What are you waiting for?

What does it take to get through to you?

Equipping God's Saints (Believers of Christ) 
through the prophecies of the End Times ...

If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Messiah; as your Personal Savior, it is not too late. He is waiting for you, but He will not force you. The longer you wait, the longer you prolong your misery in this world. Matthew 11:28-30 invites us:

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

God revealed many future prophecies to His prophet, Daniel. Many of these prophecies match up with the prophecies revealed to John in the book of Revelation. At the time of Daniel's writtings, Daniel did not always understand what God was telling him. Daniel 12:8-9 says:

8 And I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, O my lord, what shall be the issue and final end of these things?

9 And he [the angel] said, Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the end.

We are in that time right now. We are the people of the “time of the end” and these prophecies that are in the Bible are now being revealed to us so that we can have an understanding.

Many people, in fact most, do not understand the meanings of the book of Revelation. There are secrets within it's teachings that are being revealed now that people of other generations were not able to understand.

This is a very exciting time. As we unfold the meanings over the next days and weeks you will realize we are now living in the end times. What that really means is that there is not much time left for those who have not accepted Salvation to make their decision before Jesus Christ's return. Our job as believers is to go out into all the world and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. His wish is that none perish, no, not one.

If you have not accepted Christ as your Savior, I encourage you to not wait a minute longer. Come with me, if you will, and take a personal journey down the Romans Road:
Admit you are a sinner.
Understand that as a sinner, you deserve death.
Believe Jesus Christ died on the cross to save you from sin and death.
Repent by turning from your old life of sin to a new life in Christ.
Receive, through faith in Jesus Christ, his free gift of salvation.

Walk along the Romans Road to Salvation ...

1.  Everyone needs salvation because we have all sinned.

Romans 3:10-12, and 23
As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous—not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.” ... For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. (NLT)

2.  The price (or consequence) of sin is death.

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. (NLT)

3.  Jesus Christ died for our sins. He paid the price for our death.

Romans 5:8
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (NLT)

4.  We receive salvation and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

Romans 10:9-10, and 13
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved ... For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (NLT)

5.  Salvation through Jesus Christ brings us into a relationship of peace with God.

Romans 5:1
Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. (NLT)

Romans 8:1
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. (NLT)

Romans 8:38-39
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NLT)

Responding to Romans Road

Dear Lord,
I admit that I am a sinner. I have done many things that don’t please you. I have lived my life for myself. I am sorry and I repent. I ask you to forgive me. I believe that you died on the cross for me, to save me. You did what I could not do for myself. I come to you now and ask you to take control of my life, I give it to you. Help me to live every day in a way that pleases you. I love you, Lord, and I thank you that I will spend all eternity with you.

Amen.

Welcome to the Family of God!

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, who I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.

Part 5 – Israel's God-Given Destiny

Equipping God's Saints (Believers of Christ) through the Prophecies of the End Times …

Now here's the promise. Remember, God promised Abraham, “In your seed, the whole world is going to be blessed.”

Jesus Christ was born.

Jesus became the greatest Man who had ever lived. He started the greatest religion that more people adhere to today more than any other religion. He wrote the Book that is the best seller of all other books ever written and still is today, 2,000 years later. Here God is fulfilling His promise to Abraham, “In your Seed (speaking of the Messiah) shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.

Most historians say that Herod the Great died in 4 BC and we know he was alive when Jesus was born. That's why we think Jesus was born in 5 or 6 BC, if all these dates are accurate.

Herod the Great, when he heard about the birth of Jesus from the wise men who came to find Jesus, Herod said, “Well, tell me when you find Him. I too want to worship Him.”

But he didn't want to worship Him. He wanted to kill Him because they had asked the question, “Where is this one born King of the Jews?”

God warned Joseph in a dream. “You have got to get the Child out of here because Herod the Great wants to kill Him.”

Joseph and Mary take Jesus. They travel into Egypt and they stayed there until Herod died in 4 BC.

As we continue on, we know what happened. In spite of all the miracles and in spite of all that God did, Jesus was rejected by the Jewish people. John writes about it in John 1:10-12 of his gospel when he says:

“He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.

He came to His own, and His own received him not.

But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name:”

Jesus even in His rejection, He loved the Jewish people and so, He prophecies to them just before his death. He looks over Jerusalem. Luke 19:43 gives us the account and Jesus is now prophesying over the Jews, over Jerusalem:

“For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side.

