We live in a time unlike any other in history. World events are moving rapidly toward the end of this age.

There is an unseen reason why troubles are intensifying as never before. You cannot understand events without recognizing this truth.

An event occurred in 1986 that marked a major turning point in history. It has radically altered everything that has happened since: culture, family, education, religion, science, finance, politics, international relations—everything we do.

Yet what is most remarkable is, almost no one even knows it happened.

It has affected the United States in a massive way. In fact, it marked a major escalation of a violent attack on America. It is an assault by an invisible force—a force that is very real and deadly dangerous.

The Bible provides penetrating insight into this troubling trend. The Trumpet has written for years that America is prophesied to fall—hard—before it rises again. But it also gives extraordinary insight into how that fall will come about. This insight puts the seriousness and urgency of current events in their true perspective.

This force is mysterious. It is a spirit that prevails in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Jewish state in the Middle East. But the main focus is America—because this evil force knows where the real power is. By bringing down the world’s number one superpower, it can bring down the others as well.

To understand this world-quaking change that happened in 1986, let’s first look at some of what occurred right after it took place.

The Demonizing of Robert Bork

On July 1, 1987, President Ronald Reagan nominated a highly respected judge, Robert Bork, to become an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Within 45 minutes, Massachusetts Democrat Edward Kennedy took to the floor of the Senate and demonized him. “Robert Bork’s America,” he said, would produce back-alley abortions, segregation, censorship and midnight police raids.

It was a shocking, bald-faced vilification of a man who was obviously qualified and greatly respected, even by many liberals. “There was not a line in that speech that was accurate,” Bork said. Many people agreed—but the attack still worked. Senator Kennedy and others led the way for abortionists, evolutionists, feminists, civil-rights advocates and other liberals to band together and defame Judge Bork’s reputation in an enormous smear campaign. They even aired television ads denigrating him. “They turned him into an absolute gargoyle, into a beast,” one senator said.

Even the liberal Washington Post admitted that it was a “lynching.” Many other liberals saw what was happening too. The head of the Senate Judiciary Committee was Joe Biden, and he said he didn’t believe they could reject a man of Bork’s qualifications. But after special interest groups told him to change his tune, he did. The radical left was on a rampage.

Judge Bork’s name even became a verb. To “bork” was officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2002. It means “to defame or vilify (a person) systematically, especially in the mass media, usually with the aim of preventing his or her appointment to public office.”

Why was Robert Bork so demonized? Why was his nomination to the Supreme Court turned into a witch hunt, when it was obvious he was more than qualified? The reason was that the radical left feared him.

And for what reason? Judge Bork was known for one thing more than anything else: believing in the Constitution. He was one of the most brilliant constitutional lawyers this land has produced! He was considered “a pioneer in constitutional thinking devoted to the text and original meaning of the Constitution,” as Reuters put it. He was known as a constitutional “originalist” or “constructionist” who believed in judicial restraint. The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia released a statement through the Federalist Society calling him one of the most influential legal scholars of the last 50 years. The society’s executive vice president said Bork was “one of our country’s fiercest and most articulate defenders of the Constitution as it is written.”

That’s why they hated him! The Constitution is the supreme law of the land—much of it based on biblical principles. That means we are descending into deadly, anti-God lawlessness!

Everyone thought that when a popular president nominated a brilliant, well-qualified man who passionately defends what the Constitution actually says, he would be easily confirmed—even by a majority Democrat Senate. But in 1987, radical liberals considered defending the Constitution a very, very bad thing! And they had the power to get their way.

The Senate defeated Judge Bork’s nomination 58-42, the largest margin ever.

Many people at the time recognized that this was a watershed event in American politics. One law professor said it was “the decisive moment in politicizing the process of judicial selection” that “poisoned the atmosphere for judicial confirmations ever since.” In fact, it poisoned a lot more than that!

In 2005, Bork said what he thought made a good Supreme Court justice: “A willingness to apply the Constitution according to the principles that are actually in it, rather than what they call the ‘evolving’ or the ‘living’ Constitution, which simply means the judges begin to make it up.”

The tide turned in a big way in 1987. Law started to get a lot weaker. And lawlessness started to get much, much stronger.

This is a significant clue as to what happened in 1986 that made such an impact on the state of our world.

The Architect of Lawlessness

Such a massive lurch toward lawlessness has a cause. I want to show you exactly what that cause is. Most people will scoff at what I am about to write—but it is absolutely true, and you can prove it from your Bible.

The most lawless being in the universe is a spirit being, Satan the devil. 2 Corinthians 4:4 calls him “the god of this world.” What does that mean? It means that this evil spirit being has frightening power—power we can hardly imagine! To say that he is the god of this world means that he rules—and even more: It means the people in this world worship him!

One of the Bible’s most remarkable passages to help us understand the extent of the devil’s power is the book of Revelation. This book puts all prophecy into a time sequence, or time frame. That means you can know when the prophecy is going to be fulfilled. If you don’t understand Revelation, you don’t understand Bible prophecy!

Revelation 12 prophesies of a war in heaven where great angelic beings fought against the devil and his demons, of which there are millions. Here is the outcome of that spiritual war: “[T]he dragon fought and his angels [the fallen angels—the demons], And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (verses 7-9).

Notice: Verse 9 says Satan deceives the whole world. That’s talking about everybody! His deception affects this world’s education, its religion, its politics, its science—everything! So says your Bible.

Ephesians 2:2 calls Satan “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” He is stirring up people’s emotions, moods and attitudes. When people get into a negative emotion, a bad attitude or a wrong mood, he works on those people even more. He has power to influence those wrong emotions; he has deceived the world through them! People don’t understand God’s Word—they don’t have any depth spiritually—so they just follow along emotionally, and Satan deceives them all. That is amazing, but it’s biblical and you can prove it to yourself, and you certainly should.

Revelation 12:9 is also an end-time prophecy. It tells us that Satan was cast to this Earth. When did this happen? God’s people must have this revealed to them, or why would God make the prophecy? You must know if you are to understand what’s going on in your nation and in this world.

The devil and millions of demons are now confined to this Earth. They can no longer go out into the universe. That’s the first time that has ever happened!

What are these evil spirits doing? These are beings with awesome power. Surely their being cast down to this Earth would have enormous impact on world affairs. We must be seeing things happen that would indicate the reality of this end-time Bible prophecy. How did it affect this world? And how much is it going to impact your life? Their dirty work is going on now, but do we see it? Do we understand it? If this is actually true, then there must be a lot of damage.

God’s Word stands or falls on whether or not we can prove this. And we certainly can prove it. The effects and Bible prophecy will tell us when and how it all happened and how it continues to unfold.

This is earthshaking—even universe-shaking in many ways! It is bad news, and yet, in the bigger picture it’s also very good news—the best news we could possibly hear. Here is why: “Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! [even of the sea, it’s so bad] for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time” (verse 12).

