Uh Welcome to Prophecy Today. I'm Jimmy DeYoung Jr. Along with my brother Rick, we examine current events in the light of God's prophetic word. You know, the best way to overcome fear of the end of days is to be spiritually prepared for it. First and foremost, you must have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ in order to have eternal life.
That's John chapter 3, verse 16. Only through Him can you receive forgiveness of sin and have eternity with God. If God is your Father, there's really nothing for you to worry about. Second, every Christian should live a life worthy of the calling we have in Christ. Ephesians 4:1 through 3.
Knowing Christ and walking in His way will go a long way towards diminishing fear of any kind. Third, Christians are told what will happen in the end, and it's encouraging. And with all of this information, we understand and we examine current events and we help the body of Christ to be aware of where we are in the end of days. On our program today, we have Ken Timmerman, David Dole. And Colonel Bob McGinnis, plus Dr.
Paul Weaver, will talk to us why we believe in a pre-trib rapture, which means the rapture is going to happen before all hell breaks loose on the earth.
Well, Rick, we've got a lot to cover, so let's get started with our first, Ken Timmerman.
Well, that's right, Jimmy. I have Ken Timmerman with us today. He's the person that we go to when we want to know what is going on around the world. We call it our geopolitical update. Ken's an author and analyst.
You can find out more about him by going to kentimmerman.com. Ken, thanks for being with us today. Thanks for having me on, Rick. It's always a pleasure.
Well, Ken, we'll start our update now with the Russia-Ukraine crisis and some very interesting back and forth, a lot going on this week. It was probably the most significant attack by the Ukrainians against Russia in the entire war, Rick. Last week, actually on Sunday, they launched a drone strike which took out 30% of the Russians' long-range strategic bombers on their airstrips. They hit airfields all across Russia, from Siberia, Rick, to Murmansk, up above the Arctic Circle. It was absolutely an extraordinary attack.
The Russians launched a counterattack against Ukrainian cities on Thursday night. They launched 452 drones and 45 missiles and killed civilians and hit apartment buildings and the rest. Look, this is all about Ukraine seeking leverage in the negotiations, in my opinion. And the reason for that is pretty simple. At their last meeting between Russia and Ukraine, the Russians put their proposal finally on the table.
And remember, last week we talked about it and said, well, the Ukrainians hadn't been able to see it ahead of time.
Now we know what was in the Russian proposal. It was totally outrageous. It was basically: you surrender, we win. They wanted a recognition that their annexation of Crimea was legal and was permanent. They wanted to annex four complete provinces in eastern Ukraine, which is way beyond what the Russian military currently occupies.
They demanded the election of a new Ukrainian government, meaning that Zelensky couldn't run again. And they demanded Ukrainian neutrality and, of course, a promise that Ukraine would not join NATO. There was not a A single Russian concession in this Rick. I can tell you, President Trump was certainly not amused, Rick. He talked with Putin on Tuesday.
He called it a good call, but said it really did nothing to lead towards peace. And Trump ended that off by saying: well, sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart. We'll continue to monitor the situation there, but let's go back to that attack. And it seemed like something out of a movie. Can you give us the details?
What took place there? It really was. It was an intelligence coup for the Ukrainians. I've compared it, Rick, to what the Israelis did in stealing the nuclear archive in Iran, or perhaps with the pagers against Hezbollah. The Ukrainian military seems to know more about the Russians than anybody in NATO, and they have more assets capable of penetrating Russia.
This exploit, which they codenamed Spiderweb, was really extraordinary. They hit 3,000 miles inside Russia. They hired Russian truckers, trucks, and truck drivers. They put these kind of prefabricated houses on top of the flatbed trucks. And inside those prefab houses with Russian license plates, right, on the trucks, they had their drones, which then popped up when they got close to these air bases.
Drove 3,000 miles across Russia into Siberia to hit one of the air bases. They drove past Moscow up in the north to Mermes to hit another one of them. It was just one of the most amazing things that I have seen them do. Putin was clearly upset, which is why he launched this counterattack with the drone strikes. But the Ukrainians said it took them 18 months to prepare this attack.
And it's not all that they're doing. This week, they also hit the so-called Putin Bridge, linking Crimea to the Russian mainland across the Kerch Strait.
So the Ukrainians are going on the offensive. And I think, again, this is an attempt to gain leverage in negotiations. When Trump talked to Putin this week, they talked about a 30-day period where neither side would attack their energy infrastructure. But I think the Ukrainians are really hoping to get a longer-term ceasefire here, and that's what this is all about.
Well, truly an extraordinary attack, and then see how this all plays out. We'll we'll keep an eye on that for the future.
Well, let's move away from the Russia Ukraine crisis and talk about what is taking place in Iran. There's negotiations still going on there. Vladimir Putin, of all people, has said he is ready to help Iran resolve their nuclear standoff.
Well, remember last week we talked about that standoff. The Iranians have basically rejected the U.S. proposal. They said we demand the right. We have the right to enrich uranium.
We're not going to give that up.
So during that phone call this week between Putin and Trump, Putin offered to help with the negotiations. He said, I've got great contacts with the Iranian president and the supreme leader. We can help them out. I'm not sure that this is going to go anywhere, Rick, because Moscow also said this week that Tehran has the quote right. to run a peaceful nuclear energy program.
Does that include enrichment in Moscow's eyes? Quite probably.
So I don't think the Russians really are going to be intermediaries bringing any good faith to this negotiation. They're on the Iranian side.
Well, as we continue to monitor that situation there, we know that Israel is monitoring it very closely as well. They have assured the United States that they won't strike, though, unless these talks fail. Can you tell us what's going on there?
Well, the Israelis have got a plan in place. They know what they're going to do with their Air Force. They know where the nuclear sites in Iran that need to be taken out are, and they know how to do it. They would, of course, rather do this with the United States. You know, we mentioned last week that Israel had sent Ron Dermer, the Strategic Affairs Minister, and David Barnea, the chief of Mossad, to the White House for quiet talks.
with President Trump and his team. It was to discuss precisely this subject. They wanted to reassure the President that Israel was not going to strike Iran without coordination with the United States. To use an analogy from this week's row, Rick, you can't have Bibi and Trump dissing each other like Elon Musk and Trump.
So they want to make sure that those two are on the same page. Yes, that would not be good at all.
Well, in the last few minutes that we have on this program, let's talk about China. And there are several stories that came out this week hitting close to home as we look at how China is dealing with the United States. The first one, two Chinese scientists charged in a plot to smuggle a toxic pathogen into the United States. Can you talk about this? This is a huge development, Rick.
These two individuals who were brought into court in Detroit on Thursday, they were charged with conspiracy smuggling goods in the United States, false statements, and visa fraud. And what they were doing, Rick, they were bringing in this crop-killing fungus from China, importing it illegally. And the irony is that they were working under a federal government grant from NIH. It was given to them during the era of Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins. They got more than $7.6 million in NIH funding, supposedly to study crops.
Crop security. And in fact, they were looking to wipe out America's cash crops in the Middle West. It's absolutely astonishing and is a huge development, shows how much China is really, really not our friend.
Well, Ken, there's even more to that. And sort of a Trojan horse type of application, they have found hidden devices in Chinese-made inverters.
