Welcome back to the prolific writer Bud Hancock. Bud today examines the times in which you all live and how they line up with Bible prophecy. My readers are most fortunate to have access to such well informed Biblically orientated commentary.

Gibber! Gibber!

Chugley

End-Times Signs, Election 2020 and Prophetic Fulfillment

By Bud Hancock

Introduction

The Lord God has always known the end from the beginning (Isaiah 41: 10 KJV).  Although He does not always reveal what is going to happen at any given point in time, He provides clues in His Word to assist us in knowing what we need to know.  And even though God exists outside of time, He has planned the timing for all events that will ever occur in time.  

God is NOT spontaneous, suddenly jumping up from His throne and making something happen.  He carefully, with great consideration and deliberation, created all things that we can see on this planet and in the skies.  Everything He created was made in an ‘orderly fashion’.  Let me explain why this matters.  First look at the definition of “orderly fashion”.

Per the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, orderly means “in some order or pattern, marked by order, governed by law, regulated, methodical”. Fashion means “mode of action or operation, the make or form of something”.  He created everything methodically, in perfect order after His own pattern, governed and regulated by His law.  All the things that God created in the physical realm, including the physical laws (The Laws of Physics) they  govern the physical realm, were and are governed by His law, His spiritual law.

His creation was very well-planned, and well thought out in advance.  That’s the way God has always operated, and nothing will ever change that.  Men may foolishly believe they have the ability to “change the world” and “remake things” according to their own desire.  However, God’s plan for mankind was completed “before the foundation of the world”.   No action of any man will cause God’s plan and schedule to change.  When an event on God’s timeline is scheduled to occur, it WILL occur, in God’s perfect timing.                       

Future Prophetic Events

Some very important events were prophesied in the Old testament that must yet occur, and there are many indicators that they are much closer than many have thought.  Isaiah 17 describes the utter destruction of the Syrian city of Damascus, long considered to be the home/headquarters and/or staging area of many of the world’s terrorist organizations.

Jeremiah chapter 49 speaks of the judgments against the Ammonites (Northern Jordan, verses 1-6), Edom (southern Jordan, verses 7-22), Damascus (verses 23-27, as well as Isaiah 17:1) and Jeremiah 49:34-39 speaks of the judgment against Elam, the area in what is now western Iran where the majority of Iran’s nuclear facilities are located.  That judgment could involve a nuclear attack by Israel.  Generally, prophecy experts and end-time prophetic teachers believe these will ALL occur BEFORE what has become accepted as the best known unfulfilled prophetic event known as the ‘Gog/Magog invasion of Israel’ by a coalition of nations, including Iran, Turkey, Libya and other nations being led by Gog (Russia).  

Perhaps only the Rapture of the Church, when Jesus Himself appears in the clouds and calls His Body, the Church, to return with Him to heaven is better known than all of these forementioned events.  For them to occur with perfect timing, there are certain ‘pre-events’ that must happen that will align certain nations so that God’s plan of judgment against them can take place.  For example, the conditions in Israel listed in Ezekiel 38:11b-12a, that says Gog “…will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, To take a spoil, and to take a prey;..”.  This condition is far from being in effect now, with Israel having many walls, bars and gates that protect her people from the 300 million enemies that surround her.  Something will occur to make these conditions appear before the Gog invasion.

US Election 2020 and God’s Timing

Had President Donald J. Trump been reelected in November 2020 to a second term that would have placed him in office until January 2024, it is likely that he would have continued the pro-Israel policies that marked his first term.  Remember that he officially recognized Jerusalem as the historical and true capital of Israel and relocated the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May of 2018 on the 70^th anniversary of the new nation of Israel.  The newly relocated Embassy in Jerusalem was on at the site of the Consulate General of the United States, which had been a diplomatic mission that provided services to the Palestinian residents in Jerusalem.  That mission was closed in conjunction with the move of the Embassy.  During his four year term, Trump also made other decisions that favored the Jewish people and distanced the US from the Palestinian Authority.

What would the world look like had Trump been reelected?  He withdrew the United States from the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) in May 2018.  It is likely that, with his strong stand in favor of Israel, he would have made the acquisition of a nuclear weapon by Iran much more difficult that it is at this time, with a “new nuclear agreement” being negotiated between Iran and the same world powers that worked on the original JCPOA in 2015 under the Obama administration.  

As Trump left office early in 2021, Iran, hit hard by sanctions under the original JCPOA  agreement, and further sanctioned by the Trump administration after the US withdrew, the Islamic Republic  saw its economy on the brink of collapse.  It was estimated that Iran was some months, perhaps  years, away from having enough enriched uranium to produce its first nuclear weapon.  With a lack of  funds to complete its work on a nuclear weapon, it might have been several additional years before Iran could have gotten the materials necessary for a nuke, especially had Trump remained in office.  The additional time might have been enough for the completion of Iran’s first nuke which would surely have been used to annihilate Israel.

As of this writing, the completion of a new agreement appears to be a formality only requiring the signatures of those involved in the negotiations.  Sources close to the negotiations reveal that the new agreement is much more favorable to Iran than the original 2015 agreement was.  With a lifting of all sanctions, Iran will have billions of dollars in additional money to continue its “nuclear research”.

