Prophecy Today Weekend - July 19

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. Fulfilled prophecy is one proof that the Bible is a supernatural book. Hundreds of Old Testament prophecies have already been fulfilled, and it is reasonable to conclude that what it says about the end times will be fulfilled as well. We've got our broadcast partners, Ken Timmerman, David Dolan, and Dr.

Richard Schmidt speaking about AI, his new book coming out. That's all ahead on the program today. Rick, we've got a lot to cover, so let's get started with our first, Ken Timmerman.

Well, that's right, Jimmy. I have Ken Timmerman with us. He is our expert on geopolitical affairs. Ken, thanks for being with us today. Thanks for having me on, Rick.

It's always a pleasure.

Well, can you keep us updated on what is going on around the world? Let's start this week in Russia. Could you give us a status update there on the Ukraine crisis, Putin's war against Ukraine?

Well, remember, we've been talking for a number of weeks about the growing frustration of President Trump that Putin will not come to the negotiating table. The President has spent really a good part of the last six months trying to convince Putin to negotiate just a 30-day ceasefire without success. And so, bit by bit, we're hearing stories that the President is now going to ratchet up the pressure on Russia. In particular, as we announced last week, and by the way, we were among the first to do so. Fox News didn't catch on to this story until Monday, Rick.

The United States has negotiated a deal with our NATO allies where we would sell them Patriot missile batteries and other military equipment, and they would pay for it, and then they would ship it on to Ukraine.

So, this is a way that the U.S. taxpayer would not be on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars of more military equipment. The Ukrainians are desperate to get the Patriots. They need those air defense missiles to intercept not just aircraft, but Russia. Hypersonic missiles.

They're among the few air defense and missile interceptor systems, Rick, that are capable of intercepting those hypersonic missiles, and they really do tremendous amount of damage. The Russian attacks on Kiev have gotten increasingly destructive on other cities as well.

So the Ukrainians want more air defense missiles, and we are also telling some of our customers, some of the customers of Raytheon, the manufacturer of the Patriot, such as Switzerland, that their deliveries are going to be delayed. They were supposed to get Patriots next year. They're going to be pushed out to several years beyond that as Raytheon tries to ramp up production.

So the U.S. is going to help arm Ukraine to stand up to Russian aggression, but. This time, the Allies are going to pay for it. I would say, all in all, Rick, that is a pretty major accomplishment for President Trump. If he didn't get Putin to the negotiating table, at least he got the NATO allies to pay for arming Ukraine.

Well, Ken, as a follow-up question, Vladimir Putin is not shy of reminding people that Russia is a nuclear superpower. Is there a chance that the delivery of these weapons could cause an escalation in this war?

Well, certainly Putin has on several occasions threatened nuclear escalation. He's used his former prime minister and stand-in president Medvedev to issue this kind of threat as well, including just recently saying that they could use nuclear weapons or they could target a Western NATO capital if NATO continues to arm Ukraine. What we're seeing this week is that there was a very important meeting between the French President MacHall and Starmer, the British prime minister, where they agreed essentially to join forces with their nuclear weapons arsenals to jointly develop a doctrine for using them to perhaps have some kind of, I don't know if they're going to have a joint technology exchange or not. That's a little bit more complicated because the British nuclear deterrent is essentially American, and they're using American missiles on their submarines. The French have developed their own missiles.

Interestingly, though. The French are only a nuclear weapons power because of a secret deal signed between President Pompidou in 1972 and Richard Nixon. I wrote about that in an earlier book, The French Betrayal of America, where the U.S. secretly helped the French to develop plutonium weapons back in the 1970s. But look, they both have nuclear arsenals, both Britain and France, and the idea that they could join forces independently of the United States to counterbalance Russia is something that is very significant.

The whole importance of having France as an independent nuclear weapon state during the Cold War was that the Russians would never know whether they would have to encounter French weapons in addition to America's nuclear arsenal if they made the calculus of going to a nuclear war.

So I think it's a significant development. I don't think that Putin is going to go nuclear, but I think he likes to make that threat.

Now, making that threat. Will have some consequences here on the European continent.

Well, Ken, we'll switch gears a little bit. Let's talk about another issue that is facing all of Europe right now, and that is the rise of Islam, fueled by immigrants, I believe. Can you talk about this just a little bit?

Well, you know, we've been looking at this for many, many years. The European powers, especially Germany, starting in 2015, was allowing in hundreds of thousands of Muslim immigrants. The French have done so for 20 years before that, and the Brits as well from Commonwealth countries. But as that Muslim population has grown in France, Britain, Germany, and elsewhere, they have developed pockets of ungovernable areas where the imams, the local imams, and the youth who are controlled by them essentially prohibit the police forces from going in and asserting themselves. I mean, even here in the south of France, which is a conservative area, a very pro-American area of France, by the way, there are pockets that are controlled.

By Muslims. There are certain beaches that you can't go to because of the Muslim youth who essentially control the beaches and make it very unpleasant for ordinary people to go there. And that's just on an anecdotal level, Rick. We're seeing at a much, much higher level where people in Britain, political leaders in Britain, in Germany, in Holland, and in France, when they criticize the rise of political Islam, guess what happens? They get jailed or they got kicked out of the political system.

Marine Le Pen is no longer able to run for president because of her criticism of political Islam. Yes, she was prosecuted for a much more mundane, lower crime, but other politicians, including the current prime minister, François Beirou, were brought before courts for exactly the same crime, that is, of misusing funds at their European Union political office for their domestic political campaigns. And Behroux, the case against him was simply dismissed. Marine Le Pen was given five years and a ban on running for political office.

So if you criticize political Islam in Europe, you will have troubles. In Germany, they've tried to ban the AFD party, the center-right party, which is number two in the polls, to keep them out of running for election again. In Holland, Gerd Wilders, who I've had the great opportunity to meet with David Harwood. Which on multiple occasions. Garrett Wilders also is the number two political personage in Holland.

He essentially won the last elections, and yet every other political party from left to right joined together to ban him from political office, from becoming prime minister.

So there's a political price if you criticize political Islam, and at the same time, everybody can see it is on the rise and it is a danger to democratic values in Europe.

Well, it certainly is, and I'm glad that we touched on that because I think it's something that we have faced and probably will continue to face even more right here in the United States.

Well, let's move on in the brief time I have left, and let's check in on Iran. Can you give us an update, the status there, the regime in the wake of the 12-day war? Can you tell us where they're at right now?

Well, the regime right now is trying to restabilize itself. It was destabilized by Israel's strikes, especially against the repressive apparatus. The Israelis took out a number of headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards and their siege fort as a kind of local militia that, for example, enforces the headscarf, the Islamic headscarf on women. And many of those headquarters were taken out by Israeli missiles.