Satan and all his demons were kicked out of heaven—so they’re rejoicing in heaven! There’s a lot more freedom and happiness there as a result! But woe to us on Earth! This brings a whole new level of suffering to this world. Satan is already being worshiped on this Earth, but now it’s a thousand times worse! Now he’s cast down, and he is full of wrath for a very definite reason. Satan knows he has a short time—but a short time before what?

This statement shows that this is an end-time prophecy. Satan was cast down just a “short time” before Jesus Christ returns to this Earth and kicks Satan off his throne! (e.g. Revelation 20:1-2, 10). That is the spectacular, joyfully good news. Christ is about to return to this Earth and stop all of the hatred, racism, violence and war that is caused by Satan’s influence. Everything is set for a new government to be in place on Earth very shortly—almost certainly in less than a decade.

However, you need to understand what Satan is going to do before that happens. Satan, knowing his time is short, is full of wrath like never before! That is a major prophecy in your Bible. Satan knows he has a short time to do what? What is he doing that he won’t be doing in a very short time?

This is a spiritual force of tremendous evil and destructive power! Satan is a liar and a murderer. And he and his evil minions are confined to this Earth. What are they doing? We have to know. We must understand our enemy!

When Satan Was Cast Down

Look again at this Revelation 12 prophecy. Verse 12 warns the inhabitants of the earth and sea because Satan was cast down. Then as soon as that happened, what was the very first thing Satan did? Verse 13 shows that he attacked the Church of God! That is what this “woman” is prophetically.

Perhaps you, like many of our readers, have no history with that Church. But what happened there is still extremely relevant to you, and I will explain why.

If you want to know how Satan operates, just look at what he did to that church.

This verse specifically dates this prophecy. We can point to a specific time when God’s true Church was forcibly attacked by the devil. This is spoken of in another prophecy—in 2 Thessalonians 2—that links directly with Revelation 12 in order to establish the time frame.

There the Apostle Paul prophesied, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2). When is Christ coming? How can we know? God tells us what will happen just before He returns.

Notice this astounding prophecy: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day [the Second Coming of Christ] shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition [or destruction]” (verse 3). Something terrible happened inside God’s Church, and by it, Satan was able to wreck the spiritual lives of many people. This is a great “falling away” in the Church—exactly what Revelation 12:13 is about. When Satan was cast down, he attacked God’s Church, which triggered a great falling away because most of God’s people were deceived and God’s Work was destroyed!

This prophecy says a “man of sin” would be revealed inside that church. This man is called the “son of destruction”—the same title as Judas Iscariot, who was actually possessed by the devil (Luke 22:3; John 13:27). Satan has a lot of power. And Satan used a man!

This man “opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4). And this Satan-inspired man showed himself to be God—and many people were deceived by him, amazing as that sounds!

He acts like he’s God, taking the place of God in that temple. That is how arrogant Satan is—acting like God. He thinks he’s God—and has rebelled against God and tried to overthrow God!

That is why Satan was cast down in this end time. He tried to overthrow God once (Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:14-17), and then tried again just before Christ is to return (Revelation 12:7-9). This time, he was thrown down to Earth and confined there; he is no longer allowed in the rest of the universe.

The prophecy in 2 Thessalonians 2 also includes another important individual. Verse 7 says, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way” (English Standard Version). This is a mystery of lawlessness. That is what it’s all about.

This “mystery of lawlessness” was working in God’s Church already, but somebody (“he who now restrains”) was controlling it and ensuring it didn’t openly manifest itself. As long as he was there, Satan could not take over the Church; the falling away couldn’t occur.

Do you know who this man was? Herbert W. Armstrong was the head of God’s Church for over 50 years, and God used him to keep the Church on track. Then he was taken “out of the way.” That happened when God allowed him to die in 1986.

And notice what happened immediately after that: “And then shall that Wicked [Satan the devil] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming” (verse 8). This man has to be revealed. Somebody has to reveal him!

After that man was taken out of the way, Satan was cast down! Now everybody can see him because he is full of wrath and wreaking great destruction! Satan turned 95 percent of the people in God’s Church away from God. Only 5 percent remained to proclaim the message! God had to raise up another work to get His message out. He uses that 5 percent who remained behind to reveal Satan and his man to those who are willing to see.

These prophecies have come to pass. Once Satan was cast down, he used a “man of sin” right at the head of God’s Church to lead in the destruction of that church from the inside, from right at the top!

“Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” (verse 9). This is after the working of Satan. Can you detect this evil spiritual influence in our world today? It is a real spiritual power, and it almost mesmerizes people with its lies! This points right back to Revelation 12:9 and the fact that Satan has unmatched powers of deception. It is all prophesied in your Bible!

Where has Satan been revealed on this Earth? Who has revealed Satan?

I would like to give you a free copy of a book my son wrote titled Raising the Ruins. It is filled with details about what happened in God’s Church after Herbert W. Armstrong died in 1986. That Church was devastated. You can prove that. It’s out there for anyone to see if they’re willing to look.

We went through six years of litigation with the Worldwide Church of God in order to preserve the right to keep Mr. Armstrong’s literature in print and freely available to the public. The leaders in that Church wanted to bury that literature—and even sued us for giving it away free! In that court battle, we gained access to all kinds of documentation of what the leaders of that organization did—from the very top—to destroy it and destroy the truths that it taught from the Bible. They did their work very efficiently.

We explain all this in Raising the Ruins, which we send out free of charge to anyone who wants it. It tells the whole story about what happened, and how and when. This history is also explained in detail, from a prophetic perspective, in my book Malachi’s Message to God’s Church Today, also free.

In fulfillment of the prophecy in Revelation 12:13, Satan destroyed the Church of God. This happened beginning in 1986, and I saw it happen. God’s loyal members were the primary victims.

Here is why this is so important to you.

Satan’s Second Target

The Bible describes the Church as spiritual “Israel” (e.g. Galatians 6:16; Ephesians 2:12). When Satan was cast down, he immediately went after spiritual Israel. That was his first target.

But he didn’t stop there. After that, he directed his attack against physical Israel. Who is that? Specifically, it is three of the modern nations that descended from the biblical nation of Israel—chiefly the United States, Britain and the Jewish state. (Proof of these nations’ identity can be found in Mr. Armstrong’s book The United States and Britain in Prophecy, one of the works we won in that court case, and which we will also send you free.)

This is a big goal of the devil and his demons: They are out to bring Israel down, whether spiritual or physical Israel.

What happened in that Church shows you something of a blueprint for what Satan began to do in these nations. That is why that Church history is so relevant and important for you to grasp.

Revelation 12:14 is a prophecy of God’s faithful people being taken to a place of safety for 3½ years. Putting this together with other scriptures shows that this occurs during the Great Tribulation, when the nations of Israel are suffering as never before in the most savage warfare in human history. The first 2½ years of that period of nightmarish warfare is called the Great Tribulation, a manifestation of the wrath of the devil. The last year is called the Day of the Lord, which is a time of God’s wrath on a sinful world. But even the troubles of the Tribulation show a measure of God’s wrath as well—He is very angry at sinful Israel.

