You and I both know that terrorist organizations, and the rogue states that harbor and support them, are working feverishly to get their hands on weapons of mass destruction. Topping the list are nuclear weapons, followed closely by biological and chemical weapons.
As India and Pakistan face each other across the border of disputed Kashmir; more than one million armed men ready to erupt in pitched battle, the chilling reality is that both are now nuclear powers, and that the unleashing of nuclear weapons in the region could result, not only in the death of millions of people, but a widening war which would very likely bring in China, Russia, Israel, Iran and Iraq.
In an earlier commentary, I showed how America’s goal of "rooting out" terrorists is virtually impossible to achieve. Literally dozens of nations contain cells of terrorists — not all of them remotely a part of Bin Laden’s "Al Qaeda" organization — but all of them having the same goals. Those goals are nothing short of the total destruction of Israel, and forcing the United States out of the Mideast. A major goal includes either the conversion of America to Islam, or, failing this, the total destruction of America.
Will nuclear weapons soon be detonated in major American cities? It is POSSIBLE!
Within only 3 years or so, it will be highly PROBABLE! The major reason for believing that Bin Laden’s thugs did not yet possess nuclear weapons is because if they had, they would have used them!
Near the end of 2001, the former president of Iran, Ali Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, spoke at the Tehran University near the end of Ramadan. The English-language "Iran News" for December 15th quoted him as saying, "If one day the world of Islam comes to possess the weapons currently in Israel’s possession [obvious reference to Israel’s nuclear stockpiles], on that day this method of global arrogance would come to a dead end. This is because the use of a nuclear bomb in Israel will leave nothing on the ground, whereas it will only damage the world of Islam."
These chilling words should serve as a dire warning! There are more than 1 billion Muslims in the world, in dozens of nations. Within many, if not most of those nations, fanatic Islamic fundamentalists work together to overthrow local governments, recruit young, idealistic men as suicide bombers and terrorists, spread the evil poison of their perverted philosophy among the populace, and to construct weapons of mass destruction.
We do not like to admit it, but we are already in the grips of a WORLD WAR! The place of this war is the whole world. The stakes are total. The implacable, determined enemy is "out there," and he is HERE, within us, and within every other democratic, free nation!
When Fidel Castro of Cuba visited Iran in May of 2001, he said, "Today there is a king in the world a thousand times stronger than the shah you overthrew, and that is the imperialist king living next to my homeland. However, this imperialist king will finally fall, just as your king was overthrown...Iran and Cuba, in cooperation with each other, can bring America to its knees. The U.S. regime is very weak, and we are witnessing this weakness from close up."
Castro is also cozy with Saddam Hussein, and many another rogue leaders. Cuba is known to have been working on biological and chemical weapons for decades. It is also known than many former East German scientists, along with a number of dispossessed scientists from the former Soviet Union, have sought cushy posts in the military research and development departments of rogue nations. Some of them are also from North Korea, China, Iraq and Iran.
It is KNOWN, now, that several rogue nations are only a few years, perhaps only a few months, away from developing and stockpiling their own nuclear weapons.
Thanks to the previous administration’s "trade" policies, China now has a number of ICBM’s with nuclear warheads which are RIGHT NOW aimed at America’s major cities!
The rogue nations working on the development of weapons of mass destruction include Iraq and Iran! What should the US do? Wait until they have completed their programs, and then "negotiate" with them? Should we depend upon the concept of "MAD" (Mutually-Assured Destruction) which was the policy of the protracted cold war with the Soviet Union?
Should the US be willing, in other words, to absorb a major nuclear strike at, say, New York and Los Angeles, or at Houston and Seattle, and then retaliate with such massive destruction as to obliterate the attacker?
But what if the attacker is unknown? What if a madman steals a nuclear-powered, ballistic-missile equipped submarine? What if Iran, already possessing submarines purchased from the former Soviet Union, becomes capable of launching nuclear missiles from beneath the sea? China also is working on such attack submarines, and already possesses missile-capable destroyers and cruisers.
Even if the attacker is known, supposing it to be Iran, any US nuclear response against Iran would only dent the huge, globally-distributed population of virulent Islamic believers, who would only work all the harder to bring America to its knees.
The United States Government has equated the nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs of rogue nations with an actual attack. Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld has said that when "extremists" seek weapons of mass destruction, then a military strike from the US against such a nation, which otherwise might be seen as "offensive" is in reality "defensive." He said, "Self-defense means you must go after them. You don’t have a choice. And that gets you to pre-emptive strikes. It’s not a tough call for me."
Perhaps Mr. Rumsfeld was remembering Israel’s strike at Osiraq in the early 1980's, when Saddam Hussein was only two weeks or so away from being able to produce fissionable material from a nearly-completed nuclear plant.
