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This is David Bay, Director of Old Paths Ministries.
And this is the Cutting Edge, a radio program dedicated to warning and informing God's people. We are committed to the study and exposition of the inerrant, inspired and authoritative Word of God. The views expressed belong to us, and are not necessarily shared by this station.
The moral bankruptcy of our society is well-documented. But, few people understand why we have become morally bankrupt. However, when we look at society through the Biblical eyes of God, we can easily see why we are facing the unprecedented troubles of today. This study of America through the eyes of God is what we will always try to do here; stay with us for some eye-opening truths.
In a past program, we reviewed three End Time Indicators which we believe will prove reliable in letting believers know approximately how close to the appearance of Anti-Christ this world really is. To briefly recap, these three End Time Indicators are:
Before we go any further, we need to examine the Biblical basis for our understanding that we Christians can know the approximate time of the End of the Age.
There are more verses which deliver the same message: While we may not know the precise day and hour that the Lord may return, we may know the approximate time frame. This week, we want to study the Judgment Implications of the appearance of Anti-Christ. Of the three above End Time Indicators, the last one, the final formation of the 10-Nation Reorganization Plan, is the most significant in terms of Biblical prophecy. Let us begin at this point today.
* In Daniel 7:7-8, we see, first, the Fourth Kingdom giving way to the global 10-Nation confederacy, and then the appearance of Anti-Christ. "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth...and it had ten horns." This seventh verse foretells the appearance of the Fourth Gentile World Kingdom which we know today to be the Roman Empire. We know this verse applies both to the historic Roman Empire, and to the End of the Age Empire. More specifically, the entire verse, except for the last phrase about the 10 horns, applies to historic Rome. God jumps forward many centuries in time when He talks about the 10 horns. We know this to be true because of three factors:
Thus, the people who know their God in the Last Day's of history and who read their Bible literally, can know with great certainty that the world is very close to the beginning of the Great Tribulation when they see the global 10-Nation Government forming. This formation is historically unprecedented; the governments of the world have never coalesced into such an organization. Further, one cannot ignore New Age writings which have sprung up since the early 1970's calling for the reorganization of the world's governments into 10 Super Nations, to be followed by the appearance of Maitreya the Christ!!
We reviewed the planned 10-Nation Reorganization last week, and time does not permit us to review it in detail again. Suffice it to say that Nation #1 was "North America" and Nation #5 was "Eastern Europe, including Russia".
This background brings us to the subject of judgment, for the reorganization of the nations of the world into 10 Super Nations will bring the appearance of the Anti-Christ. At this point, the world will stand at the fulfillment of Revelation 6:1-2: "And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals...And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat upon it had a bow; and a crown was given unto him; and he went forth conquering and to conquer." When we see this 10-Nation Confederacy formally set into place, we know the next step is for Jesus Christ to open the first great Seal, the Seal which will allow Anti-Christ to ride and rule.
This sets the stage for the Second Great Seal to be opened, the beginning of God's judgment upon the unbelieving world. Revelation 6:3-4: "And when He had opened the Second Seal...there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword." Notice carefully the words in the latter part of this prophecy: Someone unseen and in greater authority than the rider of the horse is giving the rider the huge sword necessary to kill great numbers of people on the earth. We know, of course, this authority could be only God. Further, the phrase, "..and power was given to him that sat thereon...that they should kill one another", implies God will act to ensure that men and nations would want to kill each other.
So, the official formation of the 10-Nation Confederacy brings the appearance of Anti-Christ in its wake, which means God's judgments are ready to commence. And they will probably begin quickly.
As we start to discuss this beginning of God's judgments, let us first lay Biblical groundwork. First, the Bible clearly teaches that God must punish sin (Exodus 34:7). Secondly, the Bible teaches that those individuals or nations which received greater spiritual light will be held to a higher standard. Israel was horribly defeated and taken captive by a more wicked foe, Babylon, because she had repeatedly sinned against greater spiritual knowledge.
Thirdly, we know that in the judgments of the Great Tribulation, while God ultimately destroys approximately two-thirds of the population of the earth, He does not do so in one action. Rather, He gathers the nations of the world before His judgment throne one nation at a time. We see this concept in Obadiah, verse 15-16, "For the Day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen nations...so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink...and they shall be as though they had not been." This incredible prophecy tells us two things: 1. That the heathen, or Gentile, nations shall come before God's throne one at a time. A Bible Commentary adds the following understanding, "...so shall all the nations drink continually [in turn] of My wrath..." At no time in the Great Tribulation does God destroy all nations at once. 2. The second incredible prophecy in this verse in Obadiah is that the destruction of these nations shall be so complete that there will be no survivors, "they shall be destroyed as though they had never been". Throughout history, no invading army has been able to so completely and quickly eradicate every person within any country whom they are militarily conquering. Such complete, utter, and rapid destruction of an entire population can only be understood in the light of the advent of nuclear weaponry.