And shall lay thee even with the ground [your Temple is coming down; the pride of your nation is coming down], and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”

So, you didn't hear the voice of God. You were disobedient to God, consequently, you're going back into exile.

The prophecy came to pass. A few years later in 70 AD, the Roman armies came against Jerusalem led by General Titus. They destroyed the city of Jerusalem, burnt the Temple to the ground and not one stone was left upon another. This prophecy was so thoroughly fulfilled that today the Jews still don't know for sure where the Temple was located on the Temple Mount.

With the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, that began the Second Exile. God is doing exactly what He said. “If you persecute Me, if you disobey Me, then I will drive you into exile.”

The First Exile was 70 years. This exile is going to be 1,878 years. What so terrible did the Jewish people do that they are going to be exiled for 1,878 years? They rejected the Promise; the Covenant; the Seed of Abraham; the Messiah; the Savior of the world; God manifest in the flesh. That's the reason their punishment was so extreme.

We jump ahead to the end of the Second Exile. Now let's look at the prophecy in Ezekiel 37. He's prophesying of the rebirth of the nation of Israel after the Second Exile. In this prophecy, Ezekiel said that God took him out and saw a great valley and this valley was full of dry bones and the Lord said to him, Ezekiel can these bones live?”

Ezekiel said, “I don't know, God. This is terrible.”

What was Ezekiel really seeing? I believe he was seeing Hitler's Holocaust. Have you read the stories of them stacking the Jewish bodies up while they were killing six million Jews during the concentration camps? I believe that Ezekiel saw a picture of the concentration camps. And the Lord said, “Can these bones live? Can this nation ever come back together?”

Ezekiel said, “I don't know.”

And the Lord said, “Prophesy to them.”

As Ezekiel prophecied bone came against bone. If you read the rest of the prophecy, it says, “I will bring the children of Israel from the north, the south, the east and the west. I will gather them back to their own land.”

It happened. After World War II they came together. It's so amazing, the story, because after World War II on November 29, 1947, the United Nations voted to create the the nation of Israel, and for the land of Palestine.

The Israelis accepted it, the Arabs rejected it and started a war the very next day. That was when the Third Temple Era began ~ Israel reborn on May 14, 1948. The vote was taken November 29, 1947 but Israel declared here independence on May 14, 1948.

42 million Arab peoples launched a war against this little nation of Israel. They only had 600,000. 42 million against 600,000. Most of the nations of the world thought Israel was not to survive, but amazingly, God helped her and when the treaty, when the Armistice was signed in 1949, Israel controlled more land than the United Nations had given her, but yet, the Promise of Abraham was not fully restored. They still didn't have Jerusalem.

In 1967 Nassar said, “We're not going to let this Jewish nation survive. Let's go back against them again. They launched a war once again against Israel. Amazingly, Israel defeated all of her neighbors in six days and they came back to the Temple Mount and the great message was sent around the world, “The Temple Mount is in our hands.”

Instead of building their Temple, they were afraid. They feared the world community. They feared the United Nations.

Our next lesson is entitled “Israel ~ God's Prophetic Timeclock.” God's not done with this story. We've heard the past, now in our next lesson, we're going to hear the future. You don't want to miss it because it's still happening right now.

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, who I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.

Part 4 – Israel's God-Given Destiny

Equipping God's Saints (Believers of Christ) through the Prophecies of the End Times …

In our prior lessons we learned about Abraham and his special calling. We learned about the Promised Land and the Promised Seed and that covenant is still in place today. We also found that God especially chose Mount Moriah which is now the Temple Mount, to place His Name there forever.

Now, we will witness the destruction of the first Temple and learn of Israel's first exile, the 70 years foretold by the Prophet, Jeremiah. We will also witness the supernatural events that enabled the building of the second Temple. Finally we will learn about the destruction of the second Temple and the beginning of the second exile.

Let's go to Solomon's prayer. Solomon finished the beautiful temple on the Temple Mount on Mount Moriah. He prays this dedictatorial prayer to the Lord in 1 Kings chapter 8, stating:

“If your people are scattered throughout the world because of their disobedience and their rebellion, because of their idolatry, God, I am asking you today, if in their captivity, if in their exile, they repent and turn their face to this place, I'm asking you to hear their prayer and to gather them again.”

After Solomon finished this wonderful prayer, it's time to offer the sacrifice. The sacrifice is placed on the altar and the scripture tells us that fire supernaturally came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices and the glory of the Lord filled the house so much that the priest could not even minister and the children of Israel, when they wsaw the fire fall and they saw the glory of the Lord, they put their foreheads to the pavement. They bowed and they worshipped and they magnified God.

