How to Prepare

Well to say the least, we are living in very exciting times & there are soon going to be some great global changes made! The curtains have been drawn aside on the last scene of Earth's great drama, the act has begun & it cannot stop now! Like it or not, each one of our lives will be caught up in these great events. The countdown to Armageddon has begun.
The interpretation of these Bible prophecies which we have examined are not unique, but are shared by millions of Christians worldwide, both Catholic and Protestant. Many Muslims believe that passages of the Quran and other Islamic writings foretell a number of these same apocalyptic events.
One of the purposes of Endtime Bible prophecy is to let you know what's going to happen in the future so that you won't be taken by surprise by these great events, so you can rest assured that it is all a part of God's pre-ordained plan.
The best way to be prepared for the future is to receive Jesus as your Savior, as He has promised to be with His children to protect & provide for them and be their Guide through perilous times. Jesus will give you the strength and courage to bravely face these future troubles and help you survive until the End of this world, after which He will reward you beyond your wildest dreams in the Heavenly world to come!
If you don't yet know Jesus then we'd like to invite you right now to receive his free gift of everlasting life by praying this simple prayer:
Dear Jesus, Please come into my heart. I believe that You died for me. Forgive me for my past mistakes & sins and give me Your free gift of everlasting life. Help me to love You and help me to share Your love & truth with others...Amen.
"There's only one life, it will soon be past! Only what's done for Christ will last! Jesus said that we "must work the works of Him that has sent us while it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work." Please work with us & help us in any way that you can to tell the world of God's love, and to help others through these difficult times, and show them what a wonderful world its going to be!

Rapture and Armageddon

Immediately after the Tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his chosen from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:29-31)
The world's darkest period of tribulation and horror under the Antichrist will abruptly end with the dawning of the brightest dawn as Jesus Christ Himself returns to gather His children to be with Him!
Lights, trumpets, thunder, earthquakes and gigantic meteor showers will all herald this climactic event! God's children who have died throughout the ages will be resurrected in new miraculous bodies, and will burst forth from their graves and ascend to meet Jesus in the air.
Live Christians will be transformed and will rise from the earth, floating right up through ceilings & buildings & cars & right up into the clouds to meet the Lord! Such is the scenario depicted in the Bible of the Second Coming of Christ as He snatches His children out of reach of their evil Antichrist persecutors & whisks them away to the grandest, most glorious & thrilling victory celebration that's ever been held--the great "Marriage Supper of the Lamb" in Heaven!
Meanwhile, down on Earth, the horrible Wrath of God is being poured out upon the Antichrist forces left behind, a time so terrible that the Bible says men will "seek death but be unable to find it"!
Armageddon
Then shortly after Jesus' 2nd Coming, down from the sky will come the great hosts of Heaven with Jesus in the lead to destroy the Antichrist and his one-world empire in the awesome Battle of Armageddon.
This great slaughter of the Antichrist and his armies will take place in and around the valley of Megiddo near Haifa in Israel. It will mark the end of man's cruel rule on earth, as Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and His Heavenly forces forcibly take over the World to rule and reign and run it the way it should have been run if man had not disobeyed God and gone his own selfish way!
And so begins a period known as the Millennium, a thousand years of peace and plenty and paradise on Earth.

The Great Tribulation

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak & cause that as many as would not worship the beast to be killed" (Rev. 13:15)
This "Image of the Beast", also described in Bible prophecy as the "Abomination of Desolation", is likely to be some kind of incredibly high-tech supercomputer, linked to the New World Order's telecommunications network.
Scripture says it will speak and somehow "cause those who refuse to worship it to be killed." Jesus said that when you see this image standing "in the holy place...then shall be Great Tribulation such as the world has never known." (Mat. 24:15-21)
A good part of the Book of Revelation describes in horrific detail the terrible pestilences, plagues & nightmarish monsters that God lets loose to tribulate the Antichrist forces, who are trying to wipe out all who refuse to take the Mark of the Beast.
The Bible spells it out in years, months & days exactly how long this period of Great Tribulation will be...3-1/2 years, or 42 months, or 1260 days (Rev. 12:6,14).
So on the day that the Antichrist breaks the covenant & sets up his image in Jerusalem the countdown of the exact number of days until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will begin!

