Israel in the last days. War or Peace?
There is always something significant happening in Israel. The number one sign of the approach of the last days and the return of the Messiah is the regathering of the Jewish people to the land of Israel and its rebirth as a nation.
Many passages in the prophets speak of this: For example Jeremiah 31.10: “Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’”
In Psalm 102 we read of a time when God will ‘have mercy on Zion’: ‘For the Lord shall build up Zion; He shall appear in His glory. … This will be written for the generation to come.’ The Hebrew for ‘the generation to come’ is ‘dor acharon’ which could also be translated ‘last generation’. So will the generation that sees the Lord ‘building up Zion’, restoring the Jewish people to Israel, be the last generation before His appearance in glory?
Jesus / Yeshua said before He departed, ‘Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.’ Luke 21.24. The implication is that when you see Jerusalem back in Jewish hands, it is a sign of His return. Zechariah 12.1-3 also shows that the status of Jerusalem will be an issue affecting the whole world in the last days. Jesus went on to speak of the sign of the fig tree budding, a symbol of Israel’s national life being restored. When it begins to bud and Israel becomes a nation again, we know that the return of the Messiah is going to happen.
The Bible also speaks of opposition to Israel when they return to the land. The countries surrounding Israel will want to cut them off from being a nation (Psalm 83). Then an army will arise from the north in the war of Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38-39). Finally all nations will gather to Jerusalem for the final war which brings about the return of the Messiah (Zechariah 12-14, Revelation 16.12-16, 19-20).
If it is true that we are living now in the last days, we should expect to see things happening now in Israel to line up with this. We do.
Israel and Iran / Persia.
https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=4595
The biggest danger to Israel today comes from Iran. There is quite a lot in the Bible about Persia (modern Iran) and the Jewish people.
The Purim holiday celebrates the biblical story of Esther, and the deliverance of the Jewish people from the evil Haman who planned to kill all the Jews in the Persian Empire. Just before it happened this year, Prime Minister Netanyahu made this statement: “On the eve of Purim, I would like to say to those who seek our lives, Iran and its proxies in the Middle East: 2,500 years ago, another Persian villain [Haman] tried to destroy the Jewish people and just as he failed then, so too will you fail today …We have not made the journey of generations, of thousands of years, to return to the land of Israel in order to allow the delusional regime of the ayatollahs to end the story of the revival of the Jewish people.”
Israel sees Iran as its biggest threat because of its supply of thousands of missiles aimed at Israel to Hezbollah in Lebanon and other Iranian allies and enemies of Israel. Also because of the fear that Iran is trying to build a nuclear bomb which could destroy much of the country and its people if it was used against Israel. Israel’s big concern at present is that the new US administration under President Biden wants to reverse American policy in relation to Iran. This means removing US ‘maximum pressure’ and sanctions on Iran and renegotiating the nuclear agreement reached by President Obama in 2015, which President Trump pulled out of in 2018. Israel believes this policy could lead to war as it will encourage the Islamic regime to increase its support for its terrorist allies in the region and confront Israel.
Iran has built up a ‘Shi’ite crescent’ of proxy forces in the region, Houthi militia in Yemen, Shi’ite terror groups in Iraq and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and its own forces supporting the Assad regime in Syria. These are a threat to Sunni Arabs in the area as well as a direct threat to Israel through missiles supplied by Iran. Israel has gained support from Sunni Arab countries, the Gulf Arab states and Saudi Arabia for its stand against Iran.
There is evidence that Iran is stepping up its progress towards manufacturing a nuclear bomb, which Israel sees as a threat its existence. PM Netanyahu held a meeting in January with members of his cabinet on the subject of an Israeli airstrike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi warned that the Israeli army was preparing various plans for a strike on the Islamic Republic.
The IDF also held a military drill covering Israel’s entire northern region in February. Dubbed ‘Galilee Rose’ the exercise, simulated multiple scenarios involving war with Hezbollah and Iranian troops in Syria. In response Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah declared that if “war erupts, Israelis will see events they haven’t witnessed since 1948.” Iran threatened to remove Tel Aviv and Haifa from the map.
Gog and Magog. Persia / Iran.
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Those who follow prophetic events will be aware of the potential danger of any conflict to the north of Israel in the light of the prophecy of Ezekiel 38-39, the War of Gog and Magog, in which Persia / Iran is a player, (Ezekiel 38.5).
According to this prophecy this war will be an invasion from the north in the latter days after Israel is regathered from the nations and appears to be in a position of relative security (Ezekiel 38.8). Its leader will be ‘Gog of the land of Magog, chief prince (or prince of Rosh) of Meshech and Tubal’, coming from the uttermost north of Israel. (Ezekiel 38.3, 38.15, 39.2). The invasion is questioned or opposed by Sheba, Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish (verse 13). Sheba and Dedan are the Sunni Arab countries on the Arabian peninsula which are now in a form of alliance with Israel against Iran. The merchants of Tarshish may be nations of the western alliance.
When it happens God will destroy the armies coming against Israel in a supernatural fashion. Ezekiel 38.18-23: ‘And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.”’
This war is different from Armageddon in that God intervenes by supernaturally destroying the armies on the mountains of Israel, whereas Armageddon is ended by the appearance of the Messiah in Jerusalem to bring an end to the war.
It is not totally clear at which point in the last days countdown the War of Gog and Magog happens. The Bible speaks of a number of other events happening in the last days in relation to Israel. There will be a covenant, some kind of peace agreement, agreed between Israel and the coming antichrist according to Daniel 9.27 (more on this later). There will be a Temple rebuilt in Jerusalem which will be defiled by the ‘abomination of desolation’ set up by the antichrist (Daniel 9.27, 11.31, Matthew 24.15). This will set off the ‘time of Jacob’s trouble’ (Jeremiah 30.7) which will also be the time of the great tribulation before the return of Jesus (Matthew 24.15-31). Then the Messiah will come, put an end to war, save Israel as He stands on the Mount of Olives on the east side of Jerusalem and sets up His Messianic kingdom (Zechariah 14, Revelation 19-20). At some point in this process all true believers in Jesus the Messiah will be supernaturally removed from the earth in the event known as the Rapture of the Church (1 Thessalonians 4.15-18).
