Delaying Armageddon

Article 


As I see it, when Pres Trump was unexpectedly elected in 2016, he derailed the Obama administration’s plans for Jerusalem and the Middle East and, like a giant dam holding back the waters, his policies delayed Armageddon for four years. If he’s re-elected, we’ll gain another four years’ breathing space; if VP Biden wins, we won’t.  I’m not blind to Pres Trump’s many faults – it really isn’t hard, is it, with our media gleefully reporting them at every opportunity. They even invent some. However, blindly attacking him is, to me, as foolish as undermining the dam and it’s threatening to break.

My About-Turn
When billionaire Donald Trump and his third wife, super-model Melania, rode down the escalator to announce his presidential bid on 16 June 2015, I was with the mockers and scoffers. I even learned of his campaign through Comedy Central where Jon Stewart described it as a comedic “gift from heaven” on his leaving ‘The Daily Show’: “Thank you Donald, thank you Donald Trump, for making my last six weeks my best six weeks. He is putting me in some kind of comedy hospice where all I’m getting is just straight morphine!” The Daily Show 1

I was so delighted I shared the hilarious YouTube clip with friends, thinking, “How racist is this? Trump just called all Mexicans rapists!” Olivia didn’t laugh much – she wanted to see the whole speech. Turned out what he actually said was, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best… They’re sending people that have lots of problems… They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we’re getting. And it only makes common sense… They’re sending us not the right people.” The announcement speech 2

That’s not what I’d heard via Jon Stewart’s filter – ‘some’ does not mean ‘all’. Thus began my on-going battle to hear what Pres Trump actually says before the liberal media filters kick in and present us with the worst possible meanings they can imagine. Check for yourself how they affected 60% of US voters with just one pre-2016 election slander/libel, that he was mocking Serge Kovaleski’s physical disability: Safeguarding the Fourth Estate

Olivia’s Prediction
Mr Trump then went on to criticise Pres Obama’s deal with Iran: “He makes that deal, Israel maybe won’t exist very long. It’s a disaster, and we have to protect Israel.” Olivia began checking what he said about Israel and concluded, in June 2015, “Donald Trump’s going to be President because he’s for Israel. He’s like Cyrus”. 

She knew that 2,500 years ago, God chose Cyrus, an ungodly Medo-Persian emperor, to protect and restore Israel from the Babylon exile. Isaiah had prophesied.

1. Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed…
4. For the sake of Jacob My servant,
And Israel My chosen one,
I have also called you by your name;
I have given you a title of honor
Though you have not known Me…
5. “…I will gird you, though you have not known Me;
6. That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun
That there is no one besides Me.
I am the LORD, and there is no other.”3

God ‘anointed’ (v. 1) and ‘honored’ Cyrus for Israel’s sake (v. 4) and, according to v. 6, we’re all supposed to know about it! Cyrus went on to free the Jewish exiles to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple.

I couldn’t see Mr Trump ever being elected, telling Olivia that Democrats and Republicans alike hated him, women hated him, Blacks, Hispanics, and people of all colours hated him, let alone the mainstream media, Hollywood and pop stars, TV and talk-show hosts. Everyone hated him. Except me – being a good Christian, I didn’t like him but I only hated his sins! And they were so easy to find everywhere! I hated his accumulating vast wealth while avoiding paying tradesmen and creditors through clever bankruptcies; his sexual harassment of Miss Universe contestants; his name-calling and insulting of opponents; his bluster and salesmanship… so many sins to hate!

In 2017, Pew Research Center’s Journalism Project reported that 62% of all news coverage of him was negative, compared to Pres Obama’s 20% negative press in his first year, 2009. 4 In 2018, Media Research Center reported it was 92% negative that year 5 and in 2019, it was 96% negative.6 In 2020, he improved to only 95% negative!7

Nevertheless, Olivia was proven right. Seventeen months later, in Nov 2016, Mr Trump was elected as the 45th President of the USA.

Pres Trump’s Faith?
We later heard of a number of others prophesying that he would be elected, such as Kim Clement’s remarkable words from 2007, eight years beforehand: “Trump shall become a trumpet says the Lord… I will raise up the Trump to become a trumpet… the man that I place in the highest office shall go in whispering my name but, God said, when he enters into the office he will be shouting out by the power of my Spirit… I will put at your helm for two terms a president who will pray…”

In June 2016, the founder of Focus on the Family, James Dobson, said that the new President ‘has not had a relationship with Christ for very long and is still maturing in his faith:  “I believe he really made a commitment but he is a baby Christian”.’ I respect  Dr Dobson and his testimony (see his most recent thoughts here). If he is correct, then Pres Trump’s past is forgiven as thoroughly as my own, thank God!

