This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program originally aired on June 29, 2022.  To listen to the program, please click HERE.

Sam Rohrer:                      Well, if it seems to you like current headline news is increasingly highlighting the reality of war, such as the rapidly expanding Russia-Ukraine, war, which is quickly broadening. If you’re following the news of the day, you are seeing this in print, a broadening to a Russia-NATO war, and used repeatedly, a full-fledged world war. So if it seems that the rumor of war between China and Taiwan or China and the United States or between Iran and Israel or any literally dozens of other ongoing wars and conflicts that are not talked about, but ongoing, they seem to be increasing in terms of volume and velocity.

If you think that, I’d say you’re right. But as we say so often on this program, remember in these days, remember the words of Jesus to his disciples, and to us today here recorded in Matthew 24:6, where Christ says effectively, “Don’t be perplexed and sidetracked effectively into deception the mark of this day.” He said, “For these things must come to pass.” And remember, while evil leaders driven by the devil are today very much at work and think they are in charge, God’s plan, which involves war, and a just war, where he will ultimately subdue and bring into submission all of the arrogant in the evil Kings of the earth, God almighty is the one who is truly in charge.

So today on our bimonthly Israel and prophecy update, we’re going to focus again on Israel and biblically prophesied wars that directly involve Israel and her neighbors and others. Most may be imminently fulfilled. Some have already been fulfilled. Some are going to be fulfilled a short time into the future. But when God tells his people, us, you and me, to be alert to note the signs of his return, as in the rapture, the second coming following the great tribulation period and that this entire time period is marked by increasing wars and rumors of wars with a shift of the world’s attention to Israel and the middle east. We really must note these things and apply this knowledge to our life today as Christians.

So today, Dr. Jamie Mitchell and I are going to, again, talk with Bill Salus, founder of Prophecy Depot Ministries, as we focus on enormously relevant Bible prophecy as it relates directly to Israel. My title for today’s program is this, Israel, Biblical Prophecy and the Pre Tribulation Wars. And those are all keywords and we’re going to go into that in just a moment. Bill, thanks for calling in today and being with us on this program. We always look forward to it.

Bill Salus:                            Absolutely, Sam and Jamie. Good to be with you both.

Sam Rohrer:                      Bill, before we get into the very specific prophesied wars involving Israel’s military, now referred to as the Israeli Defense Forces, IDF, and when these wars either have occurred, may very soon occur or will occur down the road. That’s where we’re going to go today. I’d like for you to briefly explain why. Except when God gave Israel peace, following that long military campaign of King David long ago, why is it that Israel and war always seem to be the norm and certainly describes the prophesied portions of scripture that we’re going to consider today? Why is that?

Bill Salus:                            Well, the Jewish people are God’s chosen people. They’re an integral part of the Abraham unconditional covenant that God gave to Abraham, that he would have a great nation. And of course, that would include the descendants, the chosen people, as well as the land, the promised land, et cetera. And in the past, God has had to use wars in the cases like the Babylonian empire, the Persian conquest. And in the Babylonian empire, they conquered the Jews in Judah in a disciplinary act for 70 years because they were apostate out of fellowship from God. So he’s used wars in the past to discipline his people. And also he’s used wars like with the Persian empire who conquered the Babylonian empire for the 70 years of dispersion and desolation of the land of Judah to restore the chosen people back to him.

So in those types of scenarios God was involved in, we would say God ordained or just wars toward the benevolence of his people. And of course, that’s important because through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, a seed was promised, which became the Messiah Jesus Christ, to which all the families of the Earth would be blessed. So of course there was, and there’s always been attacks of the Jews because of the chosen people and they wanted to capture the promised land, like the Gideon’s wars, the Midianite and things like that. So it’s God’s special relationship with the Jewish people that have initiated some of these wars. Some got ordained, some just evil empires, trying to kill the chosen people or take over the promised land.

