Newsletter 125 Autumn 2017

“A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone, which proceeded out of their mouths”. Revelation 9:18

At the start of this year I commented that many sense that 2017 will be a very significant year.

One event this year, which will have great significance for the future, is the detonation of a hydrogen bomb by North Korea. The importance of this event has been largely missed by the media. That is because North Korea is looked at in isolation. There has been a failure to recognise the strength of the military cooperation it has with Iran.

North Korea has possessed Atomic bombs for years. A hydrogen bomb elevates it to join the select group of five other nations which have the technology. One expert likened the destructive power of the hydrogen bomb to an atom bomb as the difference between a tank shell and a bullet.

Coupled to this, it is believed that North Korea has miniaturised its nuclear warheads so that it can now fit multiple war heads to its missiles. Its missile technology has leapt forward in the last two years. From the recent test firings it is believed that North Korea now has intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching most of Europe and the United States. In 2017 the prospect of a nuclear war has moved from the inconceivable to the almost inevitable.

Will this become the hugely destructive war, prophesied in Revelation chapter 9? A war which decimates one third of the world’s population. That war is foreseen as the prelude to the world accepting the Antichrist as its leader.

How did all this happen?

In this edition

North Korea/Iran Alliance

Iran Nuclear Deal

Electro Magnetic Pulse [EMP] Attack

The Word of the Lord

Deception

The Caliphate

Israel

North Korea/Iran Alliance

The alliance between Iran and North Korea dates from the establishment of the regime in Tehran in 1979. Kim Il Sung, the leader of North Korea, was among the first to congratulate Ayatollah Khomenei on the seizure of power. Khomenei responded with a message of friendship to Kim Il Sung.

In May 1989 Ayatollah Khamenei, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the time, visited North Korea. He was greeted at the airport by Kim Il Sung. A holiday was declared allowing the mobilisation of one million people to line the roads to greet Khamenei. Later Kim Il Sung chaired a special session of the People’s Assembly to hear Khamenei’s speech. Khameni was impressed by how everything in North Korea worked like clockwork. In North Korea everything was absorbed into the collective. He declared North Korea to be an ‘ideal state’ that only lacked religion.

Kim’s governing philosophy was a belief that North Korea needed “absolute independence” in order to stand up to the United States. This independence included a disregard for international law. Khamenei [now the “Supreme Guide” of the Islamic Republic] has applied this philosophy to Iran under the name “eqtesad muqawemati” [Resistance Economics].

Due to neither country having access to modern war planes Khamenei also adopted Kim’s reliance on missiles as the main plank of his defence doctrine. Kim believed that a weaker nation enhances its position by owning “the ultimate weapon.”

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, continues to praise North Korea’s “brave defiance of Arrogance” by testing long-range missiles in the face of “cowardly threats” by the United States.

[source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10927/khomeini-kim-khamenei]

Iran Nuclear Deal

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiated between the US, UK, Russia, France, China, Germany and Iran was signed in 2015. The deal lifted crippling economic sanctions in return for limitations on Iran’s nuclear programme. Under JCPOA, Iran was to reduce the number of centrifuges used to enrich uranium, reduce its uranium stockpile and limit its enrichment for 15 years. It was also not to build additional heavy water reactors or accumulate any excess heavy water for 15 years. The prologue to the deal states, “Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons”.

In the United States, the President has to certify to Congress every three months that, “Iran is transparently, verifiably and fully implementing the agreement.” Responsibility for verification rests with the International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA]. The IAEA have regularly reported that Iran is complying with JCPOA. Critics of JCPOA question how the IAEA can certify transparency when Iran has repeatedly insisted that their military sites are off limits for the inspectors.

[For more information on the failure to verify the action plan see: http://isis-online.org/isis-reports/detail/verifying-section-t-of-the-iran-nuclear-deal]

In October President Trump decided not to recertify the JCPOA agreement. In his speech announcing this action the President gave several areas of non-compliance by Iran. He also noted the suspected collaboration between Iran and North Korea.

