2012 Alerts: January 29, 2010

In This Issue:

Middle East Peace Treaty

Iran: The Path to “Peace & Security”?

U.S. – Israel Relations

The Blessing & Cursing of Israel

The State of the Church

Update on Apocalypse 2012: The Ticking of the End Time Clock

Middle East Peace Treaty

Based on the number this week, articles on the Middle East peace process seemed to dominate the internet news world. Is this because there has been a change in the process? Well, yes and no. (How is that for a definitive answer!)

On the one hand we can say that the course we have seen the past nine months continues unabated. As the Deputy Foreign Minister for Israel communicated this week, for the past nine months, Israel has been sitting alone at the peace table, waiting for the Palestinians to join the talks. Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced this week, he is even willing to release Palestinian prisoners (who have been jailed on various crimes) just to lure the Palestinian leadership to the table. However, Palestinian Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, announced yesterday that "conditions are not right" to re-start peace talks. Thus, U.S. Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, is unable to get Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to negotiate.

In addition, Udi Dekel, who headed the negotiations task force for the previous Israeli government, stated this week that he does not see the Palestinians agreeing with the Israelis on problematic core issues in the foreseeable future. An article on this issue in Commentary Magazine this week stated that this peace process is sure to fail; no one can fix the problematic issues right now, short of a revolution of the political culture involved.

One Israeli publication claims that the Palestinian leadership will not talk with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu because they view him as a serious statesman. Translated, that means he is too practical, intending to do business. In other words, to negotiate with Netanyahu would mean the Palestinians are serious about getting a treaty done with Israel.

The Jerusalem Post published an article detailing the corruption within the Palestinian Fatah party, the party in power in the West Bank—the party with whom the U.S. has been pushing Israel to negotiate. According to the article, the corruption will push Palestinians toward Hamas, just as it did in the Gaza strip; and if so, there will never be an agreement signed, since Hamas refuses to recognize the right of Israel to exist.

As a result of this unchangeable and intractable situation, as well as political factors within the U.S., some analysts see President Obama beginning to take a step back from this peace process, putting it on hold—particularly since he did not mention it in his State of the Union address this week. All of this indicates we may soon move toward the kind of treaty with Israel the Bible predicts. So what does the Bible describe, and when will it occur? I’m glad you asked.

The Bible indicates that ten nations from the area of the old Roman Empire will confirm a seven-year treaty with Israel. This treaty will begin exactly seven years before Jesus Christ returns to rescue Israel, to judge His enemies, and to establish God’s kingdom on the earth, and will, apparently, involve five nations from the Western half of the Roman Empire and five from the Eastern half.

Interestingly, Egypt and Jordan are two nations from the Eastern part of the old Roman Empire. An article this week pointed out how closely Israel has been working with these two countries. Could this be preparation for these two Arab nations signing an agreement with Israel?

Iran: The Path to “Peace & Security”?

The Bible speaks of a brief period of time, immediately before the seven-year treaty with Israel goes into effect, in which leaders will communicate that the world has achieved “peace and security” (see 1 Thessalonians 5:3). But what will create the environment in which people will believe they have arrived at that peaceful, secure scenario? It will likely be fueled by a dramatic event, something such as a coup—a regime change of a nation which threatens peace and security. Now which nation today is the most threatening nation, the one which sponsors more terrorism than any other, and one which threatens a Middle East peace agreement with Israel? The answer to that could be none other than Iran.

The German publication, Spiegel, revealed that Iran is in the process of constructing a nuclear warhead. In addition, an Israeli publication uncovered information that indicates Iran conducted successful tests of a nuclear detonating device six years ago and will have a nuclear bomb by the end of this year. As one article reminded us this week, every passing day brings Iran that much closer to a nuke.

http://www.meforum.org/2580/gulf-states-shadow-of-iranhttp://www.meforum.org/2580/gulf-states-shadow-of-iranAnother article described how Iran is a threat to Gulf states. Not only has Iran spread its terrorism worldwide, but it is seeking to uses terrorism to control Arab nations in the Middle East.

In addition, this week the Iranian spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, predicted the destruction of Israel. Combined with threatening statements made by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadenijad, Israel cannot allow Iran to achieve nuclear weaponry.

So how will Iran be stopped? I have predicted in past “Alerts” that Israel will eventually attack Iran—very likely this summer. Certainly, Iran will not be swayed by sanctions.

Just this week, it was announced that the European Union is backing off sanctions against Iran. This makes sense since an Israeli publication this week revealed that European nations are the biggest traders with Iran. (I wrote “traders,” not “traitors”. But there is a fine line difference when it comes to support of a terrorist nation like Iran.) In addition, I have pointed out in past “Alerts” that neither China nor Russia are supportive of sanctions against Iran. So if the EU, Russia, and China—the group of the largest dealers with Iran currently—do not go along with sanctions, then it is highly unlikely for sanctions to have any success with Iran.

It seems the only way to keep Iran from achieving nuclear capability is to launch an attack against its nuclear facilities. However, that will only be a short-term solution unless, in response to that, the general populace accomplishes a coup d'etat, that is, overthrows the government. Just this week, the Washington Post spoke of the importance of a regime change in Iraq. And a Newsweek article affirmed that by stating that a regime change is the only way to stop Iran.

The UK Guardian revealed that the leadership of Iran is becoming deathly afraid of the democratic movement within the country by the people of Iran. This is a movement that has been sweltering since the bogus presidential election in Iran a few months ago. It is continuing and growing; and an attack by Israel would be just the thing that would push the people to rise up in unison against the Iranian leadership.