Jamie Mitchell:                 Bill, we just love talking about prophecy here on Stand In the Gap as you do so well. Can you take us to maybe a 10,000 foot level? And can you establish the chronology of Israel’s past, present and future as it relates to God’s promise to Abraham? And really give us the overall plan of redemption throughout human civilization.

Bill Salus:                            Yeah. So the past we understand that, as I mentioned, God was disciplining and/or restoring his people through wars. In many cases, major wars of the empires of the Babylonian and the Persians. In the present, of course, God has brought the Jews back into the land and fulfillment of many prophecies because he has plans to make his holy name known through his people, Israel. And that’s in Ezekiel 38, a major war that’s forthcoming. So he’s brought the Jews back into the land for his other dispensational purpose to let the nations know he’s God. He’s a promise keeper, covenant keeper of the Abraham covenant.

And of course, the wars that were preempted in modern time, 1948, 1967, 1973, the Arabs against Jews, those wars were brought because there’s a resistance to try to have God’s plan fulfilled through his chosen people. There’s future wars still coming, because those wars were mainly just stage setting, those three major wars. I talked about [inaudible 00:06:39]. They were just stage setting for the bigger wars that’s going to start to come where there’d literally be Arab attempts to just destroy the nation of Israel, take over the promised land, kill the Jews, even Iran, as you know. And it’s in the news now. They’re trying to do the same thing. Islam is coming against the Jews, et cetera. It does not befriend the Jewish people. So we’re looking at an overview of the situation of God’s holy plan of redemption through the Jewish people involving in the past disciplinary restoration processes, in the future, getting ready to prepare them so that the world will know through them that God is as a covenant keeper of the Abraham covenant.

Sam Rohrer:                      Once that’s all completed, Bill, that walks us into the thousand year millennial reign when Jesus actually rules from Jerusalem and Israel, recognizes that Jesus was, in fact, the Messiah. And so ladies and gentlemen, all of that is ahead. We’re not going to go into all of that today, but that’s a part of this long, big chronology that’s all about God. It’s not about us. It’s all about God, all about Jesus Christ. And so we’re going to go into that now in the next segment. Again, our theme today, Israel, Biblical Prophecy and Pre Tribulation wars. We’ll begin to look right now at some wars passed, and some wars around us. We’ll begin moving in those wars that are yet to happen, we think before the tribulation.

Sam Rohrer:                      If you’re just joining us, today is one of our bimonthly Israel and prophecy update programs. Our special guest is Bill Salus, founder of Prophecy Depot Ministries. He’s been with us multiple times. He has a website at prophecydepot.com loaded with information. And I would encourage you, go back on our website, standinthegapradio.com, or on your app. And you can search there for prophecy, Israel. We have all of these different programs linked together in a way that really truly, I really do believe that you could get one of the best educations on this matter of prophecy and Israel and it’s application for today by listening to those programs that you can find anywhere. Anyways, let me get right into it. We have a lot to cover, but just wanted to mention that before we go into the second segment.

The Bible speaks a lot about war. We commented on that, but of course, peace. In fact, the Bible says in Revelation chapter 12:7, there’s actually going to be a war fought in heaven. Think about that. But war in heaven between Michael the arch angel, God’s military leader, and his angelic troops and the Devil, called the dragon in that verse, and his demonic angelic troops, all fallen angels.

God told Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 28, now down on the earth, all that’s up in heaven, the one I just talked about. But in Deuteronomy chapter 28, God told his people that if they feared him and obeyed his commands, that one of God’s very evident blessings would be peace, and significantly peace with their enemies. Even their enemies shall be at peace with you. That’s what God says.

There is truly a peace that comes on the other side of war. God told Israel that very thing, and by so doing all of the nations of the world, including us today. But when sin comes forth and people led of the Devil and rejecting of God, arrogant and proud, and they choose their own way, it always ends up in war and pain and suffering. It’s the consequences of sin and the consequence, at times, of God’s justice, which we just talked about in the last segment, when God exercises his wrath against Satan and his rebellious hosts and against sin and all people who follow the Devil and sin rather than bowing in submission to the God of heaven. Now that’s really the big picture, all put together. That’s what everything is about that drives all that we see in here.