As we have seen the leader of this army (Gog of the land of Magog) comes from the north of Israel. If you go north from Israel you come first to Syria, then to Turkey and then to Russia. Syria is a country in ruin after its civil war and in no position to launch a war on Israel. However as a result of this war Syria now has forces from Russia, Turkey and Iran in its territory. All these countries are most likely involved in the war of Gog and Magog.
Iran has set up bases in Syria and is supplying missiles aimed at Israel to Hezbollah in Lebanon through Syria. Israel has made frequent attacks on these bases in Syria. Although Iran is the most hostile country to Israel at present it will not be the leader of the war of Gog and Magog. For one reason, it is to the east not north of Israel. However the current conflict between Israel and Iran could be a trigger for the war of Gog and Magog.
Turkey is also involved in Syria and has now sent its troops into the northern part of Syria where it is occupying the Kurdish area, along Turkey’s south-eastern border. Turkey is a NATO country, moving away from its alignment with the west as it becomes more Islamic. Its President Erdogan is now very hostile to Israel. Some elements in Turkey have called for him to raise up a united Islamic army to come against Israel. Erdogan would like to revive the Turkish Ottoman Empire that ruled much of the Middle East, including Jerusalem for 400 years until 1917. Turkey is to the north of Israel, but not the uttermost north and it is not really in a position to lead in the war of Gog and Magog.
Russia is in an uneasy alliance with Turkey and Iran in trying to resolve the civil war in Syria. It currently has forces in Syria and an important naval base in Tartus in northern Syria and the Khmeimim Air Base in the same area. It has supplied military hardware to Syria, helping its ally Assad to stay in power. It does not have many troops in Syria at present.
Historically Russia has had a bad record of anti-Semitism, however since the Russian involvement in Syria began, President Putin has had a surprisingly good relationship with Israel and is on friendly terms with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Putin joined the international gathering for Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem last year and spoke warmly of Jewish people. It is widely believed that he respects Israel and understands its concerns. Russia also appears uncomfortable with Iran’s increasing entrenchment in Syria and Iraq and has not interfered with Israeli air attacks on Iranian bases in Syria. However Putin has made it clear he does not want Syria to become an area of Iran-Israel warfare. Currently Russia is in a difficult situation over this. It both supports Iran in Syria and “explicitly or tacitly allows Israeli military actions against Iranian targets.”
If Russia is the leader of the Gog and Magog attack (which is the most likely interpretation of the prophecy since it is to the ‘uttermost north’ of Israel) something must happen to change Russia’s attitude to Israel. An Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facility could cause this change to happen.
Have you come to take plunder?
Ezekiel 38.4 speaks of God putting hooks in the jaws of the power to the north, implying that something happens to drag them into the conflict against their will. In verse 13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish ask ‘Have you come to take plunder?’ This raises another possible motive for Russia to move against Israel.
Some years ago, Bible believing Christians looked at the prophecy of Moses for the tribe of Asher in Deuteronomy 33.24, which says, ‘Asher shall dip his foot in oil.’ In the other prophecy about Asher given by Jacob in Genesis 49.10, we read, ‘Bread from Asher shall be rich.’ The word translated ‘rich’ here is ‘sh’menah’ which has as its root the word ‘shemen’, which means oil in Hebrew. Asher is one of the twelve tribes of Israel. In Bible times Asher settled in the northern region of Israel by the sea, between the area of the modern city of Haifa and southern Lebanon. These Christians said that on the basis of these prophecies Israel should look for oil in this part of the Mediterranean Sea.
Israel did this and found huge offshore oil and natural gas resources in the Mediterranean Sea. This has been an immense boost to Israel, enabling Israel to supply its own energy needs, and earn billions of dollars in tax revenues. It now has security and commercial co-operation with Egypt, Jordan, Cyprus and Greece, as well as helping to normalise ties with the Sunni Arab Gulf states. Work is now in progress for a natural gas pipeline to flow westwards via Cyprus, Greece and Italy that will link Israel more closely with Europe. Significantly none of these countries are involved in Gog and Magog attack.
As a result Israel is emerging as a regional technical and defence power, with productive trade relations with major global powers, including the United States, Europe, China, India, Russia, and in the new frontiers of Africa, South America, Eastern Europe and Australia. This has helped Israel’s military strength to grow significantly, too. Israel has developed an immense qualitative edge over its enemies, including two new squadrons of F-35 aircraft; precision-guided missiles; advanced missile defence, including the Iron Dome, Arrow, David’s Sling and Patriot systems; naval destroyers; submarines–all in addition to some of the world’s most powerful weaponry.
All this does give Israel a measure of security in line with the Ezekiel prophecy. It also runs the risk of being a source of antagonism to Russia. Russia depends almost entirely on its oil and gas exports for its income. Much of this goes to the EU, with a new pipeline from Russia to Germany ensuring that much of Germany’s energy is supplied by Russia. At the same time there is growing antagonism in the EU towards Russia, particularly because of its human rights record and its threats to its neighbours. If the EU were to cut off its gas supplies from Russia and get them from the Mediterranean alliance this would be a devastating blow to the Russian economy. So Russia could come to ‘take a spoil’ by controlling the Leviathan gas field, which Lebanon and Syria also have an interest in.
There are also reasons why Turkey is antagonistic to this gas development in the Mediterranean and wants to exploit these resources itself. Turkey is currently engaging in actions against Greece and Cyprus over this issue which have upset the EU, France in particular.
The position of France is also interesting. Previously France has been one of the most anti-Israel nations of the EU, with a strongly pro-Palestinian policy. But now Israeli commentators are noting that France’s political interests currently “dovetail with Israel’s” on multiple issues, aligning with Israel, Cyprus and Greece against Turkey. French President Macron visited Lebanon after the deadly blast in Beirut last August and took a strong line against Iranian involvement with Hezbollah there and a desire for France to play a part in reconstructing Lebanon. He has also spoken of wanting to protect moderate Muslim nations from Islamist terrorism, and to crack down on extremist Muslims within France. France is emerging as the western power taking the strongest position vis-a-vis Iran, demanding tough discussions over Iranian nuclear proliferation and destabilisation of its neighbours in the region.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron also wants to be involved in resolving the Israel – Palestinian issue. Could France and the EU work towards a peace settlement after Iran, Russia and Turkey are knocked out in the war of Gog and Magog? According to the prophecy, the final seven year period before the coming of the Messiah (for the second time) will be set off by a seven year peace covenant with Israel. This is referred to in Daniel 9.27: ‘Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week.’ One week in this context equals seven years. This will break down half way through and lead to the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30).
