Welcome to Prophecy Today. I'm Jimmy D. Young Jr. Along with my brother Rick, we examine current events in the light of God's prophetic word. Folks, we use God's Word as we understand and we look at the events that are happening and we determine that these events are setting up future prophecies in God's Word.
On today's program, we have Ken Timmerman, David Dolan, Winky Bedad, Dr. Rob Congen, and Dr. Paul Scharf. And we'll be examining all of these and why we examine these events. Rick, we've got a lot to cover.
We're reviewing everything that's taking place. Let's get started with our first, Ken Timmerman.
Well, that's right, Jimmy. I have our geopolitical expert, Ken Timmerman, with us. His latest book, The Iran House, is out now at Amazon.com. He's an author and analyst. Ken, thanks for being with us today.
A pleasure to be with you, Rick. Thanks for having me.
Well, Ken, as we enter our third week of this war, can you give us an update where do we stand?
Well, I've been following the briefings from CENTCOM and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth pretty much every day. And every day we are degrading more of Iran's offensive capabilities. We've now taken out about 90% of their missile launchers, 95% of their drones. And Hegseth said on Friday that we are now also destroying their drone factories, their component factories, their missile factories, so they cannot reconstitute the force in the future. Look, I think there are a number of things happening here, Rick, in the big picture.
I'd like to zoom out a little bit, Rick, and look at the bigger picture, not just the day-to-day update of the war and the numbers and the things we can get from Hagseth and General Kane, but look at kind of larger trends going on. First, let's take a look at Israel itself. The Israelis have shown by joining this attack with us that they are no longer going to manage threats. This is what they did before October 7th. They said, well, look, we can keep Hamas and Hezbollah under wraps.
We mow the grass. Every now and then, we bomb a couple of sites and keep them from attacking.
Well, October 7th showed them. how dangerous that was.
So the Israelis have now gone on the offensive to dismantle threats before those threats are used against them. I think that's tremendously important. Second big takeaway here, Hamas. Hamas has not joined the war. They haven't joined the war because they can't join the war.
They no longer have the capability. The Israelis have dismantled Hamas. Neither have the Houthis, however. And they do still have capability.
So the question here is: have the Houthis not joined because they don't want to? Or because the Iranians haven't yet told them to join the war? Are the Iranians holding them out to use later on? That I think is still a question mark. I tend to think it's the former that the Houdis don't want to join because they don't want to be destroyed.
The third thing is watching President Trump. One day he'll tell you that, boy, we've just about achieved our military objectives here in the goal, which is in a way true. And the next day he says, well, we're going to hit him harder and hit them harder. Trump is managing the world economy. At the same time, he has his hand on the throttle of the war, as Pete Hegseth likes to say.
So he blows hot and cold because he has to do this to manage both of these things at once. I think he's doing a pretty good job. Obviously, the Strait of Hormuz continues to be a problem. There is no Western shipping going through there. The Iranians allow their ships and Chinese ships carrying Iranian oil to go through the strait.
But on Thursday, they hit four ships going through the strait or just outside the strait, and this had a terrible impact on the price of oil. The president responded by releasing 150 million barrels from our strategic petroleum reserve, and the Europeans are doing the same thing. Another big takeaway is to look at the different ways that the American public and the Israeli public have responded to the war. In Israel, 93% of Jewish Israelis are in favor of the war, even though they are spending their Nights in bomb shelters, 93%. In the US, support is only 40% of the entire public, about 80% among Republicans, but 40% of all Americans.
Most Democrats oppose the war. The US left is hysterical. They're supporting the mullahs. They would rather see Islamic Iran armed with nuclear weapons. Then Donald Trump is President of the United States.
It's pretty extraordinary in a time of war. And finally, let me talk about the Gulf Arabs and the GCC states. The Iranians thought at the beginning that by sending drones and ballistic missiles into their oil facilities, into hotels in Dubai, striking airports all across the region, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, even. Oman, their negotiator, they're even targeting Oman. They thought they could get the GCC states, the Gulf Cooperation Council states, to Lobby the United States to stop the war.
Instead, just the opposite has happened. They have joined the war with us. We are now not just using their Airspace, we're using their air bases and their air forces are joining us in some cases.
So the Iranian strategy here with the Gulf Arabs and even with the UN has failed miserably.
Well, Ken, that's a complete overview of what is taking place there in the Middle East. If you could also, can we get an update? What is the status of the Iranian leadership? And we've heard conflicting reports. What's the latest?
Well, uh, from what I understand inside Iran, it appears that they have moved to Mashhad, which is as far east in Iran. It's right along the Afghan border as you can go. They've left Tehran. Mushtaba, the so-called new supreme leader, just like the old supreme leader, he issued a statement on Friday, a written statement, but he did not appear in public. Pete Hegseth said he's in hiding, wounded, and most likely disfigured.
So the regime is on the run. They are cowering underground. They are hiding inside mosques. The IRGC, they are hiding in schools as well. There's been leaked audio about this, where they're telling their people to go into civilian areas and take off their uniforms.
That's a pretty significant development, Rick.
So they are afraid. But we haven't yet destroyed the regime's will to fight, Rick. That is the important thing. It is the unstated objective in this war. How do you destroy their will to fight?
They're still launching missiles. They're still defiant. They're still spewing out disinformation. And they are still trying to rally their supporters around them. One thing here, Rick, I think is tremendously important.
The Israelis have been attacking the basij. These are the local militia. They have been dropping drones into basij checkpoints in Tehran and in other cities. This is tremendously important. It's not been widely reported.
I believe this is laying the groundwork for a popular uprising, and that ultimately is how you're going to break the regime's will to fight.
Well, as the war continues on and we look at those those interactions that are taking place with Iran, we know that there are other people involved in the region, and I want to talk about them in the time that we have left. We've talked about the Kurds. President Trump brought them up this past week, what role they may or may not play in this war. Can you tell us a little bit about the Kurds and that situation?
Well, the Kurds, especially, Rick, you know, I've had a lot of experience with the Kurds. I write about this in the Iran House. You can read more at my website. I've been with those Iranian Kurdish groups in their training camps over the past two or three weeks. The regime has been targeting them inside Iraq in those mountain areas.
So far, from what I've heard, they have not actually hit the fighters. They have evacuated before the attacks occurred. But look, the Iranian Kurds, and there are many groups of them recently, they have banded together.
So they've formed a coalition with Pejak, with the Kurdish Freedom Party, the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran, and others. They are lightly armed, but they can take over government buildings. This, I think, is the ultimate strategy here: to have groups on the ground in western Iran, so in the Kurdish areas, the Azeri areas close to Azerbaijan, the Avazi areas, these are the oil fields near the border with Iraq, to have local groups rise up, take over. the local government buildings and then have basically liberated zones with U. S.
air cover, US air protection, just as we did in Iraq during Saddam Hussein when we had no fly zones. That's what allowed the Kurdish government in northern Iraq to emerge. That, I think, is a pattern to victory here in Iran as well. Let's move on from the Kurds and let's talk about Turkey. Turkey is a NATO member.