Okay Bill, let’s get into it now. Looking at the details of biblical prophecy relating to Israel and this concept of war in Israel, can you take just a quick look back at prophesied wars, perhaps now long past, but which the word of God foretold. Put that on the table and then we’ll start looking around us then.

Bill Salus:                            That’s a great question. The interesting thing is that God always did foretell of wars, especially when it came to wars with the discipline or restoration of the chosen people, the Jewish people. We talked about two examples in the first segment dealing with Babylon and with Persia. And I’ll just read a couple prophecies real quick so that the listeners can understand that God forewarns of these wars for the purposes that he has in store for the benevolence of his people, but also for the benevolence of mankind through redemption.

We’re told in Jeremiah, the first one comes up with that the Jews would be held into captivity. It says in Jeremiah 25, “The Lord of hosts, because you apostates have not heard my words, behold, I will send you and take all of your families to the north, says the Lord. And Nebuchadnezzar, who was the king of Babylon at the time, will come against you in the land of Judah.”

And of course, that’s what happened. Nebuchadnezzar came in three different sieges. And Jeremiah 25:10 says, “The whole land of Judah will be a desolation and an astonishment. They shall serve the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, for 70 years.” So it was foretold that, due to their apostate condition, they would be disciplined. And Nebuchadnezzar specifically would conquer them. And the land would be desolate for 70 years. But it says in response to that restoration process in Jeremiah 29 verses 10 and 12, “The Lord says after 70 years are completed in captivity in Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you, the Jews, and cause you to return to this place, for I know the thoughts I think towards you, says the Lord of peace and not of evil to give you a future and a hope”, which is often quoted by pastors. Encouragement, too, there is assemblies because that’s the Lord’s heart, thoughts of peace and not evil to his children, to his believers.

Then Cyrus of course, when he was the king of the Persian empire and conquered the Jews… Not the Jews, the Babylonians after 70 years, he was the one who came out and said this. Says King Cyrus in Isaiah 45, “All the [inaudible 00:13:05] of the earth are the Lord God of heaven. He has given to me and he is commanding me to build him a house, the second Jewish temple that would be at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.” And he said, “The God of Israel is the true God.” So it’s interesting how the Lord will foretell these events for the purposes of his dispensations. And then he will actually empower. He can empower empires to do his work. And in this case, of course, there were wars involved with the Babylonians and with the Persians.

Jamie Mitchell:                 Bill, probably in my lifetime and yours, there have been numerous wars that have been around us. And many of those wars have involved Israel. Can you help our listeners understand and identify some of those wars, especially those involving Israel and the biblical references associated with them and when they occurred and their significance?

Bill Salus:                            Right. Well, the thing that we need to be watching for in modernity with the modern history is that the Jewish people coming back into the land are being brought back into the land by God. It’s a sovereign foretold event. They’ve been in the land since 1948, even prior to that. But Israel was restored as a nation in 1948. And the Arab countries around them who voted against their being in Israel in the United nations in 1947, went to war with them in 1948. A lot of those countries are involved in a prophecy in Psalm 83, which I believe that war sort of stage set for the coming fulfillment of the final climactic, including Arab-Israeli war in Psalm 83 prophecy.

But then there were also wars that followed in 1940 and 1967, the six day war where Israel took back all of Jerusalem. And then there was a war in 1973. And now, those wars involved Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. So there’s been this hostility of the Jews that, even though Egypt and Jordan have fragile peace treaties, respectively, with Israel. We’re going to see, according to biblical prophecies, that these peace treaties are fragile and that there’s going to be a massive war in the middle east in fulfillment of numerous biblical prophecies sort of under the umbrella of Psalm 83.

