What Current Events Are Stepping Stones to the Return of Christ

What current events are stepping stones to the return of Christ? That is the topic we'll discuss today, right here on the Christian Real View Radio Program, where the mission is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.

I'm David Wheaton, the host. The Christian Real View is a non-profit, listener-supported radio ministry. Thanks to you, our listeners, for your prayer, encouragement, and support. You can connect with us by calling our toll-free number, 1-888-646-2233, writing to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota 55331, or visiting our website, thechristianworldview.org. As Jesus pointed to the temple, He told His disciples, Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down. Just as Jesus predicted, the temple was torn down and destroyed in AD 70 by the Romans. But the question the disciples then asked is the same one Christians are asking today, what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? Jesus called Christians to discern the times in order to be ready for His return. And that is what we aim to do on today's program with our guest, geopolitical analyst Soren Kern. Soren will offer insight from a biblical perspective on some of the most significant issues and events, such as COVID, the Russian war against Ukraine, updates from Israel in the Middle East, and the influence of China, and more. We'll go around the world, so to speak, knowing that God is in perfect control of what appears to be an out-of-control world. Let's get to the first segment of the interview with Soren Kern. Soren, it is so good to have you back on the Christian Real View radio program all the way from Europe.

Thank you for joining us today. I want to start out with the definition of geopolitics. That term is used quite a bit, but what does it mean?

Sure. Geopolitics, the most simple definition of it would be the impact of geography on the politics of a country or on international relations. So we might say in the most simple form that the United States, the fact that it has two oceans that protect it, has a relatively benign neighbor on the north and the south, that affects the way the United States conducts its international relations. Another example might be Russia. Russia is, particularly Western Russia, is largely flat land.

It has very few barriers to protect the capital and key strategic centers. So in Russia, the geopolitics have always been driven by the fear of invasion and the desire for more land, more buffer land, buffer states, as a way to protect the mainland Russia. So that's the most simple way, is how geography of a country impacts its international politics, its foreign affairs. I think today the term geopolitics is just a generic term that means international relations or international political relations.

It just means the way that different countries interact with each other. As we talk about the various geopolitical issues going on around the world, whether it's even COVID, I think you could consider it one because it's affected politics and nations all over the world, to the war in Ukraine, to what's going on in the Middle East, to China and other things. Why do you think it's important for Christians to seek to understand geopolitical issues?

Sure, that's a really important question, basically. I think that our book is the Bible, and the Bible very clearly is a geopolitical book in many regards. For God, the center of geopolitics is Israel and particularly Jerusalem. And so when we see things that are going on in the world today, as they relate to the Bible, we know where we are in God's redemptive timeline. You know, that's really the beauty of being a premillennialist, having this worldview that God still has a plan for Israel, as opposed to a millennialist who in general believe that the church has replaced Israel. When we see from a premillennial worldview, all the things that are going on in the Middle East, also in Europe, in North America globally, we can look to the Bible, and the Bible has really given us a lot of prophecies, a lot of indicators to help us understand more or less where we are on God's redemptive timeline. And so that's really the crux of the issue. You know, that's why it's important for Christians, for believers to follow the news, to take an interest in what's going on, because it really leads us to the Lord and to his plan for humanity, his plan of redemption.

It really does. Soren Kern with us today here on The Christian Real View. He is a geopolitical analyst based in Europe, and also a contributor to the Middle East Forum.

You can find out more about him by going to our website, thechristianrealview.org. I want to ask you first about the COVID pandemic. With a bit of lead up here, the virus came from Wuhan, China in early 2020, at least that's when it appeared on the American shores.

Likely, this was a gain of function. In other words, it was a man-made virus in a lab, whether it was intentionally released or accidentally released, it hasn't been determined yet, but either way, it likely came out of a man-made lab in China. It spread across the world. Hundreds of millions of people were infected.

A very small percentage of those who were infected died, mostly those who were older, who had underlying health problems. In response to it, the government instituted all sorts of mandates to shut down schools, businesses, churches. We were mandated to wear masks inside buildings, mandated to have physical distance away from people. And then to top it all off, a so-called vaccine that wasn't really a vaccine because it didn't inoculate anyone, it wasn't a true vaccine, it was called a vaccine, came out in late 2020. And there was a high pressure, highly coercive campaign to get everyone vaccinated, so-called, or injected across the world.

