USA & Babylon/USA in Prophecy: Is It Really There?

- By Ron Ferguson -

Before you read this, I need to explain that I am not American but an outsider about 13/14,000 km away, but for 60 years I have tried to study the USA and what happens there. Don't be too hard on me!

 

American Christians are concerned about the morality cliff over which the nation is plunging, and seek to identify with something biblical to explain what they see around them. The decline in the United States is on all fronts - church attendances are declining; lawlessness is becoming unstoppable; the rise of anarchists and radicals is most alarming; there is a breakdown in co-operative government; financial problems are escalating; Hollywood produces social agenda garbage; the quality of education and the curriculum are in freefall; crime rates are increasing; people are beginning to lose faith in and respect for the judiciary.

 

How do the United States Christians identify with that? In fairness, those problems are not just confined to the United States these days, but are symptomatic of our times in all but authoritarian nations.

 

With recognition of what the country has become, there is fear as to where it is heading. People want answers. Christians want answers. They look to the Bible for these, and the desire to "find it in the Bible" is great. However, the danger is to write into the Bible what it never intended, and then from silence, to develop a systematic platform for resolving the place of America in the world of the Bible. That then gets hooked into a biblical prophetic distortion that must include the United States at all costs. How rational is all this when considered against the accepted and proper exegesis of scripture? Does the USA really feature in the prophecy of the Bible?

 

I will seek to answer all this, for I find it unacceptable that Christians would distort scripture to make the square peg fit the round hole. I was very surprised to find that some of those accepted views on the United States and prophecy are quite common. I did not think it was until I did Google searches, and there seems just so much. Why would this be?

 

To begin with, I want to say something that is going to brand me badly, I feel, but remember I am an outsider, an observer who has reacted with Americans for over 60 years in a lesser way, but sufficient to form some subjective opinions.

 

In my nation, many consider the average American to be quite parochial, that is, very much absorbed nationally with not too much knowledge of the outside world. In other words, the United States is everything, and all must conform to the United States standard. Not too much leeway is granted for the opinions and attitudes of those outside the United States. I cite franchises here that, when they operate in other nations, they must conform to the very inch how the buildings are constructed (McDonald's, Subway, KFC, Wendy's, etc.) and to the exact style and colors of uniforms, etc. That gives the message, "We know what is best for everyone else."

 

I don't want to be misunderstood here. I want to say that it can breed a subtle impression that "We are the best," and "We are right."

 

When you believe you are the world leader (probably justifiably so), then the next step is to think you are important enough for God to take note and include you in the prophecy of the Bible. If that is so, then why did God not do the same for the great Empire of Spain or Britain or France or China? What is so special about the United States that it must have specific prophecy relating just to it?

 

I must be honest here. Every one of these specific prophecies I have seen mentioned by people when they claim them for the United States has been taken out of context, and that makes a distorted exegesis and does harm to the Bible.

 

It is in the same boat as those who take Ezekiel chapter 1 and build into it a doctrine of alien visitation.

 

Why would God speak of the United States or put secret things in the Bible that the educated find and make a connection to the United States? It just makes no logical sense.

 

Prophecy must be logical and must be interconnected. That is why the entire body of prophetic writings is integrated into a network that is entire, WITH ISRAEL AT THE CENTER. What connection did China have with Israel in the days of the prophets? What connection did the United States have with Israel 2 and 3 thousand years ago?

 

The answer is obvious and is why all nations outside of the biblical references are not included in any specific prophecy. God is consistent about that. Many HOPE the United States is in prophecy because they think their country is too important not to be there. That, though, does not make it work.

 

I have covered two reasons why the United States is omitted from prophecy. In summary -

 

All biblical prophecy that is specific and not general is related to the nations of the biblical times. That is why so much centers around the promises for Israel, the armies of the invaders, the future Tribulation and restoration of Israel, and the downfall of so many of the idolatrous nations surrounding Israel.