Sam Rohrer:                      Okay, Bill. And that’s a perfect segue, let’s walk right into that. You’ve identified the ones in our distant modernity, you’re calling it, on our distant time where we can actually look back and see them. But you reference, there are a series, perhaps, of wars that must yet take place. And they will take place biblically prior to the one most people think about of Ezekiel 38 and 39, you often refer to Psalm 83. Start laying those on the table here for us, because that I would think, really those become potentially very, very close to where we are now time wise.

Bill Salus:                            That’s right, because they involve most of them that we’ll talk about here in a sort of a nutshell summary, involve these Israeli Defense Forces who exist in fulfillment of biblical prophecies. Ezekiel 37:10 says, “Israel will be brought back into the land and they’ll become an exceedingly great army, from refugees to an exceedingly great army.” And of course, Israel at this day and age, is a great army. And after these wars that we’re going to talk about, they will be an exceedingly great army. And these wars are actually wars that the church might experience because when you understand the tribulation period, it’s broken in two compartments, two segments. The first half, the Jews are living in peace. The Israeli Defense Forces are not going to war, not fighting off Arabs or Iran or anything like that because they believe they’re in a condition of peace. Now, it’s a pseudo peace because it gets broken into mid part of the tribulation when the antichrist goes into the Jewish temple, which will exist at that time. And he abominates the temple.

In the second half, the Jews are fleeing for their lives because the antichrist comes out of the temple and he proceeds to do a genocidal attempt campaign against the Jewish people. So the Israeli Defense Forces are not involved at all in the tribulation period. They’re not involved in the Ezekiel 38 prophecy either because it’s God who comes to their rescue in that massive war against Russia, Iran, Turkey, coalition of nine members that come against Israel in the Ezekiel 38.

So what we have to go is, “Well, what’s going to happen before? What could the church actually experience?” And then you have things dealing with Iran. Although the Israeli Defense Forces are not specifically listed as in that war, in Jeremiah chapter 49 there sounds like a nuclear war, Jeremiah chapter 49 versus 34 through 39. And I would say since we don’t have time to rifle all these off here in your program, I would let your listeners know that I have a DVD out. It’s a prophetic documentary called The Pre Tribulation Prophecies. They can get that at prophecydepot.com. Prophecy Depot like homedepot.com, but in that, they’ll find that.

So also, the Israeli Defense Forces are involved in the destruction of Damascus in Isaiah 17. The Israeli Defense Forces are involved in taking over the Gaza Strip in [inaudible 00:18:04] chapter two. The Israeli Defense Forces are involved in conquering the Palestinians once and for all in Obadiah chapter one and other prophecies. The Hezbollah, Israeli Defense Forces are involved in that in the Psalm 83 prophecy under Psalm 83:7. Israeli Defense Forces go against Jordan in numerous prophecies. Even though that peace treaty exists, it will not exist in the future. And that’s in Isaiah 11, Jeremiah 49, Ezekiel 25. These references are all on the DVD. Egypt, that peace treaty is also very fragile too. Isaiah 19 talks about a confrontation with Israel and Egypt, Israeli Defense Forces, in which Egypt’s entire economy collapses. The details are very specific and Isaiah 19, one through 18. And there’s Saudi Arabia, they’re also involved in Psalm 83. All these countries are involved Psalm 83, except Iran. And so-

Sam Rohrer:                      Okay. And Bill, just hold that. Just hold it. I’ll ask you to complete that in the next segment, but ladies and gentlemen, you get the idea. Bill just cited a couple of those references, but these are biblical references that refer to wars with Israel and folks around them. And he named them, they’re all right there. They would appear not to have been fulfilled yet. And so I’m going to ask him about that. And we’re going to go into some further discussion about these wars that lead us right into the tribulation period.

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Sam Rohrer:                      Well, in the last segment we began to move into, and Bill, you went through a lot of the list about eight different prophesied wars that mentioned scripture with the Israeli Defense Forces, when Israel, as you talk about scripturally, having a mighty military like they do now. Ones with Iran, Syria, Hamas, Palestinians, Hezbolla, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia is where you went last time.