An article in the Daily Telegraph 30/09/2017 reported on a visit to North Korea made in 2010 by Dr Siegfried Hecker, one of the world’s most respected nuclear scientists. When invited to visit Yongbyon, North Korea’s main atomic reactor, he expected to see a crumbling plant with outdated equipment. What he saw was a new, state of the art, facility with 2000 centrifuges capable of making weapons grade bomb material.

Iran and North Korea share virtually everything when it comes to ballistic missile and nuclear technology. The nuclear and missile tests are widely seen as being done on behalf of Iran and are, according to the US Central Intelligence Agency, witnessed by Iranian scientists.

In effect Iran has outsourced its nuclear and missile programme. As part of JCPOA over $100 billion in frozen assets were released and $1.7 billion in cash payments were made to Iran. It appears that this huge amount of cash has enabled the Iran/North Korea alliance to speed up, not slow down, the potential for Iran to soon have a hydrogen bomb.

In the last two years, since JCPOA, North Korea has made considerable advances in both missile and nuclear technology. The detonation of a hydrogen bomb earlier in the year and the launch of missiles which, based on calculations of speed and altitude, could reach both Europe and much of the USA being confirmations.

The U.S. and allied intelligence services now believe North Korea has potentially up to 60 atomic bombs. An arsenal which will soon be supplemented with hydrogen bombs. To add to the concerns, for more than a decade North Korea has threatened to sell its nuclear weapons to terrorist groups, “if driven into a corner.”

At one time the US was looking to China to pressurise North Korea to abandon its nuclear programme. It is clear that even if North Korea were to be totally isolated by China it would not give up its missiles and bombs. China insists that dialogue must continue and that it would respond to any military action by the US against North Korea.

A defining Crisis

President Trump has said that at present we are in the “calm before the storm”. He has also promised “fire and fury like the world has never seen” if North Korea continues its threats.

How will Trump respond to North Korea? Efforts by the previous three Presidents of the US have proved ineffective in preventing North Korea becoming a nuclear power. Clinton’s ‘Agreed Framework’ [an earlier simpler version of JCPOA] didn’t stop the programme. The ‘Agreed Framework’ broke down when Bush was advised that North Korea was cheating on the deal. Obama adopted a policy of ‘strategic patience’.

Past failure to halt North Korea’s weapons programme [if it could ever have been halted] now leaves President Trump with the crisis which will define his presidency. Iran will be watching to monitor how the US responds. The longer it is left the more serious the problem will become.

Is North Korea’s quest for the ‘ultimate weapon’ purely defensive? Will they be satisfied once it is perfected, believing that they now have the strength to resist any aggression by the US? In North Korea it is the US which is seen as the aggressor in the Korean War.

War?

Most commentators believe that a war on the Korean peninsula is unlikely. The present leader, Kim Jong-un’s intention is interpreted as putting himself in a position of strength when he eventually talks to the US. They may be correct but it is Iran which we need to be watching.

After President Trump’s bellicose words, inaction will be interpreted by Iran as weakness and taken as an encouragement to accelerate its continuing nuclear ambitions. Hence the conclusion that a nuclear war is now almost inevitable.

Politicians cling to the hope that sanity will eventually prevail. The Cold War doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction [MAD] was sufficient to restrain any thought of using nuclear weapons. Ayatollah Khamenei belongs to the Twelver sect of Shia Islam, as do the majority of the population of Iran. They believe that the twelfth Iman will reappear after a period of war and chaos.

In Revelation 9: 13 – 21 the conflict is stirred up by demonic powers. This year 2017 has seen the ‘ultimate weapon’ come into the hands of those who are not sane according to our understanding. Those whose hatred of the West could easily be tipped by demonic forces into war.

