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. This is the first program of 2025, and our new year resolution is that we will be looking at more current events in the light of God's prophetic word. Rick, we've got a great program today with our regular broadcast partners, Ken Timmerman and David Dolan. Winky Mad will be back again.
It seems like we're having them on every week, but there's so much happening in Israel at this moment. And Bill Federer, looking at the life of Jimmy Carter, and of course, Dr. Jimmy DeYoung and the legacy series. Rick, we've got a lot to cover, so let's get going.
Well, that's right, Jimmy. I have Ken Timmerman with us. He is our expert on geopolitical affairs. His latest book, The Iran House, Tales of Revolution, Persecution, War and Intrigue, is out right now. Ken, as always, thanks for being with us today.
A pleasure to be with you, Rick. Thanks for having me on and happy new year.
So happy new year to you as well. And all of our commentary today is going to be in the light of the fact that we're going to be looking ahead to 2025, but in our look around the world today, unfortunately, we have to start right here in the United States, a terrorist attack, an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in New Orleans. Can you talk about this attack and maybe what it means for the future of similar attacks in the United States?
Well, you know, Rick, it's ironic because my wife and I were walking in downtown in our little town in Northeast Florida on New Year's Eve, and she was saying, you know, I don't really want to be walking in the street because you know how many of those Christmas markets have been hit by suicide attackers, plowing people down in the street.
So it's something that was certainly on her mind. It was on my mind. Why it wasn't on the mind of the police chief of New Orleans is beyond me. Listening to that woman say that they had taken every precaution necessary, and it was just really pathetic. I was quite astonished.
We had been in Bourbon Street just two years ago at a conference with David Horowitz, and it is always packed, packed, packed, packed. And the New Orleans police just parked cars on the street side. They did not think of blocking the sidewalks.
So, of course, that's where this ISIS attacker drove his truck. He drove it on the sidewalk past the police so-called barricade and mowed down. Fourteen, fifteen innocent people just out there having a good time on New Year's Eve. This attack certainly comes as President Biden, the outgoing president, has been downplaying the ISIS threat in the United States. It's truly pathetic, Rick.
Biden has mentioned repeatedly that the biggest terrorist threat to the United States is white supremacy. That's the most lethal danger. It is not ISIS terrorism. It's not Islamic jihadis, but white supremacy. President Biden is, as his predecessor, Obama, just trying to distract the American public from the threat of jihadi Islam.
We know those people are in the United States. The FBI has been tracking them, even though the FBI agent in charge of the investigation in New Orleans initially came out in public and contradicted the governor of Louisiana and even that police chief and said it was not terrorism. They were not looking at a terrorist attack. Pathetic. She was subsequently replaced by the head of the FBI's counterterrorism division, thank goodness.
But look, this is just all of a piece. Biden's trying to pretend that America. Is the biggest threat to the world, that white supremacists are the biggest threat to America, and that DEI is the only answer. The American people responded to that in November, and I think this is going to be a sad chapter in America's recent history that we're going to turn the page on on January 20th.
Well, as we continue to talk about this upcoming transition and looking ahead to 2025, let's move to the Middle East. And I heard this week that President Biden has at least discussed plans to strike Iranian nuclear sites if Tehran continues to speed towards a bomb. Is there any validity to this story?
Well, we don't know, Rick. This is again the whisper campaign by people who are allegedly supposed to be inside the White House and they're telling Axios, which is a pro-regime news outlet here in the United States, that they are engaging in, quote, prudent scenario planning against Iran should the Iranians actually step up that enrichment from 60 to 90 percent. In other words, 60 percent is where they are today, ninety percent is actual weapons-grade uranium, and it only takes a week or two weeks for them to do that. We've been talking about that an awful lot on this show. Look, I think this again, there's a lot of smoke here, and it may just be a smokescreen and not a smoke coming from a burning fire.
Biden has a history of appeasing the Iranian mullahs, just as Obama did. And it would be very unlikely for him to order a strike on Iran. I would see him instead trying to launch some kind of provocation to tie the hands of President. President Trump. And I've got to tell you, I saw a similar kind of thing that I reported on in my book, where Biden advisers who followed him into the White House were trying to get the Iranians to take U.S.
diplomats hostage in Baghdad before the 2020 election again, so they could tie Trump's hands. This is geopolitical adventurism at its very, very worst. I hope this is one of the things that Cash Patel's FBI will investigate.
Well, my next couple of stories, they uh demonstrate the interconnectedness of all this. We're just talking about Iran, the Iranian access of resistance, Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, that's been greatly downgraded, but the Houthis are continually making problems, especially for Israel, but also for Red Sea shipping. And then in the interconnectedness part, there's information that China, in order to have Red Sea passage to have their ships not attacked, has been helping the Houthis obtain weapons. This is a very interesting connection, isn't it? Rick, what responsible U.S.
administration would allow a ragtag band of terrorists to shut down one of the major waterways of the world for world trade? They've shut down the Red Sea for basically the past year and a half, and the United States has done nothing about it. All of the oil that goes from Saudi Arabia to Europe used to go through the Suez Canal.
Well, that traffic is down to about 30% of what it was. And as you say, most of that is Chinese ships. And the Chinese have cut a deal with the Houthis. The Russians have as well, where they are supplying the Houthis with the kits, the knock-up kits, if you wish, to make missiles that they can launch against Israel and launch against U.S. ships.
And we've done nothing about it. We have done absolutely nothing about it. We've not gone after the Chinese. We've not gone after the Houthis in a significant way. And now we're hearing that, again, the Biden White House is telling the Chinese.
Everything that we know about this supply chain. They're telling them, we know the companies, we know the people, we know how it's being done.
So we just revealed very sophisticated intelligence to the communist Chinese, and we're getting what in exchange for this? Absolutely nothing.
Well, we'll continue to monitor that situation there in the Red Sea. But as we continue to look around the Middle East, we're going to look at a story that we talked about last week. Russia is making a pivot from Syria, where Assad has lost power there, and so Russia is out of favor there, and they're pivoting to Libya. How is that going?
Well, this story has now been completely confirmed, Rick. It was rumored last week, and now we're seeing all of the actual physical movement of Russian hardware to Libya in support of General Haftar.
Now, General Haftar is the anti-Islamist former Libyan government general, Libyan army general, who is set up in the Cyrenaica, which is near Benghazi, far away from Tripoli. And the Russians have had a relationship for some time with General Haftar. And it's, again, something that never should have happened. Haftar is an American citizen. He was trained in the United States.
He was a CIA asset for years while Qaddafi was still in power. And now we have turned our back on him. It was Obama and Hillary Clinton who initially did that in 2011, 2012 during the Libyan revolution against Qaddafi. And so now what has he done? Haftar has gone to Russia.
He is being supported entirely by Russia. He tried to take Tripoli in 2019 with heavy. Help of the Wagner group. And the Russians were not happy with him at that point for some reason. And they pulled their forces away, left him high and dry.
He had to kind of turn tail and head back to Tripoli.
