This Danger Has A Name

By Hal Lindsey

 

After the bomb attacks on Brussels Tuesday morning, President Obama did not call on Belgium to restrain itself from responding.  He did not pressure their government to release ISIS prisoners in a bid to get ISIS leaders to the negotiating table.  He did not call on Belgium to give East Brussels to the terrorists in an attempt at appeasement.

 

So why does he continually call on Israel to do similar things?

 

The Belgium attack served as another reminder that an enemy lurks among us.  Yet the leaders of our nation refuse to call that enemy by name.  They say the words “ISIS,” “ISIL,” and “Daesh.”  They also speak of “al-Qaeda” and “Boko Haram.”  But they refuse to recognize the underlying agency behind them all — radical Islam!

 

This failure is not just a matter of symbolism or semantics.  It’s causing a breakdown in our ability to defend ourselves against the enemy.  How can we defeat an enemy we refuse to name, and see only through the lens of political correctness?

 

We cannot grasp the current state of the world until we understand that ISIS, al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram are different names of the same enemy.  The terror groups we say we’re fighting are all manifestations of radical Islam.  So are Hamas and Hezbollah.

 

Western leaders repeatedly call on Israel to accommodate and appease their attackers. Yet, Israel’s foes are also terrorists — fruit of the same tree that gave us ISIS and al-Qaeda.  No other nation lives so close to the threat of radical Islam as Israel.

 

In Europe, they’re beginning to fight.  Following the terror attacks in Paris last year, French President Francois Hollande said, “France is at war.”  After the attack in Brussels, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said, “We are at war.  We have been subjected for the last few months in Europe to acts of war.”

 

In Europe, they are “at war” with the terrorists, but in the Middle East, they support them.  During Israel’s Gaza conflict with the terror group Hamas in 2014, President Hollande described Israel’s self-defense as “massacres.”

 

He asked, “How could one remain neutral when a people, not far from Europe, fights for its rights and its territorial integrity?”  From that quote, you might think he was on Israel’s side.  But I assure you he was not supporting Israel.  He was accusing it.

 

On Sunday at the massive American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference, Hillary Clinton gave a pro-Israel speech.  No surprise there — every candidate speaking at AIPAC talks of their support for Israel.  For a long time now, the group’s meetings have attracted candidates of both parties trying to show their solidarity with the Jewish state.

 

But this year, Mrs. Clinton was pilloried by members of her own party and people who are sympathetic to her other positions.  Lauren McCauley, staff writer for the liberal website, “Common Dreams,” wrote, “During the address, Clinton vowed to take the U.S.-Israel relationship to ‘the next level’ — a level which seemingly includes more war and imperialism, few, if any, rights for Palestinians, and definitely no economic boycotts of Israel.”

 

Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald called her speech “disgusting.”

 

Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), said that Hillary Clinton’s AIPAC speech “is a reminder of the current limits of the mainstream discourse on Israel, which rely on racist and Islamophobic tropes to justify unquestioning support for Israel.”

 

When Secretary Clinton called on young people to resist the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, Naomi Dann, Media Coordinator for JVP, tweeted, “@HillaryClinton please STOP enlisting young people as soldiers on the ‘frontlines’ to silence the movement for Palestinian rights.”

 

The liberal magazine, Slate, ran the headline, “Hillary Clinton’s AIPAC Speech Was a Symphony of Craven, Delusional Pandering.”

 

“Craven?”  “Delusional?”  It makes me wonder if Secretary Clinton might be the last Democratic presidential candidate to even pretend support for the nation of Israel.

 

Then I remembered that Republicans, too, have their Israel-bashers — people who want the United States to just get out of that part of the world, and let them all fight it out.  They forget what a small world we now live in.  As nuclear weapons and the missiles to carry them proliferate in the region, America must engage in the area or risk a national catastrophe on an unprecedented level.

 

I don’t believe there will be a lasting Middle East peace until Jesus returns.  But that doesn’t mean we should intentionally let the world fall apart.  Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” (Matthew 5:9)  We must keep on trying.  Holding disaster at bay is a good thing.

 

At a few places in the Bible, God tells us something specific we should pray for.  In a sense, He’s giving a prayer request.  Obviously, He already knows the need, but He wants us engaged with Him on those matters.

 

One of His prayer commands is in Psalms 122:6-7, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you.  Peace be within your walls.’” (NKJV)

 

We already see the signs of Jerusalem and Israel’s desperate fate coming on the scene.  At the very end period of the “Times of the gentiles”, where the full number of gentiles will be saved, then this phenomena will take place, “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know its desolation is near.  Then let those who are in Judea flee the mountains, let those who are midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her.  For these are the days of vengeance, that all things that are written may be fulfilled.  But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!  For there will be great distress in the land  and wrath upon this people.  And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations.  And Jerusalem shall be trampled by the Gentiles until the ‘Times of the Gentiles’ are fulfilled.  (Luke 21:20-24 NKJV)

 

This covers the period from 70AD until the Rapture, when the full number of Gentiles are SAVED.  This will complete the ‘Times of the Gentiles’.  Then the Rapture suddenly happens and all the saved people, mostly Gentiles, will be snatched up to meet the LORD JESUS in the clouds.  All the Christians who have died will be instantly resurrected.   Then the living will be and changed from mortal to immortal.  Then the spotlight of God’s special dealing shifts back to the Israelites again.  It will begin by God miraculously converting 144,000 Israelite evangelists to the Lord Jesus Christ.  It will be made up of twelve thousand Israelites from each of the twelve tribes of Israel.  The tribe of Dan is mysteriously left out.  This Period lasts for seven-years and is divided into two periods.  The first period is called the “Tribulation” numbering 3½ years; the second period is called “The Great Tribulation” and also lasts 3½ years.  

 

Then there are some special signs applying to the Tribulation Seven Year Period given, “Then there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and expectation of those things that are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.  Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.  Now these things begin to happen, lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”  

 

These Scriptures are specifically applicable to the physical coming of Christ to the earth in the Second Coming. 

 

This is a very brief synopsis of a very complex series of prophetic Scriptures that I pray the Holy Spirit will teach you and make clear.  May the grace of our blessed Savior be with you always.   MARANATHA!