Otherwise, you lose your job, you lose your freedom to travel. In many places, I think in Europe, they had vaccine passports to be able to go places. And just this week, a member of the European Parliament named Rob Ruse was questioning Janine Small, who is Pfizer's president of international developed markets. They're the ones who produced one of the so-called vaccines. And the question he asked her had to do with, was the vaccine ever tested for preventing COVID transmission? And her answer that it wasn't basically burns down the whole house of cards that was being sold to the public over the last two years.

Listen to this video that Rob Ruse released after his interchange. If you don't get vaccinated, you're antisocial. This is what the Dutch prime minister and health minister told us. You don't get vaccinated just for yourself, but also for others.

You do it for all of society. That's what I said. Today, this turned out to be complete nonsense. In a COVID hearing in the European Parliament, one of the Pfizer directors just admitted to me, at the time of introduction, the vaccine had never been tested on stopping the transmission of the virus. This removes the entire legal basis for the COVID passport. The COVID passport that led to massive institutional discrimination as people lost access to essential parts of society.

I find this to be shocking, even criminal. Please watch the video until the end. And I will speak in English so there are no misunderstandings. Was the Pfizer COVID vaccine tested on stopping the transmission of the virus before it entered the market? If not, please say it clearly. If yes, are you willing to share the data with this committee?

And I really want a straight answer. Yes or no? And I'm looking forward to it.

Thank you very much. Regarding the question around did we know about stopping humanisation before it entered the market? No. We had to really move at the speed of science to really understand what is taking place in the market. This is scandalous. Millions of people worldwide felt forced to get vaccinated because of the myth that you do it for others. Now this turned out to be a cheap lie. This should be exposed. Please share this video. Okay, that was Rob Roos, a member of the European Parliament. And what a shocking, but not really shocking, response from one of the directors at Pfizer.

And we have the video linked, by the way, at our website, thechristianworldview.org, if you'd like to watch it for yourself. And you should because this is what we were being lied to for the past two years from every sector of society, including right at the top, the President of the United States. If you're vaccinated, you're not going to be hospitalised, you're not going to be in an ICU unit, and you're not going to die.

You're okay. You're not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations. Soren, there has been a loss of trust in government officials, political leaders who were pushing this so hard. There has been a loss of all trust in the healthcare industry, whether the CDC and NIH in America or the World Health Organization. There's been a complete loss of trust in what the media was pushing so hard to try to sell us about taking this so-called vaccine. So as you look back, and of course being based in Europe, where much of this was you're experiencing very similar things to what we were in the United States, as you look back over the last two and a half years since COVID became very well known, and you think about what might be ahead, what do you think COVID was all about in terms of geopolitics?

Sure. I think it's important to remember, to acknowledge that when this COVID thing first came to light, nobody really knew what was coming. We saw these videos, which we now understand were fabricated by China, of people falling over dead instantly, and it created shockwaves here in Europe in particular, that this was a virus that was going to kill millions, possibly tens of millions of people. And so governments put a lot of pressure on the pharmaceutical companies to produce a vaccine as fast as possible. And I think a lot of the traditional safety tests and a lot of the traditional safety protocols were ignored under political pressure. So, you know, I really don't know that European governments had bad intentions at the time, but I think we can look at it now with hindsight two years later, and we can see that there's been a significant erosion of democracy in Europe, United States, North America and the West in general.

I think that we've seen how easy it is for governments, particularly authoritarian governments, to bring populations under control. So I think basically that there is definitely a before and after of the COVID. Things are never going to go back to the way they were before COVID.

Of course, we have this collective memory of everything that's happened to us. Just until recently, you know, all the European countries required the COVID passports. This was just recently, up until just a couple weeks ago, abandoned because it was affecting tourism and travel.