But again—note the chronology here. After the devil attacked the Church in verse 13, and devastated it and destroyed the people’s faith, he continues his destructive rampage on a larger scale until God has to take His faithful people to a place of safety. That also tells you that the devil is attacking the nations of Israel—three in particular. And that attack leads up to the Great Tribulation. It wouldn’t start only at the beginning of that 2½-year period. That part of it is not specifically explained here, but it is in other scriptures.

So, even though this passage doesn’t explicitly mention physical Israel, Satan’s attack on the U.S., Britain and Israel is the subtext. Satan must have attacked the nations of Israel leading up to the Great Tribulation of those three nations. Satan attacked the Church, then he attacked the nations of Israel.

This means these nations are in serious trouble! It’s so bad that the woman has to flee to be protected by God from the serpent. That’s talking about great suffering in three nations of Israel in particular: the birthright nations and the scepter nation, or America, Britain and the Jewish nation in the Middle East.

If you look at the whole story in biblical prophecy, you see that Satan has a three-pronged attack. First he attacks God’s Church. Second, he tears down the values within the nations of Israel. Finally, he will bring the Holy Roman Empire to destroy those nations in the Great Tribulation. That is Satan’s master plan for destroying spiritual and physical Israel!

We are watching that second phase unfold before our eyes, as the Holy Roman Empire becomes a world superpower.

The Invisible Force

This is what changed in 1986. The devil was cast down to Earth, and he began his lawless rampage. I saw with my own eyes the damage he wreaked on God’s Church. Now, it is becoming ever clearer that he is unleashing the same kind of destruction on our nations!

The only difference is this: The destruction in God’s Church was on a spiritual level, and the three nations are being destroyed on a letter-of-the-law level because they don’t yet have God’s Holy Spirit. This will lead to these nations being conquered from without.

Many people are deeply concerned about the direction of America today. Many can see that the nation is on the wrong course and is rapidly losing its moral character and its strength.

However, the situation is more severe than people realize. Something very grave is going on in this land that most people do not truly understand.

The fact described in Revelation 12:12—prophesied to occur just “a short time” before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ—is one of the defining spiritual truths of our world today. What is it? That Satan the devil and his demons are “cast down” and confined to this Earth.

This is a subject that requires some study and meditation. You cannot understand events in America today if you don’t see the spiritual dimension.

This invisible force is attacking our nations today! What happened to Robert Bork marked the beginning of a vicious attack on the law of the land. In the two decades since, we have seen a rapid breakdown of law and an increasing amount of poison spreading through America’s political system. Today, because Satan is cast down, America is a different nation!

Satan is bringing these nations down. Through all the destruction, he is using individuals to destroy law and government, so everything comes unglued and falls apart. That is what this is all about.

Reporter Michael Hastings published a book called Panic 2012: The Sublime and Terrifying Inside Story of Obama’s Final Campaign. In it, he described the intriguing personal effect that the president had on the journalists covering him on the campaign trail.

In an interview about his book, Hastings told msnbc’s Martin Bashir, “But that’s the presence of Obama, even on the press corps—even on the people who follow him every day. When they’re near him, they lose their minds sometimes. They start behaving in ways that are juvenile, and amateurish, and they swoon” (emphasis mine throughout).

Can you explain that? What a terrible indictment against our media! What is going on? Reporters swooning and acting like nervous teenagers around a politician—is that normal? I don’t remember ever reading anything like this in American politics!

The mainstream media regularly just go along with what the president says, even at times when it can be easily proved false. What is causing such actions?

Even Hastings himself admitted to getting caught up in this behavior around the president. “I do,” he laughed. “I totally—oh man!”

This reporter thought this was funny. Is it really funny? No, it is an unparalleled, colossal disaster!

Hastings described an opportunity he had to ask questions of the president. “Did I ask the hardball questions?” he admitted with a smile. “No, I did not”—opting instead to ask the “soft” questions.

Why would that happen? Can Satan have such an influence? Yes he can! And that is only the beginning!

What happens when most of the media just follow along with whatever the president says? What is going on? That is totally aberrant behavior! It seems these supposed professionals have lost all consciousness of their responsibility as journalists!

Without a free and truthful media, a republic cannot survive!

Why aren’t more people talking about this dangerous trend? This is serious beyond measure!

What you see there is a direct symptom of the spiritual reality I described in the first chapter. The devil, who comes as “an angel of light,” is using his powers of deceit and intimidation to get a stranglehold on this nation!

Antiochus Epiphanes

The Prophet Daniel gave another incredible end-time prophecy that I believe gives us an even more specific indication of what is happening in America today.

The book of Daniel is only for this end time—and for no other time (Daniel 12:4, 9).

The specific prophecy that I want to focus on is in Daniel 8. The last part of Daniel 8:17 reads, “Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end” (Revised Standard Version). In verse 26, God told Daniel to seal up the vision, “for it relates to the far future” (Moffatt). It is true that many of the events described in this chapter were fulfilled in type in the centuries after Daniel recorded them in 550 b.c. However, even those events point to this prophecy’s primary fulfillment—which occurs in the end time, just before Christ returns.

Beginning in verse 9 is a prophecy of a “little horn” that arose from one of the four divisions of the Grecian Empire. Virtually all commentaries agree that this refers to Antiochus Epiphanes, a dictator who obtained rule in Palestine in 176 b.c. through deceit and flattery. What they overlook, though, is that this also has an end-time fulfillment.

The details of this prophecy have very personal, emotional meaning to me—because we dealt with an Antiochus in the Church of God. And Satan used that man to destroy the Church! This man “magnified himself even to [against] the prince of the host [Jesus Christ], and by him the daily sacrifice [the Work of God] was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down” (verse 11). This is speaking of this Antiochus-like man inside the Church of God being used by the devil to destroy God’s Work. The “daily sacrifice” is speaking about the work of the temple—God’s Work. This is another, more spiritually detailed prophecy of the events described in 2 Thessalonians 2.

“And an host [a demon army] was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression [because of the sins of the people in God’s Church], and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered” (Daniel 8:12). People were transgressing, so they didn’t have God’s power. As a result, this army of demons was able to march in and destroy 95 percent of God’s people spiritually.

I have written a lot about how this prophecy was fulfilled in the Church, and you are welcome to read it. My booklets Daniel—Unsealed at Last! and Daniel Unlocks Revelation explain this passage in detail.

However, this prophecy also directly applies to you.

That army of demons is still around. They wrecked the Church, and then they moved on to other areas! Now they seek to bring down nations!

Targeting Those at the Top

Beginning in Daniel 8:23 is a prophecy of “a king of fierce countenance” rising up in the “latter time.” This aligns with several other prophecies that refer to a mighty political leader who is about to emerge to lead the final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire in Europe. He is also a type of Antiochus. He will be somewhat in the mold of Adolf Hitler, yet with far more subtlety and smoothness. But he is going to lead that European power in destroying America, Britain and the Jewish nation called Israel! This terrifying event is prophesied in dozens of scriptures.

