around 1.1 billion persons. The remainder (Taoist, Sikhs, Bahai Faith, Judaism, etc.) make up the rest of the minority of religious adherents globally.

 

Conclusion

 

Out of all the religious belief system, Christianity is by far the most descriptive of the end-times. Not only is it the most descriptive, but it's also the most accurate (ie...forecasting geopolitical alignments, restoration of Israel after 1900 years, societal conditions, etc.). Not only is it the most accurate, but it's also the most believable.  In comparing all the other views along with the day and age we find ourselves, you see the profound difference and superiority of Holy Scripture once you lay them all out together.

 

Buddha did not predict the end of the world to happen until 5,000 years after his death, which would put their 'last days' around the year 4600 AD, and frankly by then, who cares. This presents no immediate threat as we would all be long gone by then.

 

Hinduism believes at the end of the fourth Yuga, that the end comes. These are listed by Wikipedia as:

 

Satya Yuga lasts 1.728 million years.

Treta Yuga lasts 1.296 million years.

Dvapara Yuga lasts 864,000 years.

Kali Yuga lasts 432,000 years."

 

"Within the current kalpa, there are four yugas, or epochs, that encompass the evolution of this specific cycle. These ages encompass a beginning of complete purity to a descent into total decay."

 

At least they got the general direction of deterioration correct. But how exactly do they know something happened 1.728 million years ago and not 1.729 million years ago? How could anyone, anywhere, ever validate any of it?.

 

Islamic Eschatology

 

Even harder to believe, are the signs given in Islam that would point to the end times. There are 56 minor signs, and 10 major most of which aren't indicative of any specific time period (the drinking of much wine), and some are pretty laughable (people fornicating in the streets like donkeys). One of the major signs... and probably the most damning against it as a viable eschatology, is that of Isa (Islam's Jesus) return prior to the Mahdi. It's damning for two reasons:

 

1. If Jesus is who He says He is, (and He says He is God in the Flesh), than He cannot be the Jesus of Islam (who was only a man). Subsequently, Islam only knows who Jesus is via the Christian faith which predates it by 700 years.
2. If Jesus returns as predicted in the Koran, than He cannot be the Jesus of the Bible (whom Islam only knows about via the Christian faith) and is a liar (because He claimed to be God) thus invalidating Him as a prophet.

 

Last of which, the atheist/agnostic/skeptic/scientist view that the earth meets some cataclysmic-end due to a natural or cosmic disaster (i.e...comet collision, super-volcano, etc.). Ironically their view aligns most perfectly with that of the Bible (wormwood, sun going dark, extreme heat, etc.)

 

The Bible foretold over 2,000 years ago, that certain things would have to happen prior to the return of Christ:

 

1. Wars and Rumors of wars, pestilences, earthquakes, ethnic and national strife, and false prophets/messiah's claiming to be Christ. (Matt. 24, Mark 13, Luke 21 (The Bible uniquely qualifies these as 'birth pangs', increasing in frequency and intensity.)
2. Technology would increase to the point to where one man could control all the buying and selling in the world. (Rev. 13)
3. Technology would increase to the point to where the whole world could view an event at one location. (Rev. 11:9-10)
4. Nations would align themselves in certain geopolitical /economic/military alliances. (Ezekiel 38-39, Daniel 11, Rev. 16)
5. All the world would come under one religious system. (Rev. 13, 17)
6. Israel would be back in her land as nation again. (Isaiah 11, Ezekiel 36, Amos 9, Luke 21:24)
7. The whole world would come against Israel. (Zechariah 10, 14)
8. Religiously and socially, the world would continue to deteriorate. (2 Tim. 3, 2 Peter 3, Revelation 3)

 

So given the signs of the end for the major world religions, which seems the most plausible? Which has the most historical, archeological, political, and economic evidence to support its claims? The Bible foretells of worsening conditions, ending with a final world system under the economic, technological, and theological thumb of regional governments, absorbed into one, all headed by a single man.

 

Remember the former things of old,

For I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like Me,

Declaring the end from the beginning,

And from ancient times things that are not yet done,

Saying, 'My counsel shall stand,

And I will do all My pleasure,' (Isaiah 46:9-10)

The Man Among The Myrtle Trees

by billrandles

I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.  Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.  And they answered the angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.  Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years? (Zechariah 1:8-12)

In Zechariah's first vision he saw horsemen.  The most prominent one, stood among the Myrtle trees which were situated in a low, wet place. This man standing among those low trees, is none less than the Angel of the LORD, the Messiah, who is also called "The Messenger of the Covenant".