Well, this hits me pretty close to home, Rick. My wife last year installed solar panels in her house in Sweden. And of course, there's a Huawei inverter. This is the device that actually connects your solar panels to the grid. And in the United States, they have found that those Chinese-built inverters include, quote, undocumented communications channel.
I love that term, undocumented communications channels. It's like an illegal alien in your house. And it allows the Chinese to remotely take control, not just of your power system, but to eventually access the grid and to damage the power grid. This could just cause huge damages to us, Rick, in time of war.
Well, one final story as it concerns that. The Arizona governor this week vetoed a bill that would ban the Chinese from owning property near military bases.
Now this is something that is in the news and we've been talking about it. Final question to you. These things certainly show a pattern of China's aggression towards the United States, just like you said. Absolutely. But this veto by the Democrat governor in Arizona is unbelievable, Rick.
I mean, what was she thinking, Katie Hobbs? Why in the world did she do this? Even Democrats voted for this bill. You had Chinese government entities, not individuals, not private companies, Chinese government entities that had recently leased land right next door to Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. What in the world do they need to land next to one of our Air Force bases?
Well, I think we could imagine that pretty easily now when you look at this pattern of what the Chinese are doing, going into the power grid through the solar inverters, trying to import pathogens to hit our food supply in the United States. Here, they could directly cripple strategic U.S. military bases, and you have a Democrat Party vetoing the bill. Just imagine, Rick, if the Chinese tried to do something like the Ukrainians did with their drones hitting the Russian air bases, but this time they don't have to take trucks 3,000 miles away. They merely have to get the drones to that land they already own or they've already leased.
This is unbelievable. It's the kind of misguided, goody two-shoes approach to national security, Rick, that led to Pearl Harbor and the 9-11 attacks. Ken Timmerman for Prophecy Today. Ken, as always, we appreciate you keeping us updated on all these important and consequential things that are taking place around the world that are going to affect us. Thank you so much.
Look forward to talking to you again soon. Thank you, Rick. God bless. Great job, as always, Ken. We've got to take a break when we come back.
Our Middle East News Update with David Dolan, right here on Prophecy Today weekend. I'm Ruth Kramer with Mission Network News. Myanmar's four years of civil war, its March 28 earthquake, and today's severe monsoon flooding call for our deeper compassion and prayer. A pastor from Myanmar connected to A3 explains that heavy rains began in the north instead of the typical south. And on top of that, the military junta's ceasefire is merely lip service.
Military stay bombing. Even the earthquake hit area, stay bombing. One A3 alumnus is trapped in a flooded area, but shared good news.
So he told me that the Nyanma people are responding to the gospel very positively in this kind of situation. Pray that these folks will take a step beyond gladly hearing the gospel and put their faith entirely in Christ and ask God to intervene and bring peace to Myanmar's complex political crises. And in small churches across Russia, the Slavic Gospel Association is experiencing powerful stories of people going out to preach the good news, says Eric Mock. In the southern portions of Russia that are more Islamic, Gurman is faithfully ministering to people, even with threats against them. In Siberia, there's a massive ministry for orphan kids to go to summer camps and hear the gospel for the very first time.
And in Yakutia, Valeria has been preaching the gospel since 1984. On the far east side of Russia, a villain and his wife Alyssa left their business to live in a small fellowship room because they heard about a village that needed pastors. The Christians SGA serves often urge Mock to share their stories. They most often tell me, tell our story that the Americans would feel emboldened to be the same faithful witnesses in their own communities. Find your place in the story at missionnews.org.
Thanks for listening to Mission Network News, a service of one-way ministries. We are listeners supported by people just like you.
So, by giving to Mission Network News, you enable us to keep the stories of God's kingdom coming. And together, the Great Commission happens. Look for links at missionnews.org. That's missionnews.org armed with Kramer. Welcome back to Prophecy Today Radio, the program that looks at current events in the light of Bible prophecy.
Well, this is the portion of our program we call it our Middle East News Update. We look at news coming out of the Middle East in general, but Israel in particular. To do that, we have journalist Dave Dolan with us. Dave, thanks for being with us today. I'm blessed to be with you, Rick.
Well, Dave, typically you give us an update letting us know what happened in Israel this week. What's the latest?
Well, most of the news this week was centered on uh the war in Gaza, Rick, most of the big news. Sadly, we had the deadliest week of the war for IDF soldiers since early January of this year. Eight were killed in total, four in a terrible explosion in Con Yunus on Thursday, five others wounded, one in serious condition. And they were re-clearing out a building that they'd already done that to some months ago, Rick. And the Army said this is the fourth, fifth, or maybe even sixth time that this has happened, that they've had to go back in, and the buildings have been weakened by the war and bombing around them, et cetera, and it detonator goes off and they're killed.
So this is happening far too often. They said total 866 total war dead now, IDF soldiers. That is a sad statistic. We had a controversy breakout about Gaza during the week when Avigdor Lieberman, the former defense minister and strong opponent today of Vivi Netanyahu, used to be an ally When he said Israel has been secretly arming a 300 or so manned Palestinian militia in southern Gaza, headed by a man named Yasser Abu Shabad, who was. imprisoned by Hamas for some time.
He broke out after Israel actually hit the prison some months ago. He's thirty two. And he says he's just distributing aid and helping to bring law and order to South Gaza. And the Prime Minister's office did not deny that it's arming them. But the reason it was so controversial is The claims that some of those militiamen fired on Palestinians trying to get aid in Gaza.
And that was the big story early in the week when claims went out all over the world. The BBC in particular was very heavily trumpeting them that 30 civilians had been killed, some of them children, by Israeli fire as they were waiting to get these boxes of US-sponsored aid.
Well, why would Israel be firing on people standing in line getting aid? And the Israelis have said, and now some Palestinian groups are confirming it, that it was Hamas that was shelling the area, send in some mortars. And Israel did respond to that fire where it was coming from. And there may have been some civilians around them that were killed because that's how Hamas operates, of course. As a result, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation stopped its aid deliveries for several days.
But they rejected the claim that this was a IDF fire. And then sadly, Rick, on Wednesday evening, a driver, an Arab driver from Israel was shot dead and others wounded, and the trucks were shot up by People that were trying to steal the trucks, undoubtedly Hamas, although they claim it wasn't them. And then, Rick, we had the two American bodies that were rescued. I should say rescued because they're dead, but they were recovered, Judith and Gaddi Hagai, Americans. Itai Chen is the last living American, we believe, in Gaza.
And there's one other body there. And the IDF announced that they now know that 45 Americans were killed, Rick, exactly 20 months ago today. on October 7th. a Saturday as well as today is. And forty five Americans were killed along with Israelis.
We don't think about that. And finally, we had, God bless them, another attack from the Houthis. in Yemen during the week. They sent they sent two hyperballistic missiles at Central Israel at the airport. They later claimed they put out video on Facebook and other things that they had destroyed.
Ben Gurian Airport. That, of course, was not true. You would have heard about it by now if it were. And in fact, a good sign of some faith that this might be ending, the Lufthansa group in Europe, which is about six airlines, announced that they will resume all of those flights that were suspended after the attack before you arrived or the day you arrived there until late June. They'll resume them in late June, I should say.