[See also: https://www.voanews.com/a/us-north-korea-months-away-from-being-able-to-hit-us-with-nuclear-missile/4078125.html]

Electro Magnetic Pulse [EMP] Attack

An EMP attack can be created by a nuclear weapon detonated high in the atmosphere. In this attack no one is killed. In fact most won’t be aware that anything has happened other than the loss of their electricity. A hydrogen bomb creates an electromagnetic pulse which fries the power circuits in the electrical grid.

It is estimated that one bomb exploded high over the United States would cause such destruction that it would take years to repair the damage. With transport and communications systems down there would soon be widespread food shortages. The cities would starve.

According to World Net Daily, in 2004, two Russian generals, both EMP experts, warned the U.S. EMP Commission that the design for Russia’s super-EMP warhead was “accidentally” transferred to North Korea.1 They also said Russian scientists were in North Korea, as were Chinese and Pakistani scientists, helping them with its nuclear weapons programs.

North Korea’s missile test on 29th April was detonated at an altitude of 72 kilometres, the optimum altitude for an EMP attack. Had it been carrying a nuclear weapon, it would have wiped out all digital communications and power over a 580 mile radius.

At the same time as North Korea tested its hydrogen bomb it released a report, announced by the state news agency, called, “The EMP Might of Nuclear Weapons”.  A sign that Kim Jong-un is desperate to be taken seriously.

1.     www.wnd.com/2017/10/north-koreas-real-life-doomsday-scenario-for-u-s/#h7kV3wDhGolJWFJr.99

Answers in Prophecy

The meetings are now held at The Barn Church, Francis Edwards Way, Bewbush, Crawley, West Sussex RH11 8GG

Sessions start with a time of worship at 6.50 pm and run until 8.45 pm on the second Saturday evening of the month

There will be a break for tea and coffee in the middle of the evening.

We will be looking at topical issues and also the destiny of various nations in prophecy.

13th January
Egypt – Blessed is Egypt my people
10th February
Persia – I will set my throne in Elam
10th March
Syria – Damascus will be a ruinous heap

The word of the Lord

“For thus says the Lord of Hosts; ‘Once more, it is a little while, I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all nations and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord of Hosts. ‘The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,’ says the Lord of Hosts. ‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of Hosts. And in this place I will give peace.’ Says the Lord of Hosts.” Haggai 2: 6 – 9

The prophet Haggai relayed a message from the Lord of Hosts to the remnant who had returned from exile in Babylon. Some of the exiles had seen the former Temple in all its glory. They were discouraged that the Temple now reconstructed was nothing in comparison to what had stood there before.

We can get discouraged by the decline of our nation, the sins of society, the rebellion against God’s laws, the violence perpetrated by false religions and the perilous state of the world. We can long for former days when at least outwardly men honoured God.

Through Haggai, the Lord called on the people not to look back. To Zerubbabel the governor, the Lord said, be strong, “for I am with you.”  In these last days we are to be strong for our Lord promised, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  Matthew 28: 20

In the very short passage, quoted above, four times we have the words, “I will”, five times the words, “says the Lord of Hosts.”  It could not be more emphatic that the Lord has given His word that He will do these things.

The Lord will shake the nations. The earth, the sea and dry land will tremble at His coming. Isaiah received a word that the earth will be violently shaken. It will totter like a drunkard [Isaiah 24: 19 – 20]. In Joel, it is at the voice of the Lord that the heavens and earth will shake [Joel 3: 16]. The purpose of the shaking is given in Hebrews. It is to remove all that can be shaken. In their place will be a kingdom which cannot be shaken [Hebrews 12: 26 – 28].

The prophecy in Haggai, although given to encourage the returned exiles, is looking forward to a future time when the Lord will fill the rebuilt Temple with glory. For a little while Jesus Christ came to that Temple. He filled it with the glory of the Son of Man. There is a greater glory still to come when the glorified Son of Man will reign from Jerusalem. A time when the wealth of the nations will be brought to fill the Temple with glory.

“ And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King and the Lord of Hosts.” [Zechariah 14: 16].

Don’t look back, look forward. Jesus Christ is coming to reign on the earth.