Ironically, many of the people who most loathe him today because of his conservative views actually loved him in 2005 when he was doing everything they now despise. Bill and Hillary Clinton, for example, were close enough to attend his and Melania’s wedding in 2005 – what a different path they’ve chosen! TV networks who now vilify him nightly such as NBC starred him on hit reality-shows The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice from 2004 for fourteen seasons.  They loved him when he was immoral and adulterous – now that he’s not, they hate him.

Pres Trump & Israel
And what of his promises regarding Israel?

(i) In Dec 2017, he recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Back in 1995, Congress had passed a law to recognise it as such by 1999 and three successive Presidents had promised to enact it – Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama – but each reneged. Pres Trump did it.

(ii) In March 2019, he recognised the Golan Heights as Israeli.

(iii) In Nov 2019, he redefined the West Bank as ‘disputed’ rather than ‘occupied’ territory.

(iv) In Jan 2020, he authorised a drone-strike on Maj Gen Soleimani, leader of the Quds Force, the special unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard devoted to the ‘liberation’ of al-Quds, the Muslim name for Jerusalem i.e. the destruction of Israel.

(v) In Sept 2020, his peace-treaty normalised relations between Israel and two Arab states, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, with Sudan and another five Arab nations supposed to follow.

Whatever we may think of these actions, and I have many friends who fiercely disagree with them, Pres Trump is clearly more protective of Israel than any of his predecessors.

Pres Obama & New Zealand?
In the last few weeks of the much-loved Pres Obama’s presidency, he betrayed Israel and he used New Zealand to do so. In Nov 2016, Olivia and I noticed a cavalcade of cars flying an American flag heading to Wellington airport and wondered who was visiting.

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Turned out it was Sec of State John Kerry on a quick visit, ‘en route to Antarctica’. Really? Soon after, our foreign minister Murray McCully used NZ’s last days chairing the UN Security Council to introduce an infamous resolution:

The resolution put forward by four elected members – New Zealand, Malaysia, Senegal and Venezuela, was the first action taken by the Security Council on the Middle East Peace Process in almost eight years.

In passing Resolution 2334, the Security Council reiterated its demand that Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and that it fully respect all of its legal obligations in this regard.8

This was the latest attempt to legitimise the Palestinian claim to East Jerusalem, including the Old City, the Temple Mount, the Wailing Wall, and even the Jewish Quarter! The USA carefully skirted around the resolution – instead of vetoing it, as they always had done in the past, Pres Obama’s administration abstained and their patsy, New Zealand, was cheered:

The resolution was adopted with 14 members of the Security Council voting in favour and the United States abstaining.  The Security Council chamber broke into rare applause following the vote.9

We were suckered.

In Nov 2019, however, Pres Trump reversed Pres Obama’s policy, recognising instead that it was Jordan who illegally invaded the West Bank in 1948 and Israel who pushed them out in 1967. This means the land is not automatically Palestinian and ‘occupied’ by Israel, as the UN insists, but is ‘disputed’ and to be negotiated in peace talks. See Who’s Colonising Whom .

Armageddon
Let’s be absolutely clear. This ‘disputed’ city’, Jerusalem, will be the site of the last war before the Lord returns.10 In 95-96 AD, John prophesied:

    1. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs
    2. for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty…
    3. And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.11

When ‘the kings of the whole world’ (v. 14) gather to Har-Magedon (v. 16), a prophetic name for Jerusalem as I show in my upcoming book, Kingdom Come: Justice for All, that’s the last battle. John also prophesied of Satan being allowed…:

8. …to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, …to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.
9. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.12

The ‘camp of the saints’ is a metaphor for Christians (we’re all mobile) but there’s only one ‘beloved city’ in the Scriptures – Jerusalem. In c. 480 BC, Zechariah prophesied similarly:

1. The burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him,
2. “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah.
3. “And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it…”13

“All the nations of the earth” (v. 3) will be against Israel (v. 1), to take Jerusalem from them.

Look at Zechariah’s graphic metaphors: “a cup that causes reeling” (v. 2) describes the effects of drunkenness such as belligerence and irrationality,14 hallucinations and inexplicable wounds15 on all who foolishly try to drink from the cup that is Jerusalem when it is not the express will of God. Jesus was specific – the Gentiles would only reign over this city “until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled”.16 After that, any nation other than Israel, indeed all other nations, who try to take up Jerusalem will find it such “a heavy stone” that they will “severely injure” themselves (v. 3).