A large chunk of Spanish GDP, for example, French GDP, Portugal, Greece, a lot of these countries rely heavily on tourism, and there was a fear of permanent economic decline. So what we see really is a before and after. We see, I think governments have realized how easy it is, I think, to bring populations to heal, to use coercive measures. You know, I suspect that if we're close to the tribulation period, which I believe we are, a lot of these things that we experienced during the COVID pandemic will replicate themselves, I'm sure, in the tribulation period. Yeah, I'm glad you got to that final point, because I think that is the big lesson learned here, just the way governments can become authoritarian in a big hurry, and how little the population can do once there's a clampdown, and it was almost like a test run for what you talked about taking place in the tribulation someday when a global leader, the Antichrist, will rule. Soren Kern with us today on The Christian Real View, a geopolitical analyst. And we'll just take a short break for some ministry announcements. When we come back, Soren will get into the Russian war against Ukraine. So much more coming up on The Christian Real View.

I'm David Wheaton. The momentum from the world is like a tsunami that's flooding our entire country. And the only way to change it is for people to be born again, is for there to be a great awakening in our country again, and for people to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And that will never happen until there is first conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment, for people to repent and to turn from their sins, and to turn to God and embrace his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That was Dr. Stephen Lawson. His book, New Life in Christ, What Really Happens When You're Born Again and Why It Matters, is available for a donation of any amount to The Christian Real View.

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Visit our store at thechristianrealview.org to take advantage of that sale. All right, let's get back to our interview with Christian geopolitical analyst Soren Kern as we discuss what current events are stepping stones to the return of Christ. Soren, let's move into another huge geopolitical issue right now that's been going on for about 10 months or so, the Russian invasion, the war against their neighboring nation, Ukraine. Ukraine was once a part of the Soviet Union and during the time it split apart, it became its own nation.

It's a large nation. And this has been a brutal, brutal war. And we had you on earlier this year to discuss this and the Christian Real View position at the time was a sovereign nation like Ukraine has every right to defend itself from attack. That's a biblical principle of nation states and the right to self-defense.

That was our point. We didn't necessarily know much about Ukraine and the whole situation, but we think a nation has a right to defend itself from attack. Now you fast forward over the months here, Soren, the U.S. is spending billions of dollars sending arms to Ukraine. To be clear, the U.S. is fighting a kind of proxy war against Russia with calls for regime change.

In other words, they want to see Vladimir Putin ousted. He oversees the largest number of nuclear weapons in the world. And I read a couple things here, just a couple of little brief news bites about give an idea of what is taking place here. The Intercept, a website, Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February, the U.S. government has pumped more money and weapons into supporting the Ukrainian military than it sent to Afghanistan, Israel and Egypt in 2020 combined, surpassing in a matter of months three of the largest recipients of U.S. military in history. Some analysts estimate the true figure of the U.S. commitment to Ukraine is up to $40 billion in security assistance. That's $110 million per day over the last year. So there's that. There's the infusion, the spending of basically taxpayer dollars from Americans to push back against Russia and Ukraine.

Another escalation here. This according to Reuters on October 7th, the U.S. government this week bought $290 million in supplies of a drug designed to treat blood cell injuries following radiological and nuclear emergencies, as part of what it said were longstanding efforts to prepare for potential health impacts from threats to national security. When asked whether the purchase announced on Tuesday was linked to tensions with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, an HHS Health and Human Services spokesperson said it was part of ongoing efforts to prepare for a wide range of threats, including chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and emerging infectious diseases.

So there's that. And then recently, President Biden himself made a shocking statement about how close we are to nuclear war. This from MSNBC News.

We have some breaking news tonight at a fundraiser in New York this evening. President Biden just made some extraordinary and highly alarming comments about Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine and the threat of nuclear war. Biden said the risk of nuclear Armageddon is at the highest level since 1962. Quote, For the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, we have a direct threat of the use of a nuclear weapon if in fact things continue down the path they are going.

We haven't faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis. So just considering all of those things and how serious this could be, you have the left in this country is all in favor of fighting this proxy war against Russia. On the right, conservatives are actually divided between why are we defending the borders so much of Ukraine?

We're not even going to defend our own borders. Why are we sending so much money over there to defend a part of a nation, eastern part of Ukraine that people couldn't identify on a map? Well, what is our strategic interest there versus other conservatives saying, no, we have to be a hedge against Russian aggression there and moving to other countries. And the U.S. needs to maintain a sense of stability around the world from bad actors like Russia and China.