This is the way Satan operates. In order to destroy God’s Church, he managed to plant a spiritual Antiochus right at the top, who desecrated the spiritual temple and cast the truth to the ground. And in order to destroy the nations of Israel, Satan brings a political Antiochus who will lead an army right into the Holy City, Jerusalem, to begin his physical assault (e.g. Daniel 11:31; Mark 13:14; Luke 21:20). The United States, Britain and Israel (the Jewish state, biblical Judah) are all prophesied to fall together at the hands of that European power (Hosea 5:5).

Biblical prophecy shows that Satan leads both the first spiritual Antiochus and this last political Antiochus.

Is it possible that he uses the same strategy to weaken physical Israel in between those two attacks?

Does he have another Antiochus-type who undermines the nations of Israel and prepares them for their destruction by the Holy Roman Empire?

The highest office in the world’s number one superpower, which happens to be a descendant of ancient Israel, would have to be a big target for Satan, wouldn’t you think? I am certain of it.

Most people say they believe the Bible. I’d like you to think about the example recorded in 1 Samuel 16:14 of a king who was troubled by an evil spirit. 1 Samuel 19:9-10 show this spirit provoking King Saul to try to kill young David.

Do you believe it is possible that an evil spirit could get right in there with the king of Israel? It has happened—a number of times, in fact.

The Apostle Paul made a profound statement in 2 Corinthians 2:11. He said that we had better not be ignorant of the devices of the devil, or else we will become his victims.

God lives and so does the devil! The devil lives! People scoff, but they won’t be scoffing long; they’ll soon realize how ignorant they were of his devices and wiles.

What Kind of Man Is This?

Read Daniel’s entire prophecy to see what sort of man this Antiochus is. History also gives us important insight.

Daniel 11:21 says this leader obtained rule through deceitful lies and flatteries. George Rawlinson’s A Manual of Ancient History says, “Antiochus, assisted by Eumenes, drives out Heliodorus, and obtains the throne, 176 b.c. He astonishes his subjects by an affectation of Roman manners.” Antiochus Epiphanes gained control by pretending to be someone he really wasn’t.

We must always look out for the devil for this reason: He comes as an angel of light, but he is just the opposite! (e.g. 2 Corinthians 11:14).

In 168 b.c., Antiochus pillaged and desecrated the Jews’ temple in Jerusalem. “Throughout the turbulent changes of its past history,” Werner Keller wrote in The Bible as History, “Israel had been spared none of the horror and ignominy which could befall a nation. But never before, neither under the Assyrians nor under the Babylonians, had it received such a blow as the edict issued by Antiochus Epiphanes by which he hoped to crush and destroy the faith of Israel.”

The goal to crush and destroy Israel’s faith comes from the devil. This is not just the work of a human being. Antiochus was a tool in Satan’s hands—just as he will be in this end time. The devil hates Jews, and Israel, and God’s plan. There really is a being who rules this world, and if he can get enough power over the people, they develop rabid hatred for anything related to the true God!

Antiochus hated the Jews because Satan was so close to him, and he to Satan. Today, that hatred is intensified. Satan is full of wrath because he knows his time is short.

Daniel 11:22 in the Moffatt reads, “The opposing forces shall be swept before him and shattered, and so shall God’s high priest.” Antiochus would even go so far as to murder the Jewish high priest. History confirms that Onias iii was high priest in Judea at the time and that Antiochus put him to death in 172 b.c.

Rulers before Antiochus had typically treated the Jews well. But Epiphanes’s ruthlessness toward the Jews far surpassed that of his fathers (verse 24). And that is only a type of the affliction coming upon three nations of Israel in this end time!

Verse 30 says Antiochus was deceitful with certain people inside the temple. We saw that happen in God’s Church. This man found some people “inside the temple” who would betray God, and he allied himself with them, and had “indignation against the holy covenant.”

The “abomination that maketh desolate” in verse 31 is an army that smashes Jerusalem. It desecrates the holy place and takes away the daily sacrifice (see also Daniel 8:11, 24). Starting in 168 b.c., Antiochus butchered the city’s inhabitants and looted the temple. Tradition says that he built a statue of Jupiter Olympus in the holy of holies—the holiest place inside the temple. The Anchor Bible says he tried to enforce his Hellenization policy upon the Jews “even to the extent of completely exterminating them and their religion.”

Do you hear any talk about trying to wipe Israel out today?

According to Rawlinson, the Jews “were driven to desperation by the mad project of this self-willed monarch,” speaking of Antiochus. In a sense, this is already happening to a degree with the Jewish state of Israel today.

Anti-Israelism

The Obama administration is demonstrating in a number of ways that it does not like the Jews. Israeli leaders recognize that the alliance between these two nations can no longer be trusted, and they are being “driven to desperation.” They must be asking why this administration harbors such antipathy for them! They don’t understand—and even the people who have that bitter feeling toward them often don’t understand!

British commentator Melanie Phillips made this observation: “To an astonishing silence by the media on both sides of the pond, the U.S. along with the UK and a number of European governments is leading the West into an abyss” (Dec. 21, 2012).

The proof to support her statement is abundant. For example, look at the bankruptcy in America’s foreign policy. The U.S. and others have given power to Islamist extremists who are hostile to the free world. We have handed Egypt and Libya to some of our worst enemies! That is the state of American foreign policy today.

There is abundant proof that America is now actively and intentionally supporting Islamist rebels in Syria. American agents are funneling weapons to the rebels, making no attempt to keep them from the Muslim Brotherhood and the even more extreme Salafists.

Don’t our leaders realize that these bloodthirsty Islamists are jeopardizing the Middle East and especially Israel? The astonishing answer is yes, they do.

President Obama nominated Chuck Hagel to be the United States’ secretary of defense. This former Nebraska senator has consistently spoken out against Israel, and for Palestinians, terrorists and Iran. He has voted against sanctioning Iran to stop its pursuit of nuclear weapons; he voted against labeling Iran’s Revolutionary Guards a terrorist organization; he has declared that a military strike against Iran is not an option (President Obama said he would not tolerate a nuclear Iran, but he has done nothing to stop them); he urged President Bush to establish “direct, unconditional” talks with Iran; he wants to establish diplomatic relations with Tehran; he has said repeatedly that sanctioning Iran will isolate America.

Mr. Hagel refused to sign a letter asking the EU to name Hezbollah a terrorist organization. In fact, during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, he said Washington should “engage Iran and Syria,” the nations that back the Hezbollah terrorists. He accused Israel of “sickening slaughter” and “the systematic destruction of an American friend: the country and people of Lebanon.”

