Prophecy and Current Events

Last time, we discussed some disturbing developments in Russia which potentially place America at further risk. Although the majority of Americans today are not concerned with the ``rousing bear", the fact is that as America continues its steep descent into moral bankruptcy, Russia may become God's instrument of judgment on the United States -- as when God used Babylon to judge Israel. But regardless of what form judgment takes, America (as well as the world) continues to labor under strong delusion, which will only intensify with the entrance of the anti-Christ onto the stage of world history.

We will postpone discussion of this ``man of sin" who deceives the entire unregenerate world until next time and, instead, focus on some current events that are of major prophetic significance. But before we begin, since the Easter season is upon us, let us remember the great price that Jesus paid in order that we might have eternal life.

``Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Heb 12:2)

It was the 10th of Nissan (Palm Sunday). Jesus was approaching Jerusalem. A great multitude had gathered. The atmosphere was electric. Some laid garments on the road before Jesus; others cut branches from palm trees, waving them and spreading them before Him. All those preceding Him and all those who followed cried in unison, shouting: ``Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the Highest." As discussed in part three of the series ``Peace in the Middle East -- A Prelude to War", the pilgrims on the road that day recognized Jesus as their Messiah. Who could have imagined that just a few days later Jesus would be arrested, deserted, betrayed and crucified as payment for the sins of the world?

Over the Easter season, we will undoubtedly watch movies about Jesus' life such as ``The Greatest Story Ever Told". But there is a great difference between what really happened to the Jesus of the Bible and the Jesus in the movies. On the screen, we see a Jesus who has been beaten and has a few stripes on His back. Blood trickles down His brow from the crown of thorns on his head.

But this does not even come close to describing the man that was so beaten that he no longer had the form of a man (Isaiah 50:6, 52:14). Jesus was stripped, his hands most likely tied to an overhead beam. The leather whip of nine tails had pieces of metal, sharp bone and balls of lead attached. As the bone and metal tore away His flesh, muscles were sliced wide open, arteries spewing blood. Most victims died of the beating alone. This was not television.

With His flesh hanging in ribbons, Jesus was ordered to carry a cross, weighing several hundred pounds, approximately 650 yards to the place of execution at Golgotha. The rough wood gouged His torn back. The mob swarming around him ripped out His beard, bit into His flesh with their teeth, pushing and pulling Him until His bones were all out of joint (Psalms 22:13, 22:14).

``God so loved the world that He sacrificed His only begotten Son, that whosoever trusts in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) What did Jesus really endure those last few hours of his life, and how much did He suffer? Dr. David Terasaka, M.D. has explored the crucifixion of Christ from a medical perspective. If you would like a copy of this study, please request it (you'll never be the same again!). If you are able, please enclose a small contribution to cover duplicating and postage costs, as this study is quite lengthy.

As we mentioned last time, the recent parliamentary elections in Russia indicated that the current glasnost and perestroika (``the step back") is about over and the ``step forward" is about to begin. We surmised that ``during this phase, it is likely that Russia will play hard-ball with the West, offering a more moderate stance in exchange for more concessions and monetary aid."

It appears that this analysis was correct. Pavel Grachev, Minister of Russian Defense, told America not to worry about Russia's apparent move back toward hard-line communism, that only certain ``adjustments" would be required in the current democratic model. Clinton wasted no time in responding to our new-found Russian friends: On March 26, 1996 -- with full U.S. support -- the International Monetary Fund (IMF) offered Russia $10.2 billion dollars over the next three years, doubling what Russia owes the IMF. It is highly unlikely that these loans will ever be paid back. Unfortunately, the United States currently funds the vast majority of IMF activity.

In Luke, chapter 21, Jesus told His disciples what the general conditions would be before the end of the age preceding His return. He told them: ``There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilence in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven." (Luke 21:11)

Jesus predicted that pestilence would increase prior to His return. It now appears that AIDS has the potential to become the most savage plague in the history of the world. In part, this is due to the highly contagious nature of the disease, as evidenced by a 1993 estimate by the World Health Organization. This study projected that 110 million adults and 10 million children world-wide will be infected with AIDS by the year 2000. In their own words: ``AIDS is spiraling out of control."

