This week on ‘The Hal Lindsey Report’ May 17th, 2013 {Video}

Post by Hal Lindsey

Last January, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The committee was probing the attack on our diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, that resulted in the deaths of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others from the mission.

In a moment of frustration that has already returned to haunt Mrs. Clinton, the Secretary blurted out: “What difference, at this point in time, does it make?”

She was responding to combative questions about “who” the killers were – terrorists or a runaway mob protesting an obscure movie promo on the internet. Obviously straining hard to avoid truthfully answering the question and thus indicting herself and her boss, Mrs. Clinton almost screamed, “What difference… does it make?”

Two things disturb me about that question. First, if our Secretary of State honestly didn’t realize what difference it makes, then she should not have been Secretary of State (or even a Senator as she was previously), much less President (as she wants to be).

Second, if she did realize the difference it makes, then she was scrambling hard to cover up her and her boss’s culpability (and dishonesty) and she thought she could bully the Senators into submission.

Either conclusion is disturbing.

Fast forward to April 17. Present Secretary of State John Kerry appeared before a House committee hearing. During the questioning, the subject of Benghazi came up. When pressed about what he planned to do about rectifying the situation and finding the culprits responsible for the breakdown of security that caused the death of our Ambassador, Kerry also became a bit annoyed and dismissed the questioning with this statement: “We got a lot more important things to move on to and get done.”

Again, two things disturb me about that response. First, for a Secretary of State, who is personally responsible for the safety of the Ambassadors and personnel under his leadership, what could possibly be more important than discovering what went wrong in Benghazi, who was responsible, where the killers are now, and how we can prevent it from happening again?

Second, doesn’t anyone in the Democrat party remember the motto of one of their most respected past Presidents? Harry Truman famously displayed a slogan on his desk that was unequivocal. It read: “The buck stops here.”

Apparently this Administration thinks that slogan means “the male deer stops by here occasionally to graze the south lawn!” (Speaking of ducking responsibility, I see today that Nancy Pelosi is publicly blaming George W. Bush for the IRS scandal. See what I mean?)

I don’t know how anyone could have watched last week’s House hearings and not been incredulous at the way the Administration handled that crisis. How could you not be outraged that those same officials who stood by as our Ambassador and three others were brutally killed, then chose to cover up their incompetence (or worse, it could be their fear of offending Muslims or their fear of offending the American electorate) by lying to the American people for weeks after the tragedy.

On this week’s program, I’ll give you several reasons why I think Benghazi matters to America.

Wired magazine recently revealed that the new immigration bill currently wending its way through Congress may contain a little surprise. Within the 800-page bipartisan bill “is language mandating the creation of… ‘photo tool’, a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing the names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID.”

Requiring employers to search this database before hiring anyone, the idea is to stop employers from hiring illegal aliens. But this measure swats that fly with a sledgehammer!

Even the ACLU is uncomfortable with the idea of the government “keeping a record of all things.”

Hey, I know one guy who will be very appreciative if this system is in place when he finally rises to power. I don’t know his name yet, he’s not been revealed, but I’ll bet he’s watching to see what happens to this legislation.

Syria continues to spiral into chaos. I don’t recall there being a regional or national crisis as geopolitically confusing or sensitive as this one. There really aren’t any “good guys” in this civil war. Of course, Bashar al Assad is a brutal dictator (though not as decisively brutal as his father), but the rebels are led by none other than al Qaeda. And though the West doesn’t want Assad to remain in power, neither do we want the rebels to gain control of his chemical WMD arsenal. And, surprisingly, Israel would prefer to deal with the devil it knows (the self-preserving Assad), than the devil it doesn’t (the terrorist rebels with chemical weapons).

As a result, the New York Times is calling southern Syria “an ungoverned area.” Sounds like the Sinai peninsula, doesn’t it? Israel continues to be surrounded by a ring of enemies that are growing increasingly hostile: Lebanon (Hezbollah), Syria, the “rebels” in lawless southern Syria, Jordan (under increasing threat by the Palestinian majority), the jihadists in the lawless Sinai peninsula, Egypt, and Gaza (Hamas). Of course, beyond them are Iraq, Iran, and the other Arab/Muslim states that despise Israel; and within Israel are the Palestinians.

And the Syrian crisis is making for some strange bedfellows. Turkey’s fear of Syria is encouraging a rapprochement with Israel. Even Russia, which stands to lose its Mediterranean naval base at Tartus, is making unusual and disquieting diplomatic overtures to Israel.

Prophetically, we know that Syria will sooner or later fall into tremendous armed conflict. The prophet Isaiah predicts in the 17th chapter of his book that, overnight, Damascus will be utterly destroyed and rendered forever uninhabitable. We know that prophecy has yet to be fulfilled because Damascus is still standing today and is the world’s oldest inhabited city that has never been destroyed and rebuilt.

If nothing else, that unfulfilled prophecy alone should encourage all of us to be ready for Christ’s imminent return to rapture His Church before the awful events of the Great Tribulation begin.

And speaking of Christ’s church, it grieves me to say that I believe the “church” in America in these last days more closely resembles the church at Laodicea described by the Apostle John in Revelation 3. Jesus said that it was blind to its own failures and shortcomings and mistakenly thought it was successful because it was rich and needed nothing. Instead, Jesus said, it disgusted Him because it was “neither cold nor hot,” but “lukewarm.” And because it was lukewarm, He wanted to “spit you out of My mouth.”

Friends, as we rush headlong into the final days of the Church Age, let’s follow Christ’s own advice in the third chapter of Revelation. Humbly ask Him to make us “gold refined by fire” and provide us “white garments (His righteousness) so that you may clothe yourself” and “eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.” As never before, we believers need to be righteous and pure before God and clear-eyed to see the danger around us in these final days.

Do that today. Ask His forgiveness of your “lukewarmness.” Confess the sins you know about in your life and trust Him to forgive you (1 John 1:9). Then He’ll do more than that, He’ll cleanse you of “all unrighteousness,” which means the sins of which you are unaware, but guilty.

And if you’ve never accepted the free pardon that Jesus Christ purchased with His death on Calvary, you can do that right now, too. In fact, in Revelation 3:20, Jesus says that He stands outside the door of your heart and patiently knocks. He promises, “…if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”

As you read this, many of you “hear” Him knocking at the door of your heart. Don’t leave Him standing there. Open your heart to Jesus and, just as He promises, He will come in and fellowship with you.

Simply invite Him in. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins. Ask Him to become Lord of your life. Believe that He has done so and accept His free gift of pardon. Just like that, if you are sincere, you have become a part of God’s “forever family.” Now, you need not fear what waits for you after this life, you’ve just changed your destination reservation! You are bound for heaven!

Finally, now that you’ve joined God’s family, ask Him to guide you to a solid, Bible-believing church. As we near the end of this Age, the Apostle Paul warned that these would be “perilous times.” You will need the strength and encouragement that comes from fellowship with other sincere believers. And you need to continue to grow in the Word of God. So find a church or fellowship that believes, preaches, and trusts the whole Word of God, not just the “feel good” variety.

