door Graham Bacon
In de laatste maanden (voorafgaand aan November 2008), heeft de wereld belangrijke geschiedenis minstens drie ervaren die gebeurtenissen, allen maakt met elkaar in verband gebracht met prophecy van de Bijbel. Deze drie gebeurtenissen zijn de financiële instorting van de wereld, de verkiezing van een nieuwe en verschillende voorzitter van de V.S., en de instorting van de overheid van Israël.

De verkiezing van Barack Obama als president van de V.S. signaleert een draaiend punt in wereldgeschiedenis en de plaats van de V.S. daarin. Het signaleert het eind van de era kennedy-Nixon-Reagan-Clinton-2xBush van grootmachtspier, wereldpolitieagent, wij-kennen-het-alle arrogantie, intimideert jongensdiplomatie. Wij gaan nu een era van de vermindering van Amerikaanse invloed, eind aan de oorlog in Irak in en een terugkeer aan meer isolationistbeleid. Deze gevolgen zullen de invloed van Obama en zijn beleid zijn.

Twee belangrijke redenen komen te voorschijn. Het gedrag van de V.S. heeft gegrenst aan reckless en het kan zich niet meer veroorloven om daarin verder te gaan. Geen natie kan zich een oorlog ten koste van miljard dollars veroorloven per week. Welke ons aan de financiële instorting brengt. Samen, beiden eigenschap in prophecy van de Bijbel. De huidige financiële crisis werd teweeggebracht in de V.S. door totaal onverantwoordelijke financiers en heeft zijn grootste gevolgen in de economie van de V.S., maar wijst op de volkomen immorele praktijken om de wereld. De irrationele olieprijzen, kunstmatige voedseltekorten, kartels, rebellenlegers, terroristen, burgeroorlogen, mafias, het gokken, drugs, corruptie, witwassen van geld zijn onbeheerste de kwaden van enkele wereld. Vroeg of laat, desintegreren de grondbeginselen van beschaving, dit keer onder het enorme gewicht van kunstmatig gecre�ërd geldgeplas om de wereld. Het allen is uitgegaan in rook.

In Isaiah 63:1, is toekomstig Israël in ernstig gevaar van Edom, de Palestijnen. De teruggekeerde Jesus gaat blijkbaar door Israël op zijn manier aan Jeruzalem over. „Ik keek maar er waren te helpen niemand en ik was benieuwd dat er te bevestigen niemand waren. Daarom mijn eigen wapen gebracht redding? Ik heb onderaan de volkeren in mijn woede“ betreden Isa 63:5-6. Where are Israel’s supporters? USA? UK? UN? Europe? Whoever? All gone. And this ’supernatural’ observer wonders.

For more than five years the Gospel Publicity League has stated that the most likely reason why the USA will abandon Israel, as Isaiah 63 indicates, is because the USA will not be able to afford it. We were anticipating a financial crisis. How right we were. And because we could read the Bible signs.

All the other Israeli friends, UK, UN, Europe, are fair weather supporters. They will disappear at the slightest Middle East trouble. Supply of oil will be a weapon as in 1940.

Jeremiah 30 is part of a series of Israel restoration passages. “Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, and no one shall make him afraid. For I am with you,’ says the LORD, ‘to save you?There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up; you have no healing medicines. All your lovers have forgotten you” Jer 30:10-14. The return of Israel in 1948 is here connected with its eventual abandonment by its supporters but with the promise of final peace.
Israeli commentator Hillel Fendel wrote, “Though the Prime Minister and other Knesset members welcomed Obama’s win warmly, some expressed the fear that Obama might lead policies that would leave Israel isolated. MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union) said, “We must be very concerned about Obama’s victory.” They have good Bible reasons to be concerned.
Probably there are several reasons why prophecies about the isolation and endangerment of Israel will work out but this financial crash and the reduction of a global US presence through a new US president are some of them. These influences have already had effect.

ISRAEL - PRESENT AND FUTURE
The Israeli government that nearly lost last year’s war in Lebanon, and has recently been plagued by corruption, has finally fallen. New elections are scheduled for next February. Recent Israeli Prime Ministers and governments have behaved disgracefully. They have been an embarrassment to Christian believers who try to support them on Biblically based principles.

Does the Christian Bible not say, “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” Genesis 12:3. Yet those who want to follow this precept are repelled by the behaviour of God’s people. “I do not do this [the elevation of Israel] for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy name’s sake” Ezekiel 36:22. God knew how unprincipled they would become but God made promises to their forefathers. In spite of their bad behaviour he will save them.

A frustrating factor is that, except for Israel’s faithlessness, Jesus would probably be here again by now. But Israel has to be reduced to desperation survival before it will accept Jesus as its Messiah. Israel will not be reduced to vanishing point - it grows bigger and more talented every year - but it is increasingly surrounded by determined enemies who pose a growing threat.

In September, in an interview with Yediot Ahronot, outgoing Prime Minister Olmert said, “Israel will have to leave much of the West Bank, including eastern Jerusalem, and give the Palestinians a state in an area equal to the size of the entire West Bank and Gaza. Olmert also said peace with Syria required a pullout from the Golan Heights.” He wanted to give parts of the Holy Land away to the Palestinians, that were won in a hard fought 1967 war. He was ignorant of Israel’s heritage and destiny. The Bible prophet Obadiah 1:17-19 says exactly the opposite to Olmert. It is to be hoped that a new Israeli government next February will have a better understanding of God’s purpose with Israel.

The current financial crash by itself has changed the world. James wrote of what was coming, following Jesus’ day and relevant to all the money crises since then, “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned, you have murdered the just” [James 5:1-6]. So what’s new?

Three major world events over a period of several weeks, all related to Bible prophecy have changed the course of world history. A new and uncertain era has arrived with less wealth, a reduced USA and a chastened Israel. Jesus may return tonight but how long will Israel take to make Jerusalem a fit place for the headquarters of the Kingdom? One year or twenty?