“And the dragon was enraged with the woman (Israel), and went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Christians)“ – vs. 17

This verse is from Revelation 12, which tells the end-time story of the devil’s war with God and His children, the Jews and the Christians. While there are many elements to this story, persecution of God’s people is certainly one of the main ones. The Apostle Paul wrote – “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2Timothy 3:12). This is as true today as when he wrote it. The world and all who are of it can never be a friend to true Christians. It will always be as James declared –

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity
with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. – James 4:4.

Even though many Christians don’t seem to understand this, the world does!

Revelation 17 gives us a vivid picture of this principle. Here we are shown the picture of a woman arrayed in religious garments, rich in her splendor, riding on the back of the beast of Revelation, which represents the final revelation of Satan’s kingdom on earth. This “Mother of Harlots” represents the apostate church. She has compromised herself with the world, even to the point of persecuting the true saints. But, in the end the beast turns even on her – “And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire.” Here is wisdom: It is better to suffer for righteousness’ sake than to compromise with the world and then suffer the world’s wrath anyway – and God’s besides!

Nations are not much different than people except in one point; individuals will face the throne of God for judgment but nations are judged here and now. Certainly one point of judgment will be what we did with God’s people, both Jews and Christians. As I wrote in the article Beware the Trojan Horse, our country’s leaders are making decisions for which our country will pay a heavy price. They purposely sold out Egypt’s President Mubarak to radical Islamic forces, not only resulting in the turning over of advanced military weapons to terrorists, as is also happening in Libya, but also causing further persecution of Christians in Egypt.

Their actions are also strengthening Iran’s grip on the region and increasing the likelihood of an Islamic war with Israel. President Obama seems content with allowing Iran to develop nuclear weapons, allowing radical Islamic groups to take control of Egypt, Lebanon, and Libya. He is much harder on Israel for wanting to build needed homes for Israelis on Jewish land  than he is on the radical Islamic groups who rant and rave that we are the ‘Great Satan’, and who celebrate in the streets at every misfortune of America!

Japan’s government recently took a public stand against Israel demanding that they give up land given to them by God. Japan doesn’t believe God is real. Japan suffered a major earthquake and tsunami the week following this announcement and the disaster is not over yet! Is there no one in America’s leadership that fears God enough to reverse course of their anti-Israel actions?

I think the answer to that question is, NO! Therefore, we must prepare to stand for God in spite of the persecution that is coming. We must not be discouraged even though it may come through those who call themselves Christian. Remember Jesus’ promise to the Philadelphia Church – “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” – Revelation 3:10.

Here ends chapter Nine.

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Sadly, after a decade of years and two Presidents our leaders have not yet got the message – to not mess with God’s chosen peoples, both Jews and Christians! While under President Trump there seemed to be a turn back to God, the next administration has done it’s best to undue all he did and is right back on the track that leads to God’s judgment. I could list many anti-God and anti-Israel actions this administration has taken but, one will do. This administration is once again opening Iranian negotiations which will allow Iran to complete it’s nuclear ambitions.

This move alone greatly increases the chance for war as Israel and other Arab states will likely feel pressured into taking things into their own hands to stop Iran from going nuclear. Meanwhile, in the face of this administration’s apparent weakness all the other players (Russia, China, and Iran) are making war-like moves to threaten Israel and the United States.

“Rear Adm. Mike Studeman, the top intelligence officer, or J-2, for the East Asian command, said this last week that they are warning that “it’s danger on all fronts” in regards to Chinese military aggression and that it’s not just Taiwan that U.S. officials are concerned about.”

Meanwhile, this administration is ‘tweaking’ the Russian Bear and continuing to sleep over the Iranian and China threats.