Don’t miss this week’s Report on TBN, Daystar, CPM Network, The Word Network, various local stations, http://www.hallindsey.com or http://www.hischannel.com. Check your local listings.

God Bless,

Hal Lindsey
mail: HLMM, P.O. Box 470470, Tulsa, OK 74147
email: comments@hallindsey.com
web: http://www.hallindsey.com

 

THE TALE OF THREE CITIES: JERUSALEM, ROME, AND BABYLON

By Pastor Joseph Chambers

Paw Creek Ministries

 

THE HUB OF THE ANTICHRIST KINGDOM FOR SEVEN YEARS WILL BE THE THREE CITIES, BABYLON, ROME AND JERUSALEM. IT’S AMAZING TO SEE EACH CITY PREPARING FOR THIS FATEFUL HOUR. Let’s study carefully these cities and then watch how each of them are finally part of the last days of Satan’s Seven Dark Years. The Seven Years of the Great Tribulation have been denied, attacked and mostly rejected. Satan is behind every untrue thing that has been taught or believed about this End Time truth. While the Church world is harrying on in their blindness, the truth moves at a Biblical pace.

The battle of these three cities will soon reach the point of perfect Biblical fulfillment. We think of cities as great metropolitan areas where political, economic, and social forces vie for control and dominance. We forget that the Creator Himself has an eternal city somewhere in the great cosmos and that cities have always been a part of the earthly battles between right and wrong, between God and Satan. When Nimrod sought to build a city, original Babylon, with a central tower to reach into the heavens, the Creator saw the threat to His influence and created the confusion of languages. Ur, a city south of Babylon, was a powerful city of incredible, modern type facilities that had turned wholly to paganism. God called Abraham out of that city and brought him to the Promised Land, where a new city would be chosen by God.

Jerusalem was later chosen to become the Heavenly city’s counterpart. God’s eternal city in the northern part of His great cosmos was the Heavenly type for His earthly city. After thousands of years, His earthly city, Jerusalem, is still His lasting choice. Every Bible believer on the face of this earth is commanded to pray for the “peace of Jerusalem”, and those prayers will soon be answered. Jerusalem has had many challengers, but these two challengers, Babylon and Rome, have lasted until the present time. From Nimrod to the present, Babylon has been Satan’s first choice to challenge Jerusalem. The Bible reflects that choice by Satan and calls Rome, “Mystery Babylon.” This ties Babylon and Rome together as twin cities with similar fates. They will soon be judged for their arrogance against God.

Heavenly Jerusalem! God’s Heavenly city has never been visited by anyone who returned to tell the story, except for Apostle Paul. John the Revelator had a vision of the New Jerusalem which presently would appear to be closely connected to the Heavenly city and will come down to the earth in the future. The Apostle Paul was so overwhelmed and inspired by the sights he saw that his eloquence was abated and he found it unlawful to tell the beauty he had beheld. His only words about this experience were extremely limited. “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” (2 Corinthians 12:2-4)

The great psalmist gave an anointed and eloquent expression of the Father’s eternal city. David penned these words, “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge.” (Psalm 48:1-3)

After Calvary and the Resurrection the Son of God ascended back to Heavenly Jerusalem and was seated by the Father on His “Holy Hill” which without doubt is the location of His throne. Again, David received revelation of the prophetic fact long before the event of Christ in redemption. Look at this beautiful prophecy. “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” (Psalm 2:1-7) The Father said, “Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion.” The Lord Jesus is presently seated at the Father’s right hand in His city “on His Holy Hill” of Heavenly Jerusalem. He is attired in the Heavenly vestments of the High Priest of God and has full approach into the Holy of Holies of which the earthly counterpart was “O, so great” but only a type of the “most Holy of Holies.”

The great revelation of John, where he “in the Spirit, saw the reigning priest before the Father’s throne is the highlight of the book of Revelation. He said, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” (Revelation 1:10-18) God then said to John, “write,” and from this scene flows the entire last book of the Bible. The Book of Revelation must be held in uttermost importance because of this scene and all that follows.

God’s Heavenly Jerusalem has never been attacked but once and that was from a conspiracy within. Satan, named earlier with the name of Lucifer, was certainly a beautiful archangel. He appeared to be the chosen vessel of music and praise and probably led the host of angels in the praise of the Great God, our Creator and Sovereign. Out of his own heart arose pride and rebellion and he led an insurgency against God. Satan was apparently in the Garden of Eden when rebellion struck. Isaiah said, “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms.” (Isaiah 14:13-16) Jesus said, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” (Luke 10:18) His final judgment is not far away.

Babylon, Satan’s Choice! There is no question but that Babylon was Satan’s choice of a capital and palace. When Satan was cast out of Eden and Heaven, he set up his kingdom in the mid-air between earth and Heaven so he could constantly challenge everything that represents God and His world. Satan has never been stripped of his angelic powers so he can presently move in both directions. The best way I can describe Satan’s present authority is to say that he is out on bail. The victory of his defeat was settled at the cross and the tomb, but the charges are still pending on appeal. As saints, we are gathering evidence for the trial, and our witness against him must await our resurrection from the dead or by the Rapture. No wonder he hates the truth of the Pre-tribulation Rapture, because we will then become God’s Heavenly elders with authority to assist the Throne of God in final judgment. I tell you that I’m sitting on ready for that day.

In the meantime, Satan’s seat is in Babylon and the consort city of Mystery Babylon. The reason that the ancient city of Babylon has laid in ruins for centuries is because of Satan’s trickery. He moved his headquarters to Rome to hide himself behind the religious garb of an imitation pageantry of the false. We’ll further discuss this deception after we understand the ancient city.

The rebuilding of Babylon has been an effort of man to bring order out of chaos. In fact, the entire effort in Iraq to bring peace has been similar. It is happening, but only at great cost to human lives. It is now God’s timing for an uneasy peace to settle over the area to allow prophecy to be fulfilled. The sad truth is that the population of Iraq is like a pawn in the hands of eternal powers, and their suffering must touch our heartstrings. The ancient city will be rebuilt, but probably the major activities will only occur between the Rapture and the actual beginning of the seven years of the Great Tribulation. Prophetic events do not occur by human design. God is in control. Revelation makes it plain that this city will become the center of the Antichrist kingdom. While his political center will be Babylon, his religious center led by his “false prophet” or, as I call him, his “false spirit” or “false anointing,” will be “Mystery Babylon” or Rome.

Babylon already has a palace for the Antichrist to make his “living quarters.” I believe that Saddam Hussein built this for the Antichrist without knowing the significance. At the present time, the entire complex is a military zone and that itself will demand a multi-nation effort to finish rebuilding the city. Watch the news for such an announcement. Babylon has to become a great city again. The announcement in prophecy of its judgment demands its glory first. The Word of God said, “And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more.” (Revelation 18:2-3, 10-11)

Rome, Mystery Babylon! Between 300-600 A.D. while Babylon began its descent, Rome began its rise to become Mystery Babylon. It’s amazing to study the date that Babylon was forsaken and forgotten and Rome was becoming the center of Babylonian pageantry. This has to be the picture of Satan’s greatest historical accomplishment. Every pagan religion had its inception in Babylon. All the male gods or female goddesses can be traced to Babylon and the effort to replace the God of creation and holiness. Inanna became Isis, Ishtar, Ashtoreth, etc., and the American version, Gaia, the goddess of the earth. Babylon is the seat of Lucifer on earth, but Rome is his clever reproduction under a false name to deceive the world.

