ARE THESE “THOSE” DAYS?

What do I mean about “those” days? Both in the secular world as well as among a number of religions, people are wondering if these are “the days” that point to a soon coming apocalypse. Much of the secular world would prefer to take a philosophical view of the world situation, saying that the world is only going through one of its endless cycles and everything we are seeing is just part of the ebb and flow of history. Others see it much differently. Many of the world religions have predicted a time of great chaos and apocalypse before an age of peace. This is included as well in the belief system of Christianity as has been predicted in the Word of God.

Earlier in the 20th century, there was an awareness that the world was in a time that was rather unique, and there was an awakening to the fact that the events Jesus had predicted, both to the crowds He was speaking to, and also in private discussion with His disciples, were about to unfold. The awareness grew exponentially when Christian authors like Hal Lindsey and the late Grant Jeffrey wrote a number of books on the subject. When Lindsey’s 1970 book, “The Late Great Planet Earth” was produced as a movie, the excitement and awareness grew and it continued for some years afterward. As time passed, however, people began to lose that awareness of the “season” the world had entered, and the subject began to lose its popularity. This decline in interest became so marked, that it began to bring criticism, and even ridicule for those who dared to try and teach on the subject. In the last handful of years, this has gradually begun to change.

A question often asked is, “Why is it important for me to know the time in history we are living in?” The most obvious reason came from Jesus in Mark 13:

Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming–in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning–lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch! (Mark 13:33-37)

The Apostle Paul spoke to the need for diligence in this area as well. In 1 Thessalonians 5 he wrote these words:

But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another,  just as you also are doing. (verses 1-11)

In these two passages of Scripture we find both our Messiah Jesus and the Apostle Paul being quite outspoken about the fact that a believer must be awake, watching, and praying. The unfolding of the Last Day’s events will catch the unbeliever by surprise, but it should not catch the believer off guard if he has been following the instructions left by the Messiah Himself.

For anyone that pays even partial attention to the news, it is becoming obvious that the world is hurtling toward unprecedented events. There are those who would rather not be aware of the looming threats because it does not give them “happy thoughts.” It is easier to stay oblivious to everything outside of our own limited spheres of life through busy-ness, daily routine, and even unlimited sources of entertainment, whether sports, movies, or video games. We can hide our heads in the sand but that will not keep the inevitable from coming to pass–things that were foretold thousands of years ago.

There have been many who have made claims of supernaturally knowing things about the future. The writings of Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, and Mother Shipton are just a few of these. There are also the religious writings contained in many so-called “holy books”. Islam is one of these and has its own version of what is supposed to come about at the end of the age. Every source claiming to foretell the future with the exception of one, still have a disappointing percentage of actual predictions coming to pass. What is that “one” exception? It is the Bible. Its accuracy percentage is still 100%. What we are witnessing on the world scene today is foretold in this amazing Book, and with supernatural accuracy. It behooves mankind to pay special attention to what it says because it was inspired by the very God who rules absolutely everything that exists. There is none other that knows the entirety of history; past, present, and future. This is because He exists outside of time. The very things we see today have been recorded and preserved for us so that we might know what our existence is all about; and included in that, the details confirming when the human race arrives at “those” days.

It is because of what I see unfolding before my eyes today that I feel it necessary to write this article. There has never been a time when I feared that what I am about to write could explode on the world scene before I even manage to finish writing, like today! These are most certainly “those” days…

In the past few months there has been a heightened expectation of events that could transpire in the fall of 2015, especially in September. Some have tagged it, “The September to Remember.” There were many reasons for this. For the sake of time I won’t go into all of the details, but extraordinary world events just happened to coincide with a series of rare cosmic displays. These started months ago and brought much excitement; and for some, it brought some anxiety, wondering what disasters might unfold. There was plenty of hype on the internet by those who took the matter to extremes. We also had some who cautioned that, although God sometimes follows a certain pattern in the things He does, He is never locked into these same “patterns.” He is, after all…God. Others however, were foolish and gave predictions with dates attached to events that they had no way of confirming. Now that these dates have passed and the predicted disasters did not come about, many are finding themselves trying to find their spiritual equilibrium once again.