So that's a hopeful sign for the future.
Well, it certainly is, and that is something that is an encouragement to the people of Israel because being able to travel in, of course, as we do, Christian pilgrims, tourists, going to the land, being able to fly in is very important. If you can't get there, then that's a problem.
Well, let me go back a little bit to the beginning of your report. And you talked about the war in Gaza continuing to go after all these months, 20 months to the day, today. Can you just talk a little bit about how difficult this war is? This war was started by Hamas, a group who basically has their headquarters under the civilian population and under schools and hospitals and mosques. Part of their whole strategy was to sacrifice their own people so that they could hurt Israel in the court of public opinion around the world.
And I know that Israel's goal is to get the hostages back and to end Hamas, to get rid of Hamas. It's hard to do. Can you talk a little bit about the complexity of this?
Well, Rick, fortunately or unfortunately, the Israelis already had experience. a deep experience in this sort of urban warfare in Lebanon. Of course, fighting in Beirut, a major city, bigger than any city in Gaza. Taught them a lot, but that's been years ago. They pulled out in 2000.
So the current crop of soldiers, only older reserve soldiers would have actually experienced that. But they have training, but of course it's far denser the population in Gaza. I mean the whole two-thirds of it is an urban area, Rick. There's some open areas and that and some beautiful areas actually, but most of it's just heavily populated. And as you say, Hamas has a policy which Yasser Arafat had, which the other Iranian militias have, of caring less for their people.
than they do about their cause, the jihad war that they believe they need to wage. And if it means that thousands, millions of Arab Muslims die as well, so be it. That's the price that martyrs have to pay, they believe.
So it's that philosophy that makes it so difficult. But what we've seen, Rick, is Hamas was deeply organized. Again, I've said this several times in the past few months. Israel really underestimated their enemy. You know, they had this attitude of, and I say it, well, they're kind of Arabs, they're farmers and sheepherders, and et cetera, and they don't know.
How to do this sort of thing.
Well, they may be, but they have Iran and rich Gulf states, Qatar, and others that have been funding them. And training them and arming them and engineers coming and building all these things, et cetera.
So they are a far stronger force than we thought, Rick. That's the bottom line. And Hezbollah is again rearming. They're rebuilding drones. And on Wednesday, Israel attacked on Thursday, Israel attacked two drone factories in South Beirut.
And as is the idea of policy, they issued warnings first so that the people could get out, meaning Hezbollah fighters got out too. But Israel is not trying to kill civilians in Lebanon or in Gaza. But again, this war has to be fought so carefully. And the other thing, Rick. The international media is focused on it.
And they've been focused on every Israeli war. Israel is always in the center and Jews are news. But still it is really uh Hyper this time. And the main international outlets like the BBC are so hostile, Rick. I mean, it just is unbelievably biased.
And unfair. And so the Israelis are dealing with this. But of course, it's leading also another worry to anti-Semitism around the world. And we had on Friday the announcement of a postponement of a pro-Israel conference. Scheduled in the States next week because of death threats and bond threats and all the things that they were getting.
And that came after the Homeland Security on Friday morning with the FBI announced that they have detected major. Plots in hand against the Jewish people in America. And so, you know, there's a lot of trauma right now, Rick, amongst Jews all over the world, I would say. And it's As one friend said to me, it really feels like we're on the verge of Kristallnacht when the Jewish community all over Germany was ransacked in one evening and over one hundred killed and terrible, terrible pogrom. Dave Dolan reporting for Prophecy Today.
Well, Dave, as we see Israel being a center of controversy in the world and we see anti-Semitism rearing its ugly head all over the place, David, we know that this is part of what God said is going to happen in the end times, and we are looking forward for his blessed return, aren't we? We are. And oddly, the darkness that we're seeing is light to us because it was prophesied. We know from our Lord we were going to have a tribulation period at the very end of time. And of course, the Old Testament prophets spoke of that as well.
It looks like we're very close to that. But that means we're close to meeting the Lord face to face. And that is our great anticipation and great hope. Amen to that. Dave Dolan, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today.
We'll talk to you again next week. You're welcome. God bless. Great job, David. Rather than fear the future, we are called to anticipate the future with joy.
Why? In Christ, we will be caught up to meet Him and we will always be with the Lord. As Christians, we should have a consistently literal interpretation of scripture, especially Bible prophecy, a view of the uniqueness of Israel as separate from the church and God's program, and that God is not finished with the Jewish people. But we need to take a break when we come back. Colonel Bob McGinnis will be on the program talking to us more in depth on Russia, Ukraine, China, and Iran.
And Dr. Paul Weaver will join us again. Why we believe in a pre-trib rapture view of eschatology. Right here on Prophecy Today weekend. I'm Nuth Kramer with Mission Network News.
Persecution is constant for Protestant churches in Russian-controlled territories of Ukraine. A religious freedom watchdog describes substantial fines, barriers, and even church closures handed down by Russian courts this year. Eric Mach with Slavic Gospel Association says, even so, Christians are stepping forward with a sense of God's calling. Find your place in the story by praying for these brothers and sisters. Learn more in the full report at our website.
Then, a recent report from the World Economic Forum reveals a startling trend. Teenagers across the globe are struggling with reading. New data shows a sharp decline in scores since 2018. Keys for Kids produces daily devotionals for children and teens. Summer reading programs for both age groups with fun prizes to win began June 1st.
It's not too late to join. We'll connect you at missionnews.org. Pray that reading the Bible daily becomes a new lifelong habit for kids and teens involved in the program. Mission Network News is service of one-way ministries. I'm Ruth Kramer.
Welcome back to Prophecy Today. I'm Jimmy DeYoung Jr. Along with Rick, we're examining current events in the light of God's prophetic word. Coming up in this next half hour, Dr. Paul Weaver will be back to finish his conversation that we had with him last week on a pre-tribulational view of the rapture.
I know this is a very controversial subject within the body of Christ today. A lot of people believe that the rapture is, and I believe that the rapture is the next thing to happen. But we're going to give you some more information that will help you to understand where you fit into this conversation on eschatology or the study of the end times. But right now, I thought it would be good that we bring in Colonel Bob McGinnis with what's going on in Russia and China and Iran all involved. He is an expert on those areas.
Let's bring in Colonel Bob McGinnis.
Well, that's right, Jimmy. I have retired U.S. Army. Army Lieutenant Colonel Bob McGinnis with us today. He's somebody that we frequently have on our program.
He's a former military. He worked in the Pentagon. He's a frequent contributor to places such as Fox News and also this program as well. Colonel McGinnis, thanks for being with us today. My pleasure, Rick.
Well, Colonel McGinnis, one thing we like to do when we have you on the program is we'd like to kind of get an overall update on how you see what is taking place in the world. Not just from your perspective as a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, but also from your perspective as a student of Bible prophecy. But let's start right now with what is taking place in Russia.
So many things have been going on there as we look at the surprising attack by the Ukrainians on Russia, the drone attack. It seems like there is an escalation. And of course, we thought that maybe with President Trump and the negotiations that we might be moving towards a ceasefire, but it looks like an escalation instead. Could you give us a status update there? I know that President Trump made the promise that he would quickly end the war, but that was wishful thinking.
