World Watch 7.8.23: Prophetic, Last Days News Just Like Jesus Said

Wars, Threats of Wars, People Group vs
People Group
Sheer Lawlessness

Jesus warned us, “Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” The Greek word for “nation” is “ethnos” from which we get our words “ethnic” and “ethnicity”. It’s also translated as “people group” against “people group”.

This is found in His Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, Luke 21, and Mark 13. Additionally, He said, “But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.”

Ukraine / Russia

Elsewhere Around the World…

Did the Muslims become stronger or the West become weaker?

France

Fifth night of riots in France that appear to be an organized attempt to destroy the country from within. Infrastructures such as power-grid poles are being destroyed. Agricultural fields are being burned down, big trucks are being hijacked and tourist buses are being attacked. It’s not about a dead Algerian teenager who disobeyed police orders. It’s a well planned and well organized operation!

The Tensions Tearing Apart France—and Challenging the European Union

The rioting that has taken place in France over the past several days represents just one of several major challenges that make it difficult for the European Union to know unity.
 
As I explain in chapter 6 of my book Foreshadows, the fastest-growing population in Europe is Muslims who immigrate from North Africa and the Middle East.
 
As adherents of Islam, these immigrants hold to dramatically different views on religion, culture, law, and more, and they are very resistant to assimilation in Europe.
 
This creates a no-win situation: The EU’s vision is to create a shared identity among all the peoples of Europe, yet many Muslims refuse to share in that vision. And political leaders are reluctant to crack down on Muslim-instigated crime because they fear it’ll spur riots like those now taking place in France.
 
The large Muslim populations all across Europe will always be among the friction points that disrupt the EU’s attempts to foster unity.
 
When Bible prophecy speaks of the revived Roman Empire (today’s European Union), which is depicted by the feet and toes of the statue in Daniel 2, it says this empire will be comprised of iron and clay, which do not mix. In other words, various tensions will exist that make unity a challenge. We’re certainly seeing that in the riots in France.  Foreshadows

• French Police Unions: “Today the police are in combat because we are at war. Tomorrow we will be in resistance” 
• Greece on Edge: Army of Muslims March Through Cyprus Holding Qurans: Shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ 

Sudan: Christians Killed, Ministries Damaged by Warring Factions

Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds wounded in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, since gun battles erupted in April between two heavily armed groups vying to control the country.

From 1989 to 2018, Sudan was ruled by radical Islamic dictator Omar al-Bashir, who sought to exterminate Christians and some ethnic African groups. Al-Bashir was removed from power in 2019 by a military council controlled by the country’s Islamist establishment. Division among that group has led to the current fighting.

Front-line workers report that some believers have been killed and some churches destroyed in the fighting. Local Christians feel that Christian facilities are being specifically targeted. Thousands of people are fleeing Khartoum, including Sudanese Christians who request prayers for their safety and for church facilities to be preserved.

Israel & the Middle East

Listen to this podcast to get the real story of what triggered the Muslim riots in France as well as a nice recap of what happened in Jenin, Israel…

Prophecy Today Weekend

A summary of events Within One Week in Israel by Amir Tsarfati

Is a War between Israel and Lebanon in the near future?

Unanimity among Lebanese politicians, “The Hezbollah organization may start a war with Israel to change the balance of power within Lebanon.”

Lebanon does not have a sitting president due to a lack of agreement on a suitable candidate.
Hezbollah is promoting its own candidate and is trying to forcefully enforce his election as a president who will serve their interests in Lebanon.

The opposition, for its part, does not surrender to Hezbollah, which raises two realistic possibilities:

• Assassinations of political rivals
• Starting a war with Israel

• An Israeli woman who studies jihadist groups kidnapped in Iraq. Israeli-Russian Elizabeth Tsurkov was kidnapped by the Iraqi Hezbollah brigades in March. Prime Minister’s Office: She is alive, we see Iraq as responsible for her fate and safety. Elizabeth Tsurkov received a doctorate from Princeton.
• Friday: For the second time in 24 hours: a Russian-American confrontation over Syria.
• Pakistan – Eurasia Education Foundation: Sponsors are needed for women abandoned in Afghanistan and who fled to Pakistan and are now impoverished and suffering. Many are eating grass to survive.
• The US Navy said it intervened to prevent Iran from seizing two commercial tankers — one managed by California-based Chevron — on Wednesday, in the latest in a series of attacks on ships since 2019.
  • In a statement, the Navy said that at 1 a.m. local time, an Iranian naval vessel had approached the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker TRF Moss in international waters in the Gulf of Oman.
  • “The Iranian vessel departed the scene when U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul arrived on station,” the statement said, adding that the Navy had deployed surveillance assets including maritime patrol aircraft.

