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The Time of Jacobs Trouble

Table of Contents:
INTRODUCTION: CHAPTER ONE: Who are the English-Speaking Peoples Descended From? CHAPTER TWO: The Sins of the Israelite Nations CHAPTER THREE: The Coming Punishment on the Israelite Nations CHAPTER FOUR: The Restoration of Israel in the Kingdom of God 67 44 21 3 4

The Time of Jacobs Trouble

Introduction
Most people are captivated by stories of great families and empires that span over centuries such as the recent Star Wars movies, John Jakes North & South covering the Civil War period and Alex Haleys Roots which intrigued and was watched by millions of Americans, both black and white. Roots traced the history of Haleys family from Africa to several generations later in America. Roots also spurred much interest among many black Americans in tracing their family trees. It is perfectly natural for any people to want to know more about their racial heritage. The story of the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic roots of the English speaking peoples is a fascinating saga that spans thousands of years and has a profound impact upon the rest of the world, both now and in the future. In the United Church of God booklet The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy the fascinating history of these peoples was covered and showed that the American and British peoples have descended from Jacobs (Israels) son, Joseph [The Jews being descended from Judah, another of Jacobs 12 sons]. In the final chapter it looked at the major prophecies in the Bible concerning the terrible fate of the American and British people during the coming Great Tribulation and their restoration at the return of Jesus Christ. That chapter only covered the high points of the prophecies concerning modern-day Israel. Over one-quarter of the Bible (including most of the Bible from Isaiah to Malachi) is devoted to prophecy and the vast majority of those prophecies are about the last days or end-time leading up to and following the second coming of Jesus Christ. There are literally scores and scores of prophecies concerning Israel in the end-time of which the United Church of God only covered the high points of in the booklet The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy. Those scores and scores of prophecies from God are directed at the general population of our modern day English-speaking peoples. The purpose of this booklet is to cover in much more depth these prophecies in a way that will be easily understood by the average reader who God has directed these prophecies to. In the United Church of God booklet The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy five chapters of history and one on prophecy. This booklet, which has been styled as a sequel to Uniteds booklet, will devote one chapter to reviewing the historical evidence of who the English-speaking peoples are descended from while the rest of the chapters will cover the many prophecies about Israel in the end-time in a much more detailed way that will be easily understood by the average reader.

Chapter One: Who are the English-Speaking Peoples Descended From?

The unprecedented rise of the English-speaking peoples of America and Britain to their dominant positions of power and influence over the modern world is an amazing story. Why has history been so benevolent and economically generous to Britain and the United States? Why have they been blessed so favorably over the nations that preceded them in history? Surprising as it may sound, both were destined according to Bible prophecy to become superpowers. The descendants of Jacobs son, Joseph, were offered incredible birthright promises of national wealth and prosperity. These blessings were originally made by God to Abraham and passed on to Isaac, Jacob and then onto his son Joseph. The story of the blessings of Abraham or the birthright promises is a fascinating part of the story of the nation of Israel.
The Birthright Blessings

When God called Abraham He promised to multiply his descendants and make a great and powerful nation from them. We read of this in Genesis 12:1-3: Now the LORD had said to Abram [Abraham]: Get out of your country, from your family and from your fathers house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 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. This promise was expanded in Genesis 17:5-6. Not only would a great nation come from Abraham but many nations. In Genesis 28:14 God said to Abraham: Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. There are two aspects to these blessings which have become known as the birthright blessing or blessings of Abraham. There are the national physical blessings of great prosperity and then there is the great spiritual blessing that God promised to him. When God told Abraham in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 28:14), this promise was dual. God also had in mind the promise that Jesus Christ would be born from His descendants and that His death would make it possible to save mankind from the penalty of their sins (Galatians 3:16).

The national, physical blessings were the other part of the birthright promise to Abraham. Now why did God make these promises to Abrahams descendants? God wanted Israel to be a model nation so that other nations would see the benefits of living by Gods way so they might want to come under His rule and live by His way. With that in mind, what was the purpose for offering such prosperity to Abrahams descendants? God's grand purpose - anciently, today and tomorrow - for Abraham's descendants has never varied. He selected them to be a blessing to all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:3). To make this possible He promised them every material advantage they would ever need. These material blessings would make it possible for them to help and benefit many other nations all around the world. Abraham and his wife Sarah were quite old when God promised them a son. He was 75 when he left for the land of Canaan. God had promised them a son but God did not appear again for many years and so they took matters into their own hands. As per an ancient custom when wives were barren, Sarah asked Abraham to beget a son for them with Sarahs servant girl, Hagar. She became pregnant and bore him a son named Ishmael. Ishmael became the father of the people who we call the Arabs (Genesis 17:20).

God told Abraham that the birthright promises would not go to Ishmael but instead would be passed on through a son that would come from Abrahams wife, Sarah (Genesis 17:15-21). What would have happened if Sarah and Abraham had simply waited for God to provide the solution and not taken matters into their own hands? Perhaps generations of strife could have been avoided. The geopolitical scene in the Middle East today might be very different, with the ever-present threat of war much diminished. God promised that Ishmael would not go without any blessing. God promised that from him would come a great nation (Genesis 17:20, 21:18). This promise was fulfilled a few centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire. In the hundred years that followed the death of Mohammed in 632 the Arabs, with their new religion of Islam, conquered all of North Africa, Spain, the Middle East, Arabia, Persia, Armenia, Afghanistan and a third of India - an empire greater in size than that of the Roman Empire. If Ishmael becoming a great nation meant an empire larger in area than the Roman Empire then how much greater are the birthright promises that God promised would come through Isaacs descendants? Given that Sarah was already an old woman well beyond her childbearing years the birth of Isaac was truly a miracle from God. Isaac later had two sons, Esau and Jacob. As the oldest, Esau was entitled to the birthright but he did not value it and sold it to his brother Jacob. Esaus descendants, in time, became the Turks and the Palestinians. Israel was the name that God gave to Abrahams grandson, Jacob, which means Overcomer with God. Jacob had 12 sons and from those sons descended the 12 tribes of Israel. Only one of those 12 tribes are the Jewish people or the Jews as they are called.
A Nation and a Company of Nations

In Genesis 49 Jacob gave prophecies about what the descendants of each of his 12 sons would be like in the endtime before Christs return. About Joseph he said: "Joseph is like a grapevine that produces much fruit, a healthy vine watered by a spring, whose branches grow over the wall. Archers attack him violently and shoot at him angrily, but he aims his bow well. His arms are made strong. He gets his power from the Mighty God of Jacob and his strength from the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel. Your father's God helps you. God Almighty blesses you. He blesses you with rain from above, with water from springs below, with many babies born to your wives, and many young ones born to your animals. The blessings of your father are greater than the blessings of the oldest mountains, greater than the good things of the long-lasting hills. May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph..." (Genesis 49:22-26, New Century Version). This prophetic passage tells us that Joseph's descendants in the last days will live in a productive, well-watered and fruitful land. They will be a people who have greatly expanded their territory and influence - politically, militarily, economically and culturally - a people whose branches grow over the wall, or beyond their natural borders.

These birthright promises were passed down through Isaac and Jacob. All of Jacobs 12 sons would share in the blessings promised to Abraham but the double portion of this birthright was passed onto Joseph sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. In Genesis 35:11 God said to Jacob: I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; A NATION AND A COMPANY [OR COMMONWEALTH] OF NATIONS shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. This part of the birthright promise was passed onto Josephs sons, Ephraim and Manasseh in Genesis 48:19: He (Manasseh) also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother (Ephraim) shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.

They will be a people that, on occasion, will be attacked by other nations but will generally be victorious. Their triumphs will sometimes seem miraculous or providential because the Almighty God is their helper and source of blessings. They will be a people who live in an unusually favourable climate that easily supports their steadily expanding population. They will enjoy the blessing of good crops, vast herds of livestock and extensive natural resources such as fine stands of timber and valuable minerals mined from their soil. Of the twelve tribes of Israel, the two half-tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were the sons of Joseph, were to receive the fantastic birthright blessings of God which included promises of staggering national prosperity. They would receive the dew of heaven, of the fat places of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine" (Genesis 27:28-29, Deuteronomy 33:13-17).
Ancient Israel

resulting in a secession of ten tribes under the leadership of Jeroboam (1 Kings 12). The nation of Israel split into two nations - the northern Kingdom of Israel with its capital of Samaria and the southern Kingdom of Judah (from whom the Jews descend) which had Jerusalem for its capital. The books of Kings records that not one of the Kingdom of Israels kings ruled righteously but did evil instead and did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam. Judah, on the other hand, had fluctuations. Some kings did evil while other kings like Hezekiah, Jehoshaphat, Josiah and Asa were loyal to God. Those fluctuations in power and prosperity were in direct proportion to the degree to which they obeyed or disobeyed Gods laws. The northern Kingdom of Israel (Israelites but NOT Jews) were eventually conquered by Assyria around 721 BC and carried away to near the shores of the Caspian Sea and have never returned to Palestine, as a nation. They included the birthright tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh and eventually became known as the Lost Tribes of Israel. The southern Kingdom of Judah was conquered and taken into exile by the Babylonians around 585 BC. After Babylon fell the majority of the Jews migrated north-west along with the Israelites exiled earlier in Assyria. A remnant of the Jews returned to Palestine after Babylon fell. Jesus Christ was born amongst the Jews in Palestine 500 years later. The Scriptures show that those who volunteered to return and rebuild a Jewish presence in Palestine came almost exclusively from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi (Nehemiah 11:3-36). We find no scriptural evidenceor other historical evidencethat any significant numbers from the other tribes were included in Judahs return to their homeland. In 70 AD the Jewish people revolted against the Romans and were defeated and consequently scattered amongst the nations for nearly 2 000 years until the Jewish state of Israel was created in 1948.
The Lost Ten Tribes of Israel

After being re-united with his son Joseph, who had become vizier of Egypt, Jacob and his family moved down to Egypt. After Josephs death the succeeding pharaoh enslaved the Israelites. In time God raised up Moses and through ten mighty plagues freed them from slavery. God finally brought them into the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua and after several years they conquered the land driving most of the Gentiles out of it. For the next 400 years their spiritual condition waxed and waned during the period of the judges, who God raised up from time to time to deliver them out of the hands of various peoples around them. Finally in the time of the prophet Samuel they rejected God as their king and asked for a human king. Samuel anointed Saul, a tall Benjamite, who was humble to begin with but had a weakness of being insecure and not following Gods instructions. He was later rejected as king by God. David was then anointed as king and God helped him, through his military efforts, to extend the kingdom of Israel by the time of his death from the Euphrates to the Sinai. After David, who ruled righteously and was called by God a man after my own heart, his son Solomon reigned. Solomon asked God for wisdom to rule the people when God offered him anything, including riches. God gave him fantastic wisdom and great wealth. The Solomon era was the greatest era in the history of ancient Israel ruling from the Euphrates to the Sinai and a relatively peaceful era after the many wars during his fathers time of expanding the area of the kingdom. The wealthy Solomon era came at a cost - heavy taxation on the people. They demanded the taxes be lightened by his son Rehoboam. Rehoboam got bad counsel and raised them higher

It is understandable that many people would believe that there is not any history to back up the belief that the English speaking peoples are descended from the ancient nation of Israel as very few mainstream historians have even bothered to study the roots of the British people before their time in Germany and Central Europe prior to migrating across the English Channel.

Those few historians who have written on the roots of the British people before then are in agreement that prior to their time in Central Europe they migrated from the area known as Scythia around present-day Ukraine and Armenia. The Jewish Encyclopedia states the following about the connection between the Nordic peoples of NW Europe and the House of Israel: "The identification of the Sacae, or the Scythians [recognized by most historians as the ancestors of the British peoples] with the Ten Tribes because they appear in history at the SAME TIME and very nearly in the SAME PLACE, as the Israelites removed by Shalmaneser, is one of the chiefs supports of the theory which identifies the English people, and indeed the whole Teutonic race, with the Ten Tribes. Dan is identified sometimes with Denmark and sometimes with the Tuatha da Danaan of Irish Tradition" (p.250) The Jewish people, descended mainly from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi, are fairly visible to the world today but where did the other tribes, known as the lost ten tribes of Israel, go to? Lets look at the evidence that points to where they migrated to. Whilst in Samaria, the house of Israel became known as the "House of Omri" (1 Kings 16:23) or Beth-Omri and the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser II, now in the British Museum, reveals the Assyrian equivalent of "Omri" as Khumri and the "House of Omri" as Bit-Khumri. This is the origin of the Babylonian title Gimiri. "The description 'Son of Khumri' is thought merely to show that Jehu was an Israelite, because Israelite territory was called 'BitKhumri'" (The Ancient records of Assyria and Babylonia, Vol.1, p46). This is also confirmed in Hastings Dictionary of the Bible which says: "The Assyrians first became acquainted with Israel in the time of Omri, and they called the country of the TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL the land of the house of Omri even after the extinction of his dynasty" (Vol.1, Article, Omri, p.688). The Old Testament in the Light of Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia states that: "Omri was likewise pronounced in accordance with the older system, before the grain became ayim. Humri shows that they said at the time Ghomri" (3rd ed., p.339). Raymond McNair in "Keys to North-West European Origins" says the following: Here follows excerpts from a translation of the Behistun Rock Inscriptions by L.W.King and R.Thompson, "Thus sayeth Darius,

the king, 'These are the provinces which are subject unto me, and by the grace of Auramanda became I king of them'" (The inscriptions of Darius the Great of Behistun). This translation translates all of the words on the Behistun Rock Inscriptions in three parallel columns. The first column contains the Persian, the second the Susian or the Elamite, the third contains the Babylonian translation. These inscriptions mention twenty-two provinces. The nineteenth province listed by all three of these parallel columns is called in the Persian language "Scythia" (Phonetic: Saka), in the second column this same province is called in the Susian language "Scythia" (Phonetic: Sakka) and the third column in the Babylonian language is translated, "in the land of the Cimmerians" (Phonetic: Gi-mi-ri) (p.132). Cimmerians is merely a corruption of Samarians while Sacae or Sakka is derived from the patriarch Isaac. According to Gawler in his book "Our Scythian Ancestors":

"The word Saacae is fairly and without straining our imagination translatable as Isaacites" (p.6). The name Saxons is also derived from Sacsons meaning Isaac's sons. Also, the words Scythian and Scot are derived from the Hebrew Succoth which means a booth, tabernacle or temporary dwelling. "Whether at the same time these Gimiri or Saka are really Cymric Celts we can not positively say...But...the Babylonian title of Gimiri, as applied to the Sacae, is not a vernacular but a foreign title, and may simply mean THE TRIBES" (History of Herodotus, Bk. IV., Appendix, Note 1). No nation or people

have been spoken for so long and so consistently by the words "the tribes" as the people of Israel. According to the Behistun Rock Inscriptions the Gimiri (Ghomri) were the same people as the Cimmerians, the Sacae and the Scythians, who gave birth to the Cymri Celts, Saxons, Goths and other peoples of North-Western Europe. Sharon Turner states that: "The Kimmerioi of the Greeks were the Kimbroi of the Greeks, and the Cimbri (Kimbri) of the Latin writers" (History of the Anglo-Saxons, p.28). Robert Owen in his book The Kymry says: "In leaving the far east, they, the Kimmerians or Kymry must have occupied a country south of the Caucasus, extending from the river Araxes to the Palus Habotia or Sea of Azof, where Herodotus remarks on the many places yet bearing the name of Kimmerian in his time" (The Kymry, p.11). This is exactly where the Israelites were exiled to by the Assyrians! Grant says that:

"The Nordics also swept down through the Thrace into Greece and Asia Minor, while other large and important groups entered Asia partly through the Caucasus Mountains but in greater strength they migrated around the northern and eastern sides of the Caspian-Aral Sea" (The Passing of the Great Race, p.214). Again we see that the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians migrated from exactly the same area that the Israelites were deported to after the Assyrians invaded Israel. The Israelites after their exile became known as the Scythians around the northern shore of the Black Sea and the Sacae or Sakka in the area of Persia. They came via the Danube, Central Europe, Greece and the Baltic into Scandinavia, Britain and North-West Europe after numerous different migrations. In History of the Anglo-Saxons Sharon Turner writes: "The Anglo-Saxon, Lowland Scot, Normans, Danes have all sprung from that great fountain of the human race which we have distinguished by the term Skythian or Gothic

Sakai-Suna or the Sons of Sakai, abbreviated into Saksun, which is the same sound as Saxon, seems a reasonable etymology of the word 'Saxon' " (Vol.1, p.56, 87). God prophesied in the Bible, "In Isaac your seed shall be called" (Genesis 21:12) and the Saxons or Sacasons are, in fact, the sons of (I)saca. John Wilson in his Languages of Europe states that: "The basis of the English language may, to a remarkable extent, be found in Hebrew. Many of our most common words, and names of familiar objects, are almost pure Hebrew." The Welsh language today is, in many ways, quite similar to Hebrew. The very name British is derived from Hebrew. The Hebrew word for "covenant" is beriyth, or berith while the Hebrew word ish means man. The word British means covenant man. The Scythian language indicates that the Scyths were descendants of the Hebrew-speaking "Lost Ten Tribes". The Scyths spoke Scythiac which is classified this way: "Scythiac...Scythian (language)...There is a strong similarity between Hebrew and the Scythian languages" (A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 1971 ed., Vol.VII, art.,"Scythiac"). Some fascinating supporting proof for identifying the modern day descendants of ancient Israel with the English-speaking nations has come recently via the evidence of language. Terry Blodgett, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon church) independently came to the belief America and Britain were descended from the tribes of Israel based on the evidence of language. He was a language professor focusing mainly on German. One day he was asked to teach Hebrew which he had not previously studied. In the course of learning Hebrew he discovered the same phonetic shifts (similar letters being widely substituted very suddenly) in the Hebrew that he was familiar with in the Germanic languages (including English). He wrote a university dissertation on it which can be found online at http://rogerswebsite.com/others/Phonological-Similarities-in-Ger manic-&-Hebrew.pdf. The Scythians were nomads, dwelling mainly in tents from which the word Scythian is derived. They raised crops, but their main talent was in tending cattle, sheep, goats and especially horses. They were acknowledged to have been the best horseman of their day, and no cavalrymen could match their skill when it came to fighting on horseback. "The graves of Scythian kings and nobles revealed many objects of gold and bronze, which bear witness to outstanding technical and artistic skill" (World History from Earliest Times to 1800, Vol.3, p.320). These powerful, nomadic tribes first appear in the very

same area that the Israelites were taken captive and deported to 50 years earlier. "The Scythians...apparently first appear in written history in the annals of Esarhaddon (the Assyrian king from 681-668 B.C.) and seem to be centred at that time in what is today Northwest Iran" (The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol.5, art.Scythians). Stephen Collins in his book The Lost Ten Tribes of IsraelFound! writes: The Parthians and Scythians are the people written about by Josephus as the extremely numerous descendants of the ten tribes of Israel. Josephus, who lived in the first century A.D., wrote the following about the ten tribes of Israel: "The ten tribes are beyond the Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers" (Antiquities of the Jews, Book XI, Chapter V, Section 2, Emphasis added). At the time that Josephus wrote the Euphrates River had long been the recognized border between the Roman and Parthian Empires. For Josephus to write (from his perspective within the Roman Empire) that the ten tribes were beyond the Euphrates River was another way of saying the ten tribes were in Parthia, even as many Americans would recognize the phrase beyond the Rio Grande as a euphemism for in Mexico (p.220). Raymond McNair in his booklet America and Britain in Prophecy has this piece of archaelogical evidence showing the lost tribes of Israel did migrate to the Crimea in Ukraine where the Scythians were said to dwell: How these people had gotten there is recorded in an amazing epigraph found on another tombstone in this same region. Here is C. Coffin's translation of A.E. Harkavy's German version (published in Academia Scientiarum Imperialis Memoires, St. Petersburg, vol. 24, no. 1, 1863, p. 9): I Jehuda ben Mose ha-Nagolon of the East country, ben Jehuda ha-Gibbor of the tribe of Naphtali, of the generation Schillem, who went into the exile with the exiles, who were driven away with Hosea, the king of Israel, together with the tribes of Simeon and Dan and some of the generations of the other tribes of Israel, which (all) were led into exile by the enemy Shalmanesser from Schomron [Samaria] and their cities to Chalach [Halah], that is, Backack and to Chabar [Habor], that is, Chabul and to Hara, that is, Herat, and to Gosan [Gozan], the cities of the exiled tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half of Manasseh, which Pilneser [TiglathPileser] drove into exile and settled there (and from there they scattered themselves over the whole land of the East as

far as Sinim)--when I returned from wandering in the land of their exile and from journeying in the dwelling places of the descendants of their generations in their resting places of the Land of Krim [the Crimea]. The Parthians who ruled where present day Iran and Iraq are had priests known as Magi. As Christ was a descendant of David he would have been of great interest to the ruling class of the Parthians as noted by the caravan of the Magi sent around his birth. This connection with the Parthian ruling class may have been part of the reason for the reluctance that the Romans had to crucify Christ, only doing so when backed into it by the Jewish religious leaders. Pilate was a vicious man by all accounts yet he wanted no part in Christs death. Parthia had held its own against the might of the Rome and Rome had concluded a peace treaty around the birth of Christ and Rome made it clear to Pilate not to antagonise Parthia.
The Great Caucasian Migration into Europe

the Parthian Empire and in the final book of his series entitled Israels Tribes Today he makes a pivotal and well-documented connection between the Semitic peoples of the Parthian Empire being driven into Europe following the fall of the Parthian Empire. Below are some extracts quoted at length from Israels Tribes Today showing some of his research into this fascinating story of the great Caucasian migration into Europe following the fall of the Parthian Empire in 226 AD: Many native people ruled by the Parthians did not share [their] racial and cultural origins, and they resented the surge of Semitic culture and religion washing around them. One such people were the non-Semitic Persians. The Persians [Sassanid Arabs] were Zoroastrians, and regarded the Parthians as heretics for slipping away from Zoroastrianism to other religions. One historian comments that the Parthians had fallen away from the strict practice and belief in that faith [Zoroastrianism], and had become idolaters, one of the forms of this idolatry being a religious reverence paid to the early monarchs of the Arsacidae. All Parthian faiths including Christianity, Judaism and the worship of the early Arsacids were considered idolatry by the Zoroastrian Persians. Of course, to many Parthians, the Zoroastrians were the real idolaters. This indicates that the Persian-Parthian conflict was also a "religious war," as historian S. G. W. Benjamin, wrote in his 1888 book, Persia: The Persians...took offense at the religious practices of the Parthians; this was probably one of the reasons that led them finally to revolt. The Persians moved quickly to reestablish Zoroastrianism as the state religion under their first ruler, Ardashir. In The Heritage of Persia, Richard Frye states: Later Sassanian tradition...traces the beginnings of all institutions of church and state back to Ardashir. He is the ruler who reinstated or resurrected the Old Persian Empire with its various institutions as well as the religion of Zoroaster which had been in eclipse under...the Parthians. The Persians also quickly installed Persian rulers over all the conquered provinces of the Parthian Empire, including the old Parthian homeland itself. Persian zeal for Zoroastrianism as a state religion would have made life untenable for those who practiced other religions, such as Christianity, Judaism, or the worship of Arsacid ancestors. The new Persian ruler. Ardashir, quickly: ...devoted his attention to the...strengthening of the national religion. He caused the idols of the Parthians to be destroyed and ordered a general restoration of the doctrines of Zoroaster throughout the empire. Gone was the old Parthian custom of religious tolerance. In its place Zoroastrianism was imposed as a state religion. Since the Persians regarded Semitic religions and culture as

Parthia was eventually conquered by the Sassanid Arabs in 226 AD. Unlike the Parthians, the Sassanids were religiously intolerant and these Persian Arabs drove out the Causasians who lived peacefully within the former Parthian empire. This included not only the Israelites (todays British and NW Europeans) but also the descendants of the Assyrians (todays Germans) and the decendants of the Elamites (todays East European Slavic peoples). One of the names applied by the Romans to these Caucasian tribes was Germans. The word German means war-man and is a generic term. This name is a label used historically for both Israelite tribes and todays German peoples though they are racially different. Though both are white peoples, Germans are anthropologically more broad-headed (brachiacephalic) while Nordic peoples of NW Europe are long-headed (doliocephalic). There were three primary migrations of the Israelites into Europe. Firstly, there were two smaller movements one through into Central Europe and the British Isles. The other went via the Mediterranean and Spain and Portugal. The Celtic peoples of the British Isles were mostly from these. The far greater movement of people occurred after the fall of the Parthian empire in 226 AD. The religiously intolerant Arabs drove out the vast majority of the Caucasian peoples from the Middle East up through Armenia and over the Caucasus Mountains and into Europe. A telling sign of this mass migration is the very name for white people Caucasian. Some of the most fascinating recent historical information that has come to light in recent years has been the research of Steven Collins who has written a series of books on the migrations of the Israelites. He has uncovered a great deal of new material on

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a threat to their rule, the logical assumption is that they sought to kill, harass or banish Semitic populations and customs. In this regard the war of the non- Semitic Persians against the Semitic Parthians was a race war as well as a religious war, a PersianZoroastrian Jihad against Parthian-Semitic influences. The Parthians had no desire to remain in the region as mere subjects of the Persians, a people they had ruled for centuries. However, the strong Persian persecutions of the Semitic language, religion and customs of the Parthians made it imperative for the Parthians to migrate elsewhere. The Parthians were not the only targets of the Persian zealots. It is recorded that Persia began its rebellion against Parthia, not by directly attacking the Parthians, but by attacking two Parthian allies: Carmania (or Kerman) and Media. The Kermans were also called the Germanii The Parthian Empire collapsed in 226 A.D. and millions of its Semitic refugees fled toward Armenia for safety. Armenia was a mountainous region that could not support a lot of refugees, so most of the Parthian refugees traveled northward from Armenia toward the Black Sea region. The Parthians had inhabited and ruled the Iranian region for almost five centuries prior to their flight toward the Black Sea. The Parthian heavy cavalry was famous for its armored horsemen with coats of mail. The Parthians were fellow tribesmen of the Scythians, and many Scythians, such as the Massagetae, had lived in the Parthian Empire for centuries. Just four years after the Parthian Empire collapsed and its people fled toward Armenia and the Black Sea, we have a new nation of Goths which was heavily-influenced by the former Iranian inhabitants of the country. Who were these former Iranians? Obviously, they were the Parthian refugees who had just fled from Iran, the hinterland of Parthia's Empire, in huge numbers! Lucien Musset's account notes that the kings of this new nation of Goths were still wearing Iranian clothing! For almost five centuries prior to the birth of this new nation of Goths, the words Parthian and Iranian were virtually synonymous! The term Caucasian is a traditional, historic name commonly applied to the white race. The dictionary definition indicates that it is a traditional term, not a scientific one. It is important to realize, however, that the term Caucasian has long served as a synonym for "the white race" because so many whites poured into Europe via the Caucasus mountain region. The Parthians and Scythians were members of the white race, a conclusion invariably supported by the evidence and all their self-portrayals on coins and artwork. Their forced migration out of Parthia and Scythia and into Europe was one of the greatest migrations, in terms of the sheer number of people involved, in the entirety of human history!

