Prophetic Pulpit: Jesus must be nearer!

                                                  Conflict in the Middle East

Daniel 9: 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one week. In the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him."  

Like so many others, I woke up this morning with all the innocent Jews and Palestinians suffering so unfairly from the war strongly on my heart. How our hearts break for them! I found myself praying, "Please God, comfort the mourning, protect the innocent, and execute justice quickly to the evil men who have brought this suffering on so many innocent, precious people." 

At this moment, I am reluctant about writing this blog. Is this the time and place? However, I feel it is important that we as God's people understand the prophetic implications. So it is with this heart that I write. 

So, when we look at all the conflict and turmoil happening in the Middle East, we have to ask, prophetically, where is it all going? We know by the scriptures it is not going to get better, only worst, so where is it all going? Though there are a variety of things we can talk about, here is the one thought on my heart right now: it is setting the stage for the Antichrist. 

You see, the scriptures tell us that in the last days the Middle East will be a powder keg ready to explode. However, just before it detonates, the Antichrist will suddenly appear on the scene and do what no President or World Leader has been able to do, bring peace to the Middle East. Daniel 9:27 tells us that he will broker a peace treaty between Israel and the Islamic nations bent on her destruction. Shockingly, these Islamic nations will make peace with Israel and lay down their arms. 

And when this happens, what will the result be? The world will marvel at the wisdom and power of the Antichrist, proclaim him to be some type of savior of the world, and unite and follow him. So when we look at the conflict going on in the Middle East, as the Lord's people we know it is the stage being set for this man to come. 

When I see all the conflict going on in the Middle East right now, it tells me one thing:

the Antichrist is near, so Jesus must be nearer! 

You see, before the Antichrist brings this peace agreement between Israel and the Islamic world that surrounds her, the bible clearly teaches the church will be raptured out of this earth. It is only after "the restrainer" (2 Thessalonians 2:6, 7) has been removed that the Antichrist will be revealed. 

So again, the thought that is so strongly on my heart: if the Antichrist is near, Jesus is nearer! Even at the door!