The Final Countdown

News from the last week shows the world is continuing to move towards globalization at a rapid pace:

• Obama to establish new financial agency with broad powers
• Obama plan to call for supervision of global financial firms
• China calls for new global currency
• Obama plans to divide oceans into ‘zones’
• Treaty to strengthen EU gets another chance

These five headlines are closely connected. The coming global government will begin in the EU and will include dividing the world into 10 ‘zones’ (Daniel 2:44; 7:7, 20, 23; 11:39; Revelation 12:3; 13:1; 17:3, 7, 12, 16). Once worldwide, this government will give its leadership over to the Antichrist (Daniel 7:8, 20, 24; 9:26; Revelation 13:1), who will attempt to use a global currency system to keep tabs on every human being (Revelation 13:16-18), plotting to kill those who refuse to use it (Revelation 20:4).

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerged from a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Monday and announced that he hopes peace talks will begin “in the coming weeks.” Representing the European Union, the forerunner of a world government that will forge the peace deal (Daniel 9:27) via the Antichrist (Daniel 7:8, 20, 24, 9:26; Revelation 13:1), Tony Blair said it is the “moment of truth” in the Mideast peace process.

Hostilities continue to escalate in the region. Egypt and Iran have both taken big steps in developing weapons grade uranium, maintaining it is for “peaceful purposes” (this despite Iran’s repeated promise to wipe Israel off the map). Israel, meanwhile, is working to remind everyone that Jerusalem is the nation’s capital, much to the irritation of the Arab world.

As we have mentioned daily it seems, everyone is calling for a two-state solution to the conflict in the region. Earlier today the Pope even weighed in, calling for an independent Palestinian nation that shares Jerusalem as its capital. Yesterday, US National Security Adviser James Jones said that the Iranian threat makes a two-state solution imperative. Probably the most interesting statement came from King Abdullah of Jordan, who said that we do not need “a two-state solution, (but) a 57-state solution,” where the Israeli’s negotiate with Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinians, and the rest of the Arab and Muslim world.

This is exactly how it is going to play out! The aforementioned peace contract brought on by the Antichrist will be between Israel and a whole host of nations (Daniel 9:27), and will include a two-state solution (Joel 3:2) with Jerusalem as the shared capital (Zechariah 14:2). Sadly it is a false peace as the Bible says Israel makes an agreement with “death and hell” (Isaiah 28:15). This is because while Israel thinks she is at rest (Jeremiah 6:14, 8:11), the nations on the other side of the peace contract will be plotting her destruction (Psalm 83:4-5). Led by Russia (Ezekiel 38:8, 16; Jeremiah 1:13, 10:22), this confederation of nations will march on Israel (Ezekiel 38:15) precisely when Israel lets its guard down (Ezekiel 38:11). All the key players of the region will take part in the assault, including Egypt of Daniel 11:40; Syria of Isaiah 17:1 and Psalm 83:8; Iran (& possibly Iraq), Ethiopia, Lybia, and Turkey of Ezekiel 38:5-6; and Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine of Psalm 83:7. Plus many other nations.

It was a big weekend for the key Biblical players from the East, beginning Friday with a minor dust up between American and Chinese naval vessels, the fifth such “clash” since March. Friday’s incident was seemingly innocuous, with a Chinese military ship responding to a situation between the US vessel and a Chinese fishing boat. However, tension escalated after a Chinese spokesman berated the US for its involvement, adding more stress to a situation that has been building in recent months. Over in North Korea, there has been heavy activity at a nuclear testing facility, the same site where North Korea first detonated a nuclear device in 2006. After the news leaked, North Korea took the opportunity to reiterate its promise to bolster its nuclear weapons arsenal.

The biggest news, however, comes from Russia. In the wake of the failed (and supposedly Russian-backed) mutiny in the former Soviet state of Georgia, as well as heightened angst between Russia and the European Union, Russia put its military might on display, parading nuclear capable missiles, heavy artillery tanks, and tens of thousands of soldiers through the streets of Moscow and other Russian cities.

Russia, China, North Korea, and the EU play critical parts in the greatest war in the history of the world. It all begins when Russia forms a confederacy of Jew-hating nations (Psalm 83:4-5) and launches an attack against Israel (Jeremiah 10:22, Ezekiel 38 & 39). The Russian led armies will face a great defeat (Joel 2:20; Ezekiel 39:6), so much so that even with every available man working, it will take 7 months to bury the dead (Ezekiel 39:12-13). But there is a second part to this invasion, and that is led by China, who brings with them North Korea and other nations (Revelation 16:12). This is when the largest army ever assembled (Revelation 9:16) marches down the Euphrates River (Revelation 9:14, 16:12; Isaiah 11:15) and into the Middle East, where they meet the Antichrist and his forces, who comes against Russia and China (Daniel 11:44) for breaking the peace contract he forged (Daniel 9:26-27; Ezekiel 38:11).

It’s happening, and happening soon.

1. Cocaine seizures hit record high. Rampant drug use is one of the last signs before Christ returns.

There are four verses in particular that speak of drugs in Revelation. Most English versions of the book use the words sorcery, sorceries, and sorcerer, but these are not accurate translations. Let’s look at the four verses briefly, using the New King James translation and a Greek dictionary.

Revelation 9:21: And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries.

Revelation 18:23: For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived.

In both of the above verses, the Greek word rendered as sorcery/sorceries is pharmakeia, and means “medication store.” This is where we get our English word “pharmacy” from.  A pharmacy is a place where you go to get drugs.

Revelation 21:8: But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.

The word sorcerers in this verse is the Greek word pharmakeus, and it literally means “druggists.” This where we get our English word “pharmacists” from.  A pharmacist is a person who sells drugs.

Revelation 22:15: But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

In this verse, sorcerers is actually the Greek word pharmakos, and it is essentially an earlier form of the pharmakeus of Revelation 21:8. It means someone who is addicted to drugs, and gives us the English word “pharmacology,” or the practice of looking to drugs for an answer.

As an interesting side note, this pharmakos actually became a term for a pagan religion where a human scapegoat would be expelled from the city in time of crisis, in an effort to bring relief upon the land. Today, many people look to mind and emotion altering drugs to escape from the pressures of life.

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What an amazing time to be alive! God’s word is unfolding right in front of us, and we desperately need to be ready.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking at a joint news conference with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, announced that “Syria and Iran are united” in support of the Palestinians, and against Israel. In a statement where he called Jews “destructive microbes,” Ahmadinejad promised that the “shared principles and interests” of the Middle East Arab community is about to produce “victory.”

Of course, that shared “principle” is that Israel has no right to exist, and the shared “interest” is the elimination of the Jewish state, as has been stated many times by Ahmadinejad. This is exactly what the Bible predicts. In Psalm 83:4-5, we read,

The have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” For they have consulted together with one consent; they form a confederacy against You.

This confederacy is headed up by Russia (Ezekiel 38:15) and invades Israel during the “latter days” (Ezekiel 38:8, 16, 39:1-2; Jeremiah 1:13, 10:22). Syria (Isaiah 17:1; Psalm 83:8) and Iran (Ezekiel 38:5) are among the nations mentioned as being in this cabal of hatred against the Jews. Syria also has renewed diplomatic ties with Lebanon, another nation that will be part of the Russian-led confederacy (Psalm 83:7).

According to a CIA report released in March, Iran is busy developing nuclear weapons to use in this assault on Israel, and they are further along in this pursuit than many want to admit. At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing yesterday, Robert Morgenthau, who uncovered a Iranian scam to funnel billions of dollars through the US to buy nuclear and missile materials, testified that “we don’t have a lot of time to stop Iran from developing long-range missiles and nuclear weapons.” Morgenthau’s statement came as the Committee released a report warning that the US is grossly underestimating Iran’s progress in developing these weapons. This caused Israeli President Shimon Peres to once again say that he will not rule out an attack on Iran to take out their nuclear facilities.

The race to bring peace to the region is heating up, with virtually every free nation on earth wanting to get involved. A US envoy is in Syria to reiterate the Americans’ commitment to peace, while Vice President Joe Biden was in Washington saying that a two-state solution is a must. Likewise, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that there is “no alternative” to the creation of a Palestinian state.

Everyone is putting their two cents in, but of all the potential peace-makers, the one to watch is the EU envoy. Speaking at a symposium in Jerusalem, Ambassador Michael Zantovsky from the current EU Presidency holding nation of the Czech Republic, said that strengthened diplomatic ties between Israel and the EU was “temporarily stuck.” This was an attempt to tone down the words of EU Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who said the process is “frozen” until Israel declares its committment to the two-state solution.

Tuesday, Peres said that Israel does indeed support the creation of a Palestinian state, and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was ready to “start to negotiate right away” on making it happen. This prompted EU Mideast Envoy Tony Blair to say that “a new framework” was in progress and the EU would unveil a peace plan within a few weeks.

When a peace contract is finally forged, it will come at the hands of a world “President” (the Antichrist of Daniel 9:27) and include a newly created Palestinian state with a divided Jerusalem (Joel 3:2; Zechariah 14:2). Interesting fact: Due to military conquests many centuries ago, the monarchy of Spain carries the title, “King of the Jews.” Satan wants to duplicate Christ in every way possible, including being raised from the dead, which he tries to mimic by taking over the body of the slain Antichrist (Revelation 12:12-13; 13:3-5, 12; 17:8, 11). I think that the coming Antichrist, whoever that may be, will somehow assume this title, either by birth (being from Spain) or by usurping it in some way.

Before anything can happen, Christians must be gone via the rapture.  In 2 Thessalonians 2:6, we are told that the Antichrist cannot be revealed until the restraining force is removed. That restraining force is the church, for Christians are the home of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19-20). We are the “salt of the earth,” (Matthew 5:13) and salt is a preserving agent, keeping the world from going to a literal hell.

There are more passages that indicate a pre-tribulation rapture. Revelation 3:10 says that God will keep us from the hour of trial coming upon the world. In Luke 17:26-30, Jesus was talking about His return and related the stories of Noah and Lot–two men who were removed from the land before judgment fell because of their relationships to God. Note that they did not remove themselves, for the ark door was shut by God (Genesis 7:16) and Lot was forcibly brought outside of Sodom by angels (Genesis 19:16). Everything in the old testament has to do with the Lord Jesus, and these two stories picture of His protecting love for His saints via a rapture.

In Luke 21, Jesus is talking about the end times and the coming Tribulation. In the midst of this, Jesus said we should watch and pray so that we may be worthy to escape “all these things” (Luke 21:36). In context, “these things” are clearly the trials of the Tribulation.