“Never Again!”

William L. Shirer wrote a final addendum to the last words of the epilogue to his famous book, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich:

If ever a new adventurer such as Hitler tried to lead the Germans to new conquests, he would be repelled by a nuclear response. That would put a quick end to German aggression. But, unfortunately, it would put afterward an end to the world too.

So maybe the H-bomb and the rockets and planes and submarines designed to deliver it, horrible threat though they are to the survival of the planet, will, ironically, help, at least, to solve the German problem. No more bloody conquests by the Germans, or by anyone else.

Perhaps it will help too if the erring governments and the wondering people of this world will remember the dark night of Nazi terror and genocide that almost engulfed our world, and that is the subject of this book. Remembrance of the past helps us to understand the present. (The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, 1028–29, May, 1990)

The Jews who survived Hitler’s Holocaust put it more simply but with greater passion:

“NEVER AGAIN!”

Never again would they, the Jews, allow genocide brought about by Nazi, or any other, anti-Semitism.

While it is true that there hasn’t since that horrific era been a holocaust the size and scope of that perpetrated by the Nazi monsters, there is a rising putting forth of Jewish hatred every bit as virulent as Hitler’s. We witnessed it springing out of the Middle East cauldron called Gaza on October 7, 2023.

And the seeds of that Middle Eastern hatred of the Jews have taken root in, of all places, the very heart of where Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party arose to become the worst anti-Jewish force in modern history.

Jews in Berlin are facing an “extremely tense” situation amid rising hostility emanating from the Oct. 7 Hamas pogrom in southern Israel, the German capital’s top official combating anti-Semitism warned on Wednesday.

“Since the barbaric antisemitic terrorist attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, the security situation for Jews and Israelis in Berlin has been extremely tense,” Samuel Salzborn — the antisemitism officer for the state of Berlin — told the Taz news outlet.

“We had a series of extremely aggressive antisemitic gatherings and rallies, the daubing of residential buildings with anti-Semitic symbols, an attempted arson attack on the synagogue in Brunnenstrasse, and most recently, several destructions of Hanukkah menorahs. Since then, the whole thing has become more widespread, for example, at universities, where Jews are treated with hostility.”…

“The big risk is everyday life: situations and places in which you cannot provide full protection,” he said. “You never know exactly where in Berlin something can happen. Many live with the great, understandable, and justified fear that they could be spontaneously attacked if they are identified as Jews, for example, by wearing a necklace with the Star of David.” (“Berlin Jews Facing ‘Extremely Tense’ Situation, City’s Top Antisemitism Official Warns,” Algemeiner.com, Rapture Ready News, Jan 4, 2024)

The Muslim world, for the most part, embraced Adolf Hitler’s anti-Semitic hatred expressed in his book dictated to Rudolf Hess while in prison. Hitler’s hatred for the Jewish race was at the center of Mein Kampf, the rambling, satanic tripe on which the Nazi blueprint was based.

So while Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli defenders of the modern state of Israel declare, as did the Holocaust survivors, “Never again!” what seems an inexplicit hatred toward Israel and the Jewish race again arises from the blood-soaked land where Hitler first began his demonic rage.

And it is demonic hatred today. Satan is at work to do it all over again. He has even gotten American college students, who don’t understand the truth, caught up in the rage to drive the “occupiers” into the sea.

It is, in truth, an enragement that is going to soon drive the entire world into a great sea of Tribulation. It is again going to be for the Jewish people a holocaust that will be worse than the worst of the Nazi-perpetrated one, according to Jesus.

“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21). 

It will be the time of “Jacobs’s trouble,” according to the prophet Jeremiah.

“Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it” (Jeremiah 30:7).

So the phrase “Never again!” cannot be an assured matter until the Jewish King—the King of all kings, the Lord Jesus Christ—returns to put an end to the madness.

And madness it is that we are witnessing at every level of human comportment these days.

Year 2024 doesn’t seem to offer much hope for relief from the luciferic lunacy, in humanistic terms. But 2024 just might assure “Never again” if the “blessed hope” of Titus 2:13 intervenes into the wicked affairs of humankind, as Jesus promises to do at some point, as recorded in Luke 17:28–30.

You want to be with Christ as He returns to put an end to anti-Semitism and all other sorts of evil. Here is how to be with Jesus when He comes to make all things right on planet Earth.

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

—Terry

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The World Versus Israel

When it comes to Israel, we live in an upside-down world. One would think that after the atrocities committed against its people on October 7, 2023, the world would fully support their efforts to destroy the terrorist organization behind the attack, but such is not the case.

