I have to say I am appalled by the terrorist attacks on September 11th in Benghazi, Libya, that killed our Ambassador and three other Americans. And I’m outraged that President Obama and senior administration officials continue to say they don’t really know what happened or why even though very disturbing facts are coming to light day by day.

On September 16th, Ambassador Susan Rice went on ABC’s “This Week” and said, “Our current best assessment, based on the information that we have at present, is that, in fact, what this began as, it was a spontaneous — not a premeditated — response to what had transpired in Cairo….In Cairo, as you know, a few hours earlier, there was a violent protest that was undertaken in reaction to this very offensive video that was disseminated….We believe that folks in Benghazi, a small number of people came to the embassy to — or to the consulate, rather, to replicate the sort of challenge that was posed in Cairo. And then as that unfolded, it seems to have been hijacked, let us say, by some individual clusters of extremists who came with heavier weapons… And it then evolved from there.”

This was patently false. We now have learned that there was no protest outside our facility in Benghazi. “There was no protest and the attacks were not spontaneous,” a U.S. intelligence source told Fox News, adding the attack “was planned and had nothing to do with the movie.” The source said “the assault came with no warning at about 9:35 p.m. local time,  and included fire from more than two locations. The assault included RPG’s and  mortar fire, the source said, and consisted of two waves.” What’s more, a Libyan guard who was there that night said, “There wasn’t a single ant outside.”

Only on September 27 — more than two weeks after the deadly attack — did the Obama administration admit it was a pre-meditated terrorist attack.

Then the story shifted. Vice President Biden said during the debate with Rep. Paul Ryan last week that “we weren’t told” that U.S. diplomats in Libya needed more security.

But this was not true either. The administration was repeatedly told by U.S. security officials on the ground in Libya that more security was needed — but those requests were denied by the Obama administration.

“Eric Nordstrom, the State Department’s former regional security officer in Libya, testified that a few more armed Americans would not have repelled the organized nightlong assault by dozens of heavily armed extremists, which he called unprecedented in its ‘ferocity and intensity,'” reported the Los Angeles Times in a story headlined, “U.S. declined requests to boost security in Libya, Congress told.” “But Nordstrom, who left Libya in July, sharply criticized his supervisors for ignoring his concerns about the growing risk of armed militias and extremist groups in Benghazi. Nordstrom said he was frustrated by ‘a complete and total absence of planning’ to improve security. ‘When I requested assets, I was criticized.…It was a hope that everything would get better.’ Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, who headed a 16-member U.S. military team assigned to protect the embassy in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, said decision makers in Washington did not appreciate how security had deteriorated in Benghazi, an eastern coastal city. Wood noted that the British Consulate in Benghazi was closed after assailants fired rocket-propelled grenades at the British ambassador’s car in June. The United States was the last Western nation to operate a diplomatic mission in the city that was the base for the armed uprising that toppled and killed Libyan ruler Moammar Kadafi last year. ‘I almost expected the attack to come,’ said Wood, a member of the Utah National Guard. ‘We were the last flag flying. It was a matter of time.’ Wood’s team left Libya in August after Lamb had refused to approve extending its assignment for a second time. She said the State Department planned to turn over most basic protective duties to a Libyan guard force, part of a decade-long shift away from using U.S. Marines to protect embassies.”

Consider, too, this story by Reuters, headlined, “U.S. officer got no reply to requests for more security in Benghazi.” “A U.S. security officer twice asked his State Department superiors for more security agents for the American mission in Benghazi months before an attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans, but he got no response. The officer, Eric Nordstrom, who was based in Tripoli until about two months before the September attack, said a State Department official, Charlene Lamb, wanted to keep the humber of U.S. security personnel in Benghazi ‘artificially low,’ according to a memo summarizing his comments to a congressional committee that was obtained by Reuters.              Nordstrom also argued for more U.S. security in Libya by citing a chronology of over 200 security incidents there from militia gunfights to bomb attacks between June 2011 and July 2012. Forty-eight of the incidents were in Benghazi.”

Consider, too, this story by Bloomberg, headlined, “Requests for More Libya Security Spurned, Issa Says.” “Requests for additional security at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, before the Sept. 11 attack were rejected by the State Department because of a desire to convey ‘normalization,’ the Republican chairman of a House panel said today. Representative Darrell Issa of California said U.S. officials in Libya made repeated requests for additional security in the weeks before the attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. ‘They repeatedly warned Washington officials of the dangerous situation’ in Libya, Issa said at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing examining the attack. ‘Washington officials seemed preoccupied with the concept of normalization’ after the rebellion that ousted Muammar Qaddafi.”

Charlene Lamb, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in charge of diplomatic security, actually had the gall to tell a Congressional committee last week that argued that our diplomats in Libya had all the security they needed. “We had the correct number of assets in Benghazi at the time of 9/11,” Lamb testified. The Los Angeles Times reported that Lamb testified that “the mission had five diplomatic security agents, plus several U.S.-trained Libyan guards and members of a local militia on standby, when the attack occurred.”

How could Ms. Lamb say that under oath with a straight face? If our diplomats had had all the security they had needed, they wouldn’t be dead.

Some administration officials have been trying to suggest in recent weeks that the U.S. government didn’t have the money to adequately protect our people in Libya. Some have even accused Congressional Republicans of seeking to cut funding for diplomatic security. Yet, as Politico has reported. “Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) says the State Department is sitting on $2.2 billion that should be spent on upgrading security at U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide, but the Obama administration will not spend the funds.”

What’s also baffling and outrageous is the fact that President Obama has skipped 62% of his daily intelligence briefings in 2012. Consider this column in the Washington Post: “President Obama is touting his foreign policy experience on the campaign trail, but startling new statistics suggest that national security has not necessarily been the personal priority the president makes it out to be. It turns out that more than half the time, the commander in chief does not attend his daily intelligence meeting. The Government Accountability Institute, a new conservative investigative research organization, examined President Obama’s schedule from the day he took office until mid-June 2012, to see how often he attended his Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) — the meeting at which he is briefed on the most critical intelligence threats to the country. During his first 1,225 days in office, Obama attended his PDB just 536 times — or 43.8 percent of the time. During 2011 and the first half of 2012, his attendance became even less frequent — falling to just over 38 percent. By contrast, Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush almost never missed his daily intelligence meeting.”