And there’s another one with just other neighbors generally. Complete that thought so we have the big picture here of this extensive conflict, all these different people all mentioned in scripture. And I want to ask you a question in relating to that then as you do that. And that is this, why does God give us so much specificity in regard to these kinds of things that have happened, that are yet to happen. Answer some of that as you walk through and you complete this entire list of, you were saying, are wars that have not yet been fulfilled.

Bill Salus:                            Right, I’ll address the specificity first. God already knows the details of the events. He’s seen every different camera angle because he lives outside of time. He’s not strung within time. He knows the future. And he says in Isaiah 46, 9 through 10, “I’m God, there’s none like me. I’m God. I know of no other declaring the end from the beginning and things which have not yet come.” And so he gives us specific details, one, because it authenticates his sovereignty and he knows what those details are from every viewpoint. But also because he wants us to know about these and be prepared for the events as it comes forward, because some of these wars, especially the ones coming, are globally impacting. The middle east wars we just talked about are not just going to affect the middle east. The [inaudible 00:21:13] will probably be shut down. Oil will be cut off and that could happen very soon with Iran. Other things are going to happen that will affect economies and things like that. So God wants us to know what’s coming.

And then when you get into the tribulation type wars, the people who get left behind after the rapture, those people, they really need to know what’s going on because those are major global impacting events that happen with the sealed judgements and the types of things that go on. So that’s the thing now.

With respect to the middle east right now, the Arab attempt to wipe Israel off the map, the Iranian attempt to wipe Israel off the map, it will not stand because God has made promises that he will make his holy name known through his people of Israel. And that’s going to happen soon, probably before the tribulation. And that’s in Ezekiel 38, which is a major war. Now the Israeli Defense Forces are not involved in that war, but these Israeli Defense Forces are the instrument God will use in the near future to defeat off the enemies around them that share common borders with them. And they’re in the Psalm 83 confederacy.

That would also include Saudi Arabia where we left off. Saudi Arabia does, even though there’s talk about it now, will Saudi Arabia become another member of the Abraham accord? They are involved in prophecies in Ezekiel 25, Jeremiah 49 and Ezekiel 38. To state otherwise, even though they may become peaceful with Israel on some level, which I highly doubt. They will be involved in biblical prophecies of war nature. And they will also be defeated as well. So these things, all this information is in our possession. And yet, so many pastors unfortunately are not even teaching this stuff.

Jamie Mitchell:                 Bill, that’s exactly what I’m sitting here and I’m thinking to myself. And probably, our listening audience is thinking to themselves, “Why am I not hearing this in my church?” Why has pastors… And this is my experience. The last 15 or 20 years, they have abandoned teaching prophecy. And even more concerning, Bill, if you just would take a moment and address this. There seems to be a movement away from a pre tribulational view of the end times and a movement towards a post tribulational view. And it’s drift is, I think, putting the church and God’s people in peril. Is that what you’re seeing? And why do you think this is happening?

Bill Salus:                            Well, I’m definitely seeing it. I think there are reasons. Most of them not very good reasons. For the churches not to teach prophecies. They’re straying away from prophecy. And it will answer other question too, about the trend toward post tribulationalism.

There’s pastoral laziness, appeasing the felt, need the social gospels that the church has, the fear of the controversy, the divisiveness that prophecy can happen. Listen, any time biblical prophecy is talking about tribulation periods and things like that, are not warm and fuzzy messages. And so, they try to stay away from it. Now some of them are just intimidated by biblical prophecy and I understand that, but they can still have guest speakers come, like myself or whatever, to teach on prophecy. But we’re told in Timothy II 3:16, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. That’s all 31,000 plus verses, which includes about a third of them that are predictive in their nature. And it’s profitable for doctrine, for reprove, for correction, for instruction and righteousness.