This was something that the nation of Israel has never forgotten. Even to this day as they're thinking of building their third Temple, they believe when they dedicate it that the Glory of God will again come and the fire of God will again fall as a sign of God's approval on what they have done.

So this caused the Temple Mount and the Temple to be the center of Jewish life. The heart and the soul of the Jewish Nation and the center of their worship unto the Lord.

God warned Israel way back then about what would happen if they were disobedient. He said to them in 1 Kings 9:6-7:

“But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them:

Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be proverb and a byword among all people.”

God said this is what's going to happen to you if you fail to walk with me, love me and to worship me.

Why does God drive Israel into exile?

Remember, there is the First Temple Era, then the First Exile. The Second Temple. The Second Exile. The Second Exile today is over and we're in the Third Temple Era.

It's important for us to know how God thinks. They were driven into exile because they forsook the Lord. 1 Kings 9:8-9 says:

“And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss, and they shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and to this house?

And they shall answer, Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil.”

They've gone; they've worshiped other gods. This shows how God dealt with Israel through time. Now we will move from the First Temple Era.

We know that Solomon completed the building of the first Temple in 968 BC and it stoood for the next 400 years. At the end of this time period called the First Temple Era, Israel was in a horrible state of backsliding and finally God said, “I can't take it anymore. I'm going to drive this people out. I'm going to drive them into exile. I'm going to take them to the bottom until they can get all of this junk they've accumulated in their heart. Until they, somehow, can be driven to a place of repentance.”

And God sent this Prophet by the name of Jeremiah. His prophecy was that the King of Babylon was going to come. God was going to send him. He would invade the land at Israel and the children of Israel would be carried away into captivity for 70 years.

Coming up we are going to meet the great Prophet Daniel. We will see how the prophecies he foretold came to pass and we will recount his adventure in the lions den.

As we know EVERY prophecy in the Bible will be fulfilled. You need to understand this concept because we are living in the end times right now. If you are not ready, you need to evaluate your standing with Almight God. Time is running out!

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, who I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.

Part 3 – Israel's God-Given Destiny

Equipping God's Saints (Believers of Christ) through the Prophecies of the End Times …

Skipping ahead 1,000 years after Abraham, Isaac and Jacob lived. After the 12 Tribes of Israel were born. After Israel was established by God.

1,000 years later, another prominent figure in the plan of God and in Jewish history was born. His name was David. David was the second king of the nation of Israel. God loved David. He killed the giant. He became a deliverer to the people of Israel.

However, as time went along, the spiritual climate of Israel began to deginerate and God became angry with Israel. Scripture says God moved David to number Israel. God had told the kings of Israel not to number the people. God said, “I don't want you relying on your numbers. I want you relying on Me.” But, God moved David to number the people, so David did it. His General Joab tried to talk him out of it, but he went ahead and did it, anyway.

After he did it, his heart smote him. He knew he had sinned against God. He knew he was in trouble so he inquired of the Lord. He sent for the prophet, Gad. He said, “I have sinned terribly. I know judgement's coming for my iniquity. What do I do?”

The prophet said, “You have three choices.”

1. You can run from your enemies for 3 months
2. You can have 7 years of famine in the land
3. You can have 3 days of terrible pestilence from God

David decided to fall into the hands of God because he knew God is merciful, so he took the 3 days of pestilence.

The pestilence hit Israel. 70,000 people died and it wasn't stopping. David cried to the Lord, “I did this. Not the people. And You're taking this out on the people. Please, if you have to judge, judge me. But stop this. How do I stop this?” 2 Samuel 24:18 says:

“And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

Then in Samuel 24:24 it says:

“And the king said unto Araunah, nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price:”

What had happened was Araunah said he would give King David the threshingfloor. He would give him the oxen for the sacrifice. Anything King David needed, Araunah would give him for the sake of the nation of Israel. But King David said in Samuel 24:24:

“And the king said unto Araunah, nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.”

David did not want to worship God at no cost to himself. He wanted to give of himself. David loved God.

The Threshingfloor of Araunah is the same as Mt. Moriah and the same as the Temple Mount. There is a huge dispute in our world going on today as to who actually owns the Temple Mount. The Muslims say it should belong to them. The Jews say it should belong to them. The Catholic Church and Chritianity sometimes says it should be ours. The true answer is: David bought it for the nation of Israel. He bought the threshingfloor of Araunah.