So they're arresting people all across the country. And the military is reasserting itself. You have the supreme leader who's saying, well, next time we are going to inflict an even harsher blow against the United States and Israel. Look, they got their clocks cleaned. They still have a ballistic missile.

Force that is significant. But Israel especially took out the overwhelming majority of their manufacturing capabilities.

So they're going to have a hard time reconstituting that force that they had before.

So repression at home, threats abroad, and really hunkering under the table is what they're really doing.

Well, my final question was: we look towards China. We are China watchers here. We do keep an eye on them. There are worries right now that Xi Jinping, if he gets into political trouble, might start some type of military action. Can you talk about that?

Well, there have been rumors, Rick. And again, this is China watching is like Kremlin watching back during the Cold War. We don't have a lot of very hard information.

So we go on rumors, we go on indicators, articles that appear in the People's Liberation Daily, things that happen inside the People's Liberation Army, where a number of Xi's supporters have been removed in recent months. And that leads to speculation that Xi himself may be in political trouble at home. He has been forced to acknowledge in public his dedication to, quote, collective leadership. That is a slogan, Rick, which means we don't like Xi's one-man rule that has been developed by his opponents inside the Communist Party. And so he has been made to pay lip service to that, to his opponents for the leadership role.

So we don't really know how solid his power is. He did not go to the recent. BRICS SUMMIT in Brazil. He has attended previous ones.

So, again, this leads to rumors that he may be in trouble. And if he is in trouble, what will he do to remain in power? Will he launch some kind of military adventure, either against Taiwan or elsewhere? We don't really know. I tend to think that Xi is a far more conservative leader.

In his actions, than people tend to think. And I don't see him rocking the boat. I think he sees there's too much at stake for China, whether it's from the United States, retaliation through tariffs. Tariffs, by the way, could ruin the Chinese economy, which indeed would ruin the entire Chinese Communist Party, not just Xi.

So I tend to think that he's in a holding pattern, perhaps weakened, but I don't see him lashing out at this point. I could be wrong. Again, we are looking through a glass darkly here, Rick. We don't have the kind of information that we have about other leaders in democratic countries in communist China. Ken Timmerman for Prophecy Today.

Ken, thanks so much for the update. Thanks so much, Freaky. It's always a blessing. We've got to take a break, and when we come back, our Middle East News update with David Dolan, right here on Prophecy Today weekend. I'm Matthew Scott with Mission Network News.

In Syria, between airstrikes and ongoing violence against minorities, Christians continue to mourn those lost in June's suicide bomber attack, which claimed over two dozen lives and injured more than 60 people at Mar Elias Church. Nuna with Triumphant Mercy Lebanon recently visited this congregation. Just a reconnecting time and also comforting time for some people.

So it was a difficult trip, I have to say. The government has since established guards at the church. The government is trying to protect, but also at the same time Islamize.

So it's a challenge there for Christians. Believers regularly hear stories of people being kidnapped or killed for their faith. All these things are happening and the media is not talking about them. But people on the ground, they're living them. Find prayer points at missionnews.org.

In other news, former prisoner Lawrence says his faith is stronger after his unjust imprisonment. According to Brian Camster, Of Crossroads Prison Ministries, Lawrence had recently become a Christian and was still hanging around some of his old friends, one of which borrowed his house and used it for illegal activities. When the police came, they accused Lawrence of being involved. While in prison, Lawrence was introduced to Crossroads, an international ministry that connects prisoners with mentors in Christ-centered relationships. I asked him, would your faith be where it is today if you hadn't gone into prison?

And he said, no way.

Now he has received a presidential pardon and is a barber with his own shop, sharing the gospel with everyone who sits in his chair. You can become a Crossroads mentor, whether you're in the United States or in another country at cpministries.org. Thank you for listening to Mission Network News, a service of one-way ministries. We're listeners supported by people like you. And by giving to Mission Network News, you enable us to keep the stories of God's kingdom coming.

Together, the great commission happens. Look for the links at missionnews.org. I'm Matthew Scott. Welcome back to Prophecy Today Radio, the program that looks at current events in the light of Bible prophecy.

Well, this is the portion of our program, we call it our Middle East News Update. We look at news coming out of the Middle East in general, but Israel in particular. To do that, we have with us journalist Dave Dolan. Dave, thank you for being with us today. It's always a blessing that Well Dave, you start out each week in this Middle East News update with a report of the latest from Israel.

What happened this week?

Well, Rick, once again, the main news was not in Israel itself, but nearby, this time in Syria, where we had another mass explosion of violence against the minority Druze community that lives mostly in southern Syria and especially upon their biggest town, Sweda, which is in a province named the same. That's not far from the Golan Heights, Rick. And what happened is government forces came in. This, of course, is the new Sunni Muslim Al-Shara government that took over from the former leader Assad. They sent forces in, and accompanying them were Bedouin Arabs, not members of the forces, the armed forces, or anything like that.

And they, in particular, started attacking the Druze in horrific ways. They shaved the mustache of one of the Druze leaders in the area, an 80-year-old man, and filmed it and put that on social media as a humiliation. But more importantly, they killed. Hundreds of people in about four days' worth of fighting.

Well, Israel has a not large, but a very important Druze minority. And there are Druze in business in Israel, in government, in the for in the armed forces in particular, Rick. And the border police has a lot of Druze in it. They're Arabic speaking, but they're not Arabs, not considered Arabs. It's a separate religion.

It's not Islam.

So Israel went to war basically on their behalf and bombed Damascus during the week. Bombed the presidential compound, bombed the defense ministry there. The United States reacted negatively, asked Bibi Netanyahu to stop. That action. He said, Look, we're just defending our people.

The same time, about a thousand Druze cut the border fence and poured into Syria to defend this as young men, mostly, to defend their co-religionists, as it were. And now it's calmed down a bit, but there's still fears of. More violence, and of course, it shows once again that Syria is still very unstable and that the new Ashara government is allowing, it did allow these Bedouin Arabs. Two basically openly attacked this minority group after saying it would protect them.

So it calls into question the viability of that government.

Meanwhile, Rick, we had continuing talks between Israel and Hamas in Doha, mediated by the Qataris and the Americans. They were said to have gotten nowhere during the week, Rick, because Hamas brought up a couple new demands. It's objecting to where IDF troops may stay after a ceasefire begins. It wants them out of almost all of Gaza, and the Israeli government is not agreeing to that, and the United States is also not asking for that. Also in Gaza, Rick, sadly on Thursday, a tank shell, Israeli tank shell, hit a Catholic church.

It's the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip. There's only about 150 Catholics that live amongst the mostly 2 million Muslims. In the area. There's a few Greek Orthodox, a few Baptists, but it hit the top of the church near the cross and did some damage up there. And three people who were inside had debris fall on them and they were killed.