Now the Russians are saying, okay, we will back you again, but we want to use your naval bases, we want to use your air bases, we need them to replace the bases we lost in Syria. My guess is Haftar is going to go along with us because he needs Russia's backing to stay alive in Libya.
Well, one final question for you as we finish out this look around the world and a look ahead to 2025. And we'll continue in Russia here. The Russia-Ukraine crisis. President Biden won last transfer of funds to Ukraine to fight against Russia. Can you talk about President Biden's legacy and about this kind of unending war that is taking place there, funded by America?
Well, I think this war is about to end. And the Biden administration does not want to go down as leaving Ukraine hot. High and dry as well.
So they've got another something like $6 billion of defense drawdown authority. They just used about half of it. This is the $75. Package of weapons that the Biden administration has sent to Ukraine, the 73rd defense drawdown package. It's unbelievable.
And all during this war, which again, I believe that President Biden helped set in motion by pushing Zelensky to believe that he could join NATO, that NATO would be behind him, and by provoking Putin by urging Ukraine to keep up the fight in April of 2022 when they were very, very close to signing a ceasefire agreement with the Russians in Istanbul. Look, I think I've always spoken of this as the unnecessary war. Biden has always wanted Zelensky to stay in the fight, but has only given him enough weapons to just barely stay in the fight and not enough to defeat the Russians. There was an attempt earlier this year with both the F-16 delivery and the Biden people allowing Ukraine to use the ATACMS to strike deep into Russia to change that. But Putin responded immediately with essentially nuclear blackmail, and Biden backed down.
So we have an administration that deters itself when it comes to Russia, won't give Ukraine the weapons that it needs to actually win the war, yet wants to continue the war, prolong the war, prolong the killing.
So I think Donald Trump is going to end this very soon. I think you'll see within six months of him taking office that the war will be not just over, but there will be a lasting ceasefire in place. Let's hope so. Ken Timmerman for Prophecy Today. Ken, as always, we appreciate what you do to keep our listeners informed.
We look forward to you doing that for us in 2025. Thanks so much, Ricky. God bless. Great job, as always, Ken. And I think the one prayer that we will have for 2025 is: even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly.
Well, 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 Ruth Kramer with Mission Network News. A cluster of attacks on Christmas week killed nearly 50 people from Christian communities in Nigeria. A one-year-old baby and a 13-year-old child were among those who were killed by Fulani herdsmen. Unknown Nations Greg Kelly says Fulani herdsmen live in Nigeria's Muslim-majority north, but they're increasingly moving south to find better grazing land for their cattle.
They target farms, and a lot of times these farms are owned by Christians. It's a very difficult thing to contain because there's no assistance coming from security forces. And if it does come at all, it's always after the fact.
So please stand with believers in prayer for relief. We need to be praying for the persecuted believers in Nigeria. More Christians are killed simply for their faith in Christ than the rest of the world combined. And the Lord is at work in the Islamic world, and Muslims are turning to Christ. But some believers see little growth after a former Muslim accepts Jesus as their Savior.
Pierre Hosni with Horizons International explains: We've seen people from a Muslim background who have been hanging around churches for many years, but still are not understanding basic things in the faith because nobody explained it to them based on their former worldview. Similarities between Islam and Christianity present a stumbling block. A new discipleship curriculum from Horizons presents truth in a way that's familiar to Muslims, yet clearly separates Christianity's teaching from Islam. They don't understand that the wages of sin is death. They need to understand what sin is according to the Bible before they can understand what salvation is and who Jesus is.
Learn more and connect with Horizons 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 Ruth Kramer. Welcome back to Prophecy Today Radio, the program that looks at current events in the light of Bible prophecy.
This is our Middle East news update portion of the program. It's a time when we look at news coming out of the Middle East in general, but Israel in particular. To do that, we have our good friend, a journalist for over 30 years in Israel, Dave Dolan. Dave, thanks for being with us today. It's good to start the new year with you, Rick.
It is with you as well, David. And we're going to look at twenty twenty five as we look ahead to what is going to take place in the upcoming year. But before we do that, let's get an update on what took place in Israel this week.
Well, Rick, once again, we had the main action coming from Yemen. Nobody would have dreamed that two years ago, that we'd be getting almost daily attacks from Yemen, 1,200 miles south of Israel. But on Friday morning, 4:30, that's about the time they normally do it, they sent another ballistic missile aimed at Israel, fired it earlier, but that's when the sirens started going off throughout central Israel.
So everybody got woken up, everybody had to go to their shelters and all of that. And they did intercept it, but a piece of the missile. Fell on Modain, which is a central Israeli town. You know it well, between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. And also, actually, in South Jerusalem, in Gilo, where your dad and mom lived for a while, a portion of either the rocket or the interceptor came down.
Nobody was injured, thank God. And Israel again responded. Another drone attacked from Yemen also on Friday morning. It didn't hit anything this time, thank God, because last weekend we did have some casualties from an earlier one. And then in Lebanon itself, Rick, we had the Israelis spotted Hezbollah fighters still active, quite a few of them, moving a rocket launcher into position.
They immediately notified the Lebanese army, they said, which according to the ceasefire is supposed to be preventing anything like that. And they waited a while. The Lebanese army did nothing, so Israel ordered an airstrike against it. Of course, the European Union. And others cried foul, but Israel pointed out that they have the right under the ceasefire to do that if the Lebanese army isn't doing its job.
In Gaza Rick, we had stepped up fighting this week. It's been getting less and less over the past few months, but we had over 20. Airstrikes in just one day on Thursday night and Friday. We had more tunnels uncovered in northern Gaza. We had rockets launched into Israel again from central Gaza, Beit Hanoun area, and the IDF on Friday evening ordered the residents to move south.
They said we're not going to allow this to continue, and we'll go in there in an operation.
So things are heating up again in Gaza, even as they've calmed down pretty much totally in Lebanon. And then, Rick, finally, the Army released information during the week of the incredible operation that was launched to destroy this underground Iranian missile-making facility near Aleppo in the northwest of Syria. The Air Force played a much larger role than anybody knew. They came in from the Mediterranean. There were dozens of aircraft involved.
I won't go into the details, but they smuggled in quite a few fighters and how they had taken out the air defense systems. in the weeks before that. was the main story. They had degraded so much their four different anti-rocket systems in that area, Russian supplied systems in that area, to the point where they could carry out this operation and destroy. That was in early September, which of course was maybe the sign of all signs to Assad that his regime was falling and to Iran that its days in Syria acting freely were over.
About the report from around Israel on what is taking place both in the north and the south, and of course 1,200 miles to the south in Yemen.
Well, a couple of things that I'd like to talk to you about today, Dave. The attack in New Orleans, an ISIS-inspired attack. I talked about it with Ken just a little bit, but this is looking like the Islamic State ISIS comeback bid. Can you talk a little bit about that? Maybe what it means for the Middle East and Israel, but also potentially for the rest of the world.
Well, Israel's very concerned about a resurgence of Islamic State in Syria, in particular. And of course, the U.S. is as well. And we had the day that Assad fell, we had the U.S. launch a whole series of strikes, including killing the local head of the group in eastern Syria.
