Uh Welcome to Prophecy Today. I'm Jimmy DeYoung Jr., and along with my brother Rick, we examine current events in the light of God's prophetic word. On today's program, we're going to talk about pre-trib eschatology, what that means, the day of the Lord, can people take unknowingly the mark of the beast, and globalization. Globalization is the act extending an influence to all parts of the world. It involves the emergence of a single world market or deregulation, resulting in internationalization.
At first blush, globalization doesn't seem all that bad. Globalization seems to hold an answer to the world's financial troubles, among other things.
However, prayerful consideration and research reveals disturbing historical precedents. Our broadcast partners today, Ken Timmerman, David Dolan, Dr. Andy Woods, Paul Scharf, are all here on the program to talk to us about eschatology, the study of the end times. Rick, let's get started with. Their first, Ken Timmerman.
Well, that's right, Jimmy. We've got Ken Temmerman back with us this week. Ken, he's an author and analyst. He's our expert when we want to know what's going on around the world in a geopolitical sense. Ken, we missed you last week.
Where were you last week? Rick, I was skiing in the Alps with dear friends of ours. No internet, no Wi-Fi, no nothing. It was absolute heaven. It certainly sounds like it.
As we always say on this program, you have an interesting life. In fact, you have a book about that, right? And the rest is history, which tells a little bit about your life that continues to be pretty exciting.
Well, I've done actually three memoirs in a row. And the rest is history. It talks about Beirut in the early 80s, the first Israel-Lebanon war. Then you've got my book on France, Raising Olives in Provence, which kind of goes into what I do here, what I'm not out there as a war correspondent. And then finally, the Iran House, which tells stories that were secret just a couple of years ago, and now I'm able to reveal for the first time about U.S.
intelligence operations against the Iran target. All very good reads, and we recommend them to our listeners.
Well, let's get started on the report this weekend. Lots going on this week, especially when it comes to the Russia-Ukraine crisis, President Trump having that conversation that he promised to have with Putin. Can you tell us what we need to know about this? First, it was a very necessary conversation. It was long overdue.
Biden refused to talk to Putin for over three years. It was pathetic. It was dangerous. You talk to your enemy. You talk to your adversary if you can.
During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union had regular summit meetings. Reagan and Gorbachev, people still remember that.
So this was a necessary call. And it was really just to break the ice, to remind Putin that Trump was back in the White House, that Trump did not see him as a personal enemy. But Trump did not agree, obviously, with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And the two were going to have to have some very, very serious face-to-face talks in the future. Trump also immediately called Volodymyr Zelensky right after that talk with Putin to inform him of the talk.
He didn't want to leave him out in the cold.
So this was a very, very important thing to have happened. Rick, you had the former Russian president, Medvedev, who has been kind of the bad cop all of these years, threatening about nuclear war. He said that Trump pulled the world back from the brink of apocalypse with this call.
Now, I happen to think that is a bit hyperbolic. But it's true that The tensions between the United States and Russia were exacerbated way beyond any real need for them. There was not a need for the tension, even over Ukraine.
So I think it is true that Trump is trying to de-escalate the tensions. He wants to put this war to an end, and it's clear that both sides are going to have to make concessions. We don't know where that's going to go yet, but both sides are going to have to make concessions.
Well, one of the themes of this Trump administration is common sense. And to my mind, and I'm not a great diplomat, but to my mind it does make sense that you would talk with Vladimir Putin because you have to get something going. We can't just continue to do what we're doing there. But there are many, especially in the EU and British politicians, who are saying this was caving into the Kremlin and that Trump made a huge mistake here. Can you tell us why they would say that?
Well, they said that because, A, they didn't want Trump to be talking to Putin. B, they really didn't like to hear Pete Hegseth at the Munich Security Conference this week say that it's really kind of unrealistic to think that Ukraine is going to join NATO. Really? You really think we're going to bring a country at war into NATO? It's not going to happen.
By the way, the North Atlantic Treaty document does not allow for it. The only way that Ukraine could enter NATO would be well after the war was over and completely resolved, not by a ceasefire, but by a peace treaty.
So, of course, Ukraine is not coming into NATO any time soon. The Europeans didn't like it. You had there, the EU foreign minister, Kayek Kalas, who's a former Estonian prime minister, absolutely brilliant woman, by the way, and beautiful. But she said, Putin only responds to strength. A bad deal for Ukraine is a bad deal for America and will embolden China.
I kind of hear words like that, and I say, what? You mean the Europeans are actually lecturing the United States on our security? Come on. I think they need to nibble a bit more on that reality sandwich that Trump is feeding them, Rick. Just one final question to wrap up this Russia-Ukraine story.
The only other thing that we could continue to do is to continue to fund a war where people are dying. You're playing with fire when you look at a nuclear power and a dictator like Putin.
So we need to move, don't we? This is what has to happen.
Well, look, Viktor Orbán, Hungary's leader, who has never really supported the war, he came out and mocked Kaya Kalas, the EU foreign minister. He said the position of Russells, this is a direct quote, the position of Brussels to support killing as long as it takes is morally and politically unacceptable. I happen to think he's right. He went on and said, while President Trump and President Putin negotiate on peace, EU officials Issue worthless statements.
Well, we'll move on from the Russia-Ukraine crisis, but keep an eye on that because things look like they're about to start happening there. But let's talk about Iran. You mentioned earlier your latest book, The Iran House, Tales of Revolution, Persecution, War and Intrigue is out right now. And it talks about your experience in this part of the world. And it certainly seems like Iran is kind of in a pivotal moment right here, transitional moment.
They funded this axis of resistance against Israel that seemingly has crumbled. Can you just give us a s kind of the state of the union? What is going on in Iran right now? And what are their prospects? What are they looking to do?
The Iranian regime is in trouble. And they realize they are in trouble. As you mentioned, their entire axis of resistance has collapsed. The leader of Hezbollah was killed in his basement. The leader of Hamas was killed in Gaza.
Syria's Assad was chased out of the country and is now in Moscow. Iran's proxies are collapsing all around them. And so the Ayatollah is desperately trying to turn these defeats into a victory. They're very good at doing this in the Iranian regime.
So his latest gamut, Rick, is to compose a poem, a classical poem, a classical poem that touts the virtues of the axis of resistance and standing up to world powers. It's a bunch of nonsense. It's braggadoccio. It's his effort to basically save face Persian style.
Meanwhile, you have leaders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps who are calling on him to rescind his.
So-called fatwa against nuclear weapons. And this is a continuation of these talks, these open talks in Tehran by senior officials, which we have mentioned from time to time over the past few months, where they're openly evoking the possibility of acquiring nuclear weapons. Not a capability, but nuclear weapons.
So this is where they are. They're weak on the one hand, and on the other hand, they're wondering whether, well, maybe now is the time to go nuclear, to actually be able to stave off the great Satan, the United States, and the little Satan, Israel.