There are a few general prophecies also, the best ones being the ones related to "In the last days" as in Timothy, and the Rapture in 1 Cor 15 and 1 Thess 4. In none of these is any country mentioned or alluded to.

 

Prophecy connected with the nations had a connection with Israel. Canada never did. Australia never did. Thailand never did. The United States never did, and that is why all those nations do not feature in any way with specific prophecies for them. Do not make it do so. It is wrong and dishonoring to do it.

There are very few instances where more widespread nations have the slightest mention. These are not actually named nations, but generalities. I will give a few (all NASB):

 

Psalm 97:1 "The LORD reigns. Let the earth rejoice. Let the many islands be glad."

 

Isaiah 49:1 "Listen to Me, O islands, and pay attention, you peoples from afar. The LORD called Me from the womb, from the body of My mother He named Me." ("Islands" - often distant countries)

 

Jeremiah 6:22 "Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, a people is coming from the north land, and a great nation will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth." (Reference to Babylon).

 

Ezekiel 38:6 "Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops - many peoples with you." (It really means the far remote places, way up north.)

 

Zechariah 12:3 "And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.

 

Zechariah 14:2 "For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured."

 

Gentile nations are ONLY EVER mentioned if they had a connection with Israel in biblical times, either with war or blessing or destruction. The United States can only be included where I have underlined above.

 

So why do people desire for the United States to be included in specific prophecy?

 

Is it for a sense of fulfillment?

 

Is it for a sense of pride? Is it that God just possibly could not have overlooked the United States? I think that is a question that should be examined.

 

Khomeini called the United States the great Satan. Mao Zedong called it a paper tiger, but God has called it nothing. It does not make the Bible record. The United States is a nation that has done a lot of good in the world (promotion of Christian material, evangelists, saving Australia in WW2, protecting free nations of the world), and still does a lot of good, but also produced a lot of evil (Hollywood, the porn industry, greed).

 

It is a nation God has blessed, and I think will continue to bless while it supports Israel with the current president.

 

However, we all know that the great sadness is that it is decaying from within (or, if you like, "coming apart" like a mix of iron and clay), but so is almost every nation of the world. The United States is a member of the world community and shares its destiny with the nations of the world. It has no prophetic links to Israel. Christians are not bad people, and the misguided views of the United States that some of them have, in a certain way, are understandable. "We want to find our destiny. We hope we are there in the Bible." Some Americans hope they are there. As nations, specifically, neither the whole of North and South America, nor Australia, nor sub-Equatorial Africa, nor SE Asia have specific prophecies attached to them.

 

Because the United States is or was so rich with trading and enterprises and in military hardware, then certain ones have looked on the United States as being Babylon, even Great Babylon, or Babylon of Revelation 17 and 18. Some want to relate the current move to apostasy in the United States to Babylon - a mixture of truth and utter confusion. It might be understandable that Americans would want to do this, but that again is problematic because of the introverted nature of the American psyche in a few, where SOME Christians think that their nation MUST be in scripture.

 

In the history of Babylon, we begin with Nimrod, who established Babel, a place of rebellion against God. He and his wife/mother Semiramis and son Tammuz (Read The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop) created a commercial and religious organization that infiltrated the whole known world. It confused the true worship of Jehovah (Babel means confusion).

 

Babel grew into Babylon that eventually became a world power (the first and the finest [head of gold]) that had an impact on Israel. The Pharaoh dynasties did not really impact Israel as a world power as did Babylon, Media Persia, Greece, and Rome. Babylon conquered Judah around 597 BC under Nebuchadnezzar, and the Jews have never been a free and nationalized people since that time until 1947/48.

 

Of course, Babylon continues as Iraq generally today, though borders have come and gone. Assyria covered much of Syria and Iraq. However, I will distinguish between Babylon the nation, and Babylon the system. No more mention is made of Babylon as a nation in the Bible outside of the Old Testament, apart from passing references in Acts 7:43 and an improbable one in 1 Peter 5:13. It is not until Revelation that we read of Babylon, but what is the Babylon here?