2 Chronicles 3:1 tells us:

“Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.”

Solomon, the son of David, began to build the first Temple. David wanted to do it but God had said No because David had killed too many people. God told David his son, Solomon, would do it.

Notice how it says it's in the Mount Moriah and it's the threshingfloor of Ornan. So God takes Abraham to that specific mountain to offer Isaac 1,000 years prior. He again chooses this particular place because Almighty God intended to have a place on this earth where He, Himself, would place His name. It actually says in 1 Kings 9:1-3:

“And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the LORD, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do. That the LORD appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon.

And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.”

God said He will put His name there, forever. In This place. He had chosen Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is a small, relatively insignificant city, yet there had been more wars fought over Jerusalem than any other city on the face of this earth. Why? There's been 40 wars so far fought over this little city of Jerusalem. It's not important militarily, economically or agriculturally, yet it seems every world leader has to go there. Why is that? Because Almighty God said He is going to put His Name there. The Battle of Armageddon will be fought over this 35 acres. It's the most disputed real estate in the world.

Next, we will be talking about the first exile, the destruction of the first temple and the second temple. It's an important story that has everything to do with the third temple that is getting ready to be built in the very near future. It's all the prophecies of the past of Israel, the present of Israel, and the future of Israel. It's going to affect you, me and the entire world.

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, who I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.

Part 2 – Israel's God-Given Destiny

Equipping God's Saints (Believers of Christ) through the Prophecies of the End Times …

In Part 1 we met Abraham (100 years old) and Sarah (90 years old). God had made a covenant, two unbreakable promises with Abraham:

1. The promise of the Promised Land
2. The promise of the Promised Seed

God gave Abraham and Sarah a miraculous son named Isaac. As the years passed, everything seemed to be going wonderful for Abraham as his relationship with his son, Isaac, developed, and Abraham continued to walk with God.

The time came when God needed to test Abraham. If God is going to make Abraham the pivot of human history... The father of the physical people of God upon the earth ~ The Jews. The father of the spiritual people of God upon the earth ~ The Church... He's got to make sure where Abraham really stands in his loyalties. In Genesis 22:1-2

“And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, behold, Here I am, and he said, take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”

Wow! What a test God was giving Abraham. He told him to take the joy of his life, his long awaited promise and prove to God which he loves: God, himself, or does he simply love God's blessing, God's promise. God needed to know which one Abraham loved the most. Abraham's faith was tested.

God led Abraham to Moriah. Why is that important? Because Mount Moriah, 1,000 years later, was destined to be the Temple Mount. King David built the first Temple there and it is still known as the Temple Mount, today. Where we are today, God was planning this all out in 2,000 BC.

When Abraham, Isaac and their servants get to the mountain, Abraham tells his servants to “stay there and the lad and I will go to yonder mountain to worship and RETURN.” What a declaration of faith.

Abraham had a promise and he knew that God never failed His promises. The promise he had in Isaac was that, “All your seed is going to be blessed”. Abraham probably thought in himself, “How is God going to do this? If He wants me to kill my only son, Isaac, and my seed is to be blessed in Isaac, and Isaac has no children yet, God is either going to stop me before I kill him, or He will raise Isaac from the dead. God cannot break His covenant.

Abraham and Isaac get up there and Abraham binds Isaac's hands and legs and lays him on the alter. He raises the knife over the son he loves so dearly.

This is going to happen to everyone of us who walk with God. Sooner or later God is going to ask you for the very thing that you love the most because He wants to know that we love Him more than we love anything else in the world.

In Genesis 22:12-13 is the account of what happened as Abraham had the knife drawn and almost ready to plunge it downward, suddenly the voice of an angel spoke,

“And he said, lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do though any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not whithheld thy son, thine only son from me.

And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.”

This was a foreshadowing of the fact that you and I were destined to die and yet God provided himself a sacrifice. He made Himself a body and said, “I will die in their place.”

What does God want to know about you and me? He wants to know if we love Him more than anything else. He also wants us to know that He has provided for us a sacrifice

Remember the promise in Genesis 22:18

“And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou has obeyed my voice.”

This is the acid test for all of us. Do we obey God's voice in our life? We have His Word, the Bible. That's His voice. We have His Spirit. That's His voice. That's what God wants to know, not just from Abraham, but from all of us. Have you obeyed My voice?

Notice that “...in thy seed...” is singular. The Apostle Paul made a big deal about that this word was singular. He said in Galatians 3:16

“Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one. And to thy seed, which is Christ.”