It has been attacked multiple times now by Iran. Can you tell us what does this mean? What are we looking at here? Again, how insane can you be? The Iranian regime has had a great relationship with Erdogan, with the Turkish government, and they send missiles against them.
I mean, it is totally insane. It's strategic nincum poops. Erewhon is doing his very best to say over and over again: we are not going to get dragged into this war. We don't want to get dragged into this war. And yet, Iran is doing its very best to drag them into the war.
So, one irony here: so far, the missiles headed into Turkey towards Insulik, our base, a NATO base there, and other bases.
So far, they've been intercepted by U.S. Patriot missiles. The Turks have got S four hundreds from Russia, but they haven't used them, Rick. It turns out that those systems are not very quick, they're not very effective, and the Patriots are much better. Just tells you more about Russian technology and whose side you want to be on.
Very interesting.
Well, my final question as I look at this situation, we talked about that NATO member Turkey, but now if we look at the broader European Union and Europe itself, it potentially is within range. And you talked about how nonsensical Iran's targeting is. Could they bring Europe into this situation? Could the war expand in that way?
Well, they can always try. They have missiles that can reach Europe, that is for sure. Not clear how many of them are left. And they are liquid fuel missiles, which means that we're probably going to see them when they come out from underground. It takes an hour, two hours, three hours to fuel them up.
A little bit difficult logistically, but look, Rick, now that we have destroyed most of Iran's offensive capabilities, the Europeans feel secure enough. To join the war. They think it's safe enough to join the war. I heard a French Rear Admiral recently retired say this week, Well, you know, you don't want to send any ships through the Strait of Hormuz, it would be suicidal. And I had to chuckle a little bit.
I said, Yeah, that's a typically French comment. The French haven't conducted offensive naval operations since April of 1945.
So NATO has got huge defensive capabilities. You know, there's a billion people inside the European areas in NATO. I think the Europeans should rest easy at night and just continue sipping champagne and eating their caviar. Ken Timmerman for Prophecy Today. Ken, as always, we appreciate your insight.
Look forward to talking to you again soon. Thanks so much, Rick. God bless. Great job, as always, Ken. We're going to continue with our Middle East news update coming up next with David Dolan right here on Prophecy Today weekend.
I'm Ruth Kramer with Mission Network News. Iran is attempting to choke off oil traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. says it's destroyed 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels. As Americans are asking if and how the conflict could escalate, Steve Prince of Warriors Set Free says service members are committed to fighting evil. Warriors Set Free, a program of set-free ministries, helps veterans and service members process their trauma using biblical truth.
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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. It's called 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, thanks for being with us today.
I'm glad to be with you, Rick.
Well, Dave, so many things happening throughout the Middle East and in Israel as well. Can you give us an update?
Well, Rick, as has been reported widely, more waves of Israeli and American jets striking all sorts of targets throughout Iran. And of course, Rick, in response, we had more Iranian fire throughout the week at Israel. And actually, it intensified the last few days of the week. following Hezbollah's full entrance into the war earlier in the week, and spent nearly two weeks, but they really started heavy bombardments early this week. And on Wednesday evening, they launched over two hundred rockets into Israel, some drones as well, in a concerted attack with Iran.
It happened as Iranian missiles were also landing in the country, and there were alerts all over the place. Fortunately, most of those were taken out successfully by the interceptors, but a couple did get through. There was damage in Haifa and someone killed and there was in a couple of other locations. But Friday morning, Rick, we had the worst Iranian drone attack of the week take place. And it left a huge crater in the center of a town of around 10,000 called Zarzir.
And that's real close to Nazareth, about five miles away. It's an Arab Bedouin village, and many of the young men serve in the military, the Israeli military, but around 60 people were wounded, most of them not severely by glass and shrapnel and those sorts of things. Their lives are not in danger. One woman, though, more seriously. Wounded, but just a miracle that it wasn't that anyone wasn't killed because they said that some 300 homes.
were damaged in the attack, several completely destroyed, a huge crater was caused by it. And of course, Iran continued to send these cluster warheads into especially the Tel Aviv area during the week. Most, again, were shot down, but not before some got off some of their deadly pellets and we had wounded and damaged in several places around Tel Aviv.
So the war continues, and the Israeli military commander on Thursday night said that the operation in Lebanon. He said this before, but he repeated, it will be intensified, and that they will not take this fire from Hezbollah sitting down, that they'll take this opportunity to really deal a blow to the Hezbollah movement. The Lebanese government reportedly tried to get Israel to not take any military action in their country, vowing that they would go ahead and disarm Hezbollah, but of course they were supposed to do that over a year ago. And I worked there, Rick, as you know, it was true then, it's true now. The Shiites are much more aggressive and really more powerful even than the government of Lebanon and the military.
So they haven't taken on this task, so Israel's saying we'll do it ourselves. And so they're telling people that even if the war in Iran ends in the next week or two. And of course, that's Seen as questionable now because the regime is clearly falling and is desperate, and in closing the Straits of Hormuz. They can determine if the war continues or not, really, if they have any capacity at all, and they certainly have enough to do that.
So but he said the war in Lebanon will continue longer than that.
So people in particular in the north, but there were Hezbollah launches into central Israel and Tel Aviv again during the week. We had some of that last week. And so that will continue for some time. I guess you could hear a collective moan in Israel, meaning we're going to be running to the shelters. Friday evening, again, everybody in the center and north was ordered in the shelters as another wave of Iranian drones were detected.
coming in.
So the work continues. And but so far, the loss of life on the Israeli side has been very low and the damage has been relatively low. It's more sort of like the psychological and lack of sleep and those sorts of things that are affecting people. And of course, the schools remain closed and normal life is not normal at all right now.
Well, it certainly isn't, David, and our hope is that it can be sometime soon. But I'd like to follow up on a few things that you talked about, and one of them is the response from Hezbollah. It has been very strong, and many people in Israel believe that they have been degraded since October 7th with things like the Bieper attack and other such things, but they have really come back and were able to unleash a barrage. Can you talk about that?
Well, they really were hoping, and many analysts were saying. that we did so much damage to Hezbollah last time. The official ceasefire was a little over a year ago, but in the first round, That they really don't have the ability to do these mass launchings like they've been threatening to do. But we saw Wednesday night that they do. And in fact, the Army said.
that it had detected 600 rockets On launchers being aimed at Israel, but their military was had already been bombing the Shiite districts of South Beirut, so they were in the air and they were able to prevent a lot of those launches. But still, Rick, over two hundred rockets came in.