Well then that's my next question right there. We look at the situation. Uh Iran kind of shrinking and Israel since October 7th they have had several successes and now may be the time for Israel to strike at Iran's nuclear program. Do you think that is something that is on the table right now?
Well, I think it's been on the table for quite some time, and the Israeli Defense Force, as well as the intelligence ministry, Mossad, and others in the Defense Establishment are against it. They don't want to have a major escalation of the conflict with Israel. This goes back, Rick, to 2011, I believe, was one of the first times that Prime Minister Netanyahu was talking about this, and he was rebuffed by his Minister of Defense and the Mossad chief at the time. There is rumor, and I would call it a little more than rumor because the source is David Ignatius, an intelligence columnist at the Washington Post. David Ignatius is the deep state, so I would take anything he says with many grains of salt.
But he reported this week, claimed to have U.S. and Chinese sources.
Now, tell me why you had Chinese sources talking about Israel and the United States, beats me. But nevertheless, this is the Washington Post, okay?
So he was saying that. Trump and Bibi Netanyahu talked about a joint strike on Iran's nuclear weapons capabilities, on their factories, on their production sites. And this goes directly contrary to what Trump has said in public. He said in public. The same week that Bibi was there, that he would prefer to make a deal with Iran where we can do a deal, supervise, check it, inspect it, and then blow it up, or just make sure that there's no more nuclear, is what he said.
That's going to be a very tough deal to negotiate. That's the kind of deal that the Iranians are not going to agree to, and that's where. Ultimately, you will get to talks of a joint U.S.-Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, but not now. It's going to take some time. Ken Temmerman reporting for Prophecy Today.
Ken, as always, we appreciate what you do. Glad to have you back with us this week. Thanks so much for what you do. Look forward to talking to you again soon. Thanks for having me on, Rick.
It's always a blessing. Great job as always, Ken. And we are focusing on world leaders and the nations of Bible prophecy. Dr. Andy Woods is coming up later to help us to understand exactly how all the dots are connected.
We've got to take a break, and when we come back, David Dolan with our Middle East news update, right here on Prophecy Today weekend. I'm Reese Kramer with Mission Network News. As of last weekend, Lebanon has a new government for the first time in over two years. But it's different from what it's been for decades, explains Nuna with Triumph at Mercy Lebanon. I think it's been like 30 years where Hezbollah has been the upper hand in the government, where they can veto whatever the government is deciding.
Changes in neighboring Syria also impact Lebanon. As Syrian refugees begin to go home, Nuna says their team recognizes they have to share the gospel with them quickly instead of slowly building relationships. The whole Middle East is in a new season, not just Lebanon. I just feel that the shift is not just political, it's also spiritual, where things are going to move in a way that is unprecedented. And people can pray about that.
There are more prayer points at missionnews.org. And huffing or chroming, the practice of sniffing products like paint, markers, or nail polish for a temporary high, is on the rise in the United States. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, one in five kids use inhalants by the eighth grade. Brandon Bauer with the Lighthouse says, It is everywhere.
It's in small-town USA, it's in the big cities, it's in our high schools and middle schools. While repeated huffing is linked to cognitive difficulties and dementia later in life, one-time use is also risky. Inhaling fumes in high concentrations can replace the oxygen available in the lungs. We had a gentleman in our biblical recovery program that pretty much fried his brain use because of inhalant use. People are dropping dead, so it is a very, very dangerous thing.
Yet, hope remains. You know, inhalant use can be treated just like any other addiction with the word of God. Find your place in the story at missionnews.org. 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. I'm Luth 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. And to do that, we have a good friend, Dave Dolan. He's a journalist with over 30 years of experience there in Israel.
Dave, thanks for being with us today. I'm glad we wish you, Rick.
Well, Dave, lots of drama that was taking place this week concerning the ceasefire negotiations. Could you give us an update? Where do we stand right now when it comes to the ceasefire negotiations and the war between Hamas and Israel?
Well, of course, Rick, that was indeed the big news of the week. The apparent Breakdown of the ceasefire on Monday after Hamas announced it would release no more hostages. That Israel was violating the agreement by not letting in enough aid, especially tents and caravans or trailers, we say in English. And some other charges, they said they're shooting too much and whatever.
So they would release no more until these violations were cleared up.
Well, of course, Israel responded and more importantly, President Trump responded very strongly. Trump said, of course, all Gaza hostages should be released by noon. He'd said that earlier, but he repeated it. I say cancel the ceasefire. All of them need to be released, all of them, he said, not in drips and drabs, not two, one, three, and four and two.
So it appeared that he was backing a demand for the remaining at least it wasn't clear at least the six remaining living hostages that are supposed to be released as part of this deal after today's uh scheduled release And wanting all those at once.
Well, Hamas announced on Thursday, no, we're only going to release three, but we will release three now. And then late Friday, they gave Israel the names. There were some disputes again, Rick.
So all of this is still kind of on a very thin line.
Meanwhile, Rick, there was, of course, great anger over last weekend's release. When these three male hostages, including the father of the Beavis brothers, the young boys that are still. in captivity and probably dead along with their wife. We all remember they were released and made to stand on a stage and held up signs and numbers, and they looked. Like Holocaust survivors, and that was intentional, the Israelis believed.
They were intending to convey that impression. Of course, President Trump picked up on it and was very angry about it. He had just seen the 48-minute film of the atrocity of the massacre on October 7th, a few days before.
So he was extremely angry over that, and the Israelis were too.
So, really not clear, Rick, if this ceasefire will hold. But President Trump seemed to be saying to Israel, indirectly at least. You go for it. We're not going to stand in your way anymore. These people are monsters and we've had it.
And finally, Rick, I want to say that Eli Sharabi, the hostage released two days before last weekend's release, who also looked like he'd just come out of a dungeon, and really he did terrible conditions, only to find out that his wife and two daughters were killed on that terrible day.
So A fundraising event was raised for him yesterday. He lost his home, his family and Rick in just a few hours. A million shekels were raised for him. That's about three hundred thirty thousand dollars.
So a little bit of light in the midst of a pretty sad situation.
Well, let's talk about the hostages just a little bit. Last week that release of those hostages that they were they just looked I I heard one was only eighty six pounds, one of the men uh was only eighty six pounds, and so they looked terrible. Is do you think that could be part of the reluctance? Hamas has been staging these Bizarre kind of ceremonies where they hand over the hostages. But if we start to look at it, if there's injured people or people who don't look healthy, that's going to really reflect poorly on Hamas.
Can you talk about how that might be playing into the psyche of Hamas maybe trying to quit turning over hostages as they attempted to do this week?
Well, Rick, that was the immediate speculation in Israel when Hamas made that announcement on Monday that there simply are no more hostages left that are able to walk out of there on their own. that are in any condition to be free with welcome and applause and joy on Israel's side, that from now on it's just going to be horror. And of course, at some point, we're going to have to have confirmation, and pretty much everyone's convinced that Shira Bebas and her two boys are dead.