All the promise was pointing to the answer of God for the human race, Jesus Christ. So when He said “in your seed all the nations will be blessed...” He's saying in the Messiah. In Jesus Christ will all the nations of the earth be blessed.

Isaac lives and has 2 sons. Everything was wonderful. These sons were twins named Esau and Jacob.

Esau was born first, so he had the birthright and the patriarchal blessing due to him, however, Jacob yearned for the things of God. Esau didn't really care. Esau liked to hunt and hang around with dad. Jacob had this consuming hunger for God and he thought, “If there is a birthright, I want to get it.” He began to plan how he could get this birthright from his brother.

The Bible says, “Seek and ye shall find” and “they that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled.”

One day Esau had been cooking pottage and Jacob had been out on a deer hunt. Jacob comes into the house weary and feint. He drops down into a chair and tells Jacob to give him some of his pottage. He's so tired, he's about to die. He cannot go another step.

Jacob tells him he'll give him a bowl of his pottage if Esau will sell Jacob his birthright. It's a good trade. It's just a piece of paper.

Esau thinks about the offer a moment and thinks it is no good to him. He's about to die. The birthright meant nothing to him. The spiritual things meant nothing to him. Esau was all for the here and now. He was all for the material, the physical. So he sold his birthright.

Later on, Jacob also managed to get Esau's blessing. Jacob then had to run for his life because after the fact, Esau became very angry, especially when he lost the patriarchal blessing. He didn't care that much about the birthright, but he wanted to be a blessed person. So Jacob has to run for his life when his brother, Esau, realizes that Jacob has stolen his blessing.

Jacob ends up going to the household of Laban who is related to Abraham's family. There, he marries 2 wives, Leah and Rachel. He ended up having 12 sons. These 12 sons became the heads of the 12 Tribes of Israel. Now the nation of Israel is being born.

After Jacob had these children, he decided it was time to get his life straightened out. He knew he couldn't keep running forever. He wanted to see his parents again. He wanted to see his brother, Esau, again. He knew it wasn't right to continue to be at odds with Esau. Jacob had spent all his life cheating and cutting corners and trying to take other people's places and he was sick of living this way. He needed to have peace in his life and his heart. So Jacob heads back toward his homeland.

Esau hears Jacob is coming and he goes out to meet him. Jacob knows that Esau is a mighty hunter and he knows that Esau had great wrath against him. The last time Jacob saw his brother, his brother wanted to kill him. So Jacob knows tomorrow might be the crossroads for him.

That night Jacob sends all of his wives, all of his children, all of his servants and all of his cattle across the brook and he says, “I've got to be alone with God.”

All of us will come to a place like that in our own lives.

As Jacob began to pray, the Bible says an angel shows up and the angel begins to wrestle with Jacob. And Jacob wrestles with the angel. Jacob says, “You know, I've got the chance of a lifetime. I've got a visitation of God on my life and I'm not going to miss this.”

He grabbed hold of the angel and they wrestled through the night until finally the breaking of the day. The angel said to Jacob, “You've got to let me go. People are going to be coming by. They are not allowed to see me.”

Jacob said, “I don't care what you say. I will not let you go until you bless me. I'm tired of my lifestyle. I'm tired of not really being right with God. I'm not really being right with my brother.”

Finally the angel said, “Ok. Alright. Tell me your name.”

Jacob said, “My name is Jacob,” which means cheater, supplanter.

The angel said, “Your name is not going to be that anymore. I'm changing your nature and I'm changing your name to Israel. As a prince, thou has prevailed with God and with men.”

That's when the name Israel was born. The name goes on and we have the nation of Israel with us today.

The promise was repeated. This promise of the Promised Land and of the Promised Seed was not simply to Abraham. Notice in Genesis 50:24

“And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land {they were in Egypt} unto the land which He sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

So this was not simply a promise to Abraham, only. This was a promise made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Next, we are going to skip ahead 1,000 years. You won't want to miss what's coming up.

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, who I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.

Part 1 – Israel's God-Given Destiny

Equipping God's Saints (Believers of Christ) through the Prophecies of the End Times …

There are more prophecies about the nation of Israel than almost any other nation. This next series of lessons is about Israel's God-Given Destiny. She is a “chosen nation”.

It's interesting that this little nation of Israel on the Mediterranean Sea makes up less that 1/10 of 1% of the world's population, and yet Israel is in the news day after day, week after week, month after month.