So that was a long way of getting to the question. But what are your thoughts as to the U.S. strategic interest, considering that this war may, it's hard to even believe this, hard to even think about this, may go nuclear? My view is essentially when I analyze international relations, it's always through sort of a system paradigm. And so since the end of the Second World War, the international system has been dominated by the United States and called the Pax Americana, the American peace. And it's brought a lot of prosperity and stability to the world for the last 80 years. Sure, there have always been wars, secondary wars in Vietnam or in Korea or in the Middle East or wherever. But in general, the last 80 years have been peaceful in terms of the big strategic picture. And so there are countries like Russia and China and Iran and North Korea and a few others who do not like the existing system.

These are authoritarian states who do not share the values of liberal democracy and they want to destroy the existing system. And that's really the way I analyze the issue of like what is in the American interest. It could be very well that there's maybe not a direct American interest in Ukraine per se. But there is a very big American interest in maintaining the American world order. Now, I concede, I can grant that the American world order is teetering.

It's not going to last forever. It may be very much on the last leg, but it's very much in our interest, in your interest, my interest, individual interest to keep the existing system alive for as long as possible. Because in international relations and geopolitics, there is no vacuum. And if the United States system, the American system collapses, the authoritarian countries like Russia and China and others will fill that vacuum immediately and will impose their values on us. And so really the interest that the United States has in ensuring Russia's defeat is in a larger sense sending in a message to China because really the greater threat obviously to world order is China. We've seen that Russia, apart from its nuclear weapons, has a hollow military. It's not the threat that it was made out to be before February, before the invasion began.

But this is really an attempt, I think, to degrade Russian military capabilities to the extent that it no longer poses a threat to Western Europe so that the United States can really focus on the main threat, which really is China. Now I think from a Christian perspective, you know, the Lord is in sovereign control, and he has prevented the use of nuclear weapons for 75 years since the end of the Second World War when the United States used them in Japan. There are tens of thousands of nuclear weapons floating around in at least 10 nuclear weapon states. And somehow over the last 75 or 80 years, there has never been another use of nuclear weapons apart from nuclear testing. So I do believe that these weapons, these nuclear weapons, are so destructive that I think the Lord has sovereignly prevented their use up until now.

When we read the prophecies of Revelation, what will happen during the tribulation period, it seems pretty clear that nuclear weapons will be in use at that time. But if this conflict with Russia were to, I guess you could say, devolve into a nuclear confrontation, it would only be because the Lord allows it for his sovereign purposes. I personally believe that Vladimir Putin is a rational actor. He's made a terrible strategic miscalculation in his invasion of Ukraine. But I believe that he understands that if he were to use even a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, that that would provoke such a reaction from the West and particularly from the United States that it would essentially render Russia a non power. Let's put it that way. And so I think that Vladimir Putin has that very much on his mind.

I think senior members of the US administration or the Biden administration have made that very clear to Vladimir Putin and other senior officials in the Kremlin. And so I at this point find it unlikely. But of course, anything could happen. If it didn't turn into that, it would be unlike anything the world has seen before.

And I really find it very hard to believe that the Lord would allow that to happen at this point. But of course, I don't know. Where do you think this is going then? Because Vladimir Putin is a persistent, I guess is the word, determined individual. He's not going to lose face and run out of Ukraine with his tail between his legs.

Considering all the players here, what's a possible resolution to this? Sure, I think the only way that the resolution is for Putin to go, I think we're seeing because of the sanctions from, you know, the Europe and the United States from the Western countries, that there is growing political unrest within Russia. People are beginning to realize that the war in Ukraine has been a fiasco and producing long term damage to Russia, to Russia's strategic position and to its global reputation. And my sense is that Putin is not going to survive this, that there are going to be people within the Kremlin, within the body politic that will remove him sooner rather than later. I guess my biggest concern is who comes after Putin? He has surrounded himself with a lot of hardliners. And there's a very real possibility that the person who comes after Putin will be even more hardline than Putin himself.

There's also a possibility that this will be, there will be an opening for more reform minded individuals. But at this point, it's really difficult to tell, but my sense is that Putin's days are numbered, and that he is not going to survive this politically, whatever happens within the next couple of weeks, months or even year. Soren Kern with us today on the Christian worldview, a geopolitical analyst, also a contributor to the Middle East forum.