 

In 312 AD Constantine the great had his great victory at the Milvian Bridge, which he attributed to a supernatural vision of a cross and words saying, "By this you shall conquer." He renounced paganism and allegedly became a Christian. Then he made all his soldiers to be baptized, and they joined (flooded into) the church. The problem there was that, in the main, they were unconverted, and they consequently brought all their pagan practices into the church. In time, some of the old Babylonian elements became incorporated in Christian doctrine; and over the centuries, they became absolute doctrine in the Roman Catholic church.

 

I won't try to give a comprehensive list of practices, but they include the adoration/worship of the Mother/Child deity, the doctrine of the Queen of Heaven, the wafer as a round symbol of the Sun god, and the wearing of vestments. The scholarly study of these, and a whole lot more, is found in The Two Babylons.

 

Now, what you have in the above is the functioning of the Babylonian system. This system has infiltrated all religions of the world and brought confusion and degeneracy of belief. The system is alive today.

 

What of the nation of present-day Iraq? There is no prophecy for that nation as a specific item, though no doubt it will become an adherent of the power base for the World Leader after the Rapture (the Antichrist, if you like). On the other hand, its system is energized and will form the basis of the Revelation Babylon.

 

Let us move to those Revelation references. There are 7 references: one in chapter 14 and the remainder in chapters 17 and 18. Chapter 17 is the destruction of religious Babylon, and chapter 18 is the downfall of commercial Babylon. The great question among scholars is what does Babylon represent here - an actual new construction of Babylon, or a site somewhere which assumes the name Babylon, or a religious and commercial system that follows the millennia confusion of this evil system? And - - - the United States?

 

The first question we ask is how and why would a new Babylon be built? There is no logical sense for this, for it would have to be absolutely huge. The timeframe is against it as this system operates through the Tribulation, and such a construction would take years. This notion was popularized by the Left Behind series of books. There is absolutely no reason for it except to satisfy a wrong understanding of Babylon in Revelation that some presume has to be a place or city. It makes no sense.

 

A site somewhere that assumes the name Babylon is likewise a silly notion. One can understand through a careful reading of Rev 18 that commercial Babylon is worldwide and totally comprehensive. That is way beyond the suggestion of a specific location.

 

The third option of it being a system is the one that has the only credibility.

 

Babylon is an octopus-strangling system that controls the whole world religion and commerce in the Tribulation.

 

The influence of Babylon is already in religion, but after the Rapture, its evil will be paramount. The study of Revelation shows clearly that the worship under the False Prophet will be a satanic, drug-induced, evil system. That is more in fitting with a Babylonian system than a particular city with that name. It means functionality and interactive trade made rich by the evil of the Antichrist and False Prophet and favoritism, until the Antichrist and False Prophet turn on Babylon at the end.

 

There is an interesting verse in Rev 17:9; "Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits." We have here a twofold possibility. "Mountain" in prophecy means a kingdom/nation as in Isaiah 2:2; "Now it will come about that In the last days, the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills, and all the nations will stream to it." However, it has been noted since the time of the early Church fathers that Rome is the city of the seven hills - The seven hills are Aventine Hill, Caelian Hill, Capitoline Hill, Esquiline Hill, Palatine Hill, Quirinal Hill, Viminal Hill.

 

This has caused some commentators to say that Mystery Babylon of the Tribulation will be the Roman Catholic church as the Vatican is in Rome.

 

I reject that. I do think it is most likely the headquarters of the Tribulation apostate church. This Mother of Harlots will be in Rome, and the Vatican will play a part, as will the apostate elements of all of Christendom and all other world religions. The Roman Catholic church may be "babylonian" in some beliefs and practices, but it is not THE religious Babylon of Rev 17.

 

The fourth option some promote is that the United States now is the Babylon of the future post-Rapture. That is just wrong. The timeframe is wrong; the concept is wrong; why not make it China, as that nation is a match for the United States in commercialization, but more cunning and more apostate than the USA. To claim the United States as the great whore or the commercial Babylon of Rev 18 is just another parochial introspection to try to force the nation into biblical prophecy when it is not there. If the United States was a righteous and clean nation, then students would not be making the Babylon claims.