Gospel Preached

After telling His disciples that some of these signs that you've just seen, (wars, famines, plagues and earthquakes) were just the "beginning of sorrows," Jesus went on to foretell a sign that would signify when the actual time of the End had arrived:
"And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; & then shall the End come." (Matthew 24:14)
The Christian Almanac for 1990 reports that the Gospel has been preached to over 4 billion people, and Christian churches now exist in all 251 countries of the world.
Every year about four billion Gospel tracts are distributed around the globe and over 120 million Bibles. The entire Bible, or portions of it, have now been translated into some 2,062 different languages, and is available to around 98 percent of the world's population.
The Gospel is also preached from over 2,000 Christian radio and television stations, and religious shows can be seen on many more thousands of secular stations.
Never in the entire course of history has the Gospel been preached in all the world to all nations as it is right now! Every nation on the face of the earth today has heard the Gospel as Jesus prophesied they would before the end comes.
So if Jesus was right and the Bible is true, we are now living in the time of the End!

Wars and Rumors of Wars

"And ye shall hear of wars & rumors of wars...For nation shall rise against nation, & kingdom against kingdom:" (Matthew 24:7)
No period has witnessed the escalation of wars as has the 20th Century. The Red Cross has estimated that over 100 million people have been killed in wars since the 20th Century began. Up until 1914, war had never been universal, but in both World War 1 & 2, total war was waged.
Since World War II, the war that was supposed to make the world safe for democracy, there have been numerous major wars & hundreds of rebellions & revolutions. The death toll in conflicts since the end of World War II has now topped 23 million.
November '89!--The opening of the Berlin Wall symbolizes the end of the Cold War between the Superpowers...But instead of the expected peace, more "wars & rumors of wars" raged around our planet. In 1993 a record 29 major wars were fought.
"Nation rising against nation, & kingdom against kingdom" could more accurately be translated as "ethnic group rising against ethnic group"--a prophecy dreadfully fulfilled in former Yugoslavia, Rwanda & other trouble spots around the World. Not only are "wars & rumors of wars" on the increase, but also the horrors that wars unleash.
We have become numb to news of atrocities & tortures, mass rape & murder, which show what horrible savagery modern man is still capable of when he is unrestrained by God.

The Signs

But if you really want to know the future, exactly what is going to happen and why, where & even when, then you must turn to the thousands of prophecies recorded in this Book--The Bible!
History has proven the extraordinary unerring accuracy of Bible prophecy. Therefore there can be no doubt that its hundreds of prophecies about the last days of our planet Earth will also be fulfilled just as surely as the ones that have already been fulfilled in the past. The only question is when? Sometime in the far future that we don't need to worry about now? Or are we in fact now standing on the threshold of these final great & climactic events of which all the Bible prophets, including Jesus, spoke?
2000 years ago Jesus' disciples sought answers to this same question! They asked Him, "Master, tell us, when shall be the sign of Thy coming, & of the end of the World?" Let's take a look at some of the Signs of the End that Jesus Himself warned us to be on the look out for...
...signs that He said would come to pass just before His Second Coming and the "end of the world" as we now know it:
At the beginning of Matthew chapter 16 Jesus' religious enemies challenged Him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, "When it is evening you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red'; and in the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times."
Today modern technology has vastly improved our ability to forecast the weather, but are we any less blind to the ominous signs of times in which we're now living?
So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the Kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled."
Our generation--the generation in which these "signs of the End" are coming into fruition--will not pass till all be fulfilled!

Countdown to Armageddon

In the last few years the world has gone from one Earth-shaking crisis to another. While some say that we are on the threshold of a Brave New World Order, others warn that humanity now totters on the brink of unprecedented disaster & chaos!
Reading the news nowadays is not the most cheerful way to start the day! Day by day the world's problems grow more desperate & insurmountable. The question which plagues every thinking person is...What lies ahead?
But has any mortal man ever been able to transcend the bounds of time & peer into the future? Throughout history there have been many who have claimed such powers, and some like Nostradamus, the Fatima Children, Edgar Cayce and Jeane Dixon are widely accepted as having predicted various future events.
And the world stage is now being set for the fulfillment of one awesome vision that many of these seers had in common: an event so cataclysmic that it will change the World as we now know it for ever...the final apocalypse, Armageddon!