The Myrtle trees, (lit.) Haddasah trees,  are lowly, yet fragrant, and in this vision are partially submerged in a watery ditch. In prophetic language, trees represent nations, such as the Cedar of Lebanon, the Oaks of Bashan, and in Israel's case, at times the fig or olive Tree.

In the day of the return from Captivity, the tree which best symbolized Israel, was the lowly Haddaseh, partially submerged in a watery ditch , in the Hebrew, Metsulah, sinking in water, the  same word is found in the 88th Psalm,

Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps(metsulah) .

.The nation was at a low point, for she had just returned after being 'cast into the sea", the world of the Gentiles. For Israel, there was no capitol city, only a ruin. There were no walls around Jerusalem, the Temple had been destroyed, and only a trickle of Jews returned to the Land after her captivity.

But even in this depressed condition, The Angel of the LORD is seen, standing with her in her degraded and weakened state.He sits on a Red Horse and speaks to a small band of Angelic horsemen.They have just returned from a patrol across the earth and have now brought their report.

"All of the earth sits still and is at rest...".

So the Nations of the World are unconcerned about the ruined state of the Covenant people, they are fine, whilst Jerusalem is a wreck, ruined, and humiliated.

There is also a very modern application to this vision so far.

I can remember a time in my own lifetime, when Islamic terrorism was Israel's problem to solve, not the rest of the modern world. Europe, the USA, The UN and Russia didn't have to deal with it, just the Jews. Everyone had a lot of council for the Jews, as to how best to solve this problem, such as "the two State Solution", "Land for Peace" and endless negotiations were urged as if the only Democratic and free state in the Middle East was morally equivalent to the people who slaughtered the Israeli Olympic team in 1972.

The nations were at ease, they didn't care as long as the oil kept flowing.

So the Angel of the LORD who stands with the lowly Haddasah tree,  intercedes for Jerusalem and for all of Zion, asking God, How long will it be before the LORD shows mercy to Jerusalem?

And the Lord answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words.  So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.  And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus saith the Lord; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.  Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.(Zechariah 1:13-17)

The comforting words? The LORD is jealous for Jerusalem,He will not leave it in such a ruined state forever, He has a purpose to fulfill in Zion, regardless of what the indifferent Gentile world thinks!

In fact the LORD who was displeased with Israel, is now sore displeased at the Nations of the world, for their indifference to the plight of his own people. God had used the nations at one rime, to chasten his people, but the nations have taken God's chastening further than he intended! "They helped forward the affliction".

Yes Israel has endured a long night of exile, suffering, shame and debasement for centuries, exactly as Moses predicted she would, as punishment for her sins.

But evidently the Babylonians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Ottoman Turks, and yes the Germans, British, French and Americans, all have been used to chastise the Holy people, at various times, but all of the nations stand guilty of taking the assigned affliction too far by varying degrees. God is angry at the nations!

Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.  And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.  And the Lord shewed me four carpenters.  Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.(Zechariah 12:18-21)

Horns symbolize worldly powers, governments and Empires. The Gentiles are depicted as four horns which were used to "scatter" the Holy people. Why four? Four is a universal number, for example, North,South, East , and West. The center if the world is Israel, the center of Israel is Jerusalem and the center of Jerusalem is the temple mount. All around are the Gentiles, to the North, South,sat and West.

Nebuchadnezzar the King had a vision of the four major gentile Powers Israel would be subservient to, (until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled), two eastern powers and two western, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, powers which would rule until Jesus comes back.

Currently there is a olitical entity of Gentile powers called "the Quartet" which was organized to solve and implement the "two state" solution in Israel. The Quartet consists of The U.N., the European Union, the USA and Russia.

All of the major gentile powers are guilty of scattering Judah,Israel and Jerusalem. We know of course the ways that the Babylonians, the Seleucid Greeks and the Romans literally scattered Israel from one end of the earth to the other.

But didn't the Germans also scatter the Jews, and has not the British Empire, and  Modern America scattered Israel also? Who turned away the ship the ST Louis, full of Holocaust survivors, desperately seeking refuge, but being turned away at every port, in Europe, America and in South America, until the Ship was resigned to returning to German held Europe, and most of the escapees perished anyway?