Although to most people it may seem that nothing of any real significance came about this past September, I am personally convinced that we are now going to experience a very serious storm of events which will in turn usher in the very Apocalypse that John the Revelator foretold in the last book of the Holy Scriptures, The Revelation of Jesus Christ. This Apocalypse will in turn be interrupted by the literal return of the Messiah, Jesus when He will take total control of the Earth and reign as KING of Kings and LORD of Lords.

I heard someone say that we are now about to experience a tsunami of a wake from the unseen shift that has just happened. I myself happen to believe this is absolutely true. This “tsunami” will include a collapse of the world economy, WW3, natural mega-disasters, societal breakdown and absolutely unimaginable cataclysm—resulting both from the aforementioned, as well as catastrophic cosmic events which will bring destruction to this planet on a scale never before seen—greater even than the Great Flood of Noah’s day. More is recorded in the Word of God about the time we are now moving into than about the 3 ½ years of the Messiah’s ministry on Planet Earth 2,000 years ago!

I will make a few comments about the world economy and the major changes coming to world governance, and then the balance of this article will have to do with how I believe the foundation of World War 3 is being formed right before our eyes.

Many have read Rabbi Jonathan Cahn’s book “The Mystery of the Shemitah.” In this book he went into great detail telling how the Jewish “Shemitah” (every seventh year is known as a Sabbath year) has had an unmistakable effect on the economy of the United States, and also of the rest of the world. This has especially been the case in the years 2001 and again in 2008. In these two time periods, there was an obvious financial crash on the Jewish month and day, the 29th of Elul. Because of the pattern this seemed to be forming, and with the direction the world economy has been heading–especially in the United States, there was great concern about what might happen on Elul 29 in 2015. This date coincided with September 13.

When no major financial crash seemed to evidence on that day, many jumped on the attack, quickly shouting, “False Prophet! False Prophet!” In Cahn’s defense, he had made it abundantly clear many times that people should not assume that just because God brought a stock market collapse about on the two 29th day of Elul, seven years apart, did not mean that God had to do the same thing a third time, no matter how much the pattern seemed to be forming. The accusations are therefore hardly valid. It is quite interesting to see how God’s hand has been involved in the rising and falling of economies, especially of America in the past decades. I highly recommend the reading of Rabbi Cahn’s book, “The Mystery of the Shemitah,” and also his previous book, “The Harbinger.” Both books, as time continues to pass, are proving to be prophetic.

I have patiently listened to many world class economists and read their predictions. Almost as a choir, they are warning of a financial collapse the likes of which this world has never seen. It is not a matter of “if”, but “when”, and the “when” is said to be already unfolding–regardless of the New York stock exchange seeming to be gaining in value. It is artificially propped up to such an extent, that it is expected to fall to at least half of its total value, and that is a conservative estimate…and when it does happen, it will be very quick. The third quarter of this last year shows many signs of this very collapse coming in short order. For example, the world economy lost about 11 trillion dollars of stock value in the third quarter of 2015. Has this happened before? Yes, it has. Yet, this kind of massive loss coming now, together with numerous other undeniable indicators, loudly foretells what is about to happen.

Another major sign of the times has to do with what is happening with world governance. There are great changes happening within the United Nations, and it will affect every single nation on this earth. The New World Order, that leaders have liberally inserted into the verbiage of major speeches for decades, is now being formed.

One notable chain of events that began in September 2015, includes Pope Francis. For the first time in history, a Roman Catholic Pope spoke to the General Assembly of the United Nations. While Pope Francis was on this trip to the United States, he also spoke to a combined session of the United States Congress. This was also a first time event. While in the United States, he also made several other strategic stops for special events. He introduced a new encyclical and became the source of a broad range of rather astonishing statements, although they were not totally unexpected. Comments made about the environment, climate change, and wealth distribution have become subjects discussed by untold talk show hosts and news commentators. His statements were extraordinary, especially since they came from the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, rather than from an official political world leader. His statements and the impact they carry will not be forgotten nor will they be ignored. What he has initiated will prove to be center-stage with unfolding world events.