So that was a real wake up call to Israel that this group is still there. They've obviously been working real hard over the last year to replenish their stocks. Iran until the fall of the Assad regime at least. Was helping them through Syria.
Now, Rick, we have a very interesting development. The press in the Middle East reporting that Syrian troops. are being amassed along the Lebanese border, and that it's thought that the Sunni Muslim government there may join the Lebanese government in themselves disarming Hezbollah, getting rid of Hezbollah. Of course, Assad, before Al Sharrah, was a very pro Iranian leader and pro-Hezbollah leader, Ashara, very much not, very much a Sunni Muslim and doesn't believe in Shia Islam at all. And uh if they were to enter on the north and Israel in the south, Then there may be this pincher that would get rid of Hezbollah, but who would have?
thought if I'd have said two years ago, we might see Israeli and Syrian forces fighting on the same side against the Shiites in the region. It's almost as amazing as the Gulf states standing so firmly with the United States in this war and clearly everybody now wanting to see the region rid of these Shiite nefarious forces. We're speaking with Dave Dolan for Prophecy today. Dave, my final question for you, as both a journalist and a student of Bible prophecy, can you give us your thoughts on where you see this current situation in the Middle East headed?
Well, there is no question that the Shiite regime in Iran will be much weaker if it survives the war and, therefore, much less able to do nefarious things around the region, much less money to Hezbollah and to Hamas and to the Houthis and to the Iraqi militias and on and on.
So that's good. But I did say before the start of this war, Rick, if you recall about a month ago, that I thought it wouldn't be that easy to take out the regime precisely because the Revolutionary Guards very large force, hundreds of Thousands of men involved and very dedicated fighters and very fundamentalist Shiite Muslims. They are. They believe in these things. They believe in the coming Mahdi and all these things.
Plus, they and the Bashij militia have been slaughtering people. They're still doing it. But of course, in January, a mass slaughter, so many people hate them and will kill them.
So they have every reason to fight to the end. And what we're really hearing now from the Iranian leadership, whatever's there, is we will fight to the end. We will carry on with this. While President Trump And Bibi Netanyahu are saying this is a limited operation. We'd love to see the regime fall, but it probably won't.
but we'll get it. At least it much weakened than it was before. And that's not satisfactory. But it's probably going to be the reality, Rick, and especially since Iran's going to always have The capacity to To create havoc in the Persian Gulf, especially the Straits of Hormuz. I mean, it is Iran.
All to the north of that whole area, there. That is the country of Iran, and it's so. Such a short distance to the ships that are out at sea, you can spot them with binoculars many times from Iran, even if their abilities are much diminished. They'll still have capabilities to create havoc, and this may go on much longer, is what I'm saying. And of course, We have now terrorism showing up in the United States connected to it.
The man that did the terrible synagogue attack in near Detroit, Lebanese born, and he lost four family members, he said, or it was said, in the current fighting in Lebanon.
So he was angry and went and rammed his vehicle into this synagogue with full of children.
So yes, it's there's Is what I'm saying is we're poking the devil here, and the devil needed poking here. but we can't expect there not to be some significant blowback. And still, there's this ultimate worry that maybe Iran has a non-conventional weapon ability that they got into Lebanon or Western Syria. that they would use as a last ditch thing.
So there's still that worry as well. But God's on the throne, and He is the Lord of hosts. I believe the victory will be on Israel and America's side, but it is going to be a bit more difficult, I think, than many had expected. Dave Dolan for Prophecy Today. Dave, as always, we appreciate your insight.
Look forward to talking to you again soon. You're welcome, Rick. God bless. Well, we've got to take a break, and when we come back, Wakey Madad, Rob Congen, and Paul Sharp, right here on Prophecy Today weekend. Fruit flies remain fruit flies.
This is Ken Ham encouraging the church to start our thinking with God's word. Prepare for a big shock. Researchers studying mutations in fruit flies have determined how they'll evolve over the next 40 million years. and the results are scary. In 40 million years, fruit flies will be fruit flies.
with slightly different wings. You know, when evolutionists point to examples of evolution, it's always examples like this: fruit flies produce more fruit flies. Why? because the only examples they have are small changes within a kind. And this has nothing to do with evolution.
It confirms a biblical teaching that life was created according to their kinds. In other words, fruit flies produce fruit flies. Learn more about our full-size Noah's Ark attraction in northern Kentucky when you visit AnswersRadio.com. That's answersradio.com. Welcome back to Prophecy Today.
I'm Jimmy the Young Jr. Along with my brother Rick, we're examining current events in the light of God's prophetic word. You know, as Christians in a ministry, we get asked a lot of questions: what has happened and where are we on God's timetable? Paul Scharf and Doctor Rob Congdon will be here in just a moment to give us some ideas as to where we are and how we figure that out. But before we do that, we thought it would be good to bring Israel Madad back onto the program again and to give us some.
Idea of what's going on there, how things are, but Interestingly enough, The temple mount during this month of Ramadan and during this time of war. Is basically empty. The western wall is empty.
So we thought we'd really like to get Israel to kind of comment on that. And give us an idea of how things are going for the people in Israel at the moment.
Well, that's right, Jimmy. I have Winkie Madad with us. He comes to us from his home in Judea and Samaria, which is in Israel. Winkie is a former mayor of Shiloh and a political columnist as well. Winkie, thanks for being with us today.
Thank you very much for having me on.
Well, Winky, we love to have you on because we get the opportunity to get an idea of what it's like in Israel right now as we hear all these reports coming across the news for us. If you could just let us know how has this impacted your life? What is it like being in Israel right now?
Well, you've been a frequent visitor here, and you know our society fairly well. And we have a phrase. After the holidays, And uh We have Passover or Kresach coming up. And I'm sure that we'd like to get everything done by then, more or less, which means the sort of the beginning of April, another. Two and a half weeks or so.
If we had the cooperation of Lebanon and its army, to restrain Ah, Chizbullah, things would be finished earlier. If Iran realized its leadership is not a fanatical Mm-hmm. Theocratical, if I could use that word. theocracy uh regime. And they say, well, we're getting hit, and our people are getting hit, and it's not good, so let's sue for some sort of peace.
and give up our weapons the nuclear weapons I mean Uh things will get back to normal. We're in a world nowadays where if you use power And that could be a parent maybe yelling or even spanking a child. or all sorts of things going on. The society is upside down. It's like he is the one who's immediately wrong instead of trying to find out, well, why.
Does he have to hit? Why does Israel have to attack? You think we want to do this all our lives? No, we have to defend ourselves.
So, if we had a lot more cooperation from the liberals, from the progressives, from the humanists. To the human rights activists. Pay more attention to the Islamic societies. around us, I think that there'd be a lot more pressure A lot more diplomatic activity, especially from Europe, which is In my opinion, if I'm allowed to say so, cowardly. in its behavior.
uh especially Great Britain. We have peace and security a lot quicker and a lot better for all involved, not only Israel. No, I'm looking at between two weeks and a month or so before everything really begins to come quite normal again.