So there was a big up-to-do over that. And on Friday, the Prime Minister Netanyahu called Pope Leo in Rome and discussed. The situation. They spoke for about an hour. He said it was a cordial call.

Netanyahu did, and the Pope said the same. But of course, he discussed the usual things that Israel hears from Europe: you know, a ceasefire and more aid into Gaza, etc. Also during the week, Rick, we had another Houthi missile. Fired at Israel from Yemen. That was taken out by Israeli defenses.

And we had early in the week an American Palestinian was killed in a violent scene in an Arab village north of Ramallah in Judea and Samaria, in Samaria. And he was visiting from Florida. It's not clear why he was involved in the scuffles that were taking place, but it was Israeli settlers, they said, that committed the killing. And Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador, demanded a full Israeli government investigation into it.

And the State Department backed him up on that.

Well, David, I'd like to follow up on just a few of those things. And I'd first of all like to talk about this situation with the Druze.

Now, Israel is doing this because they have a Druze population. We've talked about the Druze before in the past, but I know that the United Nations called for accountability from Israel and condemned the Israeli airstrikes.

Now, Israel is only doing this not because they want to be an aggressor towards Syria, but just trying to protect this population. Am I looking at this right? Is that what they're doing?

Well, as I said, Rick, the Druze community in Israel is an integral part of the country. I mean, they are considered as if they were Jews, frankly, by the Israelis. They're very much allied to them. They're very loyal. They're very important in the border police units.

And of course, like I said, they're fluent in Arabic as well as Hebrew.

So there's a real close connection there. And these are their co-religionists just across the border being slaughtered.

So, Israel felt a moral obligation to take action. And for some reason, Rick, President Trump has. Seemingly fallen in love with al-Shara. He's met him, of course, in Saudi Arabia, said what a handsome man he was and a strong leader and all these things.

Well, he was with al-Qaeda until recently. He is a Muslim fundamentalist at heart. And they definitely, his forces definitely turned a blind eye to what the Bedouin Arabs were doing. And frankly, they brought them in. They encouraged them to come along with them when they sent forces back in there.

And it's been free of Syrian government forces for some time, Swaida has. Because of all the chaos in the rest of the country.

So it's basically a self-governing datelet inside of Syria, and Israel has close ties with it. And again, the Syrian Druze are very closely related to the Golan Druze, which is 30,000 Druze up there, and the other 100,000 plus Druze that live mostly in the Galilee and around Haifa, Mount Carmel, that area. It's a quirky religion. They believe in reincarnation. They have bits of Hinduism in there and Greek philosophy in there.

And, you know, they regard Jesus as a prophet and Moses as a prophet. But Moses' father, Jethro, is their greatest prophet. And it started in Egypt. I won't go into all the history of it, but they are not considered Muslims by the Muslims, and they're not Muslims.

So they have suffered persecution all through the centuries. This is from the 10th, 11th century they were founded. And again, you know, Israel's just defending the relatives, the friends of some very important Israeli citizens. They are Israeli citizens, and they wanted to ward a Shara. And of course, They want to warn him otherwise, that they're not going to let Turkey take over Syria and then attack Israel.

And by the way, Erdogan, the Turkish leader on Wednesday, called Israel a terrorist state that is committing atrocities in Syria and this sort of thing. Again, the Israelis don't want to be in Syria any more than they wanted to be in Gaza or in Iran or in or in Yemen or the other places they've had to fight. But these are again, they're not Israelis, but they're closely related to them. And that explains it. And I don't think quite that the President of the White House understands that connection.

Well, with my final question, David, as we look at this situation, you talked about the negotiations that are going on in Qatar. We've got about a minute left here. Could you just give us a little bit of an explanation about the dynamics between the Qataris? What is their ideology? And then Hamas and Israel and the U.S.

involved in those negotiations as well.

Well, the Qataris strongly back Hamas. They always have and financially, et cetera.

So they're not exactly mediators without a bias. But of course, the U. S. is involved as well and Egypt and others. But the Israelis are basically saying Hamas keeps changing the rules, keeps bringing up last-minute demands.

Objects to this and then objects to that, says it's near an agreement. And Netanyahu told the Pope reportedly that he believes an agreement is fairly imminent, but you're dealing with a terrorist organization of the worst kind, let's face it. And they're not to be trusted, and they're devious, and they're trying to survive any which way they can right now. And that explains the Failure so far of a ceasefire, and of course, President Trump wants one very badly, and the Israelis. would like a rest and to see things calm down too.

But as I said before, it takes two parties to make peace. It just takes one to make war. Hamas started this war and it's extended now to the entire Middle East. Syria's in a mess and Yemen's in a mess and Iran, all of that.

So, this is just the neighborhood Israel lives in. But again, we have to remind ourselves: the God of Israel. Is still on the throne, is watching over his people, and they've had some, let's face it, pretty tremendous victories also in the last few months. They certainly have. And again, as you always advocate for, pray for the peace of Jerusalem, pray for the peace of Israel.

Well, David, thank you so much for your Middle East news update this week. Look forward to talking to you again soon. You're welcome, Rick. God bless.

Well, we're going to take a break right now on Prophecy Today Radio, but when we come back, we'll have Dr. Richard Schmidt. He's going to talk to us about artificial intelligence.

Now, this is an interview that I've been looking forward to. He's going to talk about artificial intelligence in the present, in the future, and also how it could be used in Bible prophecy. After that, we'll have Dr. Jimmy DeYoung and the Legacy series, and we'll wrap it all up with a look at the book. That's all right ahead, right here on Prophecy Today Radio.

I'm Matthew Scott with Mission Network News. While airstrikes and violence continue against Jews minorities in Syria, Christians mourn those lost in June's suicide bomber attack. This attack claimed over two dozen lives and injured more than 60 people at the Mar Elias Church. Nuna with Triumphant Mercy Lebanon recently visited this congregation to connect with and comfort believers. Christians in Syria live in uncertainty, facing mixed messages from their government.

Pray for the peace only Christ can offer.

Next, we turn to Kenya, where Brian Camstra of Crossroads Prison Ministry says that when an old friend used Lawrence's house for illegal activities, the police accused Lawrence of being involved. While in prison, Lawrence was introduced to Crossroads Ministry. He says his faith wouldn't be where it is today if he hadn't gone to prison.

Now he owns a barbershop and shares the gospel with clients. To become a Crossroads mentor, go to missionnews.org. You're listening to Mission Network News, a service of one-way ministries. I'm Matthew Scott. 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.

Well, Elon Musk's announcement of Gronk 4, which just happened recently, humanity is closer than ever before to creating AGI, artificial general intelligence, which should change everything. And when you look at this, Elon Musk made the statement, it's terrifying. Three times he said that. And this is the last year things will be normal. I don't know what he means by that.