The pros and cons of launching an attack on Iran

In the white desert sands of New Mexico, close to where the first atom bomb was detonated, America’s biggest conventional weapon was tested last spring. A 30,000lb massive ordnance penetrator, known as the Big Blu or the Mother of All Bombs, was placed inside a tunnel to test its explosive power against hard, deeply buried bunkers and tunnels designed to conceal weapons of mass destruction. The monster bunker-buster was so heavy, it could not fly. But the blast was a huge success, rippling through the tunnels and destroying everything in its wake. Today the Big Blu might as well have “Tehran” written on its side in the same way that the Iranians love to parade missiles marked “Tel Aviv”. Tucked away in an emergency defence spending request, the US air force has just asked Congress for $88m to equip B2 stealth bombers, the black warriors of the skies, with racks strong enough carry the huge bomb. This was no casual request, but an “urgent operational need from theatre commanders”, according to the air force. Even a Republican congressman fretted: “This whole thing . . . reminds me of the movie Dr Strangelove.” In the 1964 film starring Peter Sellers, a demented general launches a unilateral strike on the Soviet Union, convinced it is already stealthily undermining America. Global nuclear destruction ensues. THE end result might not be so grave, but are America’s B2s being readied for an attack on Iran? It would fit in neatly with President George W Bush’s recent warning about the dangers of a third world war, should Iran be allowed to obtain the “knowledge to make a nuclear weapon”. Iran-watchers noted with interest the use of the word knowledge. Bush, it appeared, was determined to act well before the mullahs got anywhere close to an actual bomb. Dick Cheney, the vice-president, piled on the pressure last week, calling Iran a “growing obstacle to peace in the Middle East” and vowing “serious consequences” if it persisted with its nuclear programme. A senior Pentagon source, who remembers the growing drumbeat of war before the invasion of Iraq, believes Bush is preparing for military action before he leaves office in January 2009. “This is for real now. I think he is signalling he is going to do it,” he said. But nobody is sure whether the president really will add a risky third front to the Afghan and Iraq wars that are already overstretching US forces. “If you’d asked me a year ago, I’d have said yes,” said John Bolton, the hawkish former US ambassador to the United Nations. “Today I’d say, I don’t know.” It is clear the military machinery for an attack is being put into place. More than 1,000 targets have been identified for a potential air blitz against Iran’s nuclear facilities, air defences and Revolutionary Guard bases, despite claims last week by Robert Gates, the defence secretary, that the planning was merely “routine”. As for the urgent request for the Big Blu, it has “bombing Iran written all over it”, said John Pike, a defence expert at the think tank Globalsecurity.org. Iran’s uranium enrichment halls at Natanz, about 150 miles south of Tehran, are buried 75ft deep, while there are believed to be nuclear sites buried under granite mountains in tunnels that are like the long roots of a tree. It is not enough to drop a smart bomb down a shaft – it has to have the capacity to blast sideways with massive force. The question of timing is becoming ever more urgent, now that Bush has fewer than 15 months left in the White House. Confidants say he is determined not to bequeath the problem of a nuclear Iran to his successor and regards it as an important part of his legacy. Although intelligence estimates vary as to when Iran will achieve the know-how for a bomb, the French government recently received a memo from the International Atomic Energy Agency stating that Iran will be ready to run almost 3,000 cen-trifuges in 18 cascades by the end of this month, in defiance of a UN ban on uranium enrichment. It is enough, say scientists, to produce one bomb within a year. If that is the case, the hour for action may soon be upon us. Against this backdrop, the US public is growing acclimatised to the threat of war. As the saying in Washington goes, “Iran is the new Iraq”. While controversy over the Iraq war is fading in intensity – even for the 2008 presidential candidates – the problem of a nuclear Iran is rapidly moving up the political agenda. David Miliband, the foreign secretary, was in Washington last week for talks with Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state. Shortly before heading back to Britain, he declared that, for the first time, Iraq was not “the top item” for discussion, a sign of the growing stability and success of the American troop surge. According to a spokesman for US armed forces chiefs, there was not a single military casualty last week – Iraqi or American – in Anbar, formerly a hotbed of trouble. In so far as Iraq is presented as a threat to international security, it is increasingly in connection to growing friction with Iran. General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, stated baldly last month that America was already fighting a proxy war with Iran, which is arming the sectarian militias and smuggling in weapons and sophisticated roadside bombs designed to kill American soldiers. The US is building a forward base in Iraq called Combat Outpost Shocker just five miles from the Iranian border as a sign of its new aggressiveness against interference from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s regime. Bush’s decision to approve tough unilateral sanctions against Iran last week and to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organisation and proliferator of weapons of mass destruction marks a further escalation of the war of words and deeds with Tehran. After Miliband was briefed on the move during his visit to Washington, Gordon