Ezekiel 38

Find God’s promises to Israel in Genesis 12, 2 Samuel 7, Ezekiel 35-36, 37, 38 and 39.

For up-to-the-minute, breaking news from Israel, follow Amir Tsarfati on Telegram.

Increased Antisemitism

²⁴ When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— ²⁵ you spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant, saying,

‘Why were the nations so angry?
Why did they waste their time with futile plans?
²⁶ The kings of the earth prepared for battle; the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Messiah.’ (Psalm 2)

²⁷ “In fact, this has happened here in this very city! For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed. ²⁸ But everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will. ²⁹ And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. ³⁰ Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

Acts 4:24-30 NLT

Undoubtedly, we are witnessing the CONVERGENCE of numerous events — all prophesied in the Bible happening all at once! Unfortunately, things are going to get way worse before Jesus comes for His born-again believers in the Rapture.
Nevertheless, our hope is in knowing that HE is still in control!

Semeru, Indonesia

• Erta Ale volcano (Danakil depression, Ethiopia) field report: new eruption in southern pit crater
• Klyuchevskoy volcano (Kamchatka), Russia: Strombolian explosions continue
• Wednesday Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland: volcanic-seismic crisis began, 4700 earthquakes so far.

El Popo, Mexico

San Cristobal, Nicaragua:

Mayon, Philippines

• The northern Spanish city of Zaragoza was inundated by a heavy downpour in less than 20 minutes. The fire brigade had to rescue desperate people from their cars.
• The World just broke the hottest-day record for a third time this week.
• Lightning strikes in European eastern Alps doubled over the past 40 years 
• Smoke and haze from Canadian wildfires still plague the northeast U.S. from Chicago to New England.

Increased Satanic Evil, Sexual Immorality, Apostasy, False Teachings, Corruption, and Deception in the Last Days

• ‘Heretics’ to offer free ‘un-baptisms,’ and gender-affirming rituals at Washington’s State Capitol
• Pastor Jack Hibbs sounds the alarm on the Church abandoning scriptural truths to cater to the ‘woke’ culture.
• Islamic subversion in America

“Abraham Lincoln said, “America will never be defeated from outside. If we falter and lose our freedom, it will come from the inside.” I first learned that Islam was an invader and the enemy of humanity. Violence and blood were at the core of this ideology of hate. Put it simply, if I let Islam be, Islam doesn’t let me be. Islam doesn’t live by the same rules of reciprocity. Islam doesn’t recognize my rights and the rights of all non-Muslims. The punishment for leaving Islam is death. “Kill whoever changes his religion.” (Shaikh al-Bukhari 9:84:57)

Is an
Increase of Evil
a Sign of
the Last Days?

New World Order, Great Reset, Economic Chaos, Big Brother, & Government Overreach in the Last Days

Agenda 2030

The UN is Proposing it Be Given Complete Authority over Global Emergencies

The United Nations is planning to host a “Summit of the Future” conference in September 2024, at which member nations will be asked to commit themselves to what’s called Pact for the Future.
 
One of the proposals on the agenda is for the UN to be given authority over all emergency “global shock” events.
 
Back in March 2023, the UN secretary-general wrote, “I propose that the General Assembly provide the Secretary General and the United Nations system with a standing authority to convene and operationalize automatically an Emergency Platform in the event of a future complex global shock of sufficient scale, severity, and reach.”
 
This would grant the UN the authority to “ensure that all participating actors make commitments that can contribute meaningfully to the response and that they are held to account for delivery on those commitments.” In other words, the UN’s authority would supersede all other authorities.
 
Also ominous is the fact it will be up to the UN to decide what qualifies as a global shock. Foreshadows

• A UN “expert” says that religious beliefs must change to accommodate “LGBT Ideology”
• We may be in for the largest monetary shock not seen in 52 years
• Both the U.S. and EU are taking small steps toward geoengineering!
• 15 Minute Cities and the Digital Mark
• UK Gov’t Official Says The Next Pandemic Will Be Met With Masks And Lockdowns Because The People Have Now Been Trained To Accept It, And He’s Right

Alphabet Soup Key

Here’s a key to the global organizations and acronyms that you hear about in the news…

• IMF: International Monetary Fund
• WHO: World Health Organization
• WEF: World Economic Forum
• BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, among other countries
• CBDC: Central Bank Digital Currency
• Ai: Artificial Intelligence

