While we investigate constantly the many signals that future Bible prophecy is on the verge of fulfillment, there remains the truth of the matters involved: Tremendous change must take place in order for that fulfillment to actually transpire.
The United States of America, for example, must fade from view. It is far from that prospect at present; in fact, our nation is front and center at every level of international interaction.
Under the Trump administration, the nation has become that much more at the center of world affairs. The US president is a powerful force, with a personal presence and personality that when other leaders are in his company, they are changed from their otherwise contrarian demeanors.
This is not to just laud Mr. Trump. It is fact. Even the Chinese dictator, Xi Jinping, when in the direct presence of Mr. Trump, has been almost acquiescent in past meetings in Florida and other places. The president has proven “stage presence,” which seems at the very least to impress, and in some instances, to intimidate.
In major meetings with other world leaders, America is front and center in determining the direction of those gatherings, because Donald J. Trump is there and seems to personally take charge. The other leaders—at least, those of the Western world—seem to acquiesce to his suggestions and proposals. Of course, their demeanors often change once they’re no longer face to face with the president. In many cases, they go back to their contradictory ways.
The point is that America is in a stronger position for leadership in the world than it’s been in many, many years. This cannot stand from the standpoint of Bible prophecy.
As we’ve looked at many times, America is found by name nowhere in Scripture. We concede it could be there by implication, like when we infer that the “young lions” said to be among the nations who protest the Gog-Magog invasion (Ezekiel chapter 38) could refer to America as offspring of England. But that is a weak position in trying to make the point that America is in Bible prophecy for certain.
So there must be a radical change in this matter alone. America, the most powerful nation ever to have existed in terms of economic, technological, and military achievements in the history of mankind, must suffer profound diminishment, at the very least.
And, Mr. Trump and America are at the heart of another significant change that must take place. It involves history’s most important nation from Heaven’s perspective—Israel.
Israel, in its own right, stands as the most powerful nation among its Middle Eastern counterparts. It has nuclear weaponry and technological capability to engage in war the likes about which none among the diplomatic world can fully know—i.e., the weaponry that the Israeli military possesses is a highly protected secret.
On top of that, Israel is now, under the Trump administration, backed up by the world’s only superpower, the United States of America.
This is perhaps the greatest factor that must undergo dramatic change. The change must take place in the most astonishing way possible, because Israeli political and military leadership, regardless of whether conservative or liberal, hawkish or dovish, are in agreement. They know they are surrounded by those who hate the nation and who don’t want the Jewish state to exist. Therefore, Israel must never give up its vigilance against this surrounding enemy. It must always have the very best defensive and even offensive capability in order to avoid annihilation.
Iran, of course, is Israel’s number-one threat. The ayatollahs are constantly promising to wipe the Jewish state from the Middle East map.
Israel will, it’s stated by those in the know, immediately introduce the so-called Samson Option if it’s ever about to lose in a military conflict. To start war with Israel would likely be to light the fuse that will ignite World War III.
A current news item shows the powerful position in which Israel stands, with the help of President Trump and the world’s only superpower.
If Israel indeed decides to take out Iran, the Trump administration has just made it much easier
That’s because the U.S. State Department approved an Israeli request to buy eight KC-46A Pegasus aerial tankers reports the Middle East Forum. This includes support equipment, spare parts, and training. The entire deal is valued at $2.4 billion. The first aircraft shipment is set to arrive in 2023. (David Sidman, “Trump Agrees to Provide Israel the Technology It Needs to Take Out Iran,” Breaking Israel News, March 5, 2020)
Just considering Israel and America’s positions in current issues and events brings us to conclude that major changes are coming. America must fall or be diminished from its superpower status. Israel must somehow give up its great defensive and offensive military capabilities in order to meet prophetic pronouncements by the prophet Ezekiel.
Ezekiel said Israel will be in “unwalled villages” at the time of the Gog-Magog attack from its north. This means the Jewish state will not be capable of defending itself. Ezekiel says that God promises to do the defending of His chosen people. And, it will be an offensive show of power unlike any in history, prior to Armageddon itself.
Almost certainly, the Rapture of the Church will bring about the conditions for these profound changes that must take place. Those changes could be initiated…well…in the “twinkling of an eye.”