Brown batted for America in the House of Commons by promising Britain would lead the effort to secure a tough sanctions resolution against Iran at the United Nations security council. All the evidence appears to point in the direction of increasing diplomatic and military hostilities. As Robert Byrd, a Democrat member of the Senate armed services committee, put it, the action by the Bush administration “not only echoes the chest-pounding rhetoric” which preceded the invasion of Iraq in 2003, “but also raises the spectre of an intensified effort to make the case for an invasion of Iran”. Yet a Downing street source said: “They are not at that stage.” Could it all be an elaborate game of “chicken”, using the growing threat of an attack to force Ahmadinejad to back down on his nuclear ambitions? Nick Burns, the State Department’s leading negotiator on Iran, said last week the imposition of new sanctions merely “supports the diplomacy and in no way, shape or form does it anticipate the use of force”. Even the urgent request to fund the Big Blu may not be all that it seems. “We could be trying to turn up the volume to get the ayatollahs to pay attention,” said Pike. “It could be part of the diplomatic pressure to see if the Iranians will move voluntarily.” If Ahmadinejad is to be believed, nothing will deter Iran from pursuing its nuclear programme, which he claims is for peaceful energy purposes while at the same time boasting that Israel will one day be wiped off the map. In a surprise announcement, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, was replaced by Saeed Jalili, a hardliner close to the president. Confusingly, however, Larijani still appeared to lead last week’s talks in Rome with Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy chief. “I found the same Larijani and he had the role of chief negotiator,” said Solana. It suggests a power struggle over the extent to which Iran can continue to thwart the West. Until recently, most Iranians discounted the threat of an attack on the grounds that America had its hands full with Iraq, but their mood is altering. At gatherings in Tehran, the talk has turned to possible American bombing raids. Ali Nazeri, 35, a shopkeeper in the Iranian capital, said: “The government says the Americans cannot do a damn thing, but they are also changing the leadership of the Revolutionary Guard and saying they will fire thousands of missiles at US targets within the first few minutes of a confrontation. I think it is a matter of putting two and two together and coming to the conclusion that war is very likely.” In the wider Middle East, the conviction is growing that America is determined to launch an attack. Some well-placed Israeli and Palestinian sources suggest that next month’s Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, near Washington, could be the catapult for an ambitious plan to establish a Palestinian state and disarm Iran. “The idea is to tie Palestine to Iran,” said an Israeli Middle East expert. “Israel will be obliged to accept the establishment of a Palestinian state within a short and firm timetable and the US administration will guarantee that the Iranian nuclear issue will be solved before Bush leaves office.” If Israel is prepared to move towards the creation of a Palestinian state, the hope is that Sunni Arab regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt will not protest too loudly about a US attack on Iran, given their own private fears about the impact of a nuclear Iran on the balance of power in the region. As with the Israeli bombing of a suspected Syrian nuclear site last month, they could simply stay mum. In theory, Bush could thus broker a settlement in the Middle East, while denuclearising Iran – a tempting legacy. But such a “grand bargain” is far too delicate and complicated to be attempted, according to Washington sources, even if it provides a subtext for some of the negotiations. “We’re not smart enough for that,” Bolton said bluntly. The most convincing explanation for the sabre-rattling is that Bush has embarked on a course of action that may lead to war, but there are many stages to pass, including the imposition of tougher sanctions, before he concludes a military strike on Iran is worth the risk. As his generals have warned, it could unleash a new round of terrorism, destabilise Iraq and send oil prices way above the $100-a-barrel mark. If muscular diplomacy can stop the mullahs, so much the better. If it cannot, Bush may decide to launch an attack as one of the final acts of his presidency. The preparations are under way, but only he knows if he will make that fateful decision. The pros and cons of launching an attack on IranThe arguments for- Protects Israel from a potential nuclear holocaust. President Ahmadinejad has stated that Israel will be wiped off the map - Reduces the risk to the West of a “dirty” bomb in big cities. Iran is a sponsor of terrorist groups such as Hezbollah - Forestalls the development of Iranian long-range nuclear missiles aimed at Europe and America - Prevents Iran from intimidating or attacking its Sunni Arab neighbours - Creates the space for potential regime change and installation of a pro-western government in Tehran The arguments against- Sets back Iran’s nuclear ambitions by only a few years. US intelligence has not mapped out all the potential Iranian nuclear sites - Unleashes a wave of attacks on Israel and the West by Hezbollah and other terrorist proxy groups Closes the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices soaring above $100 a barrel and possibly creating a global economic crisis - Destabilises Iraq, plunging the country into a new round of terror, creating further regional instability - Creates a global public relations disaster. Intensifies antiAmericanism which critics argue that President Bush has made worse. Fosters a new generation of fundamentalist militants and terrorists