Which Nation, after World War 2 rammed another ship of literal holocaust survivors on their way to Israel to make Aliyah? The British Navy rammed the Exodus, boarded the ship and arrested the captains, towed the ship back to Europe and confined the would be escapees to internment camps in Europe!

Which US President conspired with Ariel Sharon to force Jews out of the Gaza, land God gave to Abraham and his seed forever, only to cede it over to savages who have been rocketing Israel ever since?

The horns are so powerful, they are musclebound nations compared to the little Haddasah tree in the wet Ravine, but the LORD has an answer to the "Four Horns", four carpenters.The 'carpenters' are raised up by God to deal with the mighty horns. For every horn there is a carpenter, to "Fray" the horn.

What does the word "Fray"mean in the text? David Baron, whose commentary on Zechariah is invaluable, says that the Hebrew word translated "Fray" means "Terrorize".

Have not the musclebound, most powerful nations on earth, any of which in a classic "set piece" battle could crush any other armies, proven to be ineffective in the current style of guerrilla terror war of the Muslims, Hezbullah, Abu Sayef, Isis and Alqueda?

MARKING SENSE OF A SWIRLING SCENARIO IN OUR WORLD

Things are not always as they appear. That statement is often repeated and is well said. I recall enjoying an evening at the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo at the Broadmoor Arena in Colorado Springs in the late 1960s. The guest celebrities were Doc and Festus of the Gunsmoke television series. In their segment they did several of their give and take comedy routines familiar to those who had watched the programs on television.

 

Then it came the time for Festus to sing a western ballad. In a smooth, rich baritone voice the ballad rolled out of that squeaky-voiced Festus, the stumbling, mumbling deputy of Marshall Dillon! I was really taken by surprise! It turns out that Festus was, in real life Ken Curtis, once  a member of the Sons of the Pioneers after a prior notable career in other musical venues.

 

Things are not always as they appear to be.

 

Middle class America, sometimes describing themselves as being "in a rat race," often have the subtle sense that it looks like "the rats are winning!" When I was a practicing CPA, preparing tax returns and keeping track of records for that purpose, basically, as it turned out, it appeared that perhaps the rats were winning because the deck was stacked against people at the start.

 

A young couple-college graduates or not-decide to marry, have a family, fulfill careers, and enjoy the good life of American freedom. Several massive issues hit them immediately: They both get jobs; they both need a car; they want to buy a home; children appear on the scene; providing for their education looms over them; starting a retirement fund; paying college loans, car loans, home mortgage; financial needs mushroom; and they are told, in counsel, that they should have at least six months of emergency funds set aside to meet unexpected calamities! It looks like the rats are winning because they have a head start!

 

If the couple has no real, practical faith in God, they are way behind already. In today's American culture, there is a strong trend that when the son or daughter turns eighteen years old and graduates from high school, its "Goodbye, Mom and Dad, and your God, I am done with it!"

 

What a dismal picture I have painted, yet it is so often the way it is. Things are not always what they seem to be. The God of reality has been replaced with the god of things and stuff...and emptiness and hopelessness.  If God didn't move, who did? Perhaps it is designed to bring man to face the question, "What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul" (Mark 8:36).

 

When viewed through the lenses of spiritual reality, there is hope, for Jesus said, "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).  When Jesus asked His disciples, in John 6:67-69, "Do you also want to go away," Peter exclaimed, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

 

As one of his subtitles in his paraphrase of Paul's letter to the Philippians, J.B. Phillips wrote, "Man's Extremity Is God's Opportunity." When we get to the end of our rope, God is there.

 

The godless mindset of the liberal, socialistic elements of our society swarmed to the appealing oratory of Barack Obama and allowed him eight years of almost free-wheeling manipulation of the basic foundations of our Republic, and any attempt at rebuke was met with an outcry of "racist" or "conspiracy theorist." No one was allowed to properly vet Obama and his background is, at best, a shadowy uncertainty.

 

No doubt, like most of the media and the Clinton campaign, he expected Hillary to end up winning the presidency. Evidently, that led him to quietly mutter, "The end of the Republic has never looked better" during the early moments of his talk at the April 30, 2016, Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, D.C. Why would a president say that, after eight years, unless he was on a planned program to accomplish just that? Yet, no one has challenged him on it, so far as I have seen. Not one.