Americans died in Libya because they weren’t properly protected by our government, even while they were serving our government. No more spin. No more politics. The administration needs to tell the truth, the whole truth, and admit their mistakes. Even Bob Woodward of the Washington Post said he was troubled by the actions of the Obama team given the chaotic and dangerous environment in Libya at the time. He decried a “passivity” in the White House on international crises.

The corridor between Tel Aviv and Tehran is the most dangerous corridor on the planet. And make no mistake: Iran is already at war with the State of Israel. The radical mullahs in Tehran declared war against the Jewish state in 1979. They have been killing Israelis and other Jews ever since. Today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his senior advisors are engaged in a high stakes diplomatic, financial and covert war to neutralize the Iranian nuclear threat before the mullahs — driven by an apocalyptic, genocidal End Times theology — get the Bomb and the means to deliver it.  Now the question is: Will Netanyahu soon order his nation into a full scale, all-out war with Iran that could set the entire Middle East on fire?

Knowing the answer requires exploring other key questions: Who is Benjamin Netanyahu? What does he believe? How does he see the Iranian regime and the intensifying nuclear crisis? Who is advising him? And how much time do they believe they have left to make a final decision?

In a new ebook released today by Tyndale House Publishers — Israel At War: Inside The Nuclear Showdown With Iran — I look at each of these questions based on twelve years of observing Netanyahu and hours of interviews and conversations over the years with Netanyahu and his inner circle. I also look at how we got to this dangerous moment, the train wreck of U.S.-Israel relations, and where this all could lead historically and prophetically.

The following are excerpts from Israel At War:

——————————

I met Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time on the morning of September 25, 2000. We met at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City. He interviewed me briefly, and then the man who had once served as prime minister of Israel (1996–1999) invited me to serve on a small team of American advisors that would complement his Israeli political team. When I said yes, he led me into an adjoining conference room, where I met several members of this team. Over the next six hours, we began to develop a plan to put Netanyahu back into power.

In many ways, Netanyahu’s political comeback seemed predestined to me. I recall believing that I had just been hired by a once and future leader of Israel, and while I didn’t agree with Netanyahu on every decision he had made in the past, we largely saw eye to eye, I considered working for him an honor. I had a front-row seat to the great drama of history unfolding before my eyes.

At the time, there were plenty of politicians and pundits both inside and outside of Israel who didn’t think Netanyahu would ever become prime minister again. Many, in fact, were dead-set against it. Yet despite the drubbing Netanyahu had taken at the polls in 1999, I felt certain he was going to return for two reasons. First, I believed the Israeli people were going to turn back to Netanyahu for his economic and financial savvy and for his strategic foresight. I believed Israel would benefit from his expertise to help grow the Israeli economy and would need his deep determination to protect the Jewish State from a second Holocaust, should Iran ever get the Bomb. Second, for reasons I could not fully explain in the moment, I believed the hand of God was on him and that the Lord was going to raise him up at a critical moment in the history of the Jewish people—and a prophetic moment at that.

What intrigued me about Netanyahu was that he saw something few other leaders in Israel—or around the world—saw. He understood that while the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was painful and important and historic and thus truly worthy of being solved in a fair and just way, it was not the primary danger facing Israelis or the rest of the people in the modern Middle East. Rather, he could see that the prospect of Middle Eastern dictators acquiring and using nuclear weapons was the real danger, one that absolutely must be avoided at all costs. Thus, while Netanyahu believed sincere efforts needed to be made by Israeli and world leaders to find peace with the Palestinians, he believed far more attention needed to be paid dealing with Iraq and Iran.

Stopping Saddam Hussein from getting the Bomb had been a top priority for Netanyahu’s mentor, Prime Minister Menachem Begin. It was Begin who ordered the successful Israeli preemptive air strike against the Osirik nuclear reactor in Iraq on June 7, 1981. The international community—including the Reagan administration—was infuriated by the surprise raid, dubbed “Operation Opera” by the Israeli Defense Forces. Critics blasted Begin for threatening to destabilize the Middle East. But Netanyahu knew what Begin knew—that the Middle East was already unstable and that the worst-case scenario was for the Butcher of Baghdad to have weapons of mass destruction.

The world also condemned Begin for taking such huge risks and yet only setting back Saddam’s nuclear program temporarily, not permanently. Such critics were certain Saddam would reconstitute his nuclear program in just two or three years. They were convinced Begin had just given Saddam a reason to accelerate, not slow down, his pursuit of the Bomb. Yet both Begin and Netanyahu saw that the critics were wrong. The Israeli attack had actually deeply rattled Saddam and had done far more damage to his nuclear program than first thought. As a result, Saddam was not able to quickly reconstitute his nuclear program. Begin’s decision in 1981 actually bought Israel not just two or three years of security from an Iraqi nuclear weapon, but a full decade.

In 1991, the United States led an international coalition to drive Saddam out of Kuwait and keep Iraq’s offensive military capabilities fully contained. Then, in 2003, the U.S. led another international coalition to oust Saddam from power and shut down any prospect of Iraq acquiring or using weapons of mass destruction.

Netanyahu drew several important lessons from these developments.

1. Sometimes the critics are wrong.

1. 2. Sometimes an Israeli prime minister must act decisively in defense of his country despite widespread domestic and international criticism.
2. 3. Sometimes the effort to buy even a few years of additional security through preemptive military action ends up buying more time than anticipated.

Iraq, however, was not Netanyahu’s main concern. Iran was.

In his writings, speeches, and personal conversations, Netanyahu had long made the case that the real, long-term, strategic threat to the U.S., Israel, and the security of the world were the mullahs in Tehran, who were trying to annihilate Judeo-Christian civilization in order to build their global Islamic Caliphate. In Iran, Netanyahu saw a new Third Reich rising. In a nation of Holocaust survivors, he was determined to do everything in his power to protect his people.