But the new regime is a Muslim fundamentalist, Sunni Muslim fundamentalist regime. There's no question about it. Ashara, the leader, said again this week, We're not after anybody. We want to reunite the country. We want the Kurds in the North to rejoin us and everybody to be happy.
But obviously, their theology, their world outlook, is very in line with Al-Qaeda, Islamic State, Islamic Jihad, these groups, these Sunni groups. The Israelis are very concerned about that, and they feel that there may well now be a new wave of especially these very horrific, deadly truck and car rammings that have really mostly been taking place in Europe, but this one in the United States and concern that we'll see more of those. The Islamic terrorism has not gone away. America's longest war has not ended, as Joe Biden proclaimed after the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. And definitely, this group, ISIS, is reconstituting in Eastern Syria.
We've got to keep a real close eye on that, and Israel will as well.
Well, on this program, we'll keep an eye on that and we'll continue to watch it and get a realistic look at what is taking place so that we can be informed and have a proper worldview.
Well, finally, I'd like to talk to you a little bit. We were talking a little bit before we went on the air about the death of former President Jimmy Carter, a born-again Christian. And I'm going to talk about his legacy a little bit, especially from a historical context in the next half hour with Bill Federer. But you have a few interesting anecdotes about Jimmy Carter, and maybe then after that, you could just let us know what his legacy is in Israel, how they feel about his passing, and what his legacy is among the Jewish people.
Well, Rick, I became a born-again believer in early 1974, and that was through a Baptist pastor in my hometown, and I went to his church after that.
So, when this man, this governor from Georgia, peanut farmer governor, announced he was running for president a year and a half later, or whatever it was. on the Democratic ticket, I was amazed because he was a Baptist and he seemed to be a real one. And I wasn't expecting that at all. And then I started working at a local radio station, and one of my jobs was preparing the newscast, especially during the weekend. My shifts began that way and expanded after that.
But And AP and UPI, the wire services, would carry extensive. Reports every Sunday that he was teaching at his church, which was most. Sundays after he became president, less so, but still he would be down there once or twice a month, usually in teaching. And I would read through that. And I was a new believer, so my theology was just forming, but I thought, hmm.
He's a little bit to the left of where I'm at. And I was concerned about some of his comments even then about Israel, Rick, because I already had in my theology and my pastor and my teachers, I went to Bible college, A Moody Bible-connected school in Spokane. And so I had a pro-Israel stance, and his seemed like wishy-washy to me.
Well, of course, he later came out with the Camp David Accords, and those were phenomenal and changed the course of the Middle East and, you know, well appreciated by most Israelis, although they had to give up the Sinai, and that was very painful. But, of course, after his presidency, he started working on homes, but he also started working on anti-Israel projects, Rick, as you know. And he said some pretty anti-Israel things, even maybe anti-Semitic things. I just think he's one of those Baptists or one of those evangelicals or whatever that doesn't really understand the spiritual dimensions of the Fight that's going on here, doesn't really understand the evil nature of some of the stuff that's happening. Didn't.
Obviously, he's passed now. But overall, I think his record was good, and overall, what he did for America was good, although Panama was probably a big mistake. You know, his record regarding Israel was definitely mixed. But having said that, Camp David was the pivotal. a part of any peace accord.
But of course, it was supposed to include, the accord said, negotiations over Jerusalem in the end and a Palestinian state being formed. And not most Israelis were not real thrilled with that part of it. But of course, it never happened because Um, Hamas was formed, Islamic Jihad, and we had the first uprising and the second, and the Hussal Accords that were also tossed out basically.
So we're back to square one, but uh, God bless him, and I do think he was a true believer, Rick, and uh, that he's with the Lord.
So That's good. It certainly is, Dave. A complicated legacy, to be sure.
Well, David, as always, we appreciate you keeping us updated on what is taking place in Israel in the Middle East. We look forward to talking to you again soon. Thank you, Rick. God bless. Thanks, David.
Always a great job by you, and I certainly agree with you. You know, it's so very important for Christians, and this is what we emphasize on the program. Jimmy Carter didn't have the proper understanding of God's plan for the Jewish people, and that is so very important as you're understanding the future. If you're understanding God's word, if you want to interpret Bible prophecy, if you want to understand it, you've got to realize that God has a plan for the Jewish people, and he's not finished with them yet. And that's still yet to come.
Well, we've got to take a break, and when we come back, Winky Madad, Bill Federer will continue the conversation on Jimmy Carter, and then Ken Timmerman will be back with us right here on Prophecy Today weekend. I'm Ruth Kramer with Mission Network News. A cluster of attacks on Christmas week kills nearly 50 people from Christian communities in Nigeria. A one-year-old baby and a 13-year-old child were among those who were killed by Fulani herdsmen. Unknown Nations Greg Kelly says: the Fulani herdsmen live in Nigeria's Muslim-majority north, but they're increasingly moving into Christian territory to find better grazing land for their cattle.
Please stand with believers in prayer for relief.
Meanwhile, the Lord is at work in the Islamic world and Muslims are turning to Christ.
However, some believers see little growth after a former Muslim accepts Jesus as their Savior. Pierre Hosni with Horizons International says, Similarities between Islam and Christianity present a stumbling block. A new discipleship curriculum from Horizons presents truth in a way that's familiar to Muslims, yet clearly separates Christianity's teaching from Islam. Learn more and connect with Horizons at missionnews.org. You've been listening to Mission Network News, a service of one-way ministries.
I'm Ruth Kramer. Welcome back to Prophecy Today. I'm Jimmy De Young Jr. Along with Rick, we've been examining current events in the light of God's prophetic word.
Well, it is that time of the year. You could probably hear it, both of us. We have stuffy noses, and I think everybody's fighting some sort of virus or cold or the flu or something like that. And I trust that you will be well starting out the new year. Our new year's resolution is to look at current events in light of God's prophetic word.
We're really helping, we're putting on the goggles of Bible prophecy to help us to understand what is taking place. You know, God gave specific information pertaining to his plan of salvation for mankind. And it's nothing. You don't have to do anything to work for it. It is a gift.
All you have to do is receive it. And that's one of the things that we, Rick, and I are very much involved with overseas. And later on in the program, we're going to talk to Ken Timmerman about.
Something that we said pertaining to our mission work that we do with evangelicals, with Bible believers, people that are strong Christians and that they love the Lord.
So I hope that you'll stick around for that. Winky Medata is coming up, and Bill Federer will be here in just a moment. I do want to tell you about something exciting. Our first conference of the year will be in Farmington, Maine from January 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21. I'll be talking about topics such as why study Bible prophecy.
Proper Bible interpretation is a must, hermeneutics. The three main events: rapture, the return, the great white throne judgment, the three strands of the human family. That's something that you have to know very well in order to interpret God's word. And then we'll take a look at the three main prophetic books of the Bible: Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation. QA session.
So, again, in Farmington, Maine, I'm going up there to the cold country. I ask all those in New England to join with us as we have this conference on future world events.