We have links to his work at our website, thechristianworldview.org. Okay, just a couple quick little follow ups to this ending the discussion here on the Russian war against Ukraine. Do you have any idea who was responsible for the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline that pumps natural gas from Russia into Europe? In light of the fact that President Biden said this before the war even began. Diplomacy is the very best way forward for all sides. We both agree, including best for Russia in our view. If Russia invades, that means tanks or troops crossing the border of Ukraine again, then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2.

We will bring an end to it. Soren, after that comment by President Biden way back before the war began, it certainly seems that the US had some sort of involvement in this sabotage of the pipeline. But what are your thoughts?

Yeah, sure. There's three main theories. One of the theories is that it was Russia itself. The other theory is that it was Ukraine, Ukrainian Special Forces.

And the third theory is that it was the United States. And so I think basically, it's impossible at this point to really tell, you know, beyond a reason, a reason of a doubt, but it seems to me pretty clear from the analysis that I've read by Sweden and by Finland, by observing the movements of Russian Navy ships around the pipelines that it was indeed Russia. It seems very counterintuitive that Russia would destroy infrastructure that cost over $40 billion to construct over the last 10 or 15 years.

But it seems clear to me that these pipelines will never be used again, now that saltwater has entered into these pipelines that will be corroding quickly. And so it really seems to me to be a permanent severance, I guess you could say of German, particularly German energy dependence on Russia. This is very much in the United States interest to reduce this over dependency that Germany and the rest of Europe has allowed itself to build up on Russia. Are there going to be energy shortages in Europe this winter as a result of this? What is the mood across Europe right now with what's going on in Ukraine?

Sure, I think that there's a lot of fear in Europe. European governments assure us that they have now built up their liquid natural gas reserves so that they have enough to get Europe through the winter. Down here in Spain, where I live, the winters are relatively mild. In Northern Europe, in Germany, in Scandinavian countries, in the Baltics, Poland, the winters are harsh. And I imagine that a lot of people there are concerned about supplies of energy, blackouts.

We here in Spain, in my family, we did purchase like butane tanks and some alternative sources of heating in case there are blackouts here. Most of the energy in Southern Europe comes through Algeria through Northern Africa, so it's not quite as dicey as the situation is through the Northern Europeans that depend mostly on Russia. But I think throughout the European Union, there is a lot of fear.

There's a lot of uncertainty about what's going to happen this winter. And it's really, there's a lot of anger against European governments for allowing this situation to happen in the first place. There's been this obsession with green energy, a lot of ideology that has been driving very bad energy policy for decades, particularly in Germany. The Trump administration even warned the Germans of their overdependency on Russia, and the Germans laughed at President Trump. And so I think people here are beginning to wake up, and I think this could be the beginning of a turnaround where there's a greater acceptance of nuclear energy as an alternative to Russian sources of gas and oil.

So we'll see how harsh the weather is here, how harsh the winter is, if there are indeed blackouts, electricity blackouts this winter, and I think that's going to drive the public policy and the public discourse in the months and years ahead. Soren Kern with us today here on the Christian Real View radio program. He's a geopolitical analyst.

You can find out links to his work at our website, thechristianrealview.org. Let's go to the most geopolitical issue is the state of Israel. Israel will be the center of the center of the end times. Is there anything notable taking place in Israel right now, perhaps with their relationship with Russia?

I believe they're both involved in some way with in Syria. What is going on in Israel right now and enemies that they have like Iran or even the nation of Turkey? Sure, I think the situation in Israel right now is in a flux because of the domestic political scene. The current government, Yair Lapid, he just recently came out in support of a two state solution. So that has the Europeans and the Biden administration very happy. It has a lot of the more conservative folks in Israel and in other parts of the world concerned.

I think right now that Iran is, the protests going on in Iran have the possibility of bringing down the Islamic regime. If that happens, which is a big if, but if that happens, that would definitely give Israel a little bit of breathing space. But as you mentioned, the Israeli relationship with Russia, the key relationship is very strained at the moment because of Israel's support for Ukraine. Israel's had a very tricky geopolitical challenge of trying to side with the West and sort of the democracies who are trying to save the existing world order that I mentioned previously. And they've also been very careful not to offend Russia because they need Russian cooperation to deal with Hezbollah and all these Iranian weapons shipments that are going by land from Iran over through Syria. So when the Israelis strike these shipments of Iranian weapons to Hezbollah, the Israelis need permission from the Russians to do so.