Everything that makes the Roman Catholic system unique, from her doctrines to her costumes, and on to all her pageantry, is Babylonian in essence. I have pictures of the mother goddess figurines dating back five thousand years from the museum in Baghdad. The entire idea of Mary, the mother of God, and the worship and prayers offered to her, plus her promise of protection and good luck charm, comes straight out of the pagan religion of Babylon. Anyone that prays to Mary, worships Mary, or visits her deceptive apparitions, is actually worshiping devils in disguise. Not one aspect of the Catholic doctrine concerning Mary comes from the Word of God. Look at the staff that was carried prominently by Pope John Paul II and see the crooked cross with an emaciated Christ, appearing more like a defeated specter instead of a victorious redeemer. That’s the Jesus that needed a co-redemptrix in his mother just like Nimrod of Babylon. Study the fourteen stations of the so-called Via Dolorosa path to the cross and you find much superstition instead of redemption. One station says he photographed his image onto a vial around the neck of a woman worshiper who offered Him water to drink. The story of the “Passion” film had Mary gathering His blood, hair, and pieces of flesh so she could penetrate His tomb with angels, prepare the body back to its original state, and help Jesus be resurrected. All of this is pagan, not Christian.

Rome now claims to be the “eternal city,” but all of this is preposterous. I’m not sure when the claim of calling Rome the eternal city started, but the process certainly began seventeen hundred years ago. This will be part of the reason that the Antichrist will burn Rome to the ground. When the height of the Antichrist kingdom has spread to the world, he will have made Babylon his capital. The Catholic Church and the pope will be furious when Babylon once again becomes the seat of Satan, acting like God, and he calls Babylon the center of his world. The furor will be so hot that the Antichrist will have Rome torched and put out of business. There is no question that the pope and his kingdom of Catholicism truly believes that they are chosen of God. The truth will register only after the fire is lit and Rome goes up in smoke. The Great God is sick of this sham, and He will soon put it in the heart of the false christ to judge her for himself.

Jerusalem, God’s Eternal City. The only “eternal city” in God’s universe is Jerusalem. Our present Jerusalem is in bondage to sin and the denial of Jesus Christ as Messiah, but that is soon to change. As we await the finality of God’s action, we must follow the perfect word of God that is history written in advance. The reason Jerusalem is the eternal city is because it is a reflection of the Heavenly Jerusalem. No city on this earth has been destroyed and rebuilt so many times. The present city sits on ruins many feet deep. Each level of the ruins is a testimony to God’s choice of this city as His own. Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. to make way for Rome to claim supremacy. Nothing proves Jerusalem’s special status like the hatred of the world and, especially, every false religion or false empire. Leaders of other empires and religions seek to dominate or possess Jerusalem. If they can do neither, they seek to destroy her. The Catholic crusades were organized and paid for with great sums of money and human lives to take possession of Jerusalem. The Muslim religion has done the very same in its effort to claim Jerusalem. All three major religions, and several different branches of the Christian religion each have a slice of Jerusalem at this very moment.

The prophets of Israel spoke unquestionable truths concerning Jerusalem in the end of human history. They warned the Jewish people of their dark years of wandering over the world, which were forced on them by their persecutors and because of their own sins and rebellion. But, in the end they promised that God would not forget His chosen city or His chosen people. Zechariah prophesied, “The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God. 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. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 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 12:1-5, 8-10)

When Israel has been redeemed and established in the Promised Land with Jerusalem as the capital, God will make this “Eternal City” a place of beauty for the whole earth. Jesus Christ will reign from Jerusalem, where He will be seated on the Throne of David. The Spirit said, “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. 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. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.” (Zechariah 14:4-9)

The Lord Himself has chosen Jerusalem. Please read the article by this ministry entitled, “Jerusalem, The Eternal City.” Those that hate Jerusalem or fight against this chosen city do so at the peril of their own soul. The city of Babylon is the antithesis of Jerusalem and Rome is her bastard daughter. Both are soon to be judged and Jerusalem will become the light of the earth. Do not forget that “New Jerusalem” will descend to be fixed above the earthly city after the one thousand years of Christ’s Kingdom on earth. The Bride will possess New Jerusalem, the Jewish nation will possess Jerusalem and the Promised Land, and the saved of eternity will possess the earth.

As the “Seven Years of The Great Tribulation” come to the finishing line God will judge the wicked city of Babylon. “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour is thy judgment come.” (Revelation 18: 8-10) The Antichrist will be furious, burn Rome in his haste, and start for Jerusalem to get even with God. But that is when the fury of My Father comes up in His face.

Here is what the Holy Book says, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.” (Revelations 19: 11-15, 20) Rome and Babylon will be no more, but Jerusalem will be ready to become the Capitol of the entire world for a thousand years. And that is just the Beginning.

In Defense of a Prophetic Voice Jonathan Cahn

 

by Dr. David R. Reagan

[read in Lamplighter (pdf)]

Lamb & Lion Ministries

People love pillow prophets. They hate true prophets. Pillow prophets tell people what they want to hear. They cry, “Peace and safety!” when danger is imminent. True prophets warn of danger and cry for repentance.

When Jeremiah told the people of Judah that it was God’s will for them to surrender to the Babylonians and go into captivity, he was demonized as a false prophet and a traitor, and the people tried to kill him.

In like manner, Jonathan Cahn has been the victim of irresponsible and vicious attacks. He has been accused of “parading as a prophet.” Others have branded him a “false prophet.” These charges are reckless, unwarranted and un-Christ-like.

Jonathan Cahn’s message is thoroughly biblical. It is not based on any new revelation from God. Rather, it is based on the biblical principles that govern God’s relationship with nations. These are principles that I outlined in detail in my 2003 book entitled America the Beautiful? The United States in Bible Prophecy (revised editions in 2006 and 2009).

False Prophet?

The charge that he is a “false prophet” is downright ludicrous. His message is that America is in rebellion against God, that God has placed remedial judgments upon us, and that if we do not repent, God will deliver us from judgment to destruction. I ask you, “What part of that message is unbiblical?”

Furthermore, the Bible defines a false prophet as one who prophesies events that do not come to pass. If Rabbi Cahn prophesied that a specific event would take place on a specific date and that date were to come and go without the event happening, then he could legitimately be labeled as a “false prophet.” But he has done no such thing.

He is simply declaring biblical principles. He is reminding us of the following truths:

• That when a richly blessed nation like ours sets its face against God, the judgment of God will fall upon it.
• That the only way for a rebellious nation to avoid the ultimate judgment of God — namely, destruction — is for it to repent.

Misuse of Scripture?

Others have attacked Rabbi Cahn because they argue that he has taken a scripture directed to ancient Israel (Isaiah 9:10) and has applied it to the United States. Again, I ask, “What is wrong with that?” If the scripture is applicable, why not apply it to our nation?