Over and over again through the years, when nearly all of his fellow senators agreed to sign various letters of support for Israel, Hagel has been one of the few—sometimes the only one—to refuse. He supported the “Saudi Peace Initiative,” which calls for Israel to forfeit the Golan Heights, the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem, including the Jewish Quarter.

Why, then, would President Obama want to make this man secretary of defense? Here is Phillips’s answer—and it is profound: “What therefore is the factor that Obama brings to the West’s dismal foreign-policy table as illustrated by these truly appalling choices? Malice. Against the West, and also against the ancient civilization that lies at the heart of its moral codes.”

What is the ancient civilization that lies at the heart of America’s moral codes? She is talking about Judeo-Christian history—and the morality of the Bible. She is absolutely right in saying that the current administration of America views that civilization—along with its moral law—with malice.

You see that hatred for law in everything it does. Its decisions spring from the same lawless mindset that was exposed in the Bork nomination process, as I described in Chapter 1.

Caroline Glick wrote, “Obama wants to hurt Israel. He does not like Israel. He is appointing anti-Israel advisers and cabinet members not despite their anti-Israel positions, but because of them. … Obama wants to fundamentally transform the U.S. relationship with Israel. [T]he most urgent order of business for Israelis is to stop deluding ourselves in thinking that under Obama the U.S. can be trusted” (Dec. 16, 2012).

Never has there been such a hateful foreign policy in America toward our best ally in the Middle East.

Israel is facing extermination, and the U.S. is backing and supporting the radical Arab terrorists! It is forcing the Israelis to look for help elsewhere. If you continue to watch, you will see that Israel will turn to Germany for help, along with Britain (Hosea 5:13)—and the Germans will commit an enormous double cross against them. This is prophesied in Scripture, and we can see events leading step by step to that end.

Irrational Foreign Policy

How much is the devil influencing America’s foreign policy today? Many people would scoff at such a question. But in looking at the decisions this administration is making, I’m hard-pressed to think of any that don’t have the effect of weakening America and strengthening the forces of evil in this world.

In December 2012, it was revealed that al Qaeda had established a new base in Libya. America bombed Libya—and since then has done nothing to help the moderate Arabs get control! It’s almost always the worst of the people who rise to power—especially when they are supported by a powerful Iran, which is the biblically prophesied “king of the south.” (Our free booklet The King of the South will explain that to you.)

The Philadelphia Trumpet said that just such a political transformation would happen both in Libya and in Egypt (see our October 2011 cover story, “Egypt and Libya to Join Iran’s Terror Network”). In fact, we said that before anything had happened in Libya. How did we know? We looked in the Bible, saw what God had prophesied, and believed Him. And the proof is plainly evident today.

In Syria, reports say that Bashar Assad has hundreds or even thousands of tons of chemical weapons and the ballistic missiles to deliver them. Intelligence reports say he’s already been mixing these chemicals and has been pouring sarin nerve gas into missiles. Just a single drop of that poison will kill—and each missile holds a much larger amount! Assad is apparently threatening to use it on his own people.

This is the same gas that Saddam Hussein inflicted on the Kurds who were rebelling against him—his own people. Reports spoke of sheep and goats in the field dropping over dead; lifeless birds would fall out of the sky. These are weapons of mass destruction! They don’t just kill one person with a bullet—they kill thousands, even millions, depending on how they are used.

What if the terrorists get control of those chemicals? Do you think they won’t bring them to the U.S.? They hate Americans as much as or more than the Jews! On December 7, 2012, authorities caught two Pakistanis who are American citizens trying to get a wmd. Can you imagine what would have happened on September 11 if, instead of just knocking down buildings, the terrorists had dumped sarin nerve gas all over New York City?

If you understand that Satan has been cast down, and is in a frothing rage because his time is short, you know that we can expect to see these devastating weapons put to use! I think this could have a lot to do with the burning of Israel’s cities prophesied in Isaiah 1:7.

JewishPress.com ran an article titled “Has Obama Decided to Get Rid of Jordan’s King Abdullah?” on November 22, 2012. It talked about how a State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, stated that there was “thirst for change” in Jordan’s leadership. King Abdullah and his cabinet were greatly disturbed by this statement. This is probably the most peaceful country in the Middle East, the Arab nation that is friendliest toward America! Why would he say such a thing? A few hundred people demonstrated against the government, and America acts like they want to see King Abdullah removed from power! Just a couple years ago, tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the government in Iran, and the Obama administration said nothing! What is wrong with these people?

This too is an indication of Satan being cast down and exerting his influence at the highest levels. Every decision they are making in foreign policy and just about everything else is dangerously wrong. And we need to prepare ourselves for more terrible decisions.

America has done nothing helpful about Syria, with its witch’s brew of wmd. We really have done nothing in Libya—we won’t even go in and fight for our own ambassador and his American supporters. We won’t speak out against what’s happening in Libya. In Egypt, after that nation had peace with Israel for 30 years, we helped kick Hosni Mubarak off his throne, and we would not speak out against Mohamed Morsi essentially declaring himself pharaoh of Egypt and a bitter enemy of the Jewish nation.

Can you explain these decisions with any logic?

Many people can see that these are disastrous decisions. But we must understand that this isn’t simply the result of ineptitude on the part of this administration, or naivety about how the world really works. We are seeing the aftereffects of a calculated, aggressive, satanic attack aimed at weakening and ultimately destroying the nations of Israel, starting with the world’s most powerful nation!

The more time that passes, and the shorter Satan’s time gets, the angrier he grows. Now he has been revealed so anybody ought to be able to see him and the crises he’s causing—especially in America, Britain and Israel, but also throughout the world!

‘By Reason of Transgression’

The obvious question arises, why would God allow such a terrible thing to happen? The answer is back in Daniel 8:12. That verse describes this satanic spirit army wreaking destruction within God’s Church. And notice: It says it was “by reason of transgression.” The sins of the people gave Satan his opening. Their prayers to God are not being answered. That is why Antiochus can do all of his dirty work: because there’s so much sin going on inside Israel. That was woefully true of spiritual Israel, God’s Church, and it is equally true of our nations today. Our people are saturated in sin and lawbreaking of every imaginable type—and proud of it! That’s why God punishes us with such a devastating curse!

The sin within gave the devil his opening. Once Satan got inside, he went right into the sanctuary, working through the leaders at the top, and cast the truth to the ground! That is how Satan destroyed God’s Church. I watched it happen before my eyes.

That kind of massive destruction can’t be done from the bottom—only from the top!

Now Satan and his mighty armies of demons are destroying the superpower of Israel the same way. The values that helped make America great are being cast to the ground—from the top!

The American people are to blame—“by reason of transgression”! Because of their weighty sins, God will not bless them. Instead, they are being cursed.

On January 27, 2013, cbs Sunday Morning aired a commentary by a constitutional law professor suggesting that for America to solve its many problems, it needs to abandon the Constitution.

“If we are to take back our own country, we have to start making decisions for ourselves, and stop deferring to an ancient and outdated document,” said Lewis Michael Seidman (emphasis mine throughout). This man teaches constitutional law at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, d.c., and was speaking on one of the big three television networks!