So You know, it's not a tough situation. It's getting tougher and tougher, even though the numbers are dwindling and people are happy for that. But yes, it's thought that that may be the reason, Rick. And again, this is just shown to the Israeli public what a cruel, horrible. horrible group this is.
This is ISIS. This is worse than Hitler, like they've been saying. And it's just underlined, Rick, that Israel cannot. cannot, will not allow Hamas. To ever rule anything again.
They can march around in their last days in their uniforms and they can make these people put on a trial show and all this sort of thing. By the way, reports said that they asked the Beavis father, they asked him to turn around at a certain point as he was entering the stage, hold up the sign they'd given him, and smile and wave. And he refused. He just kept walking. Of course, they could have shot him in the back, but that would have been really good for the ceasefire deal to do that on international television.
So, you know, they've really, and apparently, President Trump now also realizes these people are complete monsters. And even though Biden said it before, they can't return to rule and all these things. They think that in his gut, Trump understands that. And also, they feel that his whole Riviera proposal and we'll move all the Palestinians. And by the way, Rick, I got some information from a friend this week that what President Trump had in mind was a new Palestinian zone just next to Gaza in northern Sinai, where Israeli communities used to exist.
I visited there before the pullout in 1981. We went to several there. Set up a whole new area, have beautiful big Trump towers, 50, 60 story, beautiful modern, all paid for by somebody else with parks and work centers and all of this, a port and an airport with local regional flights only. That that's the main thing he had in mind, but but what they really like is the southern Gaza Strip. to be turned over to that because Egypt is reluctant, obviously, they said so, to take anyone in.
But what they believe he was saying to the Arabs is this is it. We're not going back to anything like it was before, nothing. Don't even talk about the Palestinian Authority coming in. Don't even talk about just a little restructuring here and there. It's going to be totally different.
And apparently, the Saudis and the others have gotten that message right because they've been holding emergency meetings this week to discuss an Arab proposal for it. They now realize it has to be far more, what can I say, pro Israel than they were thinking. It has to be something that Trump approves And if he doesn't, it's not going to happen. And he's obviously saying Hamas is gone.
Well, very interesting.
Well, in the brief time that we have left, let's follow up on that question. President Trump does things in his own style, like it or not. You look at this situation. Hamas decided that they were not going to release any more hostages, and he comes out and says, release them all this week. And so he kind of has that instinct, that impetus to really push in this whole Gaza plan that has come really out of nowhere, but it has started at least a round of negotiations and a talk on a new level.
Is this something and this is asking you to take off your reporter hat and maybe put on your opinion hat? Is this something that is a way that will work in the Middle East, a way that will work with the Palestinians and the Arab nations? Is this something that is going to bear fruit? Or is this dangerous? As some people are saying, is this something that might escalate the conflict?
Rick, it's pretty well known that the Saudi Crown Prince and other golf leaders and others. They didn't like Joe Biden very much. They liked Kamala Harris even less. They didn't respect them. Let's put it that way.
Donald Trump, whatever you think. He is someone to be respected because he demands it, basically. And he can be pretty tough. He can be pretty soft. He can be outrageous at times.
But like you said, it has Thrown down the gauntlet that this isn't going to be a day after war where everything just goes back to the same. I mean, he said that. We've done this so many times now. It goes right back to war every time. We can't have that.
We have to have fundamental changes here, and we are ready to support. That. And by the way, Rick, just a final thought on that that might change the whole picture. The Washington Post reported on Friday that Trump and Netanyahu last week in their meeting did discuss. An Israeli attack upon Iran, whether the U.S.
would support that and how much, et cetera. And Israel is pushing hard to deal with the underlying problem here, which is Iran. And again, I think we're going to see that this year. And to talk about a solution to Gaza or Lebanon or anything before that is, I think, rather premature. But Trump has shown the direction that he's going to take in all of this.
Dave Dolan reporting for Prophecy Today. There's plenty to look ahead to, David, and we're going to be counting on you to help us understand what is going on as we continue on with the rest of this year. Thank you so much for what you do for Prophecy Today. Look forward to talking to you again soon. Well, I'm happy to do it, Rick.
God bless. We're going to take a break right now on Prophecy Today, but when we return, we'll have Dr. Andy Wood. He's a popular guest on our program. We're going to continue to take a look at current events in the light of God's prophetic word.
We're going to have Paul Scharf on with us. He's going to be there to help us answer a few questions that listeners have sent in. And we also have the legacy series with Dr. Jimmy Deung. That's all right ahead, right here on Prophecy Today weekend.
I'm Ruth Kramer with Mission Network News. Rebel violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's eastern region is echoing in Kinshasa, the western capital city. There, protests in the streets mean unsafe school commutes for kids. David Durants from Teach Beyond says: In great uncertainty, they're pointing children to Jesus for security and for hope. Pray that the church would be faithful to shepherd children wisely through these events and pray for peace in the DRC.
And the oppression people experience under Islamic rule pushes them to seek hope elsewhere. In their search for truth, many encounter Christ through media and the internet. Denise Godwin from International Media Ministry says this approach helps people explore Christianity by watching videos and connecting with believers.
However, there's still a significant need for greater cooperation between media ministries to create high-quality content. You can find your place in this story at missionnews.org. Thanks for listening to Mission Network News' 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. We're attempting today to help people to understand why we believe in a pre-trib rapture and how the world is moving forward to a point where globalization goes against God. You know, the Bible shows that anytime man attempts globalization, it is ruled by wicked, ungodly empires. And we should oppose globalization to the extent that we understand that it is implemented by Satan and currently the God of this age.
That's 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says, In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. It is interesting to note, Rick, that man. And Satan's final attempt at globalization will include a resurgence of Babylon, which started the globalization effort so long ago. And that's dealt with in Revelation 18.
But today, I thought it would be really good for us to get Dr. Andy Woods on the program. Later on in this half hour, we'll have Paul Scharf that will come in and help us to understand why we study the end times with a pre-trib mindset. But Dr. Andy Woods is going to come and give us some information that I think is very pertinent to us, the body of Christ, as we study Bible prophecy.
Well, that's right, Jimmy. I have got Dr. Andy Woods from Sugarland Bible Church. He's the pastor there, and he's a frequent contributor to this program as we look at current events in the light of Bible prophecy. Dr.
Woods, thanks for being on the program today. Yeah, great to be here. Thanks for having me. For those that don't know about Dr. Andy Wood's ministry, he is a local pastor of Sugarland Bible Church, but he also has a ministry talking about essentially what we do here on the program, looking at current events in the light of Bible prophecy.
And so that's what I'd like to do today: go through a couple of the things that are in the news today, things that you have been talking about in your pastor's point of view program, which we highly recommend. And we'll start with the first thing: the biggest news that is coming: President Trump's quote-unquote plan for Gaza.
Now, this is making a lot of news around the world, and it's very interesting. And you were asked about your take on this and how this potentially fits into Bible prophecy. And you gave some interesting answers, starting with Ezekiel 38. If you could, could you talk about that a little bit for our listeners? Yeah.