Also, we’re told in Acts 20:27 that Paul said, “I have not shunned to declare the whole council of God.” But these pastors are not declaring the whole council of God. They’re only, in many cases, just teaching what they feel is a message that’ll continue to fill their pews. And in essence, what they’re doing is Satan is allowing through them to teach [inaudible 00:24:58] through the church. These pastors need to let people know what’s going on. At some point, when these predictive wars we talked about happen, they’re going to be held accountable. People are going to go up to their pastors and go, “Why’d you never teach us about that? I got caught off guard. I was not prepared. And all of a sudden, now my life is adversely affected.” So, those kinds of things.

The other thing too, with respects to the dilemma, is that if you look at post tribulationalism, what’s the number one thing that is important for someone to understand right now is that Jesus Christ could come at any given time. And if you were expecting and anticipating that blessed hope to happen at any given time, you would live a more righteous life and more holy life. You’d be called to evangelism. That’s exactly the opposite of what post tribulationalism teaches. And that also gets twisted up with [inaudible 00:25:44] and that sort of thing.

We’re getting into a lot of different theology here, but the point is that there’s a teaching out there that the church is actually going to create a better environment in the earth. There’s no rule of millennium, that’s allegorized in Revelation chapter 20. And that until the church makes it suitable for the Lord’s return, he won’t return. And that’s [inaudible 00:26:08]. And that’s a dangerous teaching because we need to realize Jesus could come at any given time. And therefore, we would be living more righteous lives called to duty, to evangelize, be concerned for our loved ones that are going to be left behind and that sort of thing. And the scripture information is very clear that according to, there’s just a few arguments, we’re going to be saved from wrath through Jesus Christ. That’s going to come in the tribulation. That’s in Roman chapter five, we’re not appointed to this wrath that’s going to come on a [inaudible 00:26:38] humanity that God’s going to deal in the tribulation. That’s in Thessalonians I, 5. It’s Jesus who delivers us from this wrath. It’s very clear, Thessalonians I. We’re going to be kept from the hour of trial that comes over the earth in Revelation chapter three.

And we’re to comfort one another with these words. And that’s what the pre tribulation rapture message is about, to be comforted and to be aware of the fact that Jesus could come at any given time.

Sam Rohrer:                      Bill, we’re going to go into more detail on that, ladies and gentlemen, as well in the next segment. And that’s going to be part of it. What do you do with this information and how do we live it out? And Bill’s already giving some indication. We talk about it a lot, but we need to be reminded of this. In a time when the world says obviously nothing about God, when all of what we see is anti God. And that’s the strange thing, Jamie, that you mentioned, why so many pulpits are quiet at a time when we’re actually seeing the literal words of scripture come alive.

Bill, here’s a question I have for you. I don’t have it as a part of the agenda. We haven’t talked about it, but I want to ask you this. And it comes into what we were just talking about from your perspective and what you think scripture lays out. Why is it necessary for Jesus Christ and rapture to take out this church that we call the bride that has been in this formation period for these 2,000 years when Christ was resurrected, talked about building the church. We’re in this window of time. Why is it that the church does not go through that time of wrath? You read scriptures that we’re not, but why?

Bill Salus:                            Well, that’s a good question, but it’s the Lord’s will that we are not to go through that period of tribulation, the worst seven years. It’s a seven year time span, the worst seven years on the Earth’s timeline, that this present Earth has an expiration date, which will be compacted in the seven years when God pours out his wrath on a Christ-rejecting humanity through the judgments, seven seal judgments, seven trumpet judgments, and sequentially, seven bold judgements through which his wrath is fulfilled to the seven bold judgements in the second half of that tribulation. Jesus Christ yearns to come get his bride.

A friend of mine, many of your audience might know him, Dr. Chuck Missler, who has since gone on to be with the Lord. He said to me one time at a dinner, he’s a great Bible prophecy teacher. He said the thing that gets him among all the things he’s taught and felt in the Lord is that Jesus Christ actually yearns to come get his bride. And he’s very emotional about it.