The Iraqi reactor, located in a suburb of Baghdad, was only 600 miles from Israel’s largest city, Tel Aviv. Israel already knew, as was evidenced in the gulf war, that Saddam possessed SCUD missiles capable of hitting Tel Aviv. While SCUDS with conventional warheads may be notoriously inaccurate, and more of a terror weapon than a tactical one, a SCUD equipped with a nuclear warhead would not need to be nearly so accurate.
Israel did not try to form a coalition. They did not ask for United Nations’ permission. They did not inform the US. They did not seek allies. They did not worry about "world public opinion." No, their very survival was at stake.
So they acted. They sent a flight of F-16 fighter-bombers to Osiraq, and bombed it into rubble! They did so only two weeks before it was scheduled to come on line! Kowtowing to "world public opinion" the US sternly condemned the Israeli raid!
Today, the US looks at future military operations in such places as the Philippines and Somalia! But the Philippines, a "friendly" nation, and Somalia, virtually a non-nation without any cohesive government, are "safe" places for the US to intervene militarily — at least, in a strategic sense. Who would rise up and challenge the US for bombing suspected terrorist training camps in the dusty deserts of Somalia? Perhaps it is this very fact which makes Somalia and the Philippines so attractive? But if so, it shows hesitancy, if not downright timidity, on the part of the government and military planners. Is our leadership still intimidated by other nations, principally Russia and China? Has one, or several other nations now become the primary discussion in the situation room in the White House, which for decades, when facing another crisis like that in Vietnam, always asked, "Yes, but what will the Russians do?"
But SOMALIA IS ONLY A TINY PART OF THE PROBLEM! Both Somalia and the Philippines have active Al Qaeda cells, but are their governments working day and night on weapons of mass destruction?
The big problems are in IRAN and IRAQ!
Will the US have the courage; the power, and the WILL to destroy the nuclear, chemical and biological capabilities of both Iran and Iraq before it is everlastingly too late?
Today’s World Conditions Prophesied
For decades, I have warned our peoples of the impending GREAT TRIBULATION which is to strike America, Britain, and our brother nations. The term merely means "a time of great trouble," which Christ defined as a time of "wars and rumors of wars." We have now entered that time! Christ said to them, "Take heed that no man deceive you.
"For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
"And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
"For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
"All these are the beginning of sorrows" (Matthew 24:4-8). How much sorrow is there, in the wake of the events of September 11th, 2001? How much anguish of soul, how much pain? Thousands of families in heartbroken sorrow because of the grisly death of loved ones; thousands of families in foreign nations grieving over the death of loved ones; tens of thousands and millions of families on emotional tenterhooks, wondering if their husbands, fathers and sons will soon be dying on distant battlefields.
How much sorrow of heart will there be if a rogue nation or a group of terrorists manage to explode an atomic bomb in the heart of a large American city, or in Tel Aviv?
Daniel’s prophecy dovetails with those of Christ. He said, "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
"And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever" (Daniel 12:1-3).
A "time of trouble such as never was" is completely unique. It is the same time of which Christ spoke, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
"And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened" (Matthew 24:21,22).
The time setting of Daniel’s 12th chapter is clearly at the time of the tribulation, the heavenly signs (Matthew 24:29,30, with Revelation 7) and the Day of the Lord (Joel 2:30-32). These stupendous events culminate in the intervention of God on earth, and the return of Jesus Christ as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, to WAGE WAR against the murdering, hating, rebellious nations!
John saw this event in vision, "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
"His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
"And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God [see John’s 1st chapter].
"And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
"And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
"And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
"And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
"That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
"And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army [see my booklet, "The Beast of the Apocalypse, What is it?" It is published here on the web site].
"And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
"And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh (Revelation 19:11-21).
Christ commands His true believers to pray, "Thy kingdom come" and to "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (Luke 21:36).
You live in a world where America stands virtually ALONE. Yes, we have allies, but they are few and far between. Primarily, America’s allies are Britain and Israel. Much of Europe distrusts the US, while giving lip service to American policies. The Germans were content for decades to build up their vibrant economy while dwelling under the American "nuclear umbrella." Today, they seek to take a part in global affairs commensurate with their economic and military strength.
Our peoples live under CONSTANT THREAT!
The crazed "shoe bomber" who was subdued by crew and passengers aboard an airliner enroute from Paris to Miami is a member of Al Qaeda! This gives proof that the national alerts issued by Homeland Defense and the military were not crying "wolf wolf." It was only as a result of courageous passengers and a female flight attendant (who was severely bitten) that those people were spared, and that another airliner was not blasted out of the sky with no evidence as to why! Would we have been told it was merely another unfortunate accident, and perhaps the "tail came off" or an "engine fell off?"