You can't really appreciate the prophecies about Israel which lie ahead of us without understanding the history of Israel. Let's go back to the beginning...

There was a man by the name of Abraham. The first 11 chapters of the Bible are devoted to 2,000 years of human history. Then comes this man, Abraham. God slams on the breaks and spends 12 chapters on one man. This shows us how important Abraham was to God in the plan of the human race.

Abraham became the father of the physical people of God upon the earth ~ The Jews, and the father of the spiritual people of God upon the earth ~ The Church. God's call to Abraham is recorded in Genesis 12: 1-3

“Now the Lord had said unto Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

God was calling Abraham to the Promised Land. That is the land today known as the nation of Israel. This one man is being told that every family will be blessed because of him. That gives us 2 things to remember:

1. I will bless you
2. I will bless those that bless you and curse those that curse you.

Does this still apply to the nation of Israel, the seed of Abraham, today? Actually, it does.

Let's talk about the Promised Land. There are 2 promises that God gave to Abraham.

1. The promise of the Promised Land
2. The promise of the Promised Seed

Genesis 15:12 tells us about the Promised Land:

“And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram/ and, lo, on horror of great darkness fell upon him.”

God had told Abraham He wanted Abraham to prepare a sacrifice, lay the pieces out. When Abraham did that, that's when this darkness came on him and Abraham actually fell into a trance. Now let's look at Genesis 15: 17-18

“And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day, the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:”

Abraham had journed to the Promised Land. He was in the land of Israel when God made this promise, this unbreakable covenant saying, “unto thy seed have I given this land.” Here God gave Abraham the promise of a homeland in the nation of Israel, and He lays out the rough boundaries. From the river of Egypt in the south all the way to the Euphrates in the north.

Israel has never really had all this land except during the era of David and Solomon did they actually rule. They ruled all that land and it has not been dones since then. Israel doesn't have all that land, now, but the promise is still as valid as it has ever been.

Now let's talk about the Promised Seed in Genesis 17:19

“And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.”

This promise is being made to Abraham, who is 100 years old. Sarah is 90 years old. According to the scripture, Sarah had already gone through the change of life. For this promise to be made that she is going to have a baby after this time, it's almost as supernatural as the virgin birth that would bring forth the promised seed that God is telling Abraham about right here. Why does God do things like this? Why does God create extraordinary circumstances?

It's to get our attention. God wants to make us realize His plan is in progress. That He is doing something in the earth.

Well, sure enough, Sarah became pregnant, the baby was born and they called him Isaac. They knew this was a very special child. The whole neighborhood, everyone that knew Abraham and Sarah, I'm sure thought this was incredible. Even to the point of thinking that maybe there is something to this Abraham when he said God has given him a Promised Land and God has given him a Promised Seed.

Is God working his plan in the earth? We are going to find out as we go along that that is exactly the case. You'll want to stay tuned...

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, who I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.

Part 5 – New World Order

Equipping God's Saints (Believers of Christ) through the Prophecies of the End Times …

In our final part of these lessons about the New World Order, we will discuss some other quotes.

August 14, 1986 was the celebration of the 25^th Anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall. The USA Today newspaper printed an article titled: “Berlin Wall: West Is Somber, East Is Festive. The Berlin Wall's 25^th Anniversary Wednesday spotlighted its unique roll as the stark symbol of East-West differences. The bricks and mortar of propaganda - the 29 mile wound that won't heal.”

This sounds like the 3 ½ Super Powers to rule the world that we discussed in our previous lesson.

Mikhail Gorbachev had burst on the world scene in 1985. he was capturing the imagination of the world. He was talking about freedom for all people. We didn't know whether to believe him or not.

April 29, 1989 Dayton Daily News printed an article that said, “Gorbachev must now tear down the wall. Mikhail Gorbachev has backed himself into a corner: if he's for real, he's got to tear down the Berlin Wall.”

All the attention of the world was now being focused on the Berlin Wall.

As the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, we saw Prophecies of the Bible being fulfilled, yet again.

November 20, 1989, Time Magazine printed an article which said, “Wall of shame 1961-1989” “It was the most palpable evidence of a deep wound in European civilization and it is finally gone...”

2,000 years ago, in the prophecy of Revelation 13, the Bible calls the division of the third head of the leopard the wound that just won't heal. It was a deadly wound, but the deadly wound was healed. What happened when the deadly wound was healed?