And I, as I understand, that's becoming increasingly difficult to do. I think in the big context, obviously, we know that in Bible prophecy in Ezekiel 38 and 39, there's a coalition of countries, probably led by Russia and Turkey and Iran, which is mentioned as Persia in the Bible, that come against Israel in the end times. The Lord uses these armies. The Bible says that God himself puts a hook in the jaw of Gog. I mentioned previously that Gog could very well be Putin, be the leader of Russia.

Gog would be the leader of Magog, as it is written in the Bible, could be one of Putin's successors. But the Lord engineers this war. He destroys these armies in the mountains of northern Israel with the express purpose of showing the world that he is the defender of Israel and with the express purpose of showing the Jews that he is their God. It's a part of the process of bringing Israel to accept Jesus, their Messiah. So I do think that these geopolitical alignments that we're seeing with Turkey, Iran and Russia are very prophetically significant. And whatever happens in Iran, the Bible is clear that Iran is going to be part of that coalition. And so, yeah, I think there's a lot of uncertainty in Israel right now, a lot of uncertainty in the Middle East. There's a lot of uncertainty about this energy deal that the Biden administration is trying to coerce Israel into signing with Lebanon. There's a large section of the Israeli political establishment that is opposed to all the concessions that Israel made under the rest of the Biden administration. So if Bibi Netanyahu, for example, is elected back into power in the upcoming elections, it could be that this whole energy deal with Lebanon comes undone.

So really, right now, it's just a state of flux, really impossible to know what's going to happen next. Soren Kern with us today here on the Christian Real View. A follow up to the question about Israel and their enemies are Islamic. It doesn't seem that there has been as many high profile acts of Islamic terrorism against Western targets. Is there a reason for that, Soren, or what is going on within the Islamic world right now? Sure, I think that within the Islamic world, there are several trends. Obviously, the situation with Iran is very interesting, as you know that Iran is a Shiite country.

They practice Shiite sect or denomination, I guess, of Islam. They've been extremely aggressive since the revolution there in 1979 to export Shia Islam and export instability to the rest of the Middle East and to the rest of the world. With these protests going on at the moment, it really has distracted, I think, the Iranian leadership.

I certainly hope that this Islamic regime is overthrown and that Iranians can have a more Western oriented sort of government. I think one of the interesting things that has happened, obviously, in the Middle East and Islamic world is really the Abraham Accords. These have brought a lot of moderate or more moderate Islamic states into trade relationships with Israel, particularly Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Arab states. We've got Morocco now involved in that, and I think that has moderated in, to a large extent, a lot of the Islamic extremism. Of course, Turkey is the big if.

President Erdogan in Turkey is trying to, how can you say, reverse serious economic decline in the country ahead of upcoming elections. And so he has reached out to Israel. Israel is an important trading partner, potentially a very important energy partner. But Turkish government's policy on Israel is always determined by the Palestinian issue. And so if there's another war in Gaza or if there's another uprising in the West Bank, it's pretty clear that the Turks will side with the Palestinians. So even this outreach recently between Turkey and Israel, I think, is very much dependent.

It's very, very unstable. It's very much dependent on what happens with the Palestinian issue. There have been a lot of jihadist attacks here in Europe. They're almost rarely mentioned anymore, but I would say hardly a week goes by where there's not some kind of a bombing or some kind of a stabbing or some kind of a self-immolation. These are not attacks that have high numbers of casualties, so they don't always make it in the news. But for a specialist who follows these things, you can see that even with the decline of the Islamic State, extreme Islamic ideologies are still very popular in Europe, particularly among the younger generations.

And I would expect that this tension would continue. Well, I would just encourage listeners to go to our website, thechristianrealview.org, and find the links to Sorin's writings on these kinds of issues, especially the nature of Islam and immigration into Europe and so forth. He really is an expert in those areas.

Okay, one final short break coming up, then more with Sorin Kern. You are listening to The Christian Real View. I'm David Wheaton. Scripture commands that children are to be brought up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Offering biblically sound resources for children is one of our top ministry priorities. At our store at thechristianrealview.org, you will find carefully selected children's Bibles and books along with video and audio resources. Check out the Bible infographics for kids books, Little Pilgrim's Progress, and the popular Adam Raccoon set. Theo is a 15-episode video series addressing key doctrines of the faith that is a must-see for children and adults. Satan and the world are bent on capturing the heart and mind of your child.