Well, again, as I said before, we will continue to hope and pray that this war ends quickly and that the threat from Iran is either eliminated or diminished, and that would allow really a much safer Middle East for everybody involved. For my final question, I want to move away from the situation there in Iran, and I want to talk a little bit about the Temple Mount.
Now, I often come to you to talk about the Temple Mount because I know it is something that is very important to you as you look at kind of somewhat reestablishing a Jewish presence there and just making it a part of Jewish life, not necessarily getting rid of the dome of the rock or whatever, but just being a part of it. And there were a few stories this week which, in my opinion, they highlight that. Center of controversy that is the Temple Mount. The first one is that the Palestinian Authority, your supposed peace partner there in Israel, is claiming that the Israeli restrictions that are taking place right now on the Temple Mount during this active wartime, they are for the purposes of Israel having Passover sacrifices on the Temple Mount.
Now, in my opinion, that's absurd, but I'll get your thoughts on it. And also, Tucker Carlson, we've talked about him on this program before. He believes that this war was started in an attempt to be a religious war designed to rebuild the third temple on the ashes of Alaska. That's what he says. Can you talk a little bit about these two reports and how they highlight how controversial the Temple Mount is?
Well, let's take them in order in the Temple Mount. At the present moment, no Arabs.
Well, I should say no Muslims. And no Jews are allowed up in the Temple Mount. There's no adequate shelter up there. And so, therefore, even at the Western Wall, no more than fifty Jews. Can be there at any one time because any mass attendance at prayer, either at the western wall or the temple mount.
will seem to be very dangerous. We don't have dance festivals, we don't have music festivals, and we don't have prayer festivals at the present moment because we've got missiles up in the air there. And even if we do take them out, sometimes The more dangerous aspect of it is the debris that is caused when the missiles are hit and explode. up in the air, so then they come falling down, yeah.
So uh Israel's trying to protect everybody's lives and these people are claiming that we're doing it for some uh other reason. That's not the case at all. It's happened also in the past, so uh this is just a fake story. The other thing is with Tucker Carlson. I mean, the whole idea of the patches, which you talked about, you know, the patches that have the emblem of the Temple Mount and whatever you want to call it, you can follow that up.
Right. These resulted from the Gaza war. When many of our soldiers realized that in almost every single home or every single wall in the streets, There were either pictures or paintings of the Dome of the Rock. And so they said. Like soldiers are, well, we're going to put our temple mount on it to counter it.
And nothing to do with Iran, and nothing to do with actual, should I say, temple mount activity, rather, you know, flying your flag in in a certain sense, at a baseball game or a football game. You know, you're not gonna. To this or that, but you fly the pendant or the ensign or whatever you want to say. This was the reality of it. And of course, Carlson, who may be in the pay.
Of some country which is a foreign country to the United States is doing this on purpose. And as for the Palestinian claim of a Passover sacrifice. I would bet all of the oil of the Middle East that there will not be a Passover sacrifice this year. It's something to talk about, it's something to learn. The Israeli Government is not a religious government even with its religious parties within it.
It's a secular government. It's what I think what you guys call Caesar, right? And they try to allow freedom of speech and freedom of religion and freedom of worship, but it's not an arm of the Lord or his ministering angels. And we'll have to wait for some other opportunity to do that. And you'll have to, it will come with something from God.
It will not come from something from the Israeli government that I can say. Uh and uh all this as you pointed out is a lot A lot of propaganda. It certainly is.
Well, we come to you to help explain it to us and to give us some context as we look at this situation. Winky, as always, we appreciate you taking the time to be with us. And I just want to remind you that we are continuing to pray for you as you're there in Israel right now during this time, and we're praying for all of Israel as well. Thanks so much. Look forward to talking to you again soon.
Thank you very much. Remember, those who bless us will they themselves be blessed. Thank you very much for having me on.
Goodbye to you and our listeners.
Well, Israel Madad is our go-to gentleman who helps us to understand what is going on, really, how Israel is doing at this moment. I love to hear that testimony, their resolve to finish this fight, and how folks are doing there. I hope you appreciated that.
Well, a conversation that we started a couple of weeks ago, and so much happens each week that we focus on. And Paul Scharf is back on the program today. Paul, welcome to the program again. Thank you, Jimmy. Great to be back.
Paul, are you encouraged by the church wanting to know more about the end times? Yes, I think there are a lot of people who have that hunger and that desire. And I think we're seeing that, Jimmy. I certainly noticed an uptick in that area in. with all the craziness in the world at that time, And I think we're seeing it again since october seventh, And in a real profound way, people want to know what's going on.
and the title of my article that we've been discussing, What's Ahead for Israel, And we know that what's ahead for Israel also tells us what's going to be ahead for the whole world. But perhaps you've seen, like I have, Jimmy, also, there seems to be Even within the church, arise also in the opposition to our message regarding biblical prophecy. It seems like those of other views. have also stepped forward and oftentimes oppose some of the things that we're talking about here with regard to a future for Israel and the pretribulational rapture and dispensational theology and Things like that. Yes, uh and that's interesting.
And uh I know that we have some topics we want to cover today, but let's just talk about that a little bit. I mean, you know, within the body of Christ, you have different views on eschatology. And of course, eschatology is the study of the end times. Why do you think that is?
Well, Jimmy, there are several major views of eschatology or the end times. Bible prophecy. And we know certainly, in addition to dispensational premillennialism, in particular, there's amillennialism and postmillennialism. And these views go back a very long way in church history and there's reasons why they'd have developed as they have as we look back at history. But really the issue is what does the text say?
And are we taking the text literally? And are we taking the text as the authors intended? And I And I think that If we do that, we're going to come out with Dispensational premillennial theology, a pre-tribulational rapture. Certainly, a future for Israel. Yes, and I think for those that are longtime listeners of us, that's why we focus on the Jewish people because God has a plan for the Jewish people in the future.
And I like what you said, you know, in your article: is that, you know, when the church is gone, because we believe that the rapture is the next thing to happen prophetically on God's timetable, when the church is gone, then. What will happen on this earth will get back to God's disciplining of the Jewish people. Yeah, the purpose of the tribulation, Jimmy, is nothing to do with the church, because as you just said, the church will be in heaven. But on earth, where the tribulation is ongoing, God will be working in and through and for his people Israel And he will be moving to bring them to repentance to receive the king and his kingdom. And that's ultimately the purpose of this seven-year tribulation that's coming.
Yes.
So, following the rapture, and I'm going to place your article again on our website because people love it. They love to have this information in front of them. And a lot of people, we want you to take it to teach.
So, following the rapture, Israel will be placed under the ministry of her sages of divinity. Explain that phrase.