Who is the person who makes the covenant of Daniel 9.27, the one referred to as ‘he’ in this sentence: ‘He shall confirm a covenant’? The last person mentioned in the previous verse is the ‘prince to come’, one of the names given for the coming antichrist. ‘And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.’ Daniel 9.26. This verse refers to destruction of the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (the Temple) in 70 AD. This would happen after ‘Messiah’ has come and been ‘cut off but not for himself’. This means that Messiah died a sacrificial death for the sake of others. This fits in with the crucifixion of Jesus which happened around 40 years before the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans. So the Romans are the ‘people of the prince to come’. The prince to come arises long after the fall of the ancient Roman Empire, and out of some form of ‘Revived Roman Empire.’ That would fit in with someone coming out of the European Union to make a peace deal with Israel. So watch out for a European leader rising to prominence and becoming involved in the Middle East peace process.
If we are on the way to the fulfilment of end time biblical prophecy then both of these events, the War of Gog and Magog of Ezekiel 38-39 and the peace covenant of Daniel 9.27 should be shaping up. Both of them are. How long we have before this takes place remains to be seen. But keep your eyes on Israel and keep looking for the coming of the Messiah.
Messiah now?
On the subject of the Messiah, a group within Judaism called for a worldwide prayer by all Jewish people on Sunday 21 February [9 Adar in the Jewish calendar]. Information they put out about this said this initiative was motivated by ‘a strong desire that all Jews will be united at the same instant, observant or not, whatever beliefs, affiliation, age, nationality to end all suffering and to welcome the revelation of Hashem’s (G-d) Name.’
SCREENSHOTS FROM https://tikkunmedardus.ch/prayer-for-the-coming-of-messiah/
They asked people to stop what they are doing at 18.00 Jerusalem time and recite aloud this special prayer:
“Master of the Universe, We, the children of Israel, all united around the world at this moment, are crying out to you. Please accept our prayer with grace and kindness. We sincerely thank You for all Your daily blessings. But we also thank You for sending Moshiach (Messiah) to redeem us, from this too long exile and all suffering and to bring peace in the world. We can’t wait anymore! We also desire your Great and One name to be revealed and Your presence back to the rebuilt Beis Hamikdash, the Holy Temple.”
SCREENSHOTS FROM https://tikkunmedardus.ch/prayer-for-the-coming-of-messiah/
This is a prayer to God to send the Messiah now. Certainly we need the Messiah as huge dangers threaten our world and we see that biblical prophecies of the end times like Jeremiah 30-31, Ezekiel 38-9, Zechariah 12-14 are on their way to fulfilment. We too pray to God to send Messiah to save Israel and the world from calamity and bring peace and justice to earth.
But when does He come? One of the ideas which some rabbis have, is that the Messiah will come when we deserve him by doing deeds of righteousness. Some have taught that if all Jews everywhere keep the Sabbath as they should then God will send the Messiah as a reward.
However the Messiah comes in God’s time and God’s way. Most importantly He has already been once. He does not come because we deserve Him but because we don’t! He came to save us from our sins fulfilling the prophecy of the Suffering Servant Messiah of Isaiah 53.6:
‘All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’
‘For when we were still without strength, in due time (or at the right time) Christ / Messiah died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Messiah died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Yeshua / Jesus Christ / Messiah, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.’ Romans 5.6-11.
God’s purpose for Israel is to reveal the fact that Messiah came once in the person of Yeshua / Jesus the Messiah to redeem us from our sins and is coming again to judge the world in righteousness. He will come to the earth to bring an end to the war and the time of tribulation which will follow the false peace covenant. This will be a cosmic event of divine intervention:
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Matthew 24.29-30.
He will then set up His Messianic Kingdom, reigning from Jerusalem and bringing peace to the world (Isaiah 2.1-4). To be ready for this event we must all repent of our sins and believe that Messiah Yeshua died for our sins and rose again from the dead to give eternal life to all believers. Without Him there is no peace and safety coming, but the time of great tribulation prophesied in the scriptures will take place. Events are now shaping up for this time to break out on earth, especially when we look at what is happening in Israel and the Middle East. So now is the day of salvation (Yeshua), now is the day to call upon His name and find eternal peace and security.
Is there a life after Covid?
Karl Marx once said ‘The Philosophers have only interpreted the world. The point however is to change it.’ That famous phrase is now inscribed on his tombstone in Highgate Cemetery, London.
In recent times no one has changed the world quite so much as the person who ate a diseased animal from the market in Wuhan, China, and set off the coronavirus pandemic which spread around the world. Or was it the person who let the virus out of the Wuhan Institute of Virology? Probably we will never find out who was really responsible.
The virus has killed around 2.5 million people (according to official statistics) and cost the world economy $28 trillion (according to the IMF). The lockdowns have caused enormous problems worldwide, as our freedom has been taken away in ways which have never happened before in history. We now have a financial crisis, social crisis, health crisis, especially mental health as people crack up under strain of isolation, with rising alcoholism, depression and domestic violence. It has caused extreme poverty and hunger in many parts of the world. Businesses, entertainment centres, places of worship have closed down, city centres are empty of people and national economies have built up enormous debts which may never be repaid and may lead to economic collapse.
Here in Britain, many people have accepted the shutting down of society, their confinement to home, as being necessary for the common good. Others have seen it as a gross intrusion into human freedom. It has been a remarkable exercise in which the government and the media, backed by the ‘science’, have managed to make people so afraid of the virus that they will submit to extreme restrictions on their lives in return for what they hope will be their security. This has brought us close to a totalitarian form of government which can take away our rights and basic human freedoms in order to supposedly save us from a threat to our health and safety.