I would now like to draw our attention to the major events which are unfolding in the Middle East. The situation is very complicated and it is near impossible to remove all the layers from the onion in the few short paragraphs dedicated to this subject in this article. I would at least like to point out a few things that are important to recognize.

The so-called Arab Spring began on December 17th, 2010 with the death of Mohamed Bouazizi, when he set himself on fire in Tunisia. The actual Tunisian revolution started the next day and spread across the Mideast. On January 26, 2011, small peaceful demonstrations began in Syria but things escalated to the point that the Syrian government suspended constitutional rights and there has been a full-fledged civil war ever since.

By April of 2015, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said that the death toll in Syria was over 310,000, with well over one million injured. At that time, over 12 million were in need of immediate life-saving aid, according to the United Nations. These numbers escalated greatly between April and October when this article is being written. As of September 11, 2015, statistics show that about one half of Syria’s 21 million people have been displaced from their homes with 6.5 million still within Syria as refugees and over 4 million having migrated out of Syria completely. The most recent statistics show the death toll at over 360,000! The misery in this torn up nation is beyond imagination, but I’m afraid it is about to get much, much worse. According to my understanding of Bible prophecy, there are two major wars brewing in the Middle East, and although the epicenter will prove to be Jerusalem, or to be more exact, the Temple Mount itself, WW3 is being set up in Syria as I write this article.

Our world today has become intoxicated with the “Palestinian” issue. Unless someone steps back from the barrage of media attacks upon Israel today, it would be impossible to see the facts for what they really are. The biased media makes it look like the Jews are the source of all evil in the Middle East. According to what is commonly reported, there are rumors that the Jews are going to change the current restrictions on Jews praying on the Temple Mount.  It is also reported that the Jews are using excessive force in dealing with attacks on Jewish civilians. The media paints the picture as if the Palestinians are only trying to express their frustrations with the “occupying force,” resulting in senseless murders of innocent Jewish civilians. Jews are accused of slaughtering Muslims without reason, while innocent Jewish people have been attacked with knives, guns, rocks, clubs, and vehicles while standing at bus stops, and then knifed repeatedly while incapacitated on the ground! During this last string of violent attacks, busses are now being shot at and victims knifed after being critically injured. There is now a call from the leadership of Hamas in the Gaza Strip for Palestinians to begin using guns instead of knives and go back to using suicide bombers in crowded locations of Israel’s cities. This may very well turn out to be the beginning of the third intifada. The first intifada started in December of 1987 and did not end until September of 1993. The second intifada began in September of 2000 and ended in February of 2005. If the recent increase in violence turns out to in fact be the beginning of the third intifada, it will lead to a major Mideast war. This will be what is commonly called the Psalms 83 war by Christian prophecy teachers.

I believe there will be an event of some type that will cause Israel to decide they have had enough. It will become clear to Israel’s leadership that the survival of the Jewish State is at stake, and their vow, “Never Again”, will take precedence over the enormous challenges and threat of great loss of life and infrastructure resulting from a major war with Israel’s neighbors.

The Old Testament gives us the identity of Israel’s enemies in this war by their ancient tribal names. In modern terms the enemies arrayed against them will be: Lebanon, Syria, Northwestern Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the Gaza Strip, and from within Israel itself, the Palestinians. These enemies include many terrorist groups fighting in the Middle East today such as Hamas of the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah from Lebanon, and several groups of Palestinians with 60-70% of the population of Jordan being Palestinians. There are also Palestinians in Iraq and other Mideast nations that have never assimilated with the populations of their host nations. From the minor prophets of the Old Testament, it appears that the Palestinians within Israel will be used as pawns to start this war with Israel. Asaph the seer prophesied 3,000 years ago that Israel’s enemies would band together and attempt to rid the world of any remembrance or trace of the Jews at end of the age. We have heard this threat many times from the Muslim nations in the recent weeks, months, and years.