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You can get select items for up to 50% off right now at thechristianrealview.org. Let's get back to our final segment with Soren Kern. He's a geopolitical analyst. We're talking about current events that are possible stepping stones to the return of Christ. Just a couple more questions for you, Soren, is something that you referenced earlier in the program. The big player in the Far East is China.

There's a lot to say about them. Of course, one of the things that Americans think about is what if China invades Taiwan? There have been lots of military exercises, kind of test runs and saber rattling, I guess you could call it. What would the fallout of that if China makes a move on Taiwan and what America has always implicitly promised to defend Taiwan? It's not our official policy, apparently, but what would the U.S. be able to do about that?

Do you think that's likely? And then also, I think the part two of the question is China's influence in America. The level, the degree of spying and the stealing of technology has been just pervasive for years and years.

The amount of influence they have in this country based on their money, even in the White House with President Biden and his son. The buying of American businesses and properties, I think even farmland. How do you think about China at this point in time? Alright, so basically I'll get you back to the systems analysis that I gave you with the war in Russia. If you look at the map, Taiwan sort of creates a barrier that contains Chinese expansionism to the rest of the Pacific. So if Taiwan were to fall, the entire American order in the Asia Pacific region would collapse very quickly.

You would have basically almost impossible for the United States to defend South Korea and Japan, Philippines. So Taiwan is a very important strategic barrier that prevents the Chinese military from expanding outward. And so it's very much in the United States' interest, again, to maintain an independent, stable Taiwan that restrains or constrains Chinese military and its expansionism in the Asia Pacific region. It's impossible to know right now whether China is capable of conducting such an invasion. I'm sure that the Chinese are watching Russia's fiasco in Ukraine. And if they launch an attack on Taiwan, they're going to want to be absolutely certain that they don't commit the same errors that Russia committed. There's a lot of speculation ahead of the Communist Party Conference, which is coming up now in middle of October, that's going to give President Xi probably a third term as leader of the CCP, that he might want to do this invasion of Taiwan immediately after he's got his third term confirmed.

It's all speculation at this point. Again, as I draw back to the conversation we had about COVID, I don't know exactly to what extent China was involved in this alone. And to what extent the United States, the more information that comes out, it's pretty clear that the United States were paying for some of the research that was going on in the lab in Wuhan. And so it's not really completely clear if the United States has part of the blame for the COVID pandemic. But what's completely clear to me is that the Chinese withheld information about this spread of the pandemic in the early months that did tremendous economic damage to the West.

And I think that geopolitically, as I mentioned, the world is never going to be the same pre-COVID and post-COVID. And part of that is economics. The United States and the Western Europeans printed so much money.

There's so much money in circulation that's created this inflation. There's absolute chaos in European financial markets at the moment and I suppose in the United States as well. So China really has succeeded to a great extent in weakening the United States and weakening the West. And so I think that if China just bides its time and there were to be some economic collapse, for example, if there were to be a dollar collapse, which is very much possible, that would bring about the almost immediate collapse of the American world order. Without the economic strength, there is no way that the United States can maintain the military presence all over the world.

It seems to me that Chinese leaders are probably just waiting to see what is the result of this economic catastrophe, I would call it, that's unfolding in the United States and Europe right now before they might be able to get control over Taiwan without even invading the country is what I'm trying to say. Soren, this is where we really appreciate your coming on the program to put some dots that need to be connected and understood for Christians to understand what is going on in the world. We're to be watchmen. We're to understand the times.

We're to understand the world around us. We don't know when Christ is returning. We know that He is going to. God keeps His promises, and He is sovereignly moving all things toward His consummation for this world. And it may, likely, will not be getting better if you have a premillennial view. You read Revelation and what the tribulation is like, it's going to be a terrible time on earth. But believers are going to have much hope, and hope isn't just hopey hope, it's a guarantee on what's going to come based on what God has said in His word.

So we thank you for bringing all these things up in these various regions and entities around the world, but just have one final question for you. In light of all this, what do you want to leave Christians with today as to how we should be thinking about the world situation, what kind of attitude we should have for it, what we should be doing when we have this sense of an imminent, potentially, rapture of the church, rapture of believers, the start of the tribulation, the rise of the Antichrist. I mean, this is an incredibly dynamic and exciting time to be alive, but very troubling as well, too.