Jesus Christ is building mansions, probably in the new Jerusalem, for his church. He’s going to come get us. He’s going to take us to his mansions, according to John 14. And he’s pounding in the finishing nails on those cabinets, it’s so close. He’s about to come get us and he’s yearning to do that. He’s waiting for the Lord to say, “Go get your bride.” We don’t have to do anything. He paid the full price on the cross for our redemption, and we don’t have to be a battered and bruised wife to go through seven years of tribulation to earn our keep. So God is sending his son to get us soon, in my estimation, as you see all these end time signs converging.

Sam Rohrer:                      And ladies and gentlemen, I hope that you sense that. I mean this period of time in which we live, this church age, which the bride of Christ made up of both Gentiles and Jews, all of those who come to faith in Christ. It’s just kind of stuck in here. This 2000 years comes back and it ends up into the millennial period and the tribulation period coming into it when God refocuses all of his attention on him keeping his covenant with his people, Israel, the Jews, all of the attention of the world focuses back on them again, and then leads into that last thousand years. We are just in this window of time. We, the church, if you know Jesus Christ as your Savior. That’s the great thing about it. We’re the bride. Jesus Christ loved us. He’ll come back for us. We’ll conclude with some practical applications further in the next segment.

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Sam Rohrer:                      Well, this is our final segment. And if you listen to us regularly, I know many of you do, we try to take the first part of the program, which is always a challenge in a one hour program. So we always try to put this together with here’s information, try to support it. In this case like today, in most all cases, we give scripture verses that underpin it. We’ll give linkages to why what we’re saying with the idea that we can ultimately, as the scripture says, think biblically, and to think with a biblical world view.

That’s exactly what God would have us to do. That’s the result of fearing God and keeping his commandment. We are going to think biblically. So when we encounter circumstances that are bigger than us, which most cases they’re all bigger than us, right? We know how to deal with these things because the Lord has told us, “You’re not going to encounter anything that I didn’t encounter. There’s no temptation taken that you’ll encounter that it’s such as common demand. He’s already endured them. And the word of God is that kind of answer. So that’s what we say. Always hope, always hope in the middle of whatever the circumstances.

So here we go. So we tried to bring up this matter today, Israel in prophecy, linked so often with war. And there are multiple wars that we’ve cited now that will yet occur. And frankly, may occur very, very soon as we see all of the evidences of scripture, signs of the times, really active and on the table working together. These are not the days of our grandfather. These are not the days of those believers who lived in the 1500s. Obviously we know that’s not the case, but we know that we are right at the door. Why? Because the markers of scripture are flashing. They’re green. They’re telling us what’s happening.

So in light of all that, and as Bill mentioned, it’s approximately a third of the entire Bible deals with prophecy. We know that it is very important to the author of scripture, God himself. It should be, therefore, important to us. Sadly, we see prophecy unfold before our eyes. As we see it rather, there’s a remarkable silence. And Jamie asked that question from so many, actually the majority of pulpits, the church as a whole. And limited interest, it seems on behalf of most people who self-identify as Christians. Yet in this final segment, we’re going to consider what God says. It’s his intent and desire for people living in our day.

So Bill, let’s go back. You’ve already answered a part of it, but let me have you summarize it again. For what purpose did God make a full third of his written word prophecy? Why did he put all of that there for us? Summarize that for us again, please.

Bill Salus:                            Yeah, and that’s a great question. We said in Timothy II 3:16 that all scripture is inspired by God. And about a third of it, in some estimates, are predictive. And so the point is why did God do that? Was it because he needed to know? It was it to be a reminder to him when times would happen, what he’s supposed to do, what he knows? Or was it for us to know? He already knows who he is. He knows what’s going to happen. He wants us to now know. He didn’t give us the prophecies to impress us, but to inform us. He’s not going to show off. He’s going to show up in these prophecies and people are going to come to the Lord as they understand these prophecies were foretold and they’re finding fulfillment and they’ll have more credence and credibility to the word of God.