 

It is likely that commercial Babylon will have an operations base somewhere in the world, as does the UN with its headquarters in Brussels, but if that is the case, then I'd expect it to be in Europe (a lesser possibility is the Middle East), considering that will be the powerbase of the Revived Roman Empire.

 

What is the backbone of the United States at present? It is not its military might; it is not its innovation; it is not its Constitution; it is not its capitalistic enterprises... it is the Christians. The morality of Christians and God's good hand on the nation is only because of its Christian confession. Once you remove that at the Rapture, then the nation sinks into the moral abyss that will be the feature of all the nations of the world post-Rapture. The world becomes a morality mess, out of which will rise a satanic worship system to be known as "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH," in God's eyes (Rev 17), and also "Babylon the great which has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird" (Rev 18) as the world plies its trading.

 

There is an especially errant internet site that tries to defend America as Babylon. People who do this will go to great lengths to strain scripture through the eye of a needle, and that is what this site does. As proof that America is the great Babylon, it proposes these reasons, all developed from Revelation 17 and 18:

 

Proof #1: Deep Sea Water Port - Because of the mention of ships and the sea in Rev 18:17-19, then America qualifies.

 

Proof #2: Top Financial/Military Power Rev 17:9, 18 and 18:18; has to be America as it is the chief economic power of the world and the greatest importer and (infamously) consumer of goods and resources in the world per capita.

 

Proof #3: Babylon Must Have A Recognizable Mother Country. "Unlike all the

other countries named" [by the site], America has a clearly recognizable mother country. Yes, Great Britain is the "Mother Babylon" of Jeremiah 50:12, which "Daughter Babylon" came from. Great Britain will watch as her closest and most powerful ally is destroyed in a single day, a single hour. (Putin boasted once that he could destroy America in half that time.)"

 

Then it goes on to talk about the eagle wings describing Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel and the American eagle. This is the type of distorted interpretation these advocates of America = Babylon contrive, attempting to prove a delusion unsupported by the Bible. I have just read an interesting article from a site called "Feed the Hunger" in Burlington, NC, and would like to add some quotes from it:

 

[Let's look at some aspects of Babylon the Great that are mentioned in Revelation. It is easy to see how America has brought prosperity to the earth, yet has caused the world to get drunk on her adulteries (Rev. 18:3). It also has a vast shoreline that would put its destruction in plain view (verses 17-18). There are several other compelling similarities. However, our country has not yet come even remotely close to persecuting and killing Christians (17:6 & 18:24). Currently in America, there are only rare cases of persecution, and they pale in comparison to what millions of believers in other countries have endured and continue to endure on a daily basis.

 

Another problem I have with the "America-equals-Babylon" viewpoint is that I sense there are strong and deeply rooted hints of nationalistic pride in the hearts of some of those who believe our country is God's best, yet also worst creation ever. God is not sitting on his throne draped in our flag and speaking English, but He does deeply care for every soul.

 

Lastly, my main hurdle with staking a vehement claim that America is now Babylon the Great is that it means you have to completely ignore the Middle Eastern context of the Bible. Yes, Revelation is perhaps the main book in God's Word that speaks of what happens to the whole earth, and America could be Babylon. But, in my opinion, this cannot be proven until all of the events of Revelation have taken place.

 

My bottom line: At the very least, America has the spirit of Babylon the Great, and that is enough for me to have grave concern for our country's future. What's worse, the main cause of this spirit, in my mind, is the failure of the American Church. The Body of Christ has made the downward progression from being the driving force at our nation's founding to being (spiritually) anemic and lazy pew sitters who don't live different from the country's non-believing population. We've turned a blind eye to sin and actually built our "faith" around self-indulgence, believing that God owes us whatever we ask.]

 

In conclusion

 

The United States is not featured in biblical prophecy. It had no relationship to biblical events or lands or conflicts or prophetic promises that connect it with Israel. It has no more relevance to prophecy than has China, Japan, Mexico or Canada.