In the Bible’s prophecy of Jeremiah 25.32 we read ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, disaster shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the farthest parts of the earth.” Truly this disaster has gone out from the farthest parts of the earth and affected nation after nation.
Is the vaccine the way out?
At the time of writing this article in Britain, we have been told by Prime Minister Boris Johnson that the end of the lockdown is in sight. He hopes that the successful roll out of the vaccine will cause it to be lifted in stages, with the aim of returning life to something like normal by mid June. However medics are warning that the virus may spread once the lockdown is eased, and mutant strains may come in which are resistant to the vaccines. Some of them seem to want an endless lockdown, which would mean the eventual collapse of our society.
The vaccines are being promoted as a way out of the crisis, the way to protect ourselves against the virus. Some are warning of its dangers, saying the MRNA technology used in some vaccines is experimental and potentially dangerous to health.
Dr John Wyatt, a committed Christian, has produced a website answering a number of these objections https://johnwyatt.com/. He has said ‘Speaking personally I see a duty of Christian love to be vaccinated, not only to minimise the risk to my own health, but in order to protect my neighbour’. Opponents of the vaccine have been told they may be delaying the easing of the lockdown. A headline in the paper said ‘Why should the whole country be held hostage by 1 in 5 who refuse the vaccine?’ Even the Queen has become involved, urging people to ‘think about others not yourself’ and take the vaccine for the common good.
Time for a Covid Pass.
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Time will tell who is right on this issue. On the medical issue I have no qualification to speak and suggest that people make up their own minds on whether they wish to take the vaccine.
However there is a danger, especially as the idea of health passports is proposed as the way back to normal society. A number of globalist organisations have advocated this, including the World Health Organisation, the World Economic Forum, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Tony Blair’s Institute for Global Change. The UK government initially ruled out creating vaccine passports, but now appear to be going back on this. The UK Medical Freedom Alliance and Lawyers for Liberty have written an excellent letter to the government giving reasons why going down this route is dangerous for our society. https://www.ukmedfreedom.org/open-letters/open-letter-re-vaccine-immunity-passports-from-ukmfa-and-lawyers-for-liberty-to-government-and-mps
Tony Blair wrote in a newspaper article (Mail on Sunday 14 February) that the world faced a choice of ‘mass vaccination or mass lockdown.’ He said that lockdown would remain until we achieve herd immunity through the vaccination programme. A return to normal will require people to show their Covid Status, whether they have been vaccinated or recently tested. Technology allows us to make this work through giving people a health passport which can be verified by for example a QR code shown on a mobile. This needs to be done on a global scale ‘a common set of standards and rules in consultation with other countries and groups of nations. … The world is moving in this direction. We should plan for an agreed ‘passport’ now.’
If this idea is accepted it will create a new level of control of the population. A number of countries are already working on this. China, the world’s most advanced techno-tyranny, already has such a system in place, using a QR code on mobile phones to enable people to enter shops and access facilities. This has given the Chinese Communist Party enormous power to control where people go, what they think, who they meet and what they can buy and sell. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on March 1st that the EU will introduce legislation for a vaccine passport. On March 8th Boris Johnson announced that vaccine passports will be a feature of our life in the future.
Israel has the most advanced vaccination programme in the world and has already set up a system to open up public places to those vaccinated. Green Pass venues include shopping malls, houses of worship, cultural events, gyms, hotels and swimming pools. To enter, those eligible to do so will be required to present valid ID and a so-called Green Pass, vaccination certificate, or official document stating they had the virus and recovered. Israel’s Health Ministry is advancing a bill to prevent employees from going to work in certain jobs unless they’ve been vaccinated. Israelis opposed to this process now find themselves censored and shut out of society. They claim the government is taking people’s medical records and sending them to the local municipality so they will know who has taken the vaccine and who has not. One protester says ‘Whatever happens here will happen everywhere.’
Governments may not need to force individuals to take the vaccine, but the social pressures brought about from exclusion, denial of privileges and possible loss of education, jobs and freedom to travel and mix with others will be enough to erode the will of the majority of resistors. If these ‘digital immunity passports’ mean you can’t buy or sell without them, they really may be the first step towards the 666 system described in the Book of Revelation:
“And the second beast required all people small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark— the name of the beast or the number of its name. Here is a call for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and that number is 666.” Revelation 13:16-18.
The next move – Zero carbon and the environment.
Those working on the vaccination programme are already working on the next move. Bill Gates is calling for billions of dollars in investments to develop a global alert system for emerging germs and build the capacity to respond quickly. Gates wrote: “To prevent the hardship of this last year from happening again, pandemic preparedness must be taken as seriously as we take the threat of war.” He has also said we need to “save the world” and help the planet reach zero carbon emissions, which he says we must do in order to “avoid catastrophe.”
A number of people are making this connection between the Covid crisis and the environmental crisis. This November the UN Climate Change Conference will be held in Glasgow. In the run up to this we can expect a big effort to call for climate change to be treated as ‘the biggest threat to security the human race has ever had’, as Sir David Attenborough told a special meeting of the UN Security Council on February 23rd. He said, “If we continue on our current path, we will face the collapse of everything that gives us our security: food production, access to fresh water, habitable temperature, and ocean food chains. … Then much of the rest of civilization will quickly break down.’
In our previous edition we noted how Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum (WEF) connected the Covid crisis with Climate Change in his call for a ‘Great Reset’ of capitalism after the Covid pandemic in which ‘global leaders shape the future state of global relations, … through some form of effective global governance … a new social contract that honours the dignity of every human being.’
An article in The Guardian (3/3/21) suggests repeated lockdowns like we have had with Covid 19 are needed for the environment: ‘Carbon dioxide emissions must fall by the equivalent of a global lockdown roughly every two years for the next decade for the world to keep within safe limits of global heating.’ Actually the weather may be about to become colder (see our article in Signs of the Times).
You’ll own nothing and be happy.