Well, I was alliterating my points in this article, Jimmy, as people will see.
Some of them are pretty clear and obvious, and some will have to be interpreted until you realize what I'm talking about. And when I speak of sages of divinity, of course, Jimmy, you know I'm talking about the two witnesses. And there's a great chapter about them in the book of Revelation. It's chapter 11. I'd encourage all of our listeners to go read Revelation chapter 11.
It's just fascinating. And it's obvious to me that it describes Two men that are very important and clear in the Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures, and those are, of course. Moses and Elijah, the very two men that Malachi names in Malachi four. four and five as the Hebrew Bible closes. And of course, the very same two men that were seen with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew chapter seventeen, whom the disciples recognized as Moses and Elijah.
Jemmy, I believe they're coming back to fulfill their ministries. Here during the coming tribulation. You know, when we think about this as they're preaching from the Temple Mount, as the Temple is being built in the first three and a half years of the Tribulation period, 144,000 male virgin Jews will become followers of Jesus Christ and will be witnesses to all of the earth as they carry forth the gospel of their Messiah, Jesus.
So the tribulation will officially begin with, and I like this is another one of your alliterations: by a signing with death. Explain that one.
Well, Jimmy, the signing with death is the signing of a covenant that Isaiah describes. is making a covenant with death Isaiah chapter twenty eight verse fifteen The prophet Isaiah covers this issue, saying, Because you have said we have made a covenant with death. and with Sheol, with Hell, we are in agreement. But he goes on to say in verse eighteen, Your covenant with death will be annulled. And your agreement with Sheol will not Yeah.
Course, Jimmy, uh those who are very familiar with Bible prophecy, Will know that this is an early illusion, I believe, to. Daniels Seventieth week The covenant that is made for that final seven year period Daniel 9.27, it's the Antichrist, the coming Roman prince. who confirms a covenant With the people of Israel for seven years for the final seven-year tribulation The final of the seventy weeks of Daniel, which are seven periods of seven. years each.
So the last seven years of four hundred ninety prophetic years The 70th week of Daniel will be governed by this covenant that the Antichrist makes with Israel. I believe that's how it will be evident. exactly who the Antichrist is. His identity will be revealed. As he makes that covenant with the chosen nation.
Yes, and I like what you said in your article. In so many ways, this war, what we are experiencing and we're seeing right before our eyes today, from October 7th on, is certainly setting the stage for Israel to be in a state of such desperation that she will eagerly seek out any such covenant as long as it provides a realistic promise of lasting peace. And we've covered that today as we talked about Prime Minister Netanyahu, his thoughts on establishing a two-state solution with the Palestinians, what that means now.
So I do think we are seeing the stage is being set for. Bible prophecy to unfold before us. And Um as you and I uh talk about, we believe, we teach. None of this unfolds until the rapture of the church takes place.
Well, that's right, Jimmy. The Rapture takes the church from earth to heaven and God's focus. The nucleus of his work in the world will again be Israel. and moving in closer Jerusalem and then moving even in closer than that the temple. as you said, where the two witnesses will appear and will minister from there.
And we've been thinking about those two witnesses and I mentioned Malachi's reference to them in Malachi chapter 4, and he tells us that it's even. Before the day of the Lord In Malachi four, verse five, He tells us that he will send, God will send Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
So I believe it will perhaps be very shortly after the rapture. that the two witnesses will appear to shepherd the people of Israel prophetically Even God is so gracious to even in their unbelief, He sends them. these men to begin their ministries that, as you said, will have such an incredible and profound impact. Through the first half of the tribulation. Yeah.
Wow, Paul. We've got some more to cover. And unfortunately, we're out of time today. But I do want to have you come back to talk about satanic desolation And supernatural deliverance. Those phrases, again, following your alliteration and how you teach.
And we're going to put your article back on our website again and follow along for people next time. Paul, thank you so much. We hope that we encourage you to keep on your path of teaching the body of Christ about the times in which we're living to be pure and productive in the lives that they're living. Paul, thank you so much. Lord bless you.
Oh, by the way, Paul, tell us how we can find some more of your information.
Well, thanks, Jimmy. It's always so wonderful to be here with you. People can always connect with me at sermonaudio. com slash sermon. P S C H A R F, that's P sharf.
And I'd love to hear from them and would just be honored for them to utilize any of our resources there. Of course, they can also go to FOI.org. Thank you, Paul.
Well, Jimmy, I have a longtime broadcast partner, a good friend of ours, Dr. Rob Condon from CMI-TV.net. That's his website. Dr. Condon, thanks for being with us today.
Oh, it's so good to be with you again and to just chat and be alert as to what's happening in the world around us. When I talked to you the other day, you said we are living in interesting times, and we certainly are living in interesting times. But I want to talk to you about a few things. You have a new series coming out called Are We Living in the Last Days of the Church Age? That's on your website.
I want to get you to explain that a little bit, but I guess just as a preamble there and certainly relevant, Jimmy and I have been hearing a lot of people talk about the war that is taking place in the Middle East right now as actual fulfilled Bible prophecy.
Now, we know how we would respond to that, but what I'd like to do is, how would you respond to that question?
Well, yeah, I'd be glad. I'm being asked that a lot and being interviewed about that very subject. As I preface it, my answer about this current war is to say, keep in mind, in nineteen forty eight, Christians got excited when Israel became a nation, said, This is fulfilled prophecy. I always stress the next prophetic event to occur. from the early church days till now is the rapture.
Therefore, to say that 1948 was fulfilling Scripture was not the best term. The best term was it set the stage, it enabled the Jewish people to start regathering in the land and form the nation of Israel. But the actual fulfillment of prophecy is that the people will return from all over the world to Israel. It will be a nation again. It will be starting to observe in the tribulation sacrifices and covenant worship.
So we say, well, the conditions were starting to be set up so it could happen right after the rapture, and then that began. And the same with this and the war. When we look today in Ezekiel 38, which is the war, everybody is saying, is that what we're in? Oh, my, oh, my. I I would point out carefully that It could be a setting the stage of aligning nations.
That could fulfill Ezekiel 38, which we would again have to stress can't occur the actual formal battle that God describes. until after the rapture.
So therefore we could say, is this war setting the stage? And that really is what we should be discussing more than is this. Ezekiel 38. Because when we look in Ezekiel thirty eight, we note two key factors. One is that it says it's in the latter days.
Well, Israel is back in the land regathering from all over the world, but they haven't yet begun the fulfillment. And the second thing we know is that we look at the nations mentioned, and I think that's why people get so worked up. And it's reasonable that they see that the nations involved is going to involve Persia or Irans. We can't ignore that fact. We know that Russia is aligning with Irans.
And something that is almost being ignored is that Sudan is becoming a major ally and getting rapidly involved in this whole situation.