And I also want to qualify in the last segment, I did say something about the lines of some pastors are teaching Satan singing lullabies in the church to these pastors. I’m not trying to say all pastors who don’t teach Bible prophecy are being used by Satan to sing lullabies to the church. I want to make sure I’m clear on that, but if you’re not teaching the imminent return of Jesus Christ, you’re putting a situation where the flock, now at this point in time, is not looking for the imminent return. They’re not necessarily called to the perspective that is supposed to be there, the comfort that’s supposed to be there for them, because things are going to get worse. These wars we’re talking about are going to come. They’re going to come soon, rapidly, and sequentially. And they’re going to affect everybody.

So we’re trying to let people know. Look, Bible prophecy is extremely important right now. There’s going to come a time, especially after the church is gone, where people who come to know the Lord, there’ll be many people who do get saved after the rapture and this prayerless tribulation period, they’re going to hinge on every prophetic word that’s available to them so they can know what’s going on. They will have seen biblical prophecies find fulfillment before that, the rapture, some of these wars we talked about and Israeli Defense Forces wars. And they’re going to realize that the credibility of God’s prophetic word is so critically important to them. And so much is said to them and their generation for the tribulations period.

And we need to let people know right now, if Jesus is going to come real soon, all of us know someone that we love, our family, friends and our sphere of influence, who’s not saved. And they need to know that they need to be saved because Jesus is going to come get us and the times that are coming are perilous. And that’s why I think it’s very important for pulpits to be sharing this important word about biblical prophecy, because people need to understand what’s about to happen in this world. And the Bible is so descriptive about it.

Sam Rohrer:                      Actually, you just answered a question I was going to ask you to build it out a little bit. And that was, biblical prophecy, things we’re talking about, should have impacts on, well, basically two different classes of people, those who will be saved, and for those right now, those who do know Jesus Christ or savior, and then those who don’t know. And you actually kind of addressed both of those. Let me go to you, Jamie, you’re dealing with our pastors across the country. You are our director of church culture and pastoral engagement. Let me get back and ask you a question. And that is, if you were to summarize right now and talk to our listeners as believers, most of this program are listening are believers, what would you say should be the response of the true believer, the true remnant person today in light of all of these things that we are seeing, and this focus that we’ve made today on this program?

Jamie Mitchell:                 Well Sam, not only are we to be busy, as Bill mentioned. If we have this sense of the eminent return of Jesus Christ at any moment that we would be raptured from here, we need to be busy sharing the gospel. But I think equally so, as Bill even alluded to, we have to be as assertive in sharing with people some of our end time prophecy understanding. I think people need to understand and know the word rapture so that when it happens, when their neighbor, their family member, their loved one, their coworker, when that moment comes and we are no longer here and they didn’t believe and they’re left behind. The question they’re going to ask is, “Wait a minute, that Christian who I knew, that family member that believed that Jesus would rapture them. These things must be true.” And they are going to begin to be hungry for the things of God.

I’ve said it this way, Sam. The tribulation is one of God’s most loving, merciful acts on the lost person because it gives them another opportunity to believe that which they rejected before the rapture took place. God wants to see mankind redeemed and saved and with him forever. And though the church may be raptured from the earth, it’s not the end. There is still that opportunity. And so for the believer, we need to be talking about prophetic things, even if our unbelieving friends don’t come to faith right now. Someday the seed will be planted and God will bring forth the fruit of that seed.

Sam Rohrer:                      And Jamie and Bill. Thank you so much, Bill. I just want to thank you again for your ministry. I think your times on this program as we’ve gone through these biblical events that tie in prophetically, the chronology, the timing is important. I just want to thank you for your ministry. It’s been very, very helpful to me and I know all of our listeners. So thank you. And thank you, Jamie, for those words.

Ladies and gentlemen, I hope and trust that you have been informed, edified, encouraged as you’ve heard a portion of what God’s word talks about that is just not talked about too much, but the Lord wants us to be so that we are encouraged, anticipating his return and are urgent in sharing the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ with all of those that are around us. I hope and pray that you do. Lord willing, I will see you back here tomorrow.