The restoration of the Jews to the Promised Land is one of the most staggeringly overt fulfillments of Bible prophecy to occur in the last 2,000 years. The Hebrew Prophets foretold an eventual restoration of Israel, even addressing the future state by name, in some cases centuries after Israel had ceased to exist. And the Saviour HIMSELF said, "Learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." (Matthew 24:32-34)
In his book, "Personal Witness," Ambassador Abba Eban, one of Israel's Founding Fathers and Israel's first Foreign Minister wrote: "In accordance with our plan, a letter from [Chairman] Weizmann to [President] Truman had been sent on May 13 asking him to recognize our new state. The expected infant state was still nameless, since the Zionist leaders were still thinking". Weizmann, for the first time in history, was asking for a nameless state to be recognized.
Although Ezekiel confidently wrote of the restored Jewish state as "Israel" 2,500 years before, those who actually served as midwives to the rebirth did not decide on the name until the very day before.! Hosea said of Israel, "I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time." (Hosea9:10)
1- In 1948, the fig tree began to put forth leaves, so to speak, and as Christ had said, "This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."
2- The Bible said that this pivotal event in history would take place simultaneously with the birth of a Revived Roman Empire. A unified Europe looks back to its' foundation as January 1, 1948. The Vatican still sits in Rome and the military power of the newly unified Europe is beginning to slant back towards a unified German as military head of Europe. For any of us war historians that fact alone should send fear down your neck.
3- It said an apostate world religion would develop at the same time. Revelation 13:11 describes this religious system as having "two horns like a lamb" - symbols of Christianity. The Unbiblical World Council of Churches was born in 1948.
4- It predicts that a global political system will co-exist with a global economy. The World Trade Organization - a trade organization empowered to regulate the global economy - saw its genesis in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, enacted by the UN in 1948.
5- The Bible predicted that the global economy would fall under the control of a single individual who would be able to regulate commerce down to the individual level - "that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." - Revelation13:17. *See additional notes below. Such individual control was impossible before the advent of computers. Although computers had been invented during World War 2, they were huge, bulky monsters that used notoriously unreliable and hugely inefficient vacuum tubes. The first computers were slower than a pocket calculator, filled huge environment sealed rooms and required enough electricity to power a small city. That all changed in 1948 when Bell Labs invented the transistor chip, signaling the official birth of the Computer Age.
6- That final age would be marked by "rumors of wars" - Matthew24:7. The ultimate "rumor of war" was the Cold War. It began with the Berlin Airlift of 1948. The Soviet collapse was a direct result of the cost of fighting the Cold War. Since Korea the USA has been involved in military hold backs even yet with North Korea to this day. Besides all the other conflicts/wars the US has been involved with continually. The ongoing decline of US influence in the world is also related to the costs of these many "wars". The power vacuum left by the simultaneous decline of each of these great powers is being filled by Europe, just as the Bible predicted.
7- Earthquakes began to show a marked increase in size, scope and intensity in 1948. The modern period of ethnos against ethic group can be traced to the death of colonialism beginning in 1948. Increasing "pestilence" or deadly disease, can be traced to 1948. Economic "kingdoms" began with the first multinational corporations in 1948. Legislation passed by the UN in 1948 like the UDHR and the UNCPR function today as the legal cornerstones of our developing globalist worldview and the disintegration of US Constitutional guarantees.
8- The decline of morality - worldwide - can arguably be placed at the feet of the current trend of devaluing human life to the degree that legislation permitting abortion and euthanasia are evidences of an "advanced" society. The Japanese Eugenics Act - the first legal abortion on demand legislation ever passed by a modern society - was passed in 1948.
9- American Margaret Sanger was so impressed with the idea of legalized abortion, that she founded the premier abortion rights advocacy group - Planned Parenthood - in 1948 -1973 - and on going with government funding..
10- Let's not forget the other technological advances introduced in 1948 - commercial television, holography, cybernetics, meteorology, the nuclear arms race, microelectronics and dozens of other advances that served to demystify the books of Daniel and the Revelation for this generation.
11- Add that to the social breakdown that followed the ouster of God from American education following McCollum vs. the Board of Education decision of 1948.