 

The United States is not Babylon or the Great whore or Mystery Babylon. In one way, it is becoming "babylon" in the sense of confusion, the meaning of the word, but so is every other western country.

ALL ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED

By Pastor Mike Taylor

25 “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” (Romans 11:25-27)

(I have spoken of this subject in times past, but as the times grow closer to the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, these events become more apparent on the horizon. It was reported that Hezbollah in Lebanon would attack Israel this summer..it hasn't happened yet, but it will happen in God's timing. It could happen before I post this message on my blog and on Prophecy Update)

THE MIRACLE THAT IS ISRAEL

Have you ever stopped to consider in this fast paced world we live in, the miracle this is the nation of Israel? Of all people on earth, the Israelites, the Jewish people have been the whipping boy for the entire world. They have been persecuted wherever they went. The Gentiles around them abused and destroyed many of the members of this race, God called Israelites, or Hebrew in the Old Testament during the time of Abraham.

I see what the history of Israel has been since I've been alive, and all you can say, God has worked a miracle when it comes to Israel. Let us examine for a bit, the quick history of the establishment of Israel and the fight she has had to bring to her enemies who only wish to destroy her.

ISRAEL REBORN

In 1948, the tiny nation of Israel declared her independence and was recognized by our president at the time, Harry S. Truman, which gave them immediate credibility on the world stage. But it also brought about the swift action of the surrounding Arab neighbors who wished to drive them into the sea.

Israel should not have won. Their military assets were grossly inferior to the blood thirsty Arabs who wished only to destroy this fledging nation and remove her from the face of the earth once and for all...but that is not what happened. Anyone who wants to read about the unheard of “miracle” of the first war of survival that Israel was faced with can only come away with one impression., that is, God was on the side of Israel.

No one can explain how Israel won the 1948 War of Independence.  The US Army War College at West Point doesn’t even study Israel’s victory.  When asked why, they replied, “We don’t teach miracles here.”...Even our military realized that it was an impossibility for Israel to win against such odds, but she did.

She has been the recipient of God's blessings, and many of those who fought did not realize that they were a part of the Divine intervention of God Almighty. Fast forward to the war that developed in 1967, or the Six Day War.

ISRAEL RECLAIMS THE TEMPLE MOUNT

In May, 1967, Egyptian and Syrian troops began massing along Israel's borders. Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping.  Egyptian President Gamel Abdul Nasser filled the airwaves with calls to drive the Jews into the sea.
Facing five well-equipped, Soviet trained Arab armies, Israel's defeat was virtually a foregone conclusion.  But instead of defeat, Israel managed to achieve a stunning victory. 
In just six days, Israel doubled its territory, capturing the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, Gaza, the West Bank and the Old City and Temple Mount.

This lightning speed war that gave Israel the victory against all odds, was called a miraculous victory, but it wasn't Israel's first miracle on the battlefield and it would not be her last. Every single battle that Israel has fought with her Arab neighbors has resulted in their victory in every single one of them and they all were miraculous.
There was a man that I was reading about during this Six Day War, that has a miraculous story to tell. The man Gershon Salamon tells a story of battling Jordanians forces just outside of his home in Israel. The man is a tenth generation “Sabra” or “native born Jerusalemite” who fought in every war since the 1948 war of Independence. The man was reported to had to have use of a cane to walk, and from that he told his story. The man's back was bowed and you would think he had some type of genetic defect that he was born with, such as Spina Bifida, or some similar defect that left him in this condition.

His wife reported that she stood on her balcony and saw the fighting in a field just behind their house. She pointed out that the Jordanians were “right there” as she pointed off into the near distance. She knew her husband was probably fighting in that field
Backing up, it was told in 1958, during a battle on the Golan hights, that her husband was wounded by an Israeli tank. Salamon told of how the tank accidentally rolled over him and ran him over. The tank caught his collar of his shirt and folded him over backwards, snapping his spine in two.