But we thought that we wanted to get on, and something that we've been talking about for a while, to bring our good friend, America's pastor, Dr. Richard Schmidt, to the program because he's written a book on AI. And then today, Rick, I think we need to talk to Dr. Schmidt about what's going to take place in the future with artificial intelligence.

Well, that's right, Jimmy. I have Pastor Richard Schmidt. He's a good friend of both yours and mine. He was a good friend of our father's when he was here on the earth. Dr.

Schmidt, we appreciate you coming on the program. Thanks for being with us today.

Well, thanks so much for having me.

Well, Pastor Schmidt, this is a very interesting book that you have. It's about artificial intelligence. And I tell you what, I've been looking forward to this interview because, to be honest with you, I am very concerned. I want to learn and know more, and that's why I'm glad we have you here today. But before we talk about your book and before we talk about artificial intelligence, if you could just briefly remind our listeners your testimony, your background, what you're doing now, the ministries you're involved in.

Right, well I appreciate that. Right now I am pastoring at Union Grove Baptist Church in Union Grove, Wisconsin. I've been there about five years. Actually, when I retired from the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office, I had served there for thirty-two years. while also being in the ministry.

And we had started during that time another ministry called Prophecy Focus Ministries, which is still in full bloom, if you will.

So we've been doing that, traveling around the country and a little bit around the world with that. And quite frankly, actually, that came Prophecy Focus Ministries was born because my relationship with Prophecy Today being your dad, you and Jimmy Junior.

So that's all still going. Church is going well, and our prophetic ministry, if you will, is teaching those prophetic scriptures. is still alive and well. That's wonderful to hear about your retirement in the ministry. You said you're down to about 60 hours a week, but now focus on ministry, and that's a wonderful thing.

Well, excited to have you on the program. Like I said, and the book that you have written, it's called Artificial Intelligence: Transhumanism and the De-Evolution of Democracy. We'll tell you at the end of this section how you can get a copy of that book. But again, like I said, I'm very interested to hear about this.

So let's start with the basics. What is artificial intelligence? All right, well, artificial intelligence basically, the simplest definition is this: it's the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings.

So the term is frequently applied to the project of developing systems. With the ability, the intellectual ability to process information characteristic of humans. and such as the ability to reason, discover meaning, generalize or even learn from the past.

So that's the basic definition. And is this something that is being used by most people? I know I hear a lot about it, especially people just coming into the workforce. People are incorporating it into their daily activities. Is this something that is used by a lot of people?

Well, if anyone owns a cellphone, specifically a smartphone or a computer that's on the Internet or something like an iPad, they are using artificial intelligence.

So anything that basically is hooked up to the Internet Is using artificial intelligence, even though people may not realize it.

So when you do something as simple as a search through Google or whatever Browsers that someone might use, the artificial intelligence kicks in, and basically everything that is asked about that you ask your computer, any questions, any shopping, anything like Amazon that you might use. All of that data is collected by the place that you're plugging into or that you're contacting. And artificial intelligence actually is making a profile of every single thing that you do through the Internet.

So people that think that they're not using artificial intelligence, that they use something like Siri, other different programs whereby co pilot others, that's all artificial intelligence. The interesting thing is that every single thing that you do on your computer, on your cell phone, And some people say, well, you know, how is it ever going to know who I am?

Well, every single person's computer and cell phone. has which called an internet protocol address. And it is tracked, it is kept account of everything that you do. And the most simplistic thing, every single person that uses the Internet is connected to the most basic systems of artificial intelligence. I hear that artificial intelligence is going to revolutionize the business world and many modern day businesses using that.

You've already mentioned that a little bit, but how do you think that really artificial intelligence is going to change the business world per se?

Well, let's just start with something simple that most people are involved in. All of us usually at least have a doctor or a dentist that we go to. And most of our doctors now, many of the doctors, are using artificial intelligence basically to screen people.

So if you come into your doctor's office, and again, most of them are using this software now, and they'll put in your statistics and your demographics and the different symptoms that you might have into a medical program that artificial intelligence then will collect all of that data. Through the medical electronic medical record system. It will cross your issues, your symptoms, your complaints. Against a database of the thousands and thousands of people that are already in it. And artificial intelligence will give the doctors diagnosis, recommendation for medications.

and things like that. The thing about artificial intelligence is that it can only do, right now it can only do one subject at a time.

So let's say somebody in the finance world Is wants to look at a spreadsheet and compare it to other. companies or what they're doing, well they can feed it into a different artificial intelligence program and it will run spreadsheets for them, it'll give predictions for them, and it will just give a massive amount of data.

So that's where the business world now, the medical world, the finance world. Every single one of these major areas is now has what we'll call an AI system, AI programs, whereby they can enhance their knowledge and get more information quicker. This has positive and negative implications. The positive part is it's getting a ton of information to all the different business levels, the medical community, and indeed can be extremely helpful. What we'll get into in a few minutes, though, is that definitely has the possibility of going in a bad direction, but we'll get there in a few minutes.

Well, yeah, I'm certainly interested in understanding that part of it because what you say, it creates efficiencies.

Some of those things I I think can be used for good, but you talk about tracking people, you're talking about really knowing everything about your life. There certainly are some concerns. What i as the people that are putting this together, the developers, are they worried about artificial intelligence and where it is headed?

Well, that's an excellent question because here's here's the thing. Most every person listening to this broadcast right now is very familiar with an individual named Elon Musk. When I was writing this book and doing the research, Elon Musk, again, somebody that almost everybody knows today, he was putting out major warnings about the potential of what artificial intelligence can do as it develops. He was extremely concerned, and this was several years ago, that he put out a major concern that artificial intelligence, if you keep putting data into it and it keeps getting everything about every single human being, which is exactly where the developers are trying to head. that it could literally cause an absolute removal of all of our privacy.

Everything would be known about everybody, which we'll talk about when we get to the prophetic nexus. But he was extremely concerned.

So many of the developers are very concerned that as artificial intelligence Expands as more of our data and our personal data gets into the system, that our freedoms, and you had mentioned surveillance systems, are going to be worldwide to the point where nobody will be outside of the government's control, which again we'll talk about enters right into the prophetic scenario. I certainly want to get to the prophetic scenario of this as well, because there are many concerning things here. But let's continue on with kind of the education portion of this interview. And in your book, you discussed 10 levels of artificial intelligence.

Now, what levels so far has artificial intelligence achieved? All right.

So basically, at this point, we're only through about the first four levels of the ten levels that the developers want to get to.

So we haven't advanced anywhere near where they're intending to go. Right now we have what's called one rule artificial intelligence. Again, that ties in with what I started with: that it can either do medical things or it can do finance systems or it can do predictive analysis for research and development on a particular subject.