Deception

A few years ago, four of us travelled to India. Flying overnight we arrived at Dehli Airport in the early hours of the morning India time. After acclimatising and relaxing over a coffee for an hour, we took a taxi to New Dehli Railway Station to catch the 6.00 a.m. train to our destination.

On arrival at the station we were met by the usual crowd of people keen to carry our bags. They were also keen to ask our destination. On hearing where we were going they immediately said that the train was cancelled. Then they helpfully directed us to someone on the floor above who would be able to help. This person posing as a railway official assured us that the train was cancelled. To get to our destination we would have to rebook our tickets at a travel agents. The nearest Travel Agent was several blocks away so he helpfully found us a cab.

At the Travel Agent the assistant checked the trains for seats and produced a printout showing that all the trains were fully booked that day. The only way we would be able to get to our destination would be by private hire car.

Conveniently there was a private hire driver outside the Travel Agents Office. The agent arranged at substantial payment for us to be driven to our destination. As we were leaving the agent said don’t forget to give the driver a good tip.

On arriving at our hotel the manger queried where we had been. He had sent a driver to the station to collect us but we were not on the train! Yes we had fallen for a very well-rehearsed scam.

On returning to the UK, I searched the internet to find out if we were the only ones this had happened to. It was not difficult to find that many other unsuspecting travellers had also been caught out by this pantomime.

The following is a quote which I found on the internet: “You’ll meet some lovely people in India – but at New Delhi Railway Station you’ll probably meet some less-than-lovely characters who have spent years skilfully parting foreigners from their cash. It takes a clear mind and strong heart to withstand them, but hopefully reading about these common scams will help you recognise which kind of person you’re dealing with. Always beware of the kindness of strangers at Delhi Railway Station!”

I tell this story to illustrate that all of us can be deceived if we are not wary. The convincing nature of this scam was due to it being so well rehearsed and everyone being party to it.

Later on that same trip we were travelling with a Pastor to a speaking engagement. On what appeared to be a toll road, instead of slowing to pay the toll the Pastor put his foot down and accelerated through the booths. He explained that the road had been paid for some years earlier and that there was no longer a toll to be paid. Unwary travellers from outside the area would no doubt have stopped and paid.

There is an old saying, “to be forewarned is to be forearmed”. The Pastor knew that there was no toll to be paid and therefore did not stop. If we had known about the advice on the internet before our trip we wouldn’t have fallen for the railway scam.

Another scam

A little while ago I read a book about a scam far more sophisticated and well-rehearsed than the New Delhi Railway scam. It is deadly in that it strikes at the heart of the Christian faith. The book is ‘The Forging of the Codex Sinaiticus’ by Bill Cooper. The Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus are supposedly very early versions of much of the Christian scriptures. In the 19th century scholars seized on them as the earliest and therefore ‘most reliable’ texts. This led to the Greek and Hebrew from which the Bible is translated being extensively revised.

Bill Cooper presents very convincing evidence that both codex are 19th century forgeries. The Jesuits were behind this deception. It came at a time when Bible Societies in the UK and USA were distributing the scriptures around the world. The Protestant faith was spreading far and wide. The Jesuits are commissioned to overturn and end the Reformation and so return the separated brethren to, what is to them, the true mother church of Rome. To achieve this goal the Protestant faith has to be undermined.

Protestantism rests on the authority of the Bible being above the authority of the church. Therefore if the Bible can be discredited by making it appear that the received text from which the Protestant Bible was translated is full of errors then confidence in the authority of the Bible would be weakened. If the Bible can be dislodged from its place of supreme authority, Protestantism is fatally wounded. Bill Cooper’s exposure of the scam makes a fascinating and highly recommended read.

For the origin of this deception we look beyond the Jesuits to Satan, the father of lies. In parallel with his attack on the text, Satan was pursuing another assault on the authority of scripture. Through the promotion of the theory of evolution the reliability of the Bible as an historical record was also being undermined.

