Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Printer Friendly PDF!

May 2011 Issue

Another Dramatic Shift on the Mideast Scene
May 1st, 2011
Art Sadlier
Uncategorized

In a sudden and unexpected move, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have signed a reunification agreement. The move calls for the forming of a unity government that would bring Hamas into power in Judea and Samaria as part of this new government.

This will terminate the peace process at this point. Israel could never allow Hamas to come to power in the West Bank. The whole West Bank would become another Gaza with all of Israel in the range of missiles being supplied to Hama by Iran. Hamas would also be positioned to overwhelm Israel with new and more vicious terror attacks.

Israel has countered with cessation of tax transfers to the Palestinians. Israelis is also threatening to annex the much of the West Bank. The US has threatened to cut off the billions of dollars of aid they send to the Palestinians.

How will the rest of the world react? Will the EU and the UN line up with the Arab world and continue to demand Israel’s surrender? Israel’s yielding is now not even an option that they can entertain.

War seems to be now more certain than ever. Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have made it very clear that war instead of peace is their pre-determined goal.

The great lesson in this turn of events is how quickly and dramatically a major shift can occur in what seems to an entrenched situation. This lesson must be kept in mind as we think of the many other end time scenarios. In a matter of moments the Revived Roman Empire with its ten nation scenario can fall into place. The same applies to the arrival of the Antichrist on the scene. The removal of America from its position of power in the world can happen overnight, allowing the end time events to unfold. The same can also be applied to world government; forces have been at work for some time to bring it about. In God’s time the events and scenarios foretold will come together.

We have for some time been watching as like a giant jig saw puzzle the pieces of end time prophecies have been falling into place. There are still some pieces to be fitted in, but there is nothing more that needs to happen before the trumpet sounds. The world may not see it, but we are not in darkness that day should overtake us as a thief.  

Famine
May 1st, 2011
Art Sadlier
Uncategorized

In Matthew 24 Jesus gave some signs that would occur prior to His second coming. In verse 8, He called the signs that were given in the preceding verses, the beginning signs. He said, "All these are the beginning of sorrows.” When we see these beginning signs start to appear, we know that the rapture is near at hand. We know that the sorrows of the tribulation are being foreshadowed.

Jesus said in Luke 21:28, "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh," the rapture is about to take place.

When we look forward into the tribulation period in Revelation 6:6, we see a scenario of a measure of wheat (enough food to feed one person for one day) being worth a penny (a day’s wage). That leaves nothing for other members of the family or for other needs, it clearly implies famine. In Revelation 6:8, the result of this famine is the death of one quarter of the earth's population.

We have been warned that the world is on the edge of an incredible food shortage. Crazy weather and horrifying natural disasters have wreaked havoc with agricultural production in many areas of the globe over the past couple of years. 

Meanwhile, the price of oil has begun to skyrocket. The entire global economy is predicated on the ability to use massive amounts of inexpensive oil to cheaply produce food and other goods and transport them over vast distances. Without cheap oil the whole system falls apart.

 We are told that topsoil is being depleted at an amazing rate and key aquifers all over the world are being drained at an alarming pace.

There are many indications that we are now entering a period where in much of the world will be there will not be enough food to go around. As competition for food supplies increases, food prices are going to skyrocket. For hundreds of millions the cost of food will far exceed their income.

The following news report gives twenty reasons why the world is on the verge of an incredible famine.

1.     According to the World Bank, 44 million people around the globe have been pushed into extreme poverty since last June because of rising food prices.

2.     The world is losing topsoil at an astounding rate. In fact, according to Lester Brown, "one third of the world's cropland is losing topsoil faster than new soil is forming through natural processes".

3.     Due to U.S. ethanol subsidies, almost a third of all corn grown in the United States is now used for fuel. This is putting a lot of stress on the price of corn.

4.     Due to a lack of water, some countries in the Middle East find themselves forced to almost totally rely on other nations for basic food staples. For example, it is being projected that there will be no more wheat production in Saudi Arabia by the year 2012.

5.     Water tables all over the globe are being depleted at an alarming rate due to "over-pumping". According to the World Bank, there are 130 million people in China and 175 million people in India that are being fed with grain grown with water that is being pumped out of aquifers faster than it can be replaced. So what happens once all of that water is gone?

6.     In the United States, the systematic depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer could eventually turn "America's Breadbasket" back into the "Dust Bowl".

7.     Diseases such as UG99 wheat rust are wiping out increasingly large segments of the world food supply.

8.     The tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis in Japan have rendered vast agricultural areas in that nation unusable. In fact, there are many that believe that eventually a significant portion of northern Japan will be considered to be uninhabitable. Not only that, many are now convinced that the Japanese economy, the third largest economy in the world, is likely to totally collapse as a result of all this.