Only a fool will question what Iran will do as soon as that first functioning nuke is ready for deployment.  The Islamic regime has declared for many years that its highest priority is the elimination of the Jewish people with Israel “wiped off the map”.  You can bet the leaders of Israel are paying very close attention to the news about the new agreement since it may provide a more accurate timeline for any response to the dangerous possibility of Iran joining the “nuclear family”.

Whereas that response might not have been needed as early under a second Trump term, with the new Biden administration giving away the farm to Iran, the Israeli decision on a preemptive strike against the Iranian nuclear facilities becomes much more critical under the new Biden administration and the ‘new nuclear agreement’ with Iran.

Timing is very important to God.  He does NOT do things ‘spontaneously’, and has every move planned out well in advance.  When HIS timing is right, everything will be in place for a possible judgment against Iran, especially the western area of Iran formerly known as Elam in Jeremiah 49:34-39.  Elam, or the western portion of what is now Iran, is where Iran has placed most of its nuclear facilities and it is certain that Israel has an intimate knowledge of each site, with plans to eliminate them when God’s time is right.

Was Trump’s 2020 Election Loss a Required ‘Pre-event’?

It is generally believed in conservative circles that the 2020 US election was manipulated and the outcomes were illegitimate.  Be that as it may, Joe Biden, a candidate who hardly roused any passion among his Democratic political base, when the dust settled, Biden was named the 46^th POTUS.  Could it be that the election outcome was a ‘pre-event’ sign that God was getting some geopolitical alignments ready?

Donald Trump may have been the man God wanted to lead the United States for the particular time that he was in office, but God does not place the fulfillment of any prophetic event in the hands of one man, or indeed in the hands of any man.  If, in God’s plan, the time for the fulfillment of the Elam prophecy (Jeremiah 49:34-39) requires a man very different from Trump to be the US POTUS, then that’s exactly what will happen.

Even though Trump’s actions were generally favorable to Israel, when the time for a fulfillment of prophecy, e.g., the destruction of Elam, is ready, God will make the moves to  align all the nations geopolitically to bring that prophecy to fruition.  If that means a US president who does NOT favor Israel, but instead favors Iran, is needed in the White House in order for the proper alignment of events and people to bring the prophecy to fruition, then the man that God needs to be in the White House will be there at the perfect time.  That same premise holds for the political leadership of Israel.  Though Netanyahu was well liked, he may NOT have been the person God needed to lead Israel  when certain events were ready to happen.

The Signs Leading to Prophetic Fulfillment

Matthew 22 and 23 record some weighty teaching by Jesus to the multitudes in Jerusalem, among whom were many of the leading scribes and Pharisees.  He called out those two groups at least 7 times, saying “Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!”, ending chapter 23 by prophesying the desolation of Jerusalem which would also effectively end any religious authority they had.  

Shortly after that, Matthew 24 records an amazing exchange which took place between Jesus and His disciples.  They asked Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world (age)? Jesus then began the Mount Olivet discourse, providing the signs needed to answer the disciples questions.  The next several verses provide the signs the disciples were to be looking for.  

I am certainly no prophet, but Jesus IS and we were told by Him what signs we would see, and those are occurring right now.  Anyone who follows world geopolitical events from the prophetic perspective must be aware that we ARE seeing the signs leading to the prophetic events listed earlier in this article: the destruction of Damascus, the prophecy against Elam (western Iran), Northern Jordan (Ammonites), Southern Jordan (Edomites/Palestinians) and of course, the Gog/Magog invasion of Israel.  We should be intently looking to see these prophecies finding fulfillment any time now.

The Rapture (Catching Away) of the Church

Unfortunately, the overwhelming preponderance of events that SEEM to be so important in the world now are causing some Christians to be distracted from what is of eternal importance.  We must realize that God has all the ‘yet to occur’ prophetic events perfectly planned and ready to occur when His timing is right.

We are not told exactly when Jesus will appear in the heavens and call the Church, His body, to leave the earth and return to heaven with Him, but that event needs no further ‘pre-events to happen!  But we WERE told many of the signs that MUST occur before the end of the present age.  In Luke 21:28, Jesus said to His disciples, “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh”.

Again a large number of prophecy experts believe the rapture will precede all the unfulfilled prophecies mentioned above.  If, as I also believe, that is the case, and if Trump was removed from office so that the prophetic events could occur in God’s perfect timing, it could indicate that the rapture of the Church, our glorious homegoing, is closer than any of us can imagine!

Look up, and lift up your heads!  Redemption is NEAR!

Blessings!

budaroo@twc.com

Born and raised in a small textile town in North Carolina, Bud Hancock’s family moved to Michigan in the hope of finding better employment with General Motors.  After graduating from high school, Bud began an apprenticeship with General Motors to become a Metal Modelmaker.  Retiring after a 30 year career, which included an eight year stint as a Meteorologist, he and his wife moved back to North Carolina to be near his elderly parents.  Shortly thereafter, with both of his parents having passed, he started a new career in the bank security/ATM business, advancing from an entry level technician to one of two North Carolina customer service managers for his employer.  Retiring again after 13 years, he and his wife of 51 years relocated to Tennessee where Bud began writing articles specializing in Bible teaching and geopolitical issues.  At age 75, he and his wife relocated to South Carolina with their Miniature Schnauzer, Baxter.  Bud continues to study God’s word and write articles on Christian living and geopolitical issues from the Biblical end times perspective.