Because Parthia's history has been widely ignored, few comprehend why an almost endless stream of white Caucasian tribes and nations came spilling out of Asia into Europe as refugees, beginning in the third century, A.D. The reason for this mass migration is obviously the fall of the great Semitic Parthian Empire in the third century, A.D.! Yet history texts recoil from identifying the Asian source of all these migrating nations, as if making such identification were an intellectual taboo. These refugee nations and tribes of Caucasians pouring into Europe from Asia did not come from Siberia, a black hole, or from the mists of history. THEY CAME FROM PARTHIA AND SCYTHIA! As a result of this incredible historical omission, millions of modern Caucasians do not realize that their ancestors comprised the population of the ancient Parthian Empire, one of the largest empires of the ancient world! Stuart Piggott's 1965 book, Ancient Europe, also documented that the Scythians had sent some groups of settlers into Europe centuries before Parthia fell. Piggott wrote: Historically the Scyths are known as speakers of an Indo-European language...Westwards they moved into the Carpathians, forming local groups of Scythian culture in Transylvania and on the Hungarian plain, and were pursued by Darius about 512 B.C...there is evidence for Scythian trade and even raiding into north-eastern and Western Europe By the time Parthia fell in 226 A.D., the Scythians were very familiar with European geography and they had already settled outposts of Scythians in Central and Eastern Europe. As Parthia's refugees poured into the traditional Scythian region north of the Black Sea, their Scythian kinsmen could easily direct the land-hungry Parthian refugees to areas of Europe which could support their large numbers. Other historians have also recorded the great movement of the Scythians and their Parthian kinsmen into Europe. John Mitchel's, History of Ireland stated in 1869: "...all Europe had been peopled by the Cimmerians or Scythians from the borders of the Euxine Sea. The Black Sea was called the Euxine Sea in ancient times, and this account acknowledges that the population base of all Europe originated from the Scythian tribes who once lived by the Black Sea. Sharon Turner's epic 1836 work, The History of the Anglo- Saxons, is more specific: "The Anglo-Saxons, Lowland Scotch, Normans, Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Germans, Dutch, Belgians, Lombards and Franks have all sprung from that great fountain of the human race, which we have distinguished by the terms Scythian, German or Gothic. This account acknowledges that most nations in Northern, Western and Central Europe descended from the massive

11

waves of Caucasians who poured into Europe from Asia. This fact is well- known. Even establishment sources acknowledge this fact. What has been hidden from people's awareness is the fact that these Caucasian migrations into Europe were caused by the Parthians and Scythians pouring into Europe after the sudden collapse of the mighty Parthian Empire in 226 A.D. That fact has been hidden, because if the Parthian and Scythian Empires were examined in any depth, their Semitic-Israelite origins would become quickly known. The existence and history of Parthia and Scythia powerfully support the Bible, so these empires have been censored out of the history texts. As a result, the modern Caucasian nations have no idea where their ancestors came from or what their true heritage is! The Parthian and Scythian refugees arrived at the Black Sea region as a migrating mass of millions of essentially homeless people, bringing with them only what they could carry on their backs, and on their horses and wagons. They needed to secure food, clothing and shelter, and to reorganize themselves. Given the massive and total dislocation suffered by these it took years for them to get reestablished. However, after two or three decades, they were sufficiently regrouped to go to war again in an organized fashion to obtain more land for their people. Parthia's old enemy, Rome, was about to experience their angry power. In 256 A.D., Gothic tribes crossed the Carpathians and drove the Romans from Dacia. In other words, the Goths left the region north of the Black Sea, crossed the Carpathian Mountains and entered Balkan Europe in formidable numbers. It was noted above that the Goths' homeland was also the Scythian homeland. The Goths were not the only Scythian people migrating into Europe. Sharon Turner's History of the AngloSaxons adds: "...the Scythian tribes. They have become better known to us, in recent periods, under the name of Getae and Goths, the most celebrated of their branches...In the days of Caesar, the most advanced tribes of the Scythians, or Gothic race, were known to the Romans under the name of Germans...That the Getae were Goths cannot be doubted. The Getae were the same as the Daci, or as they were more anciently called, Davi... The Goths, Germans and Dacians were the Scythian tribes. However, the Parthian refugees would have been included among the Scythian tribes contributing to the sea of Goths and Germans pouring into Europe, as the Parthians were themselves a branch of the Scythian nation. Notice also that the ancient name of the Scythian branch known as Daci (Dacians) was the Davi. This latter name preserves the name of the founder of the ancient Israelite Empire, King David The Goths exhibited Scythian cultural traits when they migrated into Europe in great numbers. Tamara Talbot Rice's book, The Scythians, comments that Fleeing Goths spread [the] Scytho-Sarmatian style through Central and Southern Europe as

early as 200-300 A.D.,' indicating that the Scythian origin of the Goths is an evident fact. Indeed, we have now reached the point in history where the terms Parthian and Scythian disappear. The tribes formerly known by those names are called Goths, Germans and other names when they invade Europe. However, it is very clear that the Gothic and German tribes invading Roman Europe were mostly displaced Parthians and Scythians. In the 3rd century A.D. millions of fairskinned, Semitic Parthians and Scythians were driven out of Asia toward the Caucasus Mountains and the Black Sea region. In the 3rd century A.D., millions of fair-skinned, Caucasian Goths and Germans begin pouring into Europe from the Black Sea region in a human tidal wave looking for new homelands. The connection between these two events is clear, obvious, and conclusive! Not all of the migrating Parthians and Scythians came to be known as Goths or Germans. One of the famous branches of the Germanic tribes entering Europe from the east was the Saxons. Sharon Turner comments on their Scythian origins: "The Saxons were a German or Teutonic, that is, a Gothic or Scythian tribe; and of the various Scythian nations which have been recorded, the Sakai, or Sacae, are the people from whom the descent of the Saxons may be inferred...The Sakai...were an important branch of the Scythian nation...Ptolemy mentions a Scythian people, sprung from the Sakai, by the name of the Saxones...There was a people called Saxoi, on the Euxine [the Black Sea], according to Stephanus. There is evidence that the word Goth comes from the Gothic word Guth, which meant God. Col. J. C. Gawler, an official of the British Government in the 19th century, quoted a book by M. Sailman written in 1818 entitled Researches in the East; an Important Account of the Ten Tribes. Gawler says: It states on page 25, that on the authority of several Armenian historians, the ten tribes passed into Tartary. It also quotes Ortellius, who, it says, in his description of Tartary, notes the kingdom of Arsareth, where the ten tribes retiring...took the name of Gauthei' because, he says, they were very jealous of the glory of God. This record that the Israelites, when first fleeing into the Black Sea region from the Assyrians, took the name Gauthei out of a zeal for God, argues that the Gauthei or Goths did, indeed, name themselves after God. Since the Goths lived in the same region in which the term Gauthei originated, it follows that the term Goth was simply a more recent form of the word Gauthei. Bradley also cites Gothic literature in which is found the word: Gut-thiuda, [meaning] people of the Goths.' The word thiuda is the same as the Old-English theod, meaning people...

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There is good reason to conclude that the Goths considered themselves to be the people of God. Once it is understood that they were the descendants of the ten tribes of Israel, it is logical that their Israelite ancestors believed themselves to be the people of God If history texts gave the Parthian Empire the prominent attention its position in the ancient world merits, it would be impossible to miss the Parthian origin of the masses of refugee Caucasians pouring into EuropeWe know the Parthians had a Semitic culture when they exited Parthia, because their Semitic culture is what drove the Persians to expel them. Parthian coins and Scythian artwork confirm their people had white, Caucasian features. Only the fallen empire of Parthia could have provided the many nations and tribes of refugees which poured into Europe promptly after the fall of the Parthian Empire. Yet history texts seem unwilling to make the obvious, easy connection between their dispersion and the arrival of many tribes of Caucasian refugees arriving in Europe right after Parthia's collapse. Curious, isn't it? (Israels Tribes Today, p.710, 20, 26-30, 32, 38-39)
Migration to Britain and America

future United States. These waves of migration had their origin in specific parts of the British Isles and came to particular areas of the American colonies. New England, for instance, was settled primarily by immigrants from East Anglia. Certain parishes of this southeastern part of England were almost emptied of population between 1629 and 1641, as whole family groups migrated en masse. Today, East Anglia seems very rural by comparison with other English regions. But in the early 17th century, it was the most densely settled and highly urbanized part of England, and had been so for many centuries (Albions Seed, p. 43). Overwhelmingly, the immigrants who settled the United States before the Civil War came from northwestern Europe. Most were from either the British Isles or certain parts of northern Germany. These immigrants established the character of the American nation and have provided most of the nations leadership until this day [By as late as 1980 about 80% of the USA had ethnicity from NW Europe]. Even some whose ancestors immigrated later from other parts of Europe may well have Israelitish background. After all, the prophecy was made by Amos that the House of Israel would be sifted through the nations like corn through a sieve, but not a grain would be lost (Amos 9:9) (The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy, p.36). Raymond McNair in his booklet America and Britain in Prophecy has these fascinating comments on the migrations from northern Germany to Britain and America: In a 1915 article Are We Cousins to the Germans? Sir Arthur Keith wrote that the Briton and German represent contrasted and opposite types of humanity (The Graphic, Dec. 4, p. 720). He explained, The radical difference in the two forms leaps to the eye. In the majority of the Briton-English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish--the hinder part of the head, the occiput, projects prominently backwards behind the line of the neck; the British head is long in comparison with its width (p. 720). Keith then pointed out that in the vast majority of Germans, the back of the head is flattened--indicating a profound racial difference. Even in the sixteenth century, Vesalius, who is universally recognized as the 'father of Anatomy,' regarded the flat occiput as a German characteristic.... He came, rather unwillingly, to the conclusion that the vast majority of modern German people differed from the British, Dutch, Dane and Scandinavian in head form. "The explanation, according to Keith, is easy. With the exodus of the Franks to France and the Anglo-Saxons to Britain in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth centuries of our

Prior to the Roman occupation of Britain the lands of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales were populated by the Celts who were a mixture of Judah (Scots), Levi (Wales, Cornwall & originally much of England) and Danites (Irish). The Britons were the original Celts in England, who included King Arthur of legend. Many of the Britons were evangelized by Joseph of Arimathea and some of the apostles who were charged by Christ to preach to the lost sheep of the House of Israel (Matthew 10:6). In the fifth and sixth centuries AD the Angles (Manassites) and the Saxons (Ephraimites) crossed the English Channel from western Germany. The Angles settled primarily in the eastern Anglia counties such as Norfolk and Suffolk. The Saxons settled the rest of England and pushed the original Britons (Levites) in England further west to Wales and Cornwall. By far the heaviest concentration of people who migrated to America from England came from the Anglia counties where the Angles had settled. God was separating many people of the halftribe of Manasseh from their Ephraimite brothers. Strangely enough, the Angles, whose descendants compromise much of Americas population, gave their name to England which means Angle-land. John Ogwyn makes these comments on this migration from Britain to America: Professor David Fischer points out in his important book, Albions Seed, during those two centuries (17th and 18th centuries) there were four main waves of immigration to the

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era, Germany was almost denuded of her long-headed elements in her population. So the land of Germany seems to have been operating as a massive SIEVE - while the round-headed population elements were retained, the long-headed elements passed through. This is rather astounding! Could something like this have happened by chance alone? Surely there was something more at work here! Did any more of the Scandinavian long-headed type leave? Yes - to America! Look at the entry on Germany in the Britannica: There have been great oscillations in the actual emigration by sea. It first exceeded 100,000 soon after the Franco-German War (1872, 126,000), and this occurred again in the years 1880 to 1892. Germany lost during these thirteen years more than 1,700,000 inhabitants by emigration. The total number of those who sailed for the United States from 1820 to 1900 may be estimated at more than 4,500,000.... "The greater number of the more recent emigrants [to the U.S.] was from the agricultural provinces of northern Germany - West Prussia, Posen, Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Hanover, and sometimes the emigration reached 1% of the total population of these provinces. In subsequent years the emigration of native Germans greatly decreased (11th ed., vol. 11). What is so special about northern Germany? Notice this reference from Ripley's Races of Europe: Northwestern Germany - Hanover, Schleswig-Holstein, Westphalia - is distinctly allied to the physical type of the Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes. All the remainder of the Empire - no, not even excluding Prussia, east of the Elbe - is less Teutonic in type; until finally in the essentially Alpine broadheaded populations of Baden, Wurttemburg, and Bavaria in the south, the Teutonic race passes from view" (p. 214). It is generally known that the northern Low Germans differ from the southern High Germans. But there were differences even among the Low Germans. Another source comments, A separate study, in the case of Germany at least would seem to indicate that those [immigrants] who went to the U.S.A. in the 1800s were somehow different from those who stayed behind and German officials themselves remarked on such a difference. The claim for such a distinction is based on consideration of physical types, areas-of-origin within Germany, religious orientation and social outlook (Yair Davidy, The Tribes, Russell-Davis Publishers, p. 430). It seems America's Puritan founders were indeed right in believing that God was sifting a whole nation! It is clear, then, that the Anglo-Saxon peoples are not Germanic - at least in the modern sense of that term. Neither are the Teutonic peoples of Scandinavia and the rest of Northwest Europe who sprang from the Scythians.

These people who overran the British Isles were in many respects the same as the Celts who were already living there. Notice what Professor Huxley's Racial Origins says: The invasion of the Saxons, the Goths, the Danes and the Normans changed the language of Britain, but added no new physical element. Therefore we should not talk anymore of Celts and Saxons, for THEY ARE ALL ONE. I never lose an opportunity of rooting up the false idea that the Celts and Saxons are different races. Winston Churchill was of the same opinion (History of the English-Speaking Peoples, vol. 1, preface) (America and Britain in Prophecy, p.32-34).

The Scottish Declaration of Independence, written in 1320 AD by King Robert the Bruce (who was popularized in the 1995 movie Braveheart) shows that the Scots of that time knew from whom and where they were descended from. It states: "The nation of the Scots has been distinguished by many honours, which passing from greater Scythia through the Mediterranean Sea and through the Pillars of Hercules, and sojourning in Spain, amongst the most savage tribes through a long course of time, could nowhere be subjugated by any people, however barbarous, and coming thence 1200 years after the outgoings of THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL they, by their many victories and infinite toil, acquired for themselves the possessions in the west which they now hold." Robert the Bruce was not the only prominent individual who knew the English-speaking peoples descended from the tribes of Israel. In 1588 Sir Francis Drake, writing to his old friend, John Foxe, said: "Wherefore I shall desire you to continue faithful remembrance of us in your prayers, that our purpose may take good effect, as God may be glorified, His church, our Queen and country preserved, and the enemies of truth utterly extinguished, that we may have continued peace IN ISRAEL."

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Where did the Other Tribes Migrate to?

We have covered the history, in particular, of the descendants of the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, from whom the British and American peoples descended. Where did the rest of the tribes of Israel migrate to? In Genesis 49 there is recorded a long prophecy that describes the state of each of the tribes in the "latter days". More clues are given in a similar prophecy spoken by Moses in Deuteronomy 33. Jacob's firstborn son to his first wife, Leah, was Reuben. Because he slept with Jacob's concubine, Bilhah (Genesis 35:22), he lost the birthright which was passed onto Joseph, the firstborn son of his second and favorite wife, Rachel. Which nation is descended from Reuben? The clues of Genesis 49 and the facts of history point to France. In Yair Davidy's book "The Tribes he writes: "In west Europe the Franks were divided into several groups of whom the main ones are assumed to have been the Ripuarian Franks, the Salian Franks and the Chatti or Hessians. The Ripuarian Franks were assumedly so-called by the Romans since they were first known to them on the banks of the Rhine (in Latin "ripe" means riverbank) The name is also given as Ribauri and this name in Hebrew is another form of REUBEN ... [the] Ripuarian Franks with Alamans also entered Gaul from the east of the Rhine where they had been centred in Westphalia. The name 'PHALIA' wherein the Franks had been sojourning is derived most likely from that of PHALUI, second son of Reuben (p 162-163)". Jacob foretold that Reuben would be "unstable as water" (Genesis 49:4). This has been the case with the instability in French government since the French revolution, though it has been more stable in recent years. Just as Jacob's son, Reuben, had a weakness for sex, the French have been known for their "avant-garde" approach to sex. Jacob also referred to Reuben as "the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power"(Genesis 49:3). In the past, France was called "the queen of culture". This excellency can be seen in many of France's magnificent chateaus and palaces such as the Versailles. During the time of Napoleon, France also excelled in power. The descendants of Reuben, at a subconscious level, have tried hard to take back the double-portion of the birthright blessings from Joseph. Just before the time that Ephraim and Manasseh would inherit the birthright the French controlled much of eastern Canada and the vast Mississippi Basin (Louisiana Territory). The French and Indian War (1754-1763) was a major turning point in the struggle for control of North America. The decisive battle was the British capture of the "impregnable" city of Quebec where the fighting was centered on the aptly named Plains of Abraham. Britain thereafter acquired the French territory of eastern Canada. In 1803 Napoleon sold the vast Louisiana Territory (8.28 million acres of the world's richest and most fertile land) to the new nation of the United States in order to fund his war efforts to expand France's empire in Europe. This event is seen by some as a symbolic handing over of the birthright from Reuben to Joseph. Through the French support of the Americans in their War of Independence and the sale of the Louisiana Territory, France hoped to create a rival who would weaken England. They elevated one branch of the family of Joseph and then lost to the other branch on both sea and land when the British defeated them in the battles of Trafalgar and Waterloo. The northern French (only 25% of the French including much of the upper class) are descended from the Ripuarian Franks (Reuben). The central and much of the southern French and the Walloons of south Belgium (40% of Belgians) are descended from Dodanim (Genesis 10:2-4) who was a son of Javan, the ancestor of the Spanish and the Greeks through his other sons. After Reuben came Simeon and Levi. These sons were quite cruel and Jacob foretold that they would be scattered by God throughout Israel (Genesis 49:7). According to Yair Davidy, Simeon appears to be represented by Celtic tribes such as the Simeni on the east coast of Britain and the Semoni of Ireland and Wales. Some also are to be found in Scandinavia (The Tribes, p 219220). The tribe of Levi, from whom came Moses and Aaron, became the priestly tribe. Being the priestly tribe they had no tribal inheritance. They lived amongst the other tribes. Amongst the Jews of Israel, Welsh and the United States we find many with names like Levi, Levy, Llewellyn and Lewis. The Hebrew word for priest is "Kohen". Many with names such as Kohan, Kuhn and Cohen are of Levite descent. Many of the tribe of Levi are found in Wales and amongst the Cornish people of SW England. Judah or the Jewish people are quite visible to the world today, due mainly to the fact that they have remained faithful to keeping the sign of Gods people, the Sabbath (Exodus 31:16-17). Jacob foretold that his "hand shall be on the neck of your enemies" (Genesis 49:8). The military skill of the Jewish people of the modern state of Israel in resisting the attacks of their Arab neighbors has been quite remarkable. The Jews have always had a reputation for producing great intellects (eg. Einstein) as well as being skilful warriors. The Jews in the state of Israel and the Scottish (many of whom descend from Judah) have been known as great warriors and Scottish inventors have produced a great many inventions per capita than most nations. The Jews and Scots also share the common trait of being known for being shrewd financially.

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In Zephaniah 2:1-2 there appears to be a reference to the return of the Jewish people to the land of Palestine that we have seen in recent decades. Jesus' prophecy of the abomination of desolation (Matthew 24:15) requires an Israelite presence in Palestine in the end time. A significant number of Jews migrated into Europe with the other tribes. The Jutes gave the name of Jutland to the Danish peninsula. Many Jews can also be found in Denmark, Scotland, south England, Northern Ireland as well as the United States. "Zebulun shall dwell by the haven of the sea. He shall become a haven for ships" (Genesis 49:13). This prophecy finds its fulfillment in the nation of Holland or the Netherlands. Rotterdam, at the mouth of the Rhine, is the world's busiest port. In the 17th Century, Holland was one of the great sea and colonial powers of Europe. Zebulun is also described as obtaining abundance and wealth from the seas and the hidden treasures of the sands (Deuteronomy 33:19). The Dutch are well-known for building dykes and reclaiming land for the use of farming. Much of the Afrikaan population of South Africa are of Dutch descent. South Africa is known for the great wealth obtained from their diamond mines and Holland for its diamond cutting industry. "The name ZEBULON was recalled in Zabulistan of east Iran (Afghanistan) and in the Sabalingoi which people were originally in southern Jutland and from there moved into Dutch Frisia and other parts of Holland" (The Tribes, p.330). Dan was described as "a serpent by the way" (Genesis 49:17) or a serpent's trail. They had a custom of naming places after their tribal ancestor Dan (Joshua 19:47, Judges 18:11-12). They left their mark on Europe as they migrated across it. We see this in the names of many of Europe's important rivers such as the Don, Dneiper, Dniester, Dardanelles and the Danube. Keating's History of Ireland traces the Tuatha de Danaan (literally "the tribe of Dan") from Greece to Ireland and Scandinavia. Both ScanDINavia and SweDEN bear the name of Dan. The name of Dan occurs frequently in Ireland in place names such as Donegal, Danslaugh, Dungarvan, Dundalk, Dungloe, Dunsmore as well as the popular Irish song "Danny Boy". Dan migrated to Ireland and, along with people descended from the Jutes (Judah), form the bulk of the nation of Denmark (DANmark). "Dan shall be a serpent by the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse's heels, so that its rider shall fall backward" (Genesis 49:17) Jacob also said that Dan would be a judge over his own people (Genesis 49:18). Ireland has been like a serpent biting at the heels to England. Ireland achieved self-government from British rule via a terrorist campaign against representatives of the British government. A coiled snake is also the symbol of the Irish Republican Army (the I.R.A.). Asher was to be characterised by qualities such as we see in Belgium today. "Bread from Asher shall be rich and he shall yield royal dainties" (Genesis 49:20). Belgium has been long recognised for her cakes and pastries as well as her lace, porcelain and tapestries which have graced the halls of kings. Both Belgium and Luxembourg are especially blessed above many of the other nations of NW Europe with a high standard of living. "Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil" (Deuteronomy 33:24). Oil was a symbol of prosperity. The northern Belgians (60% of Belgium) who speak Flemish (dialect of Dutch) are of Israelite stock and have prospered more than the Walloons of the south. Gad is a Hebrew word meaning "troop" which is a good description of Switzerland where every man is mobilized for defense. The French speaking Swiss (descended from the Burgundians) appear to be descended from the tribe of Gad. "Blessed is he who enlarges Gad" (Deuteronomy. 33:20). The Swiss nation, per capita, is the richest nation in Europe. Jacob also said that "a troop shall tramp upon him: but he shall triumph at last" (Genesis 49:19). The Swiss broke away from the Holy Roman Empire around 1300 and have retained their independence for most of the time since. "He provided the first part for himself, because a lawgiver's portion was reserved there. He came with the heads of the people (Deuteronomy 49:21). To Gad come "the heads of the peoples. Geneva has been known as a place where heads of government meet for peace talks. The identities of Isaachar, Naphtali and Benjamin are a little more obscure. Isaachar appears to be the western Finns. (The eastern Finns, as well as the Finnish language, are related to the Estonians and Hungarians who descend from Shems son Aram (Genesis 10:22)) "Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens. [He] bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute" (Genesis 49:14-15, KJV). Finland has long been caught between the stronger, competing nations of Sweden and Russia and for some of the past century was under tribute to both Russia and Germany. Naphtali appears to be Sweden who descend from the Suiones. The Amplified Bible renders Genesis 49:21 as "Naphtali is a hind let loose which yields lovely fawns". Sweden is known for its sexually open lifestyle and blond, Swedish women have had a reputation for their great beauty. Naphtali also "gives goodly words"(Genesis 49:21, KJV). From Sweden come the Nobel prizes. "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil (Genesis 49:27). This is a very good description of the Vikings who pillaged Northern Europe. The Vikings came mostly from Norway who, along with the Danes, make up most of the population of Iceland. Just as Benjamin was the smallest tribe, so too, are the Norwegians amongst the other Israelite nations of Northwest Europe.

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The Throne of David

Not all dimensions of the promises were to go to Joseph and his descendants. Judah would receive a promise with an important spiritual dimension. Through Jacob God gave the prophecy that "the scepter [ruler's staff] shall not depart from Judah" (Genesis 49:10). That prophecy pointed both to the dynasty of Israel's future king, David, and to the role of Jesus, also of the tribe of Judah and a descendant of David, as the Messiah (Luke 1:32; Hebrews 7:14; Revelation 5:5). God promised to David that his throne would last to all generations or FOREVER! (2 Kings 7:12-16, Psalm 89:3-4). If God has not failed to keep His word we need to look for David's throne elsewhere than the land of Palestine where the Jewish state of Israel is today. When Judah was taken by Babylon into captivity Nebuchadnezzar killed Zedekiah and all his sons (Jeremiah 37:1-9), seemingly destroying the royal dynasty. Former King Jeconiah (Jehoiachin) was at that time, in the dungeons of Babylon and he had sons to continue Davids line. It was through his line of descendants that Jesus Christ was born (Matthew 1:12-16). God decreed the following about Jeconiah: Thus says the Lord, Write this man as childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days: for none of his descendants shall prosper, SITTING ON THE THRONE OF DAVID, AND RULING ANY MORE IN JUDAH! (Jeremiah 22:30). As far as the throne of David was concerned he was childless. God had determined that none of his children would ever occupy the throne. Nebuchadnezzar killed Zedekiah and all his sons, seemingly destroying the royal dynasty but failed to kill the king's daughters (Jeremiah 43:6-7) who escaped with Jeremiah. God, through the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:9-10), kept the royal line alive and took one of the king's daughters to the mountain or House of Israel (Ezekiel 17:22-23). According to Irish tradition he took Tea-Tephi to Ireland in 569 B.C. along with a mysterious stone which Jacob was thought to have slept on when he had his vision of God. This stone and the throne were transferred from Ireland to Scotland and finally to England (Ezekiel 21:27). Many kings and queens of Scotland and England have been crowned on the coronation stone called Liafail or the Stone of Destiny. Originally taken from Scotland to Westminster in 1296 by King Edward I (the king of England during the time setting of the 1995 movie Braveheart) it was recently given back to Scotland and is now housed in Edinburgh Castle. In his book The Forgotten Monarchy of Scotland, Prince Michael of Albany, descendant of the Royal Stuart dynasty, states that the kings of Scotland are descendants from the line of the House of Judah: Scotlands royal heritage is the oldest in Europe, and it can be traced back well into the BC era. The legacy of the Scots kings was hewn on the Stone of Destiny, the venerated relic of the Beth-el Covenant (Genesis 28:1822). the Royal House of Dalriada, through which all Kings of Scots traced their succession from the biblical Kings of Judah, from the Princes of Greater Scythiamany regarded the Stewarts as their Biblical kings. Prior to becoming High Stewards of Scotland, the Stewarts maternal forebears were Seneschals in Brittany, and they were of the same ancestral stock as the earlier Merovingian Kings of the Franks, in descent from the ancient Royal House of Judah. (p. 12, 70, 198-99).

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When Christ returns He shall take over the throne of David that God has continued to preserve since the days of His promise to King David (Luke 1:32). Further information on the Throne of David and its connection with the British royal family can be found at http://www.ucg.org/brp/materials/throne/index.html.
The British Empire

"Human, and not wholly human, for the most heedless and the most cynical must see the finger of the divine ...reaching with a ripple of a restless tide over tracts, and islands and continents, until our little Britain woke up to find herself the foster-mother of nations and the source of united empires. Do we not hail in this, less the energy and fortune of a race than the supreme direction of the Almighty?" Lord Curzon, Britain's Viceroy of India, speaking in Birmingham, England in 1907 said: "I would describe the empire...as the result, not of an accident or a series of accidents, but of an instinct - that ineradicable and divinely implanted impulse, which has sent the Englishman forth into the uttermost parts of the earth, and made him there the parent of new societies and the architect of unpremeditated creations." "The acquisition of it (the British Empire) all had been a jerky process. Absence of mind it never was, but it happened so obscurely that to the ordinary Briton the rise of the Empire must have seemed more like some organic movement than the conscious result of national policies. There seemed no deliberation to it. One thing simply led to another" (Pax Brittanica, p.42).