When the Berlin Wall came down, that would give birth to the New World Order. George HW Bush, Makhail Gorbechev and Pope John Paul II, within 20 days of the fall of the Berlin Wall, met together at Malta and when they came out of those meetings from November 30 – December 1, 1989, they announced the birth of the New World Order.

The Prophecies are amazing when we see what God has made available to us to understand.

Mr. Dick Cheney, who has been much maligned because of his role in the Presidency of George W Bush, made an interesting statement. He had been the Secretary of Defense under George HW Bush. On September 29, 1991, the Indianapolis Star published an article about the now Vice President Cheney. Mr. Cheney was explaining why that there was this treaty signed to reduce weapons. There was a mass reduction of weapons and he explains it in this article, “There is a good reason to take these steps now. The world is in a new era of promise that started two years ago with the collapse of the Berlin Wall.”

He's saying this in 1991 and he know that a new era of promise started in 1989 with the collapse of the Berlin Wall. It was actually the birth of the New World Order.

On November 9, 1999 Merrill Lynch published a full page advertisement in an attempt to advertise their financial services but in it they said: “The world is 10 years old today! It was born when the wall fell in 1989. It's no surprise that the world's youngest economy – The Global Economy – is still finding its bearings . The intricate checks and balances that stable economies are only incorporated with time. Many world markets are only recently freed. Governed for the first time by the emotions of the people rather than the fists of the state. From where we sit, none of this diminishes the promise offered a decade ago by the demise of the walled-off world... The spread of free markets and democracy around the world is permitting more people everywhere to turn their aspirations into achievements and technology, properly harnessed and liberally distributed, has the power to erase not just geographical borders but also human ones. It seems to us that for a 10-year-old, the world continues to hold great promise. In the meantime, no one ever said growing up was easy.”

Mr. Strobe Talbot (who worked in the Clinton Administration for 7 years, was roommate of Bill Clinton when Rhodes Scholars in London, and is currently President of the Brookings Institute) in Time Magazine in 1992 in an article called “The Birth of the Global Nation” stated that in the 21^st Century, national sovereignty as we know it would cease to exist. We would all answer to a single global authority.

Susan Rice (who was President Obama's Secretary Affairs Advisor, worked under Strobe Talbot at the Brookings Institute) has been tapped by President Obama to be our Ambassador to the United Nations.

What we are watching is World Government Globalization. World Trade, World Bank, World Criminal Court... All of these terms we are watching the One-World Government. It's right now. New World Order is World Government. It's in YOUR Bible and you're watching it form right now.

Aren't you glad for the prophecies of the Bible? Without that we would be pretty well lost. We wouldn't know what was coming next.

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, who I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.

Part 4 – New World Order

Equipping God's Saints (Believers of Christ) through the Prophecies of the End Times …

We have talked about the combination beast of Revelation 13. The beast with the body of the leopard, the feet of the bear, the mouth of the lion, the ten horns of the 10-horned kingdom. The lion is Great Britain, the bear is Russia, the leopard is Germany, and the 10-horns represent the Revived Holy Roman Empire (the European Union), which is occurring now in Europe. This shows the formation of the New World Order.

We also talked some about the formation of the United Nations which is the one-world governmental system that will soon be used to rule the world. The Antichrist will dominate the United Nations and use it's structure to establish his prophesied one-world government.

After the United nations was formed in 1945, everything did not work exactly like it was anticipated. The Soviet Union received so much of Europe as a result of Yalta and as a result of Alger Hiss that there was a lot of tension. Russia moved to gain in peace what Adolph Hitler had failed to gain in war and it actually looked like for a while, that Russia would end up ruling all of Europe and that Communism would dominate all of Europe.

In order to head this off, the United States of America lead the western powers into NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It was a military alliance to counter the Warsaw Pact, which was the Communist block of Eastern Europe.

The UN was rendered largely ineffective at this time because of the Cold War. The United States was given veto power at the formation of the United Nations. The members of congress were unwilling to approve a world government structure unless the USA had absolute veto power. When the USA got veto power, then Great Britain said we want veto power, France said we want veto power, china and the USSR, all of them victor nations of World War II, were given veto power. The formed what was called The Big Five, the five permanent members of the security council and that's where the real power lies. They could veto almost anything that this world government structure decided to do. That's the reason that they were able to get this approved in congress. Without that concession, it would not have happened.

Notice in Revelation 13:3 where it says:

“And I saw one of his (seven) heads as it were, wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the (One-World Government) beast.”