First, however, he was going to have to get back into power.

That, it turned out, took longer than any of us expected. Netanyahu did not return to high office in the time that I worked for him. To the contrary, as I described in my first nonfiction book, Epicenter, he was effectively blocked from running in early 2001 by his chief political rival, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak.[i] Then he found himself repeatedly blocked from rising through the political ranks as long-time rivals of his—men like Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert—ascended ahead of him. During this time, Netanyahu served in various lesser roles, first as Israel’s foreign minister, later as finance minister, and for a season merely as a member of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, all but exiled from the center of power. All the while, he watched Sharon and Olmert (like Barak before them) focus almost exclusively on giving away land and offering to divide Jerusalem, even while Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists were rapidly gaining power in southern Lebanon, Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists were gaining control in Gaza, and the Iranian nuclear threat was growing year by year. Netanyahu was convinced he understood the strategic threats facing Israel far better than his rivals, and he was convinced he knew how to deal effectively with these threats. Indeed, close friends of Netanyahu told me during this period he believed he had been born for this moment.

On February 10, 2009, Netanyahu’s right-of-center Likud political party was finally swept back into power on a wave of popular support. They increased their position from holding a mere twelve seats in the Knesset to winning twenty-seven seats and receiving a mandate to form a new coalition government, which they did in short order. On March 31, 2009—nearly ten full years after he had been drummed out of office—Netanyahu was sworn in once again as prime minister of the State of Israel.

Today Netanyahu stands at the epicenter of international attention at the most dangerous moment in the modern history of the Jewish state. In the absence of the U.S. and international community taking decisive measures to neutralize the rapidly growing Iranian nuclear threat, Netanyahu now faces the most difficult decision of his long and fascinating political and military career. Should he order the IDF into a full-scale, all-out war to neutralize the Iranian nuclear threat in the next few days, weeks, or months? Or should he delay, hoping the negotiations and sanctions against Iran will eventually work? Should he wait and hope that the U.S. will eventually take decisive action?

The risks of going to war are enormous. But as Netanyahu sees it, so are the risks of not going to war. What if Israel waits too long? What if Washington continues to hesitate and fails to take action in time to prevent Iran from getting the Bomb? What if the Israeli people wake up one morning to the news that those running Iran now have operational nuclear warheads and both the will and eagerness to use them to annihilate Israel and hasten the coming of the so-called Islamic messiah known as the Twelfth Imam or the Mahdi? Worse, what if one morning most of the Israeli people never wake up at all because the mullahs in Tehran have—without warning—launched a nuclear strike and wiped out most, if not all, of the Jewish State?

Netanyahu has been warning his country, the U.S., and the world of this very danger since the early 1990s. Now the hour of decision has arrived, and the stakes could not be higher. Only time will tell how he will handle this extraordinary test. I have written this book, in part, to assess the magnitude of the threat and the varied dimensions of this fateful decision. How did we get to this point? How do Netanyahu and his closest advisors perceive the enemy, the timetable, the risks, and the endgame? Who is Benjamin Netanyahu, anyway? How will the Israeli leader’s complicated relationship with President Obama affect his assessment of the road ahead? What other personal and historical factors are weighing on his mind as he navigates this crisis? What could be the unintended consequences of a decision to go to war? What’s more, how does the current crisis fit into historical trends in the Middle East, and how could this crisis set the stage for Bible prophecies to come to pass in the years ahead?

This book is based on twelve years observing the man now responsible for leading Israel through this crisis. During that time, I have tracked his speeches and comments in the media and discussed these issues with him personally. I have also had hundreds of hours of conversations in recent years with other Israeli, American, and Iranian military, intelligence, and political experts who are uniquely qualified to shed light on the drama now unfolding. Among those whose conversations shaped my thinking for this book:

• Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel (2009–present and 1996–1999)
• Moshe Ya’alon, Israeli vice prime minister (2009–present), and former chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces (2002–2005)
• Uri Lubrani, senior advisor to Israel’s vice prime minister on Iran affairs (2009–present) and former Israeli ambassador to Iran (1973–1978)
• Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli foreign minister (2009–present)
• Danny Ayalon, Israeli deputy foreign minister (2009–present)
• Yaakov Amidror, Israeli national security advisor to PM Netanyahu (2011–present) and former head of assessment for Israeli military intelligence
• Ron Dermer, senior advisor to the Israeli prime minister
• Dore Gold, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, long-time advisor to Mr. Netanyahu, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations (1997–1999), and former senior advisor to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (2001–2003)
• Natan Sharansky, head of the Jewish Agency and former deputy prime minister of Israel (2001–2003)
• Porter Goss, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (2004–2006) and chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (1997–2004)
• Reza Kahlili, former Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps officer who became an agent for the CIA, and author of A Time To Betray: The Astonishing Double Life of a CIA Agent Inside the Revolutionary Guards of Iran
• Lieutenant General (ret.) William “Jerry” Boykin, U.S. deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence and special warfighting (2003–2007), former commander of Delta Force, and author of Never Surrender: A Soldier’s Journey to the Crossroads of Faith and Freedom
  

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Good morning and thank you to everyone who has been reading this blog over the past four few years. The goal of this blog is to track current events in Israel, Russia, the Muslim world, the U.S. and around the world, and to analyze trends in light of the Scriptures, particularly Bible prophecy. Jesus Christ once challenged His disciples saying, “You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?” (Luke 12:56) It is an apt question for many of us today, as well. I’m grateful, therefore, for all those who are reading the blog and finding it helpful, here in the U.S., Israel and around the world.

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Thanks so much for visiting this blog, and may God bless you. If you have comments about the blog, feel free to post them on our “Epicenter Team” on Facebook, or send them to me via Twitter @joelcrosenberg.

“Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spent two and a half hours Thursday afternoon studying the Cain and Abel story, telling some 17 rabbis and academics gathered at his residence that the jealousy in that story is a “powerful engine” that he has come across once or twice in his own profession,” reports the Jerusalem Post. “The question he asked, but which no one answered directly, was what was the Torah’s recipe for dealing with someone inflamed by jealousy and unable to control himself.  Netanyahu made no reference, either directly or indirectly, to anyone currently on the political scene. Thursday’s study session was the second installment of a Bible study circle he initiated in May, just before Shavuot, dedicated to his father-in-law Shmuel Ben-Artzi, a noted Bible teacher and enthusiast who died last November. Two pictures of Ben-Artzi were placed in the corner of the outdoor porch where the study session took place, behind a flickering memorial candle.” To read the full article, please click here. To read about the first Bible study Netanyahu hosted, please click here.

[NOTE: In August 2012, I spoke at a Bible conference in Honolulu on the importance of Bible prophecy. You can read my notes for those two messages here and here. In October 2012, I spoke at a Bible conference in Houston, Texas. There I developed these initial thoughts further and a bit deeper. The following are the notes I used for the two-part message in Texas. My prayer is that you find these helpful in your own study and teaching of Bible prophecy.]

Ezekiel 2:1 through 3:4.

Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!’ As He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet; and I heard Him speaking to me. Then He send to me, ‘Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me….’ You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God’….they will know that a prophet has been among them….You shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not….Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you. Then I looked and behold, a hand was extended to me, and lo, a scroll was in it. When He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and back, and written on it were lamentations, mournings and woe. Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.’ So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll. He said to me, ‘Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you.’ Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth. Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them.’”

Ezekiel was a classic Biblical prophet:

• A hearer of God’s Word
• A communicator of God’s Word
• A fore-teller – someone through whom God communicated the future
• A forth-teller – someone through whom God communicated His eternal truths, regardless of whether it was specifically about the future or not.
• A watchman on the wall – responsible for accurately hearing and communicating the Word of God to the people, both to warn them of coming judgment and call them to repentance and holiness; will be held by God to account for his faithfulness in this area (see Ezekiel 3:17-21; see also Ezekiel 33)

It was through Ezekiel, God communicated powerful truths:

• The truth that Jerusalem and Israel are the epicenter of God’s plan and purpose in the End Times.
• The truth of the rebirth of the State of Israel in the End Times.
• The truth of the return of the Jewish people to the Holy Land in the End Times.
• The truth of a coming season of security and prosperity for Israel in the End Times.
• The truth of an apocalyptic showdown between Israel, Russia, Iran and a group of other nations in the epicenter in the End Times.
• The truth of the cataclysmic judgment of Israel’s enemies in the End Times.
• The truth of the supernatural rescue of Israel in the End Times.
• The truth of the salvation of the Jewish people in the End Times.
• And the truth of the building not just of a 3^rd Temple in the End Times but a 4^th Temple, too, from which the Messiah will reign.

These are vitally important truths for Christians, for Jews, indeed for all people in our time. Yet they are rarely taught.

Why not?

Dr. Mark Hitchcock, author of an excellent resource book – The End: A Complete Overview of Bible Prophecy and the End of Days (over 500 pages) – notes that:

• 28.5% of the Old Testament are prophetic verses
• 21.5% of the New Testament are prophetic verses
• All told, some 27% of the Bible are prophetic verses

Without question, prophecy is central to the Holy Scriptures. Yet very few pastors, priests or ministry leaders are teaching Bible prophecy today.

Why not?

In Luke 12:54-56, the Lord Jesus said these words: And He was also saying to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it turns out. And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, ‘It will be a hot day,’ and it turns out that way. You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?

Why didn’t the people of Jesus’ day study the prophecies of Scripture and compare them to what was happening right in front of them?

I would argue that now more than ever it is absolutely vital for the Church, for Israel, and for the world to rediscover the power and purpose of Bible prophecy. But the only way this is going to happen is if the men of God begin to rediscover the Word of God and start studying it seriously, and teaching it carefully. We absolutely will not hear from Jesus’ lips, “Well done, My good and faithful servant,” if we ignore, skip, dismiss or outright deny more than one-quarter of the Holy Scriptures.

So today I’d like to address two topics:

1. What are the main reasons why pastors are not teaching Bible prophecy today?
2. How can we help pastors rediscover the purpose and power of Bible prophecy?

WHY AREN’T PASTORS TEACHING BIBLE PROPHECY TODAY? 

I would point to four main reasons.

First, many pastors don’t teach prophecy because they have a lack of belief in the power of God’s Word.

Sadly, many pastors today don’t really believe the Bible is the inspired, infallible, authoritative Word of God. The Lord Jesus once remonstrated the Pharisees because they were misinterpreting Scripture. He said, “You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29)

Too many pastors and priests today are the same way. They are not carefully studying the whole Bible. They’re not trying to understand the “whole counsel of God.” (Acts 20:27, KJV). 

Second, many pastors don’t teach prophecy because they have a lack of knowledge of — and/or sound training in — Bible prophecy.

There are many, of course, who do believe that the Bible is the Word of God. However, for a variety of reasons they have never taken the time to study prophecy carefully on their own, and/or weren’t taught it in any detail or depth in seminary or Bible college or seminary. Thus, they understandably feel unprepared and inadequate to help people unpack the truths of these Scriptures.

Some prophecies are, of course, complicated and confusing. Some of the names mentioned in prophecies (like “Gog” and “Magog” and “Gomer” and “Put” in Ezekiel 38-39) are strange and obscure. It takes some historical detective work to determine what these things mean, and some pastors decide they neither have the interest nor the time to do the research and teach their congregations clearly and accurately, so they avoid teaching prophecy all together.

I understand this, and I’m doing my best to create resources to help pastors study and teach prophecy, and point people to other excellent resources that have been helpful to me. Because now is the time to rediscover the power and purpose of prophecy.

The Bible is clear that God will bless those who study and teach End Times prophecy, and we should be faithful in doing just that. The Apostle John wrote, “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is near.” (Revelation 1:3)

Third, many pastors don’t teach prophecy because they have a fear of being lumped in with “prophecy nuts” and those who peddle sensationalism.

Admittedly, there are many false teachers and nuts who try to teach prophecy.