And it's all if this plan goes through, because we really don't know at this point if it will. I kind of feel sometimes Trump as the art of the deal president you know, kind of says things way out there so the other side will kind of meet him halfway.
So I don't know if what he said is actually gonna be accomplished, but if what he said goes through, I mean, basically what he's talking about is a buy out, an American United States buyout of Gaza. And I believe that, that actually fits into prophecy if that happens, because there's something very interesting. There's a canal. It's called the Ben Gurion Canal. And it connects the Red Sea all the way to Ashkelon.
And some of the videos that you watch about that canal online. This is the canal they want to build. We'll actually end it in Gaza itself. And so that's going to be huge for the Israelis, and it's going to hurt. The Egyptians, you know, with the Suez Canal.
And so part of me thinks that's why Trump is wanting to buy out. Or whatever term you want to use, take over Gaza, American takeover of Gaza, because you can't have a big. Financial canal like that. With Hamas, you know, just next door in Gaza.
So I partly think that's part of the reason Trump wants to do what he wants to do, but At any rate, if this plan goes through, I mean, no doubt about it. With this canal project, it will increase Israel's wealth exponentially. And to my mind, that sets the stage for Ezekiel 38. Verses 12 and 13, which clearly predict that when that invasion happens, spearheaded by Russia, Turkey, and Iran, into the land of Israel, it's very clear in the scripture that they're coming into Israel to get Israel's wealth. And so, this, among other things, will make Israel very wealthy.
and it will kind of precipitate the covetousness, which is a necessary prerequisite, in my opinion, for the fulfillment of Ezekiel thirty eight, verses twelve and thirteen of those invading nations. Pastor Woods, we look at that situation and we see what is taking place in Israel right now. The war with Gaza certainly showed a weakness in what happened on October 7th, but if you look at what has happened since then, Israel's position has been enhanced in the world due to the way they handled not only Gaza but also Hezbollah and Iran, and now Syria has collapsed. And what you are essentially saying, Israel's growing stature in the world. They have natural gas, they have discovered oil, they have all kinds of advances when it comes to cyber technology and diamonds.
And so there's quite a bit of wealth combined that with the anti-Semitism in the world. And you can certainly see how this is, as Ezekiel 38, 4 says, puts the hooks in the jaws of the rest of the world to come against Israel to take that plunder. That is what you're essentially talking about here, right? Yeah, I mean, those are the two biggies um since October the seventh. It's the anti-Semitism worldwide.
I mean anti-Semitism Was always in the world, but to my mind, it it just really came out of the woodwork. I mean, look at our universities and so forth post-October the seventh. All over the world, Israel Israelis are portrayed as the occupiers. And then the second thing is this wealth in Israel. You know, you mentioned several things, oil.
There's also natural gas off of Israel's in the Mediterranean Sea off Israel's northern coastline. You've got the situation with the canal and the Gaza takeover by the United States. You've got other things, you've got trillions of dollars of mineral deposits in the Dead Sea, and so. You know, we could probably list a lot of other things too.
Some are speculating potential, massive, potential gold discoveries in Israel.
So you put all that together, worldwide anti-Semitism and Israel's wealth, and these things are accelerating since October the seventh. And so the whole Gog Magog invasion, the ho that whole scenario is not getting more and more murky. You know, it's getting coming into greater and greater clarity.
Well, it certainly is. And I have a few more questions. But before I do that, I want to ask you. And one time in one of our past interviews, you mentioned that we don't have a headline view of prophecy. We don't read the newspapers and determine our prophecy from that.
We read the scripture, and then we look at the headlines and what is taking place around the world and see how these could fit in.
So if you could, could you kind of explain your philosophy a little bit about how you look at these headlines, these current events, and then say this is potentially what could happen, and these are things that are setting the stage. Could you explain that for our listeners? Yeah, I mean, the Bible, I mean, the only thing it really gives us is the end game. It tells us, you know, what the final prophecies are going to look like. It doesn't tell us.
how we're going to get to the end game.
So anybody that's telling you how we're going to get to the end game, basically what they're doing is speculating because the Bible doesn't tell us exactly how. We just know Israel has to become wealthy. And so, what I'm seeing today is, you know, I'm sort of speculating in a sense, but I'm seeing. As we like to say, the stage set for that end game. And so I think it's really important that we make that distinction.
The type of things that we're talking about here are not necessarily thus saith the Lord issues. The end game is the thus saith the Lord issue. But you know, we can God has given us an intellect, and we could see how God is working in history to set the stage for the ultimate end game. And so I think we need to kind of draw a clear distinction between stage setting and ultimate fulfillment of prophecy because we don't know. How many twists and turns are ahead on the road?
We certainly do. And I think that's an excellent description of what should be a prophetic world view as you look at what's going around the world and students of Bible prophecy, and you should be a student of Bible prophecy. Prophecy is 33% or roughly 33% of the Bible, one-third of the Bible.
So if you have an understanding, that helps you to understand where we are in history.
Well, a couple other things that you talk about often, and I feel like you really have some great insight, is we look at globalism. We look at what is taking place in the world as far as what could basically signal a future one-world government. Could you talk about, first of all, why is it important for us to understand what globalism is in the context of what it means to Bible prophecy, and then maybe a few key things that are taking place around the world that are accelerating globalism? Yeah, well, when you look at the Bible, let's look at, like, for example, Daniel 7, verse 23. That's a verse I.
Refer to a lot because it tells you the final form of Gentile domination governmentally that will exist on planet Earth. Before Jesus returns in his second advent to overthrow it. And it very clearly is. One world government, and you could throw into the mix the infamous Mark of the Beast passage, Revelation 13:16 through 18. You could throw into the mix the harlot Babylon's influence over the entire earth, Revelation 17, verse 15, and countless other passages.
I mean, it's the end game is world government. And so, if we're moving towards God's end time scenario, the voices calling for world government should get louder and louder. And I'm seeing that constantly. We have the World Economic Forum and Klaus Schwab openly calling for a world government to solve the world's problems. You could throw into the mix the World Health Organization.
During the Biden administration, American sovereignty was basically handed over to the World Health Organization, meaning any time they declare an emergency, the World Health Organization basically takes jurisdiction over planet Earth. You see it in what's called the Paris Climate Accord, where we sort of. surrender our sovereignty to some kind of nebulous bureaucracy who promises to govern us so that our environment will so called be protected. And then you have a President like Donald Trump come along and start to pull us out of those organizations because the American people don't like it. We like being a sovereign nation.
And not part of some kind of global government enterprise. And so the fact that this tension is existing right now. Shows us the unique time period in history that we're living in, where we're moving rapidly into some form of global governance.
Some people are accepting it, some people are pushing it, some people are resisting it. But the tension wouldn't be there like we see it if we weren't moving very dramatically towards that end time goal.
Well, that's certainly true, and I'd like to talk about a little bit about that and maybe Donald Trump's role in what is taking place right now. But before I do that, you also talk about a cashless society and how important that is for setting the stage for what the Bible says is going to be the system in which the economy works in the future. Can you talk a little bit about the cashless society and why that is important for students of Bible prophecy?