Actually, we do that all the time. The Psalms and Proverbs were written to the Jewish people, yet we apply them to ourselves. Should we reject the 23rd Psalm because it was not specifically addressed to the Church?

Incredibly, Rabbi Cahn has been criticized for applying 2 Chronicles 7:14 to the United States. It reads as follows:

[If] My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Are we actually going to contend that this scripture applies only to Israel? Are we really going to argue that if the professing Christians of this nation were to sincerely repent of their sins and the sins of our nation, that God would ignore it?

This particular scripture contains a timeless principle about repentance that even applies to pagan nations. Thus, when God sent the prophet Jonah to the pagan city of Nineveh with a message of “Turn or Burn!” the Lord changed His mind when the king put on sack cloth and ashes, repented, and called for the whole city to do likewise.

Or consider the seven letters contained in the second and third chapters of Revelation. Each one was addressed to a specific church located in the area of Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). Do the letters apply only to those specific churches? Of course not! They are just as relevant to the Church at large today as they were when they were written to the seven specific churches in the First Century.

Jumping to Conclusions

Many of the criticisms of Rabbi Cahn’s message are based on unwarranted conclusions that people have jumped to in an effort to find something to criticize. For example, he has been accused of teaching that America is in a covenant relationship with God. The fact of the matter is that he has never said that. He simply notes that America’s founding fathers believed that, and therefore they consecrated the nation to God.

Another unwarranted conclusion is that he teaches Isaiah 9:10 was a prophecy about the United States rather than Israel. Again, Rabbi Cahn has never made such an assertion. What he teaches instead is that the ancient pattern of judgment that occurred in Israel is now recurring in America, and in “a stunningly precise way.”

A Book and a Sermon

As I reported in a recent issue of this magazine, I was not particularly impacted with Rabbi Cahn’s book, The Harbinger. Its writing style was not my cup of tea. But so what? It greatly impacted tens of thousands of others, and I was immensely impressed with the overall message of the book. It contained a biblical message that I believe the American people desperately need to hear, and I was delighted over the book’s success as it rose to the top of the best seller list.

What impressed me even more was Rabbi Cahn’s sermon which he presented at the recent Presidential Inaugural Breakfast in Washington, D.C. As I watched it on YouTube, I was transfixed by the frank, biblical content of the message and by Rabbi Cahn’s powerful, anointed delivery of it.

The message presented a stark, bone-chilling indictment against this nation for thumbing its nose at God. It was a hardhitting prophetic message that took great courage to deliver. I urge you to watch the 35 minute message on YouTube. (You can find it easily by googling Cahn’s name.)

Christians should be giving Rabbi Cahn a standing ovation, and many have. But some leaders of discernment ministries have tried, instead, to crucify him.

I know a genuine prophetic voice when I hear one, and as I watched Rabbi Cahn deliver his powerful message, I realized he was a prophetic voice raised up by God to warn this nation of its impending doom and to call us to repentance.

He is the successor to David Wilkerson who began delivering the same message in the 1970′s. At that time Wilkerson was the darling of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements. But the moment he began to call this nation to repentance and warn of God’s impending judgment, he was mercilessly attacked as a “false prophet” and was accused of misusing scriptures. Many churches stopped handling his books and speaking invitations were canceled. He was condemned for preaching a “negative message.”

Christian McCarthyism

The current unbridled, petty and vicious attacks on Rabbi Cahn smack of what I would call “Christian McCarthyism.” For those of you who might not be familiar with what I’m referring to, let me explain.

In the 1950s a wave of anti-Communism swept this nation and a Senator from Wisconsin named Joseph McCarthy decided to ride the wave. He started holding Congressional hearings during which he made wild allegations against many people, accusing them of being either Communists or Communist sympathizers. In the process, he ruined the lives of many people.

Senator McCarthy met his Waterloo when he decided to attack the U.S. Army, claiming many of its top officers were tainted by Communism. This action hurt him in two ways. First, it turned President Eisenhower against him. Second, the Army hired a defense counsel who would surprisingly prove to be very formidable. I say surprisingly because the attorney, Joseph Welch, seemed to be someone who would be eaten alive by McCarthy. That’s because Mr. Welch had a high, squeaky voice and an elf-like appearance.

As Mr. Welch began to demand that Senator McCarthy present evidence of his allegations, the Senator decided to go on the attack. He started accusing a young lawyer on Welch’s staff of being a Communist sympathizer. Welch interrupted the Senator and cried out in a wailing voice, “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness…” When McCarthy resumed his attack, Welch interrupted him: “Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”

This was one of the first Congressional hearings ever to be televised, and it exposed the Senator for what he was — a shallow, irresponsible, arrogant power-seeker who was willing to destroy other people in order to gain the limelight.

In like manner there are hyper-critics within Christianity today who are yelling “Apostate! Apostate!” over matters that really amount to nothing. If a person speaks to a group they disapprove of, they label him an “Apostate.” If he has a different viewpoint from theirs about a non-essential doctrine, he is branded an “Apostate.” If he compliments someone they don’t like, he is relegated to Hell as an “Apostate.”

An Appeal for Sanity

Grant Phillips, a Bible teacher in Kentucky who has pastored six churches in his lifetime, recently responded to the hysterical critics of Jonathan Cahn with these words:

Look folks, many of us need to… stop nitpicking everything the Lord is trying to tell us and just listen to what He is saying in whatever manner He chooses to say it. Even in my own experience of writing articles, every now and then, someone emails me who just wants to nit-pick at something I wrote while missing the message of the article. The phrase comes to mind, “They’re so heavenly minded, they’re no earthly good.” We need to humble our hearts and stop being so self-righteous.

In my personal correspondence with Jonathan Cahn, I have discovered that he has a very Christ-like spirit and a great sense of humor. In responding to his critics, he has killed them with kindness, refusing to respond with the same invective they have used in attacking him. He has dealt with issues and not personalities.

And his sense of humor has helped him to put the criticism in perspective. Let me give you some examples:

• In response to crazy allegations that he is somehow involved in advocating the prosperity message of the Word of Faith Movement, he wrote: “I not only speak against those doctrines regularly, but my author’s photo [shown on the cover of this magazine] was taken at Sears Budget Photo!”
• In response to an assertion that he is advocating Replacement Theology, he wrote: “I’m Jewish and a believer. In order to subscribe to Replacement Theology, I’d have to replace myself with myself. I’m open to trying, but it just strikes me as a lot of work to end up no better off than when I started!”
• In response to the nutty charge that he is espousing principles of Mormonism, he wrote: “Okay, I was once into Donny and Marie Osmond, but when they started singing ‘I’m A Little Bit Country, And I’m A Little Bit Rock and Roll,’ I drew the line. You see, I don’t believe in mixing doctrines.”
• In response to the absurd allegation that he is involved in some way in Masonry, he replied: “It’s true. I once had involvement with Masonry. It happened when I appeared as a guest on the Jackie Mason Show. But he’s the only Mason I’ve been involved with. And I renounced his comedy soon after the show.”