In his most recent book, On Constitutional Disobedience, Seidman asks, “Why should we care about what the Constitution says? Should we feel obligated to obey it? How can we make decisions today based on a document created more than 200 years ago?” That kind of reasoning can and is used concerning the Bible—upon which much of the Constitution is based!

This is all about spiritual degeneration!

This type of anti-Constitution reasoning is suddenly becoming quite popular. Do you know why? It is because the Obama administration is taking actions just about every week that raise constitutional questions and that threaten to undermine America’s foundational document.

I find it intriguing that cbs broadcast this commentary right at the beginning of the second term of the most radically liberal president the United States has ever seen. This administration and the radically left Democrats are very hostile to the Constitution, and so is the media. However, our problem in the U.S. is much deeper than the radical left.

Casting Truth to the Ground

In September of 2012, a panel of experts presented a list to the House Judiciary Committee of how President Obama is exceeding his constitutional constraints. HumanEvents.com summarized the panel’s findings this way: “As president, Barack Obama has made a habit of bypassing or ignoring constitutional limitations on his power” (Sept. 12, 2012). Here are some of the examples the panel gave: his abuse of executive power in connection with the Fast and Furious scandal; his decision to stop enforcing parts of America’s immigration law; his authorization of military action in Libya in 2011 without first consulting Congress. Some legislators are calling for legal action against the president for that last decision.

One of the panel’s main points was how in 2012, the president sidestepped the Senate and made some unilateral “recess” appointments when the Senate was not even in recess. Later a federal court ruled that this move was unconstitutional.

Sen. Mike Lee, a noted constitutional scholar in Congress, “told the committee that Obama’s abuse of power by making recess appointments while the Senate was not actually in recess was a historic first” (ibid). This had never happened before in U.S. history!

This administration is pushing past the limits of executive power all the time. The New York Times wrote in April 2012, “[I]ncreasingly in recent months, the administration has been seeking ways to act without Congress.” Even the president’s allies in the media know this is happening. But very little is being done to stop it! How many people are even paying attention?

Do you realize how deadly dangerous this trend of lawlessness is? Very few people do. But it gives profound insight into the real nature of the threat facing America today.

Look again at the prophecy of Daniel 8. It describes Satan’s violence within the Church in a very telling way. It says he and his “host,” his demon army, “cast down the truth to the ground.” Their primary attack was against God’s truth and God’s law.

Satan is always working to cast the truth to the ground. He hates the truth and the law. He always wants us to transgress the rule of law. Then he can send in his demons and absolutely wreck a church or a nation!

When Satan attacked the Church, he got people in at the top who cast all the truth to the ground. It is logical that he would use the same tactics when attacking the nations of Israel. That’s the most efficient and destructive way to do it. Then he can use them to wage an assault from within on the truth and the law!

Executive Orders

In his State of the Union address in February 2013, President Obama said: “I urge this Congress to pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change …. But if Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will. I will direct my cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future ….”

The president is taking these types of actions with greater and greater frequency.

Here is what the Washington Post wrote just a couple of days before the president’s address: “President Obama is considering a series of new executive actions aimed at working around a recalcitrant Congress, including policies that could allow struggling homeowners to refinance their mortgages, provide new protections for gays and lesbians, make buildings more energy-efficient, and toughen regulations for coal-fired power plants, according to people outside the White House involved in discussions on the issues. …

“The moves underscore Obama’s increasingly aggressive use of executive authority, including 23 administrative actions on gun violence last month and previous orders that delayed deportations of young illegal immigrants and will lower student loan payments.

“These and other potential actions suggest that Obama is likely to rely heavily on executive powers to set domestic policy in his second term” (Feb. 10, 2013).

People’s minds are getting conditioned to executive orders—which are primarily intended to circumvent Congress and the Constitution. That is the aim.

This is quickly moving us toward rule by a dictatorship or a tyranny.

President Obama’s use of drones has come under criticism because it is also expanding his grip on power. First, he has launched five times more drone strikes than President Bush did, and in half the time. But critics are especially concerned that, according to a 16-page document the Department of Justice leaked to nbc, the administration believes it is above the law and has power to kill any American citizens it considers a threat.

Here is what Judge Andrew Napolitano wrote in the Washington Times: “Mr. Obama has argued that he can kill Americans whose deaths he believes will keep us all safer, without any due process whatsoever. No law authorizes that. His attorney general has argued that the president’s careful consideration of each target and the narrow use of deadly force are an adequate and constitutional substitute for due process. No court has ever approved that” (Feb. 7, 2013). Napolitano pointed out that this practice breaks state and federal laws, executive orders prohibiting assassinations, language in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Perhaps many or even most of the people targeted in these attacks are threats to the United States. But I am deeply troubled by an administration so disdainful of the law that it is supposed to uphold!

This trend toward lawlessness is deadly! And I guarantee, based on biblical prophecy, that it is going to get far worse.

Will Worship

We must open our eyes to recognize the evil spiritual force that is behind this push to undermine the law!

We have been protected in America for a couple hundred years because we are recipients of the blessings God promised to faithful Abraham. We have not experienced the turmoil that many other nations have. Yes, we were involved in a civil war and two world wars, but God has given us victories and a lot of peace.

As a result, our people have kind of settled into an unreality about what is really happening around us. They don’t understand how deadly dangerous it is!

This is not God’s world. There’s a lot of evil in this world. It is full of tigers waiting to tear somebody apart. It has always been that way. As Winston Churchill said, the history of man is the history of war. Yet somehow we can’t come to grips with that today.

Are you willing to face reality? Most people are not. A haze of deception enshrouds our world. It’s absolutely stunning how easily the people in this land today are duped.

Adolf Hitler said that if you tell a big lie and repeat it enough, eventually people will believe it. They certainly did in Germany.

We are seeing bold, blatant lies become a bigger and bigger part of today’s political landscape. This is a sure sign of Satan’s growing power. We are seeing the work of this lying murderer at his worst! He is the father of lies; there is no truth in him (John 8:44). But he will still look you boldly in the eye and insist that everything he says is the truth!

We experienced that in our court case with the leaders from the Worldwide Church of God. Even our lawyers said they had never seen such skilled liars in their lives. It was different from anything they had ever experienced! That is because nothing like this satanic attack had ever happened before.

When the president was campaigning for a second term, he said, “You may be frustrated sometimes with the pace of change. I’m frustrated too sometimes. But you know where I stand. You know what I believe. You know I tell the truth.”

Does the president tell the truth? Is anyone paying attention?

Here is how Glenn Beck responded to the president’s statement: “This is more a judgment on America and the press. I’ve never looked back and marveled at how many people will fall for and accept, knowingly accept, a falsehood. I’ve never seen it before in my life.”

That is because times are different! None of us has ever seen anything like this before! You can’t explain this unless you go to the Bible and realize that Satan has been cast down and that his influence is greater than ever!