At this time Jordan and Egypt still have a peace treaty with Israel but both treaties are presently in jeopardy. There are demonstrations within both nations demanding that the leaderships of Egypt and Jordan cancel these treaties. How long until this becomes a reality? It won’t be long now. There are additional end of the age prophecies being fulfilled that are driving this Mideast war to happen sooner rather than later. We will look at these shortly.

Many may think that another Mideast war will look something like the other wars that Israel has fought since its independence on May 15, 1948. This war however will like none Israel has had to fight yet. Scriptures tell us that Israel will in fact win this war, and they will do it with the power of their exceedingly strong military, as God described to the prophet Ezekiel. Like all of Israel’s other wars, however, it won’t be their military on its own that wins this war. God will have His hand behind Israel’s victory. As a result, Israel will apparently increase their territory greatly. Could it be that Israel takes back its ancient homeland that God promised to Abraham? It does seem that way. This means that Syria will no longer be the Syria we see on the map today. Lebanon will lose its autonomy as will Jordan. Israel’s original promised land extended from the Euphrates River all the way to the Nile River in Egypt. This would change the borders of Iraq greatly as well. Could this be the result of this war? I believe so!

The Old Testament tells us that God advises Saudi Arabia through His prophets to stay out of this conflict but they don’t listen. As a result, they will experience a devastating defeat as well! What will happen with the Palestinians? The Bible tells us that they will not survive this war! According to the prophet Obadiah, Esau’s descendants will receive their just recompense for all of their treachery throughout history, all the way back to the time of Esau himself. Obadiah tells us that Esau will not have any descendants left after everything is over.

This however is not all that will transpire. Biblical prophecies tell us that there will be enormous loss of life. Even though Israel will take great losses as a result of this war, her enemies will be totally devastated. Damascus is described as being totally obliterated, along with everything around it, all the way down to Amman Jordan! Even though we can today see video of endless devastation of the city of Damascus from photos taken by Russian drones, I believe Isaiah 17 indicates that Damascus will be totally uninhabitable for human beings after an overnight event very soon.

Another major event that may happen at the same time or maybe even before, is a devastating attack upon ancient Elam. This appears to be a first strike made on Iran’s nuclear facilities. This attack is described in the book of Jeremiah as being so devastating, that the surviving population from the area must evacuate and move to nations across the globe!

How much time is between all these conflicts? No one really knows, but it appears that they all happen within a very short period of time. They could all be part of the same Middle East war that Asaph the seer foretold. These are the days in which you and I are living!

I mentioned earlier that there are other Old Testament prophecies that are being fulfilled that I believe will expedite the fulfillment of the Psalms 83 Mideast war. A prophetic war that many more are familiar with than what is coined the “Psalm 83” war is the war of “Gog and Magog” or the “Ezekiel 38-39” war. This is an enormous war that God details to Ezekiel in chapters 38 and 39 of his amazing Old Testament book. As powerful as Israel’s military is described as being by the God of the universe, this attack that Israel will be faced with is way beyond their capacity to deal with. Ezekiel tells us that God sees the attack being formulated. Knowing that this attack is an all-out attack originating from hell itself to wipe the nation of Israel off of the globe, God’s fury rises up in His face and He personally intervenes and destroys 85% of this massive coalition of forces numbering in the millions. The numbers of casualties are so great that it takes Israel an entire seven months to bury the dead!

The big question is: How soon is this huge Ezekiel war going to erupt? By all indications, very, very soon. The individual nations involved in this conflict are already assembling and preparing themselves for this war, even though they don’t know that the Bible has foretold their movements in advance, some 2,500 years ago. Russia is the main military power coming down on the mountains of Israel at that fateful time. God has said that He would put hooks in Gog’s jaw and draw him down toward Israel. Who is Gog? He is the leader of Russia, but under the influence of a powerful demonic entity. Russia will head up this entire massive force, with Iran being one of Russia’s main allies. Other nations joining this coalition will be Turkey, Ethiopia, Sudan, Libya, Eritrea, and the rest of the northern African Muslim nations, some Eastern European nations, and possibly even Austria and Germany.