So right now artificial intelligence cannot do what the folks listening to, and that is, well, when they went to school, they could do reading, they could do math, they could do history, they could do science. and all that went into our brains, one brain, one system. In current artificial intelligence, it is not capable of doing more than one subject matter.

So that's why there are many, many different AI systems, which have been developed based on the specific A need Also, what we're getting into, what is called context based AI, narrow domain AI and rational artificial intelligence. All of that just basically brings down to in the artificial intelligence systems that exist, They've gotten to the point where AI actually is able to process data, it's able to make conclusions, it will think through things and actually what's called machine learning. The artificial intelligence literally is able to learn from repeated processes that it does. and actually expand its intelligence base, which seems crazy, but it's actually taking place as we speak.

So the machine language, the artificial intelligence is developing at a very, very rapid rate. Of course, if you plug something into your computer, it will spit back to you a massive amount of information. In other words, just as a quick example, many people are now using Google, and if they plug something in, they ask it a question on their search engine. Most of those using Google, you'll see artificial intelligence. Will pop up and it'll say AI overview.

And the artificial intelligence will attempt to give you an answer to your question, as well as provide many different websites that you can go to. document that information.

So again, up until this point, that is the major good stuff. But let me just give one quick negative with where we're at before we go into the next levels. Currently, what's taking place in artificial intelligence is what we call deep fakes. Deep fakes, which was used in the last presidential election. It's used in advertising, it's used in uh criminal activity right now Deep fakes are where And we see it with President Trump, where someone can take his picture, they can take his voice.

And basically whoever's nefarious Activity, they can make him say and make it look like he is actually saying something that he totally disbelieves. I am I'll bring up this person many People, of course, are aware that John MacArthur just died. If you go on YouTube and you happen to be someone that likes to listen to his messages, You can go to look up John MacArthur, and all of a sudden he's preaching messages in the last one, two, three, four, five months. That he absolutely never preached. He wasn't capable of it.

And at the bottom of the YouTube video, they'll say, well, this was synthesized, it was. created by artificial intelligence.

So again, that can be used for good, or it certainly can be used for extreme evil purposes.

So that's kind of where we're at right now.

Well, that certainly seems very concerning to say the least. And you say that there's 10 levels, and we're only at level four, and it's doing something that at what you say is the fourth level. What is to come? What are the things that are to come in the future levels? And is it predicted to be helpful or dangerous?

Can you talk about that?

Sure.

Well, the next level that is being rapidly developed is called Artificial General Intelligence or AGI. Recently, in fact, there was just a video that recently came out by some an individual many people know Glenn Beck, Basically, Elon Musk is talking about a Grok Ford, G-R-O-K. four which basically is going to take The world, if you will, to the next level of artificial intelligence to artificial general intelligence. basically that general intelligence will do Every single subject, it will have knowledge of all subjects. It will be able to not just do a single concept, but any concept you can think of.

The problem with that is that it can create serious issues with nefarious activity. In other words, can this be used for good? Absolutely. Many parts of artificial intelligence are used for great purposes today. But when you get into, as you mentioned, surveillance, when you get into the biometrics where AI knows every single person, it knows how you walk, it knows how you look, it understands your iris scan, and all this data is put into this system, this is where the artificial general intelligence can become an extreme problem and basically in the wrong hands.

can be uh come use for, if you will, evil purposes. Uh very quickly, the next level is artificial superintelligence, which Quite frankly, it goes way beyond what most human beings would even think of. That's the intent. And a couple more quick ones. There's what's called cosmic artificial intelligence, which as a Christian, we probably won't buy into that.

It's even possible. It's basically how do we have Uh contact with other universes, other planets, uh allegedly where people may live. And of course, from a Christian perspective, that wouldn't be something we would buy into. The biggest thing about AI, and here's where we really get our attention. The final level of AI is literally to become, quote unquote, godlike.

So the developers of artificial intelligence, where they're heading, the billionaires that are involved in this. And I mean, there are many billionaires that are involved in artificial intelligence. What is their goal? Their goal is to not die. Their goal is to be able to develop artificial intelligence and tied in with transhumanism to where they can rebuild the body, rebuild the brain, rebuild the different things that fail and be able to live for eternity.

So obviously, that doesn't meet a biblical model, but these are individuals that don't know the Lord. They're trying to figure out how I can live forever and not die. And they are doing everything they can, investing billions of dollars to try and come to that conclusion.

So again, very quickly, what are we saying? The Bible says it's appointed unto man and woman wants to die, and then the judgment. These people that are not buying the scriptures, not buying the biblical account, are trying to determine how we can supersede what we are now, how do we become literally immortal? Wow, so much information. We're speaking with Dr.

Richard Schmidt. Now, he's the pastor at Union Grove Baptist Church. He's also the head of Prophecy-Focus Ministries. We're talking about his book, Artificial Intelligence, Transhumanism, and the De-Evolution of Democracy. Pastor Richard Schmidt, you've gone through a lot.

Now, of course, here on this program, Prophecy Today, we look at current events in the light of Bible prophecy.

So let's connect the dots here. Do you see artificial intelligence playing a role in Bible prophecy?

Well, I absolutely do. And it's so interesting because for centuries um actually for two thousand years Since the New Testament was written, there's a couple of passages that, quite frankly, those that are Bible teachers and theologians have been trying to determine what does this mean.

Well starting at Revelation 13 and verse 11 through verse 18, and of course most folks are familiar with these passages, it regards specifically an individual named the false prophet who will be part of the satanic trinity made up of Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet. In verse 11 of Revelation 13, the false prophet basically is going to make an image, which is what's in the in the text of the scriptures, but that image is going to be able to do things that a normal image or an inanimate object shouldn't be able to do. The first thing it tells us is that it's going to be able to speak.

Well, we already know, and folks that have computers know that computers can talk, robots can talk. That's a simple programming issue. But one thing that it goes beyond it next it says it will have breadth. What does that mean?

Well, scripture, when you're talking about breath, it means life.

So somehow this inanimate object is going to get to the place where it has some form of life. And that's where this concept of transhumanism comes in.

So what is it going to be able to do?

Well, the next thing it tells us in Revelation 13 is it will kill those who do not worship the image of the beast or the image of the Antichrist.

Now that is on a worldwide basis. There's 8 billion people on the planet today. This System, whatever it is, is going to be able to know if people are literally worshiping the image of the beast or the Antichrist or not. In other words, have they bought into the Antichrist one world government, one world religion, and one world government? All of these things in the economy.

