Worthy of Note General Observations Hello everyone and welcome to another introductory episode of our podcast, The Bible Prophecy Masterclass. We have a few more thoughts and general considerations we thought would be worthy of note before delving into the first official episode of this study. It has been said of the devil that his greatest ruse is to make people believe that he does not exist.
An even bigger ruse among evangelical Christians is the belief that the USA, the greatest economic, political and military power the world has ever seen, and a key ally in the existence and the preservation of the people of God at this hour, much like Egypt and the Babylonians of old, has no place in Bible prophecy.
Adding to and further extending the devil's list of ruses and distortions of biblical truth, a certain pastor was interviewed on a Christian radio program, aired 10-Cole-18-2023, and heard somewhere in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area. On that program, a caller wanted to know if we are living in the end times.
To that query, the pastor replied, no. That caller also went on to inquire as to whether there is any comparison between current events of our day and those that are cited as markers of the end times in the Bible. In so many words, the man wanted to know if historical events today in any way parallel any of those prophesied in Bible prophecy. Again, to this the guest preacher responded most emphatically, no, we are not living in the end times.
Bible eschatology, he said furthermore, only begins with the last seven years of tribulation as detailed in the Revelation. There is nothing today that correlates to anything indicative of the end times, he concluded. One can only guess, therefore, that this pulpeteer and alleged prophecy expert never heard of prophecy passages like Ezekiel 34.13.
37.31 One of God's many promises to gather Israelis from among the nations where He has scattered them so as to reestablish them as a separate nation of their own. Ezekiel 38.1-23. 39.1-29. Joel 3.4-17. The Jews reemergence as a nation would be in a time of intense hostility and the constant threat of invasion and annihilation from all nations. Daniel 12.4-8.9.
The reemergence of Israel as a nation would be at a time when the potential for war-related pain and suffering and the struggle to survive would be like nothing they could ever imagine, all made possible by a proliferation of information and logistics, capabilities far beyond the imagination of the people of his time. Zechariah 14.12-15. Text Peter 3.8.12.
Israel's coming again as a nation would be at a time when the killing and destructive mechanisms of war have horrifying unheard of consequences. A. Psalm 19.1-5. Revelation 8.1-11. Israel would exist again as a nation at a time when men, having studied thoroughly and copiously documented the wonders of the night skies, will be fully apprised of its deadly potential to wreak havoc on the earth.
When God the Almighty selected His prophets, sending them out as His hand-picked mouthpieces, to speak on His behalf, He did so with the understanding that they would be bearing messages that pointed to specific actual events for which the hearers then and are today to heed so as to prepare themselves accordingly. Thus, no prophet's message was ever a lecture aimed at preparing hearers for a talk about prophecy per se.
Whether or not the receivers of their messages understood, and often neither they nor the bearers did, and that by God's design, God had a particular takeaway that He wanted to impart tucked neatly inside the symbolic fabric of each message.
Knowing this, then, the objective of this masterclass is not so much a discussion about Bible prophecy, which has already been done, profusely, as it is to unravel the mysteries, the intricacies, etc., that God has in store for every student of His Word in these which are indeed the end times, i.e., in view of this fact, and in strict accord with God's will that all men should know, our goal is to answer questions that plague the minds
of all observers of our times, such as, where are we headed biblically speaking, in view of the things happening around us, all over the world? How close are we to Armageddon as of this day, 10-29-2023, considering the Russian invasion of Ukraine and its threats to go nuclear if NATO or anyone else gets involved with boots on the ground, the Hamas attack on Israel, China's threat to Taiwan, South Koreans' worries over weapons trade between the North and the Russians?
Are we close to the return of Jesus Christ? Will His coming be before, during, or after the apocalypse? Is America mentioned anywhere in Bible prophecy? If so, where? How close are the Chinese to realization of their dream of destroying the United States in 100 years according to the commitment they made to themselves in 1949? Will the Chinese act in tandem with the Russians and or other nations, or will they attack the USA stand alone?
What might China's noose of debt, rooted in burdensome loans China knows its third-world clients will never be able to repay, made even more burdensome by significant hikes in interest rates when borrowers are late making repayments, and infrastructure upgrades it knows they can't afford, tell us in terms of motivation and ambitions? Well, that's a wrap for this edition of the podcast.
Please make plans to join us next time for episode number one of the Bible Prophecy Master Class in which we will begin a thorough discussion of the 18th chapter of the book of the Revelation, the objective being to settle at last the question of the place of the United States of America in God's plans for the end times. Until then, please spread the word and may God richly bless you.