Well, Rick, let's bring in Winky Madad because there is so much going on in Israel. And Winky made a statement pertaining to attacks in America that were coming.
Well, Jimmy, I have Winky Madad with us. He's the former mayor of Shiloh and a frequent contributor to this program. Winky, thanks for being with us today. Always a pleasure. Thank you for having me on.
Oh, Winky, one of the things I wanted to get your thoughts on today. I got a text from you this week, and it you were referencing this attack that took place in New Orleans, ISIS-inspired attack, and you you mentioned the fact that, hey, I warned you that this might happen. Can you explain what you meant when you sent that text?
Well, one of the subjects we've been discussing over the past few years now I don't know. I lose track of time. Maybe it's over. Five, eight years already. Mm-hmm.
People in America have to be aware that Israel is not the only target for what we call Islamic jihadism. We saw it in America abroad for a while mostly. We saw it on the Twin Towers. But Americans forget very quickly These people do not. They are driven by an ideology that sees Islam as an expanding territorial ideology.
both Christianity and Judaism Do not expand territoriality. They expand according to religious values, according to human ethics. They go all over the world. don't do that much, but Many Christians, of course, go all over the world to convince people. uh for their beliefs, but they don't take over lands.
They wrote uh assert sovereignty in the name of religion. over territory. Uh but Islam does. And I've always tried to warn the people listening on the program. that this is always in the background of what you see this para.
And it's not only Israel, it's Western civilization. As well.
Well, Winky, we're trying to frame what took place there in New Orleans against a broader perspective, put it in context, if you will, that this Muslim ideology, this ISIS-inspired ideology, there was a statement made by that attacker talking about the fight between the believers and the unbelievers. This comes from their belief system, doesn't it? Yes, it does. And it's one thing If you're just proselytizing for religion. But Islam is different.
I'm not saying that every single Muslim is exactly this way. But the potential Of Corrupting uh Islam very quickly into an extremism. And we see it in Germany. We see it in France. We've seen it over the past year, even in England.
in which they stake out to themselves territory and which no one could walk through. This is the so called safe zones that France got into an argument about a couple of years ago. and they don't write as much over taxes or prices Or other things that people will write over. Bork is over covering their face. not being allowed to be in Fifth Avenue or champs-elise and prostrate themselves in the middle of the city.
And it's too often goes to the extreme, as I say, and we need to develop more Rational Moderate Muslim voices, Islamic voices. That will reign in what we see. This past week, this past year, this past few years. And it's undeniable.
Well, as we have a worldview and as we develop a worldview, we need to consider the fact and be realistic about what the Islamic worldview is as well, because that's what we're facing.
Well, one final question before I let you go. This is the first three days of 2025, Winky. I know you're there on the ground in Israel. There's been a few missile alerts that I've seen come across, but if you could, I know it's early, I know that's only a few days into the new year, but what do you see for 2025? Going forward, do you see a return to normalcy, even more so in Israel?
Well, yes, I do. Of course, we have this main problem. which is dividing Israeli society, which is the hostages. How much do you endanger Israel's future security By giving in to Hamas on the issue of the hostages.
So that's one issue which I would say I'm sort of not that optimistic about because it's a very difficult one. But Israel has an opportunity here.
Now that Syria has fallen and the Houthis in Yemen are acting up the way they do, Israel has the possibility of engaging outside forces of course, the United States right up front. And a few others to participate in the putting down of these aggressive Islamic regimes and make sure that the world is safe. Israel can play a leading role in this. not specifically for Israel, but for the entire Western civilization. And I hope the world, we realize that we are friends.
We are allies. And we can help out everybody on this planet.
Well, let's certainly hope that we can seize that opportunity at this time. Winky Madad reporting to us from Shiloh, Israel. Winky, thank you so much. Thank you, and goodbye to you and our listeners. Very informative, as always, Winky.
Great job. Rick, we talked about Jimmy Carter. We've known our father had some personal contact with Jimmy Carter when he was a governor. David talked about it, but I thought it would be good to bring in Bill Federer, who has a wealth of knowledge of historical events that Jimmy Carter has been a part of over his lifetime and his legacy as a president.
Well, that's right, Jimmy. I have Bill Federer with me. He's been on the program before. He is the author of The American Minute, a radio feature that is broadcast daily across America. He comes on often to talk to us, especially about things that have to do with our American heritage or America's role in history from a Christian perspective.
Bill, thanks for joining us. It's great to be with you.
Well, Bill, this past week, as you know, former President Jimmy Carter died.
Now, we wanted to talk about this, look at it a little bit. We know Jimmy Carter was a born-again Christian. That was something that was, when he was running for president, that was something that was very evident, very clear, a Sunday school teacher. And our father, Dr. Jimmy DeYoung, actually interviewed him when he was a governor in Georgia.
He had a bit of an affinity for him, but he's got a kind of a complicated history. If you could, let's delve into that just a little bit. Can you talk about the legacy of President Jimmy Carter? Right. I mean, I do believe that he was born again, but I think he was tremendously naïve.
When you're running for office, you need money. And the typical way it works is people with money will get behind a candidate and say, we'll back you, but we get to pick your cabinet. We get to pick the people you hire. Morton Blackwell has a saying, personnel is policy.
So forget all the speeches. Who do they put in place? That's what you're going to get. And basically, Carter put in place all the Rockefeller Globalist Trilateral Commission Zavigu Brzezinski type people. I actually.
Years ago, I was visiting with Pat Robertson and Lou Sheldon, and they were conservative leaders. And when Jimmy Carter was governor of Georgia and was elected. They went and met with him. And they had a list of all the great people to put in place, sort of like we see Trump, and he's putting great people up as in. to be put into the calendar.
And they were all excited. And Lou Sheldon looked over, and there was a little tear in Jimmy Carter's eye. And they finished their meeting, and they leave. And he says, I think we touched him. I think we really made an impact.
And Pat Robertson said, no, he said he had a tear in his eye because he knew he's not going to do one thing we suggested. And sure enough, that's what happened. It was all Rockefeller globalist people that he put in place. way with abortion. He personally said he was against abortion, but he put in place all the people that were pro abortion.
To me, one of the big things was the Panama Canal. I'm probably one of the few people you met that actually went through the canal before we gave it away. And so uh I went to college and one of my classmates, a good friend, his father was the lieutenant governor of the Canal Zone. And so around nineteen Seven D. Eight, maybe.
seventy seven, we I I flew down to Panama. And spent several weeks down there. It was great. The canal zone was pristine. It was like a, you know, kept up really nice.
And but he arranged for us to go through the locks.
So we went on the Atlantic side and you go up the locks to Gatoon Lake and you go across this lake, then you go down the locks to the Pacific side. And the people there loved America and they wanted America to stay because they didn't want to be like the third world. dictator-run countries to the north and south. But Jimmy Carter swung a deal with Turios, who was not even elected. He got seized power in a coup.
But the globalists wanted to give it away and not just give it away, but have a subsidize it.
So once we gave it away, we're still paying lots of money that basically got turned around and was paid back to these New York banks. But um and then Jimmy Carter gave away Iran.