Today Russia is in Syria in order to prop up Bashar al-Assad’s hold on power. Russia will not give up its hold on the warm water port it has access to in Syria. Neither will it give up its naval facility in Tartarus. The deeper Russia becomes entrenched in Syria and the Middle East, the more difficult it will be for Israel to deal with their border enemies. They know they will have to do this very soon. Israel also knows that Iran will do everything possible to continue its nuclear program. Iran has been very open with its threat to destroy Israel. Israel will be forced to deal with this nuclear threat, and again, it will need to be done before Russia is so heavily fortified in Syria that Israel will have no way to remove the threats they face in the Middle East.

Another factor that has been added to the escalating volatility of the situation in the world’s epicenter is the fact that Israel has made discovery after discovery of resources that seem to have been hidden for just such a time as this! For many years Israel has wondered why most of the Arab nations around them have had such large deposits of oil when Israel seemingly had none. Yet, within the last few years, there have been some massive deposits of natural gas found; in fact, some of the largest in the world. Israel has been quick to develop these deposits so that, not only Israel’s needs for natural gas be supplied, but that Israel could also export gas into a European market that has been heavily dependant on gas from the Russian Federation.

As these resources were discovered, Russia quickly showed their interest in these gas deposits and offered to invest in their development. What was only thinly veiled was the fact that Russia really didn’t want the competition to supply the vast gas needs of Europe. If Russia could keep some control over the spigot to Europe’s gas supply, they would have considerable leverage with decisions made by the European Common Market. The problem was…Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu would not sign on the dotted line! This left Russia with a situation they were not comfortable with.

Then, there came a greater problem. Wherever natural gas is found, there will generally also be oil. After all the years watching the Arab league developing their power base and the ability to hold the rest of the industrialized world at ransom if they chose to do so, Israel finds enormous deposits of oil! Not only were there massive oil resources found in and around the Golan Heights of Israel, but the remaining oil deposits of Saudi Arabia have seemingly been exaggerated for some time now. This means that some of the existing deposits that the Arab world depends on might just run out sooner rather than later. At the same time, some geologists are of the opinion that the oil deposits within Israel might be as great or greater than those that had once been within Saudi Arabia! What a game changer that could be!

Vladimir Putin has already shown that he is not shy about his desire for the Russian Federation to invest. Now, he also has a great interest in Israel’s oil. So far, Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has continued to politely decline all offers. As Russia continued its massive military build-up in Syria, including positioning Russian submarines and other warships in the Mediterranean Sea off of the coastline near Israel’s deep water gas fields, Mr. Putin offered his protection over Israel’s gas mining operation using Russia’s military. Again, Mr. Netanyahu declined the offer.

As we have already mentioned, the prophet Ezekiel was told that God would put hooks into “Gog’s” jaw and draw him down to the “beautiful land” (Israel). It now appears that the hook has not only been set, but has already pulled Russia down to the Middle East. Under Putin’s leadership, the arming of the members of this massive coalition has already been in process, but is now escalating. The members of Ezekiel’s prophesied coalition are gradually being drawn together and will soon find themselves in total agreement on one main purpose…the complete destruction of Israel and the sacking of its resources. According to Ezekiel, no one will–or can intervene on behalf of Israel. No matter how thorough Israel’s defeat over its enemies in the Psalm 83 war will have been, this new threat will be way beyond their military ability to respond to. Their back will be to the wall. It is at this point that God intervenes, decimating this colossal military coalition, likely numbering in the millions of soldiers on the mountains of Israel. What is truly remarkable is the means God uses to decimate this military machine…but, that is the subject of another article soon to be released.

So, are these “those” days? In light of the fact that the foundation for the Ezekiel 38-39 war (which I believe is World War 3), has already been laid and the predicted coalition of nations is coming together, the Psalm 83 war must be very near its fulfillment. It would not be surprising to see  tomorrow’s headlines describing Israel’s sudden massive attack on their enemies who have incessantly threatened to totally erase Israel’s name from the world scene.

Jesus told us that when we see “these things beginning to come to pass,” then we should look up, for our redemption is near!

Jake Geier