This is a screenshot from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abBycWVxxdo
The World Economic Forum is working hard to convince governments and people of the need for a change in how we run things. It has produced a short video giving its vision for the future called ‘8 predictions for the world in 2030’ (WEF video 2030). Among its predictions are these:
- You’ll own nothing and you’ll be happy.
- Whatever you want you’ll rent and it will be delivered by drone.
- A billion people will be displaced by climate change.
- We’ll have to do a better job at welcoming and integrating refugees.
- A global tax on carbon will make fossil fuels history.
They don’t tell you how they are going to do this. It sounds like a plan for all property and things we need to live on to be commonly owned and rented out to people as they need them. Reducing fossil fuels will mean we will not be able to travel so easily. Massive population migrations caused by climate change will mean property will have to be seized control of by the government and allocated to those who need it. As automation increases many jobs will disappear and most people will be given a basic allowance (Universal Basic Income – UBI) to live on rather than earning their own money. A global digital currency will replace national currencies.
There are also moves by the government to control food production and distribution. We are being told that eating meat and dairy food contributes to global warming and must be reduced. Bill Gates and other billionaires have been buying up 242,000 acres of farmland across the U.S., making him the biggest owner of farmland in America. Joe Biden has signed an executive order that the US government should control 30% of land by 2030. Already under this order farmers are being told to produce less meat and dairy on their land. Farmers in Ireland have been told to reduce their cattle herds because belching cows contribute to global warming.
In order to bring these policies to fruition, governments will have to be controlled by outside forces. They will ensure that the mainstream media only tells us what they want us to hear. They will persuade people to accept the loss of freedom with the promise that they will be saving the world from the impending catastrophe. As with Covid, they will play on the fear factor to get compliance and keep people under control. People will become dependent on the state which can then control where they live, what they buy and sell, what they think and what they say to others.
This change may not apply to the globalist billionaires who are proposing it. They will find ways to remain super rich and in control of the system. This happened in the Soviet Union and Communist states of Eastern Europe. The Communist Party bosses became the new ruling class with power, wealth, privileges and property which they passed on to their children. The rest of the people lived on low incomes in grotty communal flats owned by the state. Reading about this in a book called ‘The New Class’ by Milovan Djilas, a dissident from the Yugoslav Communist Party, was a factor in turning me off from my youthful flirtation with Marxism in the 1960s.
The changes will also require a centralised data collection programme to identify people. On January 29, the German parliament (Bundestag) moved to ratify Agenda ID2020, just such a programme. This will make the private data of all Germans, including bank accounts, shopping habits, health records, political and religious views, available to every government agency, police department and private sector company that wants it. Agenda ID2020 is part of a larger ‘vaccination package’ sponsored and supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, Accenture, the World Economic Forum (WEF), and the Vaccine Alliance. There is also a plan to merge identity, health records and payments into one digital pass, known as the ‘Wellness Pass’ which is being adapted by Master Card for low income communities in Africa.
Put all this together and you have a plan to change the world and bring about submission to the dictates of the new world order who will be able to control your ability to buy and sell and feed yourself and your family. A number of people are waking up to the fact that this is a plan for the subjugation of the human race, not our liberation and joining the resistance to all this.
In Revelation 13 the Bible does prophesy a dystopian world government in the final seven year period before Jesus returns. Contrary to the claims of the WEF, people will not be happy in this new world order. They will find themselves in bondage to the Satanic trinity of the Devil, the Beast and the False Prophet, who take temporary control of the world system in this final seven year period of world history. The fact that such things are being considered now is yet another sign that the world is shaping up for the end time scenario described in Bible prophecy, which means that we are on the way to the soon return of Jesus Christ.
UFOs – Fact or Fiction?
Screenshot from https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/13717920/cia-declassified-ufo-documents-online-black-vault/
On January 4th 2021 the US Central Intelligence Agency declassified thousands of documents on unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and posted them online. These mostly contain documents “reporting UFO sightings in the foreign press and memos about how the Agency handled public inquiries about UFO sightings.”
This provides compelling evidence of how the US government has been taking the sightings UFOs seriously for the past 70 years, despite publicly denying their existence. They show evidence of ‘close encounters’ with flying saucer type craft by people in all walks of life from American pilots in the sky to travellers on a train in Baku, Azerbidjan. These add to the multitude of claimed encounters with UFOs by people, backed by photographs and films purporting to be sightings of UFOs.
95% of claims of supposed UFO sightings can be explained away – hoaxes, meteors, weather balloons, birds, tricks of the light or the imagination of the viewer. But there are 5% which cannot be explained this way. In 1947 Kenneth Arnold, a US pilot, claimed to see 9 flying saucers at Rainer, Washington. Two weeks later it was claimed that a UFO craft crashed in Roswell, New Mexico and that the US government has since conducted secret experiments on bodies taken from the site. Despite denials by the authorities, UFO believers claim evidence that this event really happened. There are photos of what look like flying saucers passing the US Capitol building.
There are now regular programmes on TV Channels claiming that aliens have been with us throughout time and were responsible for constructions like the Pyramids and Stonehenge. Some say they were even responsible for our creation and have been regularly visiting the earth throughout history. Blockbuster films like ET, Independence Day, Men in Black and the Star Wars series treat space travel and encounters with aliens as a fact of life. Many people believe such encounters are happening now.
I recently watched a programme showing how an aircraft had mysteriously disappeared in the ‘Alaska triangle’ (a northern version of the Bermuda triangle where ships were supposed to have disappeared mysteriously). These disappeared with no trace of any crash site or debris, although flight recordings of indistinct voices fading into the distance were picked up. The programme claimed the plane had been abducted by a flying saucer or had flown into a portal into another world.
So are we being visited by aliens from outer space?
When the Mars probe ‘Perseverance’ landed on Mars on 19 February, Ken Willifield, the mission’s deputy director, said one purpose of the mission was to answer the big questions ‘Are we alone in some sort of vast cosmic desert, or is life much more common? Big basic questions and we don’t know the answers yet.’ The Seti (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) project is backed by some of the world’s richest men and uses the most powerful radio telescopes to search the universe for signs of life. The UN has even opened an ‘Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)’ to prepare for contact with life from space.