Nevertheless, all the nations of the earth “will be gathered against it” (v. 3). Zechariah continues

  1. In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem…
  2. “And it will come about in that day that I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem”.17

That will be the Battle of Armageddon/Har-Magedon – Judgement Day.

Islamic Claims
Muslim eschatology predicts that they will recapture Jerusalem with the help of the returning Jesus. Accordingly, they call the USA ‘the Great Satan’ and Israel ‘the Little Satan’ for standing in the way of Allah’s goal. They’re half-right but in all the wrong ways – the USA is indeed the greatest opposition to anyone other than Israel holding on to Jerusalem but that’s the express will of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If in doubt, see for yourself Promised Land or Not?

If Hillary Clinton had become President in 2016, as Pres Obama’s previous Sec of State, she would surely have carried on with their policy towards Israel of abstaining rather than vetoing the UN’s anti-Semitic attacks. As I see it, the UN’s attacks will only increase as Islamic demands for Jerusalem increase. Remember the frogs that John saw:

13. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs

14. for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together…18

As I show in my book, Slouching Towards Bethlehem: the Rise of the Antichrists, ‘the dragon’ is Satan19 and ‘the beast’ is in its final manifestation as the seventh head with ten horns. Ten meaning ‘all’, its ten horns symbolise all the kings of all the nations,20 i.e. the United Nations. ‘The false prophet’ is the spirit of antichrist21 in its final manifestation in Islam. The peace treaties will be cast aside.

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Lastly, the Frogs…
Why frog-like demons? Because, as every Jewish child is told every year at Passover, the frogs were the second plague on Egypt at the Exodus and, as Moses warned Pharaoh:

“The Nile will swarm with frogs, which will come up and go into your house and into your bedroom and on your bed”22

In other words, these demons will seek out all ‘the kings of the whole world’ and there will be no hiding from them anywhere.  Only godly ‘kings’ will be able to recognise and resist their enticement because this deception is for all who ‘do not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved’ (2 Thess 2:10).

Think about this: today, our leaders take all kinds of media wherever they go, even to bed. At this very moment, Satan, the UN, and Islam are actively, openly working to take back Jerusalem from Israel and their words are broadcast 24/7. Can you hear the frogs croaking?

My Conclusion
With Pres Trump’s stand for Israel, if he wins again, Armageddon has been delayed by at least four years; if VP Biden wins and picks up where he left off in the Obama-Biden administration, as I see it, soon after the dam will burst in the Middle East. I’m watching this election very closely…

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By Peabody Awards – Jon Stewart Uploaded by stemoc, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30691402: By Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (Dutch, 1606 – 1669) (1606 – 1669) – artist (Dutch)Details of artist on Google Art Project – bQEZf5tgp8ZerQ at Google Cultural Institute maximum zoom level, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22178532
Limo: By Ex13 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73269992
Clinton: By Pete Souza, official White House photographer – http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/04/Afghanistan-and-NATO/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6420106
  1. https://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/jon-stewart-react-donalt-trump-2016-presidential-bid-119097
  2. https://time.com/3923128/donald-trump-announcement-speech/, emphasis added
  3. Isa 45:1, 4-6, emphasis added
  4. https://www.npr.org/2017/10/02/555092743/study-news-coverage-of-trump-more-negative-than-for-other-presidents
  5. https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/media-trump-hatred-coverage/
  6. https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/rich-noyes/2019/11/12/impeachment-frenzy-nets-aim-destroy-trump-96-negative-news
  7. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/aug/17/broadcast-coverage-of-trump-95-negative-according-/
  8. https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/media-and-resources/news/un-security-council-adopts-historic-resolution-on-israeli-settlements/
  9. Ibid., emphasis added
  10. In 1611, the KJV transliterated the Hebrew har-magedon as Armageddon, which then entered the English language as meaning ‘the scene of ultimate or large-scale conflict’ (Concise Oxford Dictionary).
  11. Rev 16:13-16, emphasis added
  12. Rev 20:8-9, emphasis added
  13. Zech 12:1-3, emphasis added
  14. Prov 20:1
  15. Prov 23:29-35
  16. Luke 21:24
  17. Zech 12:8-9
  18. Rev 16:13-14, emphasis added
  19. Rev 12:9
  20. Zech 8:23
  21. Rev 13:11
  22. Ex 8:3, emphasis added. Celebrated ever after in song in Ps105:30 and Ps 78:45.