So the Shah of Iran loved America. I actually met his son years ago. After they fled, they were living in Maryland, and I met the Shah's son. And there was all these people that had fled that they loved America. Our military trained the Iranian military because they were against the Soviet Union.
And even when I went to college, I had classmates who were from Iran. One of them even had an American flag on his dorm room wall. But Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor, Zavigu Brzezinski, said, we don't want the Soviets to get Iran, so let's let the Ayatollah get it. And sure enough, we we pulled out. I actually uh met the um helicopter pilot that that helped ev evacuate people out.
But the once they didn't get out for four hundred and forty four days, they were held hostage in the embassy. And the same way when we see Trump, even before he takes office, countries around the world are beginning to fall into line. that the day that Reagan took office, Iran released These hostages, so that was great. But then there was the oil embargo under Jimmy Carter. And I remember waiting in line.
I was still living at home, and my dad said, you know, take the car, going in line for hours and hours just to fill up the car with a tank of gas. Later, they found out that the oil anchors were just sitting off the coast. It was a imposed Shortage. just to try to get gas prices up and stuff like that. but he did do the Camp David Accords.
So you had uh Israel. from the beginning of time that was their land. uh the Roman Emperor Hadrian in one hundred thirty five AD. not only wiped out Jews, but changed the name on the map from Judea to Syria, Palestina, so that's where the name Palestine comes from. But there were still Jews living over there and they went through Mongols invading, the the Arabs invading, the Turks invading, but then it was part of the Ottoman Empire, which finally fell after World War One.
And so of Britain and France.
sort of carve up what's Used to be the Ottoman Empire, and France takes Syria and Lebanon, and Britain. takes a chunk and out of that chunk forms a country called Iraq. And then therefore it gives the land called the Valford Declaration to the Jews. And when the the Muslims started To one more, Winston Churchill took the two-thirds of the land given to the Jews. and created another country called Jordan and put Abdullah as king.
But you had the nineteen forty eight Arab Israeli conflict, you had the nineteen fifties when Gamal Nasser seized the Suez Canal and then the Israel Israel took the land, but Eisenhower did the land for peace and made him give up the Sinai Peninsula. Give the nineteen sixty seven Six Day War. And then you had the fundamental Muslims that killed the Jews at the nineteen seventy two Olympics. and you had the nineteen seventy three war And then you had Anwar Sadat is the president of Egypt And Ian, Manach, and Begin meet with Jimmy Carter and do the Camp David Accords, where they come to a peace agreement. Unfortunately, it was giving up more land for the Jews, but it was a peace agreement.
Both of them get the Nobel Peace Prize. Billy Graham is praising. On Warsadat for sticking out his neck and making this treaty, but unfortunately, the fundamentalist Muslims infiltrated the military.
Sort of like today, we're finding out that people have infiltrated our military and they don't have American values and they're. uh doing all kinds of terrorist attacks. from within, like in Fort Hood, Texas, years ago, some Muslim guy killed a bunch of soldiers and they had always these psychological problems. And then we're finding out just a recent terrorist attack that somebody had been in our military. that committed this attack.
And but anyway, Amur Sadat was killed by his own military. But there was that breached moment when it looked like there was going to be peace, and there was the Camp David Accord. that Jimmy Carter did. And unfortunately, he was pro abortion. I know I've touched on that, but to me, that's a big deal.
And uh later in life He m gave a speech. Where he or an interview where he said that he felt like Jesus would not have approved of abortion. And that many in his party are taking that issue too too far.
So But he did make some great statements. He did teach Sunday school, and his Habitat for Humanity was a great organization.
So As a person, I I do believe he is a Christian and a godly man, but I think his political Uh party platforms were not that good.
Well, I certainly tend to agree with you in such a complicated legacy. And I'm speaking with Bill Federer from AmericanMinute.com. And Bill, you brought up so many parts of his history that I kind of had forgotten about. But there are so many different things that things that he maybe set in motion. When we talk about the globalism, his history with Iran, and of course, the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian situation.
So many things that he has helped us to set the stage to where we are today. One final question before I let you go. You brought up this terrorist attack that recently happened in New Orleans. And in his books, and I've seen this in several different places now since he passed away, in his books, he essentially legitimizes the Palestinian terror as a way to get back a quote-unquote homeland. And this is something that essentially has caused more pain and suffering, especially for the Jewish people.
And and then there's many in Israel right now that complicated legacy. Look at his history and what he has done around the region and see him as very anti-Semitic. That is going to be part of his legacy going forward, isn't it? Right. The story at the time was that his Jimmy Carter library needed money, and an Islamist person donated a large chunk.
And then shortly after that, he came out in favor of the Palestinians and critical of Israel. One last thing is the Department of Education. think of all the trans stuff that's being pushed, the LGBTQ, the critical race theory, all that's being pushed through the Department of Education. And Jimmy Carter started the Department of Education. From the moment he started it, test scores for students began to drop.
And um the the students are worse off.
Now uh Ronald Reagan vowed to get rid of the Department of Education. Unfortunately, he didn't, but it's something that needs to be returned back to the States. and to the local communities.
Well, certainly so.
Well, Bill Federer from American Minute. As always, we appreciate you giving us a little context, providing a historical perspective on today's news. Bill, thanks so much. Thank you. Rick, I could listen to Bill Federer all day long.
I love how he just connects the dots through history with those events that took place and what Jimmy Carter was a part of. And Dr. Richard Schmidt, we've had him on the program before. I've called him America's Pastor. He came on the program.
He put together a book along with us and took dad's notes from the DVD, President's Politics and Prophecy, put them into a book and has crafted and even added the time period from Trump and then Biden in the book. But it started with Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter, in that peace agreement that was done at the Camp David Accords between Anwar Sadat, Egypt, and Menachem Begin, Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel, Jimmy Carter of the United States, bringing those two men together, that's what really started. And we always referred to that first peace treaty as one of three peace treaties that's on the table. I'm Maybe we'll talk about that later.
But I do think it's important as you go through, and you can get that book, by the way. You can get that book. You can order it on Amazon, President's Politics, and Prophecy. You can order it at our website, at Rich's website, Prophecy Focus. But I think it's something that's important to understand how God uses world leaders to accomplish his will.
That's a very important principle. That's Revelation 17:17. We always refer to it. And really, we're looking at how world leaders and the nations of Bible prophecy and how those leaders are kind of ordering the events of the world right now. But it's only through the hand of God that these events are taking place.
Well, Ken Timmerman rejoins us today in the second half hour. Ken, thanks for being back with us today. Thanks for having me on. Rick, this is a very important subject that I wanted to discuss with you, so I'm glad that you're giving me the opportunity.
Well, Ken, the subject you are referring to is an interview that Jimmy and I did a few weeks back with a good friend of ours, Daniel Eshtkofsky from Montenegro. He's a missionary there, and we were talking about the Orthodox Church. Could you share your concerns with us now, Ken? Sure. You know, Rick, I've spent a lot of time on mission trips to especially northern Iraq and to Lebanon and elsewhere over the past 10 years.