When Jacob passed on the birthright to Josephs sons he said, "He (Manasseh) also shall become a people, and he also shall be GREAT, but truly his younger brother (Ephraim) shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a MULTITUDE (OR COMMONWEALTH) OF NATIONS" (Genesis 48:19). Joseph's modern descendants are the easiest to identify of all the lost tribes of Israel because the specific blessings they were to receive stand out so distinctly from those of the other tribes. God promised to Joseph's descendants - through his sons Ephraim and Manasseh - all the benefits of the birthright promises of national greatness and overflowing prosperity. Speaking before students at the Glasgow University in 1900, British Prime Minister, Lord Roseberry made the following comments about the British Empire:

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British historian James Morris says regarding the British Empire, "It was the largest empire in the history of the world, comprising nearly a quarter of the land mass of the earth, and a quarter of the population...In fact...it continued to grow until 1933 when its area was 13.9 million square miles and its population 493 million...The Roman Empire in its prime comprised perhaps 120 million people in an area of 2.5 million square miles" (Pax Brittanica, p.21, 27, 42). At its height the British Empire was over 5 times the size of the Roman Empire and ruled over 4 times as many people as the Roman Empire. Compared with the Roman Empire's bloody military conquests, British military forces shed very little blood and its empire was primarily established through trade and commerce. The builders of the British Empire aspired to weld together a peaceful, productive domain ruling over a quarter of the world's population. A great achievement of British administrators was the establishment and extension of law and order in Britain's colonial and imperial territories around the globe. This alone brought untold blessings to the people of these territories. This Pax Britannica bequeathed peaceful conditions to many regions formerly plagued by war and long-term ethnic hostilities. The British presence also stimulated territorial economic development and introduced many areas to Western technological advances. British missionaries became the bearers of biblical literature and knowledge to people from one end of the globe to the other. Both physical and spiritual blessings were freely distributed around the globe. The British built an empire on which the sun never set. Its imperial structure was almost infinite in its diversity, comprised as it was of people from virtually every ethnic group and governed by means as centralized as the raj (British rule) in India or the British agent-general's office in Egypt or as independent as the dominion status granted to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. God's promise to Abraham included another provision: "Your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies" (Genesis 22:17). In this context gate means a strategic passageway controlling commerce or military access for a region. Examples of strategic gates are the Straits of Gibraltar and the Suez and Panama canals.
The United States of America

The Frenchman Alex de Tocqueville wrote the following in his Democracy in America: "The Indians [of North America] occupied but did not possess the land. It is by agriculture that man wins the soil, and the first inhabitants of North America lived by hunting... Providence [God], when it placed them [the Indians] amid the riches of the New World, seems to have granted them a short lease only; they were there, in some sense, only waiting. Those coasts so well suited for trade and industry, those deep rivers, that inexhaustible valley of the Mississippi - in short, the whole continent - seemed the yet empty cradle of a GREAT NATION... When the Creator handed the earth over to men, it was young and inexhaustible, but they were weak and ignorant; and by the time that they had learned to take advantage of the treasures it contained, they already covered its face, and soon they were having to fight for the right to an asylum where they could rest in freedom. It was then [1492] that North America was discovered as if God had held it in reserve [for Israel's descendants] and it had only just arisen above the waters of the flood" (p.24, 258). Twenty years after the fledgling 13 colonies had broken off from the mother country, the new United States was able to, in 1803, buy from France, which was strapped for cash because of its war efforts, the fabulous Louisiana Territory for about $15 million. They acquired 828 000 square miles of the richest and best farmland in the world right through the middle of America for a paltry 5 cents per acre - the size of 1/4 of the current U.S. nation thereby increasing its size at the time by 140 percent. Over the next 50 years through treaties and very little warfare at all, the U.S. doubled in size right across to the West Coast to acquire all the territory of the continental United States by 1853. For the unbelievably low price of $7 200 000 or 2 cents an acre the U.S. bought Alaska from Russia in 1867. It is interesting to note that the sale of Alaskan fish, petroleum, minerals and other products nets the U.S. tens of billions of dollars annually. Never before in history had any nation received land to remotely compare with those newly-acquired American territories - either in sheer size, richness of soil having such a favorable climate. Abraham Lincoln said in 1863:

In 1776 American colonists declared their independence from Britain. This separation of the United States from Britain after the War of Independence accomplished the prophecy that Manasseh and Ephraim would be separate peoples one a great nation and the other "a multitude of nations" (Genesis 48:16, 19).

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and well as dominating food and wool exports. By the end of the 1960s this had all began to change. Their share of the world market has since dropped to less than half that. Since the 1960s we have seen an incredible rise in crime, sexual immorality and violence as well as skyrocketing national debts. Although American military, economic, industrial and technical power still reigns supreme, the spiraling moral decay of the United States does not bode well for the future. The biblically based values on which the founding fathers and American people built the United States of America have given way to denial of God and the same kind of self-serving materialistic orientation that led to the collapse of the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Without a change in direction and emphasis, will the outcome for America be any different? Far too many Americans and Britons have refused to acknowledge God and His blessings. In their intellectual and spiritual arrogance many have chosen to deny the existence of a Creator and accept the false religion of evolution and its secular-humanist theology. They prefer to believe that the awesome blessings of national wealth and power are happenstance or the result of their own efforts. Like ancient Israel they have fallen into a trap of their own making, choosing to ignore God's words of warning: "When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. "Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery" (Deuteronomy 8:10-14, NIV). In the following chapters we will see what is in store for the United States and Britain. Like it or not, what befalls them will affect all of humanity.

"We find ourselves in the peaceful possession of the fairest portion of the earth, as regards fertility of soil, extent of territory, and salubrity of climate... We...find ourselves the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings. We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them." The United States emerged from World War II as the most powerful nation in the world. But, rather than using its strength to dominate and oppress the weaker nations of a shattered world, America set out to rebuild its defeated enemies - exhibiting a compassion that is indeed rare in the annals of international affairs.
What Now for America and Britain?

British world dominance has long since passed. The two great wars of the 20th century took a terrible toll on Britain and her people. The conflicts robbed her of two generations of young men and drained her economically. By the end of World War II the British found themselves with neither the resources nor the will to preserve their empire. After Britain gave India its independence in 1947 the British Empire began to dissolve with dizzying speed. Britain has lost most of her possessions and has become a second-rate power. Shortly after World War II the United States and British Commonwealth produced 60% of the worlds petroleum, 60% of its steel, 95% of its nickel, 66% of its gold, 75% of its cars

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Chapter Two: The Sins of the Israelite Nations

The people of Israel have only ever partially fulfilled Gods purpose for them to be a model nation to the rest of the world. Anciently they were at their best when David and then Solomon ruled a mighty Israelite empire that briefly stretched from Egypt to the Euphrates River. In modern times Britain and America have morally been at their peak between 1800 and 1950. They, too, have only partially been a true model nation to the rest of the world. After touring the United States in 1831, Alex de Tocqueville wrote his two-part work, Democracy in America. In it he wrote: "I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors, in her fertile fields and boundless forests, in her rich mines and vast world commerce, in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic congress and in her matchless constitution. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and powerIn France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in commonThe safeguard of morality is religion, and morality is the best security of law as well as the surest pledge of freedom. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." Even today there is still much about America that is good. Stephen Collins in his book The Lost Ten Tribes of IsraelFound! has these words to say highlighting some of Americas moral strengths: The United States of America may be the most generous, magnanimous, and merciful nation in the history of our planet! Besides rebuilding and restoring Japan and much of Europe after World War II, the USA has poured mega-billions of dollars into nations everywhere (usually without repayment or even gratitude) in the form of the Marshall Plan, foreign aid, the Peace Corps, etc. When natural disasters strike anywhere on earth, American agencies (public and private) rush to the scene to offer aid and assistance (even to enemy nations). When American TV sets show suffering and starving people in Ethiopia, Somalia and Rwanda (to name recent examples), it isn't long before American aid rushes to those affected areas. This world would be a grim place if Americans were not such a philanthropic people. Indeed, America is generous to a fault. So many nations which owe so much to American generosity and help are frequently anti-American in their policies. Americans see this, but simply go on giving anyway. They can't help it; its in their genes that date back to Joseph (p.388-389). A similar generosity of spirit can be found amongst many in the other English-speaking peoples. Most patriotic Americans would like to believe that their nation is a Godfearing and righteous nation. Alongside of those positive character traits that Americans have, though, there are an increasing number of spiritual flaws creeping into Americas national character as well as the national character of the other nations descended from Israel. Since the sexual and moral revolution of the 1960s, America and Britain, along with Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the NW European nations, have suffered a terrible moral degeneration with crime and sexual immorality and other sins rapidly escalating as they drift further and further away from God and His way of life. Alex de Tocqueville prophetically said that if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." This has been true of every great civilization of the past which has risen and fallen throughout history. Such judgment will come upon America, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the nations of NW Europe unless they reverse the steep moral decline that they have been on over the last few decades. Warnings Signs of Nations in Crisis Jim Nelson Black in his book When Nations Die: America on the Brink has analyzed the rise and fall of great civilizations and describes ten warning signs of a culture that is in crisis. Such flaws developed in the mighty Roman Empire and led to its downfall. Our western nations descended from Israel would do well to heed those lessons of history. Those ten warning signs of a civilization in crisis are as follows: 1] Crisis of Lawlessness 2] Loss of Economic Discipline 3] Rise of Bureaucracy 4] Decline of Education 5] Weakening of Cultural Foundations 6] Loss of Respect for Tradition 7] Increase in Materialism 8] Rise in Immorality 9] Decay of Religious Belief 10] Devaluing of Human Life

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The prophet Isaiah prophesied towards the end of the kingdom of Israel before it was conquered by the ancient Assyrian empire. Much of the book of Isaiah is dual covering the fate of Israel soon after Isaiah prophesied, as well as the fate of endtime Israel leading up to the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. Many of his prophecies in the early part of his book are interspersed with clear references to end-time events leading up to and following the return of Jesus Christ. Isaiah paints a graphic picture of the sinful state of the modern day nations of America, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Jewish state of Israel and the nations of NW Europe that highlight a number of the same weaknesses and warning signs described above. The book of Isaiah opens up with God lamenting how He has nourished our Israelite nations and blessed them greatly and yet, like rebellious teenagers, they have rebelled against Him (1:2). Animals know their masters yet our Israelite nations do not know God (1:3) with so many who rebel against His way of life and who are atheistic and believe in the theory of evolution. Israel is heavy laden with sins from head to toe that have angered God (1:4-6). He will punish our western nations at the hands of strangers who will burn our cities with fire (1:7). If there wasnt a small remnant of people that He had called and chosen to Himself He says He would have destroyed our Israelite nations like Sodom and Gomorrah (1:9). God then chastises modern Israel for practicing only a form of religion with words and ceremony but living lives contrary to His law of love for other people (1:10-15). God laments of how our nations, which started off in a righteous way, have sinfully prostituted themselves and have become a home of so many murderers (1:21). God then speaks of economic decline (1:22) and chastises the rulers and judges who are corrupt and have become rich at the expense of others (1:23). In the next chapter God speaks of Israel becoming filled with eastern ways turning to eastern religions and astrology (2:6). Then He speaks of modern Israels obsession with materialism (2:7-8). In the next chapter God speaks against those who declare their sins like Sodom (3:9) and of children ruling over them and being their oppressors with juvenile delinquency and gang violence on the rise (3:4-5, 12). Women would also rule over them with the rise of feminist ideologies that have led to a battle of the sexes in the workforce, abortion on demand and other actions that contribute to the breakdown of the family (3:12). In the remainder of the chapter God speaks against the oppression of the poor (3:13-15) and the haughtiness of those young women in our society who are self-centered and deliberately provocative sexually (3:16-24). In chapter five God speaks of taking away the hedge that protects His people (5:5-6), the problem of urban sprawl (5:8)

and coming famine (5:10). God also speaks against the ever-increasing problem of alcoholism (5:11, 22) in our lands as well as speaking against those who call evil good and good evil (5:20), inverting our values and influencing our people, young and old, to turn further away from Him and His way of life. In later chapters God speaks harshly against the rulers of the people who cause the people to stray (9:16) and make unrighteous laws (10:1) as well as robbing the poor and the needy of justice (10:2). God sees a great deal of hypocrisy in the modern day nations of Israel (Isaiah 9:17) that profess to be religious but not living in a way that reflects His way of love and concern for others. If we are guilty of this hypocrisy, it is this we need to repent of as individuals if we are to avoid the punishment that will fall upon our western nations if they continue their moral decline. God is full of love and mercy and will protect anyone who turns to Him in true heartfelt repentance and becomes a part of the true body of believers (Revelation 3:10, 12:6). Towards the end of the book of Isaiah God tells those who would speak for Him to Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins (Isaiah 58:1). With that overview of the sinful state of modern Israel by the prophet Isaiah lets now examine more closely the prophecies and problems that God sees in our Israelite nations. Modern Israel Does Not Know God In Isaiah 1:3-6 God says: The ox knows its owner and the donkey its masters crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not consider. Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward. Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment. The source of modern Israels moral decline is that far too many Americans and Britons have refused to acknowledge God and His rule in their life. In their intellectual and spiritual arrogance many have chosen to deny the existence of a Creator and have accepted the false religion of evolution and its secular-humanist theology. When people no longer believe in God they see no moral absolutes since they believe we owe our existence to the fortunes of blind chance. No belief in a real God leads to

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no absolute right and wrong and ethics that change according to convenience and circumstance but God says that there is a way that seems right to a man but its end is the way of death (Proverbs 16:25). Many in our western nations believe in God but dont have a personal relationship with Him, practicing only a form of religion and not practicing the standards they profess to believe. Even though the majority of Americans profess to believe in God recent polls have consistently shown Americans are becoming more biblically illiterate. Not only does modern Israel not know its Maker, most do not know their true roots of being the modern-day descendants of the ancient Israel. God says that the false religion of evolution and its secularhumanist theology, as well our own selfishness and lack of willingness to obey His moral law, has led to the situation where our modern nations of Israel are spiritually sick from head to toe. The words of Jeremiah 2:27-28 are from God to those who build idols out of wood and stone but they could just as easily be directed by God to the educated people who push the theory of evolution: [You say] to a tree, You are my father, and to a stone, You gave birth to me. For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise and save us. But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble. Today, the theory of evolution is pushed across by a liberal media and educational system as if it were fact and not merely a theory. By dropping the barriers between species [or kinds] Darwin opened a dream world in which jellyfish can become elephants, and a sea squirt end up as a Shakespeare. The world welcomed the dream. Evolution is the only alternative to Creation. Evolution suited the mood of the nineteenth century, and it suited the twentieth century, seeking an alternative to a Creator God (The Crumbling Theory of Evolution, p.14). Does anyone really believe that wagging a fin through the water will 'presto-chango' turn a fish's fin into a leg so it can climb out on the land? Even if one wishes to believe such a preposterous assertion, changing a fin into a limb is not enough of a leap to do any good; the gills of the fish would need to simultaneously transform themselves into mammalian lungs to allow such a fish to live at all when it washed up on shore.

Even though it vexes evolutionists to deal with the facts, it should also be noted that any 'evolving' fish would also need an instantaneous and simultaneous change of its scales to skin to survive even a tiny amount of time out of the water! (Stephen Collins, As It Was In the Days of Noah). The theory of evolution is nothing but that a theory. It fails to stand up to the most basic procedures of the scientific method yet most scientists support it with religious fervor. They have been influenced by Satan, the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), to reject God and find an alternative method to do away with the need of a Creator since accepting the existence of a Creator would open themselves up to the possibility that they might just have to obey Him (Romans 1:18-23). For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisternsbroken cisterns that can hold no water. Is Israel a servant? Is he a homeborn slave? Why is he plundered? The young lions roared at him, and growled; they made his land waste; His cities are burned, without inhabitant (Jeremiah 2:13-15). God highlights two evils that modern Israel has done. Firstly, they have rejected Him and His ways, the true source of happiness. Secondly they replaced Him with false gods who are like broken cisterns that cannot hold water they cannot bring us the true happiness and prosperity that we all crave. Some of those false gods include evolution, humanism, materialism and sexual immorality. As a result of these evils God will punish modern Israel unless there is a change of heart and attitude from our peoples. Practicing Only a Form of Religion In Isaiah 1:14-20 God says to Israel: Your New Moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord, Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

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A high percentage of our modern day Israelites only practice a form of religion but dont live moral lives that conform with the Ten Commandments and Gods way of love and concern for our fellow man. A great many churchgoers sow their wild oats during the week and pray for a crop failure on Sundays. By professing to be religious yet consistently breaking the Ten Commandments the form of religion of so many has become a weariness to God. Isaiah also writes: Therefore the Lord said: Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men (Isaiah 29:13). Many pay lip service to God but follow the traditions of men and not Gods way of life. Jeremiah wrote of the religious hypocrisy of his day that is evident amongst many in modern Israel today: Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says the Lord (Jeremiah 7:8-11). Nearly 80% of Americans believe adultery is wrong yet infidelity has escalated since the sexual revolution of the 1960s. George Gallup Jr. has said, "Religion is growing in importance among Americans, but morality is losing ground." A newsmagazine-sponsored poll found that out of every 100 adult Americans: - 33 admit to calling in sick when they're not. - 24 admit to cheating on their income tax returns. - 22 feel justified in stealing from an employer under some circumstances. - 22 admit to lying often or once in a while to members of their family. - 20 admit to lying once in a while to boss or colleagues. - 18 admit to padding expense accounts. Most Americans have a glaring lack of knowledge about the Bible, basic doctrines and the traditions of ones church[there is a] superficiality of faith, with many people not knowing what they believe or why (George Gallup Jr. and D. Michael Lindsay, Surveying the Religious Landscape: Trends in U.S. Beliefs, p.4) According to Gallup Jnr, church attendance is declining while many feel that they can select their own religious customs and forms of worship. As a result, we are seeing a trend of cafeteria Christianity where people pick and choose what they want to believe and how they will worship God. Feel good religion,

heavy on emotion and entertainment and light on spiritual substance, is gaining popularity. Religious Watch has these words to say about the state of religion in the state of Israel: Considering religious observances to be part of their national identity, 90 percent of Israeli Jews take part in the traditional Passover meal. Some 66 percent of Israeli Jews regard the Ten Commandments as valid, but 75 percent dont think God will punish those who break them. Though it seems contradictory to a Western mind-set, many Israelis are quite serious about maintaining the continuity of their Jewish heritage even though they have no intention of obeying its rules personally (January 1997, p. 8). Jeremiah also wrote of the failure of religious leaders in the land to point people toward God. The priests did not say, Where is the Lord? and those who handle the law did not know Me; the rulers also transgressed against Me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit (Jeremiah 2:8). Much of the leadership of mainstream Christianity in our nations have failed to point people back to God and have themselves gone astray. An article on the Australian Christian Democratic website has this to say about mainstream Christianity in America: Alexis de Tocqueville's words have proven to be prophetic. America is in moral decline and its greatness is eroding. The U.S. Church, struggling against apostasy and heretical New Age influences, is being pushed to the brink of doctrinal divisions parallel to those of the reformation, and with implications as momentous as those of slavery and the Civil War. Schisms proliferate over the creation of man, abortion, feminism, the ordination of homosexuals, homosexual rights, and syncretism - mixing the Gospel and teachings of Jesus with extra-biblical doctrines, occult teachings, idolatry, obeisance to false gods, goddesses, demons, and angel worship. Relentless, these distract, weaken and tear at the body of Christ. It is sobering to realize that these false doctrines and schisms have often been initiated and spread by apostate scholars, theologians, teachers, and ordained ministry workers - clergy! (http://www. christiandemocratic.org.au/fed/mr/newyrmessage.htm). Today we see much liberalism creeping into many mainstream churches. Rowan Williams, a man reputed to support homosexuals in the clergy, was appointed in late 2002 to become the new Archbishop of Canterbury over the Church of England. A recent random poll of 200 Anglican clergy found that only about a third could name all of the Ten Commandments, a third do not consider sex

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outside marriage or homosexuality to be a sin and about a third do not believe in the virgin birth. Through the prophet Jeremiah God says to the religious leaders of our western nations: Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings, says the Lord (Jeremiah 23:2). Even though many churchgoers make little effort to live according to the Ten Commandments a great many other churchgoers are serious about striving to live good moral lives. Our nations need more people who have this kind of commitment to living good moral lives. Having said that, many churchgoers who, for the most part, do live good lives, might be quite surprised at how some of the most fundamental teachings and practices of mainstream Christianity are not to be found in the Bible. In a remarkably frank stand-up comedy routine comedian Drew Carey pointed out some easily proven facts about mainstream Christianitys major holidays. The event at which he said these things was held at the Washington Hilton International Ballroom in May 2002 and was attended by President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, many other military and cabinet officials along with famous Hollywood stars such as Walter Cronkite, Sally Field and Harrison Ford. In his comedy routine he said: You know its crazy. We celebrate holidays here in the United States...and what I found out recently was that we celebrate holidays that have nothing to do with the Bible at all. Real famous holidays, like Christmas. Christmas is not in the Bible. The birth of Jesus is in the Bible, but not Christmas. The tree's not in the Bible, the gifts are in there, but nowhere in there does it say, 'Celebrate my birthday says Jesus, Its a Pagan holiday that the Romans invented that we just do... Santa Claus has nothing to do with anything. Neither does the Easter Bunny. Easter's another Pagan holiday thats not in the Bible. Every Easter..all you hear about is the Easter Bunny. Easter Bunny this and Easter Bunny that. Why is it the Christian religion is the only one in the world that needs a mascot to sell its stuff? You don't see Jewish people off celebrating with the Passover kangaroo. There's no Ramadan rooster.

Halloween's another big holiday - Satanic holiday. Nobody's bothered by that for some reason. You know, 'fun for the kiddies. I mean, when I was going to church they always told me Satan's the most evil one, the one you have to watch out for. Watch out for Satan! Then, once a year, the whole country goes, Hey, let's party with this guy. Its ridiculous. The very word Easter gives away its pagan origin. According to the Encarta 96 Encyclopedia: It probably comes from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility (article Easter). This Teutonic goddess of fertility is the same as the Babylonian goddess Ishtar known also by the names of Astarte and Venus in the ancient world. A Readers Digest Publication called Strange Stories, Amazing Facts is just as straightforward as Drew Carey was in stating how the festivals of mainstream Christianity (Christmas & Easter) are essentially pagan with a christian veneer: "Although Christianity has swept the world in a relatively short time, as the histories of great religions go, the early missionaries faced an uphill task. The pagans were reluctant to give up their false gods and ancient practices. So the missionaries, unable to convert them easily to an entirely new code of worship, did the next best thing. They took the pagan festivals as they were and GRADUALLY grafted the observances of the new faith onto these festivals and the rites and customs surrounding them" (p. 283). God's Word expressly forbids the use of pagan practices to worship Him: "Take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow [pagan nations]...and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise. 'You shall NOT worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods....Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it, you shall not add to it nor take away from it" (Deuteronomy 12:30-32). Instead of holidays such as Christmas and Easter, God gave His people seven great festivals to teach them lessons to better understand His wonderful plan of salvation (Leviticus 23, 1 Corinthians 5:7-8).

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Gods rebuke to the politicians of our nations is sharp in regards to the corruption in political circles and their tendency to get rich at the expense of others. He criticizes them for not doing enough to help and support the needy and elderly who are hurt by their laws and judgments. A former CBS television executive observed in Washington D.C. that "there are huge sums of money to be made and no real controls" (Arrogant Capital, p. 47). An estimated $20 billion is annually poured into the city from domestic and foreign interest groups who seek information, access and, of course, favors. Too many Americans themselves lack character and are willing to overlook it in others. During the Clinton sex scandal many young people rationalized sexually inappropriate behavior by saying If the president can do it, why cant we? In contrast to that attitude, a young 16 year old wrote a letter that was published in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette in which he wrote: I would like to call your attention to a recent international affair where Pakistan and India were developing nuclear weapons. The President offered a deal to Pakistan saying that if they would stop developing nuclear weapons the United States would protect them in the case of an attack. The Pakistani minister of foreign affairs said that he did not believe the President would follow through on his promise. This was because he saw the character of our President and realized that he could not be trusted. This endangered the lives of the citizens of Pakistan and India, more than 900 million people. Although war has not broken out, we must heed the warning: the character of the President affects the entire world. A similar lack of faith in leaders of government and business is felt in the other nations descended from Israel. "A recent poll showed that 58 percent of Frenchmen believe their politicians to be corrupt. Two-thirds of French business leaders believe companies regularly engage in corrupt practices" (The Economist, "Hands Up All Those Hit By Sleaze," Nov. 4, 1994, p. 55). Corruption in Justice Sadly, corruption and ungodliness has taken its toll on our justice system. Justice is meant to be impartial yet the cost of justice means that justice more heavily leans towards

Corruption in Leadership God lays a lot of the blame for our moral decline to the poor example set by the leadership of our western nations. Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them (Isaiah 1:23). For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed. Therefore the Lord will have no joy in their young men, nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still (Isaiah 9:16-17). Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who write misfortune, which they have prescribed to rob the needy of justice, and to take what is right from the poor of My people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless (Isaiah 10:1). Kevin Phillips of the New York Times has this to say about the lack of faith the American public has had in its leadership: "Since 1963, the public has lost faith in seven straight presidencies of both parties - even Ronald Reagan's, after the Iran-contra scandal - and now Mr. Clinton's. Over the last decade, citizens have begun to conclude that our leaders are letting the American Dream slip away, putting the next generation's living standards at risk. Through it all, they see that even in failure, Washington and its bipartisan political classes continue to get richer" ("Under the Electoral Volcano, Nov. 7, 1994).

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those who can afford the best lawyers. So many lawyers put money ahead of wanting justice to be done, willingly taking large sums of money to defend clients that are clearly guilty. Litigation cases often see extraordinary payouts to people far and above what is fair. To our judges, who have gone astray in their conduct and have been unjust in their dealings and judgments, God says: Your princes are rebelliousThey do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before themWoe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who write misfortune, which they have prescribed to rob the needy of justice (Isaiah 1:23, 10:1). Thousands of convicted child molesters have been given lenient sentences only to return to society and commit even further crimes against innocent children. Justice? A few examples: 1998 St. Louis, MO[a] 44-year-old, who was convicted in 1993, was charged with sodomy and child molestation on another child. [He] was sentenced in 1993 for sodomizing a 5year-old girl. He was sentenced to five years in prison but got probation after 120 days, according to court records. 1998 Tenn--- [A man] was convicted of a sex crime in California and when he moved to Tennessee, Police say he continued to abuse children. Police searched [his] home and what they found was disturbing. [He] is now in jail charged with raping a three year-old-girl. Police found nude pictures of the girl in his home. Police found a photo album with numerous unidentified children, Internet letters to juveniles asking them to meet him and homemade videotapes with children in them. 1998 Ft. Lauderdale, FL---A former corporate executiveis charged with sexually abusing a 7-year-old girl. [He] was previously convicted in Ohio of 17 charges involving children 7-years-old and up. He was sentenced to 6 to 35 years but was released in less than 4 years. Apparently [he] has lived in Broward County, FL since completing parole. 1999- North Carolina-a previously convicted child molester and a former Boy Scout leader has been convicted again of sex-related crimes involving minors. In 1991 he pleaded guilty to four counts of taking indecent liberties with minors in his Scout troop. He only served 6 months in jail These are just a few examples of the ineffectiveness of lenient sentencing for child molesters. Our prisons are over flowing with people who repeatedly commit crimes that do not physically harm other human beings. Figuratively speaking, one man steals a $20,000 automobile and gets 15-life. Another man beats, molests and destroys a childs life, and receives 4 years, then gets out in 2. In essence, we value property more than life. (http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/child_abuse_ and_recovery /75536)

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution directs that Congress "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ..." The intent of the founding fathers was that they didn't want one Christian denomination running the nation. They did, however, firmly believe Christianity and biblical principles should be a part of American life. For a century and a half the common understanding of the First Amendment was that it prohibited establishing or sanctioning a single national Christian denomination. A letter by President Thomas Jefferson written in 1801 to a Baptist church and used in an 1870s court case clearly shows this original intent. It was to keep government out of religion not religion out of government. When judges with left-wing leanings were appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in the early 1960s the judges only selectively quoted Jeffersons letter and began to take the meaning in a completely different direction. The only part of Jeffersons letter that these judges focused on was where Jefferson wrote: The first amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. The U.S. Supreme Court, starting in the early 1960s, prohibited school prayer in the public education system, Bible classes and religious instruction from classes. In explaining their reasoning they stated: If portions of the New Testament were read without explanation, they could bepsychologically harmful to the child. Subsequent rulings have gone so far as to declare it unconstitutional to hang a copy of the Ten Commandments in a school hallway. The U.S. Supreme Court in another ruling rejected a Louisiana state law that required public schools that teach the theory of evolution to also teach creation science. With this anti-God bias in the justice system Americans are experiencing less freedom of religion and are being saddled with freedom from religion. In his regular monthly newsletter dated October 1997 and entitled And Justice for All, Dr James Dobson makes the following comments about the U.S. Supreme Court:

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the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 25, 1997. This legislation had originally sailed through the U.S. House of Representatives in 1993 by a unanimous voice vote and was then approved in the Senate 97 to 3. Out of 535 legislators, only three opposed it, and I'm told their objections were based on mere technicalities. You can imagine how unusual it is to get liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, Ted Kennedy and Jesse Helms, Newt Gingrich and David Bonior, and subsequently the president of the United States, to agree on anythingmuch less a matter with religious overtones. Yet there was hardly a dissenting voice. Clearly, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act was considered vital to the protection of historic liberties guaranteed to our citizens by the U.S. Constitution. What made RFRA so significant was the steady erosion of religious rights imposed by the courts in recent years. Since the Engel vs. Vitale and Abington vs. Schempp decisions in 196263, which banned teacher-led prayer and Bible reading in public schools, the U.S. Supreme Court has been increasingly hostile to faith and to traditional moral values. Chuck Colson said that America is now ruled by a runaway judiciary What is at stake in these judicial usurpations is the very right to self-government by the people of this great land. Increasingly, a small group of elitist, black-robed activists in the federal courts, who are appointed for life and are therefore unaccountable to anyone, have imposed their will on the electorate. Their grab for power has become known as the Imperial Court, and it threatens not only religious liberties, but the very democratic system of government itself. This atheistic, liberal direction that the U.S. Supreme Court has embarked sunk to its lowest level during the Roe v Wade court case of January 1973 when the U.S. Supreme Court stated that it could not resolve the difficult problem of when an unborn child becomes a human person. Thus the courts decision was to err on the side of taking life rather than saving it. Since that fateful ruling over 30 million unborn babies have been killed in the womb. In his May 2002 Focus on the Family newsletter, Dr James Dobson notes that in the United States it is a $25,000 fine to kill an eagle's egg, yet there is no federal law at all against killing a fully developed and healthy child after as much as 80 percent of his or her body has been delivered? Israel Turns to New Age and Eastern Religions In Isaiah 2:6 we read: For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with eastern ways; they are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they are pleased with the children of foreigners.