Consider that the AIDS virus is only one micron in diameter and that latex rubber used in modern ``protection" is only effective to 5 microns. This is like trying to stop a beebee with a chain-link fence. It is not hard to visualize the potential for geometric expansion of this disease. If one person infects just two others, consider how quickly the disease will spread: One infects two, two infect four, four infect eight, eight infect 16, ad infinitum. In just 20 cycles, one million people would have been infected by that single individual with AIDS. And with the new strains of the virus now appearing in the heterosexual population, the only safe sex is abstinence before marriage and fidelity thereafter.

There are currently over 15 million reported cases of AIDS world-wide; over one million cases in the United States, 10 million cases in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2.3 million in South-East Asia, 2 million in Latin America and the Caribbean, and hundreds of thousands in the countries of eastern and Western Europe, Central Asia, Eastern Asia, North Africa, Australia, etc. The continent of Africa ``has passed the point of no return." At least one in three people is infected with AIDS in Central Africa. And in Paris, AIDS accounted for 40% of all deaths of males between the ages of 25 and 40.

AIDS is shaping up to be a world-wide plague of biblical proportions. And these are reported Aids cases. How many more people have been infected by these individuals over the ten-year incubation period? It is estimated that, for every reported case, there are ten others who are infected but do not yet show any symptoms.

Based on 1993 growth rates in this country, by the year 2000, there will be an AIDS patient in every hospital bed in America. AIDS in teens and young adults was up 77% in 1993 over the previous two years and continues to be the leading cause of death for teenage girls living in New York City. Overall, it is the fifth leading cause of death among women of child-bearing age in the U.S. In June of 1993, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported that AIDS had become the leading cause of death among men ages 25-44 in 64 cities.

AIDS is no longer a ``homosexual" disease. It is now spreading through the heterosexual population. In Africa, which currently reports 10 million AIDS patients, many of the AIDS patients are heterosexual. Researchers originally felt that this heterosexual spread of AIDS was due to behavior patterns and other environmental factors, but now that current research indicates a more insidious reason -- the mutation of the AIDS virus -- we need to re-pose the question we asked in our October 1993 issue: Will this happen in America?

Contributing to this problem is the moral decay in America. Television shows continue to degrade. Popular sitcoms such as ``Friends" promote pre-marital sex and homosexuality as the norm. In one episode, a character was ridiculed as being abnormal because he and his girl friend hadn't yet had sex after dating for two months. This type of ``programming" (literally, as well as figuratively) is on the rise. Dozens of TV shows, advocating everything the Bible tells us is wrong, are coming on-line, effectively demonstrating that Satan is indeed ``the prince of the power of the air."

Thanks to persistent brain-washing, the young people of today do not have a chance without the keeping power of Jesus Christ. Case in point: A 1993 government survey reported that the average American man loses his virginity by age 17, has sex at least once a week and, by age 40, has had over ten sexual partners. According to the survey, twenty-three percent of men between 23-40 have had over 20 female partners.

David Kirby, of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, was quoted in 1993 as saying ``It is just a matter of time before sex becomes a woman's number one health risk." Indeed, 1992 saw the biggest jump in AIDS cases in the U.S. among women. For the first time in the epidemic, more women were infected through heterosexual sex than through drug use. The vast majority of new AIDS patients are still men but, at this point in time, AIDS is multiplying four times faster through the female population. Statistically, AIDS is growing on an exponential curve, doubling in some areas every six months. In Europe, AIDS cases are doubling every nine months. AIDS has become the most feared of all modern-day diseases.

Current statistics are hard to find in light of the media blackout of this ``first disease in history protected by anti-discrimination laws." However, a new report by a noted researcher has recently surfaced. The following facts are alarming:

AIDS has mutated. The new strains, known as HIV 1C, D, and E are currently decimating the populations of Africa and Asia. They have also shown up in California and Toronto, Canada. Until now, the vast majority (over of 90%) of AIDS cases in the United States were of the ``HIV 1B" variety. The ``1B" variety is not as susceptible to heterogeneous transmission. However, the new strains are ``more successful in setting up a heterosexual epidemic," since ``the mutated cells grow dramatically better in the reproductive tracts of men and women."

