Weekly Prophecy Review

In the news...

• Three excommunicated members of The True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days (a polygamous sect) have filed suit against their former church leader. They claim he reneged on a promise. In exchange for all their worldly goods, he was supposed to arrange a face- to-face meeting with Jesus, but has apparently not done so.

• As part of a prayer read during the Good Friday service, Pope John Paul II declared that all people were responsible for the death of Jesus—not just the Jews.

• To celebrate Easter, 18 Philippine men were nailed to a cross for half an hour, and hundreds of Mexican men strapped 100 pounds of blackberry thorns to their bare shoulders. For those who wish to experience this kind of intense suffering, yet without the lasting physical scars, we suggest tuning in to Rivera Live each night on CNBC.

• The Israeli Defense Forces has its first female Christain Arab officer. Caroline Harman became an officer last week. She will be assigned to a crossing point in Gaza.

• The Palestinian Authority has switched rifles. It will now use the American M-16, because the bullets are cheaper and easier to obtain.

• Hebrew University has announced it will bestow an honorary doctorate degree on President Clinton. It will be presented May 27th at a ceremony at the White House.

• Saying it has run out of patience after eight years of sanctions, Iraq demanded the United Nations immediately lift its trade embargo.

Issues actually having something to do with Biblical prophecy...

Dividing up the land of Israel

European and American leaders are turning up the heat on Israel in an effort to persuade them to surrender more land to the Palestinians. This week marked the beginning of a series of high-level diplomatic attempts to push forward the stalled "peace process." The first to arrive was British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. He is to be followed by U.S. defense Secretary, William Cohen, who will arrive in a few days with a package of security measures to "ensure the safe implementation of a second Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria." Cohen, in turn, will be followed by mediators Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk, who will "help with further negotiations." Finally, Vice- President Gore, will arrive in Israel to take part in that nation's 50th anniversary celebrations.

As an aside, Prime Minister Blair was actually wearing two hats on this trip. Cohen will present a package "ensuring" Israel's safety, but Blair has already busy doing the same for the Palestinians. As a representative of the European Union (EU), he signed a memorandum announcing a "Permanent Security Committee" between the EU and the Palestinian Authority. Its aim is the development of joint cooperation on security issues.

The land of Israel—the Gaza Strip

An Israeli correspondent, Haggai Huberman, reports that the Arabs in Gaza have a common desire—that the Israelis return, so their economic and civil rights conditions can improve. According to Huberman, "60% of the PA budget is supplied by Israel, and a sizeable share of this goes directly to the personal bank account of Yassar Arafat in Bank HaPolim in Tel Aviv." (Maybe he too has need for a large, legal defense fund.) He goes on to add that the simple Gazan citizen benefits very little from these monies.

Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, these Arabs will get their wish. Scripture reveals the Israelis will one day resume control of the Gaza region. In the Book of Isaiah we read of a remarkable prophecy which is, no doubt, tied to the Second Coming of our Lord. At that time, Ephraim and Judah will be joined together (accomplished at the rapture?), and these combined tribes of Israel "will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines on the west [present-day location of the Gaza strip]; together they will plunder the sons of the east [Palestinians?]; they will possess Edom and Moab [modern Jordan]; and the sons of Ammon [also Jordan] will be subject to them" (Isaiah 11:14).

The emergence of Antichrist—not.

Out of curiosity, I did a search on the web for "Antichrist." It seems many are busying themselves in an effort to identify this end-time "man of sin." However, of the current crop of nominees, none seems to fit the precise Biblical criteria for the man. For that reason, next week we will examine what Scripture actually reveals about the Antichrist. In the mean time, here is a partial listing of some of those who have been suggested:

Maitreya

David Hasselhoff (star of Baywatch)

Barney (the purple dinosaur)

Bill Gates (Microsoft)

Marilyn Manson

Till He returns...

Last Updated April 18, 1998 by Larry Simmons