In our Israelite nations we have been witnessing a dramatic increase in New Age religion, astrology and fortune tellers. Since the 1960s many rock stars have been enamored with Buddhist and Hindu teachings from the East such as the Beatles to more recently singers like Ricky Martin. Many celebrities are described as very spiritual which, at first, might indicate that they are christian in their beliefs when, quite often, they are devoted to Eastern and New Age religions. Part of the reason for this rise in Eastern religions in our western nations has been a loosening of immigration policies starting in the 1960s which has led to a lot of immigration from Asian nations. Isaiah writes of this correlation between the rise of eastern religion and foreign immigration with his words they are pleased with the children of foreigners. This change of policy in regards to foreign immigration has made quite an impact on the social and moral dynamics of our western nations. As our western societies have become more multi-racial and multicultural our peoples have had to learn to be tolerant of those who are different from them so hatred and bigotry dont develop. Such hatred and bigotry is against Gods way of love. In the process, however, a cunning devil has influenced our Israelite peoples to swing from one end of the pendulum to the other and not just allow but to speak well of and approve many practices that are clearly not in keeping with Gods truth and way of life. Multiculturalism In Deuteronomy 28 we read: The alien [stranger, KJV] who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower (verse 43). Since the moral and social revolution of the 1960s, which saw many changes to immigration policies in our western nations, this change has been occurring demographically. In our western nations those of white Anglo-Saxon stock are gradually being outnumbered by immigrants of other ethnic extractions in many cities and states. According to the British magazine, Guardian Unlimited, the U.S. Census Bureau issued figures showing that nonHispanic whites made up 49.8 per cent of the population of California. Anglo-Saxon whites are already a minority in Hawaii and the District of Columbia [where Washington D.C. is]. Now they are an ethnic minority in the country's most populous state, the one most usually identified with the American dreamThe United States government predicts that non-Hispanic whites will become a minority in the country by 2055 (article: The Last Days of a White World).

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In Hosea 7:8-9 God says: Ephraim [Britain] has mixed himself among the peoples. Ephraim is a cake unturned. Aliens have devoured his strength. Demographically Britain in 2000 was a little over 20% non-white; 50% of Indian males had white wives and 25% of African males had white wives. Much heated discussion has gone on as to whether such high levels of non-white immigration into our western nations has been beneficial or not but what are the biblical principles when it comes to the subject of multiculturalism or mixing different ethnic peoples in the same country? One of the biblical guidelines is that, at the very least, a small amount of mixing is fine. This is implied in the laws about treating the strangers in your midst fairly (Exodus 22:21) and one common law for citizens and foreigners (Exodus 12:49). In the millennium, resident aliens in the land of Palestine will also be treated as citizens and be given an inheritance along with those of the tribes of Israel (Ezekiel 47:22-23). Racial segregation in the same country, as was experienced in the United States before the Civil Rights movement, is against Gods way (Acts 10:34). The Apostle Paul spoke very strongly against such segregation when it occurred in the New Testament church (Galatians 1:11-16). On an international scale, God originally set the bounds of national borders, intending nations to be separated with each ethnic family of man having their own inheritance. In Deuteronomy 32:8 we read: "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance (speaking of land or geographic boundaries) He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people." This is similarly spoken of in Acts 17:26. A major part of Gods reason to separate the ethnic families of man is to help prevent the kind of interracial tension which destroys peace and harmony. There are significant differences in values and approaches in dealing with issues between peoples of different ethnic backgrounds. Gods principle in Deuteronomy 32:8 is aimed at mitigating tensions from such differences. As we move further away from that principle our western societies are becoming more fractured along racial lines. One example of this is the difference in how different racial groups have voted in recent American elections. Former Beatles member, Sir Paul McCartney, produced a song in the 1980s called "Ebony and Ivory" where he encouraged racial peace and harmony, a theme that is supported in the Bible. In his song he makes the comment that "there is good and bad in everyone". In this chapter we are spending considerable time looking at the spiritual flaws in the character of those of white Anglo-Saxon stock. While it may not be politically correct to talk about it, our western nations of Israelite descent are also being affected and influenced more and more by both the strengths and

weaknesses of our racial minorities as they become a higher percentage of the national populations of our western nations. Those of Israelite descent can and should learn from their strengths but they can also be adversely affected by their weaknesses. One example of this is in the area of religious pluralism. More and more immigrants are coming in who practice non-christian religions. Many of Israelite descent are being influenced by these people and are turning their back on Christianity and the conservative Judeo-Christian values which our nations were built upon. A sign of this growing religious pluralism in Britain has been Prince Charles comment that he would like to be known, if he became king, not as The Defender of the Faith but simply as The Defender of Faith. The curse of the stranger rising higher and higher among you in the nations descended from Israel will reach its ultimate fulfillment when the white Gentile peoples of a coming United Europe will conquer America and Britain (Isaiah 10:5-7). As for who might conquer the Israelite peoples of Australia and New Zealand at that time when they will no longer have the protection of the United States, there are vague references we will look in the next chapter that indicate such a fate might happen at the hands of the Asian nations to their north. Materialism In Isaiah 2:7-8 God says: Their land is also full of silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures. Their land is also full of horses and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is also full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands that which their own fingers have made. Since World War II the nations descended from Israel have become increasingly prosperous. This economic gravy train has spawned tremendous consumerism. Such material prosperity occurred in America in the roaring 1920s which marked the advent of consumerism and saw the stock market rise to dizzying heights. Then came the 1929 Stock Market crash and Great Depression of the 1930s which humbled America before its morality began to slide too much. The self-absorbed materialism of the 1920s was dealt a big setback by the economic collapse leading to a return of traditional values until the late 1950s and 60s when a new generation of consumers saw America rise to material prosperity on a grand new scale. This materialism has become all-consuming for so many in our society today. Many work long hours and take extra jobs to own a bigger and better house, a better car, a bigger television and so on.

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Many married women, even when they have small children, will work long hours outside the home precious time that they could be spending with their growing children. Our society is consumed with acquiring the latest electronic gadgets and modern conveniences, owning the right kind of designer clothes and so on. Having the right material possessions owning the right kind of stuff has become a status symbol in our society today. This materialism is best summed up in the bumper sticker sign that says He who dies with the most toys wins. Our whole world is filled with this every billboard, every magazine, every television program. Isnt it sending us a message telling us that you should enjoy yourself and have these products and seek these pleasures? Happiness is having the right car, the right clothes or eating a certain kind of food or beer and that greed is good.

The excessive desire for wealth without regard to methods or to duty toward posterity...the downright sensuality were accomplishing their perfect work. The economic evil was at the bottom. First Italy, then a vast Empire, devoted itself for centuries to a feverish effort for getting money by any means, and to spending that money on selfish enjoyments...Their fall was great...while the lesson of their fall lies patent to the twentieth century (p. 334-335). During the Clinton sex scandal Paige Patterson, President of Americas Southern Baptist Convention, said he [Mr Clinton] should resign and seek forgiveness for his personal transgressions before he is instrumental in corrupting all our young peopleHe went to express concern that the American people appeared to be continuing to support the President simply because the economy is strong. This bespeaks a certain enthralling materialism which is exactly what caused the demise of Rome, to say nothing of 21 other great civilizations. And it will kill us too (The Times, London). Daniel Mannix in his book Those About to Die points out what happened in ancient Rome which has striking parallels with our western nations today: "The cost of maintaining the 'Pax Romana' - the Peace of Rome - over most of the known world was proving too great even for the enormous resources of the mighty empire.... "The cost of its gigantic military program was only one of Rome's headaches. To encourage industry in her various satellite nations, Rome attempted a policy of unrestricted trade, but the Roman workingman was unable to compete with the cheap foreign labor and demanded high tariffs...The government was finally forced to subsidize the Roman working class to make up the difference between their 'real wages' [the actual value of what they were producing] and the wages required to keep up their relatively high standard of living. As a result, thousands of workmen lived on this subsidy and did nothing whatever, sacrificing their standard of living for a life of ease" (p.6-7, 139-140). God is not against us having wealth but He wants us to have a proper focus. If we put wealth and acquiring things for ourselves ahead of serving other people and obeying God He will not be pleased with us as a people, yet this is what we have done as a society. Through the prophet Hosea, God says the more they increased [the physically richer our nations have become] the more they sinned against me (Hosea 4:7).

The proliferation of debt is a sign of this greed in our society. People max out their credit cards to have the material goods they feel that they need. They borrow as much as they can to have bigger and better houses and cars and put themselves on the brink financially to do so. This greed feeds the stock market with thousands borrowing as much money as they can gambling that they can make even more money on stocks which could just as easily go down quickly and wipe them out financially. This problem of investing borrowed money on the stock market was one of the prime reasons for the stock market crash of 1929. This materialistic attitude has affected religion as well. Many preach a health and wealth gospel that God wants you to have money and that all you have to do is just believe or send money into this or that ministry. The Roman Empire also experienced this same kind of materialistic binge. William Stearns Davis in his book The Influence of Wealth in Imperial Rome writes:

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Lovers of Pleasure Rather Than Lovers of God In 2 Timothy 3:1-7 God says the following about our end-time society: But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. Many have become selfish and lovers of money and also many have become lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. The focus in the western nations has been getting more for the self looking out for number one being lovers of pleasure more than lovers of other people and almighty God. Speaking of this love of pleasure, Allan Turner in an article entitled Christianity: Counterculture or Subculture? writes: Hedonism says that life ought to be lived solely for pleasure. It is personified in the Playboy philosophy of the 1950s and '60s and is summed up in the motto, If it feels good, do it. It fans the flames of pornography and homosexuality as it promotes anything and everything that supposedly gives pleasure. It replaces responsible living with a thrill at any cost approach to life. As the problems of society become too overwhelming people turn to escapism and entertainment. Human nature tends to avoid pain and seeks what feels good. Our Israelite nations have taken this to an extreme going on a spending binge and a pleasure binge. In the United States some $200 billion is spent on pleasure and recreation a year. God isnt against having things or having pleasure. God wants us to have an abundant life (John 10:10) but He does want us to be balanced and have our priorities right. He doesnt want us to be obsessed with getting things or pursuing pleasure for pleasures sake. We are repeating the same pattern as Rome before it fell. Edward Gibbon commented on the pleasure-crazed nature of the Roman character in his work The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. He wrote: "From the morning to the evening, careless of the sun or of the rain, the spectators, who sometimes amounted to the number of four hundred, remained in eager attention; their eyes fixed on the horses and charioteers, their minds agitated with hope and fear for the success of the colors which they espoused; and the happiness of Rome appeared to hang on the event of a single race" (vol. II, p.148, Modern Library edition).

The charioteers, many of whom came from humble origins, were able to command exorbitant salaries, not unlike the professional sports stars of today. The Romans were passionate about physical culture and health. Roman baths had a country club atmosphere and were very popular with Roman citizens. What average pleasureoriented Roman, living for the day, could have ever dreamed the mighty Roman Empire would some day collapse at the hands of foreign barbarians? This obsessive love of pleasure and escapism has fed so many problems in our western society, from sexual immorality and pornography, to alcohol and drug abuse, to the problems of theft and gambling addiction. Theft The prophet Hosea wrote: There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint (Hosea 4:1-2). The greed and materialistic attitude of our western society has tremendously fed the problem of stealing in our Israelite nations. Losses by supermarkets and big department stores soar up into the hundreds of millions. In the United States the total loss through theft alone soars into billions of dollars each year! Executives at the management level in corporate business, have admitted in surveys that more than 90 percent of them got where they were "dishonestly." We have seen a procession of corporate failures due to the incredible excesses of corporate executives. Some of those corporate failures include major companies like Enron, and WorldCom in the United States. In Australia similar corporate disasters have occurred at the hands of greedy corporate executives with the collapse of major companies like HIH and OneTel. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports that $50 billion dollars are lost annually due to employee theft and fraud and that 20% of all businesses fail due to internal theft and fraud. According to an Ernst & Young Report, "White Collar Crime: Loss Prevention Through Internal Control" a rule of thumb says that a company loses 1% to 2% of its sales to crime - most committed by or in collusion with employees. According to K.C. Bettencourt undercover

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investigator and author of "Theft & Drugs in the Workplace", one in three employees steal. Gambling Another problem that is fed by the greed and materialistic attitude in our Israelite nations is that of gambling and gambling addiction. Its incredible but true that Americans each year gamble more money than they spend on groceries? According to U.S. News and World Report Americans now make more trips to casinos that to baseball games and total estimates of the amount of gambling in the country are over $300 billion a year. Many other businesses lose business due to money spent on gambling while the number of gambling addicts rises every day with more and more lotteries, scratch-and-win cards and online gambling. The incredible easy access to gambling, pornography and liquor in our nations is feeding more and more addictions amongst those who have a weakness for those problems. They Declare their Sin as Sodom In Isaiah 3:9 God says: The look on their countenance witnesses against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom. They do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves. This verse shows how so many in our nations publicly flaunt their immoral ways from rock stars to homosexuals who openly parade their gay lifestyle. Many are bringing evil upon themselves reaping the consequences of sexually transmissible diseases like AIDS which are striking at so many because of the sinful actions that they are sowing in their lives (Romans 1:26-27). The homosexual movement has grown tremendously over the last few decades with the support of a liberal media and the modern rock movement which has played a big part in promoting the homosexual lifestyle, along with its fashions and trends that have been imitated by many young people. In many places around the United States there are gay parades each year on Gay Pride Day in early June attended and watched by thousands of people. In Sydney, Australia the annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is one of the biggest events held in the

city. There is even a Gay and Lesbian Games modeled after the Olympics. Homosexuals account for 3-4% of all gonorrhea cases and 60% of all syphilis cases in the United States. They make up only 1-2% of the population. One study reports that the average homosexual has between 20 and 106 partners per year. The average heterosexual has 8 partners in a lifetime. Some 78% of homosexuals are affected by STDs (Source: http://www.inoohr.org/homosexualstatistics.htm). According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention there are just over 280 000 men and teenage boys in the United States who have AIDS. About 57% of that number contracted the disease through homosexual contact. The homosexual movement has made such grounds over the last few decades in our Israelite nations that a high percentage of the non-homosexual community approve and support the movement (Romans 1:32). In Sydney, Australia this was illustrated by a phone poll that was taken by a local FM radio station. The question was asked by the radio station, What would you take a tourist from overseas to see in Sydney? One might think that the number one response might be one of Sydneys icons like Sydneys Harbour Bridge or the Sydney Opera House or Centrepoint Tower but, incredibly, the number one response was Sydneys Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. Sexual Immorality One of the greatest areas in which our Israelite nations have strayed from God is in the area of sexual immorality. One youth leader in describing how saturated our western nations are with sexual stimuli puts it this way: "We live in a sex-saturated society that constantly bombards all of us with erotic stimuli. Suggestive poses and near-nude bodies are just a glance away. Come-on eyes peer at us from colorful, provocative ads on television, in magazines and on billboards" (Sex Desiring the Best, B.St-Clair and B.Jones, Heres Lifes Publishers, 1987, p. 104-105). The Sunday Times has stated that America has become addicted to porn. Encouraged by the liberal atmosphere of the Clinton era, adult entertainment has grown into a $10 billion-a-year business. As much as $4.2 million is generated by videos aloneAmericans spend more on hard-core porn, telephone sex and strip clubs than they do at the [regular] cinemas.

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A recent survey by Focus on the Family showed that 18 percent of churchgoers almost one in five admitted to having an addiction to porn. The rate would, no doubt, be higher amongst non-believers. According to another report about one in ten Americans visit one of tens of thousands of Internet pornographic sites at least once a month. How many American teens are engaging in sex? "Data on teenage sexual activity are inexact...But most expects in the field agree, that somewhere over 60 percent of American teenagers have had sexual intercourse by the time they finish high school" Lilian B. Rubin, Erotic Wars, p. 61). In Britain, "one in five [teenagers] report having intercourse before their 16th birthday. Also, in a 1996 poll, "31 percent of female respondents said they had been [pressured] to have sex before they were ready" (The Independent, September 16,1996). The British newspaper The Independent reports that about one in ten women in London carry the virus [genital herpes] while in America it is estimated that 500 000 people contract genital herpes each year. In her video presentation Sex Has a Pricetag youth speaker Pam Stenzel makes mention of a number of sobering statistics regarding the spread of sexually transmissible diseases (STDs). American women have a four times greater chance of contracting an STD than they do of becoming pregnant! Some 55 000 Americans a day on average catch a sexual disease. In the 1950s there were five known sexual diseases. By 1996 there were over 50 of them, of which 30% are incurable. Clymidia, a disease which affects the ovaries with no symptoms that can be felt, is a leading causal agent of infertility in women. Infertility in the six years between 1990 and 1996 rose 500% in America due primarily to sexual diseases. Human Papoloma virus (HPV) or genital warts is the leading causal agent of cervical cancer in women. Cervical cancer caused by HPV kills more American women each year than AIDS does. In the wake of the Clinton sex scandal Dr James Dobson, in his regular Focus on the Family newsletter wrote: Social and medical scientists are confirming that a dramatic increase in oral sex is occurring beyond anything seen before.

Furthermore, this activity, which is viewed by kids as no big deal, is spreading devastating diseases of the mouth and throat. Health care providers have found dramatic increases in oral herpes and gonorrhea of the pharynx in teens (February 2001). The spread of AIDS has become so prevalent in America that "In America more children lose a parent to AIDS than to motor vehicle accident (None of These Diseases, p. 115). Between 1960 and 1990 illegitimate births increased 400 percent in the United States. In 1997 almost 1 million American teenagers will become pregnant, nearly 75 percent of them out of wedlock. About 80 percent of these new mothers will end up in poverty, dependent on welfare payments. The problem costs the American taxpayer $7 billion a yearEvery day in America there are 1300 teenage births and 1100 teenage abortions. Last year 3 million teenagers had sexually transmissible diseases (The Sunday Times, Jan. 12, 1997). In Sweden, more than half of all babies are born to unmarried parents; in France and England, it's about one in threesomething frighteningly like the American underclass is beginning to develop in Britains inner cities: stubborn pockets of drugs, poverty and hopelessness with teenage moms who drop out of high school and never get a job (Newsweek, European edition, Jan. 20, 1997). One of the great concerns of law enforcement officials is the new breed of criminals. Generally they are male in their teens and early 20s and are far more violent than the criminal classes of past decades. They are often driven by explosive anger and marked by an indifference to human life. Such people, sociologists note, are almost always from single-parent homes. Children brought up by single mothers are twice as likely to commit criminal offences than those born into twoparent families says a new study of nearly 1 300 children from newborn to age 16 (Daily Mail). Another tragedy that is occurring in the nations descended from Israel is the rise in forced sex or rape. The phenomena of date rape is growing amongst young people of high-school and college age. In her book Reviving Ophelia, Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls, Dr Mary Pipher writes: One any given day in America, 480 women and children will be forcibly rapedRape is the tragedy of youth because 32 percent of all rapes occur when the victim is between the ages of

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11 and 17. More than 15 percent of all college women have been raped since they turned 18 (p.219). Along with the problems of pornography, pre-marital sex, sexual diseases, illegitimate births and rape we are also seeing a dramatic rise in couples living together without being married. In 1970 census figures indicated that 520 000 couples lived together before marriage in America. By 1994 that had jumped to 3.7 million couples living in sin. In Britain 7 in 10 young couples live together for an average of two years before marryingThe number opting for trial marriages before formalizing ties has increased 14 times in 25 years (Daily Telegraph, June 14, 1995). Many of those who choose to live together before marriage show they are reluctant to commit to a relationship and want to keep their options open. They value their autonomy and individuality. Any children in such arrangements have a much more unstable home life. Many think that they will increase their chances of success when they eventually marry but research suggests just the opposite. David Popenne and Barbara Dome Whitehead of the Rutgers University study concluded that "virtually all research on the topic has determined that the chances of divorce ending a marriage preceded by cohabitation are significantly greater than for a marriage not preceded by cohabitation. A 1992 study of 3,300 cases, for example, based on the 1987 National Survey of Families and Households, found that in their marriages prior cohabitants] are estimated to have a hazard of divorce that is about 46 percent higher than for [non-cohabitants]. A distinct advantage to marriage over cohabitation is the higher degree of emotional commitment in marriage. Popular media often present the view that sex outside of marriage is much more exciting and thrilling than married sex. But the opposite is true. Research shows that, because married couples are generally more committed to each other they enjoy a higher level of sexual satisfaction. How bad is sexual unfaithfulness among those in cohabiting relationships? The National Sex Survey found that cohabiting men were about four times as likely as husbands to report infidelity in the past year. Women were more faithful in general, but still cohabiting woman were eight times more likely than wives to cheat on their partners' (The Case for Marriage, Waite and Gallagher, p. 92-93). Nearly 80% of all Americans still believe adultery is always wrong yet their behavior shows an incredible double-standard. Somewhere between 50 to 70 percent of all American marriages end in divorce. Within the last decade, incidents of

adultery have risen to the alarming rate of between 50 and 70 percent in America. Dr. Frank Pittnam in his book Private Lies writes: "As I see it, when a couple divorce, it is probable that someone is being unfaithful and won't stop it. In my practice, about half of the unfaithful couples divorce. However, divorce is unusual among established couples who are being faithful. In long-standing marriages, over 90 percent of the divorces involve infidelities" (Norton, 1989, p. 227). God says the following to our Israelite nations in Jeremiah 5:7-9: How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by those that are not gods. When I had fed them to the full then they committed adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots houses. They were like well-fed lusty stallions; every one neighed after his neighbors wife. Shall I not punish them for these things says the Lord. And shall I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? God wants us individually to repent if we have been involved in sexual immorality. Some believe that sexual immorality is less forgivable than other sins. This is not true. God forgives any sin upon repentance. Upon repentance, we should also strive to forgive ourselves so that guilt regarding past sexual sins doesn't carry forward in a negative attitude towards God's gift of sex and jeopardize a happy, joyful, loving intimate relationship in marriage. If you have make past mistakes, rest assured that God will clear your record if you seek Him in heartfelt repentance. He promises us that, "though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). Abortion Since the fateful decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1973 court case Roe v Wade which legalized abortion there have been over 30 million abortions in the United States. That is over a tenth of the entire population of the United States or some five times the number of Jews exterminated by the Nazis in the holocaust! According to US. News & World Report: [Few] statistics exist illustrating, why women get abortions. In the last survey, in 1987, 76 percent said they were concerned about how having a baby could change their lives, and 51 percent had problems with a relationship or wanted to avoid single parenthood.

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Thirteen percent cited health of the fetus; 7 percent the health of the mother; 1 percent rape or incest. A U.S. News survey found, surprisingly, that even for most abortions occurring in the 20th week or later the health of the fetus or mother was a relatively minor factor in the decision to have an abortion" ("Abortions in America, U.S. News & World Report, Jan. 19, 1998). What these statistics illustrate is that close to 80% of those women who had abortions sought it for the sake of convenience. Some 20% of abortions involve women who are married. Close to 80% of all women who have an abortion regret their decision and many suffer depression and eating disorders following their actions. If you have been involved in an abortion experience, rest assured that God will clear your record if you truly seek Him in heartfelt repentance. He promises us that, "though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). God is truly rich in mercy when we turn to Him. Juvenile Delinquency and Violence In Isaiah 3:12 God says: As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths. With the rise in divorce, illegitimate births and single-parent families, as well as men abandoning their responsibilities of properly raising their children, we have seen as dramatic rise in juvenile delinquency. Children are becoming our oppressors as teenagers and young men commit more and more homicides and crimes in our western nations. An extensive study of 25 000 jailed juveniles found that 72 percent of them came from broken homes and a child growing up in a single parent home (usually female-headed) is seven times as likely to be a delinquent (The Garbage Generation, Daniel Amneus, p. 179). Since World War II we have seen an explosion of youth culture and markets being most dominated by the demand from children. This youth culture and the permissiveness of parents in giving children too much of a free reign was very much a sign of Roman culture as the empire started to decline: By the beginning of the second century A.D., Roman fathers, in general, had yielded to the impulse to become far too

complacent. Having given up the habit of controlling their children, they let the children govern them, and took pleasure in bleeding themselves white to gratify the expensive whims of their offspring. The result was that they were succeeded by a generation of idlers and wastrels... The fine edge of character had been blunted in the Rome of the second century [A.D.] The stern face of the traditional 'pater familias' [the father of the family] had faded out; instead we see on every hand the flabby face of the son of the house, the eternal spoiled child of society who has grown accustomed to luxury and lost all sense of discipline (Jerome Carcopino, Daily Life in Ancient Rome, pp. 78-79). A modern historian couldn't better describe contemporary family life in the developed countries today (The Modern Romans: The Decline of Western Civilization, 1971, Ambassador College Press, p.20). David Blankhorn in his book Fatherless America (1995, p.227, 314) gives the following statistics showing the increasing trend of fatherless families the percentage of births outside of marriage rose from 5.3% in 1960 to 28% in 1990, the number of divorced males rose from 2.74 % in 1960 to 11.25 % in 1990, the number of male prisoners rose from 230 per 100 000 in 1960 to 574 per 100 000 in 1990 and the percentage of children living apart from their fathers went from 17.5% in 1960 to 36.3% in 1990. In the USA 60% of mothers in two-parent families work outside the home. Only 25% of children always have their mother at home when they come home from school. An out of sight, out of mind approach many parents have to childrearing is having permanent scars on millions of children. These parental attitudes are a poor example for the next generation when they become children. This was highlighted in the popular folk song Cats in the Cradle. In the lyrics of the song a hard-working but well-meaning father keeps on promising to spend more time with his son who looks up to him. In time, the son without realizing it, imitates his fathers workaholic nature and, though wellmeaning, has no time for his elderly father. His father sadly realizes at the end of the song that his son had grown up just like him. Too many parents are so focused on making money and acquiring more material possessions that they are spending too little time giving their children the right measure of time, love and discipline that their children need as they grow up. While some parents are victims of circumstance and cannot spend the time they would like to with their childrens upbringing, too many parents are allowing

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television and day-care to substitute for the time that they should be investing in the development of the children. Newsweek magazine in its article, Dr Spock in Despair, comments that the very generation raised by his precepts has let Dr. Spock down. Sexual openness has led to casual divorce and the coarsening of popular culture. Gender equality has meant that women compete for career advancement as ferociously as men, so that neither parent has time for the children, who spend all day watching TV and getting fat" (Oct. 24, 1994). Dr Jane Healy in her book Endangered Minds scientifically shows the growing evidence that the academic capability of the minds of young children can be hindered quite dramatically by too much television at young age and not enough interactive conversation with parents. The neurological effects on the mind also include abilities to think abstractly [such religious and moral issues], plan ahead and defer gratification [such as avoiding premarital sex and drugs], control attention, and perform higher-order analysis and problem-solvingthe very skills at issue in American schools today" (p. 86). It is estimated by studies of childrens TV habits that most small children and high school students spend between 20 and 30 hours watching television a week. Violence and profanity have dramatically increased in movies over the last 20 years. It has been estimated by the time the average preschool child reaches 14 years of age, he will have witnessed 18 000 murders on TV. Even kid shows are estimated to show some 20 to 25 violent acts per hour. John McTernan in his book Gods Final Warning to America writes that in April 1999 Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold attacked Columbine High School, in Littleton, Colorado, with bombs and guns. This attack, without question, was the worst in our nations history. A total of 15 died, and more than 20 were wounded in the assaultGod is now on the outside of our schools and the devil is on the insidePlanned Parenthood, with its pro-abortion message, can come into our schools. Homosexuals, with their message, can come into the schools. Humanism and other godless ideologies can be taught in the schools. The murdering spirit of killing babies in the womb has now infected our kidsFear has gripped many schools across America. To protect the students, many schools have been turned into fortresses with metal detectors and armed guards. Following the Jonesboro, Arkansas schoolyard killing in March 1998 Newsweek magazine in its article Why Children Turn Violent said: Movies, videogames, loose guns, alienation theres no one reason kids kill, but there are warning signsBut why would boys of 11 and 13 spray bullets into a crowd of their peers? How could such young hearts turn that cold?Its clear that children who grow up surrounded by violence on the street, in the home, on the tube, in electronic games become less sensitive to it. And theres no question

that when children have ready access to firearms the odds of a tragedy rise (April 6, 1998, p.24). Time magazine also made similar comments: Armed with video-game joysticks and TV remoteskids are whiplashed from one bit of blood sport to another, from South Park and Jerry Springer to Mortal Kombat on Nintendo. Ordinary kids may be a bit desensitized to violence. More-susceptible kids are pushed towards a dangerous mental precipice (April 6, 1998, p.38). Violence, of course, is not just limited to those 25 and under in our society. There is much violence across all age groups in our Israelite nations. Currently there are more than 1 million people held in American prisons for various crimes, including violent crimes. Turn on the 6 oclock news and there is almost always another murder, rape or violent attack being reported. As God watches it all He says of our Israelite nations in Ezekiel 7:23-24: Make a chain, for the land is filled with crimes of blood, and the city is full of violence. Therefore I will bring the worst of the Gentiles, and they will possess their houses; I will cause the pomp of the strong to cease, and their holy places shall be defiled. This is indeed one of the most difficult times in modern history in which to be raising children. Ellen Goodman columnist for the Chicago Tribune speaks of the difficulty that parents today have in countering our western culture: "But it occurs to me now that the call for parental responsibility is increasing in direct proportion to the irresponsibility of the marketplace. Parents are expected to protect their children from an increasingly hostile environmentBarbara Dafoe Whitehead, a research associate at the Institute for American Values, found this out in interviews with middle-class parents. 'A common complaint I heard from parents was their sense of being overwhelmed by the culture. They felt relatively more helpless than their parents'...Parents see themselves in a struggle for the hearts and minds of their own children.' It isn't that they can't say no. It's that there's so much more to say no to." Feminism In Isaiah 3:12 God says: As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O My people! As society has prospered we have also seen the rise of feminism in our western nations. There have been some good aspects of the feminist movement which has righted

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some wrongs, such as genuine sexual harassment in the workplace and ensuring equal opportunities for promotion and equal pay. However, there have been many negative aspects of the feminist movement. God said that women would rule with the rise of feminist ideologies that have led to a battle of the sexes in the workforce, abortion on demand and other actions that have contributed to the breakdown of the family. Perhaps the most destructive aspect of the feminist movement has been the denigration of the role of homemaker. For thousands of years women did not have to apologize if they wanted to raise children full time. The role of homemaker is a vital job in our society which should be respected by all. In Isaiah 3:16-24 God says the following to those women in our western nations who are haughty and deliberately sexually provocative: Moreover the Lord says: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, Walking and mincing as they go, making a jingling with their feet, therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will uncover their secret parts. In that day the Lord will take away the fineryAnd so it shall be: Instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench; instead of a sash, a rope; instead of well-set hair, baldness; instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty. So many of our women have also joined in the hedonistic ways of our western society. Many are self-centered and deliberately sexually provocative. Spurred on by teen idols and TV shows such as Sex in the City women have been becoming more aggressive sexually, including teenage girls. We see young girls today imitating the immodest fashions of female rock stars. Sadly, too, there is no shortage of women who will pose provocatively and feed the pornographic industry in our western nations. Alcoholism and Drug Abuse In the wake of our national trend to hedonism we have seen an epidemic of alcoholism. In Isaiah 5 God says: Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may follow intoxicating drink; who continue until night, till wine inflames them!Woe to men mighty at drinking wine. Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink (verses 11, 22).