Max Essex of the Harvard AIDS Institute warns: ``If they take hold in the United States and western Europe, we should expect a heterosexual epidemic of significantly greater magnitude than exists today." These new strains have also surfaced in Central and South Americas. If they continue to surface in significant numbers, ``large fractions of the population thus far unexposed could be at risk." Incidentally, Brazil has the highest reported AIDS incidence in South America, with over 1,000,000 cases. At this year's Mardi Gras in Rio DeJaniero, visitors were handed ``protection" as they arrived at airports. It was also reported that the Brazilian government was cracking down on ``sex holidays" which are very popular in Europe, especially Germany, and account for about 1% of the influx of traffic at Mardi Gras.

``But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?" (2 Peter 3:10-12)

``And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." (Matthew 24:14)

Jesus is telling us in this passage that when the gospel has been proclaimed in all the world as a witness to the nations, then the end will come.

Clearly, world-wide evangelism is on the upswing. Pat Robertson recently stated that the 700 Club now targets entire countries with evangelism blitzes, resulting in hundreds of thousands -- even millions -- coming to saving relationships with Jesus Christ. The 700 Club television program is being beamed all around the world via satellite to areas that are politically still closed to the gospel. Other projects, such as Campus Crusade's Jesus Video Project, continue to record massive decisions for Christ.

``Look among the nations and watch. Be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you." (Hab 1:5) ``Write the vision and make it plain... For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will surely come..." (Hab 2:2-3) ``For the stone will cry out from the wall....Woe to him who builds a city by bloodshed, who establishes a city by iniquity....For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." (Hab 2:11-14)

One of the largest hindrances to world-wide evangelism came down in 1989 -- the Berlin Wall. It was an event that, incredibly, may have been predicted by the prophet Habakkuk thousands of years ago. In the Biblical text, there are references both to a city built by bloodshed and also to a wall. God says that He is going to do a work so incredible that we won't believe it. He tells us that this event will take place at the appointed time -- the time of the end -- and then the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.

Evangelism efforts exploded after the Berlin Wall came down and, as a result, whole population groups were then able to freely receive God's Word. The Gospel is now being preached throughout the world, even in places like communist China where persecution of Christians continues. But in spite of this persecution, there exists an underground Christian church of between 50 to 150 million people.

And world-wide evangelism is about to be taken to a new level. In case you missed it, or perhaps did not grasp the prophetic significance of the event, Billy Graham has embarked on a new crusade of incredible proportions. Special broadcasts are slated to kick off on the 14th of April, 1996. By the end of the month, the gospel will have reached over 200 countries via ``heavenly messenger"; i.e., satellite (Rev 14:6). According to a March, 1996 correspondence, there will be several phases to this outreach:

1) The broadcast will use some of the world's largest international satellite systems to beam the message into scores of countries that, in the past, haven't allowed Gospel programs.

It is possible that such satellite transmission was foretold 2,500 years ago. In Zechariah, we find the following vision: ``Then I turned, and lifted up my eyes, and looked, and beheld a flying roll. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits." (Zech 5:1-2). A ``roll" was an ancient book, often made of parchment in the form of a rolled manuscript, and was the primary communication device of Zechariah's time. Note that Zechariah saw this scroll flying through the air. He probably did not have a clue as to exactly what he was seeing, but God provided some details for later generations. The roll was 20 by 10 cubits, or 30 feet long and 15 feet wide. So we have a communication device, flying through the sky, 30 feet long by 15 feet wide ... which just happens to be the defacto standard for communications satellites (as of the 1994 launching of the ``Intelsat VI" satellite).

2) Millions of home meetings where people will invite friends and neighbors to watch the broadcasts with them and where counselors have been trained to answer their questions in their homes.

3) More than ONE MILLION churches cooperating by organizing, praying and training to answer seekers' questions.

4) Many countries carrying the series on national television during prime evening time. Over 80% of the world will be able to see it in this phase alone.

5) Cable systems world-wide will pick up the program for millions of additional viewers. ``On April 14, the day we will have the widest satellite coverage, we expect that more people will hear the Gospel than on any previous day in the history of the Christian Church."

Please join in prayer during April for the Billy Graham World Television Series: