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Commentary on world events that relate to Bible prophecy and on Rapture Ready issues world events.

Oct 15

Would Jesus Vote Third-Party?

We are getting closer to the point where the political campaign for 2008 will begin to kick into high gear. Right now, it looks like 2008 is guaranteed to be a disastrous election. The only unknown factor is how big a calamity it will be.

According to the polls, we have Senator Hillary Clinton leading on the Democrat side and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani leading on the Republican side. This choice is extremely discouraging for Social conservatives because both of these candidates support gay rights, abortion, and gun control.

The situation is equally bleak for the congressional races. The Republicans have eight seats up for grabs. Polls seem to indicate there may be another round of backlashes against the party of George Bush. This sentiment may explain why Democrats have raised twice as much money as Republicans.

Senator Larry Craig's decision to stick around until the end of his term can only help remind voters that Republicans are the party of hypocrisy.

The entry of Fred Thompson into the race did offer some hope to Republicans. Enthusiasm for him taking up Reagan's banner has faded in recent days as Conservatives questions his commitment to Christian values.

James Dobson, the head of Focus on the Family, has done his best to derail the idea of Thompson being the hope of the Christian right. Dobson was quoted by U.S. News and World Report as saying, "Everyone knows Thompson's conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for, but I don't think he's a Christian; at least that's my impression."

Asked by the Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity whether it would be helpful to have a conversation with Dobson, Thompson replied, "I have no idea. I don't particularly care to have a conversation with him." Thompson then said he was not going to dance to Dobson's tune.

One possible explanation for why Dobson is so willing to reject Thompson might be plans for conservative Christian leaders to back their own third-party candidate for president. A group of them met at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City to lay out their political strategy. The triggering point would be Rudy Giuliani winning the Republican nomination.

I think the idea of having a third-party candidate would be political suicide. There is zero chance that such a nominee would be successful. The press would ravage him or her as a puppet of the far right. I read one poll this week that found 87 percent of non-Christians would never vote for a Christian candidate.

The damage to the Christian right would not just be limited to the 2008 election. I guarantee the liberal media would make it known that Christian elitists were solely responsible for costing the Republican party the last election, and they would warn any future candidates to avoid his divisive group.

Before these Christian leaders decide to run their own candidate or simply sit on their hands and let Hillary take control, there is one thing they need to consider. If she wins, I don't think there is any way for us to fully reclaim the nation in 2012 or 2016. Just as we never recovered from the moral damage done during the first President Clinton, there will most likely be no turning back from the harm caused by a second Clinton presidency.

It has been nearly 14 years since the Democrats controlled the White House and both houses of Congress. Back then, the congressional leadership was mostly centralist. Even Bubba got cold feet when the gay lobby urged him to press for gay marriage. He would only go for civil unions.

For the first time ever, we are facing the possibility of having liberals in full control. Only God knows how quickly the moral foundation would erode under a Clinton administration. In four years, we may see an effort to make sexual transgenders a protected class, and the decriminalization of certain drug classes. I’m sure Terry and I will be writing several commentaries about her plans to include the U.S. in a new round of globalization.

I have long maintained that the current game strategy of the religious right will only end in defeat. Most of them seem to be more worried about political power than they are about changing the hearts and minds of their fellow citizens.

Satan is slowly winning the culture war because his primary focus has been on corrupting the moral foundation of our society. In the 2004 election, conservatives helped approve constitutional amendments in 11 states that would ban gay marriage. Four years later, all of these initiatives seem doomed to be struck down by the courts, and there is a growing sense that marriage between same-sex couples is inevitable.

Christian groups that have a political agenda will eventually see all their efforts come to nothing. Bible prophecy tells us that Satan will at one point win the battle for America's soul.

Our focus here at Rapture Ready has always been on reaching the individual. The world as whole may be a lost cause, but God will always have his remnant.

-- Todd

The Impossible Dream

Singer Robert Goulet’s rendition of “The Impossible Dream”--the theme song of the film about the non-existent kingdom defended by the delusional man taking on the pitiful character of knight errant Don Quixote--has a noble, uplifting intonation. But, the impossible dream about which I ruminate here has no such noble objective as that of the theme song of the movie.