So we see that there certainly is a setting of stage of the right nations. that could lead to Ezekiel thirty eight. But is this the battle right now? And is in reality the United States that started going? No, I I would have to say it's not, but it's setting conditions that could lead To the battle of God, may God.
Rob, we thoroughly agree with your opinion there. And as we look at it, it is very important. It's not just semantics, it's not just splitting hairs. We have to be precise when looking at the Bible in all areas, but here as well, because potentially you might make a statement, and we've heard it in the past: people predicting the date of the rapture and different things like that. That is actually very dangerous, and it's something that we need to be very careful with, isn't it?
Oh, absolutely. I think there's two things we really have to remember: is one is we have to represent what God's word says and what He wrote. it is totally proper for us to discuss this.
Now I've been told, don't talk about prophecy because how can we know? But I remind people in Daniel chapter ten, verse fourteen, that Daniel is Told and recorded for us to read, it says, Now I come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people, Israel. In the latter days.
So in other words, God wants us to understand, and certainly the entire book of Revelation is for us to understand events that if we know Jesus Christ as our Savior, Right now, the rapture will remove us. We're not going to be there at the tribulation, yet he wrote it so that we can still understand it.
So we need to be alert. We need to be sober and note the days because we're not in the darkness, as Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5.
So it's proper for us to discuss this, to consider it, but always what does the scripture say and don't go beyond that. And I think that's crucial. I look at many things and I say, wow, I see things that so much strike of Ezekiel 38 and 39. But We aren't quite there yet. We're this battle, we see it as a war of military might.
and to protect the United States and other nations. But to to Iran. And interesting, I keep bringing up Sudan. That's a missed point about this whole war. Both of those countries To them, it's ideological.
And when you carefully studied the power of Tehrans, military, they're not the greatest army of the world. But ideologically, they are driving a force to destroy Israel and any country that supports Israel.
So this is an ideological war, and I hate to say it. I'm rather pessimistic. But ideological wars have to be fought on ideology, not just military.
So this, what we're seeing, could go on quite a while before it could ever develop into Ezekiel 38. Excellent, excellent point, Robin. We're going to have to take a break right now. But when you come back, and we're going to ask you to come back at the look at the book section with us at the very end of the program to talk to us about are we living in the last days and how should we then live. But you're absolutely right.
What the Bible says is going to happen and we cannot Supersede what it says in any shape or form, or we take it out of God's hands and put it in our own hands. We'll be right back here on Prophecy Today weekend. Yeah. 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. Great last half hour, great hour of the program so far. Hope you stick with us to where we have a discussion at the end of the program with a look at the book. But, Rick, you mentioned our video, Kingdom Come. Why don't you tell the folks how they can get that?
Jimmy, if you go to our website at prophecytoday.com, you go to our bookstore, you'll see that video. There's also some audio teaching, a CD series that our father, Dr. Jimmy DeYoung, did on the teaching of the kingdom. It's so important that we get that right. Jimmy, you can also go to our website and go to our daily devotionals.
You look at that. That's free to look at. And you can also see, go to the book of Matthew and look at some of the teaching that is there in the devotionals from the book of Matthew. But this is something that will help you to have a proper view of theology, of eschatology, and help you to study the scripture. You do all that at our website, prophecytoday.com.
And of course, if you do go to our website, if you do appreciate our ministry, we would appreciate your prayers and your financial support as well. Excellent, Rick. Thanks so much. Well, our legacy series, which is in honor of our father, Dr. Jimmy DeYoung, who did this program for so many years.
Today, we're going to continue our journey of learning about God's plan through the ages, and we bring the prophecy of a great man of God to the table for this study. This man of God that I'm speaking about is the prophet Ezekiel. An ancient Jewish prophet who was also a priest. More on that in just a moment. The book of Ezekiel deals with the past and future prophecy for God's chosen people, the Jewish people.
Ezekiel is a unique man with a unique ministry. He is actually the very first street preacher. We'll start our study to day in Ezekiel chapter one. Dr. Jimmy D.
Young and the Legacy Series. All right, the book of Ezekiel is one of the three most important books in the entire Bible as it relates to Bible prophecy.
Now I'm not trying to put down the minor prophets like Nahum, Zephaniah, Obadiah. Habakkuk and some of those. I'm not trying to put them down. Everything is God's word. And so that's very important.
But when you start to study Bible prophecy, You can take three books in the Bible and find in these three books every single prophetic event that's going to happen in the future. And it's based upon the fact that there are three members of the human family. And those three members of the human family, and this is key to understanding any approach to studying the Bible. The three members of the human family are Gentiles, Jews, and Christians. For the first 2,000 years of human history, there were only Gentiles upon the earth.
And then from that point in Genesis chapter 12, which would be the end of 2,000 years, to Acts chapter 1, the second 2,000 years, there were Gentiles and Jews. And from Acts chapter 2 to Revelation 22, the third member of the human family, Gentiles, Jews, and Christians.
Now it's key. All of Scripture is written and is information that we need to know. It's given by God. The Holy Spirit breathed into man everything that was worthy for our understanding of doctrine, for instruction and righteousness, etc., etc. You know what 2 Timothy 3:16 says, as well as I.
But when you start to study, you have to understand these three members of the human family, God has a program for them. He will make sure that program is fulfilled. For example, the first strand of the human family was Gentiles. The book of Daniel starts at a certain time in history. It starts at the times of the Gentiles.
And that's when Daniel was taken in to the Babylonian captivity. There in the Babylonian captivity, the Lord used him as a prophet. To lay out the times of the Gentiles. The times of the Gentiles, starting when Daniel was taken into captivity, 605 BC, and extends all the way to the second coming of Jesus Christ. You might remember Jesus in the book of Luke, chapter 21, and verse 24.
He said that Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. That's what Daniel's about. Daniel chapter 2, Daniel chapter 7. It's talking about the times of the Gentiles. And a definition for that phrase: any time in history when Gentiles control two things: the Jewish people.
and the city of Jerusalem. And that's why Jesus said, Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. And so Daniel is that timeline laid out in history from Daniel's taking into the captivity until Jesus Christ comes back. And that's that in Daniel chapter 2, that stone that hits the image of the man, bursts it into pieces, and the stone becomes a mountain, which is representing the kingdom of the Lord. The second Group of peoples, the Jewish people, come into existence.
Abraham. Abraham would have been basically the first Jew. Howbeit he was a Gentile, but he became the father of the Jewish people, not the father of the Arab people. He became the father of the Jewish people, and his son Isaac, the son of promise, was confirmation of the fact that God had made a promise to Abraham. They're in the 26th chapter.
Of the book of Genesis, God confirms to Isaac, son of Abraham, the fact that he indeed would be the confirmation of what God had done, giving Abraham the Abrahamic covenant. And then along comes the son Jacob, whose name is changed to Israel. There in chapter 13 of the book of Genesis, Abraham is called a Hebrew. His grandson Jacob is called Israel. And then his great-grandson Judah is the first time they used the word Jew, 1 Kings 16, verse 6.