The above examples illustrate the subtlety of Satan’s deceptions. By one he duped the scholars by the other the mass of ordinary people.

Forewarned

In speaking about the end of the age Jesus said. “See I have told you beforehand”. Matthew 24: 25. Paraphrased – I have told you so that you won’t be caught out. Jesus is forewarning us of the danger of deception so that we won’t be taken in.

In Matthew 24 there are repeated warnings about deception. False christ’s and false prophets will arise who will deceive many. In verse 24 the warnings build to the point where Jesus says, “to deceive if possible even the elect.”

The elect, the faithful believers in Jesus Christ, are the prime target of deception. Satan, the arch deceiver has already deceived everyone else. The members of the world’s religions, whether Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim or other have been deceived. The secular believers in evolution are deceived. The political agitators on the extreme left or extreme right are deceived. Only those who follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour are outside Satan’s kingdom. To deceive them is his aim.

Watch

Can the elect be deceived? Two things come together in Jesus’ teaching on the end times. One is the danger of deception the other is the need to watch. It seems clear that the elect can be deceived if they do not obey our Lord’s command to ‘watch’.

I still regard a little booklet with the title ‘‘Watch’ preparing for the unexpected,’ as the most important thing that the Lord has enabled me to write. It seeks to address what it means to watch during these last days as we approach the time when our Lord will return. I am glad to say that thousands of copies have been distributed. We are all responsible to watch, but pastors and leaders have a particular responsibility as shepherds of the flock. They need to be more alert to the deceptions of the false prophets.

If you would like a copy please contact me either through my website. I ask for a contribution of £2.50 but that is not mandatory. The booklet can also be download free from this website www.trumpetsounds.net.

The Caliphate

The slow defeat of ISIS does not spell the end of a revived Islamic Caliphate. Joel Richardson quotes a Turkish proverb that says, “show the people death, and they will happily embrace malaria”. In the context of Turkey, the people having seen the horror of the ISIS Caliphate will now find a Turkish Caliphate appealing.

For 80 years Turkey was regarded by the West as the model for the future for the Middle East. In Turkey a moderate form of Islam coexisted with a modern secular state.  As a member of NATO Turkey played a key role in European defence strategy. With the advent of the Arab Spring, Western politicians hoped that countries throughout the Middle East would adopt the Turkish pattern of government. This blended a secular state with a moderate form of Islam. They hoped in vain. Generally politicians do not understand the spiritual forces at work in the affairs of man.

Today Turkey has become an Islamist state under a hard line dictator. It is no secret that President Erdogan aspires to re-establish Ottoman control over the former empire. In an article, [link at the bottom of the page], Joel Richardson explains how Islam has reconquered the once secular state.

Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk decided that Islam held Turkey back from modernising. His solution was to establish a secular republic and dissolve the office of Caliph. The Caliph combined both political power and spiritual authority within Islam. To safeguard the secular state from ever present pressure from Islamists he made the Military the guardian of the constitution.

Imam and theologian Bediuzzaman Said Al-Nursi was a contemporary of Ataturk. He was opposed to the secularisation of the nation. Nursi rejected violent jihad as a way to counter secularisation. Instead he emphasised science, good deeds and interfaith dialogue. He sought to create a form of ‘Turkish Islam’ which the West would accept. The West has accepted it, believing it to be the true face of Islam.

The teaching of Nursi has been built on and expanded by a charismatic imam named Fethullan Gulen. His nationalist message is intermingled with the encouragement of education, science, charitable acts, and service. Like Nursi, interfaith dialogue is seen as an outreach tool. However the public face is not everything. He was secretly recorded instructing his followers to, ”infiltrate the very arteries of the system,” of society and government to, “lay in wait until the most opportune time”. The objective was to retake Turkey from the secularists and to re-establish the Turkish led Caliphate. [Ironically, Gulen today lives in rural Pennsylvania, under the protection of the United States government].