Despite claims of evidence of life forms on Mars, there is no evidence of any other life in the solar system. But what of the rest of the universe? There are an estimated 20,000 billion, billion stars with planets around them in the universe. So, the reasoning goes, there has got to be life on one or more of these planets somewhere. Some people hope that aliens from a more advanced civilisation might come and help us out of the mess the human race is in.
If such a life form could come into being in a distant galaxy, it then has to develop the most incredible technology to cover the vast distances in the universe to reach us. The nearest star to us is 4.3 light years away, around 25 trillion miles. The Milky Way galaxy is 100,000 light years wide. The closest galaxy after the Milky Way is 1.5 million light years away. A spacecraft travelling at one million miles a day would take 70,000 years to cover the 25 trillion miles to the nearest star. To reach a distant star in the Milky Way or another galaxy altogether would take millions of years.
A craft travelling at the speed of one million miles a day would be going so fast that if it hit even a very small object in space (which it probably would) it would explode. Leaving this problem aside, only beings who have a life span of millions of years and do not need food and drink to keep alive could cross the universe in spacecraft. If we are to believe the claims of UFO magazines, such craft are not only making it across the universe but also doing so in huge numbers.
The sightings themselves raise a number of problems. At the same event they may be seen but not photographed or photographed but not seen. Despite apparently reaching incredible speeds of up to 18,000 mph they have never given off a sonic boom. They violate the laws of physics making 90% turns at very high speeds. They may change shape, size and colour at random. This is not the behaviour of a physical craft or being.
The universe and the multiverse.
The Bible does not have any specific information on the subject of life in outer space. In Isaiah 45.18 we read: ‘For thus says the Lord, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the Lord, and there is no other.’ This verse teaches that the Lord is our Creator. It implies that the earth is unique in the universe in being ‘inhabited,’ suggesting that there are no other inhabited planets and therefore no aliens trying to visit us.
On the other hand the Bible does point to the existence of angels and demons who are able on occasions to interact with humans. This raises the possibility of another question, which is actually being asked by physicists today. Is the observable universe all there is? Is our universe one of many within a ‘multiverse’, in other words other realms which exist in a different dimension which we cannot see? In which case are supposed UFOs visitors coming from this different realm which exists alongside our universe?
In a way the Bible agrees with this idea. Not a ‘multiverse’ but at least three different realms which are capable of interacting with our world. And the ‘visitors’ are not aliens from another planet.
The very first verse in the Bible says ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ Genesis 1.1. The word for heavens, shamayim in Hebrew, is a plural word. It is used of the stars in the universe as in Psalm 19.1 ‘The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork.’ This use of the word ‘heavens’ speaks of the physical observable universe, the sun, moon and stars, which reflect the glory of God. Any person anywhere on earth can observe that this exists.
However it has other meanings indicating that there is more than one ‘shamayim’. It is possible for God to draw back the veil which separates humans from the unseen realm where He exists. In Exodus 24 after God gives the 10 Commandments at Sinai, Moses takes 70 of the elders of Israel up to the mountain. In verse 24 we read: ‘And they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens (shamayim) in its clarity. But on the nobles of the children of Israel He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and drank.’ In other words while they were still in this body, eating and drinking, they saw another realm, shamayim, heavens, where God dwells.
In the New Testament Paul writes of a man in Christ who ‘was caught up to the third heaven … he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.’ 2 Corinthians 12.2-5. It is generally believed that Paul is speaking of himself. What is significant is that he is talking about being taken out of this realm while in this body into another unseen realm given the name here as ‘Paradise.’
In the Book of Revelation John writes of his experience of being taken out of the realm where he was (in captivity on the island of Patmos), into a heavenly realm: ‘After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.’ Revelation 4.1. This is followed by a description of the heavenly realm which he was taken into. When he returned to this realm he wrote down what he had seen there in the Book of Revelation.
All these experiences speak of another realm which could be described as a parallel universe. It is interesting that Paul speaks of the ‘third heaven.’ If the first heaven is the physical universe and the third heaven is the realm where God dwells, what is in the ‘second heaven?’
The Bible tells us that Satan / Lucifer was at one time the highest archangel in heaven. He fell from this position when he sought to exalt himself above God and take the place of God:
“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’” Isaiah 14.12-15
As a result of his pride and seeking to take the place of God, Lucifer was cast out of heaven where God dwells. So where is he now? In Ephesians 6 Paul writes about another realm inhabited by the devil and ‘spiritual hosts of wickedness’ (fallen angels or demons): ‘Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.’ Ephesians 6.11-13.
Revelation 12 writes of a war in the heavenly realms, which takes place at the midpoint of the final seven year period of the Great Tribulation. The result is that the devil is thrown out of this heavenly realm to earth for the final three and a half years of the tribulation before the return of the Lord Jesus to the earth: ‘And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.’ Revelation 12.7-9.
These passages show that the Biblical view is that we do live in a kind of ‘multiverse’. There is the physical universe in which the earth is situated, the eternal realm where God exists and the ‘heavenly places’ where the devil and the demons exist. Note that pictures showing the devil now sitting on a fiery throne in hell are not accurate. That is his final abode, but he is not there yet.
The Bible also teaches that it is possible for there to be interaction between all of these realms. The presence of God appears at times on the earth. The Lord walks and talks with Adam in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). He talks to Abraham and other Patriarchs of Israel. He appears to the Israelites in the Pillar of Fire and Pillar of Cloud that leads them through the wilderness in Exodus. Exodus 13.21. He comes as the Angel of the Lord to appear visibly to Israelites in various occasions and to act on their behalf (Exodus 3.2, Numbers 22.22-35, Judges 2.1-4, 6.11-22, 13.3-21.
There are also angels who appear to bring messages from God (the word for angel in Hebrew is malach and in Greek angelos, both of which mean ‘messenger’). Two angels go into Sodom to set off the events that bring about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18-19). The angel Gabriel appears to Mary to inform her that she is chosen to bear the Lord through the virgin birth. Luke 1.26-28. Angels appear at the tomb of the Risen Lord Jesus, telling the women, ‘He is not here He is risen.’ Luke 24.