12- Don't forget the contribution made to evolutionary theory by the introduction of the "Big Bang" theory of 1948. Since sciences had figured out how to spilt the atom the evolutionary theorist's minds were going like a yo-yo now compressing the entire universe into one point of matter so small in between their ears that it would explode into our entire known universe that they actually know very little about it's origin becoming fools by rejected what God said about this creation in Genesis. Yet this continuing theory of evolution without God has served to further alienate the concept of a Creator God from the American worldview. Hence we have had guns in the homes since the Mayflower landed, but only now have public school shootings because our nation of children believe they are worth no more than a monkey, dog, or the primeval stone soup created by some fool professor of evolution. That's what happens when you through God out of the class room.
2 Peter 3:3 warns "that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of HIS coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." All these things taken in context point to one logical conclusion. This is the generation of whom Christ spoke when HE said, "This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."
The problem with this generation is they don't know that even horses were used in the transportation of war equipment in WW1 very much and WW2 though more sparingly. This is the space age generation, computers, cell phones, microwave ovens, everything instant, not just coffee. They forget that automotive dominance just come in their generation with jet travel, moon rockets, and TV. WW2 Europe and Communist Russia USSR after the war were dominated by steam locomotives instead of diesel power.
* "Here is wisdom, Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six." Revelation 13:18 The number is "666" using primitive Hebrew "www" is that number, could it be the World Wide Web? No doubt such a system will be required to bring every single person into a single financial system of trade, buying and selling, payment and receipt of payment for goods and services. Otherwise straight barter will be the only other possibility. For the Anti-Christ "he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Revelation 13:16&17 Until today with the internet and electronic money people would never believe a simple world wide system of banking could be totally possible with different accounts for the same person until today with the internet age. With a telephone line, a portable notebook, or from a fix terminal and a little chip under the skin anyone could be a "scanned" object with a separate account to be able to do instant transactions with anyone else in the entire world. And America is hooked on Ebay, Paypal, and websites already. Banks are encouraging direct deposits, bank by phone, or internet connection together with automatic payments and automatic retirement deposits. The Book of Revelation wrote over 1,900 years ago is no longer a science fiction myth, but possible reality as scientists do clones, dna mapping, and modify the biological code within seeds and sperm/egg able to create literal monsters of the imagination. Impossible until now. Just as going to the moon was thought to be impossible so preachers and laymen together used to think nothing of symbolizing everything in the Book of Revelation because it SEEMED SO FAR FROM REALITY. But it no longer is today. We have arrived at the space age of yesterday's cartoons in reality. Yet today's cartoon's continue to grow.
But every generation believes all things have continued as from the beginning. No we are too the end of the road this time in Biblical Prophecy, the time is sooner than we think. Yet far enough away that no one can put all the pieces of the puzzle together. For "ye know neither the day nor the hour." Matthew 25:13; 24:36&50, Mark13:32, Luke12:46 "And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them." Revelation 9:15&16 A 200 million size army on horse back going to Israel was thought impossible until the present day population of China. Imagine having hand launched guided missiles and grenades on horseback. Cheap efficient mobile firepower at it's best. The sheer numbers would seem to over power the opposition. Almost a modern star wars. I am not saying that there is absolutely nothing in the Book of Revelation that is symbolic, but to totally dismiss or explain away the entire Book of Revelation through symbolism interpretation is truly a mistake from the above facts.
Those fifty and younger in America must be very careful of falling into this state of mind. Those that sit in front of their office computer work station all day - drift to almost think as if it were like this for all time. The personal PCs now being in America since the 1980's. The lie of the devil that the Bible is outdated, false, and just the writing of some wise men of their day with nothing else to do. Religion is being pushed off as a myth in America or just treated as a political psychological rabbit's foot by some politicians for a few more votes.
Faith's biggest challenge is for the believers to treat it as REAL for today and to look at reality and FIND that even today, the world is on schedule according to God's word and what HE plans for all humanity.
Our faith must be honestly built upon the TRUTH of the word of YaHWeH and we must be willing to act on it as well. Otherwise we continue in tradition to our ruin. For though tradition changes very slowly, it does change over time, but the word of God is established for ever in heaven.
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