The Bible teaches that alcohol should only be drunk in moderation (Psalm 104:15, John 2:10, 1 Timothy 5:23, Galatians 5:21) not to the excess which is so common at parties and other events in our western nations. U.S. News and World Report states that according to government statistics the number of Americans who die from alcoholism at around 100 000 a year and that it figures in 41% of traffic crash fatalities and 50% of murders in America. Estimates also put the number of problem drinkers in America at 50 million. Some 10 million of those (or 1 in 25 Americans) are confirmed alcoholics. There are many millions of American children who have grown up with at least parent who was an alcoholic. While about 20% of those who are alcoholic have a genetic predisposition, most use alcohol to forget about their problems and feel better which, in time, creates even bigger problems as the addiction grows. Many ethnic groups such as Native Americans, Aborigines and Polynesians have a much higher percentage of their population whose bodies are not able to process alcohol as efficiently as others. Alcoholism has been particularly tragic amongst those ethnic groups. Alcoholism is the most common form of drug addiction in our western nations. Alongside of alcohol, other preventable problems such as smoking addiction and drug abuse are also taking a terrible toll on our Israelite nations. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 25.9 million men (27.1 percent) and 22.8 million women (22.2 percent) are smokers in the United States. These people are at higher risk of heart attack and stroke. More than 400,000 Americans die each year from tobacco-related disease. The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse shows that, during 1988-96 among persons 12-17 years old, firsttime use increased by 30 percent and first daily use increased by 50 percent. More than 6,000 people under age 18 try a cigarette each day, and each day more than 3,000 persons under age 18 become daily smokers. If trends continue, about 5 million of these people will eventually die from a disease attributed to smoking. As many as 75 percent of the cases of coronary heart disease may be due to cigarette smoking. Estimates are that about 100,000 people die each year from coronary heart diseases that results from smoking. The National Institute of Health [NIH] says that lung cancer is the leading cancer killer in both men and women. There were an estimated 164,100 new cases of lung cancer and an estimated 156,900 deaths from lung cancer in the United

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States in 2000. According to the NIH, 87% of lung cancer cases are caused by smoking. Many widely used chemical substances damage the brain, heart and lungs of the user as well as the bodies of unborn children. Drug abuse also generates an incredible financial burden for society. Estimated costs of substance abuse in America exceed $240 billion a year (Colvin, p. 100). It may well take the coming captivity to help so many of our people hooked on drugs to be able to break those habits by not having access to those drugs. Lying and Profanity In Jeremiah 9:3-6 God says: And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me, says the Lord. Some businesses display amazing creativity in camouflaging deceit when they advertise their products. Almost everywhere we can spot individuals, businesses and other organizations involved in a sophisticated game of seeing how deceptive they can be without attracting lawsuits or alienating potential customers. Bending the truth and lying is at the heart of much of advertising and business. We are seeing a proliferation of lying, distrust of people and politicians and marriage breakups due to lying and a lack of trust vital for such relationships to succeed. The prophet Hosea puts it this way: There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint (Hosea 4:1-2). Swearing, either as taking Gods name in vain or profanity, has greatly increased. The coarseness of language in our society has risen dramatically spurred on by the entertainment industry. God says the following about the false ministers and leaders who say that nothing bad is going to befall our nations: They have lied about the Lord, and said, It is not He. Neither will evil come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine (Jeremiah 5:12). The famous British anthem Royal Britannia was composed at a time England was experiencing much political freedom compared to the absolute monarchies in Europe. In the song it is proudly proclaimed by the British that we will never never become slaves. Sadly, a captivity will come upon the British if there is no reversal in their national moral decline.

God also says: "Because they lead my people astray, saying, Peace, when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth. When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, where is the whitewash you covered it with? Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: In my wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury. I will tear down the wall you have covered with whitewash and will level it to the ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am the LORD (Ezekiel 13:11-14, NIV). Woe to Those Who Call Evil Good! In Isaiah 5:20-24 God says: Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away justice from the righteous man! Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will ascend like dust; because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. The following prayer by Joe Wright, a minister called to give the opening prayer before the opening of the Kansas Senate in 2000 highlights just how far the nations descended from Israel have strayed from Gods ways: We know Your Word says, Woe to those who call evil good [Isaiah 5:20] but that's exactly what we've done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and we have inverted our values. We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it moral pluralism. We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have neglected the needy and called it selfpreservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy.

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We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and dared called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment". Tammy Bruce, an avowed lesbian and abortion rights activist, in response to hypocrisy she sees amongst left-wing organizations and the media wrote a book entitled, The New Thought Police: Inside the Lefts Assault on Free Speech and Free Minds. In her book she writes: What began so many years ago as a noble cause ending the scourge of bigotry has devolved into something far different. Its not bigots the new Thought Police are after. Its peoplewho dare to speak their mind and contradict the progressive point of view There is enormous irony in the fact that it is those on the Left the supposed protectors of all things culturally important who are imposing severe sanctions on anyone who espouses an idea or expresses an opinion that might be deemed offensive to some favored group (p.4). The results is that the effects of this new intolerance are felt in the media and in the arts, on college campuses, even in offices and factories. The message is clear: Dont speak up. Or else youll be fired [or] suedLabels such as racist, sexist and homophobe are routinely used to demonize anyone who utters a word that doesn't support the Left's agenda. Television producers allow their scripts to be edited by groups that purport to represent aggrieved minorities. On college campuses, student newspapers that don't toe the party line are collected and destroyed, and speakers with un-PC views are shouted down (ibid., p.2-3). The entertainment establishment, producers and stars of the movies, TV programs and music we consume are overwhelmingly liberal in their political outlook. Not so widely known is that voting patterns of American newspaper reporters and editors show a similar overwhelming lean to the left. Consider these findings: In the 1992 election, 89 percent of journalists who make up the Washington, D.C. press corps and report on nations political news voted for the liberal candidate, Democrat Bill Clinton. Only 7 percent voted for the conservative candidate, Republican George Bush.

Of these journalists, 61 percent saw themselves as "liberal " or "liberal to moderate," while only 9 percent regarded themselves as "conservative" or "moderate to conservative. A poll of 167 newspaper editors found that in the 1992 and 1996 elections, 58 and 57 percent, respectively, voted for Democratic candidate Bill Clinton (compared to 43 and 49 percent of all other voters). A 1996 survey of more than 1,000 reporters at 61 newspapers found that, of those with more than 50,000 circulation (primarily large city papers), 65 percent of the staff members were liberal or leaned to the left. A 2001 poll of more than 300 media professionals found that those who identified themselves as liberal outnumbered conservatives four to one. A 1980 study of 240 New York and Washington journalists found that 86 percent never or seldom attended religious services, and half had no religious affiliation at all. Some 90 percent of these journalists were pro-abortion. About 75 percent did not regard homosexuality as wrong, and 54 percent did not regard adultery as wrong. Only 15 percent of these "strongly agreed" that adultery, abortion and homosexual practices were immoral. (Sources: William Proctor, The Gospel According to The New York Times, p. 44-46; Media Research Center.) Dr James Dobson and Gary Sauer in their article titled "Children at Risk' (Word, 1990, p. 104-107) summarize some of the shifts in Western values over the last few decades: "In 1960most children were cared for by their parents and most politicians knew that any effort to strengthen the family was a good idea. "In 1990, politicians can't even agree on what traditional families are or whether they are worthy of special assistance. Indeed, a major movement is underway to redefine 'family' to mean any group of people which merely thinks of itself as a family. A sizable minority of children is supervised by professional caregivers, while some children, called latchkey kids, are left with no adult care at all during much of the day... In 1960, there was a general consensus that religion was a positive influence in American life and that it should be encouraged ...Today a militant secularism prevails. Any

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public display of religion...is immediately attacked by civil liberty attorneys. Recently several government officials in Washington, D.C., called on citizens to join in a day of prayer to ask God to lead the city out of its quagmire of drugs, crime, and suffering. They were immediately attacked by a local ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] official who told the Washington Post, 'It is always inappropriate for government officials to ask citizens to pray. In 1960, out-of-wedlock pregnancy was a matter of shame. When it happened, couples often did a quaint thing they got married, so that the child would have a name and the influence of a father. Girls who slept around were often ostracized by fellow students. A pregnant teenager was sent away to have the child rather than risk the censure of the community, In 1990, one out of five babies born in America was conceived out of wedlock. In Washington D.C., illegitimacy was an alarming 55 percent. In many schools, the virtuous girl was considered odd and was subjected to the same scorn and ridicule once reserved for the easy date 30 years earlier. Surveys revealed that many of our sons and daughters were embarrassed to admit their virginity. In 1960,most couples stayed together for life. Now more than one million children are affected by divorce every year. Mates are traded in for newer models as if they were cars. For each of the last 15 years, there have been more than one million divorces compared to less than half that many in the early 60s. Modern Israels Unfaithfulness to God The Book of Hosea serves as a powerful object lesson of what God has gone through with His people Israel. The New Living Translation begins the introduction to this book with the comment that it is a tragic love story with a happy ending. The commentary of the Word in Life Bible says the following about the book of Hosea: Hoseas marriage was extraordinary in that he was called [by God] to marry an unfaithful woman (Hosea 1.2). Gomers exact background is not known, but it could be that she had been unfaithful to a previous husband, or she might have been a prostitute. She might have been the particular kind of prostitute that was associated with some of the pagan religions that were being practiced then in Israel. Whatever Gomers background, she was a powerful symbol of Israels spiritual adultery against the Lord (2.2)

Just as Israel abandoned God, Gomer left her husband and returned to a life of prostitution. She seems to have ended up in the slave market, where Hosea bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver and some grain (3.2). This was not much money, just the common price of a slave (compare Exodus 21.32). But it was a great sacrifice of love on Hoseas part. The prophet was demonstrating the love of God for his unfaithful people, and providing a symbol of the reconciliation that would someday take place (Hosea 3.4, 5) (Prodigal Wife, Prodigal People, 1998, p. 1287). Hosea 4:1-3 highlights many of the problems we see in our modern Israelite nations today such as adultery, family breakdown, lying, stealing, profanity and environmental pollution. Hear the word of the Lord, You children of Israel, for the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed. Therefore the land will mourn; and everyone who dwells there will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea will be taken away. In verses 6 and 7 of the same chapter God says through the prophet Hosea: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me. Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. The more they increased, the more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame. Ironically, in what is the information age, our Israelite nations our peoples are being destroyed because of a lack of knowledge the knowledge of Gods law and way of life which so many in our western nations have rejected. Our children are suffering because of this rejection of Gods law. The more they increased the physically richer our nations have become the more they sinned against me says the Eternal. In Hosea 8:7 God says that they sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind. Our western nations have suffered terribly as every possible social problem has greatly risen in over the last few decades. Hosea is a tragic love story with a happy ending. For their unfaithfulness to God our modern Israelite nations will go into a terrible captivity to humble them and bring them back to God. At that time they will repent and become the model nation that God has purposed for our Israelite nations since the day He courted them and brought them out from Egypt so long ago.

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Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he has torn, and he will heal us; he has stricken, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight" (Hosea 6:1-2) God calls the modern nations descended from Israel to return to Him and His ways in Jeremiah 3:1 with these passionate words: They say, If a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another mans, may he return to her again? Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me, says the Lord. In his State of the Union message in January 1960 the President Eisenhower said: A rich nation can for a time without noticeable damage to itself pursue a course of selfindulgence, making its single goal the material comfort of its own citizens. But the enmities it will incur, the isolation into which it will descend, and the internal, moral and physical softness that will be engendered will in the long term bring it to disaster. In Jeremiah 3:12 God says: Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: Return, backsliding Israel, says the Lord; I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful, says the Lord; I will not remain angry forever.

Those who have Gods warning words are commanded to warn our Israelite nations so as many people as possible can be spared of what is to befall our Israelite nations (Ezekiel 33:1-9). In response to that warning God says in Ezekiel 2:5: As for them, whether they hear or whether they refusefor they are a rebellious houseyet they will know that a prophet has been among them. God is a merciful and loving God. For anyone who turns from breaking His laws He will show abundant mercy but if our nations continue on their sinful course they will be painfully disciplined by a loving God with captivity so that they might turn to Him and His way of life the only source of true and lasting happiness and prosperity. For a deeper understanding of the prophetic books and the rest of the books in the Bible we encourage you to join our Bible Reading Program where we endeavour to cover the whole Bible over the course of each three years. On our website (http://www.ucg.org/brp) you will find a monthly reading schedule and a commentary on each chapter covered.

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What is Prophesied for the Gentile Nations?

Did it ever occur to you that the Bible is a book of and concerning one people, Israel, and that other nations are mentioned only if and as they came into contact with Israel? This is an important point that we need to keep in mind as we try to understand the Bible and its prophecies. What is prophesied for the rest of the nations of the world who are not descended from Israel? The prophet Daniel when interpreting a great dream of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar outlined a succession of Gentile kingdoms to dominate the th world scene from his day in the 6 century BC right through to the return of Jesus Christ. In Daniel 2 he tells of four great Gentile kingdoms Babylon, Persia and Greece followed by the Roman Empire which would extend its influence through various revivals right through to the return of Jesus Christ. The ten toes of the great image would be smashed by Jesus Christ at His return. This end-time revival of the Roman Empire (See the sidebar The Coming Beast Power) will be a union of European nations religiously dominated from Rome. In the prophecies it is also referred to as Babylon the Great (Revelation 17, 18) symbolizing mans political, economic and religious system apart from God. Another name that is used in the Bible for this coming United Europe is Assyria. The ethnic people who dominated the Assyrian empire migrated into central Europe and became the people we know as the Germans today. The prophecies of the Bible indicate that the German people will dominate this coming United Europe as they did during the days of the Holy Roman Empire and during the last revival when Hitler conquered much of Europe (Isaiah 10:5-6). In Daniel 11 is recorded the longest prophecy of the Bible. It covers nearly 2 500 years of history from late in Daniels life during the days of the Persian Empire through to the return of Jesus Christ. It prophesies the fall of the Persian Empire at the hands of Alexander the Great and his Greco-Macedonian Empire. After Alexanders death the Greek Empire was divided into four parts ruled by each of Alexanders four generals. From there the prophecies focus on the struggles between two of these rulers called the King of the North and the King of the South because they rule from either north or south of Palestine. The identity of the King of the North begins with the Greek general Seleucid and his descendants and changes to Rome as the Greek Empire is conquered by Rome. In the end-time the King of the North becomes the end-time revival of the Roman Empire. The identity of the King of the South begins with the Greek general Ptolemy who ruled Egypt along with his descendants (the last being the famous Greek ruler Cleopatra). In the end-time the King of the South appears to be an alliance of Arab nations. In Daniel 11:40-43 we read: At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack [or push, KJV] him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. An Arab power known as the King of the South at the end of Daniel 11 will push or attack this power for whatever reason. This war begins with this United Europe sweeping through the Middle East with blitzkrieg or lightning war and invading many countries including Israel. In this prophecy, the geographic areas of Edom, Moab and Ammon refer to modern-day Jordan and the Palestinians, who have close ties with Europe and will be allowed to be independent after Europe's Middle East invasion. Egypt, Libya and Ethiopia will be conquered and occupied by European forces (Daniel 11:42-43). This prophecy shows that Europe will continue on and conquer Libya. This will probably be for strategic purposes. The Roman Empire did a similar thing by conquering North Africa and maintaining control over the whole Mediterranean coastline and sea. By conquering Ethiopia (and possibly Arabia) this European power will also be able to control all of the Red Sea. Prophecy is silent as to whether or not it continues on from Ethiopia and conquers more of Africa later on in this final world war. Europe may continue to expand its empire all throughout Africa. Missionary zeal to convert them to Catholicism may provide a reason for such imperialism. The African nations that were a part of French-west Africa are already tied in financially with Europe as the Central African franc is interchangeable with the French franc. Europe will be dominated by the great church that rules from Rome. All of Central and South America follow this great church so they will quite possibly be tied into Europe and follow them, especially if they see its leader performing great miracles (2 Thessalonians. 2:3-9).

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Bible prophecy seems to indicate that some of the Slavic nations of Eastern Europe will be involved in a European Union: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His People [Israel], which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush [Ethiopia] and from Elam [East Europe], and from Shinar [Iraq], and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea" (Isaiah 11:11). A part of Elam, it would seem, will be aligned with Europe. In other prophecies, however, Elam is allied with the Medes against Babylon. From this it would appear that certain of the Slavic nations may be aligned with the nations of the east during the Tribulation: "Go up, O Elam! [East Europe] Besiege, O Media! [Ukraine, Russia] All the sighing thereof have I made to cease...Babylon is fallen, is fallen [the fall of Europe] (Isaiah 21:2, 9). In Jeremiah, God warns the East European peoples: "Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. And upon Elam will I bring the four quarters of heaven [war], and will scatter them toward all those winds...But it shall come to pass on the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, says the Lord " (Jeremiah 49:35-39). Europe's invasion of the Middle East and Europe's conquest of America and Britain will occur early during the Great Tribulation. The next two great war offensives, symbolized by the fifth and sixth trumpet plagues of Revelation 9, involve Europe attacking Russia and Asia and a counterattack by Russia and Asia and occur during the last year of the Great Tribulation, known as the Day of the Lord. The Bible does not elaborate on any other war offensives that occur between the conquest of America and Britain and Europe's attack on Russia and Asia. Without the United States able to play the role of policeman on the international scene much war could easily break out in this time around the world. Japan doesn't appear to be a part of the great Russian and Asiatic alliance spoken of in Ezekiel 38 and 39. This may be an indication that Japan might once again be allied with Europe during the Great Tribulation and may again become an imperialistic nation. Ezekiel 38 and 39 describe a great alliance of Asian nations that will make war at this time. The peoples listed in this great Asian alliance include Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, Persia, Ethiopia [Cush], and Libya [Phut], Gomer and Togarmah. The Mongols and northern Chinese descend from Magog. Russia comes from Rosh and Moscow from Meshech. Persia is Iran. Ethiopia and Libya are mistranslations. The original words are Cush and Phut. There were both western and eastern divisions of Cush and Phut. The eastern divisions became the Indian and Pakistani peoples. From Gomer descended the peoples of southeast Asia. These nations will probably form the Asiatic army of 200 million that destroys Europe. By this time there will be two great world power blocs a European-led power that will have conquered North America and possibly much of Africa and that most likely has Central and South America financially and religiously aligned with it. The other great world power bloc will be a combined Russian and Asian alliance that is able to muster an army of 200 million men. The fifth and sixth trumpet plagues described in Revelation 9 talk about two massive war offensives. The first one appears to be a bio-chemical assault on Russia and Asia by the Beast power which lasts for five months (Revelation 9:1-11). Rumors of hostility toward Europe (Daniel 11:44-45) from Asia (the east) and Russia (the north - Moscow is almost due north of the Holy Land) will cause the Europeans to launch a pre-emptive strike against the powers of the East. The fifth trumpet signals 'locusts' and 'scorpions' rising out of the 'bottomless pit' and tormenting men for five months. This may be describing modern helicopters and tanks of the Beast, perhaps using chemical or biological weapons (Revelation 9:5-6). The second war offensive is a massive counterattack by the Asiatics that sweeps across and destroys most of Europe with an absolutely massive army of 200 million (Revelation 9:13-21). This massive army will devastate Europe and this end-time Babylon will fall (Revelation 18). In Revelation 17:16 we read: And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot [the great false church], make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. When everything begins to fall apart for Europe the European leaders will turn on the great false church. The Arab peoples that were spared from the European attack on the Middle East will not be so lucky when these Asiatics move across the Euphrates (Jeremiah 48:47) and the East Europeans who aligned themselves with the United Europe will also become captive at this time (Jeremiah 49:37-39). The leader of this United Europe and the 'false prophet' will have established themselves in Jerusalem, which they will have surrounded and occupied at the outset of the Great Tribulation (Daniel 11:45). They will, by the time of the invasion from the East, have large military forces in the Middle East. A showdown will occur in the Middle East between the European and Asian nations. They will meet at Megiddo or Armageddon in northern Israel (Revelation 16:12-16). At this time they will unite and proceed to Jerusalem to fight Christ and His heavenly army. Their fate will be awful. Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, and their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths (Zechariah 14:3-12). After this battle Jesus Christ will begin His reign on earth and bring this world true peace.

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Chapter Three: The Coming Punishment on the Israelite Nations

Since the sexual and moral revolution of the 1960s, America and Britain, along with Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the NW European nations have drifted further and further away from God and His way of life. The result has been a terrible moral degeneration with crime and sexual immorality and other sins rapidly escalating. We are starting to see the birthright blessings being taken away and replaced with the terrible curses for disobedience mentioned in Leviticus 26:14-39 and Deuteronomy 28:14-68. Those curses, for the most part, are the simple cause and effect results of breaking Gods laws. A number of them, though, are specific punishments from God that He will add on top of them to get modern Israels attention so that they might repent and turn back to Him. Those curses end with foreign invasion and captivity if modern Israel still wont repent of its national sins. God is merciful and will send many warnings and lesser punishments. If we still continue with our sins, as a people, Gods anger will become hot to the point that He will punish our peoples with foreign invasion and captivity. I Will Break the Pride of Your Power In Leviticus 26:18-20 we read: And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. I will break the pride of your powerand your strength shall be spent in vain. Since World War II we have witnessed a loss in the pride of the power of Britain and America. During the 1960s Britains empire rapidly shrunk with decolonization and signs of decay in Americas power and political will began to show with their defeat in the Vietnam War. Commentators have felt that the war was lost due to liberal policies that put too many restraints on how the military were to fight the war, similar to what happened when America lost the Korean War. Nearly 50 000 American soldiers died in the Vietnam War which cost the American people over $125 billion twice that of World War I. This was a vivid fulfillment of the curse in Leviticus 26:20 where God says that your strength shall be spent in vain. With the most overwhelming nuclear and military superiority of any nation in the history of the world, America has, at times, lacked the will and determination to use that power as it once did in World Wars I and II. In Deuteronomy 28 God tells us of the curses that would come upon His people if they turned away from Him and keeping His laws. These punishments fell upon ancient Israel, culminating in their captivity and deportation as slaves by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. They are already beginning to come upon the modern Israelite nations of America, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the nations of NW Europe. But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the country. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your body and the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out (verses 15-19). The rest of the chapter goes on to describe the following curses - plagues (v 21), wasting diseases (v 22), drought (v 23), dustbowl conditions (v 24), military defeat (v 25), diseases which produce boils (v 26), cancerous diseases (v 27), mental illness (v 28), blindness (v 29), other men committing adultery with mens wives (v 30), theft of property at the hand of foreigners (v 31), foreign oppression (v 33-37), locust plagues (v 38), crop failures (v 39-40), foreigners rising higher in your land (v 43), foreign debt (v 44), invasion from a foreign nation (v 4752), cannibalism (v 54-57), painful and very prolonged sicknesses (v 59), population decimated from foreign captivity (v 62) and deportation as slaves to foreign lands (v 63-68). The Moral and Sexual Revolution of the 1960s John McTernan in his book Gods Final Warning to America carefully documents the increasing judgments that have been coming on America since the 1960s when a moral and sexual revolution began in our western nations. Crime and rates of divorce and sexual disease began to sharply increase above the national population rate beginning from around 1963 when prayer and Bible reading were banned in American schools. McTernan writes:

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On June 17, 1963, the United States Supreme Court issued the final decision in a series that forbids Bible reading and prayer in the public schools. Bible reading and prayer had been a part of American schools since the beginning of the country. The prayer the court objected to follows: Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our Country. God had honored prayer by giving America (up to 1963) the finest educational system in the world. The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores were the highest ever. Prior to 1963 America's violent crime rate fell below the national population growth rate. The divorce rate was dropping steadily from the 1940s, and the teenage premarital sex rate went unchanged In 1963, the three greatest problems in school were talking, gum chewing, and noise. By the 1990s, the three greatest problems in the godless public schools were rape, robbery, and assault. The SAT scores have literally plummeted since the very year of 1963. America has paid a terrible price for rejecting God. Prior to 1963 serial killings and mass murders were almost unheard of, but today they both occur with frightening regularity, and America is increasingly becoming a more and more violent nation Sexual diseases have skyrocketed, along with premarital relations in our teenagers. Since 1963, every statistic showing a social problem has risen dramatically, while the statistics for things that are good have dropped (p. 120-121).