Although many polls show that the so-called Palestinians overwhelmingly approve of Hamas’ barbaric attack, the prevailing world sentiment favors their cause. Many world leaders, including the Biden administration, are urging Israel to step back from its efforts to bring the Hamas terrorists to justice and prevent future attacks.

Why does the world so strongly oppose Israel?

Satan Hates Israel

Satan is the culprit behind the current hatred of the nations for the Jewish people. He is “the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:1), and his dominance over the affairs of the nations is becoming more apparent with each passing day.

The devil possesses a deep hatred for God and for all those that He loves. With Israel, however, it’s also a matter of preventing Jesus’ future reign over the nations. If he can wipe out the Jewish people, then the Lord cannot fulfill Bible prophecy by returning to a repentant remnant who will welcome Him into Jerusalem with shouts of “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 23:37-39).

When tempted, Jesus rejected Satan’s offer of “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory” (Matthew 4:7-10). Rather than accept this offer, Jesus chose to obey His Father, endure the cross for our sake, and receive the nations in the future as His inheritance (Psalm 2:8).

In a vain attempt to stop this transfer of power to the Lord, Satan is now seeking to eliminate the Jewish people along with destroying all humanity by significantly reducing the world’s population and changing those that remain into zombies via pharmaceutical methods. He will fail, of course, but he will continue to do great damage until the Lord takes the world’s kingdoms away from him during the Tribulation period.

It Fulfills Biblical Prophecy, Thus Demonstrating God’s Sovereignty Over All Things

The Bible long ago predicted that this day would arrive. God controls humans and will accomplish His purposes through the world’s hatred for Israel.

We see His sovereignty over history in the well-known Gog-Magog prophecy in Ezekiel 38-39. From these chapters, we learn that God will bring these forces to the borders of the nation so that He alone might destroy them and receive all the glory for Himself. Some nations will protest the motives for the invasion of the Land, but Israel will stand alone. No other country will defend the nation.

Given the current hatred for Israel, it’s easy to imagine a scenario in which the nation stands alone.

We already see what the Lord spoke to the prophet Joel concerning the last days through the efforts of the nations to divide the Land God promised to Israel (Joel 3:1-3). The goal of Satan is to eliminate the nation; however, the Lord will use his ploys to destroy both his forces and the antichrist. At the end of the Tribulation, God “will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there” (Joel 3:2; see also Revelation 19:17-21).

Although this decisive battle, which we call “Armageddon,” does not happen until at least another seven years or longer, we already see the devil stirring up the hatred of the world that will later lead to it. God will use our adversary to bring about the conflict that will forever end his power over the nations. His sovereignty will trump Satan’s hatred for Israel.

I don’t know what will happen next in the current war. Some say that an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah is imminent, which could rapidly expand to a regional war with grave consequences for the entire world.

The Bible says that Damacus will experience total destruction (Isaiah 17:1), but this has never happened. Could we see the fulfillment of this prophecy as a consequence of the predicted expansion of current hostilities? It’s possible.

We know two things for sure. First, the continual warfare will make Israel all the more eager to make a future deal with the antichrist, which the prophet Isaiah referred to as the “covenant with death” (Isaiah 28:14-18; see also Daniel 9:27). By the time the man of lawlessness arrives on the scene, Israel’s leaders will readily accept his terms, believing he can assure them of enduring peace.

Second, the murderous opposition of the antichrist during the second half of the Tribulation, along with the Day of Lord judgments experienced worldwide, will cause the Jews that remain alive to repent and welcome their Messiah into Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:10-13:1; Matthew 23:37-39). Satan can never thwart God’s purposes: Not for Israel. Not for us.

The increased loathing of the world for Israel tells us that the time of Jesus’ appearing to take us home to glory is ever so close.

-Jonathan

Why Not Nuclear?

Reading Salem Kirban’s novel 666 many decades ago, I was somewhat incredulous that he portrayed the Ezekiel 38-39 Gog-Magog attack on Israel as he did. The author had it that the Russian-led coalition came down into the area foretold by Ezekiel on horseback and with more or less primitive weapons, exactly as the prophet described. There were no modern-day weapons.

The reason only primitive weapons were used, he gave as a new heat ray development of some sort –can’t remember the exact technology. The heat ray technology, a laser of some sort, I suppose, heated up the metal and fuel, making the advanced weapons –the tanks, aircraft, even the handheld weapons, too hot to handle, I guess. So, the force had to invade using mostly wooden or non-heat-affected weaponry. Neither human flesh nor horse flesh could be affected by the new laser-type weapon, as I remember.

This article is intended to look a bit into why the Ezekiel Gog-Magog prophecy does, in fact, seem to say, on the surface at least, that there will be one modern weapon absent from the invading force’s repertoire.