When the http://www.meforum.org/2580/gulf-states-shadow-of-iranhttp://www.meforum.org/2580/gulf-states-shadow-of-iranhttp://www.meforum.org/2580/gulf-states-shadow-of-iranhttp://www.meforum.org/2580/gulf-states-shadow-of-iranhttp://www.meforum.org/2580/gulf-states-shadow-of-iranregime change takes place, it will appear that terrorism has been dealt a death-blow. In addition, the primary stumbling block to a Middle East peace deal will have been removed. Moreover, if Israel launches the attack that makes this happen, Arab nations will likely show their gratitude by enabling the accomplishment of a peace treaty with Israel. Then, shortly before the treaty begins its seven-year clock, the world will proclaim that it has achieved “peace and security”.

U.S. – Israel Relations

A Wall Street Journal article this week disclosed that President Obama is pressuring Israel to abandon Israelis in southern Lebanon. Well, essentially, that is true. The Obama administration is pressuring Israel to pull troops stationed on the northern side of an Israeli border town (population 2,200). However, Israel is resisting that because it knows that by doing that, the people in that town will likely suffer much harm when invaded by Hezbollah terrorists. Of course, this does nothing for the U.S. – Israel relations, which, as I have reported in past “Alerts,” have been deteriorating.

Yet another report which does not bode well for the relationship between the U.S. and Israel is the report by the World Tribune that the Obama administration has told Israel in no uncertain terms not to respond to an attack. This comes in anticipation that Israel will likely be attacked by Hezbollah (from the north—Lebanon) and Hamas (from the Southwest—Gaza strip) rockets, as both terrorist groups have been building a massive stockpile of weaponry to use against Israel. As you might imagine, this edict by the Obama administration is not going over well with the Israeli leadership (no more than if we knew Mexico and Canada were getting ready to send missiles into the U.S., and Europe told us—“in no uncertain terms”—that we were not to respond when the missiles begin raining down on us).

I have suggested in past “Alerts” that the deteriorating relations between the U.S. could be one factor (of several factors) that could cause the U.S. to step back from Israel and allow ten other nations to take center stage with Israel in confirming a treaty. Or, perhaps, al-Qaeda could conduct attacks upon the U.S. which could change everything and take the U.S. out of the Middle East picture. As the Washington Post reports, al Qaeda has not abandoned its goal of attacking the U.S. “with a chemical, biological or even nuclear weapon”.

The Blessing & Cursing of Israel

I have shared in a past “Alerts” that, based on the Genesis 12:3 effect, past U.S. presidents that were not considered friends of Israel only lasted one term, while presidents who were considered friends of Israel were two-term p residents. Considering that, it is very interesting that a new Zogby poll reported that the new pro-Israel senator-elect, Scott Brown, has a higher favorability rating than does President Obama.

According to the UK Telegraph, there is a resurgence of anti-Semitism in the world today. In fact, as per the Washington Post, anti-Semitism is at a level unseen since the Holocaust. Just one example of that was cited in an article about how Sweden is growing more anti-Semitic, illustrating its rise in Europe as a whole.

This portends what will occur within the last seven years (particularly the last three and a half) prior to the return of Christ. Then, the entire world will be turned against the Jews (see Matthew 10:22). Of course, this rise of anti-Semitism could indicate that period of time is not far off.

The State of the Church

In Apocalypse 2012: The Ticking of the End Time Clock (available soon!), I present the state of the Church (the universal body of all who have believed in Jesus Christ for eternal life) as being one indicator (of many) that we may be very close to seeing the fulfillment of end-time Bible prophecy. For example, the Bible shows us that Jesus will come in the air to take the Church out of the world immediately before the final seven years prior to His return to the earth. And it seems to me that one reason He will do that is because the Church, in general, has grown ineffective at reaching the world with the gospel—due to two reasons: 1) its confusion with what the gospel message really is; and 2) its lukewarmness—that is, the failing health of the Church due to poor Bible understanding and poor application of the Bible. (Of course, there are still a number of Christians who are very zealous for Christ, but in general, it seems there is a growing apathy among believers in Christ.)

An illustration of the trend of the Church drifting from zeal to Christ is what is called the Emergent Church movement. Space does not permit me to describe that movement here, but there are some definite concerns I have toward that movement. One of those was surfaced in an article this week about Emergent Church guru, Brian McClaren, which details his anti-Israel stance. It seems that when the Church moves away from support of Israel, it has moved from the heart of God. (By the way, check out the stance of the majority of Christian denominations in regard to how they see Israel in God’s future plan.)

Update on Apocalypse 2012: The Ticking of the End Time Clock

We shot a new video this week to put on the website (www.2012apocalypsebook.com) and on You Tube. Lucas Kitchen is doing the professional work of shooting, editing, etc. and will need to work some great magic to make me look good. I will update you to let you know when it will be available.

After going back and forth with the publisher this week (i.e., submitting five new maps in higher resolution to look better in the book than the ones I originally submitted), the book is nearly ready for one last look on my part. Then it will go to print. It won’t be long!

By the way, I am still waiting to hear back from Outreach, Inc. on the “2012” study project I proposed. After speaking with two vice-presidents at the company, I am supposed to be contacted by the director of curriculum there. So we’ll see. If I get contracted on it, it will be a great opportunity to promote the book before nearly 100,000 pastors and churches. So I would appreciate your prayer on that.

Please pray that God will provide for the promotion of the book. I feel that is way beyond my ability, so pray that He will put a copy of the book into the hands of all who are open to His word. After all, I believe the material in it could eternally impact people and prepare them for the return of Christ.

Thank you for your great support! And keep looking up!

John