My Personal Stance

The nit-picking, Pharisaical hyper-critics of Christianity need to be reminded of the wisdom of Gamaliel which he shared with the Sanhedrin Council when they arrested Peter and the apostles and desired to kill them (Acts 5:29-33). Gamaliel stated that if what the followers of Jesus were teaching was false, nothing would come of it. “But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.” He then added, “You may even be found fighting against God” (Acts 5:38-39).

The pit bulls of Christianity can growl and yap and snarl all they please, but anointed messengers of God like Wilkerson and Cahn will prevail because they are speaking the truth. I stand with them, and I am proud to do so.

Together with them, I cry from the depths of my heart, “Wake up America! You are blaspheming the very God who blessed you. He has sent prophetic voices and remedial judgments to warn you and call you to repentance. What will be your choice? Repentance or Destruction?”

 

What Would War Between Israel And Syria Do To The Already Fragile Global Economy?

War is a horrible thing.  Just ask anyone that has ever been in the middle of it.  And in this day and age governments around the world possess weapons of such incalculable power that war should be unthinkable.  In future wars, we could literally see millions of people killed on a single day.  Nobody should want that or look forward to that.  Unfortunately, the next major regional war in the Middle East appears to be closer than ever.  But nobody should want it to actually happen.  During the next major regional war in the Middle East we will likely see death on a scale that is unprecedented.  It won’t be like the wars of 1967 or 1973.  It will likely be a fight to the death where nothing is held back.  You see, the truth is that most Americans have no idea what is really going on in the Middle East.  There are ancient grudges and ancient hatreds that go back for thousands of years.  There is no “peace plan” that is going to suddenly make everything okay.  The Middle East is a simmering volcano of hate and resentment that could erupt at any moment.  That is why what is happening in Syria right now is so important.  An Israeli airstrike in Damascus that reportedly was attempting to destroy a shipment of Fateh-110 missiles that Iran was sending to Hezbollah has brought Israel and Syria to the brink of war.  In fact, Syria is calling the airstrike a “declaration of war” and is vowing retaliation.  The Syrian government is saying that “Israeli aggression opens the door to all possibilities“, but they have not provided any specifics about what they plan to do.  Meanwhile, Israel has made it very clear that they will do whatever is necessary to keep Fateh-110 missiles from getting into the hands of Hezbollah.  With those missiles, Iranian-backed Hezbollah would have the capability of striking the heart of Tel Aviv with a very high degree of accuracy.  So it is definitely understandable why Israel would not want Hezbollah to have those missiles.  Just think about it – would you want Russia or China to deploy highly advanced missile systems in northern Mexico which could rain down hell on Los Angeles and Dallas in less than five minutes?  Unfortunately, this gives Iran the perfect way to provoke a war between Israel and Syria.  All they have to do is keep rolling trucks loaded with Fateh-110 missiles through war-torn Syria toward Hezbollah bases in Lebanon.  Israel will feel forced to intervene, and the rest of the Islamic world will get angrier and angrier. (Read More….)

This week on ‘The Hal Lindsey Report’ May 3rd, 2013 {Video}

By Hal Lindsey

Last February, President Obama stood before the assembled houses of Congress to deliver his State of the Union address. He spoke of pursuing “the remnants of Al Qaeda.” He said, “Today, the organization that attacked us on 9/11 is a shadow of its former self.”

A shadow? Recent events have proven that Al Qaeda is far more than a shadow. The terrorist organization and its affiliates exist all over Africa and the Middle East, with cells in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, including the United States. It even publishes a slick, online magazine!

Al Qaeda can trace its roots to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Over the next several years, the U.S. and its allies poured billions of dollars in aid, expertise, and logistical assistance into helping the resistance fighters known as the Mujaheddin. We helped build the extensive, fortified tunnel complexes in which Osama bin-Laden later took refuge during the U.S.-led coalition invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. We even sent our two best fictional fighting heroes, Rambo and James Bond, to assist them!

Now we’re facing again the enemy that President Obama describes as a “shadow of its former self.” Except this time, ironically, we are once again lending assistance.

The United States has been providing substantial “non-lethal” (so we’re told) assistance to the Syrian rebels or “freedom fighters,” as they’re known in the mainstream media. Some of our national leaders have even been calling for “boots on the ground” military action on their behalf.

Until recently, that is. Now it is becoming apparent, as The Wall Street Journal reports, that “Al Qaeda [is] increasingly dominating the opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.” So, it’s beginning to dawn on the Obama Administration that by assisting the Syrian rebels, the U.S. is assisting Al Qaeda, who will be in charge in Syria when Bashar al-Assad finally goes down.

As if this couldn’t get any messier, Britain, France, Israel, and now the United States itself, have all gone public accusing the Assad government of using chemical weapons against its own people.

Why does this complicate the situation further? Well, because President Obama has emphasized several times that the use of chemical or biological weapons by the Assad government will be a red line that they dare not cross. Or else!

And now that they’ve crossed it, what does the President do? Well, he’s been pretty vague up to now. And after all, these were only “small attacks.” And we don’t really know if Assad ordered them or a local commander took the initiative. We really can’t be sure about the “chain of custody” of those weapons of mass destruction. Or… or… or…

His solution? Let’s just have a United Nations commission study the situation and get back to us on it. Seriously!

To be fair, as the British say, this is a sticky wicket. The President is obligated by his own words to deal harshly with the Syrian government. Yet if he does anything meaningful against Assad’s government, that means he’s helping the rebels, and that means helping Al Qaeda — even though it’s only a “shadow of its former self.” And helping Al Qaeda means helping the most ruthless terror organization in the world get its hands on Syria’s extensive chemical and biological weapons stockpile.

As I’ve been saying for years, appeasement and procrastination buys nothing but more trouble later. By not dealing head-on with Iran and Syria before now, the U.S. is virtually backed into a corner.

Folks, there are no good options now. And, as far away as Syria may seem to you, these weapons falling into Al Qaeda’s hands represents a real threat to our nation, Israel, and Europe. No matter how we personally feel toward the present leadership of the United States, I believe we must do as the Bible bids and pray — earnestly — for our leaders. Especially that God would grant our President supernatural wisdom in this situation.

Over the last three weeks, and as we learn more information, people keep asking how Dzhokhar Tsarnaev could have been involved in the Boston Marathon bombings. Why can’t they believe it? Because Dzhokhar seems to be a “typical American kid.”

What does that mean? The New York Times cited a Kaiser Family Foundation study. The Times headline was revealing: “If Your Kids are Awake, They’re Probably Online.” The writer made a chilling statement: “The average young American now spends practically every waking minute — except for the time in school — using a smart phone, computer, television, or other electronic devices.”

In other words, media and school occupy almost all the waking hours of America’s young people. Uh-oh!

I can’t think offhand of two more potentially treacherous or corrupting influences in the lives of our children than “the media” and “the school.” And that’s where they spend ALL of their non-sleeping time.

On this week’s program, I’m going to look at precisely what that may mean to our children and how those two influences played out in the life of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

The media devalues life and desensitizes us to death and suffering. It promotes violence and tears down traditional moral values. Academia teaches our children to hate God, Christianity, and America and its traditional values. And I’m not exaggerating one bit.