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Abortion and Homosexuality Legalized In 1973 the Supreme Court ruled in the Roe v. Wade court case to legalize abortion and the American Psychiatric Association, due to great pressure from gay activists, declared homosexuality normal. On January 22, 1973, the United States Supreme Court overturned all state laws that protected children in the womb and then legalized abortion. In America there are a reported 1.5 million babies aborted every year. After 20 years, approximately 30 million children have been killed in the womb. The number of babies killed by abortion in America is more than all the men killed in all of Americas wars! It is over half the number of people killed throughout World War II which claimed 55 million lives! It is one and half times the entire population of Canada! What an indescribable tragedy which God will punish America for if it does not turn back to Him. Just as abortion was legalized in 1973, so homosexuality was declared to be normal in 1973. On December 15, 1973, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) issued a position paper declaring that homosexuality was no longer to be classified as a mental disorderThe APA in normalizing homosexuality declared that by itself, homosexuality does not meet the criteria for being a psychiatric disorder. Prior to the change, homosexuality was defined as a sexual deviation, along with fetishism, pedophilia, sadism, voyeurism, and others. The APA went on to state that all criminal laws against homosexuality should be repealed, and civil laws should be enacted at the local, state, and federal level to protect homosexuals (Gods Final Warning to America, p.136). Economic Decline The 1960s saw a dramatic increase in crime and violence and rates of divorce and sexual disease in the United States. This began to occur in the other western nations descended from Israel as the moral and sexual revolution of the 1960s kicked into high gear. From the time of the immoral judgments legalizing the sins of abortion and homosexuality, increasing judgment has come upon America. From the 1970s on, the American economy has been in decline. Real GNP and real wages, when inflation is factored out, have steadily declined while foreign debt has gone through the roof. Commenting on this economic decline John McTernan writes: The real GNP of the U.S. economy from 1973, except for a few years of upturn, is in a very sharp decline, and the year 1973 was the very year the American economy began that declineThe year 1973 is again pinpointed as the very year that America started its economic decline. The decline is so steep that, if you adjust for inflation, Americans in 1993 earned less, on average, than they did in 1956.

To compensate for this decline and to maintain their standard of living, the American government, businesses, and people went into heavy debt. From 1973 until 1993 the federal government increased spending by 500 percent, while the federal deficit increased from $14.9 billion a year to over $300 billion dollars a year. This was a 2,100 percent increase! The huge debt that America now faces can be traced directly back to 1973 when the economy started its sharp decline. American workers are under a slow but steady punishing economic grind. This is why today both husband and wife have to work to try and keep the same standard of living as one salary did years ago. No matter how hard they work, American workers are falling further behind. The large salaries of today are an illusion. The foundation of American prosperity is debt and not savings. At some point, this huge debt bubble will collapse

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The year 1973 was literally the dividing line between decreasing poverty and increasing poverty. It is clear that something dramatic happened in 1973. It is ironic that even the worst bear stock market since World War II began in 1973. (A bear market is when the market loses rather than increases value over a long period of time. It is a declining market.) The bear market that started in 1973 actually began in January, the same month the United States Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade to legalize abortion! Economists identified January 11 as the start of the bear market; Roe v. Wade was decided just 11 days later on January 22. The bear market lasted until December 6, 1974, which was a total of 694 days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average went from 1051.70 to 577.60. The market lost 45.1 percent of its valueJanuary 1973 virtually can be viewed as the dividing line between a blessed nation and one that has fallen under the judgment of God It is interesting to chart the deterioration of America. In 1963 the moral fiber was broken as America turned from God. Statistics show that the divorce rate, crime, etc., began to rise dramatically since 1963. This moral decline was so steep that in just 10 short years abortion was made legal. The moral decline that started in 1963 began to affect the economy, and 1973, the year abortion was legalized, became the very year the economy began to fail. A little over 10 years later, in the mid1980s, America went from being the greatest creditor to the greatest debtor nation (Gods Final Warning to America, p.132-137). God prophesied that Israel would face economic punishment in the end-time in Isaiah 1:22. Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. This reduction in economic lifestyle will become much more pronounced when Americas debt bubble finally bursts. Our money is only partially backed with banks creating many times more in paper money than there is real wealth to back it up. Isaiahs description of silver being as dross and wine mixed with wine is a vivid description of this partially backed money system that our nations have created to develop such artificial wealth. The Curse of Financial Debt There will come a time when there will be no more credit available for our nations that are on a borrowing spree. A time of economic reckoning is coming upon our nations. Financial expert Jim Puplava in his article series The Perfect Financial Storm (www.financialsense.com/series2/perspectives2.htm) likens this coming economic judgment to the Perfect Storm that struck the North Atlantic coastline in 1991, which was the theme of a Hollywood movie. In part 2 of his series he writes: Our economic expansion is the longest running expansion on record. Unemployment is the lowest it has been in over three decades. Inflation is nonexistent. Interest rates are historically

low. Our stock market has delivered double-digit gains for the last five years and created unprecedented wealththe supply of money in the economy has been allowed to expand at above-normal rates. By keeping the printing presses running, the Fed has kept the financial system pumped up with liquidity. It has also served to suppress the true cost of credit by making it amply available If easy money and low interest rates have helped to spawn record debt at the consumer level, it has also fed into a corporate debt frenzy...Economists and others are concerned that those consumers and companies least able to afford debt are the ones borrowing the fastest. Bankruptcies, though off record highs, are still rising. They have grown from 0.8% to the present 1.3% of all U.S. households over the last few years. At some point, all of this debt will come home to roost. Consumers cant spend and borrow forever. Eventually the reality of interest payments will set in. If growth in the economy begins to slow, and as a consequence unemployment increases, debt burdens could become unsustainable A decline in the stock market will have dramatic supply and demand effects. A significant drop in stock prices would mean a loss of wealth, which also implies a reduction in consumption. Collapsing stock prices will also have a direct effect on the federal budget. The budget surpluses over the next decade assume over $900 billion in tax revenues coming from capital gains. The loss of capital gain tax revenues that would come from a bear market in stocks, combined with an economic downturn, could lead once again to a large federal budget deficit. It seems fair to conclude that the high levels of debt in our economy now pose a risk to the financial systemThe dangers of a severe and prolonged recession are being seriously underestimated. The credit expansion that has created this financial bubble is not sustainable. The Clinton Administration and the Fed daily proclaim the economic miracles of the era. In reality they have created an economic and financial bubble of epic proportion. Efforts should have been made to deflate this bubble years ago. But the political capital of this credit boom has been hard to resist. Unfortunately, our generation and our children's generation will very likely pay a substantial price for this policy failure. This kind of oppressive debt is one of the curses God foretold would come upon Israel if they turned away from Him. The alien [foreigner] who is among you shall rise higher and higherHe shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head and you shall be the tail (Deuteronomy 28:43-44). Along with this ever-increasing national debt there is a widening gap between rich and poor. In Michael Balsons

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article Problems with Globalization he writes: The Market doesn't really care about people, it is driven only by profitA small group of people are becoming extremely rich, while the vast majority are becoming desperately poor. Even in the superwealthy USA, there is a ballooning underclass known as the working poor earning between $5 - $6 dollars an hour, 40 million people have no health cover, and the richest 1% has the same combined wealth as the bottom 95% (http://communitycauldron.com/globalisationissues/balson.html) Economically, for much of the last century, Australia rode on the sheeps back with wool production being one of its major exports, along with wheat. When Britain became more yoked to the European Common Market it announced that it would not be there for Australia to import its major products, instead giving preference to European products. This has set Australia back greatly and Australia is looking more and more towards Asia for new markets to trade with. Asa Wahlquist shows the impact that this has had on the rural economy of Australia: "When Labor won government in 1983, there were guaranteed minimum prices for wheat and wool, and statutory authorities held sway over sugar, coarse grains and oilseeds, dairy products, eggs, citrus, dried fruit, peanuts, rice and tobacco. Banks were highly regulated, the dollar was fixed. In 1989, the guaranteed minimum price for wheat ended: The next year, prices fell to the lowest on record. The wool reserve price scheme collapsed in 1991. The next year, wool prices halved to hit the lowest level on record. Most woolgrowers have not made a profit since. Interest rates soared. Farm debt increased by 18 percent from 1985 to 1995, reaching a record high of $17.9 billion. In 1995, beef prices sank to a 20 year low. Drought struck. At its peak in 1994-95, drought reduced production by $1.95 billion." Commenting on Australia's economic future financial analyst, Christopher Story, writes: "Australians seem liable to suffer the worst of all possible combinations: a weak and vulnerable exchange rate...soft to declining commodity prices, eroding reserves of foreign exchange (already at precariously low levels), increasing or persisting trade and current account deficits, and ever rising external debt and, of course, net external liabilities" (Economic Intelligence Review, September 1998). Further highlighting that Australias economic luck has run out, he continues: "To match the country's net external liabilities, Australia's official foreign exchange reserve, would need to grow by more than 15 timesThus, the authorities console themselves with spurious calculations, when, in point of fact, Australia is technically bankrupt" (ibid).

The Stock Market Crash of 1987 In the following quote John McTernan gives his view on the 1987 stock market crash and the massive homosexual rally that occurred in Washington D.C. only days before the 1987 stock market crash: On October 19, 1987, the stock market dropped over 500 points for the greatest one-day crash in history. The crash resulted in a one-day drop of 22.6 percent in the market and a loss of over $500 billion. By comparison, the crash on October 28, 1929, which was attributed as the start of the Great Depression, was only 12.6 percent. The effect of the 1987 crash was felt well into the 1990s. The U.S economy was increasing at a six percent rate during October 1987, but as a direct result of the crash it contracted to a negative four percent by 1990. Just eight days before the stock market crash on October 11, 1987, probably the largest gathering of homosexuals in world history took place in Washington, D.C. The newspapers reported that over 200,000 people marched past the White House and gathered near the Capitol. Some reports claimed the marchers numbered 500,000. The homosexuals were marching to end discrimination and increase funding for AIDS research. The newspapers reported the crowd carried signs stating, Thank God I'm Gay, and Condoms, Not Condemnation. Others were saying, I'm gay and I'm proud. Has there ever been a time in history when such a huge group of homosexuals gathered in a nation's capital to demand their rights? God answered this march, just eight days later, with the greatest stock market crash in U.S. historyThe recession of 1991 and 1992 can be traced primarily back to the crash of 1987. Many American firms downsized after the crash and hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost. This crash had a powerful impact on the economy. The downsizing of the corporations continued into the late 1990s God shook America with a powerful economic warning. On October 19, 1987, America had an economic heart attack. This heart attack happened just eight days after the massive homosexual rally! The crash of 1987 did not result in a 1930s-type depression. America survived the crash, but continued to amass huge amounts of debt. America went into huge amounts of debt to keep the economy from a depression. By the late 1990s, the federal government was over $5.1 trillion in debt. The combined debt of all levels of government - plus corporations and individuals totals over $11 trillion and is growing fast. This debt could prove to be a burden from which the nation can not escape (Gods Final Warning to America, p.15-17).

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National Sins Leading to Natural Disasters In a dual prophecy to both ancient Israel and to the modern day descendants of Israel, God tells His people in Amos 4:7-10: I also withheld rain from you, when there were still three months to the harvest. I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain from another city: one part was rained upon, and where it did not rain the part withered. So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet you have not returned to me, says the LORD. I blasted you with blight and mildew when your gardens increased. Your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees, the locust devoured them: Yet you have not returned to me, says the LORD. I sent among you a plague after the manner of Egyptyet you have not returned to me, says the LORD. We are experiencing weird weather patterns with El Nino and increasing natural disasters and diseases. God is sending judgments on our peoples to get our attention so that we might turn back to Him. These judgments are increasing all the time and yet our peoples are not turning back to God. Since the late 1980s there has been a very sharp increase in natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, fires and droughts in America. John McTernan in his book Gods Final Warning to America goes to great lengths to show how these natural disasters have occurred in close correlation with major events related to the national sins of abortion and homosexuality. He writes:

Between June 1993 and January 1995, five major floods struck different areas of the United States. The areas hit by the severe rain and flooding were the Midwest, western Georgia, eastern Texas, southern Florida, and California. Four of the floods were categorized by the scientists as being caused by rains so severe that they occur once every 500 years The full impact of God's warning-judgments in America can be seen when you realize that since October 1989, eight major earthquakes have hit California. These earthquakes have all been in conjunction with abortion or homosexual related events: He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: He toucheth the hills, and they smoke (Psalm 104:32). The eight follow: 1. June 28, 1992 - Gay Pride Day, followed by Supreme Court decision not to overturn Roe v. Wade (fourth greatest earthquake this century.) 2. October 17, 1989 - Two days after huge pro-abortion march in San Francisco (fifth greatest earthquake this century). 3. October 16, 1999 - Two days after California governor declared he wanted the state to lead America in homosexual domestic partnerships, and two weeks after this legislation was passed. 4. April 25, 1992 - Height of attack against Operation Rescue in Buffalo, New York (seventh greatest earthquake this century). 5. January 17, 1994 - Day after Sanctity of Life Sunday and five days before the twenty-first anniversary of Roe v. Wade (eighth greatest earthquake). 6. June 28, 1992 - Gay Pride Day and Supreme Court decision not to overturn Roe v. Wade. 7. April 23, 1992 - Supreme Court abortion case hearing and attack against Operation Rescue in Buffalo, New York.

The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) has documented the billion-dollar weather related disasters that have hit America between 1980 and May 1997. These disasters included hurricanes, floods, droughts, blizzards, and freezes. The NCDC identified 30 disasters during this period. Of the 30 disasters, 25 occurred between 1988 and 1997, while 21 occurred during the August 1992 to May 1997 period. There has been a great intensifying of the disasters

8. September 12, 1994 - Next to last day of Cairo conference. The United States through Vice President Al Gore tried to push for universal abortion rights throughout world (p. 12-13, 79-81). On the morning of Gay Pride Day in 1992 southern California was hit with the fourth and ninth most powerful earthquakes this century. The Los Angeles Times reported that many marchers had to brave the earthquakes to get to

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the Gay Pride Day parade. The major earthquake of that day was 7.5 on the Richter scale and occurred near Landers, California. Landers was not only powerful it was bizarre. In most earthquakes, the land tears along a single fault. But not this quake, the rupture hopscotched from fault to fault, growing more powerful with each successive jumpSo many areas became active as if someone had flicked on a switch (Earth Magazine, March 1993, article: Lessons from Landers). McTernans opinion of this earthquake is that Gods mercy is shown in the Landers quake. It occurred in an isolated area with very little damage and no loss of life occurred. An earthquake of this power in a heavily populated area would have caused tremendous damage (Gods Final Warning to America, p.26) Gay Pride Day in 1993 saw another American natural disaster. The Great Flood of 1993 was the worst in American history. On the very day that thousands of homosexuals were parading in American cities, the Mississippi and Missouri rivers began overflowing their banks. The flood resulted in over $15 billion in damage and destroyed 45 000 homes.

child killing and sexual immorality: The land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants (Leviticus 18:25) (Gods Final Warning to America, p.32). In Isaiah 5:9-10 God speaks of famine as one of the punishments to come upon His people for their disobedience. In my hearing the LORD of hosts said, Truly many houses shall be desolate, great and beautiful ones without inhabitant. For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield one ephah. Terrible droughts would result in low agricultural yields and farmers leaving their farms. Beginning in October 1995 and peaking around May 1996 America faced its worst drought since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. When the drought began in October 1995, the National Teachers Association passed a resolution for every school district in the nation to observe October as Gay and Lesbian History Month. On October 20, 1995 President Clinton also announced his support for legislation that would bar discrimination in the workforce against homosexuals. John McTernan makes these comments about former President Clintons actions on the subject of abortion: Bill Clinton was inaugurated as president on January 19, 1993. Three days later on January 22, the twentieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, he signed documents which reversed years of restrictions on abortion. On January 22, 1993, Clinton reversed five abortion-related restrictions. The restrictions were: prohibition against abortion counseling in federally funded clinics; the ban on research on fetal tissue; the policy of abortion in the military; the ban to aid international family-planning programs which involve abortion and he called for the review of the French abortion drug RU-486. He also would veto the partial-birth abortion ban twice. Clinton has done everything possible to protect and promote abortion. On January 21, 1998, on the very eve of Roe v. Wade. President Clinton was humiliated by a terrible sex scandal. The scandal broke on the eve of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Roe v. Wade and almost five years to the very day that he promoted the five abortion issues (Gods Final Warning to America, p. 56-57). Dr James Dobson, noted author and founder of Focus on the Family, had these words to say about former President Clintons actions in twice vetoing a bill banning partialbirth abortion after being passed each time by the House of Representatives: Without presuming to know how Jehovah views this very flawed man, there are some troubling facts about him that are indisputable. Clintons hands are stained with the blood

McTernan describes the earthquake that hit Southern California the following year in January 1994 with these words: The epicenter of the quake was Northridge, which happens to also be the pornography center of America. Over 80 percent of all video pornography was made in the Northridge area. The earthquake literally destroyed the pornography industry in Northridge, as the entire pornography center was within five miles of the epicenter. Pornography is one of the top 100 industries in California. A survey after the earthquake reported that every pornography maker in the area had been damaged. The pornography industry was hit so hard by the quake that Lenny Friedlander, president of a large pornography business, was reported by the Associated Press as saying, These religious fanatics may think it's the Lord's way of telling us, Hey straighten your act out. The quake also closed nine abortion centers, including the Medical Clinic in Pacoima. This abortion center reportedly kills 80 to 120 babies every Saturday, and advertised to abort babies up to 28 weeksThis earthquake closely fits the description that the Bible gives for judgment on a nation for

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of countless innocent babies. By twice vetoing a bill that would have banned partial-birth abortion, he almost single-handedly preserved a barbaric procedure by which fully viable and unanaesthetized infants, each fresh from the Creators hand and brimming with life, were murdered during the final moments of delivery. If the American people were forced to stand and watch a doctor thrust his scissors into the tiny head of a convulsing baby and then suck out the brains with a powerful vacuum, most of us would gasp in horror. Some would faint. Many would cry or vomit. Most would be outraged. Yet Bill Clinton not only supported this Naziesque practice; he claimed that the procedure was necessary to protect the life of the mother. It was a lieone of many he told while in office. The American Medical Association and noted obstetricians insist that there is never any justifiable medical reason to kill babies by this method, yet the president twisted the truth in order to preserve its legality. More than 70 percent of the American people oppose partial-birth abortion. Nevertheless, Clinton gained political capital by appeasing radical feminists who demanded the blood of our most helpless little victims. Surely, this despicable act has not escaped the notice of the One who issued a terrifying warning to anyone who would hurt a child (Mark 9:42) (Focus on the Family newsletter, February 2001). The state of Ohio afterwards passed a law that banned partialbirth abortion which was then ruled unconstitutional by the federal court. The state of Ohio appealed the decision to the United States Supreme Court. On March 23, 1998 the Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal leaving the federal courts decision standing. The very next day after this horrendous decision to continue to allow the senseless killing of children in the womb two young boys, aged 13 and 11, opened fire on their school in Jonesboro, Arkansas. They killed four schoolchildren and one teacher with eleven others wounded. The boys had opened fire ambushing their classmates during a fire drill. Several months later the worst fires ever recorded in Florida broke out all around Orlando. John McTernan describes the events that occurred in Florida during June 1998 with these words: The first weekend in June has become Gay Days at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Starting in 1991, tens of thousands of homosexuals gather the first weekend in June in Disney World. This year's event starred on June 3 and ran through June 7. The month of June has also been designated as Gay Awareness Month. The last Sunday of June has become Gay Pride DayA review of Gay Days 98 schedule of events was amazing! On June 3 from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. there was an event titled Whos Your Daddy. The description of the events follows: A Leather, Latex and Bondage PartyFeaturing live flogging and spanking, dominatrix, masters and slavesplus live

piercingGay Days ended on June 7 with a Sunday Gospel Brunch from 10:15 a.m. until 3.30 p.m. and an event titled S.I.N. Tonight, Repent Tomorrow! The president of the United States [Bill Clinton] sent a letter of congratulation for events like this! At approximately 2:30 p.m. on June 6, fires erupted northeast, east, and southeast of Orlando and burned eastward away from the city At the very time Operation Rescue [a major non-violent protest against abortion and homosexuality] closed in prayer on June 6, the fires that started burned out of control for the entire month! For the rest of June fires burned all over Florida, but especially northeast of Orlando, In total there were over 2 000 fires and 500 000 acres burnt. With all the fires only 300 houses were destroyed with no loss of life. The fires and drought caused over $1 billion damage in crop loss (Gods Final Warning to America, p. 59-61). The correlation between major events related to the sins of abortion and homosexuality in America and natural disasters which have come upon America in the past 10 to 15 years have been quite striking. With droughts, fires and major outbreaks of livestock diseases such as foot and mouth and mad cow disease, Britain, Australia and other Israelite descended nations have also seen a sharp increase in natural disasters over the last decade. On September 11, 2001 a horrendous event shook America to its core when radical Islamic terrorists hijacked planes and flew them into the World Trade Center buildings in New York and the Pentagon building in Washington D.C. In the past God has afforded America some protection from potential tragedies like this. Are we seeing Gods hand of protection being slowly taken away from America leaving it more vulnerable to such tragedies? In Leviticus 26:14-17 God says: But if you do not obey MeI will even appoint terror over youI will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you. The last phrase is reminiscent of the fear that has come upon many in the wake of the World Trade Center disaster. The World Trade Center tragedy has completely changed America. As tragic as it was, the World Trade Center disaster was only a small forerunner of a far more devastating military attack on the nations descended from

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Israel that is prophesied to occur in the Bible that will kill millions rather than several thousand. In August 2005 the vital port city of America, New Orleans, was struck by Hurricane Katrina. It hit just two days before New Orleans was to celebrate a massive week-long homosexual festival called Southern Decadence where 100 000 people were expected to attend, mostly gay and lesbian. While the loss of life caused by Katrina was much lower than originally feared (again indicative of Gods mercy), the amount of flooding and property damage was absolutely enormous wiping out a high percentage of the homes of New Orleans. Only time will tell what disasters might strike America in the years ahead. We are indeed living in perilous times. Israelite Nations Prepare to Meet Your Maker Our nations are on a collision course with God over their national sins if they dont repent. While the chances of our Israelite nations collectively turning back to God on a national level are remote, individually you can be blessed and protected by God at that time if you to turn to God and follow His laws. God promises to protect those who truly turn to Him in heartfelt, dedicated repentance and become a part of His true church (Revelation 3:10-11, 12:14). In Amos 4:11-12 God says: I overthrew some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a firebrand plucked from the burning: yet you have not returned to me, says the LORD. Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel: Because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel! Through the many warning-judgments and natural disasters God is allowing to come upon our Israelite nations He has been trying to get our attention to our collective sins as a people yet you have not returned to me, says the LORD. Now He is saying to our nations Prepare to meet your Maker! America Invincible? In the military arena, the United States is poised to spend more on defense in 2003 than the next 15-20 biggest spenders combined. The United States has overwhelming nuclear superiority, the worlds most dominant air force, the only truly blue-water navy, and unique capability to project power around the globe. No state in the modern history of international politics has come close to the military predominance these numbers suggest. Americas economic dominance relative to either the next several richest powers or the rest of the world combined surpasses that of any great power in modern historyThe U.S. economy is currently twice as large as its closest rival, Japan (American Primacy in Perspective, p. 21-23).

Is America invincible? To most people the idea that a nation or empire could invade and conquer the United States of America is preposterous. But is it really so impossible? When the Titanic set out from England in 1912 on its maiden voyage many people said that the ship was unsinkable. One person was quoted as saying that even God could not sink her but sink she did when she struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage. The great lesson of the sinking of the Titanic is never to be so proud to think of anything human or man-made as unsinkable or invincible. This lesson applies to America as well. Without a major moral course correction God will bring about events that will bring America down. To the scoffers of Gods prophecies He says to them in Ezekiel 12:22-25: Son of man, what is this proverb that you people have about the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision fails? Tell them therefore, Thus says the Lord God; I will lay this proverb to rest, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say to them, The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every visionI am the Lord: I will speak, and the word which I shall speak shall come to pass; it will no more be postponed: for in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word, and perform it, says the Lord God. Americas military superiority is truly astounding. Even without the missile defense system that America hopes to develop they have an astounding capability of withstanding an invasion from any nation. America has many nuclear submarines that can launch over a dozen nuclear missiles than can each separate into ten separately targeted nuclear warheads. The nuclear arsenal of one nuclear submarine alone can destroy over 100 major cities with multiple millions of people. Americas Polaris nuclear submarines can detect the presence of the nuclear submarines of other nations on the other side of an ocean. America has underground facilities like the NORAD facility at Cheyenne Mountain that can withstand most aboveground nuclear attacks and still fire its arsenal back if a nuclear nation launched nuclear weapons upon America. Following the World Trade Center tragedy America also has a backup power structure in the event of an attack which would kill all federal politicians based in Washington D.C. If a nuclear attack from another nation was launched on America, the attacking nation would almost certainly be known and a government power structure would be protected to authorize retaliatory action. The ancient Babylonians thought that their city of Babylon was impregnable. The ancient city of Babylon was

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surrounded by massive double walls. The Babylonians had stored up provisions for many years and could survive a siege indefinitely. When Cyrus Persian army encamped around the city the Babylonians laughed. King Belshazzar remained unconcerned and trusted in the cities defenses as he feasted. The handwriting literally appeared on the wall telling him that he had been found wanting (Daniel 5). Cyrus had devised an ingenious plan to divert some of the water of the Euphrates that flowed through the city. Under cover of darkness they were able to wade under the gates and into Babylon. Babylon was conquered overnight. Americas military superiority is reminiscent of a passage in the book of Revelation where people marvel at a great military power and ask Who is able to make war with him? (Revelation 13:4).

Some have misapplied the prophecies and have stated that America is the beast power of the book of Revelation. When those prophecies are compared with the prophecies in the book of Daniel and the plain facts of history, this great military power is clearly revealed as a final revival of the Roman Empire a United European power that has been gradually forming over the past few decades in Europe (see the sidebar The Coming Beast Power). If Europe is to become the predominant military power in the world, given Americas incredible superiority at this time, then something quite dramatic must occur for this to take place. Economically, Americas crippling debt may be its downfall, especially if the dollar were to collapse and the US government could not pay for its military.

The Coming Beast Power

Why do the prophecies of the book of Revelation focus so much on a military power known as the Beast? The answer is that it will be this great military power that will be the instrument in Gods hand for humbling His people Israel in the end time (Isaiah 10:5). When the Bible speaks of Israel it is not just referring to the Jews in Palestine but to the modern descendants of ALL twelve tribes (Jeremiah 30:1-7) which include the English speaking peoples of America and Britain. In Daniel 2 the prophet Daniel, in explaining a great dream that Nebuchadnezzar had, tells of four great Gentile kingdoms Babylon, Persia and Greece followed by the Roman Empire which would extend its influence through various revivals right through to the return of Jesus Christ. The ten toes of the great image would be smashed by Jesus Christ at His return. In Daniel 7 we read that Daniel also had a dream of these four great kingdoms but instead of seeing a statue of a man made of gold, silver, bronze and iron like Nebuchadnezzar did, he saw four wild beasts a lion, a bear, a leopard with four heads and a wild beast with ten horns more terrible than the other three. At the end of the New Testament in Revelation 13 we read about a beast that is a combination of the four wild animals in Daniel 7. The Apostle John in his vision wrote: Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority (Revelation 13:1-2). The first three wild animals of Daniel 7 were a lion, bear and a leopard and the beast of Revelation 13 has the mouth of a lion, the feet of a bear and is like a leopard. It seems obvious from these facts that the beast of Revelation 13 is a composite of the four great empires pictured by the four wild beasts of Daniel 7. From history we know that the Roman Empire absorbed all the other empires, occupied all their territory and was greater and stronger than the previous three empires. Now the Roman Empire fell in 476 AD and yet this great beast is prophesied to dominate the world and make war in the Great Tribulation to occur in our day leading up to the return of Jesus Christ. How do we explain this? The ten toes of the great image of Daniel 2 are an extension or revival of the Roman Empire (a United Europe) that will exist at the time that Jesus Christ returns and sets up the Kingdom of God on earth. As there are five toes on each foot some of the nations that form this United Europe will be from Western Europe and others will be from Eastern Europe.