The Jordanians overran their position and were shooting wounded Israeli soldiers as they lay on the ground. As they were about to shoot Gershon Salamon, he told that they suddenly dropped their weapons and ran away.
Later, it was reported to UN officers these enemy soldiers had seen thousands of soldiers surrounding the crippled IDF officer and had, therefore, fled believing they were outnumbered..The event was corroborated by a UN document filed by a UN observer, as he went to see the injured Salamon because he witnessed the retreat and was mystified to its cause.

DIVINE MIRACLES FILL YOUR BIBLE

Gershon Salamon's story of angelic warriors is not the first I'd heard -- it was merely the first time I'd heard the story from an eyewitness. The bible speaks of another time, when Angelic host came to fight on the side of Israel.
In 2^nd Kings, there is a recorded miracle of Divine intervention when the enemies of Israel surrounded the city and God provided a miracle that Elisha saw and told his servant “Fear not”. :

14 “Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about.

15 And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?

16 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

17 And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

18 And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.” (2^nd Kings 6:14-18)

REPORTS FROM THE BATTLEFIELD

Soldiers have reported seeing angelic being on the the battlefield and this has happened in all of Israel's wars. There is an example of a Colonel Uri Ram that was welcomed into Shecham by enemy Jordanian troops during the Six Day War.

Somehow the Jordanians inadvertently mistook the Israelis for Iraqis and by the time they realized their mistake they had no choice but to surrender.
Another instance recalls of a lone Israeli soldier stumbling into a Jordanian trench where he single handed captured Ammunition Hill which led to the capture of the Old City of Jerusalem the following day.
And an Egyptian tank commander in the Sinai surrendered his entire column to less than a dozen Israeli tanks on the second day of the Six Days War.   He later said that he saw thousands of them. Remember the scripture that Elisha opened the eyes of his servant to the hills being filled with chariots of fire all about them?

17 “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place.

18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LordGod might dwell among them” (Psalms 68:17-18)

THE LIST GOES ON AND ON

Need a few more miracles that cannot be explained? I saw this on TV that was a depiction of this next miracle, when a group of Israel commandos were trapped in a minefield in the dark and they could not move, unless they trip a mine and kill them all. So they stayed where they were not knowing what to do. Suddenly, a strong wind came up and surrounded them and blew very hard for several minutes. When they finally opened their closed eyes from the blowing sand being expired, they could not believe their eyes. The wind had blown away all the sand around each land mine, and exposed them all to the soldiers and they were able to escape the mine field safely.

An Israeli documentary series entitled “Against All Odds - Israel Survives: The Complete First Season" details miracles a lot harder to explain, like strange beings with flaming swords defending a Jewish farming community from marauding Arabs. And the list just goes on and on.


I guess with any reported miracle, you could take it apart and try and explain it away as some natural cause rather than a supernatural cause. The Egyptian tank commander who lost his whole column could have been seeing only a “mirage” . Maybe the Jordanians had never seen an Iraqi tank and could not tell the difference between it and a Israeli tank.
Maybe the lone Israeli soldier was just “lucky” when he captured a whole host of Jordanian soldiers and the capturing of Ammunition Hill and the retaking their Holy City of Jerusalem.
I don't know what you could come up with to explain why the man Gershon Salamon survived and the enemy ran away seeing thousands of soldiers around him. I choose to believe that God has got Israel's back and will not let them be destroyed. Could it be coincidence? I don't believe God works in coincidence.


The Bible identifies the archangel Michael as Israel's guardian angel. (Daniel 10:13)

Daniel specifically notes that at the time of the end:

“And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

2 "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” (Daniel 12:1-3)

The prophet Zechariah prophesied that in the last days, God would send His angels to fight alongside Israel.

6 “In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.

7 The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.

8 In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them.

9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”(Zechariah 12:6-9)

The war of Independence that Israel fought in 1948 is no less a miracle than the preservation of the Hebrew children in the desert when they took flight from Egypt under the command of their mortal shepherd, Moses. Or the miracles that Joshua commanded Israel to reclaim the land of Canaan for their promised land.