Clearly, the enemy, in this case, Vladimir Putin and company, had a vote. And their vote at this point seems to be more powerful. What happened over the last few days is the Ukrainians, albeit with help from the outside. And it's not clear who was the help, I suspect there are a number of potential players. But they dive deeply.
Into Russia going after Vladimir Putin's crown jewels, his strategic bombing fleet. and really decimated a significant portion of that. using a variety of drones that were Pre-position and synchronize to attack five very specific airfields. And then do the damage that they did.
Now, of course, President Trump and Mr. Putin had a phone call on Wednesday and they discussed. this amongst other things, and Putin made it very clear he had every intention of retaliating. I suspect that he will. His form of retaliation can take on a number of Options, certainly, he can strike back directly at the Ukrainian command centers and the drone facilities and the like.
That is the obvious one, but there may be some cyber attacks that he can take. He can also reposition nuclear forces. Closer to Ukraine, Belarus always comes in mind because They're a strong ally of Moscow. Then there's always the possibility that he could think. Putting that is outside the box and go after ISR facilities that may have facilitated this for.
The w by the West for Ukraine, and then of course that would have Katie bar the door implications for NATO and the US far beyond that particular strike.
So there are a number of things here that need to be taken into account. It does appear, though, that this war is not closing, but is continuing and it's expanding. And my concern would be that it would expand beyond the borders of Ukraine and Russia, which is something that we all should be concerned about.
Well another aspect to this war is the fact that Russia is depending on its allies. It's increasingly isolated since it started this war, and so its allies, including China, Iran and North Korea, they are using them to help them prosecute this war.
Now this is something that you've written about in your books with prophetic implications, but for right now, what kind of influence does this have for the United States and the world, Russia growing only closer and using these allies? Yeah, well there's no question that Russia has become rather cosy with China. Uh out of a mutual I suppose shared interest. his issues, his economic issues and the like. But at the same time, you know, th they are really hot and bothered about Taiwan and they're focused on that, but they're taking lessons from what the Russians We're able to do with Ukraine, Georgia, Crimea, and so forth.
And so, yes, we do find a strong alliance. We find the BRICS countries coming together. India ought to be involved in this equation as well, because they're gobbling up resources and aligning themselves closely with China and Russia in ways that bother us, and rightly so.
Now, the Indians try to straddle the fence and take advantage of both sides.
Sometimes I think that we ought to call them on that, but we don't. And there's no question that the Iranians are testing the administration. Clearly, the Grand Ayatollah Khomeini made it very clear the other day that he wasn't about to accept the latest deal from Donald Trump with regard to a replacement for the Obama-era German. JCPOA, and he said, no, we're going to continue to. enrich uranium in Iran, whether you like it or not.
Now of course, Trump's being pushed by Netanyahu to do something about it. We've put sanctions in place, and Trump has hinted at the use of military force to take out these facilities. What we don't want to see is a further radicalized Middle East with regard to Iran, either. behind the veil or out front, advancing its nuclear weapons program. And then of course that would light a and the Sunnis on the other side of the Persian Gulf.
In Riyadh, who no doubt have plans to put a similar system in place. They already have the ballistic missiles. uh to do that. And then of course Israel will have to respond in some manner or or other.
So tho those are all issues. And of course the North Koreans, uh they're fat, dumb and happy. Kim Jong-nun has uh been feeding the Russian bear uh at at the Russians' expense. He's getting plenty of food and oil in exchange for sacrificing thousands of his own soldiers who have picked up a modicum of experience and Kirkutz in eastern Ukraine and Western Russia.
So there's a lot of back and forth here. These nations of evil intent do collaborate and cooperate. And unfortunately, we seem to not be able to put together a meaningful deterrence to keep them from being what they are. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Well, that's very interesting, and especially as it comes to my next question, a byproduct of this war, and also a byproduct of the fact that President Trump has some isolationist tendencies. He's not a complete and total isolationist, but there is that factor, and he's urging, or sometimes very forcefully urging, NATO and the European countries that are involved in NATO to kind of foot the bill for their defense.
And that is something that is taking place in Europe right now, or supposedly taking place. We look at many of these European countries are saying because of this threat of Russia and because of the fact that maybe the United States doesn't have our back like they used to, that we need to expand our military forces inside Europe. Do you see evidence of this happening? Is this something that they're just paying lip service to, or are they actually doing it? No, they're actually doing it.
They've increased their GDP percent into defense investments for some time. Before I left the Pentagon, I was in arms sales to people. People all over the world, and it was clear that Europeans were coming to the candy store of the United States arms factories and buying a lot of our stuff.
So you have all of these nations that are doing that.
Now, I think, you know, certainly Mr. Trump has made it very clear, you know, we have other Fish to fry. We have problems in the Far East with China that we need to. resource appropriately, so it's time for Europe to step up and kind of take care of their own neighborhood with regard to Russia. And so I think that's behind, you know, the increased defense spending.
You know, a lot of the chiefs of the armies and the air forces are concerned in the service about the possibility in a couple of years that Putin and company will turn their eyes away from Kyiv once that's settled and look further into the depths of Western Europe.
So we'll have to wait and see if that happens.
Well, they certainly don't, Colonel McGinnis, and we're talking with Colonel Bob McGinnis with us. And I'd like to shift away from Europe just a little bit and talk about the Middle East.
Now, you laid out the situation with Iran, and you did that in your previous answer, but I'd like you to kind of maybe switch from a commentator to giving us your opinion. Where do you see this situation playing out in the future? How do you see what do you see the outcome of these negotiations with Iran?
Well, I don't think that the Islamist in Tehran, the Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, is about to. Surrender to intimidation. We brought them to their knees economically under Trump One, and we may have to do that again. Of course, this time around, they have signed strategies Agreements with Russia and China.
So those players are involved here as well.
Now on this conversation that Trump had with Putin the other day, know evidently according to Trump Putin agreed that he didn't want Ali Khomeini and his Other moolahs to have their grips on a nuclear weapon.
Well, of course, the Israelis say they're they're farther along than most. feel comfortable with. And of course, even the International Atomic Energy Agency acknowledges that they have a lot of enriched uranium and those centrifuges are spinning like madmen down in the bottom of some deep pitted rooms hidden across that large country.
So there's a lot that we don't know and apparently that And the Moolahs don't want to reveal the truth, so we have to do certain things by policy and by faith, uh uh believing that they're probably going to continue th their their nasty ways. And so the choices are, you know, try to bring them to their knees again and seed insurrection, maybe internal dissent. They've you know, the Iranian people are good people. They just, you know, they're they're saddled with you know, these madmen that are ideologues that want to control the world and they want to use Terrorism and the likes of a nuclear deterrent to intimidate everyone.
So that has to be addressed. The Trump people are are attempting to do that. What we don't want is it just to get out of hand and contaminate the the balance of the Middle East. And and we're we're close to that. We're not quite there yet though.