9.    The price of oil may be the biggest factor on this list. The way that we produce our food is very heavily dependent on oil. The way that we transport our food is very heavily dependent on oil. When you have skyrocketing oil prices, our entire food production system becomes much more expensive. If the price of oil continues to stay high, we are going to see much higher food prices and some forms of food production will no longer make economic sense at all.

10.     At some point the world could experience a very serious fertilizer shortage.

11.     Food inflation is already devastating many economies around the globe. For example, India is dealing with an annual food inflation rate of 18 percent.

12.     According to the United Nations, the global price of food reached a new all-time high in February.

13.     According to the World Bank, the global price of food has risen 36% over the past 12 months.

14.     The commodity price of wheat has approximately doubled since last summer.

15.     The commodity price of corn has also about doubled since last summer.

16.     The commodity price of soybeans is up about 50% since last June.

17.     The commodity price of orange juice has doubled since 2009.

18.     There are about 3 billion people around the globe that live on the equivalent of 2 dollars a day or less and the world was already on the verge of economic disaster before this year even began.

19.     2011 has already been one of the craziest years since World War 2. Revolutions have swept across the Middle East, the United States has gotten involved in the civil war in Libya, Europe is on the verge of a financial meltdown and the U.S. dollar is dying. None of this is good news for global food production.

20.     There have been persistent rumours of shortages at some of the biggest suppliers of emergency food in the United States.

If you are a believer, remember, prophecy is given for a number of reasons:

-  To motivate us to live holy lives pleasing to the Lord.

-  To comfort us with the hope of His return.

-  To teach us about God's holiness and justice.

-  To motivate us to witness to others.

The wilfully blind will not discern the beginning signs now appearing all around us, but Paul said, "But ye brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief" (1Thess. 5:4). 

Messianic Signs Part 3
May 1st, 2011
Art Sadlier
Uncategorized

Do we have proof that God exists? Do we have proof that the Bible is the Word of God? Can we know anything about the future?

The Bible tells us that there is a way to know about spiritual reality and about the future.

In Luke 16 we read about a rich man who had died and gone to hell. He said in effect; send someone back from the grave so that my brothers will not come here. “Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment” (Luke 16:27-28). He was saying that he wanted his brothers to know that hell is real and that the Bible is God’s Word. Send someone back from the dead so that they won’t come to this place!

Abraham answered him in verse 29, “Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.” Abraham was saying they have the Word of God let them hear it. He answered Abraham in verse 30, “And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.” They need someone to come back from the grave to authenticate the scriptures.

Abraham said that won’t work. The way to know about God and about eternity is through the Word of God. Verse 31, “And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”

Moses said hear the prophets, their words have been confirmed by fulfilled prophecies. Examine the fulfilled prophecies and then you will know the Bible is the Word of God. Then you will know that God is the Sovereign Lord who knows the end from the beginning. Fulfilled prophecy proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that the Bible is the Word of God, and the Sovereign God is in control of all of history.

“Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9-10).

The amazing, incredible fulfillment of hundreds and hundreds of Bible prophecies is proof of God’s existence and that the Bible is God’s Word.

The Old Testament prophets foretold of a number of signs that would appear on the world scene just prior to the return of Christ to the earth. Those signs are called the Messianic signs. In two previous articles we have looked at eight of  these Messianic signs that have been fulfilled in recent years.

Sign # 9 - Buying Back the Land

The Lord said to Abraham that the land was a gift to Israel. Genesis 17:8, “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” The prophets also said that Israel would be removed from the land for disobedience. They further stated that in the last days when they returned to the land they would purchase it piece by piece.

Jeremiah 32:42-43, “For thus saith the LORD; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. And fields shall be bought in this land, whereof ye say, It is desolate without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” When Jeremiah made this prophecy the land was desolate and unpopulated.

Verse 44, “Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences, and seal them, and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the valley, and in the cities of the south: for I will cause their captivity to return, saith the LORD.”  “Men shall buy fields,” this true of our day.

Notice the timing in verse 44, “I will cause their captivity to return.” When the Jews returned from Babylon they did not buy land. Cyrus the king of Persia gave them their land back to them. This then is referring to the return of our own day.

In 606 BC just before Israel was carried captive into Babylon Jeremiah performed a symbolic act which was of its self a prophecy of Israel’s return to the land. Jeremiah 32:8-10, “So Hanameel mine uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD. And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle's son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver. And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.”