 

Well, he did set out to "fundamentally transform America forever," didn't he? He told us that plainly, over and over during the 2008 campaign. And now he has summed up his legacy as a success and the country is in greater shape than it has ever been. Deceit and deception are two descriptive words that come to mind.

 

Sometimes things are not as they appear to be.

 

Why did God allow him to become president? How could it have been possible that so many fell into lockstep with him, even now claiming to hold him at a popularity level of fifty-three or more per cent of the nation? Was God allowing this nation, which has been the beacon of light and hope for the whole world, to test its real heart and commitment?

 

He has shown the nation what the liberals had to offer, and it was like a wet paper sack, empty and holding nothing. At this writing there are sixty-nine lemmings who are piled up at the bottom of the cliff, having plunged over the edge still committed to a failed leadership with a failed philosophy.

 

Fortunately, grassroots America, both evangelical Christian and every-day hardhats and blue collar patriots rose up and defied the so-called, self-identified "more intelligent" who were so sure they had captured the election and would have eight more years of Obama destruction of America's foundations.

 

Obama came into office with two agendas-one, an assigned task of "leading us into a new world order," which would require the destruction of America's sovereignty. The other one, in my own opinion, was a subtle and hidden desire and intent to effect the conversion of the world to Islam. His claim to be a Christian was an empty and totally unsupported effort to deceive and mislead from his true purpose. His most memorable moment, as he said in his opening remarks to the beginning of Ramadan, the Islamic holy days in 2009, was the early morning Islamic call to prayer.

 

What was the reason for that special tour of the Arab/Islamic countries so soon after becoming president in 2009, where he apologized for America and bowed down before the king of Saudi Arabia, a submissive, subjective gesture to the leader of another country?

 

Why has he been instrumental in overthrowing Islamic dictators, even, in Middle East countries? When the Egyptian military coup threw out the Muslim Brotherhood leadership, why did Obama send Secretaries Hagel and Kerry there to convince the new military government to allow the Muslim Brotherhood to have a part in it?

 

Why did he insist on calling the Fort Hood massacre "workplace violence" when it was clearly Islamic terrorism and everyone knows that to be so? Why did he mastermind such a benevolent agreement with Iran to allow them access to nuclear power and give them billions of dollars? Count the waste of American lives and tangible resources as the price we have paid. It makes  one wonder about the integrity of his oath of office.

 

Even Obama's signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act, was too expensive to be acceptable, except for those who were subsidized by government funding, and insurance companies were abandoning the plan, wholesale, or pricing themselves out of reach of the needy. Some analysts have concluded that it was never meant to be successful but to be a tool to bring complete social medicine to America-a prime feature of the liberal, socialistic dream.

 

But America's choice was simply like deciding what will we have for supper? Shall we put together a salad or a crockpot of a variety of ingredients of our own selected choices, or do we just open up another can of soup like we have done for eight years? America has decided to try a new menu of its own choosing.

 

But things are not always as they appear to be.

 

Had Hillary Clinton won the election, is there any doubt whatsoever that the downward spiral of America would have continued? So if that would have brought in a New World Order as the forerunner of a one world government-the seven-headed beast prophesied in Revelation 13-why did God, apparently, put a stop to it?

 

It spills out this way: While God has that ultimate goal in mind, He has never allowed "flesh and blood" (ungodly mankind) to decide how and when prophetic events, even personal salvation, are to occur. A notable example of that is His death. The religious leaders desperately wanted to kill Him, but He said, "No one takes it [His life] from Me, but I lay it down of Myself" (John 10:18).

 

Remember what Jesus said in Luke 17:26-30 in regard to social and economic conditions at the coming of the Son of Man:

 

"And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.  Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed."

 

The context continues through verse 37 with more detail, but it is clear that America and the world will not be devastated and subservient to a new world order when Jesus returns. Social and economic activities will be in full swing when Jesus comes. God has kept His plan free of the taint of Adam's "flesh and blood" input and has given a window of opportunity for evangelical Christians to tell the good news of salvation to as many more as possible. It reminds me of the words of an old country gospel song I heard many years ago and once again just recently: "Wait a little longer, please Jesus, a few more days to get our loved ones in!"

 

Perhaps one of your loved ones will be that final one He takes out of the Gentiles for His namesake!