And I've seen what happens with jihadi Muslims and the persecuted church. Christians are being persecuted for their religion. And it doesn't matter whether they're born-again believers, it doesn't matter what their theology may be, they are Christians. And, you know, what so disturbed me was to, for you and your brother, and I say this lovingly, to talk about the Orthodox Christians in Montenegro as if they're not Christians. And, you know, you had mentioned, I think, that there was a large Christian presence in the country, but not a large religious presence.
And my. feeling to that was that you know That may matter between the individual believer and their God. But it doesn't make a bit of difference to the jihadi Muslims. They will slaughter them anyway. And Montenegro is 17% Muslim.
They just barely, barely escaped the Bosnian Civil War and the Albanian War, which were all fueled by jihadi Muslims. And so I was just a little bit concerned that you were more engaging in a kind of sectarian Christian widowing out of the sheep and the goats. When really we are all Christians. I am happy to kneel in the pew with an Orthodox Syriac as well as a Roman Catholic and share the Lord's Supper with them because we are all one in the body of Christ. And it's something I learned again and again and again in northern Iraq, watching the persecution of Christians just for their faith.
Well, Ken, I certainly appreciate you bringing this up. And I think in going back and looking at that program, maybe it was worded a little bit clumsily, but I certainly support those Christians, like you were saying, the Christians in Iraq, and support and love those that are in Montenegro as well. I've spent probably the better part of 20, 25 trips to Montenegro looking to help to develop amongst the people there, amongst all the Christians, the Orthodox, the Protestants, all the different believers that are there, helping them to further and develop their relationship with Jesus Christ. I don't believe that there is any more. In fact, I'm 100% positive that there is no more important question than each one of us has to answer, and that is, what is our relationship with our Maker, with the Creator of the universe?
And so that's something we would love to talk about and love to continue to talk about. But I, first of all, again, I appreciate you bringing it up. But I also want to apologize to any of those that we have offended, and to you, if we have offended you as well. That was certainly not. Our attention, and again, I could see how maybe it was worded a little bit clumsily.
Rick, you know, I'm not somebody who gets offended. I don't think that is not what's the issue here. It's really what happens to Christians because of their faith. One of the reasons that Iraqi Christians were massacred by ISIS with virtually no outcry from the evangelical community in the United States was precisely this. You know, your dad and I discussed this many times, both privately and on air.
And I believe it's an eternal stain on the holier-than-thou attitude of people who call themselves Christians, but refuse to recognize their brothers and sisters in Christ who are being persecuted by jihadi Muslims. And I think it's the sectarian side of it, which I find disturbing. I find it disturbing, and I find it wrong. And, you know, Rick, sure, I believe in witnessing to the unchurched. I've been doing this in France for the past 22 years.
France is, you know, a country which is for Generations have been called the elder daughter of the church, of the church in Rome, and yet today, France is you cannot call France a country of believers. You can't hardly even call France Christian. I call it formally Christian France because people don't even go to church. They do not identify as Christians. In Montenegro, the Serbian Orthodox certainly identify as Christians.
So I think it is important to witness to the unchurched. I've done it. You can read about that in Raising Olives in Provence. It's a wonderful thing to say grace, to thank God, and to thank Jesus our Savior with people who have never conceived of doing such a thing, who have no clue of what that might mean. You plant seeds wherever you can plant seeds, and over time, they do sprout if they fall on fertile ground, as Jesus tells us.
Well, Ken, again, I appreciate you bringing this topic up, the topic of salvation, no more important topic. And I look forward to continue talking about this more in the future. This is something that is very important both to Jimmy and I. Thanks so much, Ken. Thanks so much for this opportunity, Rick.
God bless. Thanks, Ken, and thanks, Rick, for talking about that clear presentation of the gospel. It's really as simple as A, admitting that you're a sinner, for all has sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Believing that Jesus Christ died for your sins. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
And then, of course, C. Call upon the name of the Lord, and you shall be saved.
Well, we've got to take a break, and when we come back, we're looking at the book of 2 Peter with Dr. Jimmy DeYoung in the Legacy Series. That's all right ahead, 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.
I know something special is coming up. And I mean, this is our first, your first trip back to Israel with a big group. Tell us about it. That's right, Jimmy. We have the AOE, the Academy of Excellence Online Senior Trip Program.
We've done this before, talked about it on the radio before. But this group, a senior trip, we've got 45 people going.
Next week, really, will be, I'll be heading over the week following the week after. Excited to start going back to Israel or to continue to go back to Israel. To do that with many of our listeners in the future. Yes, I know our friends in Israel are going to be excited. They've just been waiting for people to come back, and I think that's huge.
And we really do want to bring more friends to Israel to bless the Jewish people and bless the people that are there. By the way, I will be in Farmington, Maine, New Hope Baptist Church, Pastor Brian Rebert, and I will be doing a conference there on future world of. Events, Bible prophecy.
So, all of you in New England, we'd love to have you come up and join us during that time.
Well, We continue the legacy series today and study in 2 Peter. Today, in fact, please go to 2 Peter 2 and verse 4. Here we see the mention of angels that are being held in chains in the abyss until the day of the judgment of these angels and when that takes place. Today we'll continue our study through 2 Peter and we will do a deep dive on angels and apostate preachers and teachers with Dr. Jimmy D.
Young. Please go with me to 2 Peter 2, verse 4. Dr. Jimmy DeYoung and the Legacy Series. The next thing, after the warning, he's going to give a witness of how false teaching, apostasy, would take place.
Now, he's giving this, again, a foundation to recognize false teaching in the last days. Go up here to verse 4, 2 Peter 2, verse 4. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them into, and the word translated in the King James is hell. It should be the abyss or the Totoris. It's not literal hell.
When you say hell, the word does have a meaning, and we need to realize words do have meanings, so we need to go by the meanings of the words. And hell is the place of fire where the worm dieth not, the fire is not quenched. Jesus Christ talked about it in the book of Mark, chapter 9. He said that's a place you don't want to go. Puck your eye out of your head, cut your hand off, cut your foot off before you go to.
Hell. And it was a place prepared for Satan and his demons. Matthew chapter 25 and verse 41. And so we recognize there's a place. This is a different place than the eternal lake of fire.
In fact, there are three locations as we look to the lost ones in the future or those who have rebelled against God. There would be the place called Hades. That's the 16th chapter of the book of Luke. That's Hades, and that's where lost people go when they die today. And then there's the place that we know as hell, and that's where the ancient Bible tells us that there will be an Antichrist, a false prophet, and Satan cast into the lake of fire, and all of the demons and all those that try to follow the dictates or the teaching of Satan.
And then there is the location that is called the abyss. And that's where Satan, remember chapter 20 of the book of Revelation, verses 1, 2, and 3, Satan is back. Into the abyss, so to the bottomless pit, for a period of a thousand years.
Well, it's talking about that location right here, the Tetaurus, the location where angels are going to be sent.
Now, why is this key and why is this a witness of apostasy?