So what would your message be to Christians listening today? Sure, I think it's actually a very difficult time to be alive in one sense. There's so much uncertainty in the world, there's so much danger. We talked about the nuclear weapons issue, it's extremely dangerous. You know, we look at what's going on in Israel and, you know, the government seems to be willing to give Palestinians a state.

This will bring about the wrath of God, according to the Bible, because when the land becomes divided, that's when the Lord's anger really comes against the world and against Israel itself. But I think what we're seeing with possible currency collapse, if the US dollar collapses, it's very clear that will be replaced with a global currency, probably digital currencies that will be able for government to control. We talked about the, you know, what happened during COVID, maybe say it was a test run for what happens during the tribulation period. I think one of the common denominators about all this is the erosion of individual liberties, liberties that we became accustomed to when we were growing up. You know, you see a lot of censorship on social media.

Now you see banks and financial institutions that want to censor or even cut people with conservative viewpoints out of the financial system. This is just the beginning of what is to come. And so yeah, we don't know when exactly the rapture is going to happen. We know it's imminent.

I believe it's very close. As a geopolitical analyst, I don't see how the existing world order can continue for much longer because there's so many tensions. There's so much friction. And any moment the whole system can just implode or explode. Either way you look at it, you know, so the way I look at it is the Lord is in sovereign control. It's not really a whole lot we can do about what's going on in the world other than be informed. And I guess we can pray for salvation of our friends and our family members. And that's the only thing that I can advise at this point, you know, is that we looking forward to the Lord's return. We're looking forward to when we have our redemption bodies, and we're free from sin. We're free from the curse that's been placed upon this world. And in the meantime, we have to stay strong, have faith in the Lord that He has everything under control, that He has our best interests at heart.

And other than that, I don't see anything else that anybody can do really at this point. There is a war in the heavenlies taking place. We see it in the book of Job in the opening chapter. That mostly unseen invisible war explains so much of what is going on today, including something we didn't discuss, the complete moral rebellion that is taking place in our country and around the world against God with regards to abortion, homosexuality and transgenderism, critical race theory, and all these sinful humanistic world views that capture and lead away the hearts and minds of men. But Soren, we so much appreciate who you are, what you stand for, your biblical perspective and what's going on in the world.

It's extremely helpful to us. It's very difficult nowadays to get truthful information about what's taking place. That's, again, another one of the fallouts of the ramifications of COVID is just the loss of any sort of truthfulness. It's the expansion of the lie everywhere. We don't trust anything.

This presidential administration tells us everything is politicized and misdirection and all these kinds of things. So we appreciate you, Soren, for researching and digging hard and using a biblical worldview to interpret the times in which we are living. Thank you for coming on the Christian Real View today. We just wish all of God's best and grace to you and your family. Thank you.

My pleasure. Well, I hope you gained from listening to the interview with Soren Kern today. A lot was said.

And the big takeaway is this. For all these troubling events going on, you can have peace and understanding in the midst of it all if you know the God who is in control of it all. If you have never put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, I encourage you to do so. Obey Christ's command to repent of your sin and place your faith for forgiveness and reconciliation with God in eternal life in heaven, in who Jesus Christ is, the Son of God, and what he did for you. Pay the penalty you deserve to pay for your sins on that cross. Rose again. He ascended into heaven.

He's at the right hand of God and he's coming back again someday. You can count on it. Thank you for joining us today on the Christian Real View radio program. In just a moment there will be all kinds of information on this nonprofit radio ministry.

Be encouraged. We may live in a very challenging world, but Jesus Christ and his word are the same yesterday and today and forever. So until next time, think biblically, live accordingly, and stand firm. The mission of the Christian Real View is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. We hope today's broadcast encouraged you toward that end. To hear a replay of today's program, order a transcript, or find out what must I do to be saved, go to thechristianrealview.org or call toll-free 1-888-646-2233. The Christian Real View is a listener-supported nonprofit radio ministry furnished by the Overcomer Foundation. To make a donation, become a Christian Real View partner, order resources, subscribe to our free newsletter, or contact us, visit thechristianrealview.org, call 1-888-646-2233, or write to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. That's Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. Thanks for listening to the Christian Real View.