So all of those things will be in place. This System, this image will have the ability to determine who is and who is not following it. All right, so what does that mean? What it means is that what has been developed, and China is a perfect example, in China there are one camera for every two people, literally. Everything you do, everything you say, how you look, how you walk.

all these different things are tracked and kept in artificial intelligence. Right now in America. Within the first month of when President Trump came into the Presidency, he started what's known as the five hundred billion dollar Stargate project, of which it will capture all of Americans' data and be put into these huge multi government Facilities where all of our data will be put in there, our medical records, our demographics, everything about them. I believe his intent is honorable, but all of these systems that are being developed worldwide are one day, I believe, strongly going to be used by the Antichrist and by the false prophet Know everything about everyone. That's the only way that Revelation 13 can come to pass: that if they're not doing what the Antichrist wants them to do, this artificial system, artificial intelligence system, will be able to track them down and they somehow, either through the police or through other weapons that the AI will generate, they'll be killed.

So it's an unfortunate thing. The other issue, again, the last couple of verses in Revelation 13 tells us that there will be a system whereby you cannot buy yourself unless you have what we'll call the mark of the beast, either on your forehead or on your right hand.

Well these things are going to be taking place Artificial intelligence is absolutely capable of doing all the things. that up until this point, theologians and Bible teachers didn't even didn't even have a clue about. And now here it is, black and white. It's happening. And the worldwide system, the artificial intelligence system is just minutes away from being produced.

Current events setting the stage for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled. That's what we talk about on this program.

Well, you said it many times that this technology can be used for good or for bad. We see the potential for using it for good, I'm sure, but also many things that would concern, I'm sure, our listeners. What should we do? Should we destroy our computers, our cell phones, our iPads, our digital devices? How should a Christian live in a world right now with artificial intelligence?

All right, so again, here's the thing, and many people are scared to death about what AI is doing, the ability to track you, knowing exactly what you're doing, and it does. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. It can do that and is doing it. Everything that we plug in, every time you go to buy something on a computer, it knows exactly what you're doing, and it keeps track of that. All right, so if from a Christian perspective, again, now I come out of the law enforcement field, thirty two years in it.

Everything about me is known. Every my DNA is known. My fingerprints are known. My iris scans are known. And you say, well, are you scared?

And I say, well, absolutely not. In fact, because if I was doing something that was nefarious, if it was illegal, okay, then I got a reason to be scared. But if you're walking with the Lord, if you're living a righteous life, if you will, and staying away from that which is illegal and wrong, there's nothing to be afraid of. All of these things that are coming, quite frankly, are not going to be in full effect until when we get to Revelation 13, which is in the midpoint of the seven year tribulation period.

So as you teach on prophecy today, the next major event that's coming on the prophetic calendar is the rapture, the removal of the church age saints. After that, the Antichrist will come on the scene, confirm a peace treaty with Israel, which will start that seven-year clock ticking.

So again, the worst time when the Antichrist will be invoking this horrible system we talked about won't come into effect until the midpoint or three and a half years into the tribulation.

So again, yes, we should be careful with what we do. We should be careful what we put into our digital equipment. But at this point, there is no reason to fear if you're walking with the Lord and doing that, which is honorable. No reason to fear if you're walking with the Lord. I certainly do like that, and I think that we can all agree with that.

Well, Dr. Schmidt, I appreciate you coming on, giving us an education. And now you've got that book. I said it: Artificial Intelligence, Transhumanism, and the Deevolution of Democracy. If our listeners are interested in getting that book, what would be the best way to do that?

Well, if they'd like to get a copy, they can go to our website, which is Prophecy Focus.

So it's a sister again to your organization, prophecytoday.com. Our call letters, if you will, our prophecy. Focus.org.

So the focus is different and the dot org is different. Certainly they can order any of the books that I've written there and our resources, and we'll be happy to send it out to them. We certainly do recommend our listeners go there. And again, we appreciate you coming on the program. This is a, you couldn't get much more current, this issue and what it means for us.

And it's something that's hard for us to understand.

So we appreciate you putting it on a platter that we could digest it and understand it. Thank you so much. Dr. Schmidt, look forward to talking to you again soon.

Well, thanks, Joan, so much for having me. God bless.

Dr. Richard Schmidt, a lot to think about here. We've got to take a break when we come back, Dr. Jimmy DeYoung and the Legacy Series, right here on Prophecy Today weekend. Uh Welcome back to Prophecy Today.

I'm Jimmy DeYoung Jr. Along with my brother Rick, we examine current events in the light of God's prophetic word. When considering how to understand and survive in the end times, answer these three questions. How should I interpret what the Bible says about the future? Biblical prophecy.

What does the Bible say will happen in the end times? And how should what the Bible says about the future affect the way that I live today? Today we continue our study in the book of Isaiah as we're looking at the kingdom. We've looked at the promise of the kingdom, the program of the kingdom, the pattern of the kingdom. And today we'll be looking at the place of the kingdom and why that place is so very important.

Turn in your Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 28 as we start our study with Dr. DeJoung. And so, as the pattern was set in place in Genesis chapter 1, verses 26 to 28, them having dominion, ruling. It'll be them. Jesus and his bride in the kingdom.

That's the pattern. Where was the place? The place was the garden. of Eden. in Genesis.

CHAPTERS ON AND TWO The place for the kingdom to be set up forever will again be the Garden of Eden. which is the city of Jerusalem. Go to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 28, just a moment. And let me show you a phrase in Ezekiel 28, and then I'll develop this a little bit more. In chapter 28, in the book of Ezekiel, it's talking about the king of Tyre.

It's a prophecy against the king of Tyre. But starting in verse 13, that changes. Remember, that law. Of double reference, I talked about, which is a hermeneutical principle. And so they're talking about something else here in verse 13.

Thou hast been, and this is the Lord speaking now, to Lucifer, actually. who would become Satan. He says, thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God. And so he lays it out that Lucifer was in the Garden of Eden with the precious stones and everything else. Notice the last.

Phrase in verse 13. In the day that thou wast created, He was in the Garden of Eden. Look at verse 14. Thou art an anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so. God placed.

Lucifer as the anointed cherub over all of creation. Put him in that place of prominence. which led to pride. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee.

So thou wast upon the holy mountain of God. That's a synonymous term with the Garden of Eden. The holy mountain of God and the Garden of Eden are synonymous terms. He says in verse 13: Thou wert in the Garden of Eden, the holy mountain of God.

Now Verse 15, Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee by the multitude of thy Merchandise They have filled the midst with thee with violence, and thou hast sinned. Therefore, I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God. Again, the phrase used, mountain of God, holy mountain of God. It's talking about the Garden of Eden in the beginning of creation, first six days of creation. Jesus was in the Sinner of the garden.

He talked with. Jesus Christ created everything. Colossians 1:16, by him. By Jesus Christ were all things created. God the Father was the architect.

Jesus Christ the Son was the carpenter. He's the one that spoke it into existence. And so it was that Jesus Christ was there talking with Lucifer. I'm going to cash you out and following you, keep reading. Verse 17, I was lifted up because of their beauty, etc.