The force doesn’t use nuclear weapons, according to the prophecy. The force seems to be strictly conventional.

Many have conjectured that this is because the Gog leader has in his mind the evil thought to come and take “great spoil” from Israel. Petroleum and natural gas, it is thought –by myself included—might be the chief spoil on which the invaders place their cross-hairs. Thermonuclear weapons would 1) destroy any and all things in their path and/or would contaminate things for centuries with radiological contamination. 2) Nuclear weaponry would ignite all petroleum/gas assets except, perhaps, for those underwater in the Mediterranean.

Israel now has vast such fields as of now, and this is, some believe –again, including me—the reason a Russian leader would want to plunder those assets. Israel is almost certainly to more and more be supplying all of Europe, while Russian oil and gas seem to be a diminishing commodity –especially since the obviously American-inspired and perhaps carried out destruction of the Russian underwater pipeline some years ago.

Another important matter in looking at the question of why no nuclear weapons usage during the Gog-Magog assault is the current situation with regard to Iran’s uranium enrichment program. This is of utmost concern to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has vowed that Iran will not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapons arsenal –or even one bomb.

It’s a matter, literally, of life and death to the Jewish state, according to Netanyahu and most all of the IDF general staff.

We who believe God’s Prophetic Word is absolutely infallible know that Israel will never be destroyed –by any weaponry brought against it –nuclear or otherwise. But, apparently, for all the Israeli Defense Force people we know about, they don’t hold the same view. I’m sure there are some who believe Israel is invincible due to God’s Promises, but for the most part, those in charge of Israel’s defense look through a non-Spiritual prism in their planning and concerns.

To that point, the following item gives some understanding of their concern and planning.

Iran recently tripled its enrichment of uranium to 60%, reversing a slowdown earlier this year, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported on Tuesday.

Tehran has “increased its production of highly enriched uranium, reversing a previous output reduction from mid-2023,” said the U.N. watchdog, summarizing a confidential report sent to member states and obtained by Reuters.

Iran is enriching uranium up to 60% at the Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP) in Natanz and at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP), which is located deep in a mountain, according to the report…

Iran already has enough high-enriched uranium, if enriched further to 90%, to make three nuclear bombs, Reuters reported, citing the International Atomic Energy Agency’s theoretical definition…

Uranium enriched to 60% purity is just a short technical step away from 90%, considered weapons-grade…

Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi warned in September that Jerusalem will have no choice but to act if Iran enriches uranium above 60% purity.

“If Iran moves to enrich uranium above 60% and we identify it—and there is no possibility that we won’t, that the world would not recognize it—the result is that Israel would act out of necessity,” said Hanegbi. “There would be no choice.” Source: IAEA: Iran accelerates production of near-weapons-grade uranium (December 26, 2023 / JNS)

Iran’s nuclear centrifuges are, it is said, deep in the Bushehr Mountains to protect against attacks. Israel has in the past inflicted cyber attacks that disrupted Iran’s progress in doing their nuclear production work.

The Bushehr facilities are also used to hide progress from the AIEA Investigations, as the above report in its full scope indicates.

We have written previously that Bible prophecy foretells this area of Persia (Iran) will be so devastated that people will have to scatter to places far away. Is this nuclear contamination from an attack Israel is almost certainly about to launch?

That would explain why Iran, as part of the Gog-Magog coalition, would be without nuclear weaponry. But Russia would continue to at that time have its arsenal of nukes, it seems. So it remains a mystery why there are apparently no advanced nuclear-type weapons in the coming Ezekiel 38-39 assault on God’s chosen nation.

Maybe Kirban Salem will be proven factual with his fiction. However, my own thought is that as God will intervene to save Israel from the Gog-Magog forces. He will cause any and all such thermonuclear weaponry that might be launched toward Jerusalem to stray from Israel’s direction and instead land on the Magog environs and on the Isles, as those areas are indicated in the prophecy to suffer “fires” of some mysterious sort.

“And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD. So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel” (Ezekiel 39:6-7).

Here, I believe the Holy Spirit –God who Indwells all who Believe in Jesus Christ for Salvation, urges that I appeal to you if you are a non-believer. Jesus is the answer to all of your anxieties, to all of your worries. He is willing and ready to forgive all sin that separates you from God the Father and Heaven. Simply do the following. I have put it in today’s English this time rather than the King James Version.

“That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart [your mind and spirit] that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart [man or woman] believes and is made righteous by God, and with your mouth confession is made that saves you from sin and its consequences, which separates the soul of the unbeliever from God for Eternity” (My paraphrase of Romans 10:9-10).