Well, it's important because the Scripture calls our attention to it in Revelation thirteen. Verses 16 through 18, where it talks about that you can't buy or sell. unless you receive some kind of mark upon one's right hand or forehead. And that's talking about two things. A, a world economy, B, it's obviously cashless because there's no cash involved.
and that kind of a system. And um Beyond that, C, it's talking about a certain level of technological sophistication where such a system could come into existence. And so we see all three of those things developing today. We have a world economy. We have a lot of voices.
today saying let's move away from cash. We want to digitize All transactions. And the reason they want to digitize all transactions is the moment that happens, there's a paper trail electronically on everybody, and you can be shut out of the system if you're not cooperating with whatever narrative the big globalists want us to cooperate with. And then, number three, we see the technology in place. I mean, you go back 100 years, a system like this would be inconceivable.
But today, we see all kinds of things happening with RFID chips or even electronic tattoos placed upon one's skin. We see the You know, you can go different places today that are completely and totally cashless. You can go into certain stores in Europe where you don't even have to deal with a cash register or a person behind a you know someone selling you things. You know, it's just everything is completely digitized. And so it just seems to me that, along with many other signs we could talk about, show us that we're moving into God's end time scenario very rapidly.
Well it certainly does and you put all these things together you see What is ahead, and that is certainly why God has given us the gift of Bible prophecy because it helps us to understand where we are in his timeline and what is to take place in the future.
Now, there's another interesting, very interesting set of information that I heard in some of your recent podcasts, and they are talking about this thought of what the Holy Spirit is doing to restrain the Antichrist. You talk about that from 2 Thessalonians. If you could, could you talk a little bit about that? And maybe if we look at the events that are taking place in the world, some of them maybe seem to be fighting against some of these forces that are, we know, to be inevitable because God says they're going to take place. Can you talk about that concept?
Yeah, you go to 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 3. And it clearly anticipates that an Antichrist you know, is coming. And it also talks about Later on in that passage around verse 4, that there is a spirit of the Antichrist already at work in the world. But then in verses six and seven, it says: in spite of that progress, there's something on the earth today that's restraining or holding back the Antichrist. And kind of to make a long story short, I think that force holding back the Antichrist is the restraining work of the Holy Spirit, you know, through God's people, primarily the church.
And I largely see the Trump administration as certainly not a perfect person and a perfect administration, but it's doing a lot of things that go against the New World Order agenda. For example, Trump Through executive order, took us out of the World Health Organization. Trump, through executive order, took America. Out of the Paris Climate Accord, Trump, through executive order, says we're not going to sign on to these CBDCs. central bank uh digital currencies, which would Do away with cash, and there are countless other executive orders he's issued, which show me that God.
Although the new world order is coming, God is doing a work of grace, you know, even as we speak, and he's actually holding back the man of sin.
Well, Dr. Andy Woods, as we look at this situation, not only are you a prophecy teacher, but you're also a pastor of Sugar Land Bible Church there. And if we look at all of this information that we're bringing in, when we see where we are in the world today, if you could maybe just give us uh uh as a pastor, from a pastor's point of view, which is the name of your podcast, from a pastor's point of view, how should we as Christians understand what we are seeing and what should it cause us to do?
Well the analogy I like to use is when You see the signs of Christmas. Santa Claus and Christmas lights and Christmas trees. And Christmas music on the radio. Christmas commercials, you know, it doesn't just tell you that Christmas is coming. It tells you that Thanksgiving is coming because Thanksgiving occurs earlier on the calendar than Christmas.
And so I like to use that example because I think that's the right way to look at these things. I mean, you see the World Health Organization, the World Economic Forum, you see the move for the push towards a cashless society, you see the alignment of the nations. spoken of in Ezekiel thirty eight and thirty nine. And these are all things that Are going to transpire during the tribulation period, but we know that something precedes the tribulation period, which is the rapture of the church. And so if the tribulation period is coming this fast, the rapture is coming even faster.
If Christmas is coming fast, then Thanksgiving is coming even faster. And so this is a time in our lives to really start living for eternal things. And asking the Lord, you know, we're living on borrowed time. What would you have me to do? This is a time for urgency.
And you don't really have that sense of urgency the way I'm describing it unless you really give a good study to these prophetic subjects.
Well, that's what our ministry is all about, and I know that is what your ministry is all about, Dr. Woods. And so just before we let you go, if you could, we appreciate your ministry. It's somewhat a parallel ministry to what we do at Prophecy Today. For those that are interested who may be hearing about you for the first time on our program today, could you tell us how we can find out a little bit more about your ministry and where people could go to get more information from you?
Yeah, and first of all, you know, absolutely. Our ministries are very intertwined and and like-minded. The easiest way to do it is just go to andywoodsministries dot org where you can Access our website if you want to find us on Rumble or YouTube. We have an app in the App Store. Just go to the App Store and free download Andy Woods Ministries.
You'll also see on our website a way to sign up for our newsletter. The show notes that we read from will show up every week and Your inbox for free every time we post a pastor's point of view show. And if people are interested in more of our verse-by-verse series and teachings that we've done, a good way to access them is at the Sugarland Bible Church website, slbc.org. doctor Andy Woods, as always, we appreciate you being on the program. We will most certainly be talking to you again soon.
Thanks for all you do to educate the Christian community on Bible prophecy. We look forward to talking to you again soon. I look forward to it too. Thank you for what you do. God bless you.
Dr. Andy Woods, he's a prophecy teacher and a pastor. We have plenty of those that we'd like to have on the program. Dr. Richard Schmidt is also a prophecy teacher and pastor that we have on the program.
So we've got some questions from pastors that come in. And I got a question about pre-trib eschatology, understanding the study of the end times from a pre-trib point of view.
So I thought I would like to get my good friend Paul Scharf on the program, Friends of Israel Ministry. And Paul, welcome to the program today. Thank you, Jimmy. It's wonderful to be back with you. Yes, Paul.
So why do we teach a pre-trib eschatology?
Well, Jimmy, is we take the Bible literally. That's the key. Literal interpretation recovered in the days of the Protestant Reformation on the basis of sola scriptura, the authority of scripture alone. We believe as we look at the whole Bible, take the whole Bible literally in context, We're going to be premillennial. That is, Christ is returning before and to establish his millennial kingdom.
And then before that, there has to be a rapture.
Now, someone listening might say, I don't like the word rapture. It's not a Bible word.
Well, actually, it is a Bible word. If you take the Latin, it comes from the Latin like so many of our theological. Terms do from the Greek carpazzo. If you want to go back to the original inspired term that Paul used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. We're going to be caught up to be with Christ, Jimmy.
Isn't that exciting? That's exciting. And so, the only question, all Bible believers then believe in a rapture. The only question is the timing. And in relation to the tribulation, is it going to be before, in the midst of, or after, or is there no tribulation?
