2012 Alerts: November 6, 2009

The Health of the Church & Why We Might be Close to the End of the Age

In my book (Apocalypse 2012: The Ticking of the End Time Clock), I describe a number of reasons why we may be very close to the end of this age. One of those connects with the end-time event prophesied in the Bible, known as the rapture of the Church. The rapture is when Jesus will take the Church, consisting of all those living who have believed in Jesus for eternal life, into the air to be with Him. Thus, God will remove the Church from the earth at that time.

One reason I believe Jesus will remove the Church is because of its ineffectiveness to reach the world with the good news of eternal life. He will then start over with two Jewish believers in Jesus (remember that the Church began in Jerusalem with Jews who had believed in Jesus) who will very effectively reach their Jewish audience, and 144,000 of that audience will reach the rest of the world (at least all who are open to the good news they will share).

I believe the Church is already at the ineffective stage. Here are two quotes I came across today to indicate that:

“When it comes to the battle for souls, the Church is losing by a landslide.”

---Paul Borden, Assaulting the Gates: Aiming All God’s People at the Mission Field (Abingdon Press, November 2009)

“The Christian Church is engaging far less than 1 percent of the 70 million people who are active in the virtual world.”

--Douglas Estes, SimChurch: Being the Church in the Virtual World (Zondervan, October 2009)

Another possible clue to the current ineffectiveness of the Church is this article on five church denominations which have veered far from God’s word by taking the stance that God will not fulfill His promises to Israel. Instead, they say, God has cast off Israel, and, as a result, they take a very anti-Israel stance. Of course, I am not saying that everyone in these denominations have believed Jesus for eternal life, but they seem to be indicative of how far the Church has strayed.

2012 in the News

The year 2012 was in the news this week, but nothing hugely significant. The maker of the movie, "2012" (to be released in one week) admits that he enjoyed destroying religious icons in his movie such as the Vatican and the statue of Jesus overlooking Rio de Janeiro, but he was afraid to destroy Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure in Mecca, a significant Muslim shrine. Roland Emmerich, the filmmaker, was afraid that if he destroyed a Muslim icon, a fatwah (Islamic issuance, such as a death command) might be issued against him. So, if you watch the movie, look for Christian symbols to be destroyed; but, apparently, the catastrophic occurrences related to 2012 will not touch Muslim shrines. Hmmm!

Apparently, the first space hotel will be launched in 2012, making that a very significant year! However, to book a room, you will need $2.8 million—a small price to pay to enjoy such a view!

Iran Again

In past “Alerts” I have indicated how I believe God will use Iran to accomplish His kingdom program. In fact, the current situation in Iran may indicate that the end of the age is near. I will cite articles on Iran just this week and then summarize the Iranian situation in connection with Biblical prophecy.

The depth in which Iran is promoting terrorism and seeking to force its will upon the world was even more evident in articles published this week. Articles this week showed how involved Iran is in bringing its terroristic influence to bear in such countries as Yemen and Venezuela. In addition, this article exposes Iran’s shipments of arms to terroristic organizations. I saw three articles this week which described a recent shipment of arms to Hizbullah, which, one IDF source claimed is their biggest shipment yet.

Talks with Iran are going nowhere; in fact, the U.S. is befuddled by Iran’s representatives which say, “yes” one minute and “no” the next—to the very same question. Just this week, Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rejected talks with the U.S. In the meantime, arms smuggling will continue. And the clock is ticking on Iran’s efforts to achieve nuclear capability. In addition, it was revealed this week that Iranian scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design. Because of this ticking clock, Israel is seriously considering launching an attack on Iran soon. After all, Israel does not believe the U.S. will stop Iran’s efforts; Iran nuclear capability will create a nuclear race among Arab countries; and Iran has threatened the existence of Israel, leaving Israel no choice but to attack soon. In addition, Iran continues to arm Hizbullah and Hamas, Israel’s “neighbors” to the Southwest and to the North; and if Iran goes nuclear, then nukes will be at Israel’s doorstep, as well.

Israel has done what it can to slow and frustrate Iran's efforts. In fact, the list of success stories by Israel’s intelligence agents is quite impressive: In the past four years, several strange mishaps maligned the Iranian nuclear project and significantly hindered the uranium-enrichment process; a key Iranian nuclear scientist disappeared; there was a crash of two planes involved in the nuclear project; and fires broke out in two labs. But Israel’s intel can only do so much; then it comes time to launch an attack.

So how could all of this relate to Biblical prophecy? I’m glad you asked.

At this point, Iran’s internal problems, especially with resistance building against its regime, is so great, that Iranian leaders have used the nuclear issue as a diversion, attempting to galvanize the population against the West. But it has not worked. There is massive opposition within the Iranian populace against its current regime. Protesters are seeking to bring down the government, making it a regime in peril.

Thus, if Israel attacks, it will likely create such chaos and such a galvanizing effect against the current regime that the government will likely be overthrown. If so, it will probably be replaced with one much more pro-western and certainly one that is not the kind of sponsor of terrorism that the current regime is.

In addition, Israel will become the “hero” to a number of Arab countries, five of which will likely be co-signers (along with five European countries) of a peace treaty with Israel to fulfill prophecy from the book of Daniel. With this treaty in serious negotiation, and with the sponsor of much of the terrorism in the world eliminated, the world will begin to proclaim “peace and security” in fulfillment of 1 Thessalonians 5:3. At that point, we will be on the verge of Jesus coming in the air to gather out His Church and for the final seven years before His return to the earth. The world as we know it will be changed at that juncture.

No Treaty with the Palestinians

Just this week, our administration concluded there will be no peace talks soon between Israel and the Palestinians. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a change in the U.S. stance saying that Israel has taken unprecedented steps toward peace; yet, the Palestinian leader with whom the U.S. is trying to deal, Mahmoud Abbas, is digging in his heels all the more. Yet, that is as God intended; for the significant treaty with Israel will not be with the Palestinians, but with ten nations, as the book of Daniel prophesies.

It should be noted that the treaty is intended for seven years, but will be broken after three and a half. In an article this week, one of those countries that already has a treaty with Israel—and one that could be one of the future co-signers of a treaty—Egypt shows that while it is willing to deal with Israel, it also treats Israel as a pariah. This could be an illustration of why the future treaty will be broken.

Update on Book

My editor just finished editing my manuscript, and it was not all that painful of a process! I will look over the corrections (although she has been great to email me as she made corrections going through the manuscript), and then I will send it to VMI Publishers (my publishing company). So we are getting very close to the end product!

Though the release date is not scheduled until May 1, I was informed that I will get my thousand copies of the book early. I do not know, yet, how early, but based on how far along we are in the process already, I am hoping that I can get them much earlier than the release date. I will make an announcement as soon as I hear.

In the meantime, I am selling copies now for $16.00 which includes tax. (Shipping is an extra $3.99 per copy.) By buying early, you will get your book early; and I will volunteer to autograph it for you! But I will only have a limited amount of copies, and I am selling them on a first-come, first-serve basis (and several hundred are already spoken for). So let me know! Make out checks to John Claeys, and mail to:

John Claeys

2709 S. Garrett St.

Marshall, TX 75672

As soon as I receive your check, I will reserve as many copies as you order.

Website Address

My website address is www.2012apocalypsebook.com. If you put in a search, it already comes up on page 2 at Amazon.com! That’s a great posture for this stage! Hopefully, it will rise significantly as the book is released.

Pass It On

Please feel free to forward the “2012 Alerts” to others. Let your friends know I will gladly put them on the list to get their “Alerts” hot off the press!

Thank you for your support!

Keep looking up! It won’t be long!

John