• Example: Harold Camping’s prediction of the Rapture on May 21, 2011.
• Example: Harold Camping’s prediction of the Rapture in September 1994.
• Example: 88 Reasons Why Jesus Is Coming In 1988
• Example: 89 Reasons Why Jesus Is Coming In 1989

Pastors are right to avoid such false teachers, and to avoid creating an appearance of cheapening the Word of God in these ways.

But just because some teach Bible prophecy wrongly, or badly, is no reason for solid teachers to avoid the topic. There are those who teach false regarding the Gospels and the epistles, too. But a good pastor wouldn’t dare skip teaching correctly these books of the Bible. On what basis, then, do we have the right to avoid teaching whole books of the Bible — Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation, among others — just because some charlatans are out their misleading people?

To the contrary, we should be teaching solidly on prophecy all the more because of the nuts out there. We shouldn’t cede the battle for hearts, minds and souls to the false teachers.

The Apostle Paul told Timothy, “Preach the word: be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.” (2 Timothy 4:2-3)

Fourth, many pastors don’t teach prophecy because they have a lack of understanding of the times in which we live and the increasingly close return of Christ.

Sadly, many sincere pastors are asleep to the times in which we live. Somehow they are not gripped by the remarkable moment of history that we’re in, and the urgent need to prepare for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ for the Church.

Like the Pharisees of old, Jesus is saying to them, “Why do you not analyze this present time?” More than ever, we need pastors who do analyze and understand the times in light of Bible prophecy. Like the sons of Issachar, “men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.” (I Chronicles 12:32), we need pastors who understand the times and know what the Church should do.

Specifically, we need men ready, willing and able to rediscover the purpose and power of Bible prophecy.

HOW CAN WE HELP PASTORS REDISCOVER THE PURPOSE AND POWER OF BIBLE PROPHECY?

The best way is not to berate or belittle our brothers who aren’t teaching prophecy.

The Scriptural model is to do what Jesus did – say, “Come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21)

• Let us lead the way by feeding the flock the “whole counsel of God,” including the solid, careful, humble teaching of Bible prophecy. (Acts 20:27, KJV)
• Let us teach those teachers who have interest how to teach Bible prophecy in a solid, careful, humble way.
• Let us create a wide-range of resources to help pastors teach Bible prophecy, and to help lay people study Bible prophecy in a such a way that it will motivate them to live lives of repentance, holiness, prayer & fasting, evangelism and discipleship, pastor training and church planting.
• Especially since we are moving deeper and deeper into the last days and the return of Christ is sooner than many think.

In this context, then, let us discuss the seven-fold purpose of Bible prophecy. 

1. To reveal that the God of Israel is all-mighty, all-seeing, all-knowing God of the universe.
2. To reveal that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and true in all its respects.
3. To require us to study God’s Word diligently and with humility, and to teach God’s Word with humility and great care.
4. To point to the First Coming of the Messiah.
5. To point to the Second Coming of the Messiah.
6. To build up, challenge, encourage and comfort the Church to live holy and fruitful lives in the last days.
7. To warn Israel and the nations to repent and turn to Jesus Christ before it is too late.

First, to reveal that the God of Israel is all-mighty, all-seeing, all-knowing God of the universe.

• The Lord said through the Hebrew prophet Isaiah, “Behold, the former things have come to pass, now I declare new things; before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.” (Isaiah 42:9)
• The Lord also said through the prophet Isaiah, “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me. ‘Who is like Me? Let him proclaim and declare it; Yes, let him recount it to Me in order, from the time that I established the ancient nation. And let them declare to them the things that are coming And the events that are going to take place.” (Isaiah 44:6-7)
• The Lord also said through the prophet Isaiah, “Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.’” (Isaiah 46:9-10)
• The Apostle Peter wrote, “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:20-21)
• The Lord Jesus Christ said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Revelation 22:13)

Second, to reveal that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and true in all its respects.

• There are about 1,000 specific prophecies in the Bible.
• More than half of them have already been fulfilled.
• Most of the remaining prophecies concern events that will happen between now and the Second Coming of Christ.

In the Old Testament, for example, we see hundreds of prophecies fulfilled.

For example, around 530 B.C., the Lord told the prophet Daniel that:

• the kingdom of Babylon would be taken over the kingdom of Media-Persia
• the Media-Persian kingdom would be taken over the kingdom of Greece
• the kingdom of Greece would be taken over by the kingdom of Rome
• and eventually all the kingdoms of the earth would be taken over by the Kingdom of God

This is exactly what has happened.

Here’s another example: Around 600 B.C., the Lord told the prophet Jeremiah that the Babylonians would come and take the Jewish people captive. He also told Jeremiah that after 70 years of captivity they would be released to come back to the land of Israel.

• Jeremiah 25:11-12 – “‘This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the Lord, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.’”
• Jeremiah 29:10 – “For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place [Israel].”

A hundred years earlier, the Lord even told the prophet Isaiah the exact name of the Persian king who would be instrumental in the Jewish people being set free from Babylonian captivity.

• Isaiah 44:28 – Thus says the Lord….“It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.’ And he declares of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’”
• Isaiah 45:1, 4, 13 – “Thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed….‘For the sake of Jacob My servant, and Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor though you have not known Me….he will build My city and will let My exiles go free, without any payment or reward,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

Sure enough, just as Jeremiah prophesied, God brought the Jewish people home from exile back to Israel right on schedule. And just as Isaiah prophesied, Cyrus was precisely the name of the Persian king who helped the Jews go back home.

• 2 Chronicles 36:22-23 – “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia – in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah – the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, ‘Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up!”’”
• Repeated in Ezra chapter 1

Third, to require us to study God’s Word diligently and with humility, and to teach God’s Word with humility and great care.

In Matthew 24:15, Jesus described as Daniel a “prophet.” He certainly was. But that did not mean Daniel understood all things. It did even mean that Daniel understand all that he saw or was told to write down.