I write about a quest for a kingdom of another sort. The Islamics’ ambition to rid Jerusalem of the Jews –to eradicate the modern state of Israel –to, as Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has threatened on numerous occasions – to remove Israel from the face of the Middle East. The dream of the Islamic fundamentalists has long been, though not officially announced, to then establish Allah’s throne upon the place of Moriah.

Their ambition is an impossible dream. It will never happen.

Islam’s minions continue the quest nonetheless. And, they have willing accomplices in the western world. These want to begin the process by dividing Israel’s land, a thing which has already happened, to an extent. God’s prophetic Word records the prophet Joel’s foretelling of the dividing of Israel’s God-given land, and the consequences of that travesty for the entire world:

“For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land” (Joel 3:1-2).

Israel was dispersed to a large extent following the 70 A.D. destruction of Herod’s Temple and Jerusalem by Emperor Vespasian’s son, General Titus and his Roman legions. The Jews were then scattered throughout the whole world when Emperor Hadrian put down a subsequent insurrection by the Jews in and around Jerusalem in about 135 A.D.

Joel’s prophecy that God would bring captive again Judah and Jerusalem (meaning God would take them from their diaspora in the end times, and would bring the Jews back to their capital, Jerusalem) proved absolutely true when, in 1948, Israel was born as a modern state. The 1967 war brought Jerusalem under Jewish control for the first time in millennia.

But, the land God gave Israel is divided, and the nations of the world are responsible. These nations continue to do all they can to further divide the land He gave the Jews. And now, even America, chosen by the Lord of Heaven to act as midwife for birthing the modern Jewish state, and for serving as Israel’s protector –in human, earthly terms— is rumored to be working behind the scenes, in concert with the Olmert government and others. These are striving, it is thought, to accomplish the world diplomats’ impossible dream –that of achieving peace in the region through dividing Jerusalem. By so doing, they would be helping Allah’s minions to try to accomplish their impossible dream of ridding the Middle East of all Jews, and claiming Jerusalem for their god.

“Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will put Jerusalem on the negotiating table as he hurtles toward a 'joint declaration' with the Palestinian Authority ahead of next month’s U.S.-sponsored Mideast summit. The prime minister says that a joint declaration with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas prior to the summit will lead to direct negotiations. Olmert vehemently denied the report in a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office. 'The idea never existed,' said the statement. Vice Prime Minister Chaim Ramon, the Prime Minister's close aide and friend, however, has been pushing for the division of Jerusalem. Ramon has been promoting his own plan to hand half of the city over to the Palestinian Authority (PA), not to Jordan. Dr. Guy Bechor, a leading expert on Arab affairs, said recently that the prime minister agreed in writing nearly two months ago to hand over half of Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority. He based his information on "leaks from the Palestinian side..." (IsraelNN.com, "The Battle for Jerusalem Begins" Politics & Government, Israel News, Arutz Sheva, Oct. 11, 2007).

The trite saying “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” must be taken seriously in the case of the rumor mill involving the liberal government leadership. Even though the “rumor” is from the arena of Israel’s enemies, the Palestinian Authority, the consternation is aroused within Israel’s Knesset. One such expression of ire came from MK Ze'ev Elkin, a member of Olmert's own Kadima party: “’I very much hope this is simply a rumor,' Elkin told reporters on Monday. 'But if it is true, it is certainly a perversion of the Kadima party platform, and I will fight Vice Prime Minister Ramon’s plan with everything in my power. I will defend the unity of Jerusalem, as we promised the voters,’ he added” (IsraelNN.com, "The Battle for Jerusalem Begins" Politics & Government, Israel News, Arutz Sheva, Oct. 11, 2007).

America, the “Quartet” (U.S., the U.N., the European Union, and Russia), the Olmert government, the Palestinian Authority, or anyone else who seeks to divide God’s city, Jerusalem, is forewarned by Zechariah the prophet, who gave God’s words on the matter: “For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye” (Zech 2:8).

Those who would divide this place God chose as the apple of His eye should consider with trepidation the horrifying prophecy from Zechariah: “And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth” (Zech. 14:12).

Peace at the expense of Jerusalem as part of the peace offering is the ultimate impossible dream!

--Terry