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In Revelation 17 we read of yet another beast. The Apostle John in his vision wrote: And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits [Rome is known as the city of seven hills]. There are also seven kings [or kingdoms]. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short timeThe ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them (Revelation 17:3-6, 9-14). The seven heads are seven kingdoms and it is said of those that five have fallen, one is and one is yet to come. These are seven successive revivals of the Roman Empire that rise and fall after the original Roman Empire. The ten horns represent the same thing as the ten toes of Daniel 2 ten rulers and/or nations that give their power to a great end-time ruler over the final revival of the Roman Empire that will be based in Europe. They will make war with Jesus Christ at His return and be defeated by Him. A woman is a symbol of a church (2 Corinthians 11:2, Revelation 19:7, Ephesians 5:22-27) and a false church will dominate this end-time power. This end-time revival of the Roman Empire will be a union of European nations religiously dominated from Rome. In Revelation 17 and 18 it is also referred to as Babylon the Great symbolizing mans political, economic and religious system apart from God. Another key to understanding the prophecies of the Bible is to recognize some of the other names that are used for this final revival of the Roman Empire. It is also called by the name of Babylon in many prophecies. From the days of Nimrod and the Tower of Babel the name Babylon has come to signify man's political, economic and religious system apart from God. The word Babylon means confusion. It is Satan's counterfeit system of God's government and kingdom promising unity, security and prosperity. The political, economic and religious system that started with Babylon (the head of the image guiding civilization's thoughts and actions) did not end with the fall of Babylon. It has continued through all the empires that followed it and will continue with the authoritarian government of this final revival of the Roman Empire. The name Babylon is used synonymously for both the great false church and the city from which she rules as well as the United Europe. The great false church is called MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH (Revelation 17:5). She is a mother church her daughters being the churches that sprang from her keeping the same pagan festivals and teaching the same false doctrines. She has been a harlot committing fornication with the kings of the earth (Revelation 18:9). God's people are not to be directly involved with this world's politics (John 18:36). This great false church has corrupted itself controlling the nations of Europe and becoming a political machine. Babylon is also the political and economic system based in Europe. In Revelation 18:9-11 after God destroys this system we read: The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, 'Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.' And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore. Another name that is used in the Bible for this coming United Europe is Assyria. The Assyrians were a great empire that ruled the Middle East before Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian empire. The ethnic people who dominated the Assyrian empire migrated into central Europe and became the people we know as the Germans today. The Chaldeans who ruled the Babylonian empire afterwards also migrated to Europe into northern Italy. The coming United Europe will include the ethnic peoples who dominated both the Assyrian and Babylonian empires of the ancient world. Moses predicted, "The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the EAGLE flies, a nation whose language you will not understand" (Deuteronomy 28:49). This was fulfilled in ancient times when God used the Assyrians who used the eagle as a symbol of their empire. A number of prophecies show that, in the last days, God will use these same people, the modern-day descendants of Assyria, as the instrument of Israels future captivity (Isaiah 11:16; 27:13; Zechariah 10:10).

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Notice what God says about Assyria: "Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger and the staff in whose hand is My indignation. I will send him against an ungodly nation [Israel], and against the people of My wrath I will give him charge, to seize the spoil, to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Yet he does not mean so, nor does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and cut off not a few nations" (Isaiah 10:5-7). Smith's Bible Dictionary says, "Assyria...derived its name apparently from Asshur, the son of Shem, Genesis 10:22, who in later times was worshipped by the Assyrians as their chief god" ("Assyria, Asshur). What happened to these people when their empire fell at the destruction of their capital city of Nineveh in 612 B.C.? Pliny the Elder (23-79 A.D.) spoke of the "Assyriani" of his day NORTH of the Crimea in Russia (Historia Naturalis, bk. 4, sec. 12). Jerome (Latin scholar, c. 340-420) later wrote, "Asshur also is joined with the tribes invading Western Europe ALONG THE RHINE" (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, ltr. 123, sec. 16). The names of some of Asshur's descendants give some striking clues about the identity of the modern Assyrians. Some of these include: Khatti; Akkadians; Kassites (or Cossaei); and Almani (or Halmani). We can compare these with some of the names of early German tribes in Europe: Hessians (anciently named Khatti - "Germany," Encyclopedia Britannica); Quadians (Latin for Akkadians); the Chauci (same as the Cossaei); and the Allemani (Latin for Almani). Even today the French name for Germany is Allemagne. The descendants of the Assyrians today include the nations of Germany, Austria and the eastern twothirds of Switzerland that is German-speaking. When Adolph Hitler stood before the great German eagle and cried for "living space" this was little different from the ways of ancient Assyria who also had the eagle as its symbol. In front of the temple of Assur in the city of Assur the swastika was displayed on a limestone slab. The winged disk of the Assyrian god Shamash also bears quite a similarity to the outspread wings of the German eagle during the second World War. The cruelty of the ancient Assyrians was renowned among the ancient conquering empires: "They were a proud, warlike, and cruel race. Although possessing genuine religious feeling, still the Assyrian monarchs often displayed in their treatment of prisoners the disposition of savages. The sculptured marbles taken from the palaces exhibit the cruel tortures inflicted upon prisoners; kings are being led before their conqueror with hooks thrust through their lips; other prisoners are being flayed alive; the eyes of some are being bored out with the point of a spear; and still others are having their tongues torn out" (Philip Meyers, Eastern Nations and Greece, 1904, pp. 69-70). Many still shudder at the thought of a revived, dynamic, militaristic Germany. Speaking of Germany, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said the following at the October 1995 Forum for International Policies in Colorado Springs: "Her national character is to dominate. There is something in the character of the German people that led to things that never should have happened. Why was it that the German people let Hitler do the things he did? This is something I still fear, even to this day"! The Germans are a wonderful, cultured and very efficient people capable of many great and marvelous things yet they periodically become an aggressive and proud people who are capable of many terrible things as well. Under the right circumstances, the cruel, warlike tendencies of these modern Assyrians will surface again. A "Fourth Reich" will soon appear on the world scene under a new Hitler-type ruler. This German-led European power bloc will conquer the modern descendants of Israel and make them slaves! The Nazi Holocaust of World War II was merely a small forerunner of a much worse fate yet to befall the English-speaking peoples and, again, their fellow kinsmen, the Jews! In Ezekiel 21:14 we read: You therefore, son of man, prophesy, and strike your hands together. The third time let the sword do double damage. It is the sword that slays, the sword that slays the great men, that enters their private chambers. German imperialism led to both the first and second World Wars. The coming World War III will be far more devastating than either World Wars I and II. And again for the third time, world war will be triggered off by the German people. History often has a habit of repeating itself (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Asshurs jealousy towards his brother Arphaxads descendants (Genesis 10:22) will one final time spill over into war. Isaiah 10:7 says the following about Assyria [Germany] at this time: Yet he does not mean so, nor does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and cut off not a few nations. The good news for the German people is that after Jesus Christ returns God will tame this aggressive tendency in the German nature when they are converted and receive Gods spirit and they will fully realize their great potential for good. In Isaiah 19:2425 we read: In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyriaa blessing in the midst of the land, whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.

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The Time of Jacobs Trouble What does the future hold for the nations descended from Israel America, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Jews and the nations of NW Europe? In Deuteronomy 4:25-31 we read: When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the LORD your God to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you. And there you will serve gods, the work of mens hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice (for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them. Notice the time frame for when they will turn to God in true repentance the latter days. It will be in the end-time at the end of mans rule and the beginning of Gods rule when Jesus Christ returns. Only when they are humbled to the point of repenting of their sins will they be able to fulfill their God-ordained destiny of being a model nation to the other nations of the world. This wonderful future, however, will be preceded by the severest of trials. As Moses delivered the ancient Israelites from Egyptian slavery, Jesus Christ is coming to deliver modern Britain and America and the other Israelite-descended nations from an endof-the-age captivity by a modern religious and political system called Babylon the great (Revelation 17), centered in Europe. Jeremiah wrote of a time of national trouble that is yet ahead for the modern descendants of the lost 10 tribes of Israel. He speaks of a national captivity for both the House of Israel (the lost 10 tribes from whom America, Britain and NW Europe descend) and the House of Judah (the Jews). When Jeremiah wrote these words the House of Israel (the lost 10 tribes) had already been deported to the land of Assyria 100 years earlier yet God speaks of another captivity to come at the time that Christ returns. Notice their condition when Christ returns: For behold, the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel AND Judah...And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers,

and they shall possess itWe have a heard a voice of trembling, of fear and not of peace. Ask now and see whether a man is ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor and all faces turned pale? Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day,' says the LORD of hosts, 'that I will break his yoke from your neck, and will burst your bonds; foreigners shall no more enslave them. But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king whom I shall raise up for them. Therefore do not fear, O my servant Jacob says the Lord, Nor be dismayed, O Israel. For behold I will save you from afar and your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet and no one shall make him afraid (Jeremiah 30:3-10). Notice the time of Jacobs trouble is so great that none is like it! Daniel writes that leading up to the time of the resurrection of the saints at Christ return that there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that time (Daniel 12:1-3). In Matthew 24:21-22 Jesus Christ said the following about the time right before He would return to earth: For then there shall be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved; but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Jeremiah says that the yoke and bonds that enslave the descendants of Jacob are placed on them by foreigners enemy nations. It is out of this foreign domination and enslavement that Christ will deliver them at His second coming. This will be the time when King David and Christ's 12 apostles - along with all the rest of God's saints - will be resurrected to begin ruling with Christ over a restored Israel in the Kingdom of God (Ezekiel 37:24; Matthew 19:28). What Triggers Off the Great Tribulation? In Daniel 11 is recorded the longest prophecy of the Bible. It covers nearly 2 500 years of history from late in Daniels life during the days of the Persian Empire through to the return of Jesus Christ (see the sidebar What is Prophesied for the Gentile Nations?). The identity of the King of the North begins with the Greek general Seleucid and his descendants and changes to Rome as the Greek Empire is conquered by Rome. In the end-time the King of the North becomes the end-time revival of the Roman Empire (see the sidebar The Coming Beast Power).

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The identity of the King of the South begins with the Greek general Ptolemy who ruled Egypt along with his descendants (the last being the famous Greek ruler Cleopatra). In the endtime the King of the South appears to be an alliance of Arab nations. The Bible tells us that the trigger that starts the Great Tribulation will be a European invasion of the Middle East (Daniel 11:40-12:13) that includes the modern state of Israel and a number of her Arab neighbors.

see sorrow. Therefore her plagues will come in one daydeath and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her. In Isaiah 47:5-9 we read a parallel account of this prophecy: Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter [end-time successor] of the Chaldeans [Babylon] for you shall no longer be called the Lady of Kingdoms. I was angry with My people. I have profaned My inheritance, and given them into your hand. You showed them no mercy; on the elderly you laid your yoke very heavily. And you said, I shall be a lady forever, so that you did not take these things to heart, nor remember the latter end of them. Therefore hear this now, you who are given to pleasures, who dwell securely, who say in your heart, I am, and there is no one else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know the loss of children. But these two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day: the loss of children, and widowhood. They shall come upon you in their fullness. In Isaiah 10 we read: Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger and the staff in whose hand is My indignation. I will send him against an ungodly nation, and against the people of My wrath. I will give him charge, to seize the spoil, to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Yet he does not mean so, Nor does his heart think so; But it is in his heart to destroy, and cut off not a few nations. For he says, Are not my princes altogether kings? Therefore it shall come to pass, when the LORD has performed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that He will say, I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks. For he says: By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent; also I have removed the boundaries of the people, and have robbed their treasuries; so I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man (Isaiah 10:5-8, 12-13). Verse 20 gives us the time frame of this captivity of Israel showing it is at the time of the Great Tribulation. And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, will never again depend on him who defeated them, but will depend on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. In the next chapter, Isaiah 11, we read of the millennial prophecies about the wolf dwelling with the lamb and the

Why will Europe feel compelled to intervene in the Middle East? Prophecy is silent as to Europes motives. Some possibilities might include a sudden cut-off of vital oil supplies or it might be triggered off by some sort of jihad or 'holy war' proclaimed against the West by Muslim fundamentalists. Perhaps European forces will intervene in the Middle East under the pretext of 'peacekeeping' in an attempt to end escalating regional hostilities before they spiral out of control. Whatever the provocation, prophecy reveals that Europe will act swiftly to protect its interests sending troops into the Middle East in a lightning quick attack. One would suspect that America and Britain would probably stand up to Europe for such an action, especially America who have been staunch allies of the state of Israel. Whatever transpires following the Middle East invasion will lead to this power-hungry United Europe launching a major assault on the modern nations descended from Israel. The result will be that the war against America and Britain will wipe out a third of its people, another third will die of famine and disease and another third will be deported as slaves. (Ezekiel 5:1-4, 12). Who Will Conquer America and Britain? What proof is there that it will be the coming United Europe led by Germany [Assyria] that will defeat America and Britain? In Revelation 18:7-8 we read the following about this Beast power, which is also called Babylon in this chapter because politically and economically it is a continuation of the Babylonian system started at the Tower of Babel: In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not

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knowledge of the Lord covering the earth as the waters cover the sea and following straight on from that we read: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth (verses 11-12). We see here the first place on this list of countries that the modern Israelites will return from at Christs return is Assyria. In Hosea 5:13 to 6:2 we read: "When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound. For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him. I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he has torn, and he will heal us; he has stricken, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." God here is going to tear at or punish Ephraim and Judah who get no help when they seek it from Assyria. The implication from this passage is that their punishment is going to be at the hands of Assyria and indeed Hosea 11:5 says just this: "He shall not return into the land of Egypt, and the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return." Hosea 6:2 shows that this is an end-time prophecy: "After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." Using the day for a year principle of prophecy (Ezekiel 4:6) we see that after three years of the Great Tribulation Israel will be restored by God when Christ returns. In Zechariah 10:9-11 we read: I will sow them among the peoples and they shall remember me in far countriesI will also bring them back from Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon until no more room is found for them...All the depths of the River shall dry up. Then the pride of the Assyrian shall be brought down. This parallels with Isaiah 11:11-12 when the Nile shall be dried up for the returning Israelites at Christs return. Egypt is conquered by the King of the North (Daniel 11:42) and so it is a vassal of the real power that has conquered modern Israel the Assyrians the coming German-led United Europe.

Many of the prophecies about Israel are dual in nature. History often has a habit of repeating itself (Ecclesiastes 1:9) because human nature is basically the same in all ages. We learn much about the latter and greater fulfillment of prophecies by understanding more about the first and smaller fulfillment of those same prophecies. Indeed, some of the above prophecies were partially fulfilled in type when the House of Israel went into captivity at the hands of the Assyrians around 721 BC. Their final and complete fulfillment will occur in the endtime leading up to the return of Jesus Christ. With this principle of duality in mind, the blessings and cursings chapter of Deuteronomy 28 has this to say about Israels captivity if they rejected God: Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you. The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies [Both ancient Assyria and modern Germany use the eagle as a symbol for their nation], a nation whose language you will not understand [Most modern Israelites do not know German], a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young. And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you. They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land; and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your land which the Lord your God has given you Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have knownwood and stone. And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life. In the morning you shall say, Oh, that it were evening! And at evening you shall say, Oh, that it were morning! because of the fear which terrifies your heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see. And the Lord will take

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you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, You shall never see it again. And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves. (verses 47-68). Revelation 18:11-13 shows the kind of goods that the Beast power will trade in. Verse 13 concludes with cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men. The Israelites who are taken captivity will be sold as slaves by the beast power. Isaiah 11:11-12 shows that the Israelites will be in many places around the world at the time Christ returns implying they will have been sold into many different countries. Much of Bible prophecy can be difficult to understand but there are keys to help us to understand it better. Most of the prophecies in the second half of the Old Testament (Isaiah to Malachi) are, for the most part, in random order. The best way to understand them and where they fit in is against the background of the two books that give us the chronological framework or skeleton that helps us to find out where the rest of the prophecies fit into the picture. Those two books are the book of Daniel in the Old Testament and the book of Revelation in the New Testament. The prophecies of these two books give us a sequential and orderly story flow of world history and prophecy ahead of us. The sidebars on what God has prophesied for the Gentile nations and who is the Beast cover some of those prophecies giving a framework to better understand the prophecies which are not in a sequential order. With that background lets now look at what the prophets have to say about this coming captivity in a little more detail starting with the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah on Modern Israels Captivity Much of the book of Isaiah is dual covering the fate of Israel soon after Isaiah prophesied, as well as the fate of end-time Israel leading up to the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth. Isaiah 1 speaks of the sinful condition of Israel and a call to repentance from God. Isaiah 2 describes the Kingdom of God being established on earth as well as the fear that will exist on earth during the Day of the Lord which precedes it. Chapter 3 to 5 covers more about the sinful state of Israel. In Isaiah 6 we read: Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered: Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, the houses are without a man, the land is utterly desolate, the Lord has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. But yet a tenth will be in it, and will return and be for consuming, as a terebinth tree or as an oak, whose stump remains when it is cut down. So the

holy seed shall be its stump (verses 11-13). We see here that Israels cities will be laid waste without inhabitant yet there will be a tenth left amongst those taken away that shall return. Amos 5:1-3 records a similar prophecy: For thus says the Lord God: The city that goes out by a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which goes out by a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel. These verses indicate that the modern day nations of Israel will be decimated during the Great Tribulation. Later in the same chapter of Amos the prophet says: Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness, and not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him! Or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him! Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it? (verses 18-20). Isaiah 7 through to Isaiah 10 speak of God stirring up the king of Assyria to punish Israel and intersperses those chapters with prophecies about the birth of the Messiah and his future reign. Much of these chapters are dual and were fulfilled in type when the House of Israel went into captivity at the hands of the Assyrians around 721 BC. Their final and complete fulfillment will occur in the endtime leading up to the return of Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 9:14 we read: Therefore the Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel, palm branch and bulrush in one day. God speaks here of a complete destruction of Israel in one day. Perhaps this is a possible reference to a surprise nuclear attack. While nuclear force maybe used in a conquest of America the beast power would not use nuclear weapons against Britain due to its proximity to Europe and would resort to the biggest non-nuclear bombs.

Given the military superiority of the United States and Germany's historical pattern of launching blitzkrieg or surprise lightning war this would be the most likely scenario. Even today the French have nuclear submarines that have over a dozen SLBM's (Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles), each of which contain 10 nuclear warheads. These submarines have a grand total of over 150 warheads capable of destroying that many target cities in a very short space of time.

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In Isaiah 9:19-20 God speaks of cannibalism after Israels land is burned up and there is no food to eat: Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is burned up, and the people shall be as fuel for the fire. No man shall spare his brother. And he shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry; He shall devour on the left hand and not be satisfied; Every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm. Isaiah 10:5 speaks of Assyria being the rod of Gods anger whom He will send against His people to punish them for their sins. Verse 6 mentions they will seize the spoil of Israel. They will become rich from what they are able to take after invading and conquering Britain and America. Verse 20 shows us that the time frame of the major fulfillment of the prophecy it is at the time of the Great Tribulation: And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as have escaped of the house of Jacob, will never again depend on him who defeated them, but will depend on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. Verses 12 and 24 to 27 speak of God punishing Assyria after He has allowed them to cruelly punish His people. Chapters 11 to 12 speak of the Kingdom of God being established on the earth and the return from captivity of modern day Israel to the land of Palestine. Chapters 13 and 14 shift from the punishment of Assyria to the punishment of Babylon. In the ancient fulfillments of these prophecies Assyria conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 BC and was itself conquered by Babylon in 612 BC when the city of Nineveh fell. Babylon conquered the southern kingdom of Judah (the Jews) in 585 BC but it, too, was defeated when the Medo-Persian empire in 539 BC conquered the city of Babylon. In the end-time the Beast power is referred to as both Assyria and Babylon because the United European power that will be a final revival of the Roman Empire will be composed of the ethnic peoples who descend from both the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian empires. Typologically, the defeat of Babylon at the hands of the Medes (Isaiah 13:17) did occur in 539 BC when the Medo-Persian empire conquered the city of Babylon but it also has an endtime fulfillment when a Russian-Asiatic alliance, including the modern descendants of the Medes, will defeat the beast power. Verses 10-13 speak of the same heavenly signs that occur at the sixth seal mentioned in Revelation 6:12 and speak of God punishing the whole world for its iniquity. In Isaiah 14 we read: It shall come to pass in the day the Lord gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve, that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: How the oppressor has ceased, the golden city ceased! The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers; He who

struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he who ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted and no one hinders. Isaiah speaks here of a continual stroke of punishment when Israel is in captivity but God promises to restore Israel and punish Babylon and the evil spirit who is behind its power - Satan the devil (verses 12-14). The remaining chapters of Isaiah go on to speak of Gods punishment against specific nations such as Moab, Syria, Ethiopia and Egypt along with the ancient city of Tyre. They also focus on the restoration of Israel after the return of Jesus Christ. Ezekiel on Modern Israels Captivity The prophet Ezekiel, when he received Gods message and wrote it down, was in captivity in the land of Babylon (Ezekiel 1:1-2) after the Babylonians had conquered the kingdom of Judah. Yet the message God gave Ezekiel to deliver was meant for the House of Israel (Ezekiel 3:1, 4-7). The northern kingdom, the House of Israel, had been deported to Assyria over 100 years earlier and became known as the lost ten tribes. His message of another captivity of the House of Israel was for the far future the time immediately preceding the return of Jesus Christ as many verses show. The first three chapters give a vision of Gods glory and deal with Ezekiels calling to be a prophet to the House of Israel. In chapter 4 Ezekiel is instructed to make a model of Jerusalem and lay siege to it. The purpose of this model was to be a sign to the house of Israel. Verses 5 and 6 show that there is a clear distinction between the House of Israel and the House of Judah. When God says Ezekiel is to be a watchman to the House of Israel He is not referring to the House of Judah from whom the Jews descend. In Ezekiel 5 God speaks of a future invasion and captivity of the House of Israel. One third will be killed with war, one third with famine and pestilence and one third will go into captivity. God will be furious with the modern nations descended from Israel as He sends them into captivity at the hands of the coming beast power. Israel will be a reproach among the nations. And you, son of man, take a sharp sword, take it as a barbers razor, and pass it over your head and your beard; then take scales to weigh and divide the hair. You shall burn with fire one-third in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are finished; then you shall take one-third and strike around it with the sword, and one-third you shall scatter in the wind: I will draw out a sword after them. You shall also take a small number of them and bind them in the edge of your garment. Then take some of them again

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and throw them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will go out into all the house of Israel Therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you; My eye will not spare, nor will I have any pity. One-third of you shall die of the pestilence, and be consumed with famine in your midst; and one-third shall fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter another third to all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. Thus shall My anger be spent, and I will cause My fury to rest upon them, and I will be avenged; and they shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it in My zeal, when I have spent My fury upon them. Moreover I will make you a waste and a reproach among the nations that are all around you, in the sight of all who pass by. So it shall be a reproach, a taunt, a lesson, and an astonishment to the nations that are all around you, when I execute judgments among you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken. When I send against them the terrible arrows of famine which shall be for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, I will increase the famine upon you and cut off your supply of bread. So I will send against you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken. (verses 5:1-3, 11-17). Ezekiel 6 speaks of ALL of modern Israels cities being laid waste. This didnt happen when Israel went into captivity because the cities werent laid waste. Assyria conquered them and put their own people to live in the cities after deporting Israel.

In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, so that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, your idols may be broken and made to cease, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. The slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord. Yet I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries. Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations where they are carried captive, because I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols; they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations. (verses 1-9) Ezekiel 6:11 clearly shows that the destruction that God is speaking of in chapters 5 and 6 is to happen to the House of Israel, NOT the House of Judah at the hands of ancient Babylon. Thus says the Lord God: Pound your fists and stamp your feet and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL! For they shall fall by the sword, by famine and by pestilence. This is not a dual prophecy! The House of Israel was conquered and deported to Assyria over 100 years earlier. This is a yet future destruction to fall on the modern nations descended from Israel! In Ezekiel 7 we read these words about this coming captivity: They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be like refuse; their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord. They will not satisfy their souls, nor fill their stomachs...Therefore I will bring the worst of the Gentiles, and they will possess their houses; I will cause the pomp of the strong to cease, and their holy places shall be defiled. Destruction comes; they will seek peace, but there shall be none. Disaster will come upon disaster, and rumor will be upon rumor. Then they will seek a vision from a prophet; but the law will perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders (verses 19, 24-26). At this time they will cry out for a true prophet or minister from God but it will be too late. This will be the time spoken of by Amos when he prophesied that there would be a famine of the word (Amos 8:11). After a series of visions in chapters 8 to 10 we read in chapter 11: Therefore say, Thus says the Lord God: Although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone. Therefore say, Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give

Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, and say, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to the mountains, to the hills, to the ravines, and to the valleys: Indeed I, even I, will bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. Then your altars shall be desolate, your incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. And I will lay the corpses of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones all around your altars.

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you the land of Israel...Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. In Ezekiel 12:15-16 God says: Then they shall know that I am the Lord, when I scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. But I will spare a few of their men from the sword, from famine, and from pestilence, that they may declare all their abominations among the Gentiles wherever they go. Then they shall know that I am the Lord. At the end of the chapter is Gods rebuke to the scoffers who say that this will not happen, yet God says it will (verses 23-25). Chapter 13 is Gods rebuke to the false ministers who promise peace and dont warn Israel of their sins. In chapters 14 to 24 God describes the sins and unfaithfulness of both the House of Israel and the House of Judah. In chapter 22 God outlines some of the reasons why He will send them into captivity: You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths...One commits abomination with his neighbors wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; and another in you violates his sister, his fathers daughter...Behold, therefore, I beat My fists at the dishonest profit which you have made, and at the bloodshed which has been in your midst...I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you throughout the countries, and remove your filthiness completely from you (verses 8, 11, 13 ,15). In chapters 25-32 God prophesies against a number of other nations who have come in contact with Israel. Before God does anything like this He always warns the people through faithful ministers who are to warn the people (Amos 3:7-8). God wants to save as many as possible from this destruction that is necessary so long as a people rebel against His way of life. Gods true ministers are held responsible by God to deliver this warning so as many individuals as possible will turn back to God and be saved from this destruction to come. If they fail to warn and stand between the living and the dead (Numbers 16:48) they will also suffer with the rest of the nations. To his true ministers God says in Ezekiel 33:2-9: Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life.

But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchmans hand. So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die! and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. In chapter 34 God prophesies against the shepherds (false ministers) who feed themselves and preach what the people want to hear for gain instead of preaching Gods words. God promises to be a good shepherd to Israel and provide for them when a humbled and repentant Israel returns from this future captivity. In chapter 35 God prophesies against Mt Seir [Edom] who today are the Palestinian Arabs. In chapter 36 God speaks of the modern nations of Israel returning from captivity after their punishment from sin. They will have been broken and humbled and will truly begin to obey God. Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds; to Me their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity. Therefore I poured out My fury on them for the blood they had shed on the land, and for their idols with which they had defiled it. So I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries; I judged them according to their ways and their deeds. When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy namewhen they said of them, These are the people of the Lord, and yet they have gone out of His land. But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went. Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy names sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse

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you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. Not for your sake do I do this, says the Lord God, let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel! (Ezekiel 36:16-32). In chapter 37 we read of the reunion of the House of Israel and the House of Judah when they return from captivity (verses 1523) and when God shall raise David to be their king (verse 24). At first, God will leave the Gentile nations alone while He prepares Israel in the wilderness and then establishes them in the Holy Land. In chapters 38 and 39 after the returning Israelites are settled back in Palestine a great Asiatic alliance led by Gog and Magog try and conquer Israel at the beginning of the millennium but to no avail. God will defeat these Gentile nations on behalf of the repentant Israelites who have come back from captivity to the land of Palestine. The remaining chapters in the book of Ezekiel speak of the millennial Temple of God which will, no doubt, be more glorious than the Temple that stood in the days of King Solomon. The Fate of Australia and New Zealand As nations like Australia and New Zealand are also descendants of the House of Israel and have shared in the sins of the rest of the Israelite nations they will, in all likelihood, share the same fate of captivity like America and Britain will. If so, will they be conquered by Europe or by some other power? In World War II it was Japan, allied with Germany, who were the threat to Australia. Will history repeat itself? Are there any possible indications from the Bible of what might happen to them? In Isaiah 60:9 we read of an event to occur soon after Christ's return: Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me; and the ships of Tarshish will come first, to bring your sons from afar. Israelite slaves will come back from Tarshish. The western branch of Tarshish is Spain. There was also an eastern branch of Tarshish who became the Japanese people (In Search ofThe Origin of Nations, C.M.White, p.163-173). Isaiah 11:11 speaks of Israelite slaves returning from Cush. There were also two branches of Cush. One became the

Ethiopian people and the eastern branch of Cush became the Indian people. Craig M. White makes these comments about Cush: The prophet Isaiah also proclaims scattered Israelites from 'beyond the rivers of Cush' (Zephaniah 3:10) will be liberated after a period of captivity. Here the Aramaic renders Cush as 'Hodu' which means India in the Hebrew (Australia the Fair, Australia the Condemned, p.3). In the past both Japan and Indonesia have cast longing eyes on the continent of Australia and there would be nothing to stop either of them from invading Australia and New Zealand when they no longer have the protection of the United States. These are only possibilities. Only time will tell who God will use to punish the Israelite nations of Australia and New Zealand. The Minor Prophets on Modern Israels Captivity Joels prophecies are clearly for the end time, the day of the LORD (Joel 1:15), although it does carry a secondary relevance for the days when ancient Israel and Judah would be overthrown by Assyria and Babylon. Joel pictures the inhabitants of the land as being concerned only with eating and drinking (v. 5), and so it will be that the fields will be wasted, and the wine will be dried up (v. 10-12). The invading army in chapter 2 is represented as a huge locust swarm - extremely loud, climbing walls, entering through gaps, darkening the sky and utterly devastating everything in its path. In Joel 3:1-3 we read the following: For behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; they have also divided up My land. They have cast lots for My people. Joel here indicates that the birthright lands of North America and Australia, along with Palestine, will probably be divided up amongst Israel's enemies. God also promises that he will bring His people back from captivity after they have been humbled and turn back to Him. The prophet Zechariah speaks of Israel being sold and scattered to all parts of the globe after they have been taken captive. God will bring them back to Palestine when Christ returns. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will save My people from the land of the east And from the land of the west; I will bring them back, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. They shall be My people and I will be their God, in truth and righteousness (Zechariah 8:7-8).