It was the large numbers of Nursi and Gulen supporters which created the core of Erdogan’s support. The Gulenists had followed their leader’s dictates and infiltrated virtually every sphere of society. The split between the Gulenists and Erdogan came in 2013. With the Middle East in turmoil from the Arab Spring, Erdogan began a violent crackdown on all dissent.

Concerned at the heavy handed tactics employed by the government, Gulen from his American hideaway began criticising Erdogan. He used supporters hidden in the administration to arrest high level Erdogan officials. They even went for Erdogan’s son Bilal. A secret war was now in progress between Gulen supporters and Erdogan supporters.

The confict came to a head on the night of 15th July 2016. There was a coup attempt which failed. Erdogan used the failed coup to purge the government, the military, the judiciary, education and media of any who were suspected to be Gulen supporters.

Just one year after the failed coup, Erdoğan’s government has arrested over 123,000 citizens, has fired over 145,000 civil servants, removed nearly 9,000 academics, closed over 2,000 schools, arrested nearly 300 journalists, shut down close to 200 media outlets, and has dismissed close to 5,000 judges. This is beside the number of citizens who just disappear.

Now that Erdoğan has attained absolute power over Turkey, the moderate character that he played to win the support of the Western world is no longer needed. His mask has been removed and his true colours revealed. Now he is free to openly threaten European leaders. The moderate Islamist who supports democracy was all a facade. His plan, declared nearly 20 years ago, went perfectly. As he said then, “Democracy is like a streetcar. You ride it until you get where you need to get, and then you get off.” This is exactly where we find ourselves today.

Joel Richardson records that at the height of the Turkish riots he attended a massive political rally for Erdogan. “This was far and away the largest gathering I have ever been to in my life. As far as the eye could see, there was a throng of supporters waving Turkish flags and chanting their heor’s name: “Recep. Tayyip. Erdoğan. Recep-Tayyip-Erdoğan!” I commented then, and will reiterate now, I have never felt as though I were watching history repeat as clearly as I did that day. The combination of nationalism, Islamism and over-the-top political hero worship on display that day should be terrifying to anyone with foresight. One would have to have been completely blind not to have seen the dark ghost of Nazi Germany hanging over the crowd that day.”

In April 2017 Erdogan won a referendum which allowed him to re-write Turkey’s constitution. The referendum effectively brought to an end the secular republic established by Ataturk. The way has been opened for the rebirth of the Ottoman Caliphate.

[Link to Joel Richardson’s article: http://www.wnd.com2017/08/rebirth-of-the-turkish-caliphate-and-why-it-matters/#dUjmpBVr1gK2H1el.99]

Israel

It is reported that Hezbollah has given orders to withdraw all its forces from Syria in 2018. For the last 5 years Hezbollah has been fighting alongside the Syrian Army in support of President Bashar Al-Assad. During that time Hezbollah had up to 85% of its fighting strength in Syria. The Syrian civil war has for a time relieved the threat to Israel along its northern border.

The move will allow the terrorist group to increase its presence along the Israel / Lebanon border. Hezbollah is believed to have a considerable arsenal of over 120,000 short, medium and long range missiles ready to be deployed in the next conflict. It is also thought that they possess anti-aircraft missiles which will reduce Israel’s air superiority.

In a speech given on 1st October, before tens of thousands of supporters, Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hezbollah, appeared to threaten Israel with total destruction in the next war. He told the Jews to go back to the countries they came from. He warned that they would not have time to pack up and leave if war broke out and that Israel was underestimating Hezbollah’s strength.

Israel’s Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman has warned, “The next conflict, if it erupts, will have a completely different character. Our enemies will try first to strike our population centres and civilian infrastructure. And if our red lines will be breached, the other side must know in advance that it is going to pay very heavy prices,”

A report by Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies concludes that the war will not be ‘won’ by either Israel or Hezbollah. Huge damage will be sustained on both sides with very few positive achievable objectives. The best hope is that it will strengthen Israel’s deterrence so that another war will not be fought for a very long time.