Well, we'll continue to monitor those situations on this program and with people like Colonel Bob McGinnis. But, Colonel McGinnis, before I let you go today, the last thing I wanted to talk to you about: you're not just a political commentator, you have the background, you have the history in the Pentagon and with the military, but you are also a student of Bible prophecy. You have many books, and I'm looking at some of the titles right now: Preparing for World War III: A Global Conflict that Redefines Tomorrow. You talk about the deep state, you talk about the kings of the East and China's plans for the world. Your book, Progressive Evil, talks about the alliances that are being formed, and just so many books.
And you can go to Amazon to find Colonel McGinnis's books. But if you could, if you look at all these things with your knowledge of what is going on in the world, your first-hand knowledge of what is going on in the world, but also your view on Bible prophecy, you're a student of Bible prophecy. You put all these things together. What does this say about where we are in God's timeline and God's timeline? God's plan, his prophetic plan laid out in Scripture, and when you give us that information, how should that information cause us to live?
Well, it should cause us to live on our knees because there's so much that we don't understand. But what we do understand is that the nature of man hasn't changed much. incredibly sinful and he's selfish, self-righteous as well. And of course there are some pretty bad characters at the top of many of these nations ready to launch.
some nasty weapons at one another. Uh so We have to recognize that.
Now, the question is whether or not this is tipping us toward a prophetic end times. You know, you you look at Russia, yeah, it's not as strong as some people would Think that it would be. It's economically fairly weak. The Chinese, different story, but they're suffering as well. But there are all sorts of other things.
In fact, I have a new book coming out this. This fall on artificial intelligence And it's I entitle it AI for Mankind's Future. And I think there's there's a lot there that we don't even understand.
So you put the geopolitical Mess that we have before us, and you overlap or over-template. that mess with this new ingredient, this ingredient that's you know, thinks on its own in some cases and does things a million times faster than our little minds can do. And then you begin to recognize that there's so much we don't understand and there's so much that can get out of control, especially if it's put into the hands of nonfeeling entities in the future. And I think to a certain degree, we've seen some of that played out already through the likes of these drone attacks and through the likes of cyberspace, but what's on the horizon is much, much worse.
Well, it certainly is, and that's what we look at on this program as we see, we know that there's going to be a lot of things that take place during the end times that are going to bring the world and prepare the world for the return of Jesus Christ. And as we look at these things that are taking place, we understand where we are in those timeline of events.
Well, Colonel McGinnis, we appreciate you, and we encourage our listeners to go to amazon.com, look up Colonel Bob McGinnis. You can find all these books. There's a wealth of information there. Colonel McGinnis, thanks so much for being with us today. We look forward to talking to you again soon.
Well, thank you, Rick. Have a great day. Colonel Bob McGinnis, I'm so thankful that we have good men that can come on here, have a proper understanding of what's going to take place in the future.
So, first of all, we can be encouraged by all of this because we understand what's going to take place in the end time. And really, that's why we wanted to have Dr. Paul Weaver on the program to talk about his understanding. There's nine points that he is going to give us. He's given us four about a pre-tribulation.
View, understanding of the rapture of the church, which means that the rapture happens before the tribulation. Number one, it's imminent. Number two, we are not appointed as believers to wrath. And that time, that tribulation period is going to be a terrible time of 21 judgments on this earth designed for those people that rejected Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Plus, Paul expected the rapture in his lifetime.
And then, of course, it's an encouraging message. And that's all. Basically, he's bringing this from 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians. But Rick, let's bring in Dr. Weaver again.
And I'm so grateful that he's back with us as we talk about the tribulation period and that event of those 21 judgments on the earth designed for people that rejected Jesus. But let's follow up with our other points.
Well, that's right, Jimmy. I have Dr. Paul Weaver. He's a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. Paul, thanks for being on the program with us today.
It's always a pleasure to be with you too, gentlemen. Thank you so much for the invitation.
Well, talking about the tribulation there and what's going to happen then, that leads to our next reason that you list for us here. And we talk about the tribulation often and what is going to take place during the tribulation.
Now, that leads to your next point. Yes, the fifth reason I hold to a pre-tribulational rapture is that I think when we look at all the passages that involve these, and we talk about two phases of the Lord's return, the rapture for the saints and the second advent with the saints, these passages just can't coincide as one event.
So my fifth reason is the description of the return of the Lord passages necessitates two phases with a period of time separating them.
So when we look at 1 Thessalonians 4, Jesus is going to return in the air. 2 Thessalonians 1, Zachariah 14, Matthew 24, Christ returns to the earth.
So the rapture of the church is Christ meeting us in the air, whereas the second adventure is air. Passages speak of Jesus coming to the earth, specifically to the Mount of Olives. The rapture delivers the church, whereas the second Advent, Christ judges the wicked. At the rapture, He comes for the saints, comes for the church, whereas in the Second Advent, He comes with the saints, He comes with the church. The Rapture passages, He delivers the church from wrath, whereas in the Second Advent, He delivers tribulational saints who came to faith in Christ during the tribulation, who endured and persevered to the end.
And so there's another five different details I could highlight, but when we look at all these passages relating to the Lord's return, it becomes clear that they can't congeal into one event. We can't collapse them into one event. It requires two events, including a time between the two. And part of that relates to the need for physical bodies to inhabit the earth. In other words, if we're all caught up to meet the Lord in there, come right back down.
We all have glorified bodies because our bodies have been transformed, as in 1 Corinthians 15 says, that we will receive our glorified bodies, we'll see him as he is, and we'll become like him. And so, as we know, in the coming millennial kingdom, we need physical bodies.
Some people will need physical bodies to inhabit the earth, to repopulate the earth, to have children. As Isaiah clearly states, there will be children born during the millennial kingdom.
So, there must be two phases when we look at all these passages, and those two phases must be separated by a period of time where people can come to faith in Christ and have physical bodies to enter into that coming kingdom. And of course, we know there will be many, many who come to faith in Christ during the tribulation, including, I think, as Romans speaks about, this huge amount of Jewish people who come to faith in Christ. As we look at all of this information that you're giving us, it comes from a common sense, literal interpretation of what the scripture is saying. And building on this and taking no preconceived ideas into this situation, what you're saying just makes sense as you look at it from what the Bible says.
Well, that also follows along with our next topic: the topic of the chronological sequence of Paul's teaching dictates the rapture. That's right. That's my sixth reason why I hold to a pre tribulational rapture, is that when we look at First Thessalonians, Paul deals with the rapture of the church in chapter four, followed by his Providing the doctrine of the day of the Lord in chapter 5. And so these seem to be very clearly chronological in the way that Paul recounts them. He Provides them with an understanding of the rapture of the church and then the day of the Lord.
By the way, in 2 Thessalonians, we also see something like that, where the Thessalonian believers, there are some that are concerned that. They are in the day of the Lord. They would receive some sort of letter or message as if from Paul that they're in the day of the Lord. And Paul says, no, three things must precede that. And one of the three things he mentions before the day of the Lord, not before the rapture, but before the day of the Lord, is the restrainer must be removed.
So there in 2nd Thessalonians as well, we see this chronological sequence of the restrainer must be removed, which we believe that to be the rapture. The restrainer is the Holy Spirit that dwells believers, that the believers are caught up to be with the Lord in the air, and then the day of the Lord.
So both in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5, and in this sequence in 2nd Thessalonians, when it's talking about the restrainer being removed, followed by the day of the Lord, we see these two things in chronological sequence.