Increased Christian Persecution

• Freedom Focus Report: Fulani Militant Attacks Against Nigeria’s Christians Escalate
• Simon, a 13-year-old persecuted Christian in Pakistan, falsely arrested
• China clamps down on Christians and fines a pastor and his wife for running an underground church.
• China: Please pray for a Chinese believer who was forced to take early retirement from his position as a high-ranking police officer because he was unwilling to publically deny Christ. He and his wife lead a church-plant and request prayer that this difficult situation will work out for the furtherance of the gospel.
• Egypt: Christians in small Egyptian villages suffer persecution, humiliation and oppression. Recently, some of the believers’ houses have been looted and burned. Pray for their protection.
• Egypt: Although Egypt’s constitution states that ‘freedom of belief is absolute’, conversion from Islam to another faith is not allowed and is punished via blasphemy laws. Social hostility towards converts is very high and even rumours of conversion can lead to mob violence. Pray for wisdom and strength for believers from Muslim backgrounds living out their faith in hostile environments.

*Name changed for security reasons

More on Christian Persecution

• Day of the Christian Martyr 2023
• Praying for the Persecuted Church
• Open Doors 2023 World Watch List on Christian Persecution

We must pray and speak out against persecution…

Nigeria: Potential Political Instability, Islamists Pose Danger to Christians:

A new Nigerian president was inaugurated in May, despite rivals claiming that the presidential election was marred with irregularities. Amid the political instability, Christians continue to be attacked, kidnapped and killed in various parts of the country. Islamists have killed or kidnapped thousands and displaced millions of people in the northeastern part of Nigeria in recent years. The Christian Association of Nigeria reported that on May 9, 2023, 20 Christians were abducted during a church service and haven’t been heard from since. “Nigeria has one of the highest rates of kidnapping in the world,” a front-line worker said.

• Indonesia – Lifewords: Give thanks for Ivo*, a Lifewords Pavement Project trainer in Indonesia, who provided in-person training and certification to three workers from a partner organisation. In a city considered the most closed city in Indonesia for the gospel, where there are only two Christian churches, and where the children themselves are at risk of certain persecution, Ivo said that “the expectation of the children being blessed by Pavement Project is great.”
• Laos: Give thanks for a family in north-eastern Laos who have trusted Christ and recently demonstrated their new faith by burning their spirit charms. They will likely face intense opposition from their neighbours in their village. Please pray that they will be strong in the Lord.
• Egypt: Baher also joined a youth discipleship group where he could grow in his faith. “Even though I cannot read, I learned to listen to God’s Word,” he says. “The audio Bible allows me to listen to the word of God daily and experience an intimate relationship with Him.” Pray that these groups can help more vulnerable young people become confident and courageous in their faith.
• Thailand – BMS World Mission: Praise God that BMS’ partnership with the Thailand Karen Baptist Convention (TKBC) has enabled the training and sending of women evangelists to plant churches. Pray God’s wisdom for BMS workers Paul and Sarah Brown as they work with TKBC.
• From Curiosity to Conversion: The Journey of MBBs in the Middle East

Korea: Camp Ministers to Young North Korean Defectors

For many North Korean defectors who successfully reach South Korea, adjusting to life outside the strict control of the North Korean regime can be difficult and overwhelming. According to one North Korean Christian who is ministering to defectors, such difficulty leads many defectors to succumb to hopelessness and materialism.

In May, this brother helped host a camp in central South Korea for the children of North Korean defectors, helping them find meaning and purpose through the good news of Jesus Christ. Pray for the ongoing outreach to this new generation as they learn the value of freedom in Christ.

*Name changed for security reasons

Jesus said…

“For the Good News must first be preached to all nations (peoples).”

Mark 13:10

Mozambique: Solar Powered Audio Bibles

There is a high level of illiteracy among the Yawo people in Mozambique and in other rural communities in this region, especially among women. Having the Word of God available on an audio device is so very valuable, in order that the people have the opportunity to encounter God for themselves.

Baba Z. is a Yawo man who has come to faith in Jesus Christ. It was through hearing the Word of God in his own heart language of Chiyawo, on a solar powered audio Bible, that this man came to love the Lord.
He believed what he had heard, and he understood who God is. God is drawing men and women to Himself as they listen to audio Bibles individually and in small groups.

Most rural villages do not have access to electricity, and so it is important that these audio Bibles are solar powered. They, therefore, can be easily recharged in the sunlight.

Help Spread the Good News of Jesus Christ all over the World!