God has been doing miracle after miracle when it comes to the land of Israel, as God said that they would never be uprooted again.

20  “and when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the Lord, and are gone forth out of his land.

21 But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.

22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.

23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.

24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.” (Ezekiel 36:20-25)

Israel has had to fight for her very life, since she came back into her own land, that God gave to her descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for a perpetual inheritance...meaning it will never end.

Remember in the recent past when Saddam Hussein fired thirty Scud missiles in to Israel during the first Gulf War, hoping to divide the UN coalition? Most of the missiles landed in the inhabited portions of Tel Aviv to name one, where in comparison, a single Scud missile fired at the US barracks in Saudi Arabia killed 28 National Guardsman from Pennsylvania. But not one missile killed one Jewish resident of these major cities of Israel. Only two injuries were reported..a Saudi security guard, and an Israeli-Arab.

During this war, Israel had nothing to do with the conflict between Kuwait and Iraq, but Israel is always the ultimate goal and target of those who wish to do her harm in any war in the Middle East.

IN RECENT NEWS CLIPS

I have been reading the developments in the nations surrounding Israel and from all reports, the Syrians and the Lebanese are trying to create a noose around Israel's neck. I have reported this in the recent past, but the enemies of Israel are growing more bold, since they have as their junkyard Dog, the nation of Russia to give them confidence of their ability to wage war in the area. I note that Hezbollah has upwards of 150,000 short, medium, and long range guided missiles that in the next war will cause much devastation for the Israeli-Arab citizens. To the east, the Golan Heights are being enforced with Iranian Revolutionary Guards and their troops that are building bases right at Israel's front door. The likelihood of another war involving Lebanon, or/and Syria is not if, but when will the fighting start.

PSALMS 83 WAR IMMINENT

It doesn't take much imagination to see that the next war is shaping up to be fought very soon. I have been watching and wondering when the prophesied war of Psalms 83 would be coming forth, and I feel we are on the cusp of its fulfillment. Never has this prophecy been completed, even though Israel has fought many wars since her birth in 1948. God has promised Israel that they will possess all of the land promised to their forefather Abraham, and this war just might do it. When Israel is cornered and her existence is in doubt, the “Samson Option” will be put in place. I believe it might include a nuclear hit on the capital of Damascus, Syria and the fulfillment of the Oracle of Damascus being destroyed as prophesied.


FROM ONE WAR TO ANOTHER

As I have preached in the past, this coming Psalms 83 war sets the table for the next big war that will cause the earth to tremble when God will come down to defend Israel in all His fury and there will be no doubt who is doing the miracle here.

16 “And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.

17 Thus saith the Lord God; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them?

18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face.

19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;

20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.

21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man's sword shall be against his brother.

22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 38:17-23)

Does it give you pause to know that each war is a domino, that when it falls, the next one is set up to be knocked over as well? What will the coming Ezekiel War produce? It will produce profound desolation of the invading armies that will destroy 85% or 5/6 of the invading army. The plague that will be produced will follow the survivors back to their home countries and the destruction continues in their own land, family, and countrymen. I believe Islam will take a powerful devastating hit, as the armies of this invading hoard are near total Islamic.

What is coming will be swift. It won't take many years before Gog-Magog will be brought down into Israel like a fish with a hook in his mouth and be destroyed on the mountains of Israel. When this happens, look for a charismatic man to arise who will attempt to prevent such a total disaster from happening again in this part of the world. The world has always been focusing on Israel as the problem with everything, including terrorism, the plight of the so called “Palestinians”, and every ill they can conceive to cast upon Israel. Anti-Semitism is and will grow to make Nazi Germany look like a school yard picnic compared to what is coming. As you know, this man will “confirm” a pre-existing covenant to fulfill the coming 70^th week of Daniel's prophecy concerning the people of Israel.