Can the US make war against Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Libya, Cuba, North Korea and China ALL AT THE SAME TIME? We know better!
God says our leaders have, for decades now, been depending on our "lovers" which we have hired — a process He calls spiritual adultery! Note it, "How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!
"She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies" (Lamentations 1:1,2).
As Secretary of State Colin Powell shakes hands with the President of Pakistan, on a mission to Pakistan and India to try to avert a nuclear war, it is with the full knowledge that the Pakistanis set up the Taliban in Afghanistan! He knows that the majority of Pakistanis HATE the United States. He knows the majority are Islamic fundamentalists. He knows tens of thousands of them rioted in the streets when the US bombing campaign began in Afghanistan.
He also knows that Pakistan’s president could be overthrown or assassinated at any time!
Consider our "lover," Saudi Arabia! Bin Laden is a Saudi. So were the majority of the 9/11 murderers! So were the real leaders of the Taliban; the heads of "Al Qaeda" cells there, and elsewhere! While the US built huge air bases and military facilities in Saudi Arabia; the Saudis prevented the US from using those bases to attack fellow Muslims in Afghanistan! The Saudi government is corrupt. The US knows it, and the average Saudi Arab knows it. Remember the massive riots in Mecca, and the occupation of that city by dissidents? These, then, are the nations upon which the US DEPENDS for aid and cooperation in the Mideast! What a remarkable fulfillment of prophecy!
Now, consider this: The prophecies of your Bible say that the Beast power will suddenly come into the Mideast, occupying Israel, Egypt, and nations to the southeast, and that "Put and Cush," very likely meaning Pakistan and India, "will be at his steps," or mark the farthest line of his advance. Ethiopia, Somalia, and others of the oil-rich Persian Gulf Sheikdoms. will also be occupied. Here is that prophecy, "And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
"He shall enter also into the glorious land [Modern-day Israel], and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom [Turkey], and Moab [perhaps Iraq], and the chief of the children of Ammon [Jordan. Jordan’s capital is "Amman"].
"He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape [is a future Egyptian leader to become the notorious "King of the South?"]
"But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians [Cush and Put. Not necessarily the present-day political entities, but the races which dwell in Pakistan and India] shall be at his steps.
"But tidings out of the east and out of the north [RUSSIA AND CHINA! A nuclear war will be underway!] shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many [The Beast power will attack first, when they learn an attack against them is imminent!].
"And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him" (Daniel 11:40-45).
It is highly significant that Pakistan and India are looming large in global concern today, as they square off over disputed Kashmir! Both nations are nuclear armed!
How Does All Of This Affect YOU, Personally?
As we look at the spectacle of ENRON officials bailing out, harvesting millions for themselves, while leaving their own employees penniless; as we see America ridden with crimes of every sort; murders, rape, arson, theft, school shootings, it should be a lesson to us of how calloused, how disinterested, uninformed, and uninvolved the average American is in anything but his or her own lust, anger, and selfish, personal interests!
But Christ warns us, "But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by" (Luke 21:9). The purpose of my messages is NOT TO TERRIFY! It is to WARN! It is to WITNESS! Why? Because, as Ezekiel said, "When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
"Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
"Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?
"Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn [repent!] ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" (Ezekiel 33:8-11)
Christ tells His people, "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
"Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth [many will topple over with heart attacks!]: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
"And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
"And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh" (Luke 21:24-28).
Paul urged the people in Thessalonika, "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
"For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
"For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
"But ye, brethren, are not in darkness [certainly, those who have listened to my television and radio programs for over 40 years; the members of many, many of the groups which have sprung up from the former WCG, and thousands still in the apostate WCG KNOW the truth about world events!], that that day should overtake you as a thief.
"Ye are all the children of light [the truth!], and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
"Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober" (1 Thessalonians 5:1-6).
Paul says we need to be ALERT and AWAKE to the dangers all around us, not the least of which is the danger of letting down our spiritual guard, and beginning to TREAT ONE ANOTHER BADLY!
Christ warned, "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
"Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
"Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
"Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
"But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
"And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
"The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of [because he has gotten his mind off of these major world events, and is looking inwardly]
"And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 24:44-51).
Remember, as Daniel said, "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever" (Daniel 12:3). Those who are a PART of this work of witness and warning WORK are doing just that!
This is a work of RESCUE! It is a work which is being accomplished by many who were once "put out" of a former church organization! God says to them, "Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed" (Isaiah 66:5).
As I have said so often, WATCH, and pray always!