• Daniel 12:4 – “But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.”
• Daniel 12:8-9 – “As for me, I heard but could not understand; so I said, ‘My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?’ He said, ‘Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed until the end of time. Many will be purged, purified, and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.”
• Daniel 9:1-6 – We find the prophet Daniel carefully studying the prophecies of Jeremiah, with prayer and fasting.
• I Peter 1:10-12 – “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven – things into which angels long to look.”
• 2 Peter 1:19-21 – “So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s one interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
• 1 Timothy 4:1, 13, 15, 16 – “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons….Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching….Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”
• 2 Timothy 2:15 – “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”
• Acts 20:20-31 – “I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to houses, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ….I went about preaching the kingdom….I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose [counsel] of God” [for a period of three years].

Fourth, to point to the First Coming of the Messiah.

In the Old Testament, the Lord gave us dozens of clues about who the Messiah would be and what He would do. Here are a few of them:

• The prophet Micah told us the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem Ephratah (Micah 5:2).
• The Hebrew prophet Isaiah told us that the Messiah would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14).
• The prophet Isaiah told us that the Messiah would be born as a human male child, a son, but would also be called “mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6).
• The prophet Isaiah told us that the Messiah would be a live and minister in the Galilee region of Israel (Isaiah 9:1-2)
• The prophet Zechariah told us the Messiah would enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9)
• The prophet Isaiah told us that the Messiah would heal people — “He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our  diseases” (Isaiah 53:4)
• King David prophesied that the Messiah would be surrounded by an evil band of men who would beat and torture him, would divide his clothing and cast lots for them, and would pierce his hands and feet and leave him “in the dust of death,” that is, kill him (Psalm 22)
• The prophet Daniel made it clear that the Messiah would come to “finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for inquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness” but to do so      he would need to be “cut off” [killed] before Jerusalem was destroyed and the Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. (Daniel 9:24-26)
• The prophet Isaiah described the Messiah as a suffering Servant who would be beaten, tortured, mocked, pierced, and ultimately killed as a guilt offering for the sins of mankind (Isaiah 52:13 through Isaiah 53)
• The prophet Isaiah also made it clear that the Messiah would also rise from the dead — “He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crusheed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed….His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death….But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.” (Isaiah 53:5,9,10)
• Through the prophet Jonah and the prophet Hosea, we were told God would raise the Messiah after three days in the grave (Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days before he was returned to the earth; in Hosea 6:2 we read, “He will raise us up on the third day that we may live before Him.”)

Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled all of these prophecies, proving Himself to be the Messiah.

In Luke 24:25-27 we read: And He [Jesus] said to them [several of His disciples whom He saw after His resurrection], ‘O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

Fifth, to point to the Second Coming of the Messiah.

Revelation 1:1-8 — The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John,who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne,and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood— and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Revelation 19:10 – “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

Notes Dr. Mark Hitchcock in his book, The End: A Complete Overview of Bible Prophesy and the End of Days

• “There are over 300 references to the Lord’s coming in the 260 chapters of the New Testament – one out of every 30 verses.”
• 23 of 27 NT books mention the Lord’s Second Coming
• “For every time the Bible mentions the first coming, the Second coming is mentioned eight times.”
• “People are exhorted to be ready for the return of Jesus Christ over fifty times.”

Sixth, to build up, challenge, encourage and comfort the Church to live holy and fruitful lives in the last days.

The study and teaching of prophecy isn’t supposed to be an intellectual pursuit of its own. The point isn’t to memorize all the seals and bowls and trumpets in the book of Revelation….or set dates and times regarding the Rapture…. or getting into pointless and contentious arguments over the timing and sequence of End Times events.

Rather, God gave us prophecy to motivate and mobilize the Church to live lives of holiness….and preach the Gospel to all nations before He comes…and make disciples of all nations before He returns.

Revelation 1:10-11 – “I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, ‘Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches….’”

I Corinthians 14:3-4 – “But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation. One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the church.”

• Prophecy is supposed to build up our faith in God’s awesome power and total sovereignty.
• Prophecy is supposed to challenge us to repent from ungodly behavior.
• Prophecy is supposed to encourage us to be holy and walk more closely with the Lord in the time we have left.
• Prophecy is supposed to encourage us to serve Christ with humility and preach His Word with boldness and courage.
• Prophecy is supposed to encourage us to be prepared to stand before Him face to face in the not-too-distant future.
• Prophecy is supposed to encourage us to be ready to confront and refute false teachers in the last days.
• Prophecy is supposed to comforts from our fears and sorrows by reminding us that Jesus Christ is coming to rescue us, and that He will win over evil, and that He will reign forever, and that we will be with Him forever and ever.

Seventh, to warn unbelievers in Israel and in the nations to repent and turn to Jesus Christ before it is too late.

I Corinthians 14:22 – “Prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe….But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man [unversed in spiritual gifts] enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all; the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.”

Revelation 19:10 – “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

Ultimately, all of prophecy is about Jesus Christ….it comes from Him….it points to Him.

Bible prophecy speaks to the general future of “all nations” in the last days leading up to the Second Coming of Christ.

• Example: Haggai 2:6-7, 21-22 – “For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. I will shake all the nations….I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the earth.’
• Example: Joel 3:2 – “I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land.”

Bible prophecy speaks to the specific future of specific nations and regions in the last days leading up to the Second Coming of Christ.

• Included: Israel, Russia, Iran, Syria (Damascus), Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Lebanon, Jordan, Greece, a European (revived Roman) empire, etc
• Also included:
  • the “king of the South” (Daniel 11:5)
  • the “king of the North” (Daniel 11:6)
  • the “queen of the South” (Matthew 12:42)
  • the “kings from the east” (Revelation 16:12
• Not included: the United States of America (not even a king or queen of the west)

Closing thoughts

Dr. Charlie Dyer, professor at Moody Bible Institute: “God gave prophecy to change our hearts, not to fill our heads with knowledge. God never predicted the future events just to satisfy our curiosity about the future. Every time God announces events that are future, He includes with His predictions practical applications to life. God’s pronouncements about the future carry with them specific advice for the ‘here and now.'” (cited in Dr. Mark Hitchcock’s book)