Well, we believe as Bible literalists, Jimmy, that there's a seven year tribulation that's coming, the seventieth week of Daniel, And the angel Gabriel told Daniel in Daniel chapter nine, verse twenty four, seventy weeks, all seventy of the weeks that he described for the prophet Daniel were for Daniel's people and the holy city of Jerusalem. In other words, they all pertained to Israel Not the church. And there's a seventieth week, a final period of seven years that's still to be fulfilled. We believe that's equivalent with the tribulation that's described in such incredible detail in the Hebrew prophets, And in the New Testament scriptures, And we believe as we compare Scripture with Scripture, that the church is going to be taken out of the world to be with Christ before God turns his focus in the world back to Israel for that seventieth week of Daniel, And the church age will end before that and it will end with the rapture. And we have the glorious promise of this in Revelation chapter 3, verse 10: Christ's word to the church in the ancient city of Philadelphia.
Because you have kept my command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour. Which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth.
So the church will not just be kept from the testing. But from the hour of the testing, that is a wonderful promise and hope that we have, Jimmy, in Christ. To be kept from the very time period of the tribulation. And I would point Our listeners to another verse as well, and that's in the book of. Second Thessalonians where Paul is discussing These things that we're talking about, and I know you're dealing in depth with on this week's program.
2 Thessalonians 2, 7 and 8. I was listening to some recordings of one of my favorite old preachers, Dr. Bruce Dunn.
Some of our listeners may remember Dr. Dunn, a great preacher. Prophecy preacher of years past. And he said if you want the pretrib rapture in two verses, Here it is in Second Thessalonians two. Verses seven and eight, the mystery of lawlessness Is already at work, only he who now restrains, and I believe that's the Holy Spirit working through the church.
Of course, the church will be removed at the rapture, and the Holy Spirit's Special earthly relationship to indwelling church age believers will thus. end in the sense the church age will end and the church will be taken to heaven.
So he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then verse eight, doctor Dunn pointed out, it says, then the lawless one will be revealed. That's the Antichrist. The church is taken. The Antichrist is revealed.
The pre-trib rapture in two verses. Wow. Paul quickly excellent answer. Give me your website. Thank you, Jimmy.
People can find out all about the Friends of Israel at FOI.org. And they can find all of my materials at sermonaudio.com slash P F C H A R F P Sharf. And I'd love to have them keep up with me there, and I'd love to hear from them. And I always appreciate being with you. Yes.
Wow. Very good, Paul. Paul, you know what? We got to take a break. And when we come back, I want you to talk about the day of the Lord and the mark of the beast.
How do we know that we're not taking the mark of the beast today? Would you do that with us? That would be great, Jimmy. Great. We've got to take a break, and Dr.
Jimmy DeYoung will come in with the legacy series, which he's laying out God's promise, his plan, and the procedure for the end times. And Paul Sharp will be back right after that at the end of the program when we take a look at the book. We're going to take a break. We'll be right back right here on Prophecy Today Weekend. 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, great program today. If people were interested in finding out more about our ministry and about the trips that we have to Israel, where would they go? Jimmy, you can go to our website, prophecytoday.com.
You can find out more about the ministry. You can see how you could donate to our ministry or look at materials that we have. And also, we're headed back to Israel. We've been already once this year. We're going again in May.
You can go to our website to find out more information about that or call us at 423-825-6247. 423-825-6247. And we would love to take all of you with us. And as Rick always says, it's a great classroom. It's the best classroom in the world for teaching Bible prophecy, Israel past, present, and future.
Well, on the legacy series today, Dr. Jimmy DeYoung is finishing up his preview of Matthew and how that relates to our Study of 2 Peter, which is the manual for the end times. We will return today to chapter 3 and verse 9, and Doctor de Young will lay out the Lord's promise, His plan, and procedure for these the last days. Please take your Bible and let's go to 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 9. Dr.
Jimmy De Young and the Legacy Series. This is a conclusion of everything that Peter had done. In the first chapter, he exhorted us to grow, to mature in the Lord, to live virtuously, to have a moral excellency. He told us that we needed to be patient. And then he also exhorted us to be involved in brotherly love.
That is exciting because that is what Peter exhorted us to do: be involved in brotherly love and brotherly kindness. And he wanted us to make sure we did that. He wanted us to be involved in temperance, self-control. But again, remember when we looked at chapter one, we were seeing that what Peter was exhorting us to do would assist us in the judgment seat of Christ and bring us to a position where we would then be able to go with excitement to the judgment seat of Christ, which happens immediately after. The rapture of the church.
Chapter 2, he exhorted us to pay attention to apostasy. And I exhorted you, and Peter, I think, does the exact same thing. Get out of an apostate church. Get out of a church that's teaching apostasy and find a good Bible-believing Bible-teaching church. That was chapter 2.
He was preparing us for what's going to happen. The result, the result of being involved or listening to or allowing apostate teaching to take control of you is that there will be those who will deny the coming of the Lord, they will deny creation, they will deny the flood, and ultimately we didn't go all the way to the end. They will deny that there is judgment coming when the world is going to burn. And that's going to be the final judgment. It was by water in the beginning, it's going to be fire in the end.
And so he was telling us, stay away from apostate teaching because that'll take you down a wrong path. And that was just, I think, a A great bit of information that helps us, and we're to allow. feeder to Stir up our pure minds by remembering what the apostles, what Jesus Christ, and what the disciples had taught us in the scriptures there that have been provided by these men who God has placed in a very important position in history past for the establishment of the church. But now we come to the end game, and the Lord is going to assure us He's not negligent. He is going to keep his promise, and we'll see his promise then becomes his will for you and for me.
We're going to see his plan, and we'll understand that's the way that we need to prepare as we go into the times in which we're living. From this point on, we're so much closer to the rapture of the church than anybody in history has ever been. And every day that continues to intensify, and so we're waiting for that. But he has a way, and he's going to lay out his plan. And finally, we need to get involved in his work.
There's a procedure for it, we're going to see it.
So, let's go right now to the third chapter of the book of 2 Peter, and let's begin with verse 9. Because here's the promise, and here's his will going to be revealed to us. Verse 9: The Lord is not slack. Concerning his promise.
Now, what has he promised?
Well, he's promised two things, basically. He did it in the Passion Week, Passion Week beginning when Jesus Christ and His disciples come into Jerusalem, and then leading up that week up to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's Passion Week. He made a promise that he is going to do two things during that week. First of all, in the Olivet Discourse, which would take place on Monday afternoon of Passion Week, after he had been up the third time to the temple, he went up the first time as King of kings and Lord of Lords, the potentate.
And then the next day, remember, he went up and he cleared the temple of the money changers.
So he was the priest, the high priest after the order of Melchizedek. And on the third day, he goes up as the prophet. Those are the three offices of Jesus Christ: potentate, priest, and prophet. And he goes up there as the prophet. He's going to cleanse the temple out.