Well, I'm going to tell you: in these three examples of apostate teaching, we're going to see that the teacher is actually Satan. You might remember when angels were created, they were created on the first day of creation. They were created on the first day of creation because it says in the book of Job chapter 38, verse 4, Where were you, Job, when I created the heavens, the earth, and all that in them is? And then verse 7: When all the angels, the sons of God, shouted for joy. And that puts it into the time of angels' creation on the first day of creation after he created the heavens, before he created the earth.
How do I know? Because Job chapter 38, verse 7 says the angels were there to shout for joy. once he had created the earth. And so angels were created on the first day of creation. When you come to the sixth day of creation, the book of Genesis, chapter 1, verse 31, you see that everything was created good.
He said, I look back at my six days of creation and everything was good. Very good. You get the flavor when you know a little bit of Hebrew, which I do since we've lived in Jerusalem for 28 years. You get the flavor from the Hebrew and it says abundantly excellent. And so those that were created as angels for that first six days were all good angels.
There were no evil angels created. They were abundantly excellent. All of creation was abundantly excellent. But in that time, see, between chapter 1, verse 31 and chapter 3, verse 1, where Satan shows up as a serpent in the form of a serpent, and we get that from over there in the book of Revelation, chapter 12 and verse 9, where it says, that old serpent, that dragon, the devil, and Satan.
So we know that that was Satan showing up in the Garden of Eden.
Some period of time there between chapter 1, verse 31 and chapter 3, verse 1, Lucifer, the book of Ezekiel, chapter 28, who had been put in the position of the highest authority, the most prominent position by Jesus Christ, the creator of himself, in the Garden of Eden, overlooking all of creation, he rebelled. I think the reason he rebelled is at the sixth day of creation in the afternoon after Jesus had created Adam and Eve, what did he do? He gave them dominion. Have you ever noticed that in chapter 1? He gave them dominion.
He gave them the authority over all of creation. He gave them a kingdom. That's where the pattern for the kingdom was laid out in verses 26, 27, and 28.
Now, who's watching when this takes place? When God gives dominion to Adam and Eve, humankind, a little bit lower in the creation cycle than angels, Hebrews chapter 1, he sees all of this happening. And Lucifer says, what is going on? I was in charge. I was over all of creation.
Now he's given it to Adam and Eve? And so he rebelled. And he took one-third of the angels with him. And they rebelled. Because of the teaching of Satan.
And now, these angels that had rebelled, there's going to be another group that's going to do something else. When you get to chapter 6 of the book of Genesis, you see that the sons of God.
Now, remember, Job chapter 38, verse 7 talks about the sons of God. Job chapters 1 and 2 talks about the sons of God.
Sons of God are angels. And in chapter 6 of the book of Genesis, they have a relationship with human women. Why do you think? All the people were killed by the flood at that point in time. That's chapter 6.
That's Jude, verse 6. That's the word of God. We have to understand that. In chapter 3, and verse 15, the Lord gave a prophecy of the Messiah who's coming. And Satan knew that his doom was set at that point in time.
So, what did he try first? Confusion. He tried to confuse Adam and Eve. He said to Eve, The Lord didn't really say you can't touch the tree, because she had said, Hey, we're told not to eat of the fruit of the tree of good and evil, the knowledge of good and evil, and we're not even to touch the tree. You read the scripture, it doesn't say anything about touching the tree.
And the old devil, Satan himself, was manipulating, confusing her. But that didn't work.
So then, what is he going to do? He gets to chapter 6, he goes to the room of. Strategic planning, and he makes another decision. He said: if I can't confuse them to get them to go away and forget what the Lord has promised to do, send a Messiah, then I'll contaminate them. But so what's he doing?
He's contaminating them. Why did the people in Noah's day Face the flood. They say there were a billion people alive. You know, when the flood took place after creation, 1,656 years.
Now, I'm not so smart that I'm a great scholar. You know, I just simply read the Bible and I read the number of years and I simply added them up. I'm pretty good at math, even old man's math. I can get that pretty well. And I added it up.
So it was 1,656 years. And during that period of time, 1 billion people are alive and well on planet Earth. 1 billion people are going to perish in the flood. Why? Have you ever read the fifth chapter of the book of Genesis?
That's a genealogy. Don't skip over genealogies, there's key information in genealogy. What's the genealogy of? It's a genealogy from humankind, the first man, Adam, to Noah. From Adam to Noah, sixteen hundred and fifty-six years.
And you know what? There's not one single angel listed in the fifth chapter of the book of Genesis.
So these were people. These were people that were clean and pure. And along comes Noah. Most of those other people have died before the flood, but along comes Noah. He's 600 years of age at the time he comes on the scene.
And the Lord says he was perfect. In chapter 6 and verse 10, he said, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord and he was perfect. That doesn't mean he was without sin. What it's talking about is he was perfect because he had no evil angel bloodline in him. And eight people on the earth out of one billion were the only ones.
What did Noah do? He preached for 120 years. He was preaching the truth.
Somebody else, Satan, was using to preach apostate information. And so we see that these angels that committed sexual relationship with human women are cast into a place called the abyss, the Tetaurus, and they're going to be there till when? To the midway point of the tribulation. If that's the rapture of the church, if this space is the tribulation period, is this coming, the second coming of Jesus Christ, at the midway point, chapter 9 of the book of Revelation, starting in verse 1 and following, which would be the fifth. Of the trumpet judgments is going to be the release of these angels who have been kept.
In Chains in this location, the abyss, they will be released to come upon the earth. You know how many? 200 million of them. These evil angels in the abyss at the midway point of the tribulation, the fifth trumpet judgment, when that is opened up, when the abyss is bottomless pit is opened up, 200 million creatures come out, and guess what they look like?
Well, it's referred to as locusts. Grasshoppers. I've never seen a grasshopper like this. Face of a woman. Hair of a man.
Teeth of a lion, best plate of a horse running to battle. I would call that an unidentified flying object. And that's what comes on the scene. You see, so an angel, an evil angel, can take on any form that it wants to. And ultimately, they're going to be destroyed by the Lord Jesus Christ when he comes back.
So he's talking about angels here. He's talking about Noah, the next verse, verse 5. And he spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, reigning in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. Jesus referred to that time, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. Matthew 24, verse 38.
And so we see that he's giving examples of false teaching that led into a disastrous situation. Look here in verse 6. And he turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that afterwards should live ungodly. Here he's talking about Sodom and Gomorrah. I go back to the 18th chapter of the book of Genesis.
In the 18th chapter, at the last part of the chapter, Abraham is meeting with Jesus Christ and a couple of angels, two angels at least. He's meeting with them. Abraham is trying to persuade the Lord not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. And he says to him, Lord, if I go into Sodom and Gomorrah and I find 50 people that are righteous, will you spare them? Says, I'll do that absolutely.
So he goes and comes back. Hey, Lord, how about 40 people? A third time, Lord, what about 30, 20, 10? Abraham couldn't find 10 righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah, all of them involved in fornication. And so Abraham leaves.