            –Terry

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Danger Ahead

On January 3, 2024, the national debt of the United States reached thirty-four trillion dollars. Despite Biden’s claim that he has reduced our indebtedness as a nation, during the past couple of years, that number has passed both the thirty-two and thirty-three trillion-dollar mark and is rising faster than at any other time in history.

An economic catastrophe lies in the not-too-distant future for both America and the world. I’m convinced that it’s solely because of the Lord’s restraining hand that this has not yet happened, but once He takes His Church out of this world, financial devastation will quickly follow.

Revelation 6:5-6 tells us that hyperinflation will occur early in the Tribulation and will be far worse than anything the world has experienced in modern history. Although we will be safe with Jesus in paradise by this time, the inflation of the past couple of years is already putting a great strain on most families in the U.S., resulting in record credit card debt and the failure of many to keep up with rent and mortgage payments.

A second sign of impending danger arises from the war in the Middle East. In recent days, prophecy expert and former Captain in the Israeli army Amir Tsarfati has issued several warnings concerning an all-out war with Hezbollah from Lebanon that will be far worse than its current battles in Gaza. Could this push other nations over the edge, sparking another world war?

Other up-to-date news makes the onset of WWIII seem likely:

1. Kim Jong Un, leader of North Korea, continues to warn of an imminent nuclear attack.
2. American bases in Syria and Iraq have come under attack over one hundred times since October 7, 2023, with no meaningful response yet from the Biden administration.
3. The Houthis, a terrorist group located in Yemen, continue to attack ships in Middle East shipping lanes.
4. Ukraine recently attacked civilians in a Russian city, leading to a fierce response from Putin. If this continues, it will make a Russian attack on NATO forces likely.

We know that the deadliest wars in the history of the world will occur in the early months (or years) after the Rapture (see Revelation 6:7-8). The escalating saber-rattling of war throughout the world tells us that the Day of the Lord’s wrath is near, and since that is the case, we also know that we will soon meet Jesus in the air.

We may witness devastating wars before our departure, but the worst will not happen until after we are safely in paradise with our Savior.

Since the start of 2024, we have already witnessed a powerful earthquake near the shores of Japan, with many strong aftershocks across the nation. In addition, a myriad of earthquakes have occurred in various places in the past few days, even in various places across the continental United States.

There’s also what I consider to be an ominous sign of great danger ahead for the U.S. On April 8, 2024, a solar eclipse will pass through America. According to the Washington Post, over thirty million people will be able to view it outside their homes, and for those who cannot do so, it’s likely to become the biggest travel event of the year.

What makes this more significant than eclipses in the past is its past in relationship to one on August 21, 2017. Together, they will form an X on America, intersecting at a small town in southern Illinois.

Did you know that this happened once before in American history? In a January 2, 2024, blog post, Michael Snyder reported that “the path of a solar eclipse that occurred on June 16th, 1806, combined with the path of a solar eclipse that occurred on September 17th, 1811, to form a giant “X” over the New Madrid fault zone.” This includes an area from Cairo in southern Illinois to nearby New Madrid, MO, and a bit further southwest.

Three months after the solar eclipse intersected with the previous one on the fault line in 1811, a devastating series of earthquakes began. Quoting from the New Madrid website, Snyder continues:

The New Madrid earthquakes were the biggest earthquakes in American history. They occurred in the central Mississippi Valley but were felt as far away as New York City, Boston, Montreal, and Washington D.C. President James Madison and his wife Dolly felt them in the White House. Church bells rang in Boston. From December 16, 1811, through March of 1812, there were over 2,000 earthquakes in the central Midwest and between 6,000 and 10,000 earthquakes in the Bootheel of Missouri, where New Madrid is located near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

In the known history of the world, no other earthquakes have lasted so long or produced so much evidence of damage as the New Madrid earthquakes. Three of the earthquakes are on the list of America’s top earthquakes: the first one on December 16, 1811, a magnitude of 8.1 on the Richter scale; the second on January 23, 1812, at 7.8; and the third on February 7, 1812, at as much as 8.8 magnitude.

Is the upcoming completion of an X across America by the April 8 eclipse another warning of a similar catastrophe in the months afterward? The past history of the intersection of two eclipses in the same area is far too much of a coincidence to ignore. It’s a sign that great danger lies in the offing for America.

The bumpy start to 2024 looks to grow worse in the coming months. Only God knows the timing of our departure from the earth and how much more adversity we will experience before then.

Although the increasing danger around us causes much distress at times, it’s important to remember that it points to the nearness of the midnight hour when the Rapture happens, and the Day of the Lord’s wrath brings sudden destruction to the world.

With all my heart, I believe Jesus is coming soon to take us up to glory. While our wait for His appearing may be longer than we would like, it will surely happen when He deems the time is right.

-Jonathan