In the case of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, add the volatile influence of a Muslim family and mosque. Then stir in the growing slick media influence of organizations like Al Qaeda, whose internet magazine, “Inspire,” depicts Muslim terrorists as powerful, romantic, mysterious, and important, and it’s like pouring gasoline on smoldering embers. It’s an explosion waiting to happen.

If you haven’t been paying attention to these two facets of American life, you’re in for a shock. I believe that, overall, it may be too late to reverse the damage the media and academia have inflicted on America. But it’s not too late to intervene in the lives of your children or grandchildren and make a difference — by God’s mercy and grace.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: This week’s “Hal Lindsey Report” will not be seen on The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). It’s Spring Praise-A-Thon!

Don’t miss this week’s Report on Daystar, CPM Network, The Word Network, the stations of the CET network, various local stations, www.hallindsey.com or www.hischannel.com. Check your local listings.

God Bless,

Hal Lindsey
mail: HLMM, P.O. Box 470470, Tulsa, OK 74147
email: comments@hallindsey.com
web: http://www.hallindsey.com

 

This week on ‘The Hal Lindsey Report’ April 26th, 2013 {Video}

By Hal Lindsey

In the 1970s and 1980s, I led many tours to Israel. Back then, I would take my fellow travelers up to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. We carried our Bibles as well as our cameras. We would see Jews wandering freely among the trees and buildings on the Mount. I would seek out a secluded part of the 35 acre plateau, away from the mosques, and we would have an impromptu Bible study. We would all hold hands and pray. It was always a special time for the members of the tour to be able to stand in a place that held such meaning for our spiritual heritage.

Beginning in the 1990s, that all changed. As the Muslims were given greater control of the Temple Mount, they pushed for even more. By mid-decade, I had been arrested three times during my visits to the Mount. Twice for carrying a Bible and once for holding my daughter’s hand.

Today, non-Muslims visiting the Temple Mount grounds are shadowed by Muslim “officials.” You can’t even appear to “pray” without facing arrest. Muttering under your breath is dangerous.

Recently, a member of the Israeli Knesset (Israel’s parliament) told a reporter that she was considering a visit to the Temple Mount. MK Miri Regev wants to draw the public’s attention to the fact that it’s “illegal” for a Jew to pray while on the Temple Mount. She said, “I don’t understand why a Jew is not allowed to pray in the most sacred place for him — the Temple Mount.”

Well, that statement has caused somewhat of a panic. She even has one of her fellow MK’s cautioning that merely mentioning the subject may ignite a “third intifada.”

If you remember, Ariel Sharon touched off the extremely violent “second intifada” in 2000 when he visited the Temple Mount. He, too, was a Member of the Knesset and had made all the proper arrangements and secured the proper permissions. But the mere presence of a prominent Jew on the Mount send the Palestinians into a frenzy.

Of course, now we know that Sharon’s visit was merely an excuse to begin a pre-planned campaign of violence against Israel. A campaign that was waged to force the world to force Israel to cede even more control of the area and of Jerusalem to the PLO.

But that’s the point: everything is intended to give the Muslims more control. If you’re an American of any vintage, you know the saying: “Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile.” I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think that adage was coined to describe Islam. However, it does. Perfectly.

Have you noticed that there is no other religion, ethnic group, or national group (with the possible exception of the homosexual community) that evokes more “walking on eggshells” than does Islam and Muslims? Entire governments are terrified to utter those two words — Islam or Muslim — for fear of saying something “offensive” to them. And what happens when you “offend” Islam? Well, you may die! Or your neighborhood, city, or nation may be thrust into violent confrontation. If you’re lucky, there will only be aggressive and vulgar protests. If not, your whole neighborhood may be burned to the ground.

I’m just thankful that Islam is a “religion of peace.” At least that’s what Muslims say and all of our living past presidents and our current Administration agree. So it must be true. And if you disagree, don’t do so publicly or you’ll be sorry. Just ask Paris or London or Madrid or New York or Mumbai or Fort Hood or non-Muslims in Lebanon, Libya, Egypt, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and, now, Boston.

God help you if you’re a Jew or Christian caught in an Islamic nation. The “religion of peace” wants a piece of you. Just ask Pastors Saeed Abedini or Yusef Nadarkhani, both languishing in Iranian prisons because they refuse to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ.

I am genuinely grateful that our fear of Islam hasn’t quite brought America to its knees yet, but I see evidence of that happening all around us. It’s sad and embarrassing to watch the contortions the mainstream media and our government officials go through to avoid saying what the Tsarnaev brothers posted in the social media: they are (and were) Muslims and they want (and wanted) to wage violent jihad on nonbelievers (also known as ‘infidels’) and apostates (also known as ‘moderate Muslims’).

Please forgive me if you’ve noticed more than a touch of frustration at what I see happening in our nation. We have already forgotten a great lesson from our own recent history: it’s more important to be ‘correct’ than ‘politically correct.’ The Bible warns that a nation that has been given great light from God, and rejects it, will be given a mind, by God, that cannot even think in its own best interest. That’s a perfect definition of ‘political correctness.’ And that’s what’s happening in America right now.

But you may be asking yourself a very legitimate question: why are otherwise smart people so confused about Islam? Many Muslims, and not so many non-Muslims, seem to genuinely believe that it’s a “religion of peace.” That’s because there is a dramatic contradiction within the foundations of Islam itself. Once you understand this contradiction, you will be able to see the danger Islam poses for the rest of the world as a whole and for each of us individually.

I’m going to show you some of those contradictions this week and, hopefully, help you understand why Islam, by its very structure and history, cannot be a “religion of peace,” but must be just the opposite: a religion of hatred, violence, and war.

Don’t miss this week’s Report on TBN, Daystar, CPM Network, The Word Network, various local stations, www.hallindsey.com or www.hischannel.com. Check your local listings.

God Bless,

Hal Lindsey
mail: HLMM, P.O. Box 470470, Tulsa, OK 74147
email: comments@hallindsey.com
web: http://www.hallindsey.com

 

Why is it remarkable that the Hebrew language has been revived from the dead?

By Dr. David R. Reagan
Founder & Director, Lamb & Lion Ministries
One of the things that excites me the most about Bible prophecy is that we are living in a time when we can see many of the end time prophecies being fulfilled right before our very eyes!

In the 20th Century, seven of the end time prophecies related to Israel were either fulfilled or were in the process of being fulfilled. They were:

1. The regathering of the Jewish people from the four corners of the world.
2. The reestablishment of the state of Israel on May 14, 1948.
3. The reclamation of the land of Israel from a barren wasteland to an agricultural land of abundance.
4. The revival of the Hebrew language from the dead.
5. The reoccupation of the city of Jerusalem on June 7, 1967.
6. The resurgence of Israeli military power.
7. The refocusing of world politics on the nation of Israel.

All of these events represent the fulfillment in whole or in part of very specific end time prophecies that can be found in the Hebrew scriptures.