Dr. Randall Price, professor of archaeology and Biblical studies at Liberty University: “What good is it to be able to understand the seven heads in Revelation 13:1 if we don’t use our own head? Of what profit is it to discern the ten toes of Daniel 2:41-44 if we don’t move our own two feet? And what value is it to know about the great mouth that speaks lies (Daniel 7:8, Revelation 13:5), unless we open our mouth and speak the truth? In every generation where prophecy has been properly proclaimed, the results have been a harvest of souls to the glory of God.”  (cited in Dr. Mark Hitchcock’s book)

— End —

With concerns rising about a possible Israel war with Iran this fall, the U.S. and Israel will soon hold a major military exercise.  “The US and Israel will commence the largest-ever joint air defense drill of its  kind in Israel on October 21, an army source said on Tuesday,” reports the Jerusalem Post. “The  exercise, named Austere Challenge 12, was originally scheduled for last spring  but was postponed due to regional tensions with Iran. On October 14,  large numbers of American soldiers are expected to begin arriving in Israel,  where they will set up aerial defense positions on Israeli territory and on US  Navy vessels off the Israeli coastline. The three-week drill will  simulate various missile defense scenarios, and is expected to end with a  live-fire interception of a decoy incoming Patriot missile….At the end of August, the US  said it would decrease the original number of American forces due to take part  in AC12. An Israeli defense source said at the time that the exercise will still  be the largest of its kind to date, adding, ‘Defense cooperation between Israel  and the US has never been better.’ In 2009, the IDF and US European  Command held the Juniper Cobra 10 air defense exercise, which involved 1,400 US  soldiers and the same number of IDF soldiers. The drill went through  three phases: a field training exercise; computer simulation command  post-exercise to test interoperability capabilities; and a live-fire exercise  involving a Patriot missile interception.”

On the same day, IDF’s Home Front Command will run a national earthquake emergency drill. Israeli officials believe the country will soon experience a massive, devastating earthquake and that the Jewish state is not yet adequately prepared to handle such a disaster. “The IDF Home Front Command will hold a nationwide drill this month aimed at  preparing emergency services and the general population for the scenario of a  destructive earthquake,” reports the Jerusalem Post. “The drill, Turning Point 6, will commence on  October 21 and will be unique among Home Front exercises by focusing on a  natural disaster, rather than simulating missile attacks from multiple fronts,  as it has done in the past….Israel sits on the  active Syrian- African fault line, and geologists have warned that the region is  due for a major earthquake. Geologists have predicted a quake measuring at least  a six on the Richter scale in the coming years. The last major earthquake struck the area in 1927, killing 300 people in Jerusalem and Jericho. In 1837, some 4,000 people were killed when an earthquake centered near Lake Kinneret rocked the area. In this month’s drill, a mock earthquake will  occur in the Arava area of the south and the upper Galilee in the north, causing  widespread destruction in the Gush Dan metropolitan area. The drill will include  scenarios of tsunami waves striking Tel Aviv beaches. Planners of the  exercise will ask emergency services to deal with 7,000 ‘casualties,’ 70,000  injuries and 170,000 displaced people.” See also: Drill to prepare home front for major quake (Ynet News)

Bible prophecy does, in fact, indicate that Israel will face terrible wars in the “last days,” as well as several devastating earthquakes. Consider two examples:

• Ezekiel 38:18-20 –“It will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel, declares the Lord God, that My fury will mount up in My anger. In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse and every wall will fall to the ground.”
• Revelation 6:12-17 — “I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind.The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains;and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’”

In the Scriptures, God tells Israel’s enemy to “get ready, be prepared” for the prophetic traumas that are coming (Ezekiel 38:7, NIV). It behooves the State of Israel to get ready, too, as well as the Church.

——————

• The Tehran Initiative — a political thriller about an American President pressuring an Israeli Prime Minister not to launch a preemptive strike against Iran
• The Ezekiel Option — a novel about what it would look like if the prophecies of Ezekiel 38-39 (the “War of Gog & Magog”) came true in our lifetime
• Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic & Spiritual Challenges In Time?
• Help The Joshua Fund care for the poor and needy in Israel, teach the Word of God in the epicenter, educate and mobilize Christians around the world to bless poor and needy Israelis, train pastors and ministry leaders in Egypt, strengthen the believers in Syria, and prepare for a possible major new war and/or natural disaster in the epicenter — please prayerfully consider a generous, tax deductible financial contribution to The Joshua Fund.
• Follow Joel on Twitter — @joelcrosenberg
• www.epicenterconference.com

“The Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday announced that new elections would be held on January 22, 2013,” reports the Times of Israel. “Asked in a Dialog/Haaretz poll Thursday who among the potential candidates would be best suited to lead the country, 57-62 percent of respondents said Netanyahu (depending on who he is up against). Ex-Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni scored 28%, former prime minister Ehud Olmert 24%, Labor’s Yachimovich 17%, current opposition Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz 16%, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak 15%….The Haaretz survey projected that Netanyahu’s Likud party would win 29 Knesset seats. The Labor party would win 19 seats, Yisrael Beytenu 15, Yair Lapid’s new Yesh Atid 11, Shas 10, Jewish Home (HaBayit HaYehudi) 8 seats, Kadima 7, United Torah Judaism 6, Meretz 4, Hadash 4, the Arab Ram-Tal party 5, and Balad 2. A likely center-right coalition grouping would muster some 68 seats in the 120-member Knesset, recent surveys indicate.”

For the fourth year in a row, the federal government has racked up an annual deficit of more than $1 trillion. Unbelievable. We already have a $16 trillion national debt. As I note in Implosion, we’re heading towards $57 trillion in unfunded liabilities — promises Washington has made concerning Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that the government has no idea how to pay for. This is why economists and policy experts on both sides of the aisle — liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans — are saying on the record that the path we are on is “unsustainable” and could be “catastrophic” and “cataclysmic.”

Recently, I participated in the “Implosion Radio Special,” a two-hour radio program to explain the danger we’re in. Yesterday, I did four more hours of radio interviews discussing how much economic and fiscal danger we’re in, and the possibility that we will not only go further into decline but that our economy could actually collapse. The U.S. is currently heading towards what Washington insiders are calling the “fiscal cliff.” Early next year, we will see the automatic imposition of the largest tax increases in American history, combined with the largest spending cuts — including draconian cuts in defense spending — in American history, unless the President and Congress make wise decisions soon, or unless new leaders are sent to Washington who are serious about fiscal discipline and turning the Titanic away from the debt icebergs ahead of us. Going over the fiscal cliff could drive the already fragile U.S. economy back into recession and cause a global economic slowdown.