The holy mountain of God. That phrase is used 18 times in the scriptures. Go over to Daniel just a moment, and we'll get a definition. Daniel chapter 9, and we'll get a definition of where the holy mountain of God is. Chapter nine.

You might remember chapter nine. In verses 1 and 2, Daniel is talking about reading the book of Jeremiah and being able to determine where he was in God's time by having his quiet time in the book of Jeremiah. In chapter 24, we see some very interesting things unfolding with the prophecy of the 70 weeks of Daniel. Look at verse 16 a moment. O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee.

And by the way, when Daniel understood where he was in Bible prophecy, he fell upon his knees, started to confess his sin, get his heart right with God, prayed for his people, and prayed for the city of Jerusalem. O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, this is his prayer, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city, Jerusalem, thy holy mountain. And so, when you look at Ezekiel in chapter 28, verses 13 and following, he's talking about the Garden of Eden synonymous with the holy mountain of God. Look over here in verse 20. And while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplications before the Lord, my God, for the holy mountain of my God.

He's praying for the city of Jerusalem. The prophecy is given in verse 24. God had a special plan for a special people and in a special place. The special plan was a 70-week period of time, or 490 years. The special people, thy people, Daniel is told, and the special place, thy holy city.

And the book of Nehemiah, chapter 11, verse 2, says that Jerusalem is that holy city. And so there's a definition of the Garden of Eden and the Holy Mountain of God, synonymous. By the way, Holy Mountain of God is used twice, or Mountain of God used twice in Ezekiel 28, and it's referring to the Garden of Eden. Every other time, it's referring to the Temple Mount in the city of Jerusalem. Go back to the book of Genesis.

Everybody wants to. Throw up to me.

Well, what about the Tigris and the Euphrates River? Tell me about that, and how do you deal with that?

Well, I don't have to deal with it because really the scriptures don't say anything about the Tigris and Euphrates being even near, possibly. They certainly were not in the Garden of Eden, and I'll show you that in just a moment. Chapter 2. Chapter 1 of Genesis is the creation account. Chapter 2, the special effects or details of the creation.

Now, look here in verse 8. And the Lord, and I'm reading from a King James Translation, and the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden.

Now That word eastward, and the Hebrew word can be translated eastward. But the translators did not understand what this was talking about. If you're going to plant the, just think with me a moment. If you're going to plant the Garden of Eden, If you're going to plant this garden eastward of Eden, Where was Eden? Or if Eden's going to be eastward or something, what place is it talking about?

And so I went to the Concordance. You can do the same thing as I did. I looked up the word for eastward, the Hebrew word, and it can also be translated aforetime or before. And so then I went back and read it this way. And the Lord God planted a garden before in Eden.

And there he put man, whom he had formed. Uh out of the ground.

Well now that sounds very logical. Because before he created man, the Garden of Eden was in existence. And so, before he put man in the Garden of Eden, he had to have. The Garden of Eden. We'll go back to the account of the creation, chapter 1.

Verse 9 of the book of Genesis. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so, and God called the dry land earth, and he called the gathering together of the waters the seas. And God saw it was good. Verse 11.

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit. Tree yielding fruit. Fruit. Do you hear that, my friend? A fruit tree yielding fruit was placed in the Garden of Eden.

That means everything created was created with age. Jesus Christ didn't take us orange seed. Pluck it into the ground, put water and fertilizer over it, put sweet music in the background so it would grow up and bear delicious oranges. When Jesus created the Garden of Eden, he put a fruit tree in there bearing fruit.

So, when somebody tries to tell you it took millions and millions of years for all this stuff to come into existence, they're not even logical by reading the record of what happened. And they have no proof because they know nobody that was there at the time this all happened. We do. We know Jesus. He was there.

He told Moses to write this down. And thus we can be assured it is the case. Anyway, he brought this into existence: the Garden of Eden, the herbs bearing fruit, the trees bearing fruit, the grass growing. This is the Garden of Eden being created on the third day of creation. On the sixth day of creation, he brings man into existence.

Now we get some more details. Go back to chapter 2 just a moment. In chapter 2, it speaks about the rivers in verse 10.

Well, it starts to speak about the rivers in the next couple of verses. And the rivers listed here are the Gihon, the Pishon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. But will you notice verse 10 just a moment? And a river Singular. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, went out of Eden.

Out of Eden. to water the garden. It was not in the garden of Eden. And from thence it was parted and became into four heads. And then that one river in the Garden of Eden, someplace outside the Garden of Eden, we don't know where.

If I remember correctly, The flood took place 1,500 years after the Garden of Eden was brought into existence, that the topography of the earth all changed. during that time. I don't know anybody in the world that can tell me where the Tigris and the Euphrates were located before the flood. Nobody.

Now, they may well be in the same place that they were before the flood. I don't know. Nobody knows. But they weren't in the Garden of Eden. There's only one river.

in the Garden of Eden. That river, you know it if you've read the scriptures, First Kings chapter one. King David is about to die. He's on his deathbed. He's going to anoint Solomon to be the king.

In the meantime, one of his other sons tries to usurp that position. And so King David tells his wife, go get the servant. Have the servant go down and listen to the Gi Hon River. And get a pitcher of water and braid it up here, and I will anoint. King Solomon.

The Gihon River is the river, the only river then and today. That's located in Jerusalem. The Gihon River. That's the river that flows through Hezekiah's tunnel, Hezekiah, our favorite king. of Judah.

Built the tunnel to protect the water from the attack of the Assyrians possibly coming in. That water supply was essential. And that river flows up into the pool of Salon. Do you remember that pool? That's where when Jesus put the mud in the blind man's eyes, he said, Go over to the pool of Siloam, wash your eyes out, you'll be able to see.

That's where the priest would go, the pool of Silom in the original city of Jerusalem, the city of David. They would go down there, the priest would get the water. This was a special unique water because of the river that fed this pool. And what they would use for the water libation at the temple. That's a special ceremony.

Libation at the temple is a special ceremony for the priest. This was a responsibility of the priest. And so that river is the Gihon River. That's where he went to. The text says it.

Look in your concordance sometime. The word Gihan is used six times in the scripture. all associated with the city of Jerusalem. And what I just told you, every Orthodox Jewish scholar believes. Because they call that stone underneath the door of the rock the foundation stone.

I asked the rabbi who told that to me. His name is Rabbi. I'm Richmond, the export of the red heifer. I said, What do you mean by the foundation stone? He said, That's the place where God.

created. And um Jerusalem. That's the Garden of Eden. That's the location. The place for the kingdom.

that is to be set up. What's the procedure? Mm. Yes, the place is important. Ezekiel 5:5 says that Jerusalem is the center of the earth, and one day it will be the center of where Jesus Christ will rule and reign in his kingdom.