The Bible narrative also gives reason to believe that as well as interventions on earth from God we also have interventions from the other side, from Satan and the demonic realm. In Genesis 3 Satan is able to indwell the serpent and speak though it, in order to tempt and deceive Eve to disobey God by eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. When Adam follows her in her disobedience to God, he hands over to Satan the power over the earth, which God had entrusted to him in Genesis 1.26-28. Throughout the rest of the Bible we have interventions into human affairs from Satan and the demons (fallen angels who joined him in his revolt against God).
UFOs or angels and demons?
In his book, ‘Alien Encounters’, Chuck Missler says that appearances of aliens and UFOs can be explained by demons and deceiving spirits manifesting themselves. The Bible indicates that such activity will increase in the last days. ‘Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.’ 1 Timothy 4.1.
Interestingly UFO watchers claim that there is a passage in the Bible which describes alien contact with humans in the events which preceded the Flood:
‘Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” There were giants (Nephilim) on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.’ Genesis 6.1-2.
This claim is based on one interpretation of this passage, contested by some, but nevertheless widely believed, especially by ancient writers, that these giants or Nephilim were the product of sexual relations between some other worldly beings (sons of God) and women on earth. The only other use of the phrase ‘sons of God’ – b’nei Elohim – in the Bible is in the book of Job when ‘b’nei Elohim’, accompany Satan to appear before the Lord: ‘The sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.’ Job 1.6. Since these ‘sons of God’ come in the company of Satan, this implies that they are evil entities not good ones.
The Book of Enoch is an apocryphal book written around 200 BC, claiming to contain revelations given to Enoch. It is not inspired scripture and was obviously not written by Enoch who lived thousands of years earlier. We do not take this book as the authoritative Word of God. Nevertheless some believe it does contain ancient traditions, passed down from earlier times.
The Book of Enoch states that Genesis 6.1-2 is about fallen angels having children by human women: ‘And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: ‘Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.” Enoch 6.1-3. It goes on to describe this as something that defiled the human race and produced unnatural offspring: “And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants (Nephilim)”. These brought great destruction on earth.
According to the Book of Enoch this process of the defilement of the human race began to take place in the days of Enoch’s father whose name was Jared, a Hebrew word meaning ‘comes down.’ The idea of angels coming down from their rightful place to some defiling action on earth is contained in the Book of Jude: ‘And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.’ Jude 6. See also 2 Peter 2.4-5.
Chuck Missler has a chapter in his book, ‘The return of Nephilim’ in which he shows how many cultures have stories about gods having relationships with human women and producing giants. Greek mythology in particular is full of stories of gods who mated with women and produced ‘demigods’, giant men known as Titans with great strength like Achilles.
Those who believe UFOs have been with us throughout history claim that these accounts are evidence of the past events and that the ‘sons of God’ who came down were actually aliens who interacted with humans in ancient times. Chuck Missler says that the ‘sons of God’ in Genesis 6 were not visitors from outer space, but evil spiritual entities or demons.
He concludes that so called aliens today are in fact supernatural beings manifesting themselves in a form which makes them acceptable to the modern mindset. Whereas in the past evil spirits may have appeared as goblins or ghosts, today people are reluctant to believe in those things. So they appear as aliens – something which has become part of our mainstream culture.
J Allen Hynek in an article ‘Machines made of Shadows’ has written: ‘The spiritual theory explains why UFOs can make right angle turns. It explains why they can be dematerialised, why sometimes they are picked up on radar and sometimes not.’ Whitley Striber, in his book ‘Communion’ about his abduction by aliens, wrote ‘I felt an indescribable sense of menace. Whatever was there seemed so monstrously ugly, so filthy and dark and sinister. Of course they were demons. They had to be.’
Messages from the aliens.
William Alnor in ‘UFOs in the New Age’ wrote ‘After reading literally hundreds of messages from space brothers during the past several years and carefully analysing their views, I am convinced that these entities are trying to sell humanity one of the biggest deceptions of all time.’
Michael Penfold gave a talk on this subject in which he said that the UFO phenomenon is all about spiritual deception. It ties in with other influences like yoga, TM, hypnosis, Zen Buddhism, drug taking in altering consciousness so that the normal function of the mind is bypassed by a spiritual entity aiming to deceive. To back this claim up he cites the five main messages which have been communicated by supposed contact with aliens:
- We are on the threshold of a New Age of enlightenment.
- God is an impersonal force of which we are part. We are god and our divinity is within.
- There is no death. We are endlessly re-incarnated.
- Good and evil are only illusions and one side of the same coin.
- Jesus is just a great teacher, one of many avatars who have come to earth. All roads lead to God.
This in itself should show us that these entities are not aliens crossing billions of miles of space. Why bother to make this hazardous journey in such vast numbers as is being claimed, just to give us the same message as you can find in New Age and the occult?
They are also big proponents of the idea of a new world order. Chuck Missler writes: ‘Throughout the history of alleged extra-terrestrial contact there is one theme that dominates ETs’ messages to mankind. In order to survive, we must unify our resources into a global society, with a world governing body and global religion. … Those contacted have been told that the Space Beings hope to guide Earth to a period of great unification. The Space Beings also seek to bring about a single, solidified government, which will conduct itself on spiritual principles.’ Alien Encounters Page 158.
Missler’s conviction that these beings are demons is further strengthened by the fact that these alleged aliens are ‘coincidentally’ concerned with the exact same philosophies espoused by the New Age movement. He says many abductees have shown an interest in paranormal activities, ouija boards, astrology, witchcraft, astral projection, telepathic communication, channelling, past life regressions, and the like.
These things are forbidden in the Bible because they are the way to contact the demonic realm. In Deuteronomy 18.9-14 the Israelites are instructed not to follow the ways of the nations:
“When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you.”
A film produced by Creation Ministries ‘Alien Intrusion’ gives testimonies of people who had encounters with what they believed were UFOs. These people had previously been involved in occult activity like ouija, tarot cards or seances. They then became Christians and renounced the occult. When the ‘UFO’ attempted contact again they called on the name of Jesus and the supposed alien went away immediately. This in itself is evidence that these beings are not space travellers, but demons. The Lord Jesus has power over demons because He has conquered Satan and the demons through His death and resurrection. Those who put their trust in Him know deliverance from the powers of darkness through calling on the name of Jesus.