And then from there, he goes across and goes to the Olivet Discourse. And he, at the end of the Olivet Discourse, is going to make a promise. He had been offering the kingdom. I went through the book of Matthew to show the offer, the legitimate offer of the kingdom, then the postponement of that offer, and then the promise is going to happen. Chapter 24, verse 30.
You see me coming in the clouds with great power and great glory. This is a sign I am coming back to the earth. I promise I'm going to come back. Again, he says here, I'm not slack concerning my promise. I will come back.
And in verse 29 of Matthew 24, he says, immediately after the tribulation.
So if this is going to represent the second coming of Christ, the return of him back to the earth, this would be Matthew chapter 24, verse 30. Verse 29 says that happens immediately after the tribulation period, a period of time that's going to unfold prior to his return. But the beginning of that, and in the upper room before he's going to be crucified the next day, he makes another promise. This time it's a different event. It's not the second coming of Christ.
In the book of John, chapter 14, verses 1 to 3, he said, don't let your heart worry. He's got some very worried men at this point in time. For about six months, he's been teaching he's going to have to die, be buried, and resurrect. They are having anxiety. Anxiety attacks.
And so he stops and he looks at him. He says, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God?
Well, you believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I shall come again.
The promise coming into focus. I shall come again and receive you up to be with me, that where I am, there ye may be also. And so there's the promise of the return of Christ, the second coming of Christ. He then says that happens immediately after the tribulation and before the tribulation takes place. Here's my promise: I'm coming to gather you up to be with me, the rapture of the church.
So he lays out the promise. He said, I'm not slack concerning this promise. I am not slack. You know, if you got your notepad out, right in your Bible, I love to take my notes in my Bible. I've always had it with me.
But in the tribulation period, there are four major trends in Bible prophecy.
Now, this is true in the 17 books in the Old Testament that are particularly focused on Bible prophecy. And in the New Testament prophetic books, which would be Matthew, all of them have Bible prophecy in them, but there's a special dealing with Bible prophecy in Matthew, 1st and 2 Thessalonians, and in the book of Revelation. Four major trends. If you'll pay attention to what is going to happen, four major trends. Here's the first one: Aleya.
Now, Aliyah, A-L-I-Y-A, Aliyah. That's a Hebrew word that means literally to go up to Jerusalem. That's what the Jewish men are to do three times a year at the pilgrim feast day: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. They were to go up to Jerusalem, and that's the literal translation of Aliyah. That now has been appropriated to refer to immigration.
And so their first major trend of Bible prophecy between the rapture of the church and the second coming of Christ during the tribulation period will be Ali'a. And there will be people coming, Jewish people from all over the world, coming back into the land. You'll see that throughout every passage of prophecy, basically, because that's a trend, a major trend. The second major trend would be alignment. And we see that coming together, an alignment of nations, the political arena.
World leaders are going to come together and form an alignment of nations to try to wipe the Jewish state off the face of the earth. Have you ever heard that phrase before? The Iranian president, almost on a daily basis, says, We need to wipe the Jewish state off the face of the earth, that her name be forgotten forever. You know, that's almost a quote from Psalm 83 and verse 4. They had a council meeting.
They came out of the council meeting and said, Let's wipe out Israel so that her name be never mentioned or remembered again. Aliyah, the alignment of the nations. The third major trend is going to be anticipation, anticipation of peace. When does that attack on the Jewish people by the nations of the world begin?
Well, there's one at the end just prior to the second coming of Christ, and that would be for the campaign of Armageddon. And the reason I call it the campaign is because all the nations of the world gather in Jerusalem. Not in the Jezreel Valley. They will ultimately go up there. When Jesus steps back on the Mount of Olives, he splits the Mount of Olives.
If you look at Zachariah chapter 14 and verse 5, it says he splits the mountain so all the people gathered to go against Jesus Christ can go to the valley of the mountains, which is 97 miles away, up in the Jezreel Valley. It's a valley, a thousand square miles, with mountains all around it. That's why the Lord says, Go to the valley of the mountains. And so it's the campaign. It starts in Jerusalem, ends up in the Jezreel Valley.
But there is going to be a way when you can recognize when it's going to happen. Ezekiel 38, verse 8 says, when the Jewish people are dwelling safely in the land. And verse 11 uses a military terminology when they're living in unwalled cities, dwelling safely in the land.
Now, what that's talking about is there's going to be a semblance, a pseudo-peace. And what happens? The Antichrist confirms a peace treaty, Daniel 9 and verse 27. The Jews believe that the Messiah has come. They believe the Antichrist is the Messiah because they believe the lie of Satan.
And so they accept that. They see peace, a short period of peace at the beginning of the tribulation period, and it only lasts for about six months. And so, anticipation for peace. Is not every world leader wanting to know how they can bring peace in this world? And in fact, they want to bring peace, first of all, to the Middle East.
The former Secretary General of the United Nations, he said, my ultimate goal is to bring a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And there's going to be those. Listen, Ezekiel the prophet didn't understand an F-16 or an F-35, the new stealth aircraft, the jet aircrafts that Israel has just been delivered. He didn't understand an Apache attack helicopter. He didn't understand a Markva tank, which is the most sophisticated tank in the world.
He knew that the Jewish people had a wall around the city.
So he said, when they lay down their walls, when they're living in unwalled cities, anticipating peace. And that's a theme that runs throughout the entire prophetic passage of God's Word.
So you have Aliyah, Jews returning to the land, alignment of the nations, a coalition formed to wipe out the Jewish state, anticipation for peace, and the fourth trend.
Now, this is across the board in all prophetic passages. The fourth trend is the arrangements for the temple. And Jesus Christ in the book of Zachariah chapter 1 and verse 16 says, I will return to Jerusalem. I will build my temple. Zachariah chapter 6 and verse 12, he says, Jesus, the branch, will build the temple, and then he will rule and reign from that temple.
That's verse 13 of Zachariah chapter 6. Over in the book of Ezekiel, there are 202 verses of scripture dealing with the temple that Jesus Christ is going to build in the kingdom. Period. He is going to build it. The 202 verses, the book of Ezekiel, chapters 40 to 46.
More details, more details about him building the temple and how it's going to be. And it's very specific. More details than about the birth of Jesus Christ. In our study today. We looked at His promise, His plan, and His procedure in these last days.
The ancient prophet Ezekiel gave us the trends to look for as we quickly approach the rapture. With this information We must on a daily basis look for the rapture for However, until that time of the rapture, we need to continue to look at this manual for the end times, the book of Second Peter. Please join us again next week as we continue our study of 2 Peter. Dr. Jimmy DeYoung and the Legacy Series.
We've got to take a break, and when we come back, Paul Scharf will join with me again as we talk about the day of the Lord and can people mistakenly take the mark of the beast now? That's all right ahead, right here on Prophecy Today weekend. Uh Have you ever wanted to know more about God's plan for the future? Have you ever tried to understand prophetic passages in God's Word, like, say, the Book of Revelation, and been frustrated at not being able to figure it out? Dr.