Increase in Knowledge/New Technologies

Studies have suggested that the amount of human knowledge is doubling every 8 years. Some of the technologies that are emerging will no doubt have a role to play in Bible Prophecy.Revelation 13 describes a mark, in the right hand or forehead that will act as not only a form of allegiance or worship, but enable people to buy or sell items - in fact you can't conduct commerce without it. When you hear comments by the head of MasterCard that microchip implants under the skin could be used for commerce - you can't help but see the path we are on. The recent approval of the FDA for implants under the skin for medical purposes will no doubt play a role in this emerging trend. The increase of RFID technology also presents some amazing possibilities in terms of commerce and tracking technology.Revelation 13 also mentions the ability of an image of the Antichrist - to somehow come to life and speak. With cloning and other advanced computer technologies it seems there is nothing man can't do.

The Rise of Islam

Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the world. Demographics studies indicate that it could soon become the dominant religion in many European countries. Very few Christians understand Islam and it's impact on the people and societies that it governs. Sharia law does not permit a Muslim to leave the faith and to do so means stiff penalties, jail time and even death in countries such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Radical Islam's hatred of Israel and the West will be monitored as well as it's potential role in Bible Prophecy, especially the desire by many Muslims to see the reestablishment of an Islamic Empire or Caliphate. What role will Islam play beyond the traditional Ezekiel 38 scenario? Will it be connected to a Revived Roman Empire or the EU? Will the Antichrist be a Muslim?
We will be monitoring Islam's rise in terms of both military, political and demographic power. Islam's impact on Christians and efforts to witness to Muslims will also be covered.

Apostate Christianity

We are told in Revelation 3 of the 7 Churches. The last church or church age is symbolized by the Church of Laodicea. Laodicea means "the rights of the people." Thus, this was a church governed by the will of the people, rather than the will of God. This is the church age from which the Antichrist and the False Prophet will emerge. It is the church age Paul talked about that would not endure sound doctrine, but would gather around them teachers that would say what their itching ears wanted and desired to hear (2 Tim 4:3). This church is described as lukewarm, indifferent, not concerned with right and wrong, or with good and evil. They take a neutral position: one of "live and let live; don’t rock the boat; and don’t cause waves." They are trying to serve two masters—God and self (or the world).We will continue to monitor the church's faithfulness to the teaching of the Word of God, realizing that the church of the last days will be marked by apostasy and a falling away. This does not mean that God is not moving and doing great things - but can we also identify the wolves in sheep's clothing? "For false Christ's and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the very elect". (Mark 13:22).

The Gog/Magog War

Ezekiel 37-39 describes a time when Israel has been restored to her land but will then face an invasion force from a country in the north and her allies after God puts hooks in their jaws. Those countries are listed by names we don't recognize today but many scholars believe they have identified where those people groups were once from. The following are the most common interpretations for those countries:MAGOG is believed to be modern-day Russia and should also include Kazakhstan (the area north of the Caspian Sea). MESHECH can include the southern part of Russia by the Black Sea, as well as Georgia and Armenia. Some believe Turkey could also be included.TUBAL is a part of Russia between the Black and Caspian seas. It also includes the Ukraine and Kazakhstan and possibly Georgia and Azerbaijan.PERSIA is modern-day Iran. ETHIOPIA (or Cush). Some consider that other surrounding areas, such as the Sudan or Eritrea, could also be included.AND LIBYA (or Phut).GOMER may include the Ukraine. Some believe it may also include the area SE of the Black Sea, such as Georgia. Some believe this may also be a reference to Germany.THE HOUSE OF TOGARMAH OF THE (far or remote parts of the) NORTH QUARTERS may include Armenia. Many believe this will also include Turkey,AND MANY PEOPLE (or nations) WITH THEE. This may indicate that there will be yet other nations allied with Russia that are unlisted. It may be noted that Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan are not mentioned.Russia is no longer the superpower it once was and while it may be hard to see such a scenario happening today, it is no more difficult for God to accomplish than He did the recreation of Israel as a nation in 1948.Ezekiel 39 would also seem to indicate the use of nuclear weapons in this conflict as specific instructions are given on burying the dead, including specialists who do this.We will continue to monitor Russia's relations with Israel. Iran, one of the nations mentioned is also important to keep an eye on in light of its mutual assistance treaty with Russia. Israel has threatened to attack Iran if it continues with is nuclear program - this very well could be the hook in the jaws that draws Russia down. Another nation to keep an eye on is Turkey as it is currently Israel's ally. If Turkey is to be involved in this invasion it would be a great dupe on Israel or things could change quickly in this Muslim country. The nuclear arms race in the Middle East continues and could play a factor in this conflict.