Join us again next week as we continue our study and we'll look at the procedure. for preparing that place for the kingdom. Dr. Jimmy DeYoung and the Legacy Series.

Well, we've got to take a break, and when we come back, Rick and I will take a look at the book right here on Prophecy Today Weekend. I'm Matthew Scott with Mission Network News. An airstrike on one of the few churches in Gaza kills two and leaves several injured. Following the attack on the Holy Family Catholic Church, Pope Leo called for an immediate ceasefire.

Meanwhile, in Qatar, talks between Israel and Hamas have stalled after two weeks, with each side blaming the other. Uncharted Ministries, Tom Doyle says, They're just not even close, really, on negotiations. A peace settlement has been offered many times to Hamas, and they've rejected it. It's a messy situation, but we pray that there's going to be a breakthrough in a settlement for peace sometime soon.

Meanwhile, starvation is spreading in Gaza. The UN says one in three people goes hungry for days. Pray for a breakthrough in the ceasefire negotiations. We're just praying that God would intervene and there would be a peace treaty that would stick.

Next, Warrior Set Free works with military veterans and first responders to battle the enemies of suicide and P T S D. The Warrior Battle Camp recently ministered to people by offering services in a new setting. Steve Prince with Set Free says Jesus said that He offers a peace that surpasses understanding.

So when we lead Warriors through ministry, we have them. Tell their story, apply biblical principles of confess, repent, forgive. And we get to watch God help them unpack their the pains from their past. Attendees walk through key steps to freedom in Christ using the acronym TRIP to focus on truth, relationships, identity, and purpose. Please pray the ministries will meet the needs of these first responders and for the right leadership to disciple them.

Learn more at MissionNews.org. Thank you for listening to Mission Network News, a service of one-way ministries. We're listeners supported by people like you. And by giving to Mission Network News, you enable us to keep the stories of God's kingdom coming. Together, the great commission happens.

Look for the links at missionnews.org. That's missionnews.org. I'm Matthew Scott. 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, on the program today, we have focused on a couple of things.

Well, we focused on the nations of Bible prophecy, we focused on world leaders, and we focused on more than likely a systematic process of which the Antichrist can take control of.

Now, let me read this statement: The World Economic Forum tells us we are on the verge of a fourth industrial revolution. Klaus Schwab, its founder and executive chairman, writes that the next industrial revolution is evolving at an exponential rate rather than a linear pace. The possibilities of billions of people connected by mobile devices with unprecedented processing power, storage capacity, and access to knowledge are unlimited. And these possibilities will be multiplied by emerging technology. Breakthroughs in the fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials, science, energy, storage, and quantum computing.

Governments will gain new technological powers to increase their control over populations based on pervasive surveillance systems and the ability to control digital infrastructure. We would be wise to remember that a society's primary organizing principle is its monopoly on force, its ability to control its populace, and expert violence in the form of war. Rick, as we look at the program today and we listen to Dr. Richard Schmidt and R. C.

Merle talk about the Technology advancing, it does look like we're coming into a period of time where technology will, at least, what's there will be used by the Antichrist in the future. As you look at this, what are your thoughts?

Well, Jimmy, this is all very interesting. And we spent a lot of time on this program talking about the alignment of the nations and things, the arrangements for the temple, the trends that we have seen that show us where we are in God's timeline of events. But this is so interesting as we see technology coming to a point where it is basically setting up for a one-world government and our things that have happened in our lifetime. And I remember. We were probably in our 20s, right, Jimmy?

Our 30s, before we ever got our own mobile phone. And now, look at what we have in our hands, the way things have developed so quickly. Technology is, like it said, expanding exponentially. And all of these things are basically setting the stage, just like everything else we talk about, but they're setting the stage for what God says is going to take place in the end times, aren't they? Yes.

During the future tribulation period, the world will be ruled by a godless man presiding over an evil government system. The Bible associates this end time ruler with a terrible beast in the book of Revelation and in Daniel. In Revelation 13, John sees a nightmarish vision of a dragon and two beasts. Rick, this is the Antichrist that's coming on the scene. And as I talked at the prophecy conferences last weekend and laying out the systematic way of understanding Bible prophecy.

We did talk about the very fact that the mark of the beast is right around the corner and with technology advancing. I know that some people think that, and even Dr. Schmidt said this, that President Trump is putting $900 billion into Stargate, all information that's going to be gathered, and it looks like a good thing. But in reality, I mean, this could be setting up a way that the Antichrist can monitor everyone that's left on the earth. Remember, after the rapture of the church, and I just want to make that clear: it's after the rapture of the church that the mark of the beast, well, that the Antichrist is revealed, that he comes on the scene, that he confirms a peace agreement with Israel, and then he establishes an economic system and able to control the population of the world at that time on the earth after the rapture of the church.

So when we see these. Things. I mean, this is just information, as R. C. Merle says.

This is really casting a shadow forward and understanding Bible prophecy casts that shadow backwards so that we see what's taking place can you know really be prepared to motivate ourselves to live a pure productive life in this world. That's certainly true, Jimmy. And I remember you and I have heard dad speak, and now you're a prophecy teacher as well. And we both talk about Bible prophecy. But I remember when we were hearing about this when we were younger, and we talk about the whole world seeing all these things at once, and the economic system.

Well, that really didn't. I mean, It just didn't make as much sense then as it does now because we can certainly see these pieces falling into place. And like you said, Jimmy, this certainly makes us realize that what God has in store for us could happen at any moment, and we need to be ready and prepared ourselves for that time. Yes. You know, as we look at Bible prophecy, and I always encourage people, and I want to thank again radio stations that allow us to be able to teach and edify and educate the body of Christ.

This program is to help, and that's Bible prophecy. Bible prophecy is to motivate us to understand the times in which we're living by understanding the things that are going on around us, why the world is acting as it is, and then to live a pure and productive, holy life in an unholy world. I know that you and I always talk about really the main thing that we need to do to be prepared for the rapture of. The church is to be about the Lord's work. And you and I do that, Rick.

And the most important thing that we can do is to tell others about Jesus Christ. And it's a real simple procedure, Rick. We give the gospel and we help them to understand that there's a simple way to accept that Jesus Christ is the only way, the truth, and the life. And there's no way to the Father except by him. That's right, Jimmy.

I was just in Israel and we rehearsed that Passion Week, what took place, that death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that is what we are to do, to share that gospel and the saving grace that it gives to each one of us. And that's what we should be, the work that we should be doing right now. Yes. Folks, with all that we have seen, and Rick and I say this every week, with all that's happening in our world today, the rapture of the church can't be far away.

It could even be today. We need to be prepared and we need to be doing what God wants us to do on our time that's left on this. Earth. Let's be prepared and let's continue to tell others about God's plan of salvation for all of mankind. The rapture can happen very soon.

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.