And then the peoples became known as Jewish people.
So they're either Hebrews, Israelites, or Israelis, and/or Jews. And that starts the second strand. And that's from chapter 12 of Genesis all the way over to chapter 1 of the book of Acts. In chapter 2, those Jews and Gentiles who have trusted Christ.
Now, in chapter 2 of Acts, there were no Gentiles who had trusted Christ because that did not take place for about almost 20 years later at Caesarea when Cornius was the first Gentile to receive Christ. But when Paul wrote Ephesians, he wrote chapter 2 verses 11 to 15 that only two people would become Christians, and they would be Jews or Gentiles.
Well, by the way, that's all the people there are on the earth. And so those people that are Christians, we either have come from a background of being a Jew. Or a Gentile. There's nothing else. A Messianic Jew is a wrong terminology.
And Christians are in existence from the day of Pentecost all the way to the rapture of the church. Before that, there were no Christians. After that, there will be no Christians who become Christians. Christians will live forever. We will be the bride of Christ.
And so this is the context in which we now look at the book of Ezekiel, because Ezekiel is looking at a timeline for the Jewish people. Ezekiel was the leader of the second group of Jews that were taken into the Babylonian captivity. About 597 BC, the text tells us, if you read the first couple of chapters of the book of Ezekiel, that God took Ezekiel and about 10,000 Jews, and they took them over to Babylon.
Now, they didn't actually go into the city of Babylon. They went out to Tel Aviv. Not the Tel Aviv that you know about here in Israel, but the Tel Aviv that was on the Chabar River, a tributary off the Euphrates River over near what we know as modern day Iraq. That's where Ezekiel went. At that time when Ezekiel, and by the way, Ezekiel was not only a prophet, his first office was that of priest.
In chapter 1, it says at 30 years of age, he had just qualified to be a priest. Any Jewish man who is from the tribe of Levi, a part of the family of the Kohenim, or the priestly family, would study for 28 years, from two years of age to 30 years of age. They would study and basically understand the entire book of Leviticus from front to back and just had it in their mind. That's how they were to understand. First seven chapters of the book of Leviticus would be the sacrificial system laid out for them.
In chapters 8, 9, 10, and 11, their qualifications had to be met because there were the qualifications for the priesthood. And then from chapter 12 to 27, how they would operate and worship in a temple or a tabernacle at that time, and then later on a temple. Ezekiel had qualified, and he's one of three of the prophets that were also priest. Ezekiel was one, Jeremiah was the second one, and Zachariah was the third one. These men had the unique responsibility of being a priest, but then also serving God as a prophet.
And God selects Ezekiel and makes him a prophet. If you have chapter 2. I want to show you something here in chapter 2. He's going to make him a prophet. Look at verse 3 of chapter 2.
And he said unto me, Son of man. And by the way, that phrase is used a number of times in the book of Ezekiel. And it's used 93 times for the purpose of describing Ezekiel.
Now, remember in the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as the Son of Man. But here in the book of Ezekiel, 93 times, when it says Son of Man, he's talking about Ezekiel. Again, in verse 3 of chapter 2. And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me, even until this very day.
So he selected this priest, who's going to make him go to the Jewish people. In the context of chapter 2, you'll see, look, they're going to make fun of you, Ezekiel. They're going to laugh at you. They're going to mock you, but don't worry about it. They're a hard-headed people.
And he says, I'm going to make your head harder. Look at verse 8 of chapter 3. Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. As an animate, harder than flint have I made thy forehead. Fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
So he made Ezekiel With a harder head than these hard-headed Jews. And that's not an anti-Semitic statement that I'm making. That's what God said about the Jewish people, and that's why He selected this man to be a prophet against them. To them, rather. Look in chapter 3 and verse 17.
He calls him a watchman.
Now, look at the definition of a watchman, verse 17, chapter 3.
Son of man, I have made thee a watchman. I think we would all should all, at least, eagerly want to be watchmen. Look notice what it says: I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. What happens is, you hear the word from the Lord, you warn the people of what is coming ahead.
Should we all not be watchmen, especially in the day in which we're living? Hear the word of the Lord and warn the people. Let me tell you what he did.
Now, this is almost ironic. It almost, to some extent, is funny. Because he's going to make him an Ezekiel, and I'll show you in a moment, he's going to be the first street preacher that was ever involved in ministry. And he tells them he wants them, him to be a prophet to all of his people. But then he makes him dumb.
Not dumb stupid. but dumb can't talk. Look here in verse 26 of chapter 3. And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, and thou shalt be dumb. And so he tells this man to be a prophet, and then he makes him so he can't talk.
And later on you read that all that Ezekiel is going to be able to say During a seven-year period of time, is what the Lord puts in his heart and mind, and then he opens his mouth to say. That is the extent of what Ezekiel is going to be able to say. Yet he's a prophet. If you know anything about a prophet, he's supposed to be pronouncing prophetic truth or truth of what's the judgment to come going to be. And Ezekiel's going to do that, but in unique ways.
He tells him to lay in the street. I said he's going to be a street preacher. He literally tells him to lay in the street. In chapter 4, that's what he tells him. Look at verse 5.
For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days, so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And then thou shalt have accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity for the house of Judah forty days. Three hundred and ninety days he lays on his left side in the middle of the street, forty days on his right side, four hundred and thirty days he's laying in the street.
Now what kind of a profit is this? He has no capability of speaking. Unless the Lord loosens his tongue, he's laying in the middle of the street for 430 days. And so he tells this man to be a prophet, and then he makes him so he can't talk. And later on you read that all that Ezekiel is going to be able to say During a seven-year period of time, is what the Lord puts in his heart and mind, and then he opens his mouth to say.
That is the extent of what Ezekiel is going to be able to say. Yet he's a prophet. If you know anything about a prophet, he's supposed to be pronouncing prophetic truth or truth of what's the judgment to come going to be. Ezekiel's going to do that, but in unique ways. Uh Ezekiel is a unique prophet.
With a unique prophecy. And he will indeed do his ministry in a unique way. For much of this prophet's ministry, he will lay in the street and become God's first street preacher. And as a prophet, Ezekiel will not be able to speak unless the LORD opens his mouth and speaks through him, and he will be used mightily by the LORD.
Next week, we will continue our study of Ezekiel, and we'll see how the Lord uses this man of God. We'll study the secret of the success of Ezekiel's ministry. Please join us then. Dr. Jimmy DeYoung and the Legacy Series.
We have 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 Ruth Kramer with Mission Network News. After Wednesday night's rocket fire from Hezbollah, Israel ordered civilians south of Lebanon's Al-Reni River to evacuate to the north. Nuna with Triumphant Mercy Lebanon says, Israel told the leader of one southern Lebanon municipality, It's your responsibility.