Well, that's your point, number six, uh Doctor Weaver.
Now we look at number seven, and that is that darkness will not overtake the sons of day. That's right, in chapter five of Paul's letter to the Thessalonians. This is my seventh reason: is that the darkness will not overtake the sons of the day. In other words, Paul contrasts between the church, the believers, the we in the text, versus the they. And so he says, the we, sons of light, versus they, the sons of darkness.
We, the sons of the day, they, the sons of the night. We are sober, they are drunk. We are awake, they are asleep. And so Paul clearly contrasts those who are going to go in this time of trial, during this period of wrath, are the they, the sons of darkness, the sons of night, the drunk, the sleep. But we are those who are sons of light, sons of the day, sober, awake.
And so this day of wrath will not come upon us as a surprise, like it will upon them. We've gone through seven reasons so far as we look at from just 1 Thessalonians there, the reasons for a pre-tribulational rapture. Of course, all these reasons working with all of Scripture, and Dr. Weaver said early on in this interview, you could look at the book of Daniel, the book of Revelation, and you could see other reasons for a pre-tribulational rapture. The next point, point number eight: we obtain salvation through Jesus Christ.
That's right. So, this event, the return of Christ, involves salvation.
Now, this isn't eternal salvation. We always have to ask the question, what kind of when we look at theological words like justification, like salvation, like baptism. There are different types of baptism, water, Holy Spirit, even baptism by fire. But here, in the context here, when he's speaking of salvation, it says we will obtain salvation in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 9, for God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or alive, we will live together with him. Therefore, encourage one another with these words.
And so when Christ returns, we see that in chapter 5. We also saw that in chapter 1, verse 10, when we talked about how we are to be serving and waiting for the Lord's return, who's going to rescue us from the wrath to come.
So. An eighth reason I hold to a pre tribulational rapture is that this rapture event involves salvation, Christ's return what is accompanied with it? Salvation or rescuing from the wrath to come.
Well, that's the eighth reason we obtain our salvation through Jesus Christ. The final is from 2 Thessalonians 2:7. The restrainer must be removed. Your final reason from Thessalonians here as to why we believe in a pre-tribulational rapture. That's right.
In 2 Thessalonians 2, again, the occasion or the need for Paul writing 2 Thessalonians 2 is that there are some who are concerned that they are in the day of the Lord. They are in the hour of wrath, the time of trial. And Paul says, No, you're not in it. It appears that someone has written a letter as if from them. That's in 2nd Thessalonians 2, as if from Paul, that they are in the day of the Lord.
And Paul says, Do not be quickly shaken, chapter 2, verse 2, from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Then he gives three things, in my estimation, that he's saying that must take place before the day of the Lord.
So nothing must take place before the rapture of the church, but Paul says there are things that must take place before the day of the Lord.
So the day of the Lord is not imminent, the rapture is. And what are those three things?
Well, Paul says, one is the apostasy must take place, and another is the lawless one must be revealed, and of course, that's the Antichrist. And the third thing, which in sequence I think is the very first thing that takes place, and that's the restrainer must be taken away. And so Paul is saying, don't let anyone tell you you are in this time of wrath, because the restrainer must be removed before that time of wrath. And again, what is that restrainer?
Well, it is the Holy Spirit that dwells believers. And when we're caught up to meet the Lord in the air, the Holy Spirit will be removed from this earth. And that's the restrainer. Dr. Weaver, as always, we appreciate your ministry.
We appreciate your friendship. Thanks for coming on the program. Look forward to talking to you again soon. Yes, we have a like-minded and theologically, similar and philosophically as well. And I love to help people understand the Word of God.
I do have a podcast called Bible and Theology Matters, as you've mentioned. Thank you so much. Dr. Paul Weaver. Well, we need to take a break when we come back.
The Legacy Series with Dr. Jimmy DeYoung, right here on Prophecy Today weekend. Welcome back to Prophecy Today. I'm Jimmy the Young Jr. Along with my brother Rick, we've been examining current events in the light of God's prophetic word.
Rick, you know, on our website, and we always encourage people to go there, to pray for us, to perhaps even consider giving to us, but there's so much information on our website. There certainly is, Jimmy, and we'd love for you, our listeners, to go to our website. One of the things we want to highlight today is our devotions. If you scroll down to the bottom of the front page, you can see our devotions there. We go from the book of Genesis all the way through Revelation, looking at prophetic scripture.
We'd love for you to take a look at it. Yes, and you can sign up to receive those. If you subscribe to our website, we will also send those so that you can read those. Please do that. It's a labor of love for us.
Well, as we continue our study of Isaiah, we will go to Isaiah chapter 39. But first, let me give you some background that we need to go to Genesis chapter 10. This is the biblical. Record of the beginning of nations. The first time nations are mentioned in the Word of God.
In Genesis chapter 10, the beginning of nations in this world that God set in place. First, Genesis chapter 10, and then we'll go over to Isaiah chapter 39, Dr. Jimmy DeYoung, and the legacy series. Go with me before we get into Isaiah. Over to Genesis.
Genesis chapter 10, if you will. Remember, Genesis 1 is creation. Genesis 2, the special effects of creation. Genesis chapter 3 is the fall of man. Genesis chapter 4, the story of Cain and Abel.
Genesis chapter 5 is a genealogy. Chapter 6, 7, and 8 is Noah and the flood. Chapter 9 is Noah after the flood. Chapter 9, verse 1, God tells Noah, Shem, Ham, and Jepeth, the three sons of Noah, and their four wives, be fruitful, multiply, and repeople the earth. Chapter 10, we see the beginnings of the obedience of these three sons of Noah doing exactly what God said to do, re-people the earth.
We see the nations coming into existence. And that's such an interesting study. Let me look at the second son, Ham, with you just a moment. Look at verse 6. And the sons of Ham, now I'll only follow one line here.
Here, cush. And Cush is the Hebrew word for the nations we know today as Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan. But Cush was a son of Ham, grandson of Noah. Look at verse 8. And Cush begot Nimrod.
Nimrod would be a great-grandson of Noah.
Now go to verse 10, and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel. The word babble used 351 times in the Bible. And it's talking about a location on the shores of the Euphrates River, which today would be about 58 miles out of downtown Baghdad. This is the location in biblical times, some 4,500 years ago, that Nimrod was born of Cush and became a great-grandson of Noah. It says the beginning of his kingdom.
A very interesting statement. The Lord had given Adam and Eve a kingdom in the Garden of Eden at the beginning of time. But because of their sin, they lost that kingdom. And then, what was the kingdom of God a theocracy became a Satanocracy? And from chapter 3 of Genesis all the way to Revelation chapter 20, Satan is the king of this world under the sovereignty of God, of course.
But the kingdoms of this world belong to Satan, and he can then designate his human leaders, which is exactly what he's going to do. And so, Nimrod, instead of doing what his great-granddaddy was told by Yahweh, Jehovah God, to do, be fruitful, multiply, and repeople the earth, decided he was going to build a great city. Chapter 11 and verse 4. And they said, Let us go and build us a city. That is a city in total contradiction to what God said to do.