He allows Lot, his wife, and his two daughters to leave, and then he destroys the place. He destroys Sodom and Gomorrah for sodomy.
Now all of this teaching by Satan Has come to a place where we can now see the witness of how apostate teaching is so bad, so terrible. As we have mentioned often in our study of Second Peter. This is a book written by the Apostle Peter. as a manual for the M Times.
Next week we will continue our study of Second Peter.
so that we can know how to live in these the last days. I'm Ruth Kramer with Mission Network News. A cluster of attacks on Christmas Week killed nearly 50 people from Christian communities in Nigeria. A one-year-old baby and a 13-year-old child were among those who were killed by Fulani herdsmen. Unknown Nation's Greg Kelly says Fulani herdsmen live in Nigeria's Muslim-majority north, but they're increasingly moving south to find better grazing land for their cattle.
They target farms, and a lot of times these farms are owned by Christians. It's a very difficult thing to contain because there's no assistance coming from security forces. And if it does come at all, it's always after the fact.
So please stand with believers in prayer for relief. We need to be praying for the persecuted believers in Nigeria. More Christians are killed simply for their faith in Christ than the rest of the world combined. And the Lord is at work in the Islamic world, and Muslims are turning to Christ. But some believers see little growth after a former Muslim accepts Jesus as their Savior.
Pierre Hosney with Horizons International explains. We've seen people from a Muslim background who have been hanging around churches for many years, but still are not understanding basic things in the faith because nobody explained it to them based on their former worldview. Similarities between Islam and Christianity present a stumbling block. A new discipleship curriculum from Horizons presents truth in a way that's familiar to Muslims, yet clearly separates Christianity's teaching from Islam. They don't understand that the wages of sin is death.
They need to understand what sin is according to the Bible before they can understand what salvation is and who Jesus is. Learn more and connect with Horizons 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 Ruth Kramer. Welcome back to Prophecy Today.
I'm Jimmy DeYoung Jr., and along with Rick, we have been looking at, well, examining current events in the light of God's prophetic word. And, Rick, I started out the program today talking about New Year's resolutions. And I said, one resolution that you and I have is that we will be examining more current events in the light of God's prophetic word throughout the year 2025. We can guarantee we're going to do that. But let me ask you, Rick, do you have any New Year's resolutions?
Well, I think that's great, Jimmy. It's the fourth day of the new year, and we're already examining current events. And like you said, we do promise to continue to do that. No, you know, I didn't make any specific resolutions this year. I think we could all have resolutions every year to maybe exercise a little bit more, spend a little bit more time in the word, spend some more time with your family.
And those are all good things. And I plan to do all those. But no, I did not make any specific. Specific resolutions this year. The practice of making New Year's resolutions goes back over 3,000 years to the ancient Babylonians.
There's just something about the start of the new year that gives us a feeling of a fresh start and a new beginning. I like what you said. You kind of mentioned all the ones that people usually do as a new year resolution. And I think when I look at some of the ones that we should make as Christians, here are maybe some suggestions. Pray to the Lord for wisdom, James 1:5, regarding what resolutions, if any, he would have us make.
Pray for wisdom as to how to fulfill the goals God gives us. Us throughout the year. Like, you know, like prioritize our life. Rely on God's strength to help you. I know that we all need that in this time.
And, you know, through the program today, we've talked about major world events that are taking place and not just in America, but around the world and Christians around the world worshiping and wherever they are and coming under persecution and those kind of things. And I think one of the things that you do, find an accountability partner who will help you and encourage you. And I know that you do that, Rick. You have a group of men that you work out with, that you do things with. And, you know, and I've got many of our students, our pastors, people that are broadcast partners that we talk to quite a bit on a weekly basis.
So for us, I mean, these guys all keep us accountable. And the radio listener keeps us accountable. I mean, folks send us letters, and we ask you to please do that. Right, Rick? I mean, that's something that we want them to do is to hold us accountable.
Accountability certainly is key, and that's something that our dad taught us as well. We do need to find somebody, another Christian brother or sister, to be accountable to as well. And, you know, just a quick little anecdote, Jimmy. My wife was trying to explain to our kids about New Year's resolutions this year. I'm not sure that they quite grasp it.
They all resolved to eat ice cream every day before they went to bed. And so far, they've kept that resolution. I'm sure they will throughout the year. But it is so important as we commit accountability, but also committing to continual improvement. That's something that we all need to do, and I think it's a great topic for us today.
Yes, and don't be discouraged by failures throughout the year. Always allow them to motivate you further, and don't become proud or vain, but give God the glory. Psalm 37:5 and 6 says, Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him, and he will do this. He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
So I really appreciate that. Rick, you know, we always have this time to kind of take a look back at the program and. I was just trying to think of a theme of today's program because it always comes together. What would be an outline theme of today's program?
Well, Jimmy, there's so many topics that we touched at today that are going to be reflected in God's end time scenario, God's end time plan of events. And we don't have enough time in this segment necessarily to go through them all. But I know something that was on my mind as we saw that attack that took place in New Orleans. And we see this rise of this militant Islamism. We know that scripture talks about it.
We know that there's going to be a place for it in the future. And we know, we recognize that it represents the battle between good and evil. It represents the battle that Satan is going to wage to try to stop God's plan in the end times. And that was just staring at us right in the face at that attack in New Orleans on New Year's Day, wasn't it? Yes.
You know, we always talk about being prepared. And as believers, I've been reminded of this lately with, you know, parents and grandparents and my wife's in-laws about things about, you know, For me to live is Christ, but to die is gain. We have eternal salvation. If we knew what heaven was like, I know that we would all want to get there as soon as possible, but we don't need to live in fear. And I think that's something increasing throughout events that are taking place daily in our world.
It's not going to get better, it's only going to get worse. And I think seeing these events happen for the reason that they're happening, as we learned from both Ken and Dave Dolan and Winky, we need to be prepared many different ways. You know, be able to watch out for our families, but be prepared spiritually. And, you know, every second could be our last second on this earth, whether it's through death or it would be the rapture of the church. That's certainly true, Jimmy.
And, you know, you look at this situation, and we do need to be prepared. We need to live as if tomorrow is not assured. And so we need to be out there doing the business of reaching and sharing the gospel as much as we possibly can. But one final thought here, Jimmy, as we look at all that is taking place around us in the world, this attack and so many things happening and so many wars and these terrorist attacks and all this different chaos that is surrounding us in the world. It is so great that we have the gift of Bible prophecy.
That's what we want to encourage our listeners by. We know the game plan. We know the end game plan that God has for us. We have that confidence. He's given us the final chapter.
Now we just have to go out and do the work that we're supposed to do, sharing the good news of the gospel and sharing the good news of God's prophetic word. Yes, I couldn't have said it any better, Rick. In fact, I won't even try to say it better. But I do thank you for doing all the hard work today on the program, the interviews, talking to our men, us, talking about the stories that we're going to cover on the program in light of God's prophetic word. Rick, thanks a lot.
We'll see you next week. And, folks. Keep looking for the blessed hope of our Savior in the heavens. The rapture could happen today. 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.