Let’s take a look at one of those prophecies whose fulfillment began before the 20th Century, but which was completely fulfilled during the 20th Century. This is one of the most amazing prophecies of them all. What I have in mind is the revival of the Hebrew language from the dead. It’s a remarkable story!

A Special Street

I love to take groups to Israel. We always end up in the new city of Jerusalem. When I say new, what I’m talking about is the fact that it is the new part of Jerusalem as compared to the Old City of Jerusalem that is surrounded by the walls. The street called Ben Yehuda Street is sort of the heartthrob of the new Jerusalem. It is very busy there at noon during the day as people come and go to eat lunch, but it’s really busy at night. Come down to Ben Yehuda Street during the night time and particularly after the Sabbath ends on Saturday about 9 o’clock at night, and you will see people come from all over Jerusalem where they have fellowship and they eat ice cream. You’ll see street vendors of all kinds, people playing violins and guitars, dancers, and tattoo artists. You name it! You’ll find it on Ben Yehuda Street.

In Israel, almost every city has a street named Ben Yehuda Street. Just who was Ben Yehuda? What is his name all about?

Before I answer these questions, let me read to you a Scripture. In the Hebrew scriptures in Zephaniah 3:9 it says speaking of the end times, “In those days I will restore the peoples of pure language that they may call on the name of the Lord to serve Him with one accord.”

Throughout the centuries, Christians as well as Jews have believed that this is a prophecy that in the end times the biblical language of Hebrew would be revived.

Man on a Mission

Eliezer Ben Yehuda was the man who fulfilled the Zephaniah 3:9 prophecy!

He was born in Lithuania in 1858 to an Orthodox Jewish family. He began studying, reading when he was just three years old. He was absolutely a genius. He excelled in all languages. He learned Hebrew very quickly. By the age of 12, he was already fluent in many languages like French, German and Russian. He was a spectacular language specialist.

Ben Yehuda’s family wanted him to be a rabbi, but that never was something that he seemed to be interested in. Instead, he decided to move to Paris and study medicine. He was there four years studying medicine.

While he was in Paris, the spirit of nationalism began to sweep across Europe. This is the idea of one nation for every people. The Balkans, like every other group of people there, were wanting their own nation. That spirit of nationalism touched his heart and his soul and he decided the Jews really need a land for their own nation. This was before Theodor Herzl came on the scene. In fact, a number of years before Herzl, who is considered the founder of modern day Israel, came on the scene, Ben Yehuda had this vision of going back to the Jewish homeland and starting to speak Biblical Hebrew once again. Ben Yehuda believed it was essential if the Jewish people were really going to be a nation for them to have their own special language.

To truly understand what this was all about, you have to understand that when the Jews were scattered by the Romans all over the world after 70 AD, that the Jewish people stopped speaking Hebrew. Those who went into the European area took Hebrew and they mixed it with German and came up with a new language called Yiddish. Likewise, the Jews who were scattered into the Mediterranean Basin took Hebrew and they mixed it with Spanish and came up with a language called Ladino. Jews continued to read Biblical Hebrew in the synagogue for example, or when they were reading the Talmud or various religious papers, but they stopped speaking Hebrew as an everyday language. They were speaking either Yiddish, Ladino, or the language of whatever country they happened to live in. So, Hebrew over the 2,000 years following the dispersion of the Jews all over the world became essentially a dead language as far as being spoken by people on an everyday basis.

In 1881, at the age of 23, Ben Yehuda was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He was told that he only had a very short time to live. So, he decided that he was going to move to the land of his people, to his homeland. If he was going to die young, he was going to die there. Well, that was about the worst decision one could make in 1881, because he moved to the Holy Land and to the City of Jerusalem. Jerusalem at that time was an incubator of disease. Just about every disease you could imagine was rampant in the city. People were dying of tuberculosis, cholera, yellow fever, and the plague. You name it! But, Jerusalem is where he came to live. And, God supernaturally extended this man’s life even with TB for many, many years thereafter.

Challenges

When Ben Yehuda arrived in Jerusalem, he became obsessed with the revival of the Hebrew language. He would work 12-18 hours a day trying to revive the Hebrew language from the dead so it would become a daily spoken language of the people.

Let me try to give you an example of what I am talking about here. What if I were to tell you that God had spoken to me and said He was fed up with modern English and He wanted us to go back to the pure English that existed in the time of Chaucer when he wrote the Canterbury Tales. That’s English from only 600 years ago. Well, Ben Yehuda was going back 2,000 years trying to revive a language! Here’s what English sounded like when Chaucer wrote:

“Whan that Aprile with his shoures soote. The droughte of March hath perced to the roote. And bathed every veyne en swich licour. Of which vertu engendred is the flour.”

If I told you that God had told me that we’ve got to go back and revive that language and bring it up to date, I suspect you would be calling the guys with the butterfly nets to have me put away as incurably insane. Well, let me tell you, there were many people who felt that way about Eliezer Ben Yehuda.

He ended up with people attacking him from both sides. For example, the men who later became the major political leaders of Israel in its early years were all Socialists, and they were men who were mainly Agnostics and some were Atheists. They didn’t want to speak a biblical language. They wanted a modern language. On the other hand, the ultra-orthodox were also opposed to Ben Yehuda because they believed that Hebrew was a biblical language that should never be spoken on the street.

So, he had both sides attacking him all the time. And yet, this man was so obsessed and determined that he…

Watch the full episode on this amazing prophetic fulfillment!

The Eleventh And Twelfth Reason We Believe in A Pre-Tribulation Rapture

 

 

 

 

 
By Scott Hull

The Eleventh Reason We Need To Believe In A Pre-Tribulation Rapture  – Tribulation Is Unnecessary for the Church

In Jeremiah 30:7, the Tribulation is called Jacob’s trouble. It’s called this because it’s a unique time in which God awakens the Jews to embrace Jesus as their Messiah. In Deuteronomy 4, Moses made this remarkable statement –

29 From there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30
When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice 31 (for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.

All God’s promises to Israel will be fulfilled and it’s during the Tribulation that He will move decisively to make Himself known to her. But in order for God to make Israel the focus of His redemptive attention, He will need to switch that focus off the Church. The only way to do that, and not violate His promise to never leave nor forsake us is to take the church out of the earth and transport her to heaven.

 

The Twelfth Reason Why We Believe In A Pre-Tribulation Rapture – It Squares with the “70 Weeks of Daniel 9”

This is a rather complex and involved proof, but one of the most powerful.

In Daniel 9, God told the prophet 490 years had been set aside for God to deal with the Jews and Jerusalem in a special and focused way. The first 483 of those years were fulfilled right down to the very day.[2] That leaves one last period of seven years.

If the first 483 years were literally & perfectly fulfilled, we must see the last seven in the same manner.

God said these 490 years were all set aside for His unique focus on Israel. As with the previous Reason (#11), in order for God to turn his attention to the nation of Israel, He must turn His focus away from the Church, and the only way He can do that is if the Church has been Raptured and is with Him in heaven. The church wasn’t here for the first 483 years of Daniel’s prophecy; it’s not going to be here for the last seven either.

As Daniel foretells, that last seven years begin when the Antichrist forges an agreement with many nations that appears to have something to do with the City of Jerusalem and the Jewish temple. In light of all that’s taking place in the Middle East today, and how the nations of the world are lining up trying to figure out what to do to bring peace, this all becomes interesting to students of the Bible.

~ Maranatha ~ Jesus Come Quickly

The Coming Four Blood Moons A Warning to Israel {3 Videos}

 

 

 

 

 

The Coming Four Blood Moons 2014 2015 A Warning to Israel

 

 

 

Joel 2:31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

 

 

John Hagee 4 Blood Moons 2014 2015 warning to Israel

 

 

 

Four Blood Moons by Pastor Mark Biltz

 

 

 

Prophecy in the News: Eclipses and the Second Coming

 

 

Gary and J.R. are joined by Pastor Mark Biltz as they discuss solar and lunar eclipses. Do they have a prophetic meaning? Is there a correspondence with the Jewish feasts?

 

 

 

This week on ‘The Hal Lindsey Report’ April 5th, 2013 {Video}

By Hal Lindsey 

Cyprus is a small island in the Mediterranean Sea. It lies just 200 miles off the coast of Israel. According to scripture, Barnabas hailed from Cyprus. It was there that Paul began his first missionary journey.

At various times, Cyprus has been in the news because it is claimed by both the Greeks and the Turks. In fact, the Turkish Cypriots live in the northern part of the island and the Greek Cypriots in the south. They even have a UN-supervised line of demarcation that separates the two.

In the last few years, large gas and oil reserves have been discovered off the coast of Cyprus. This has focused international attention on the tiny republic and caused a great deal of internal strife over the distribution of the new found revenues.

Recently, Cyprus has been in the news for quite another reason. One that will have repercussions that may one day be felt here in America.

As a nation, Cyprus, and more particularly its banking sector, have fallen on hard times. So hard, in fact, that without a bailout loan of many billions, the nation faces bankruptcy.

To make a long and painful story short, a group of money powers known as “The Troika,” which consists of the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, agreed to help the island nation.

But, unlike their bailouts of other European nations like Spain or Greece, this time the Troika demanded more than a tightening of the belt or an increase in income tax revenues or the addition of a national value-added tax. This time, they demanded that Cyprus arbitrarily invade the bank accounts of ordinary citizens and confiscate 7 to 10% in order to help repay the debt.

Cyprus is as an offshore financial shelter for many Russians, like the Caymans for many Americans. Russian president Vladimir Putin was furious over the demand. He protested loudly and angrily. So did the Cypriots themselves.

In fact, their House of Representatives voted to reject the imposition of a tax on smaller accounts, but faced with impending default, acquiesced to a tax on larger accounts. Strangely, so did Putin. In fact, for some reason he agreed to keep his mouth shut when the dust settled and up to 60% of savings accounts in excess of 100,000 Euros was confiscated by the government.

To prevent a run on the banks that would collapse the system, the government abruptly closed Cyprus’s banks. What was supposed to be 24 hours turned into two weeks!

What if — without warning — you were told you couldn’t withdraw money from your bank for two weeks?

Can you think of any action the world powers could take that would send a greater chill through the world banking and financial sectors than arbitrary confiscation of private funds to pay debts run up by socialist politicians? And we’ve all seen what can happen when there are crises in the banking and financial markets!

Will that happen here? To paraphrase our nation’s founders, what Big Brother gives, Big Brother can take away! Unfortunately, it’s already happening, but through cleverly disguised “fees” and “account charges.” Even more subtly, the same thing is happening to us when the Federal Reserve System prints money backed by nothing and floods the markets. Every dollar printed causes the value of every dollar in your wallet to decrease. The Treasury agents might as well show up at your house and demand that you give them your wallet!

You may be asking yourself, “How does this concern me?” Well, even though the economy of Cyprus is smaller than the smallest state in our union, it’s conceivable that a collapse there could trigger other collapses in the Eurozone and spark a complete meltdown. If nothing else, the whole affair is undermining already shaky confidence in European banks and financial markets.

All it takes is a trigger, a lead domino to fall and start the whole chain collapsing. This crisis illustrates just how close we may be to the final meltdown that will open the door to the Antichrist.

President Obama’s recent trip to the Middle East proved to be nothing more than a PR tour comprised of photo-ops and displays of “feel good” statesmanship. He made some admirable pronouncements about the strength of the friendship between Israel and the United States. He also issued some stern warnings to Iran, but nothing we’ve not heard before.

Probably the most important incidents that occurred during the trip were largely ignored by the media. The President’s visit to a display of the Dead Sea Scrolls seemed to prompt an admission that the Jews’ ties to Israel extend into ancient history. This is something of a significant development for the President. He has previously seemed to believe that the Jews are in Israel as the world’s sympathetic response to the Holocaust.

Second, in a rather awkwardly contrived moment, the President apparently forced Prime Minister Netanyahu into issuing an apology of sorts to Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan for the Mavi Mamara incident during the 2010 Egyptian-Israeli blockade of Gaza. It caused the deaths of nine Turkish militants. But maybe some good will come of it if it eases tensions between the two former allies.

Finally, last week the Supreme Court held hearings on the constitutionality of two cases related to same-sex marriage. Proposition 8 is an amendment to California’s constitution, duly passed by its citizens, that restricts marriage to a man and a woman. The second is a federal statute overwhelmingly passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996. It’s known as the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA. It effectively requires inter-state recognition of marriages only between a man and a woman. It also limits federal benefits only to opposite-sex marriages.

The factor that makes these two cases unique is that both governments who are charged with enforcing these laws — California and the federal government — refuse to defend them in court. And some of the justices on the highest court believe that the citizens themselves have no “standing” to defend them.

Though we probably won’t know the Court’s rulings for several months, this could be a watershed moment in our nation’s history. Obviously, if they strike down both of those laws, it will mean that same-sex marriage will be legal throughout the nation. But even if they decline to rule for “technical” reasons, and allow the current lower court ruling voiding Proposition 8 to stand, it will mean that every law passed by a majority of citizens of any state can be annulled simply by the elected officials refusing to defend them in court.

That means that we may be on the verge of a complete takeover of the legislative and electoral process by the US court system — and unscrupulous politicians. God help us if that happens.

I believe this issue — the obliteration of the divine institution of marriage between a man and a woman (which has been practiced by all civilizations for thousands of years) and the subsequent acceptance and celebration of same-sex marriage — may well be the issue that finally brings physical persecution to Christians in the United States. We are fast approaching the moment when we must decide to stand up and speak the truth of the Bible, and bear the consequences, or pointedly deny God’s Word and accept a concept that is, as Justice Alito noted, “newer than cell phones or the internet.”

Are you ready to stand up and be counted? I’ll begin that discussion this week and continue it in greater depth next week.

Don’t miss this week’s Report on TBN, Daystar, CPM Network, The Word Network, various local stations, www.hallindsey.com or www.hischannel.com. Check your local listings.

God Bless,

Hal Lindsey
mail: HLMM, P.O. Box 470470, Tulsa, OK 74147
email: comments@hallindsey.com
web: http://www.hallindsey.com