Fourthly, the Bible teaches that wickedness throughout the world will dramatically increase to historically high levels as the world progresses toward the End of the Age. In Matthew 24:12, Jesus says that the historical love which people in any era of time had for Him will dramatically decrease. In fact, this decrease will be so dramatic that Jesus posed the rhetorical question, "When the Son of Man returns, will He find any faith on the earth?" Certainly, we see this situation in the world and in the United States.
Fifthly, God's judgments at this time will be sudden and without specific warning. In Luke 21:34-35, Jesus warned, "Take heed...lest that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell upon the face of the earth." In other words, the wicked shall not understand that judgment is about to fall; God tells us this in Daniel 12:10b, "..and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand."
Nor will they be given any specific warning. Jesus enunciated this truth in Luke 17:26-30, when He compared the timing of His Second Coming to God's physical judgment of the earth with the Flood, in the days of Noah. Jesus was very specific in demonstrating this timetable similarity, as He foretold, "...as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so also shall the coming of the Son of man be."
Let us examine carefully some of the critically important concepts which this passage provides:
In the next verse, verse 28, Jesus went from the example of the days of Noah to the days of Lot. He said, "Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded." In other words, the wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah were carrying on a normal life, in both personal terms and in business. But then Jesus tells of the sudden judgment, "But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." There will be no special, visible warning and no time to repent and accept Jesus Christ.
Now, let us go back to the 10 horns of Daniel 7:7-8. God reveals that, immediately after the 10 Super Nations are established, the Anti-Christ will arise, bringing the world to the opening in Heaven of the First Seal of Revelation 6:1-2, and setting the stage for the Second Seal of War (6:3-4). At this point in the Daniel passage, we see that the 10-Nation Confederacy goes to war, fighting amongst themselves. This infighting is explained in the parallel passage in Daniel, chapter 2:31-48. Most Bible scholars are agreed that three of the original ten super nation states will be totally destroyed after Anti-Christ arises.
Now, remember, God brings nations one at a time before His judgment throne. At this point, think back to the lineup of nations in the 10-Nation Confederacy. Three of these super nation states are destined by God's Omnipotent power to be totally destroyed. The Bible does not specify which of the three will be decimated. However, we do find a clue as to who one of these three might be. In Ezekiel 38-39, which we have already quoted, God foretells that He will cause the wicked leaders of Russia to formulate a plan to attack Israel in the "latter days". As this huge army begins to enter Israel, God attacks with several weapons by which He totally destroys this army and then the nation itself. (38:18-22):
This is the destruction of Nation Number Five in the New World Order Reorganization Plan -- "Eastern Europe, including Russia". But, now the remaining question centers around the identity of the other two super nation states, and whether the United States is one of them. Even though God lists many of the nations by name which will be participating in the events of the End of the Age, the United States of America is not listed. This is very odd, because the USA has dominated the world scene like no other nation in history.
Then, why aren't we mentioned in End Time prophecies? God has decided to keep this part of the puzzle a "mystery" as the Apostle Paul would say. However, there are Bible scholars who believe the reason America is not listed as one of the nations who will be participating in the events of the Great Tribulation is that she will no longer be here once that period begins. If this scenario is true, then the United States must have been destroyed before Russia is destroyed. Now, the potential scenario becomes very interesting.
Now, marry this concept to the Biblical doctrine that God utilizes a more wicked nation to bring judgment upon a formerly righteous and true nation which has badly slipped into apostasy. You the have the potential of Russia attacking America to destroy her completely, then attacking Israel only to be destroyed by God. Remember, once God uses a more wicked nation to destroy the formerly righteous nation, He then immediately turns upon that wicked nation to destroy her. If God uses Russia to deliver the Sword of judgment upon America, He would then turn on Russia and destroy her, and this Godly destruction would take the form as described in Ezekiel 38-39.
But, for this scenario to occur, Russia would have to destroy America with nuclear weapons. Are there Biblical indications that nuclear weapons might be used in the End of the Age? Indeed, there is. Be prepared to be shocked.
1. We have shared with you in a previous program our firm belief that the present-day United States precisely fits God's description of the Economic Babylon in Revelation 18. If you would like to get a tape or a script of this program, please write or call us and we will immediately mail this tape to you, because time does not permit us to go into detail again on this program. If the United States is the Economic Babylon of Revelation 18, we should be sobered beyond measure because of the punishment God will mete out.
Thus, in this passage, we see a very rich and powerful economic nation totally destroyed in one hour in such a way as to produce the familiar physical effects of nuclear weapons. As we read now, from Joel, keep these effects in your mind. These passages in Joel 2 are clearly set at the End of the Age.
There are other verses we could share with you which describe either the speed or the physical effects of nuclear weaponry in the Last Days Time Frame, but time will not allow us. Suffice it to say, we believe it likely that nuclear weaponry will be utilized to destroy many of the nations in the Great Tribulation, and probably at least one of the three original ten Super Nations in Daniel's prophecy. If we are as close to the End of the Age as we think we are, we should be able to see how this scenario might possibly occur. Again, be prepared to be shocked.