Hitler said, “What you tell people in the mass in a receptive state of fanatic devotion will remain. Words received under a hypnotic influence are radical and impervious to every reasonable explanation.”

This is the type of influence we see holding a grip on many people today. This hypnotic influence cannot be explained reasonably.

Hitler continued: “A new age of magic interpretation of the world is coming, of interpretation in terms of the will and not of intelligence.” That same spirit saturates the radical left in American politics!

The Apostle Paul talked about this very subject. He warned, “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of [demons, it should read], intruding into those things which he [has] seen [that is the correct translation], vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind …. Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship …” (Colossians 2:18, 23). Will worship. That is exactly what Hitler was talking about, but on another level: “magic interpretation … in terms of the will.” He said, Look, this is what it’s all about now. Your reasoning isn’t going to stop us. That doesn’t mean anything to us. We follow this magic interpretation today.

“Will worship” essentially comes down to worshiping demons. That is the new age Hitler wanted to usher in. That’s the world Satan wants. That is what the leaders of God’s Church got into after Mr. Armstrong died: They didn’t look to the Bible for answers; they just had a magic interpretation of things and said, by implication, Just follow our will—which happened to be Satan’s will. Sadly, most of God’s people followed.

This is exactly the kind of influence we see taking over America’s political scene today!

Can you recognize it? The U.S. government is casting aside the foundational law of the land and telling us, Look—that is just getting in the way. We don’t need that old law. We know what justice is. You can trust us!

That reasoning paves the way for tyrants! And every tyrant is a special tool of the devil—even more so after he was cast down!

The Reason for the Second Amendment

Look at the way the administration is handling the gun-control debate in America today.

On December 14, 2012, a young man named Adam Lanza killed twenty 6-to-7-year-old children. He had some serious mental problems; he almost looked like a young girl; his parents were divorced; he was living with his mom and his father wasn’t around. Nearly every time a tragedy like this happens, there is a dysfunctional family in the background. Something is wrong with our families!

Yet what is the solution, according to the politicians and the media? Ban the guns!

The radical left wants to take away people’s guns—at least, the guns of law-abiding people. The criminals are not about to give up their guns.

After football player Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend and then himself, Bob Costas said on an nfl broadcast on nbc that this wouldn’t have happened if Belcher hadn’t had a gun. A linebacker is big enough that he could have killed her without a weapon. But they’re going after guns.

I’m told that nbc has some of the bloodiest movies on television! Yet it’s trying to tell Americans to get rid of the guns. Why don’t we start with getting rid of the bloody television programs? Is it possible that’s a bigger problem?

The Second Amendment in the U.S. protects the people’s right to bear arms, but for what? If you listen to the left, you would never know. To hear them talk about it, its purpose is so Americans can go out and shoot deer.

That isn’t the reason for the Second Amendment at all. The main point was to protect the citizens from government tyranny. The government might decide to take over, and if you don’t have guns or something to defend yourself, what are you going to do (unless you have God’s protection)?

Why won’t the radical liberals mention that? That is the real world that our Founding Fathers came out of! That is the real world today! But the liberals won’t even mention that. Oh, please! they say. You know that could never happen!

But government tyranny is routine in human history, and they know it! Why are they so deceitful? Is it because they have an ulterior motive? Let’s not be naive and think something like that could never happen here. Our forefathers weren’t stupid. They wanted to guarantee Americans’ freedom. They really knew that God was a God of freedom; He wants us to be free. That’s a gift from God, and they understood that!

Do you remember how we gained our freedoms? A lot of people bled and a lot of people died to give us the freedoms we have today. And they wouldn’t have gotten it without guns, unless God just gave it to them.

I wonder how many Americans even know that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land. It is similar to how the Ten Commandments is the supreme law of God’s Church and the foundation of the entire Bible. It works beautifully if you just apply it.

More Executive Actions

In 1938, just before World War ii, Hitler made this executive order: “Jews are prohibited from acquiring, possessing and carrying firearms and ammunition, as well as truncheons or stabbing weapons. Those now possessing weapons and ammunition are at once to turn them over to the local police authority. Whoever willfully or negligently violates the provisions will be punished with imprisonment and fine. This regulation is valid in the state of Austria and in the Sudeten German districts.”

He added “Sudeten” because Germany had already been “given” that land by Britain, and the Czechs had to go along with it. Britain and France felt that this concession would bring peace. When Neville Chamberlain returned from negotiations with Hitler proclaiming “peace in our time,” the public went almost hysterical with happiness! But we know what happened. There wasn’t any hope this would bring peace, but the people wanted it so badly!

The same is true today. The devil is always willing to “negotiate”—as long as it moves his agenda toward total surrender.

On January 16, 2013, President Obama signed 23 executive actions on gun control, and then urged Congress to pass even stricter gun laws. When he signed those orders, he surrounded himself with little children who had written letters to him asking, Mr. President, would you please do something about the violence in schools? Who wants to debate with him when he has little children all around him?

The president is so eager to restrict guns. But what is he doing to stop drug cartels making inroads into America? What about stopping the drug wars between gangs in America’s big cities? What success has he had in stopping Chicago, his home town, from becoming the murder capital of the world?

I am sickened by what Adam Lanza did. But what makes me sicker is somebody using that massacre to promote a political ideology! I think those 23 executive orders are really about getting around the Constitution and conditioning the minds of the people to accept the president saying, Don’t worry about the supreme law of the land! Listen to me! Just like Antiochus did!

Ignoring the Constitution

At the same time the president is putting more restrictions on guns among the populace, his administration is arming itself to the teeth! What is going on here?

Investor’s Business Daily editorial writer Andrew Malcolm wrote February 8, 2013, about how the Department of Homeland Security had just placed an order for 21.6 million bullets. Several government agencies have been buying massive amounts of ammunition—even the Social Security administration, of all things. As Malcolm wrote, the government’s total store of ammo amounts to “sufficient firepower to shoot every American about five times.”

Why does the government need to be so heavily armed but not the people?

This government is showing its tendency more and more to force its will on the public.

It passed its health-care plan even though most of the people said they didn’t want it, and not one Republican voted for it. Even though the administration had promised to always be transparent, it made all its decisions behind closed doors, and assured us, Don’t worry—we’ll take care of it. We know what’s good for you. Do they know what’s good for us? That bill will result in many more problems than it purports to solve.

The president went around the Constitution on the Libyan war. He didn’t consult Congress; he just up and did it, essentially saying, I don’t need any counsel! I know what I’m doing! I know what’s best for America! Look at Libya today. That country is allying itself with Iran, as the Bible prophesied it would. Would you say that executive decision had a good outcome?

The president made some deep-seated immigration rule changes without going through Congress. He doesn’t have the right to do that, but what can you do about it? The Republicans don’t have enough power to stop it.

After a while, these incidents remind me of the old story about the frog in the pot: Turn on the stove burner and let the water heat up slow enough, and before he realizes what is happening the frog has boiled to death.

