Interesting Times

A couple of days ago public television had a show about Aimee Semple McPherson. Sister Aimee was a traveling Pentecostal evangelist in the early 1900's who later on built a large church in Los Angeles. From that church arose a major Pentecostal demonination, The Church of the Four Square Gospel. Jack Hayford is perhaps the best known leader identified with that group today. There were photos dated from about 1910 to 1920 showing her riding in a variety of cars while on a preaching circuit, and painted on each car was; "Jesus is coming soon". The idea that Jesus could come at any moment was one of the driving forces compelling the early Pentecostals to go out and evangelize, and there are interesting correlations between the history of the Zionist movement leading to the establishment of the State of Israel, and the move and direction of the Holy Spirit in the Christian Church, although I will not get into those for this post.

About two weeks ago a group of British armed forces were kidnapped by Iranian forces in the Shatt al Arab, which is a disputed waterway between Iraq and Iran, and is near the joining of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, flowing into the Persian Gulf. They were released this week. There are a number of things concerning this whole affair that I'm curius about, but one aspect is really interesting. This week I was reading a book by Bill Cloud which talks about the historical enmity between the Jews and Arabs and the connection between that and events in the last days before Jesus returns. In the book he mentions a scripture from Revelation 9. This tells about a time during the tribulation when the bottomless pit is opened, and out of the pit come demonic locust-like creaturres. "They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss, his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon". Interestingly, scholars have felt that the entrance to this pit is located near an actual town or island which is on the border between Iran and Iraq called Abadan, and which is in the Shatt al Arab waterway! I don't know what the connection is, but I something like this must be more than just coincidence.

Also this week were seen typical results of world efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. There was a mild protest from the UN concerning the seizure of the British troops by Iran. If the UN had its way, Israel, with 1/20th the land of it's Arab neighbors, would turn over half of that amount to the Arabs, leaving Israel with no defensible borders. The European powers still have done nothing to stop or slow down the Iranians in their nuclear advance. We saw a shadow foreign policy being conducted by the Democratic party who seems to think they have already won the 2008 presidential election. They sent the Speaker of the House to Syria, a state which harbours and finances Hezbolla, allows or directs foreign troops into Iraq against our troops, is dedicated to the elimination of Israel, and which I believe is storing Sadaam's WMD's. And violence continues between the different factions in Iraq. We know that this will one day be resolved because scripture is clear that Babylon, located in Iraq, becomes the headquarters for the coming world leader. I sure hope that it is God's will that the US is there, because we seem to be playing a major part in setting up conditions for what will happen in the last days prior to the return of Jesus.

I sometimes wonder if most Christians really believe that Jesus will one day return, or if we really think that it could be soon. There are many in the organized church who do not have a reborn spirit, so it would be surprising if they were watching for the Lord's return. And there are many who have a reborn spirit but do not have a theology that looks at scripture literally. Most of the Christians in our government's administration are typical of those who love Israel because of it's historical connection with Christianity, but do understand the promises made by God that are still in effect for the Jewish people and the Jewish land. They, like the rest of the world, believe that a political solution is possible to bring peace to the Middle East.

There is a statue, shown above, that is in a park next to the United Nations, with a saying on it from the 2nd chapter of Isaiah, which says; "And they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war". The saying reflects the desire of man to have a world organization that can bring about peace upon the earth. This is, of course, always a worthwhile goal, and Jesus Himself said; "Blessed are the peacemakers". I met a man this week who was from Israel, served in it's army, and had friends that were killed last year while fighting Hezbolla in Lebanon. War is terrible, and we should always strive for peace and peaceful solutions, but there is a context for the conflict happening there. It began thousands of years ago and it's conclusion will not be settled by a peace treaty.

The quote from Isaiah is part of a larger passage that talks about world peace being made possible because of the Lord coming to rule the nations from Jerusalem. "It will come about in the last days, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will come and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways, and that we may walk in His paths'. For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; And (then) they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war".

The things happening today are just a fraction of an overall movement of events, clearly showing that we are in times leading to the soon return of Jesus. I believe the early Pentecostals thought it was close because the Spirit within them was testifying to it. Even though that was 90 years ago, which seems like a long time to us, we need to be mindful that the whole map of the Middle East has been redrawn in that time. Oil is drawn from sand, giving power to peoples who were nomads when Sister Aimee began her ministry. Israel reappeared in 1948, ruling itself for the first time in over 2000 years. Iran's traditional enemy Russia is helping them process uranimun, leading to events talked about in Ezekial 38. Traditional Christian religion is almost dead in the emerging United States of Europe. And ancient names found in scripture are appearing in the news.