I see the whole scenario coming very quickly in our end of days, which we live in. But not to worry, if you be found in Jesus Christ, for that man will not be revealed until one thing happens. Can you say it before I do?

THE RAPTURE OF THE BRIDE OF CHRIST.

The removal of the Church from this planet, as that covenant confirmed will not be ratified before that time, and God will reveal that “man of sin” which we only can wonder who he is at the present time. He will be revealed at God's timing, and only God knows when He will remove the church from out of the way to bring His Holy Wrath upon this earth, and it starts with the signing of this 7 year “peace treaty” by the Anti-Christ and the government of Israel.

6 “And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” (2^nd Thessalonians 2:6-10)

The Holy Spirit will be drawn back, and we who have a deposit, or earnest of His Spirit residing within us, will leave at that same time. THEN the Anti-Christ will be revealed sometime after that glorious event.

But, Israel still has a long “row to hoe” as she will face untold persecution in the foreseeable future. But God will bring a remnant through much suffering, and will come and fight for them, as Zechariah prophesied, and it is just over the horizon, just out of sight for us, but grows closer with each passing day.

2 “For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

3 “Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.” (Zechariah 14:3-5)

Israel will realize their Messiah through much death and persecution, where the Bible says 2/3 of the people will be slain, but a remnant will be saved.

8” And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.

9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.”(Zechariah 13:8-9)

Believe my reader, Israel's existence is a daily miracle, punctuated at times by a whole set of miracles, but you have not seen anything yet. Those who are still on this planet, will see much happening in the nation of Israel. They will see Divine Protection, but also Divine judgment to bring Israel to the realization of her Messiah.

“And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10)

 This Divine protection over Israel, even their refining as silver is refined in the fire (Malachi 3:3), is not conditional. God will not remove His Hand from the protection of Israel, unlike what is happening in America. God cannot withdraw His hand from Israel, but it doesn't apply to the USA, as we do not have a covenant with God, as Israel does and ratified in the time of Abraham. America could collapse and go the way of the Roman Empire, but Israel cannot.
Israel is on the exact real estate that the Roman Empire evicted them from in 70 AD. Restoration began in 1948 and will never be annulled. God will not allow Israel to be destroyed and restored again. These are the final days of the end for this earth, and the fulfillment of Daniel's 70 weeks prophecy.

COUNTDOWN BEGAN WITH ISRAEL BECOMING A NATION

The restoration of Israel marks the  beginning of the countdown to the return of Christ within that generation.   Israel can only be restored for the first time once.

“Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is His name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.” (Jeremiah 31:35-36)

Note that the word ‘ordinance’ means ‘law.’  God has decreed the existence of Israel forever as a matter of Divinely-settled law.  Israel’s miracles aren’t over.  Not by a long shot. 
If anything, they are just beginning.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

Israel has all kinds of Divine promises to protect, and restore her. You and I cannot say the same thing. We are a Gentile nation that God has a plan for us as well. Israel are a special people in His eyes, but He has another special people that He desires to be in His family, just as Israel are His chosen people. God has been working with a “people who were not His people”

We the chosen of this age are called “His people” His bride...

7 “Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

8 'And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.

9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” (1^st Peter 2:7-10)

God has chosen a people, who will become part of His family..the Family of God YAHWEH. We who accepted Jesus as personal Savior will not see much of what I have spoken of near the end. It is designed for the future after the church is gone. I invite you to become part of this family...The Family of God. It only takes belief in two scripture passages, as there are many more, but this two passages seal the gift of eternal life for all who believe.

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” (John 3:16-18)

and the other passage I like to include in any message I write beside the above, is the following:

8  “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

.” (Roman 10:8-13)

Make that decision for Christ today, as Israel has a promise, you do not have. Jesus could come at any moment, and no one should be blinded by the soon appearing of our Lord...not SOON, BUT VERY SOON...

This is pastor Mike Taylor, praying for your salvation today. If you need prayer, counseling, or just a listening ear, email me at pastormiketaylor@yahoo.com, ,

God bless you all. TILL WE MEET AT JESUS FEET