Jimmy DeYoung's latest CD series, Keys for Unlocking God's Plan for the Future, will help you gain the ability to understand where to start in your study of prophecy and allow you to read God's Word in a new and exciting way. Understanding God's prophetic word will allow you to live a pure and productive life until Jesus returns for the church. Keys will help you gain the tools you need to understand the end time events as foretold in God's Word. Dr. DeYoung lays out a systematic approach to Bible prophecy for those who want to know God's plan for the future.
Tracks included are A Road Map Through the End Times, The Jew in Jerusalem, Daniel and the Antichrist, Ezekiel and Messiah's Temple, and Revelation and Babylon. To order your copy of Dr. Jimmy DeYoung's Keys for Unlocking God's Plan for the Future, visit our website at prophecytoday.com. I'm Ruth Kramer with Mission Network News. Last week, representatives from Vietnam were missing from the International Religious Freedom Summit in the United States.
Their own government detained them. Paul Potohila with Voice of the Martyrs Canada explained the pressures, attacks, and rejections that Christians in Vietnam suffer. Yet he says they endure even death because they believe Jesus is more than anything in this world. You can read the full story at our website. But for now, pray persecutors will be drawn to Christ.
Then, the MENA Leadership Center equips Christian leaders across the Middle East and North Africa for gospel ministry. Last year, 450 participants from nearly 30 nations took their training. Fatih Sharia says their digital church course led one congregation to start an online church that has 50,000 people now. If you're excited to grow the future church in the MENA region, please pray for this ministry and consider partnering this year. We'll connect you at missionnews.org.
Mission Network News is Service of One-Way Ministries by Ruth Kramer. Welcome back to Prophecy Today. I'm Jimmy DeYoung Jr. Along with my brother Rick, we've been examining current events in the light of God's prophetic word. This is a section of the program where we take a look at the book.
And as promised, Paul Scharf with Friends of Israel Ministry is back with us. Paul, welcome back to the program. Thank you, Jimmy. Great to be here. Yeah, so let's talk about this.
I want to give you as much time as I can here in our last segment. What is the day of the Lord?
Well, Jimmy, the day of the Lord is really an expansive topic, and it's mentioned more than 20 times in both the Old Testament. Combined with the New Testament, and it can be used for near-term fulfillments of God's work. in the world in which he's doing his special acts of judgment, for instance, on behalf of the nation of Israel in the Hebrew prophets. But as we move into the New Testament, building on that Old Testament foundational understanding of the day of the Lord, the term really relates to end time events especially what we would call the days of the tribulation to come following the rapture and even extending into the millennial kingdom, the judgments Right at the end of the Millennial Kingdom, 2 Peter 3 10 to 13 talk about, and Peter describes those judgments at the end of the millennium before the Lord God ushers in eternity future, when, of course, all believers will be with Christ in the new heaven and the new earth forever.
So, the day of the Lord, it's a simple concept, but it can also get somewhat complicated. But for our purposes here to zero in on the issue of how we as believers should prepare and live our lives, Paul, coming off of the great rapture passage in First Thessalonians four at the end of Chapter four, and I referred to that in the previous segment. He says in Chapter five, he switches the emphasis He's been talking about we and us and how we're going to be with the Lord at the rapture. But in chapter five As Paul comes into 1 Thessalonians 5, he says, when they say, when they say, And he's he's saying, Brethren, you have no need that I should write to you about the times and the seasons, for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night, for when they say n again, not when we say, but they who are left behind At the rapture. They're going to say peace and safety.
And the reality is what's going to happen to them Sudden destruction, no escape. The day of the Lord will come upon them like a thief. In the night, but Paul says, verse four, you're not in darkness. A believer, this day will not overtake you as a thief, I'd like to sum this whole section up by saying to the believer, us who know Christ, wake up. It's already getting dark.
In other words, the day of the Lord is coming, the tribulation is coming. But we won't be here, we'll be with Christ. But this should motivate us. It has implications for how we live today. Paul goes on to say in this passage.
Verse six, let us not sleep.
Now that's a different word for sleep. than Paul had used earlier in First Thessalonians four, where he's obviously using sleep as a euphemism for death. But here in Chapter five, he's using sleep to talk about someone who's sort of, we would say, asleep at the wheel.
sort of sleepwalking through life. It's a different Greek word entirely. Let us not sleep, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober.
And Paul goes on. to talk about this. And he says, why should we be concerned and live our lives to the fullest for the Lord God during this time? Because God has not appointed us to wrath. First Thessalonians five, nine.
Just like First Thessalonians one ten, We're not here to face the wrath of God in the coming tribulation. We're going to be delivered from that.
So live your life to the fullest. Wake up. Because Christ died for us, that even if we sleep, verse 10, Paul says, even if we miss. The great blessings we could have in the Christian life, we're going to live together with Him.
So don't sleep. Wake up. It's already getting dark. Yes. So a question came in then.
How do we know that we are not taking the mark of the beast today?
Well, Jimmy, I would say the quickest answer to that is we know that the mark of the beast isn't here yet because the beast isn't here. Yeah, it's true. And there's so much that could be said about the mark of the beast, which is described in Revelation thirteen, which by the way, we know the mark of the beast isn't here again because the events surrounding it that are detailed in that chapter And in the surrounding context, they're not happening yet.
So we who believe in a pre-trib rapture coming out of a literal interpretation of the scriptures. we know that the things that are going to bring about the market of the beast, they aren't happening today. No, there are technologies and there are circumstances that are developing that may be preparing the way for the ultimate Implementation of the market of the beast. But, Jimmy, we don't have to worry about taking it today because the beast isn't here. Nothing that we're taking today in any form, whatever it be.
Is not related to that final Antichrist who's coming because he's not here yet. And when he comes, and when he launches the mark of the beast. God is so gracious and so merciful Revelation 14 tells us he's going to send three different angels. To give a warning to the whole world so that no one can miss it. And they're going to say, in essence, to the whole world, to everyone listening.
Do not take the mark. It will cost you your life if you don't take the mark. But if you refuse the mark and trust in the Lord God, you'll live eternally. Don't take the mark. Don't take the mark.
Don't take the mark because the third angel in Revelation 14:9 says, if anyone worships The beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand. That's the key, Jimmy. Taking that mark will be an act of worship. And no one who takes it will be doing so unwittingly. They won't have just gotten in the wrong line.
At somewhere in some setting where they incidentally ended up taking the mark of the beast. they are going to know that by taking that mark, whatever it is, and it will, I'm sure, relate to economic and different kinds of opportunities that are open to them so that they can have the right credentials, et cetera, But it will have some of those facilities with it, but it will also represent worship of the beast. And everyone who takes it Will know what they're taking. Paul, you know, with what you've told us, with what Dr. Andy Woods told us, with our broadcast partners today, things that we see, we see that we are very close to the rapture of the church taking place.
And it can't be too far away. In fact, it could be in the next moment.
So 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. Prophecy Today is a listener-supported production of Shofar Communications in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