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The Day Of The Lord

The horrifying world war that will climax in the return of Jesus Christ is referred to as the Great Tribulation in the Bible. It will be 3 years in length (Revelation 12:6). This will primarily be the time of Satan's wrath stirring the nations up to do battle knowing his time left before his banishment is very short (Revelation 12:12). The last year of this 3 year period will be a time of God's wrath on mankind when he corrects the nations in order to bring them to repentance. The heavenly signs of the sixth seal will herald the beginning of this time followed by the seventh seal which opens up the seven trumpet plagues. Isaiah 34:8 says, For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, the YEAR of recompense in the controversy of Zion." Using the day for a year prophetic principle (Ezekiel 4:4-6) we understand that the Day of the Lord will last approximately one year in length. Blockbuster movies such as Deep Impact and Armageddon have made popular the concept of cosmic catastrophism - the belief that heavenly objects such as meteors, asteroids and comets could hit our planet and the devastating impact that they might have on planet earth. Certain verses in the Book of Revelation give the impression that God may use a similar method to punish the nations during the Day of the Lord such as two verses in Revelation 8 which talk about a great star from heaven and a great mountain burning with fire hitting the earth. Leading into the Day of the Lord is the sixth seal which we read of in Revelation 6: I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs, when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island was moved out of its place" (verses 12-14). The stars of heaven falling to the earth appear to be a reference to a great meteor shower. The sun and moon become dark (possibly from some cosmic dust) and these events are accompanied by an enormous earthquake such that islands and mountains are moved out of their place. The last plague at the very end of the Day of the Lord is identical to the sixth seal - a worldwide earthquake such that every mountain and island is moved out of its place accompanied by a great shower of hailstones (Revelation 16:17-21). Might those hailstones also be meteorites? In light of these two similar plagues, what could cause seismic stress on such an incredible worldwide scale that mountains and islands are moved out of their place? Whatever causes it, it appears to happen twice - once at the beginning of the Day of the Lord and another time at the end of the Day of the Lord. Following on the heels of the sixth seal are the first four trumpet plagues. The first trumpet describes hail mingled with fire and blood hitting the earth and causing fires which destroy a third of the earth's vegetation (Revelation 8:7). Hail mingled with fire appears to be a reference to a great meteor shower. Hall mingled with fire was also one of the ten plagues which fell on Egypt. The Book of Revelation describes quite a number of plagues that are similar to those which fell on Egypt - waters turning to blood, plagues of darkness and boils appearing on man and beast. The second and third trumpet plagues describe two much larger objects hitting the earth. One is described as "a great mountain burning with fire" which hits one of the oceans causing destruction to a third of the ships and a third of the creatures in the sea. Such destruction would probably be caused by a massive tsunami like that seen in the movie Deep Impact.

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Revelation 8:8 says that it also causes a third of the sea to become blood. This object appears to have a reddish cosmic dust that comes off it to cause the sea to take on the appearance of blood. Perhaps this might be a rusty red iron dust like that found on Mars. This kind of red dust may be why the first trumpet plague is referred to as hail mingled with fire and blood and why the moon takes on the appearance of blood at the time of the sixth seal. The third trumpet plague describes "a great star from heaven hitting the earth poisoning a third of the rivers (Revelation 8:1011). The fourth plague is a plague of darkness so that a third part of the sun, moon and stars' light does not shine (Revelation 8:12). The fifth and sixth trumpet plagues describe two massive war offensives. The first one appears to be a bio-chemical assault on Russia and Asia by the Beast power which lasts for 5 months (Revelation 9:1-11, Daniel 11:44). The second is a massive counterattack by the Asiatics that sweeps across and destroys most of Europe with an army of 200 million (Revelation. 9:13-19, 18:1-8). The first four trumpet plagues follow the massive earthquake and meteor shower of the sixth seal. The plagues released by the seventh trumpet, on the other hand, don't follow, but instead lead up to the climaxing worldwide earthquake and possible meteor shower of the last of the seven last plagues. Could this, hypothetically, be a comet coming from one direction and then coming back the other way with the effects of its tail in reverse order due to the fact that the tail of comets always point away from the Sun? Only time will tell how God brings these terrifying events to pass. The last seven plagues which are released by the seventh trumpet (Revelation 16) are described as boils appearing on man and beast, seas again becoming as blood, rivers becoming as blood, men being scorched by the heat of the sun, great darkness, the Euphrates River being dried up to allow the eastern armies to cross on their way to Armageddon and finally climaxing in an almighty worldwide earthquake at which time Jesus Christ will return in power and glory to usher in the Kingdom of God on earth. If the seas and rivers becoming like blood at the end of the Day of the Lord are due to red meteor or cometary dust it may also play a part in the darkness plagues and the boils which affect man and beast. However these events are brought upon the earth by God they will be terrifying events. Coupled with the horrific world war that will come upon the whole world these heavenly plagues will ensure that this will be the greatest period of trouble "since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be" (Matthew 24:21). Thankfully God will cut it short and send Jesus Christ to finally bring peace and happiness to this world which so desperately needs it!

Zechariah also speaks of two thirds of Israel dying of war, famine and pestilence. The other third will be tried through the fire of captivity to humble them and they will repent in their captivity. And it shall come to pass in all the land, says the Lord, That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one- third shall be left in it. I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, This is My people; And each one will say, The Lord is my God (Zechariah 13:8-9). In Zechariah 14 we read of the city of Jerusalem being taken captive by the beast power at the beginning of the Great Tribulation: Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go

into captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city (verses 1-2). Currently the old city is fully controlled by Israel yet Zechariah says only half of the city will be taken captive. Europe and the Vatican are much more sympathetic to the cause of the Palestinians, who want complete control of part of Palestine, than they are to Israel's cause. Europe is mainly interested in the Christian and Armenian quarters and may give control of the Arab and Jewish quarters over to the Palestinians if they don't win it through negotiation before the Great Tribulation. In Daniel 12:11 we read: And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Since the Great Tribulation is to last 3 years (Daniel 12:7-13, Revelation 11:2-3, 12:6, 14) it appears as if the abomination of desolation by the coming

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United Europe, will occur 1290 days (43 months) before the return of Jesus Christ. For the daily sacrifices to be taken away they have to be started again. It appears, then, that some form of Temple worship will first be reinstituted by the Jews. A good case could be put forth that there will actually be another Temple in Jerusalem because the Apostle Paul says that the 'man of sin', the false religious leader who will work hand-in-hand with the leader of the Beast power will enthrone himself as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God (2 Thessalonians 2:4). In Revelation 11:1-3 we read: Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. In Daniel 12:7 we read: Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished. Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles and the power of the holy people (Israel) will be shattered for a time, times and half a time before Jesus Christ returns. A time is a year, times refers to two years and half a time refers to half a year. In total that is 3 years, which according to Revelation 11:3, is equivalent to 42 months and to 1260 days according to Revelation 12:6-14. [The 1335 days (44 months) of Daniel 12:12 may be the time between when the church flees to the place of safety in Revelation 12:6-17 and Christs return.] We see that the abomination of desolation occurs 1290 days before Jesus Christ returns (mysteriously a month before the European invasion) and then a month later (1260 days before Christ's return) Europe invades the Middle East and conquers Israel and many Arab countries. In Hosea 5:5-7: The pride of Israel testifies to his face; therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; Judah also stumbles with themThey have dealt treacherously with the LORD, for they have begotten pagan children. Now a New Moon shall devour them [Israel AND Judah] and their heritage. Never did Israel AND Judah fall together, within the space of one month (a New Moon) so America and Britain may be conquered a month after the Jews and the Middle East invasion. The leader of this United Europe and the 'false prophet' will have established themselves in Jerusalem, which they will have surrounded and occupied at the outset of the Great Tribulation. They will, by the time of the invasion from the East, have large

military forces in the Middle East. A showdown will occur in the Middle East between the European and Asian nations. They will meet at Megiddo or Armageddon in northern Israel (Revelation 16:12-16). At this time they will unite and proceed to Jerusalem to fight Christ and His heavenly army. Then the Lord will go forth And fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south. Then you shall flee through My mountain valley, for the mountain valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah (Zechariah 14:1-5).

This will happen at the time of the massive earthquake that will be the last of the seven last plagues (Revelation 16:1821). The earthquake that occurred in Uzziahs time, that was a type of this, was quite incredible. Josephus tells us the following about the earthquake of Uzziahs day: before the city, at a place called Eroge, half the mountain broke off from the rest on the west, and rolled itself [toward the west] four furlongs [880 yards or half a mile]." (Josephus, Book IX, Chapter X). When Christ returns to the Mount of Olives the mount will split in two in a similar way. It shall come to pass in that day, that there will be no light, the lights will diminish. It shall be one day which is known to the LORD, neither day, nor night: but at evening time it shall happen that it shall be light. And in that day, it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea: in both summer and in winter it shall occur. And the LORD shall be king over all the earth (Zechariah 14:6-9). At this time God will break the yoke of captivity from the neck of those nations descended from Israel and there shall be a great exodus and a great restoration of the nations of Israel when Christ sets up the Kingdom of God on earth.

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Chapter Four: Israels Restoration in the Kingdom of God

After Jesus Christ's return to establish the Kingdom of God on earth the survivors of the tribes of Israel will experience even greater honor than they've previously known when God restores them and they truly will fulfill their destiny as a model nation to the rest of the world. First of all, God promises a major regathering of both Israel and Judah back to the land of Palestine. "It shall come to pass in that day that the LORD shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left...He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (Isaiah 11:11-12). There are quite a number of prophecies written about this incredible event which highlight some fascinating parallels with the first exodus that occurred in the days of Moses. This wonderful event will be preceded by the severest of trials, the captivity of the modern day nations descended from ancient Israel and Judah. A part of the commission to the end-time church is warning those Israelite nations of their coming captivity (Ezekiel 33:1-9). Just as Joseph was revealed to his brothers prior to the settling of Jacobs family in Egypt which was then followed by their slavery, the eyes of many in the English-speaking nations are being opened to their true identity as modern-day Joseph before the captivity of end-time Israel. The prophecies show that one third of modern-day Israel will be taken captive to various nations during the Tribulation after their invasion by the coming beast power. As brought out in our booklet Gods Holy Day Plan the seven Holy Days that God gave to Israel in Leviticus 23 highlight much about Gods plan of salvation for all of mankind. Passover represents the passing over of our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ. The Feast of Unleavened Bread pictures the christian coming out of the captivity of sin. Pentecost pictures the giving of Gods Holy Spirit which helps us to overcome sin. There are often multiple layers of understanding in many of the things that God has given us. Along with those primary meanings for those Holy Days there are some interesting parallels between those festivals and end-time events. For the ancient Israelites Passover pictured when God passed over their houses and they were saved from the plagues of Egypt, having being "sealed" by the blood on the lintel and doorposts of their homes. End-time Israel will also be in captivity during the Great Tribulation. Those Israelites who repent in that captivity will be sealed at the seventh trumpet (Revelation 7) so they will be spared from the plagues that will come upon their captors, the beast power based in Europe. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was celebrated as the time when Israel came out of captivity when they were led out of Egypt. End-time Israel will also be freed from captivity by the beast power and there will be an Exodus greater than the original exodus of Moses' day. Pentecost was celebrated as the time when Israel received the law at Mt Sinai. After Christs return to earth God's spirit will finally be poured out on all flesh which Peter spoke about on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-21). The law will then go out from Zion to the whole world through Israel which will fulfill its destiny as a model nation to the rest of the world.
The Coming Great Exodus

In Amos 5:3 God says: For thus says the Lord God: The city that goes out by a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which goes out by a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel. A similar thing is mentioned in Isaiah 6:13. This indicates that the population of our Israelite nations will be decimated by the end of the Great Tribulation to where only a tenth will survive into the millennium. If we combine the peoples of America, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, NW Europe and the Jews in Palestine there would be around 400 million people. A tenth of that would leave us with around 40 million people. That number is well over ten times the number of Israelites who came out of Egypt in the days of Moses when they numbered around two to three million people. Despite the terrible loss of Israelites during the tribulation the coming exodus will be enormous and, not only that, they will come from all corners of the earth rather than just out of one country.

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We read of this great exodus in Jeremiah 23:7-8. So great will this exodus be that Jeremiah writes of this wonderful time: "Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that they shall no longer say, As the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, but, As the LORD lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them. And they shall dwell in their own land". This is also spoken of in Jeremiah 16:14-16.

they did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them; He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out."
Israel Prepared in the Wilderness

The Israelites in Moses day did not go straight into the Promised Land. They wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. In Ezekiel 20 we find that before entering Palestine God will first bring Israel into the wilderness and prepare them for entry into the Holy Land. Israel has wanted to be like the Gentiles but God will say to them, No, you will yield and be the nation of kings and priests like Ive always wanted you to be. God also says that He will purge out the rebels from Israel. Just as there was the rebellion of Korah during the first exodus there will be rebels this time around who God will purge from Israel. Ezekiel writes: What you have in your mind shall never be when you say, We will be like the Gentiles, like the families in other countries, serving wood and stone. As I live, says the Lord GOD, Surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over you. I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face. Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you, says the Lord GOD. I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; I will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD (Ezekiel 20:32-38).
God Makes a New Covenant with Israel

When God brings back Israel a second time they will come from many directions including Europe and North Africa. Just as God parted the Red Sea for Israel during the first exodus God says that He will part the waters of the Nile for those coming from North Africa as they make their way to Palestine. We read about this in Isaiah 11:11-16, "It shall come to pass in that day that the LORD shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left, from Assyria [Germany] and Egypt, from Pathros and Cush [Ethiopia], from Elam [Eastern Europe] and Shinar [Iraq], from Hamath and the islands of the sea The LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; with His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River, and strike it in the seven streams, and make men cross over dry-shod. There will be a highway for the remnant of His people who will be left from Assyria, as it was for Israel in the day that he came up from the land of Egypt. When Israel thirsted for water on their way to the Promised Land in Moses day God made water come out of the rock for them at Horeb. When God brings Israel out of modern Babylon He will also provide water for the Israelites in this greater exodus to come. In Isaiah 48:20-21 we read of this future miraculous provision from God: "Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With a voice of singing, declare, proclaim this, utter it to the end of the earth; say, The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob! And

At Mt Sinai God proposed the old covenant to ancient Israel. When God brings modern Israel into the wilderness for a time before they move into the Holy Land He will propose to them the new covenant which they will agree to. This time around Israel God will give them the Holy Spirit and they will have the heart to be able to live God's way and keep the terms of the new covenant which will be a great joy to God after the unfaithfulness of ancient Israel. This we read of Jeremiah 31:31-33: Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judahnot according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land

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of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor and none his brother saying, Know the Lord for all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them. The New Covenant is based on better promises (Hebrews 8:6), including the giving of the Holy Spirit to help us live by the spirit of the law and offering us eternal life in the very family of God! With the Old Covenant Jesus Christ was married to physical Israel. With the New Covenant He will not marry physical Israel, He will marry the church spiritual Israel. When physical Israel repents at Christ's return (Hebrews 8:8-12) they will be baptized into the church and become a part of spiritual Israel (Galatians 6:16). This preparation in the wilderness when Christ proposes the new covenant may last 3 years according to the 70 weeks prophecy of Daniel 9:26-27. Using the day for a year prophecy principle (Ezekiel 4:6) we see that the last week is 7 years. There were 483 years (69 prophetic weeks - 483 prophetic days) from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem after the Jews Babylonian captivity to the beginning of Christs ministry in late 26 AD. Christ preached about the new covenant (Matthew 26:28) during His ministry and was cut off in the middle of the week (3 years later) when crucified, so for Him to complete the confirming of the covenant for a week it seems likely that this may occur at the beginning of the millennium with the whole House of Israel. There does appear to be a dual application of the 70 weeks prophecy indicated by the frequent references to the abomination of desolation in the second half of each of verses 26 and 27 of Daniel 9 indicating that the beast power may make a covenant with the Jews in the state of Israel 3 years before the Great Tribulation begins and then break that covenant when it stops the sacrifices and invades the Holy Land. Hosea 2:14-20 speaks of God bringing Israel into the wilderness, courting Israel there and then marrying her prior to Israel entering the Holy Land. Therefore, behold, I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to herAnd it shall be in that day, says the Lord, That you will call me My Husband In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, to make them to lie down safely. And I will betroth you to me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, and justice,

in lovingkindness, and mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness: and you shall know the LORD. Another very interesting scripture about this time ahead of us is found in Isaiah 49:22. In that verse we read: They shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. After their terrible captivity there will be thousands of orphans who have lost parents. God is called the father of the fatherless in Psalm 68. Those who are christians and who are in the first resurrection at Christs return will be kings and queens (Revelation 5:10) under Christ, the King of kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16). Part of the job description of christians, who will be kings under Christ, will be foster fathers and nursing mothers who will look after these children and place them with parents who will take care of them.

At Jesus' return, God will resurrect King David, whom He called "a man after My own heart" (Acts 13:22), to reign over the reunited kingdom of Israel (Jeremiah 30:9). Along with many other faithful servants of God, he will be resurrected to eternal life (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:52). Also, as Jesus promised, the 12 apostles will rule over the individual tribes (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30).
Israel and Judah Reunited

In Ezekiel 37 we read that the kingdoms of Judah and Israel will be re-united as political entities. There will be a great reunion of the Jewish people with the English-speaking peoples and those of Northwest Europe (Ezekiel 37:16-28, Hosea 1:8-11).

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While this does not have a parallel with the first exodus out of Egypt it looks as if it has may have an interesting similarity with the British Empire. England is descended primarily from Josephs son, Ephraim, while the Scots are descended, in part, from the tribe of Judah. Queen Elizabeth I never married or had children. After her death the throne of England passed onto James Stuart, the king of Scotland. He then became James I, king of England, in 1603. From King James I for a century afterwards England and Scotland had separate parliaments and were still separate countries but they were ruled by the same monarch as a dynastic union. On May 1, 1707 the Act of Union was passed which united the two countries under one parliament to create The United Kingdom of Great Britain. The Scots had a profound impact on the British Empire as it began to grow soon after the union. This union of England and Scotland is similar to the greater reunion of the House of Israel and the House of Judah to occur after Christ returns. After Jesus Christs return when the Jews and continental Northwest Europeans are brought back to the land of Palestine they will at last recognize the people of America and Britain as their long lost brother Joseph. Just as the sons of Israel did almost 3,700 years ago, they will shout, "Joseph is alive!" with great tears of joy. What a wonderful family reunion that will be!
Future Prosperity

This time will also herald unprecedented peace. "He [Jesus the Messiah] shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken" (Micah 4:3-4). The prophets also reveal this will be a time of healing. Those who are lame will walk. Those with disease will be healed (Isaiah 35:5-6). As other nations see Israel's prosperity and relationship with God, they will inquire how they, too, can be blessed. They will soon learn that Israel's prosperity comes because of its obedience to God. Then the Gentile nations will seek to learn about the God of Israel. The nations will begin to learn God's ways with the help of a restored and obedient Israel. Jerusalem will become the world's center for religious education.
Israel Fulfils Her Destiny

After Israel enters the Holy Land they will finally fulfill their destiny (Exodus 19:4-6) and become a nation of kings and priests. The term priest in this verse means one who teaches Gods ways both by word and by example. Isaiah writes the following of Israel when she finally fulfills her destiny and becomes a nation of kings and priests: Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the foreigner shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But you shall be named the priests of the LORD. They shall call you the servants of our God. You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory you shall boast. Instead of your shame you shall have double honor; and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be theirs (Isaiah 61:5-7). Today the Jews and Americans are hated by many nations, particularly the Arab nations. This will all change in the millennium when all nations will praise them as they live by Gods way of life. They will truly be an outstanding example of righteousness for the Gentiles nations to follow as they submit to Jesus Christs rule over them. Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the posterity whom the LORD has blessed (Isaiah 61:9).

When the Israelites turn to God in repentance and obedience, God will again shower physical blessings on them. Their land will become abundantly productive. Describing this future prosperity Amos wrote: "'Behold, the days are coming,' says the LORD, 'When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed; the mountains shall drip with sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; they shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them,' says the LORD your God" (Amos 9:13-15).

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The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory (Isaiah 62:2).
The Gentiles Repent

The Gentiles nations will see how well they are blessed because they are following God and eagerly seek their guidance. Yes, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD. Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you (Zechariah 8:22-23). All nations will keep the Feast of Tabernacles and the other Holy Days of God (Zechariah 14:16). Isaiah also wrote of this future eagerness of the Gentile nations to follow Israels example and learn Gods ways. Many people shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3). The prophet Jeremiah also spoke of this time when the Gentile nations will come to repentance. O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come to you from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, worthlessness and unprofitable things. Will a man make gods for himself which are not gods? Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is the LORD (Jeremiah 16:19-21). The glory of the restored Israel will shine far greater than Israel's golden age under Solomon or that of any other nation or kingdom the world has ever seen. It will all come about because Christ will be the Head of the nation. Through its Creator Israel will gain fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth (Zephaniah 3:20). Israel will finally become the example God intended her to be.
Israels Branches to Spread Again

That phrase "his branches shall spread" is also used in Genesis 49:22 in describing the prophecy of Joseph in the latter days when the British Empire spread all over the earth at the time God began to give the fullness of the birthright blessings to Israel. Isaiah 49:20 says of Israel in the future that The children you will have after you have lost the others, will say again in your ears, The place is too small for me; Give me a place where I may dwell. Once Israel returns to Palestine after their captivity they will have a population explosion and begin to migrate around the world. This is a little similar to what happened around the time of the industrial revolution. Britain also had a population explosion around the time Britain lost her American colonies but expanded her empire even further than before. At first, God will leave the Gentile nations alone while He prepares Israel in the wilderness and then establishes them in the Holy Land. This will be part of the reason why Gog and Magog try and conquer Israel at the beginning of the millennium but to no avail. God will defeat these Gentile nations on behalf of the repentant Israelites who have come back from captivity to the land of Palestine (Ezekiel 38-39). Of Israel in the millennium God says: For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations (Isaiah 54:3). In Isaiah 14 God also says: For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will still choose Israel, and settle them in their own land. The strangers will be joined with them, and they will cling to the House of Jacob.

Isaiah prophesied that in the millennium that: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit (Isaiah 27:6). In Hosea 14:4-6 we read: "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for my anger has turned away from him. I will be as the dew to Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and lengthen his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall like an olive tree."

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Then people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them for servants and maids in the land of the LORD; they will take them captive whose captives they were, and rule over their oppressors (verses 1-2). Perhaps this is an indication that God will use Israel to go into other nations and assist the spirit-born members of Gods church in His gradual process of bringing the Gentile nations to repentance. Israel may assist in helping rebuild their cities, develop their civil infrastructure and teach them God's values, by example, as Gods government gradually expands its influence over the earth (Psalm 47). True spiritual Israelites are not limited to the physical descendants of Abraham but includes those of all nations and races who have become a part of the church through receiving Gods spirit (Romans 9:3-8, Galatians 6:16) and whose character lives up to the meaning of the name of Israel which means overcomer with God (Genesis 32:28). When God says then people [the Gentiles] shall take them [Israel], and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them for servants and maids in Isaiah 14:2, it hints at something that occurred in the days of the British Empire. Many African nations invited the British to come in and rule them so they could be protected from neighboring African tribes and other European imperial powers and became known as protectorates. The British, in turn, developed their agricultural system, civil infrastructure, roads and railways and gave their economies a wider market in which to trade their goods. The African protectorates in the Empire originally welcomed the British presence. After World War II this all changed with the rise of African nationalism which helped to rush the end of British rule quickly rather than wisely. In the wake of decolonization, many of the African nations that are a part of the Commonwealth are, sadly, worse off economically than they were before the British pulled out. Sadly, they have also become the prey of despots since gaining independence. In Gods kingdom God will finally bring true peace and prosperity to these developing nations. Isaiah 60 tells of how those Gentiles who will be ruled by Israel for a time will help build up the walls of Jerusalem. The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you: for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor I have had mercy on you. Therefore your gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day or night; that men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles, and their kings in procession.

For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish; And those nations shall be utterly ruinedAlso the sons of those who afflicted you shall come bowing to you; and all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call you, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel (verses 10-14).
Similarities with the British Empire

At the height of their empire many British thought that God would bring about the Kingdom of God on earth through the British Empire but this was simply not so as Britain was still very much a physical, carnal nation. Only when a people become truly converted and become a part of the church of God (spiritual Israel) will they be used in this process after Christ returns. Having said that, there are some interesting similarities between the British Empire and the Kingdom of God. In his book In Search ofThe Origin of Nations Craig M. White (p.413) presents the following similarities: The British extended the rule of law and order wherever they went, similar to how the law will go forth from Zion around the world in the Kingdom (Isaiah 2:1-4). The 19th century has been called the Pax Britannica the British Peace. Similarly Christ is called the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) because His reign will bring world peace. During the time of their empire the British developed technology and industry well ahead of the rest of the world. People came from around the world to admire British genius displayed at the Crystal Palace during Queen Victorias reign over the Empire. Similarly, nations will flow to Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:2-4) and be eager to learn from Gods chosen people. The British also took the Bible and many of its teachings and conservative morals throughout its empire. Queen Victoria herself said that the Bible is the secret to British greatness. In Gods coming Kingdom when Christ shall reign the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9). The British made their fair share of mistakes during the time of their empire and their motives, at times, were far from godly. They were still a physical, carnal people and could not achieve what only God will do through Jesus Christ when He returns to earth bring total peace and prosperity to a world which so badly needs it!

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Gods Purpose for Israel

What Will Your Response Be?

The main lesson of Israel is one of great failure to obey God and His way of life without God's Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 5:29, 31:20-21)! God gave ancient Israel everything. Yet they just could not keep His law. Under the new covenant, Israel will finally be given the spiritual power to actually obey God and His law and be the model nation that He purposed them to be! God's punishment will first come upon Israel and then on the Gentiles (Isaiah 10:5-12). After Christ returns, God will first work with physical Israel and offer them the chance to be spiritual Israelites and then, after they repent, God will open up salvation to the Gentile nations. Israel will become God's model nation and all nations will be blessed because of their example. After Israel fulfils its destiny as God's model nation in the Kingdom of God all nations will likewise repent and become God's chosen people (Revelation 17:14)! In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyriaa blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, 'Blessed is Egypt [Arabs] My people, and Assyria [Germany] the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance' (Isaiah 19:24-25). God truly has a wonderful plan to save all mankind and bring them into His family!

Winston Churchill, wisely observed that "Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it; ignorance may deride it; malice may distort it; but there it is!" He also said, "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened". Will you, like many, simply ignore what God has revealed for the future? God reveals to us what lies ahead for the United States, Britain and the British-descended peoples and for the rest of the world. As the Scriptures say: "Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). The authors and publishers of this book, in service to the Creator of all races and peoples, have shown what the future holds for many nations and peoples unless they repent (Jeremiah 18:7-8). Like the prophet Ezekiel, who was given the task of being a "watchman for the house of Israel" (Ezekiel 3:17-19; 33:1-7), we likewise urge you to turn to God and follow His laws so you may also be blessed and protected by Him. Your future depends upon your decision. May you have the wisdom and character to choose wisely.

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