God said, Spread out all over the world. Nimrod said, We'll build a great city here. We'll build a city, and all the people of the world will live in this particular location. Totally in contradiction of what God said to do. In fact, if you look at the rest of chapter 11, verse 4, he not only develops a city, a world empire, but he develops a religiosity as well.
He said, let us build us a tower whose top may reach into heaven, and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered upon the face of the earth. That let us make us a name doesn't mean we want to be popular. It means we don't like the name Yahweh, Jehovah God. We want to make a God of our own choosing, of our own naming, of our own control. And that's exactly what he did.
Notice something, though, that he not only built one city, Babel, but he was involved in building another city. Go back to chapter 10 and verse 10. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel. Last part of the verse in the land of Shinar. I'll look in verse 11.
And out of that land went forth Asher and builded Nineveh. From the loins of one man, Nimrod. Who would go in the face of God? The two. empires that would Just try to destroy the Jewish people.
The Assyrians, their headquarters was Nineveh. The Babylonians, their headquarters was Babel. And so these two people coming from one man who went against God. And the establishment of Babylon.
Now, I'm not going to take the time, it would take us a long period of time of study, to study all of the accounts of Babylon. I'm going to quickly go to the high points and talk to you about them. Again, I remind you. Go to chapter 39 just for a second of Isaiah. Chapter 39, let's touch base with that and then we'll move ahead.
You know, after Hezekiah allowed the people from Babylon to come into his temple, his treasures, his home, his palace. Palace and everything else. Isaiah shows up and he says, Well, I tell you what, you're going to be in trouble because the Babylonians are going to come along and take you out. Look at verse 5. Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord of hosts: Behold, the days come that all that is in thy house and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day shall be carried away to Babylon.
The kings had kept the treasures. And probably the greatest treasure in all the world was there in the temple in Jerusalem and within the palaces of the kings of Judah. But they're going to be carried away into Babylon. Verse 7. And of thy sons they shall issue from thee, which thou shalt begot, shall they be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
All of this to take place. Go with me to 2 Chronicles now, and let's see exactly how that unfolds. 2 Chronicles chapter 36. By the way, that passage of scripture there that we were looking at in Isaiah chapter 39 is recorded in 2 Kings and also 2 Chronicles. God thought it was important enough at this crossroad in history when they were going to transcend from the Assyrian Empire controlling the Jewish people to the Babylonian Empire to record it in three sections of the scriptures.
In 2 Chronicles chapter 36, We're going to see how the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 39 did take place. Verse 7 of 2 Chronicles 36: Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his temple at Babylon. Almost absolute detail being followed here by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Babylonian Empire, a mighty ruler in the world, the emperor of all of humankind at that particular time in history. Nebuchadnezzar did not start out that way. He was the crown prince when he went out to defeat the Assyrians and have victory over the Assyrians.
He actually was driving then the Egyptians back into Egypt when he heard that his father had died, and as the heir apparent, he would return to Babylon to take over the Babylonian Empire. He came by Israel, through Israel, that land bridge, came by Jerusalem, picked up a couple of hostages because he didn't understand the temple activities, the practices, the worship that was going on at the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, took Daniel and his three Hebrew buddies. What were their names? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were their ungodly names. Ananiah Hazariah, and Michel is the men that he took them into the captivity.
That was 605 B.C. In 597 B.C., he comes and takes Ezekiel and about 10,000 Jews back into the Babylonian captivity.
Now, this is 586 B.C. on his third wave. He's going to come in and he's going to take these people out. Look at verse 18. All the vessels of the house, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord.
Again, almost absolute detail. Remember, on our first day together, we looked at the test for a true prophet of God. Deuteronomy chapter 18, verses 20 to 22. What is that test? If it's a message from God, the prophet is giving, every single detail will be fulfilled.
None will be left out. None will be enhanced. All details exactly like the prophecy was given, and that then designate a true message from God through the prophet. And so he takes all of these treasures out of the house. Verse 19, and they burned the house of the Lord, the temple down, and they broke down the walls of Jerusalem and burned all the palaces thereof with fire and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.
And them that had escaped from the sword carried him away into the Babylonian captivity, where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the king. Yeah. of Persia. And we're going to see now what is going to take place. And this is prophesied.
When I get a little bit further into the study on Isaiah, we'll see that the prophecy that's taking place here, that's recorded in the book of Ezra, was foretold. Chapter 44 of the book of Isaiah, chapter 45, 150 years before the fact, Isaiah the prophet says, There indeed will be one who will raise up to power. And when he comes to power, he will give the Jews the privilege to return to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple. In fact, if you want to know more details, I'll give you his name. His name will be Cyrus.
150 years before the fact. God gives Isaiah the prophecy that indeed the Jews will be able to return, and Cyrus will be the one that lets them do that. Go across the page to Ezra chapter 1, verse 2. The Medo-Persian leader, his name is Cyrus. And look what it says: Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven, hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
What happened was the Medes and the Persians defeated this impregnable city of Babylon. The fifth chapter of the book of Daniel talks about the defeat that night when Belshazzar, the leader, grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, the leader of the Babylonians, would die. As he was having a party with about a thousand of his cronies and all of their concubines, and he called for the vessels from the temple, those sacred vessels set aside to worship the Lord Almighty God. He called upon them to bring those vessels, and they poured the wine in and had a drunken party. And while that party was going on, the Medes and the Persians were making their way towards Babylon.
This impregnable city, similar to that of Nineveh. Two walls 100 feet high, 50 feet wide, a moat full of alligators in between the two walls. In order to be able to capture the city, you had to scale the wall 100 feet, go across 50 feet, climb down 50 feet, swim the moat of alligators, go up 100 feet, cross 50 feet, go down 100 feet. A pretty impregnable city. What happened was that while the party was going on inside, outside to the north, the Medes were damming up the Euphrates River, which flowed under the northern wall of the city of Babylon to supply their water supply, an endless water supply, flowed out the southern wall of the city of Babylon.
And the Persians were south of the city of Babylon, damming up the water, and then they walked through that natural made tunnel underneath the walls and in to the complex of Babylon and defeated the Babylonians and killed Belshazzar. Just exactly like the prophecy is going to show us in just a moment in Isaiah chapter 13. But that was not the end of Babylon, the city. It was the end of the Babylonian Empire. It was the fall of the Babylonian Empire.
But not the fall or the destruction of the city of Babylon. Uh History tells us that the prophecies of Isaiah, chapter forty four, verse twenty eight, and chapter forty five, verse one, were fulfilled as recorded in Ezra chapter one, when God allowed Cyrus of the Medo Persian Empire to defeat the Babylonian Empire. But that was twenty five hundred years ago. In our next study we'll look at Isaiah chapters thirteen and fourteen to see a prophecy about a future Babylon, the modern day state of Iraq. That Babylon will be destroyed in the future.
That's Revelation chapter eighteen. Dr. Jimmy DeYoung and the Legacy Series. You know, Rick and I appreciate the fact that you allow us to keep playing the Bible teaching of Dr. Jimmy DeYoung.
It means so much to us. And he also wrote four good books: a commentary on Daniel, a commentary on Ezekiel, and the book of Revelation, and then the four major trends of Bible prophecy. That's all at our website, prophecytoday.com. Got to take a break, and when we come back, we'll take a look at the book right here on Prophecy Today Weekend. I'm Luce Kramer with Mission Network News.