Make sure you understand that it does not say the beast was killed and it does not say the Antichrist was killed and rose again. It says one of the seven heads was wounded to death. It is absolutely impossible to understand which one of the heads, or what this deadly wound is really all about unless we know what the heads are.

In review, there were seven heads in Daniel 7. They were all brought over in the combo beast, the World Government Beast of Revelation 13. It has one head for the lion, one for the bear, four for the leopard, and one for the 10-Horned beast.

After World War II the allies got together, Russia, Great Britain, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and they said, “You know, there's something fundamentally flawed at the heart of the German soul. They continually plunge us into war. They took us into the Franco-German War of 1870, World War I, World War II...We've got to do something to insure this will never happen again.” They made a decision that they would cut Germany in half. They created East Germany and put it under the Communist sphere of influence and under the Soviet Union. They created West Germany and put that under the allied sphere of influence. In so doing, they reduced these two different German nations to a point to where they didn't have enough population or financial muscle to threaten world peace again. At that time, the headlines screamed, “Germany is dead. She will never rise again.”

When the Communisty reality set into East Germany and into Eastern Europe, a lot of people in Eastern Europe said, We want to get away from the communist tyranny.” They begin to flee into West Germany and into Western Europe. That's when the Soviet Union decided on August 14, 1961 to build the Berlin Wall, the 29-mile wall that divided East Berlin from West Berlin. They also put up the Iron Curtain and they established lookout posts all the way through Europe, separating Eastern Europe from Western Europe. This divided not only Europe, but more specifically, Germany. There was so much conflict over all this that a lot of people thought the United States of America and the Soviet Union would go to war.

Studying the scriptures of Revelation 13:1-2, it looks like Great Britain and the Soviet Union is going to end up together with Germany and with the countries of Europe. But seeing all the conflict going on with the Cold War, it causes you to wonder how could this ever happen?

Interestingly, the March 29, 1968 edition of Life Magazine showed on the cover an article inside writen by George W. Ball, Deputy Secretary of State at that time, titled: “Three And A Half Super Powers To Rule The World”. In this article, he was proposing exactly what we are reading about in Revelation 13. He was saying how in this time, there is enough nuclear weaponry to destroy all human, plant and animal life all off the earth 25 times over. Now, this was back in 1968. He was also talking about the divisions that were causing the tensions. He said, “Somehow we've got to find a new global structure that will get rid of these terrible conflicts that threaten to blow up all of mankind.”

The 3 ½ Super Powers he was referring to were the United States, the Soviet Union, the European Union, and his half power was Japan. He felt that if these 4 powers could get together, they could insure the borders where they are, we would not tolerate any borders ever being moved again, and we would not let little third rate powers pull the two nuclear super powers into conflict and threaten to destroy the world.

He had a special section on Germany where he talked about the division of Europe, the iron curtain, and in particular, the division of Germany and the Berlin Wall.

Right within his article he said, “... Where the division that festers like a rusty knife wound must someday be healed.”

This makes us think about the scripture, one of the heads... The four heads of the leopard, Germany, are the 1^st Reich, the 2^nd Reich, the 3^rd Reich, and the 4^th Reich which is now rising. We know that a beast in bible prophecy represents a nation or a kingdom and multiple heads on that beast represent the number of times that kingdom will rise and fall.

If the 3^rd head of the leopard is the one that was divided when Hitler's 3^rd Reich was cut in half, when the deadly wound is healed, that will cause the whole world to wonder after the world government beast. This shows us that the Berlin Wall had a special role to play and that the Berlin Wall was coming down.

Pastor Irvin Baxter, from where my resourses come for all of these teachings in this blog, started teaching in 1968 that the Berlin Wall would come down and when that happened, it would spell the beginning of the New World Order. In 1986, Pastor Baxtor published his first book, A Message For The President, telling all about the Berlin Wall coming down. As we know, November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall, in fact, did come down.

Dear Ones, the Prophecies of the Bible are true and they WILL ALL BE fulfilled. Over 100 prophecies were foretold about the birth of Jesus Christ. Every single one of them were fulfilled. All the prophcies for the End Times will be fulfilled. We are living in the End Times, RIGHT NOW. Don't wait until it's too late. You need to BE READY!

If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior yet, for whatever reason, you need to reconsider. Today is the day of YOUR Salvation.

Repent of your sins, accept God's forgiveness and ask Christ into your heart. You will soon realize that along with the eternal life in heaven He promises you, Christ is the answer to all your issues here on earth.

Next we will discuss some other quotes as we were moving through this...

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, who I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.