These people on the radical left hate the supreme law of the land.

Racism Everywhere

The 2008 election contest was for the most powerful office in America at a critical and dangerous time in our history. Yet news anchor Tom Brokaw admitted that the press never did vet candidate Barack Obama. They never conducted a rigorous evaluation of this man. Why not? This man was never vetted, never subjected to scrutiny—and he won the highest office in the land! Twice! The media admits it! Can you think of a better way to commit national suicide?!

If you recall, many people said having a black leader would solve our nation’s racial problems. Has it? It has done the opposite!

Mr. Obama had attended an anti-Semitic, anti-white church for 20 years! Barack Obama sat in Jeremiah Wright’s church for 20 years hearing him rant about his malicious hate toward this country. And Republicans were—and are—afraid to go after him. Why? Because the by-now very powerful liberal left would accuse them of racism.

Then he ran for president, and the majority of Americans who voted chose him. He held power for four years, and then was voted in a second time. Yet the radical-left bomb-throwers still haven’t stopped: Racist accusations are flying and getting far worse each year!

Every week it seems, mainstream media and radical Democrats are talking about Republicans being racist. In almost every case, they’re lying and they know they’re lying. That is sick and satanic to the core!

Today we frequently hear racist remarks on television and radio. One black tv commentator on nbc said, “This is no country for young black men!” Won’t that stir up hatred? That is a very ugly and dangerous statement.

What will be the outcome of such racist remarks? When you accuse people of racism without any proof—which most of them don’t have, they just spout out the words—you are filling your country with hatred and division that lead to race war, civil war and violence! These commentators are either ignorant of what they are doing—or they want a race war. Some extremists do want a race war. And Bible prophecy tells us that they are going to get one.

Brace Yourself

After World War ii, attention shifted away from the threat of Nazism and toward communism. Herbert W. Armstrong, while warning that Germany would rise up to dominate the world again, also recognized that there was a genuine threat emerging from Russia that could do considerable damage to the United States.

In 1956, he wrote about how Russia was waging a kind of World War iii against America, “a psychological warfare of propaganda, infiltration, subversion, demoralization. It is a warfare that has attacked our minds, our moral and spiritual values, rather than our bodies and our earthly possessions.”

Mr. Armstrong said that this warfare is actually described in biblical prophecies. “It’s a kind of warfare we don’t understand or know how to cope with. It uses every diabolical means to weaken us from within, sapping our strength, perverting our morals, sabotaging our educational system, wrecking our social structure, destroying our spiritual and religious life, weakening our industrial and economic power, demoralizing our armed forces, and finally, after such infiltration, overthrowing our government by force and violence!”

Think seriously about that statement. In a sense, this plan has been coming to pass in America. I don’t claim to know the degree to which the Communists organized it, or that the president fits a Communist plan (though there is some evidence to suggest that).

But I do know about the devil! And I know he is doing everything he can to sink America. And I have seen him use a man at the top—an Antiochus—to bring down an organization. And I’m watching as this government takes one step after another that is weakening this country and hastening the fulfillment of some of the most terrifying prophecies in the Bible! And I know that the devil, who is a liar and who hates law, is behind that!

Isaiah said this about our people today: “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward” (Isaiah 1:4). Again, it is because of our sins that God is allowing evil to descend on us! Israel has had so many blessings for so many years. But this is already changing—and God is warning it is about to get unimaginably worse!

And notice the end-time prophecy in verse 7: “Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers [Gentiles] devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.” This is talking about massive race wars swallowing up our cities!

Cities in Israel are going to burn. Ezekiel prophesied about one third of the people of America, Britain and Israel dying (even before they are conquered by the Holy Roman Empire) (Ezekiel 5:2). Can you even conceive of such violence? God warns that it is coming. You can prove this from our free book Ezekiel: The End-Time Prophet.

Ezekiel’s prophecy says this explosion of violence will occur “when the days of the siege are fulfilled.” This is the economic siege mentioned in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. America’s enemies are securing sea gates and shipping lanes and creating economic alliances that will very soon enable them to choke off America’s supply lines! It will be aided by decisions from within. When that happens, problems inside America and Britain, and in Judah, are going to multiply exponentially! Whenever people are fighting to survive and emotions are flying, the devil is going to exploit that every time!

The president says his goal is to round up the guns to stop the killing of little children—even just one little child. But biblical prophecy warns us that we are about to see many millions of them slaughtered! The president and the radical left are hastening the fulfillment of those prophecies!

Satan first destroys God’s Church, and then he destroys three nations from within—and it even gets more specific than that. Then will come the final blow, leaving our big cities “without inhabitant” (e.g. Isaiah 6:11; Jeremiah 2:15).

We all need to realize that this scenario is coming, and fast! Don’t be ignorant of Satan’s devices. You can see his fingerprints all over what is happening in our nations today.

Time Is Short

What is happening to America’s leadership, its domestic policy and foreign policy is not just a quirk of history. The fact that Americans are casting the Constitution to the ground and encouraging lawlessness in their marriages, in their government and in their policy toward other nations has a very definite cause. The worst of it traces back to Satan having been cast down.

Now all those millions of demons and Satan the devil are confined to this Earth. That is making an astounding, dumbfounding difference in what’s happening on Earth. We saw what happened to God’s Church, and now we are seeing what’s happening to three nations of Israel in particular, three of the 12 stars spoken of in Revelation 12:1.

God will abase the nations of Israel until they wake up and see what is happening to them and how vulnerable they have become to Satan the devil because of their rampant sins.

The radical left is not our big problem. It is only leading the way. God is against three nations of Israel because of their unparalleled rebellion (Ezekiel 5:8). Not only is God not helping us, He is against us!

Many people scoff about there even being a devil—while he’s tearing them apart! They don’t understand anything about God, nor do they know the devil. Until they do, the problems will only intensify.

The only solution to our massive problems is repentance toward God (Ezekiel 33:11).

Satan’s growing wrath against the nations of Israel as his time grows shorter will climax in the worst suffering in human history—what the Bible calls the Great Tribulation. After 2½ years will begin the Day of the Lord, a full year of God’s punishment on the nations.

The good news, though, is revealed right there in the very same prophecies that explain these events to us. Right after the Day of the Lord, at last will come the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to solve all these problems forever! In Daniel 8:23‑25, when it speaks of the Satan-inspired political Antiochus leading the Holy Roman Empire, it gives this stirring conclusion: “he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes”—that’s Jesus Christ! Inspired by the devil, this evil man will actually try to take on Christ Himself! And what will be the outcome? “[H]e shall be broken without hand”—that is, broken by the power of God!

The events we see around us are deeply sobering. But they should also fill us with hope—and anticipation of the great event they lead to: the Second Coming of Christ to this Earth!

Once Christ banishes the devil and takes His rightful place on the throne over the Earth, we will have joy and happiness and peace for the rest of eternity!

Thank God for that!