In the major and minor prophets, as God is preparing Israel for judgment, He clearly tells them specifically why He is about to physically destroy them. In Isaiah 3:1-4, God states that He is going to remove from Israel everything upon which they had been depending upon for support and sustenance. This removal of everything upon which they had been depending would occur just prior to their destruction; in fact, this removal would allow Babylon to successfully destroy them. In verse 4, God declares that one of the things He will remove is effective, experienced political leadership. God says, "I will make boys their princes, and with childishness shall they rule over them -- with outrage instead of justice."
If God has decided to remove effective, experienced political leadership from this country to set the stage for our destruction, He very well might have caused Clinton to win this Presidency. We will see many instances of actions which appear to be without common sense, and we will see repeated instances of actions which speak of outrage rather than justice. We have already seen such a phenomenon. Immediately after taking his oath of office upon his family King James Bible, Clinton signed an Executive Order ending the Presidential Prohibition on Abortion Counseling at Federally-funded health clinics by any one other than a doctor. This action will clearly increase the number of abortions every year. Yet, when he signed this Executive Order, Clinton had the outrageous audacity to say, "America should be a country where abortion is safe, legal, and rare." Rare?!! Abortion is not rare now; in fact, it is the most commonly performed surgical procedure, and will become even more common now. How outrageous.
But, now let us consider the most important aspect of Clinton's Presidency which should give most Americans great cause for concern: Foreign Policy.
America now has Bill Clinton as their 42nd President, even though he has absolutely zero foreign policy experience. In 1960, Americans elected a man whom the Russians considered to be a novice in foreign policy; as a result, the Russians placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, leading to the very frightening and potentially lethal Cuban missile crisis. Before we go any further, we need to remind our listeners that a lot less has changed in the former Soviet Union than Americans have been lead to believe. Most of the current leaders in these former republics are former Communists who have just changed clothes. And not one nuclear warhead or missile has been removed.
We believe the Russians may already be setting the stage for an attack on America. As we describe this following incident to you, keep in mind that it occurred in mid-November, after the Russians knew Clinton had been elected President.
Providence Journal, 11-16-92, "Russian Rocket Launch Heralds New Era In Global Relations", "A Russian rocket carrying a payload of religious icons, appeals for world peace, and a stuffed toy dog...blasted off from the once-secret Plesetsk space center...Mounted on the rocket is the Resurs 500 satellite and descent module, which will orbit the Earth for about five days before splashing down in international waters...off the coast of Washington state."
Now, there are several things which do not make common sense. First, the Russian economy is nearly broke; the last thing they needed to do is to spend $500 million dollars to deliver peace messages, religious icons, and a toy stuffed dog. Second, if they wanted to deliver such messages, they could have sent Boris Yeltsin personally to meet with Clinton in Little Rock. The most effective message is one delivered personally. As this article explains this incident, nothing makes sense.
However, from a military standpoint, this rocket firing makes a great deal of sense. American nuclear early warning systems are set up in such a way as to require 12-15 minutes of an attack. During this time, American political and military leaders will determine whether we are really under attack, and how we can best respond. Our actual commands to launch our nuclear warheads are very complex and are set up requiring back-up systems to verify the validity of the launch order. Such a system is necessary to prevent the accidental launch of nuclear weapons, but they take time to implement. If this warning time were to be significantly reduced, our complex retaliatory system could fail to perform in such a way as to launch any warheads.
Further, we are expecting Russian missiles to be launched either from the North over the polar ice caps or from submarines in either the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans. Our satellites are programmed to detect missiles being launched by detecting their telltale fiery tails. The way in which this "peace" missile was launched could circumvent our detection and early warning systems. This paper article includes a map showing the globe. When this highly publicized launch occurred, it merely put the module into an Earth orbit which repeatedly took it over Siberia and Alaska until the fifth day, when retrorockets caused it to descend just off the coast of Washington state.
The sobering fact of the matter is that American radar operators cannot tell the difference from the blips on their screens between a module carrying peace messages and a toy dog and one carrying MIRV'd nuclear warheads. If the Russians were to put such nuclear warheads into orbit under such a ruse, American radar operators would not realize that the United States was under attack until the module had descended to about 60,000 feet, at which point it would break into its various MIRV'd warheads, each one of which would be racing to their targets. But, even then, it is conceivable that these American radar operators might initially think that the module had just broken up in the descent, thus wasting a few more precious seconds. It is conceivable that we might have less than one minute of real warning before the first warheads were striking. A launch such as this one off the West Coast would take out our hardened nuclear missile sites and our military bombers. If a similar module were to be aimed at the East Coast, American political and military leaders would be so quickly removed that our complex launch procedures could not be implemented. Thus, even though our submarines would survive intact, they would never receive the correct orders to fire. This would give the Russians the time they would need to find them and destroy them with the technology they received several years ago through Naval espionage.
Even if Clinton received a few minutes' warning, his inexperience plus his naiveté' could conceivably cause him to freeze into inaction. Clinton could be further caused to hesitate if the launch were as well publicized as this one.
And, if it is God's judgment, God would be taking specific action to ensure that American military forces would not take effective action.
It all seems too probable. And frightening.
Just keep your eyes on the formation of the 10-Super Nations. All this judgment will begin only after they are in place. The time is really very short.
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