If you allow Hezbollah people inside your village, we're going to bomb your village. But if you don't allow anyone to come in, your village is safe.
However, a lack of Lebanese military personnel leaves villages vulnerable. On Monday, an Israeli strike killed a Catholic priest in a village that Hezbollah had infiltrated. Lebanon has appealed to the Vatican to mediate on behalf of Christian villages in southern Lebanon, but the damage is already done. At least 780,000 people across the nation have registered as displaced as of Wednesday. Triumphant Mercy Lebanon is working overtime to serve as the hands and feet of Christ.
So pray for both. gospel hope and help to reach them. And Canada is debating tighter hate laws as Bill C-9 moves through Parliament. The bill would expand criminal code offenses tied to hate-motivated intimidation and blocking access to houses of worship. Floyd Rebelle with The Voice of the Martyrs Canada says: many share concern about how the bill defines hatred.
Bill C-9 is proposing a looser definition than the bar set by the courts. Current case law protects freedom of speech, yet the new wording could let subjective reactions shape how hate is defined, and that could lead to misuse against Christian freedoms. The House recently sent Bill C-9 to committee. It'll later return for a final vote before Senate review. We continue to pray that people are forming this bill will do so wisely.
Pray that as churches share the word of God with people in Canada, they won't be restricted or limited. 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. Look for links. Visit MissionNews.org. I'm Ruth Kramer. Welcome back to Prophecy Today.
I'm Jimmy DeYoung Jr. Along with our brother Rick, we've been examining current events in the light of God's prophetic word.
Well, as promised, Dr. Rob Congdon coming back in and giving us a last few words of encouragement. And a charge to the body of Christ. Speaking with Dr. Rob Congdon again of CMI-TV.net.
Rob Congden, Congden Ministries International. Rob, such great words of wisdom as we, as you tell us, we are called to represent Scripture and represent the Bible correctly.
Well, I think this nicely dovetails into the latest series that you're doing. It's called Are We Living in the Last Days of the Church Age? And I've been watching it and I think it's excellent. I recommend it to our listeners. Can you tell us why you put this series together and maybe just give us a brief summary?
Well, I put the series together because I'm asked the question, are we living in the last days of the church age? And so significantly, first of all, we need to understand the difference of the last days of the church age and the last days. At any moment, I know there's at least one thousand seven years to go on this earth because the scriptures tell me that God's dealing with Israel for seven years, and then one thousand years is the kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on this earth.
So the last days of the church age are those final days before the Lord is ready to take the church out. And I started thinking about this. And obviously, all of us have been looking at news and events, and we see things that are happening in the news, and we shake our head. And And the old joke is the older you get, the more you keep saying, where's this younger generation going?
Well, let's look at realistically. One thing I did note. from the scriptures is there are three characteristics that would signal that we're in those last days of the church age. The church ages from Acts chapter 2, Pentecost, till the rapture.
So we're still in there if we're alive today. And so these three characteristics I found was: first of all, there'd be a growing spiritual apostasy in a majority of Christian churches. That concerns me. As a leader in a church, I want to guard against wrong teaching. Secondly, though, I realize there's a progression in the scripture that describes those last.
days of the church age Spiritual apostasy begins and really spreads through churches around the world. But as a result of the church not doing its job, and it following into apostate teaching, lawlessness outside the church has a greater freedom and will increase substantially at individual levels, national and international levels. And I think everybody would agree that there is a growing lawlessness. And then finally, in the progression, when you have the churches not proclaiming the truth of scriptures and of the God who wrote those scriptures, then they aren't influencing society around them. Lawlessness grows because people feel no restraint.
They don't believe they'll ever be accountable to a god. And so as that lawlessness increases, one way it starts pinplanting itself is a clear hatred and vilification of God himself and all that the world looks at and thinks as representing that God of the Bible. That's Israel, Jews, Christians. And we're seeing that, and we saw that just yesterday uh on Thursday at the synagogue. And so that hatred, uh that Vilification of God is denying that, and I'll touch on just some of the obvious things, it's okay to kill babies before they're born.
It's okay to say God made a mistake if there is a God, and you weren't born into the right gender that you are. And it's to say we don't need laws, we can just do what we know is right in our heart, and that's where we're going to go. And so what you have is apostpasy begins, not no strong Bible teaching about the God of the Bible and accountability to him. Outside the church, lawlessness starts developing because the church isn't. Hindering it anymore by its teachings.
And when that really gets going, it turns against God in an international way in all directions. And I think those three characteristics we are witnessing today in our lifetime.
Well, I certainly agree with you. And I guess for my final question, I'd like to ask, as we look at that, as we study Scripture and we learn what Bible prophecy has to say, but what Scripture has to say in general, I could certainly recognize those trends that you're talking about right there. How should that cause us to live?
Well, I think it has to cause any true believer in Christ to get earnest about his future. If we are in those last days, the rapture could occur before we even finish this broadcast. Therefore, we're running out of time to Learn to know our Lord. Better. I always liken it.
Remember, the church is called the Bride of Christ. We're an engaged bride. Any engaged couple, they try to get to know each other better.
Well, our Lord knows us. He can see inside of our minds. But do we know him? And how do we know him? We trust his word and we read the scriptures.
It's like letters to us as his engaged bride. I always said that I'm teaching the book of Revelation right now in a series, and I say that's a manual for the bride and how she's supposed to be.
So I stress the fact. We need as believers to get into the scriptures, to seriously study it, not just a nice little devotional. Two-minute read each morning over our breakfast and then running out and running the rest of the day on our own. We need to do our job. We need to support ourselves, of course.
And we need to be responsible to our family. But studying the scriptures, we get to know the Lord. And I'm talking about. Serious study in today's world, I can go to the computer and I can find out what words meant. To those original readers of the Bible, I can find out how they understood it, therefore, I can understand it better.
And then, as I know the Lord more, as I study the scriptures more, and I stress. Prophecy, studying prophecy, not because that tintillates us. But I stress that because one, it helps us to live more godly life according to 1 John. But second of all, we understand God's plan and purpose and our future in that purpose. And God, the Lord Jesus Christ, wants a bride who's going to war live with him, serve with him, and rule and reign with him in the millennium.
He wants an intelligent bride. It doesn't mean you have to be getting degree after degree in universities. No. I know Christians who know more of doctrine and scriptures and Christ than I do, who never went to school. But they were in the word.
That we can do, and we can get ready to serve our future bridegroom. Dr. Rob Congdon from Congdon Ministries. Rob, that was excellent. We appreciate so much you taking the time to be with us today and the encouragement that you have given us and our listeners.
Thanks so much. Look forward to talking to you again soon. Well, it's always a pleasure to be with you. Lord bless and keep looking up. 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. Uh