Persecution is constant for Protestant churches in Russia-controlled regions of Ukraine. A religious freedom watchdog describes substantial fines, barriers, and even church closures handed down by Russian courts this year. Eric Mock with Slavic Gospel Association explains three challenges: one, Protestants are seen as Western agents. Two, they're considered faithful Ukrainians. And three, they live in active war zones.
Yet, Mock says Christians are stepping forward with a sense of God's calling. I think that's the key part that we need to remember when we're thinking of the believers that are struggling in these occupied territories. If they leave, who will advance the gospel? Find your place in the story. It's very difficult to serve these churches, so the primary thing we do for them right now is we pray.
And a recent report from the World Economic Forum reveals a startling trend. Teenagers across the globe are struggling with reading. New data shows a sharp decline in scores since 2018. Keys for Kids Greg Yoder says it's a familiar issue. Keys for Kids produces daily devotionals for children and young adults.
Summer reading programs for both age groups began June 1st. We want to encourage young people to read, not just to read our devotionals. We want them to be reading God's Word. It's not too late to join. Even though it started on June 1st, you can still sign up and you can still earn some really cool prizes as the summer goes on all the way through the end of August.
We'll connect you at missionnews.org. Pray that reading the Bible daily becomes a new lifelong habit for kids and teens involved in the program. And pray that young people will fall deeply in love with Jesus as they read his word. Thanks for listening to Mission Network News, a service of one-way ministries. We're listeners supported by people just like you.
So, by giving to Mission Network News, you enable us to keep the stories of God's kingdom coming. And together, the Great Commission happens. Look for links at missionnews.org. That's missionnews.org. I'm Ruth Kramer.
Mm-hmm. Welcome back to Prophecy Today. I'm Jimmy DeYoung Jr. Along with Rick, we've been examining current events in the light of God's prophetic word. Rick, I started off the program today with talking about a biblical worldview and how it is so very important to have a biblical worldview.
A biblical worldview is one's total conception of the world from a biblical standpoint. It's a Christian's basic belief system about the meaning of life, the nature of God, the source of truth, and other foundational concepts. Yet, many Christians' worldview is not biblically consistent. They may approach some issues from a biblical viewpoint, but not every issue, Rick.
Well, there are many possible reasons why some Christians fail to have a consistent biblical worldview. I think, number one, they lack knowledge of what the Bible says, they do not know. The word of God. If someone doesn't know what the Bible says about the sanctity of human life, for example, it will be difficult for him or her to form a biblical view on the subject. For the uninformed, education is the key.
It is, Jimmy. And again, I mean, this program, Prophecy Today, as we look at things, we are not necessarily just a current events program or not totally a Bible prophecy, but we are about studying scripture, studying the word to see what it has to say. Another reason, Jimmy, that people fail to have a consistent biblical worldview is that they reject what the Bible says on certain issues. I heard of a study recently, Jimmy, where people were asked if they believe what the Bible says. Only 4% of people did, Jimmy.
And if you look further, Jimmy, and people who are saying they are Christians, it's not that much better. And if you are a professed Christian and you do not believe what the Bible says, It'll be impossible for you to have an authentic biblical worldview. For those who are contrary, repentance is the key. There's only one way to the Father. Jesus Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
There's no way to the Father except through me. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whomsoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. You know, when you look at this, Rick, some other reasons, they are more concerned with what the world thinks of them than what God thinks. Fear of man will prove to be a snare. Proverbs 29:25, the fear of man lays a snare, but whosoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
A believer who views the world from a biblical standpoint recognizes that he is not of the world. Jesus said, If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world. But I have chosen you out of this world. That is why the world hates you.
John 15, 9. When a believer starts making compromises with the world's ways of thinking, he loses focus on God's perspective. For those who are fearful, courage is the key. I love that, Jimmy. Boldly sharing.
That's something. Courage, bold commitment to share. And I mean, another thing he said is loving other people enough in order to be willing to share.
Well, another reason that people fail to have a consistent worldview, Jimmy, is that they are lukewarm in their commitment to Christ. We talk about Revelation a lot. Revelation 3, the church of Laodicea, they are neither hot nor cold, unwilling to take a stand for Christ. For the lukewarm, commitment is the key. Yes, and Rick, you and I have talked about this a lot on this program.
We encourage people. We're trying to edify the body of Christ, educating them, because we have an understanding of Bible prophecy and what God's word. Says is going to take place in the end times. We might not be 100% correct, and you might not, those people out there might not agree with us, but at least we are trying to get people to be understanding of the times in which we're living and to live a pure, productive, holy life in this unholy world. And commitment is the only way that you can do that.
Another reason Christians don't have a consistent biblical worldview is they are influenced by the lies of this world. From the time of Adam and Eve, Satan has used his ability to deceive and confuse. That took place in Genesis chapter 3 with the fall of man, and it has been going throughout history until. Jesus Christ comes back to this earth and establishes a theocratic kingdom on this earth when sin will be no more. A powerful tool in Satan's arsenal is the idea that the Bible is a book of myths, that it is full of errors and not to be trusted.
Satan's wish to convince people that the Bible is no longer relevant, Rick, its laws and principles are obsolete. Many in the church have been influenced by such thinking. And according to what Heath said, you know, when wokeism comes into the church, many are deceived. And I do think that today we need to be praying for discernment. Discernment is the key to have a biblical worldview.
It is, Jimmy. It makes me think of what Dad used to say when he was preaching. He would say, listen, if you disagree with me, come to me with your Bible in hand. He said, don't come with your experience. Don't come with stories that you have.
Don't tell me about a book that you read that says this. Come to me with your Bible in hand. And I believe that rigorous test, taking everything back to scripture, is the key to discernment. Another reason, Jimmy, that people fail to have a consistent biblical worldview is that they are swayed by their circumstances and doubt God's promises. Understandable, Jimmy, we all sometimes face doubts.
In Matthew 14, when Peter stepped out of the boat there on the Sea of Galilee to walk on the water, he was demonstrating a biblical worldview. But what happened, Jimmy, when he focused on the storm-tossed sea around him and took his eyes off Jesus? His worldview shifted. Maybe the waves were more powerful than Jesus. He was doubting, Jimmy.
For the doubting, faith is the key. Faith is the key in understanding and completely trusting and believing in what the Lord says. To have a consistent biblical worldview, we must go back to the Bible and take hold of the promises of God, Rick. The promises that God has made to us and that the world offers us nothing. Luke chapter 9, John chapter 12, Matthew chapter 6, all of these.
Are chapters that bring this biblical truth to life. Rick, we've tried today to help. Our listeners to have a worldview. A biblical worldview is very important, and a prophetic biblical worldview is the most important view that you can have in understanding why the world is acting as it is. Rick, thanks so much for doing the hard work today, and I look forward to us continuing to edify and educate the body of Christ.
Folks, today, as I always close out the program, Rick and I firmly believe that the rapture of the church could happen at any moment. Let's keep looking up. Until. Thank you so much for joining us today. This is Jay Johnson, inviting you to join us again next week for more of Prophecy Today.