The Great Evacuation.
Of special interest to Christians interested in the end times is Chuck Missler’s claim that occultists have linked an invasion of aliens to the earth with a plan to ‘evacuate the millions of people who are out of vibration with the Earth Mother.’ Extra terrestrials will ‘beam up’ or levitate these individuals into hundreds of alien ships that are currently surrounding the Earth.
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The Chapter on ‘The Great Evacuation’ (Page 189) has these quotes: “Our rescue ships will be able to come in close enough in the twinkling of an eye to set the lifting beams in operation in a moment. And all over the globe where events warrant it, this will be the method of evacuation. Mankind will be lifted, levitated shall we say, by the beams from our smaller ships. These smaller craft will in turn taxi the persons to the larger ships overhead, higher in the atmosphere, where there is ample space and quarters and supplies for millions of people.” A MESSAGE FROM EXTRATERRESTRIALS OF THE ASHTAR COMMAND, PROJECT WORLD EVACUATION, 1993.
“Those whose thought patterns are out of sync with the universal consciousness or force, who do not go along with the plan will be removed to bring about the higher frequency that the Earth Mother desires. Then Earth will bring about a cleansing that will balance it once again. There is a potential for many people to leave the planet in an afternoon.” ‘Bringers of the Dawn’ by Barbara Marciniak. Johanna Michaelson, moved by a spirit guide, predicted that “two billion people will be simultaneously removed from the earth during the coming cleansing.” Alien Encounters page 191.
Will this be Satan’s explanation for the sudden disappearance of people all over the world in the rapture of the church? When the global situation reaches a crisis point on Earth, these people will be removed in a ‘twinkling of an eye.’ This may be convincing to some.
Most of the manifestations of UFOs come in the form of ‘bright lights in the sky.’ The Bible tells us that Satan is ‘the prince of the power of the air’ (Ephesians 2.2), that he is able to produce ‘lying signs and wonders’ (2 Thessalonians 2.9) and that he is able to transform himself into ‘an angel of light’ (2 Corinthians 11.14). False Messiahs and false prophets performing lying signs and wonders will be a feature of the last days (Matthew 24.23-24). Jesus also spoke of ‘fearful sights and great signs from heaven … signs in the sun, moon and stars and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity.’ Luke 21.11,25.
Satan will use a multitude of deceptions, including the UFO phenomena, to try to change the way people think and to soften them up to accept his counterfeit Messiah, the Antichrist, as the answer to human ills. It is possible that the lying signs and wonders performed by the Antichrist will be explained as manifestations of a higher intelligence that has come from space visitors, whereas in fact they are demonic delusions.
Going back to the 5 main messages of UFOs mentioned above, they are all wrong.
- We are not on the threshold of a New Age of enlightenment, but on the edge of the Great Tribulation, the worst time in human history which will precede the glorious return of the Lord Jesus the Messiah to the earth to judge the world in righteousness.
- God is not an impersonal force, but a loving heavenly Father who can be known personally through faith in Jesus the Messiah.
- We have one chance to get it right in this life. The lie of the devil in the Garden of Eden is ‘You shall not die … you will be like God’ (Genesis 3.4-5). This is being recycled in the New Age Movement of which UFO culture is a part. In fact after death we face the Day of Judgement when we give account of our lives to God.
- The idea that right and wrong are only illusions and part of the same whole is Chinese Taoist philosophy which is also being recycled for popular consumption through movies like Star Wars and the Harry Potter books. In fact God is the Creator of all things and wholly good. The Bible teaches us the difference between good and evil and how to live in the light of God’s truth. Satan is a created being who is the source of evil and who is doomed to spend eternity in the lake of fire.
- There is one way we can avoid joining him in this fate – through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah who died as a sacrifice for our sins and rose again from the dead to give eternal life to all believers. Jesus is a great teacher, but not just a great teacher. He is God made flesh who revealed the ultimate truth to all mankind. Humanity has once been visited on earth, not from outer space, but from Heaven itself. If we reject the words of this heavenly visitor, then there is no further enlightenment coming for us from anywhere else. See John 1.1-14.
The coming intervention from the Lord.
Finally we should know that there is an invasion of earth which is coming, not from UFOs, but from God Himself. The first stage of this event will be the sudden and supernatural removal of millions of people around the world:
‘For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.’ 1 Thessalonians 4.16-18.
Following this event, known as the rapture of the church, the Beast or Antichrist will take over the world under Satan’s power for a brief period. He will not bring a New Age of love and light, but the Great Tribulation, the worst time in human history, when the world will come to the brink of destruction before the return of Jesus Christ. His brief reign will come to an end with the physical return of the Lord Jesus to the earth, to take over the reigns of control. Then the ‘Kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and of His Messiah / Christ and He shall reign forever and ever.’ Revelation 11.15.
Those who put their trust in Jesus now will have a glorious future in His kingdom as He cleans up the earth after the mess humans have made of it and casts Satan and the demons into the abyss from where they will not be able to deceive the nations (Revelation 20.1-3). The Messiah will reign for 1000 years in which time there will be peace and justice on earth (Isaiah 2.1-4). Then Satan will be released for a short while, and stir up his last futile rebellion against God. After that is put down, this universe will be burned up and God will create a new heavens and new earth where He will dwell forever with the redeemed of all ages (Revelation 21-22). At that point this present universe will cease to exist as will the realm where Satan and the demons now live. There will be one good realm where God dwells (heaven) and one bad realm where Satan and the demons and those who die without the Lord dwell (hell):
‘Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. … And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” … But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Revelation 21.1-8.
The most important thing we can do while we are in this present body and living on this present earth is to avoid hell and make sure we have a place in heaven with God through believing that Jesus died for our sins and rose again to give eternal life to all believers.
Alien Encounters by Chuck Missler and Mark Easton is available on Amazon.
The DVD ‘Alien Intrusion – unmasking a deception’ is available from us for £15 + £3 post and packing.