A Revived Roman Empire

Daniel, Chapter 2, presents the dream of Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar, which provides the basis for our understanding for history’s final system of government. Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar's dream which reveals that the fifth and final world empire would have some association with or be an extension of the fourth empire - Rome. Passages in Daniel 7:7-8 and Revelation 13:1 describe a beast with ten horns. The prophets Daniel and John apparently saw the same beast in their visions, the beast symbolizing ten heads or ten kingdoms. It is this number of 10 that we want to keep a close eye on.
We will monitor the development of the world's newest superpower emerging from Europe and the region of the former Roman Empire which includes not only Europe but much of North Africa and the Middle East. The EU would seem to be a leading candidate for the final world empire - but the number 10 will have to somehow be reconciled. Issues surrounding the EU constitution and the EU/Mediterranean partnership agreement will be watched for possible relevance to Daniel's prophecies as well as the development of other nation alliances in this region that may equal the magic number of 10.
It is from this final world Empire that the man we call the Antichrist emerges. He is alluded to in scripture as the Assyrian and may have a Middle Eastern connection that many have overlooked.

Israel - God's Timepiece

It has been said if you want to know what time it is on God's calendar - keep an eye on Israel for it is God's timepiece. The scriptures relating to Israel's prophetic role in the end times are too numerous to follow, but we will monitor some of the most important ones.
Perhaps one of the most important is Daniel 9:27:
"He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him."
The book of Daniel reveals that one final period of 7 years has been reserved for God's plan to be completed. This period of 7 years is described in the book of Revelation and climaxes with Armageddon. However when does this period of 7 years start? Daniel 9:27 reveals that "He" referring to the Antichrist, will confirm a 7 year treaty. It is this confirming of a treaty with Israel and many nations for 7 years that starts the final countdown.
You will also notice a clear reference to this "he" (Antichrist) putting an end to sacrifice and setting up an abomination in the temple. This would seem to indicate that the Jewish temple must be rebuilt to be part of the end time scenario.
With the understanding above we will be monitoring closely the various agreements and peace treaties that Israel is involved in with particular emphasis on the Road Map To Peace. There is a particular emphasis by all major world players to bring Israel and the Palestinians, not to mention the entire Arab world into a final peace agreement. "Final Status" talks is now the buzz word for 2007 and we will be watching closely where this leads - possibly even to a rebuilt Jewish Temple. However despite the move for peace talks, all parties in the Middle East continue to prepare for war. We will be watching movements within Israel and her neighbors for potential conflict.
One of the most contentious issues for all parties in the Middle East is the final status of Jerusalem. Zechariah says the following in this regards:
Zechariah 12:2-3: "I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves".
Zechariah reveals that Jerusalem, the capital of Israel will become a problem for all nations. Eventually all the nations of the world will gather against her. The voting of the UN, recent polls in Europe and the comments of leaders in Islamic countries all indicate we are heading towards a new global anti-Semitism. This will climax in the world marching on Israel.

Where is the United States in Bible Prophecy?

One of the most common questions regarding Bible prophecy is where is the United States in scripture? Many nations of the world are not mentioned in scripture, however it is hard to understand how the world's most powerful nation would not be. At least not in a way that we recognize it clearly.
Their are many theories and ideas as to why this is but here are three of the most common:
The United States is no longer relevant
The United States is destroyed
The United States is no longer its own country - but part of a larger union of nations - possibly controlled by the Antichrist.
All of these responses are based on speculation. We simply do not know the answer but it is very possible there may be some symbolism that the United States may fit into. We must simply watch and wait to see what God's plan for America is.
To that effect we monitor what impact terrorism and war might have on the United States as well any other factors that could contribute to its decline or change on the world stage.
America is also Israel's closest ally. God promises to bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel (Genesis 12:3). America's relationship with Israel will be closely watched.