If this weren’t sobering enough, we also continue to see evidence of moral, spiritual and cultural implosion. Americans have murdered more than 53 million babies through abortion since 1973. If this doesn’t change soon, we will soon have taken the lives of 60 million souls — ten times more than the Nazis murdered during the Holocaust. We know how God judged Germany and the Nazi regime for their barbarism. Do we deserve less? Then there’s the rampant plague of pornography, massive increases in murder and violent crime since 1960, the explosion of adultery and affairs and divorce, the explosion of teen pregnancies and teen suicide and widespread depression. What’s more, much of the American Church is weak or asleep or drifting from the truth and life-changing power of the Gospel and the Bible.

These problems are far too large for the next President to solve. Your vote matters, as does mine, and not just at the presidential level but at the House, Senate and state levels, too. So we need to register to vote, and mobilize other Christians to register to vote, and then get to the polls. We are not slaves of an empire. We are free people living in the world’s greatest democracy. We need to be good stewards of the political freedom God has given us.

But let’s be clear: While our nation needs a fresh infusion of wise leaders, we need far more than that. We need Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, to lead us. We need a game-changing Third Great Awakening in which God in His sovereignty chooses to pour out His Holy Spirit and revive and awaken the Church and draw the lost to saving faith in Jesus Christ. We need a wholesale return to the Bible — to studying it, meditating on it, and then living by it. We need need to get down on our knees and plead with the Lord to give us revival. Nothing less will do. The good news is that at least twice before in American history the Lord has shown us precisely this kind of mercy and given us the first Great Awakening and the Second Great Awakening in the 1700s and the 1800s respectively. I talk about this in the “Implosion Radio Special,” as well.

Is there hope? Yes, there is. Christ is our hope. But we need to turn to Him now. At the moment, I’m in the midst of 40 days of prayer and pleading for revival in America. I’ve joined with pastors and ministry leaders all over the country to call people to prayer and fasting, as well. Will you join us? You can learn more — including watching (and signing up to receive) daily prayer videos — at http://www.ifmypeople2012.org/. Please start praying today, and encourage your family, friends and neighbors to start praying as well. I don’t know if God will give us a Third Great Awakening, but why should He if we don’t set everything else aside and implore Him from the bottom of our hearts?

“If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

>> EXCLUSIVE: AHMADINEJAD’S END TIMES SPEECH TO THE U.N.: Gives most detailed explanation of Twelfth Imam to date; tells UN leaders Mahdi will “soon” reign over world

>> NETANYAHU TELLS U.N. IRAN COULD HAVE NUKES BY SPRING: Is war imminent? Analysis

>> Sign up for our regular “Flash Traffic” email updates and track the latest stories in Israel and the Middle East

—————————–

Several days ago, as rumors of early elections were swirling in Israel, I emailed an advisor to Prime Minister Netanyahu and asked these two questions: “As a practical matter, can the PM legally take the country to war if the government has been dissolved and preparing for elections? If so, is there a scenario in which Netanyahu calls for new elections in Feb, but launches a war in Nov, Dec or Jan?”

The advisor’s reply to both was short and to the point: “Yes.”

There is no question in my mind that Netanyahu is getting ready for war with Iran. The question is: How? Is he using early elections to shore up his political support and divide his opposition at an opportune time? His Likud Party is riding high in the polls right now, while the Kadima party is plunging in the polls? Or is Netanyahu using the elections to cause Iran to think he is putting off his decision to go to war, when really it war is imminent? Both? Neither? Netanyahu is certainly keeping things interesting. But one thing is clearer today: the rumors of early elections are not rumors any more. It’s a fact — Israel is going to the polls, and soon.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu announced Tuesday evening that he will be bringing forward the next general elections to early 2013,” reports the Times of Israel. “He did not specify a date, but said he would go to the polls ‘as soon as possible’ and spoke of a ‘three month campaign’ — which could mean as soon as January 2013. ‘I seek a renewed mandate from the people to continue to lead the state of Israel,’ he said. He said his government, which was about to mark four years in office, had been ‘the most stable in decades.’  It had made impressive achievements in the fields of security — including deployment of the Iron Dome anti-missile system, and progress on the Israel-Egypt border fence — and on the economy, even in the midst of global financial crisis. But there was still much work to be done — including thwarting Iran’s nuclear drive, defending Israel’s borders from terror and infiltration, maintaining Israel’s regional peace accords, protecting Israel’s interests in peace efforts with the Palestinians, and nurturing the economy, Netanyahu said.”

HEADLINES TO TRACK:

• Israeli jets down drone that entered airspace
• After drone, Israel deploys missile defense unit
• Magazine: A Truly Credible Military Threat to Iran — The Israelis and the Americans are zeroing in on a strike option that has a real chance of deterring the mullahs — and defusing Mitt Romney’s attacks

>> My spiritual journey: how my parents and I came to faith in Jesus Christ?

• Are you saved? If you died tonight, are you 100% certain you would spend eternity in heaven? Here’s a clear, concise explanation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• The Tehran Initiative — a political thriller about an American President pressuring an Israeli Prime Minister not to launch a preemptive strike against Iran
• Implosion: Can America Recover From Its Economic & Spiritual Challenges In Time?
• The Invested Life: Making Disciples of All Nations One Person At A Time
• Listen to the podcast of the “Implosion Radio Special”
• Help The Joshua Fund care for the poor and needy in Israel, teach the Word of God in the epicenter, educate and mobilize Christians around the world to bless poor and needy Israelis, train pastors and ministry leaders in Egypt, strengthen the believers in Syria, and prepare for a possible major new war in the epicenter — please prayerfully consider a generous, tax deductible financial contribution to The Joshua Fund.
• Follow Joel on Twitter — @joelcrosenberg
• www.epicenterconference.com