Jeremiah bought the land, paid the money, the sale was recorded and the title was registered. Jeremiah was saying Israel would be carried away captive and the land will lie desolate and uninhabited by Jews. Though I know I will not return to the land, it will be inhabited by its owners again.

This is a prophecy. First it is prophecy of the fact that Israel will return to the land. Second, when the final return comes, they will purchase the land and have title to their own land.

When will this take place? Verse 44 tells us, “I will cause their captivity to return.” The context here is Israel’s final return to the land. What will happen at that time? “Men shall buy fields for money, and subscribe evidences (sign deeds).”

For 2,600 years that did not happen. It has never happened in all of the history of Israel. That is until the turn of the 20th Century. When Jews first began to settle in Israel they settled in Tel Aviv. They bought all the land available. From that time on the Jews who came to Israel would turn to the wealthy Jewish people around the world. They would turn to families such as the Rothchilds and the Rockefellers who would finance the purchase of the land.

Land was purchased for the numerous Kibbutzim’s that were used for collective farming. Any Jew could go to a Kibbutz and live and work there. They were clean and prosperous. Much of the land was purchased from the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). Often they had to pay for it a second time as squatters would claim the land. Today Jews are still buying houses and land.

In East Jerusalem Jews are buying houses from Arabs. The PA has issued an order that any Arab that sells his house to an Israeli is to be killed, and many have been.Incredibly 2,600 years after Jeremiah’s prophecy the Jews are buying back land piece by piece.

The Bible is the Word of God.

Every line, every jot, every tittle.

Front and back and in the middle.

The Bible is the Word of God.

Sign # 10 - The Trees of Israel

Long ago the enemies of Israel cut down all of her trees; they were God’s sword against Israel.

That action greatly reduced the rainfall and left the land a dry, hot barren wilderness. The prophets said that just before Messiah comes the trees of Israel will be restored. Isaiah 41:19, “I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together.”

In the last 50 years Israel has planted well over 200 million trees of all kinds. Israel now has 280,000 acres of forests. Those trees have had a profound effect on the climate. We are living in the days Isaiah talked about. He was talking about the time of Messiah’s return.

Verse 20, “That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.” Look at the trees today and see this sign and know and understand that the hand of the Lord is at work to prepare for Messiah’s return. Fulfilled prophecy proves the faithfulness of God and it proves the trustworthiness of God’s Word.

Sign # 11 - Increased Rainfall

God’s teaches that when the Jews are in the land God blesses the land. (See Deuteronomy chapters 27- 28)  It also teaches that when the Jews are not in the land the land is cursed. For 2,000 years the Jews were not in the land and the land was dry and barren and desolate. History proves that the Arabs cannot make the land produce. They are not people of the land.

During Bible times there were two seasons of rain in Israel, fall and winter. During the Diaspora there was very little rain in Israel. Joel 2:23, “Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.” Notice the phrase, “hath given” that is the past history of Israel. Then He gives the promise for the future. “He will cause the rain to come down for you...the former and the latter rain.” That is a promise of increased rainfall in the latter days. Joel makes it clear that he is referring to the days just before the Day of the Lord or the tribulation period. Joel 2:1, “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand.”

The timing of the increased rainfall is tied to the return of Israel to the land. It is tied to the coming day of the Lord. The increased rainfall is a sign of the nearness of the coming tribulation period.

The rainfall began to increase in the 20^th century. In the 20^th century there was an increase of 40 percent to 29 inches per year. That increase is directly related to the increase in the Jewish population. As the Jewish population continues to grow, so does the rainfall.

Hosea prophesied that the former and latter rain would be restored to Israel in the time Messiah would appear. Hosea 6:3, “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.”

Today the average rainfall has now increased to 35 inches per year; the day of the Lord is at hand.

Sign # 12 - The Return of the Wild Animals

Ezekiel 39:17, “And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.” The wild animals will be returned to the land. Isaiah 65:25, “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.”

Sign # 13 - Vultures in Israel

For 2,000 years there have been no wild animals in Israel. Today they are returning to the land.

For centuries there were no vultures or birds of prey in Israel. In fact there were very few birds of any kind. Isaiah 34:14-15, “The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his  fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, everyone with her mate.”

Today in Israel there is a growing population of vultures and birds of prey. There are areas in Israel where the IAF are not allowed to fly; the restriction is to protect the areas where the vultures nest.

Because of the 280,000 acres of forests, Israel has become migratory route for large numbers of birds of all kinds.

The stage is set for the tribulation period when the vultures will feed on the slaughtered enemies of Israel. Revelation 19: 17, “And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God.” Also verse 21, “And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”

The whole end time scenario is falling in to place.