Israel cannot allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.  It is really just that simple.  The truth is that Iran funds and sponsors major terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah which are fanatically committed to the complete annihilation of the state of Israel.  Iran has not been shy about arming Hezbollah with extremely advanced weaponry with which to conduct its campaign of terrorism against Israel, and there is little doubt that once Iran develops nuclear bombs that they would give them to Hezbollah or to some other terrorist group dedicated to destroying the nation of Israel.

You see, Iran itself is absolutely committed to wiping the nation of Israel off the map.  No amount of diplomacy or negotiation is going to change that fact. 

If you do not believe this, the following quotes from Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about the state of Israel should prove very revealing…..

“Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation’s fury.”

“Remove Israel before it is too late and save yourself from the fury of regional nations.”

“The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of a war of destiny. The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land. As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map.”

“Israel is a tyrannical regime that will one day will be destroyed.”

“Israel is a rotten, dried tree that will be annihilated in one storm.”

There is no doubt about how the president of Iran feels, and the truth is that his views are representative of the Islamic fanatics that run Iran.

They are obsessed with the destruction of Israel as a nation.

So when they develop nuclear weapons will they immediately launch them at Israel?

No, of course not.

You see, Iran is fighting its war against Israel through proxies.

The primary proxy that Iran uses is Hezbollah.

Iran arms, funds and helps train Hezbollah and then gets Hezbollah to do the dirty work while they sit back in safety.

When Hezbollah launches rockets at Israel, does the world blame Iran?

Of course not.  But they should.

What if those Hezbollah rockets were one day armed with nuclear warheads?

Or, what if Hezbollah agents started smuggling suitcase nukes into Israeli cities?

If a nuke suddenly went off in an Israeli city how could Israel hold Iran directly responsible.

They may not know who is responsible.

It would be a complete and total nightmare.

This is why Israel cannot let the nuclear genie out of the bottle in Iran.

It would inevitably lead to nuclear terrorism inside the state of Israel.

But Iran is now getting very close to developing a nuclear bomb.

Senior officials at the IAEA have concluded in a confidential analysis that that nation of Iran has now acquired “sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable” nuclear weapon.

The U.N. nuclear agency’s report presents evidence that Iran has done extensive research and testing on how to fashion the components of a nuclear weapon.

It is the open secret that nobody has wanted to talk about.

Iran wants the bomb and they are working feverishly to get it.

In fact, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has handed the Kremlin a list of Russian scientists that he believes are helping Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

Israel knows what is going on.

It is almost like Iran and Israel are playing some bizarre game of chicken and trying to see who will blink first.

Iran shows no signs of ending its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Israel has repeatedly said that it will not allow Iran to have nuclear weapons.

A military strike by Israel on Iran’s nuclear facilities appears to be inevitable.

Time is quickly running out, and each day it becomes clearer that the end result of all of this is going to be war.

While the church is asleep, Christian persecution is exploding around the globe.  Even in the western world, freedom for Christians to practice and express their faith is being curtailed as never before.  Today even we were shocked when we read about how two Christian hotel owners in the U.K. are being charged with a crime for witnessing to some Muslim guests.

Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang were arrested and charged with using “threatening, abusive or insulting words” that were “religiously aggravated” after a Muslim woman complained to local police in the U.K. that she had been “offended” by their comments.

So what was so offensive?

Apparently the couple believes that Christianity and that Islam is wrong.

It is alleged that they told the woman that Mohammed was a warlord and that traditional Islamic dress for women is a form of bondage.  However, the couple is insisting that they did not threaten the woman and that they have every right to explain and defend their own beliefs.

So what will happen to this couple if they are convicted of this hate crime?

Well, they could face a fine of up to £5,000 and they will have a permanent criminal record.

It would be nice if this was just an isolated incident, but the reality is that freedom of religion simply does not exist in the U.K. any longer.

For example, recently we reported on a couple of street preachers in the U.K. that were confronted by police and told that preaching the gospel and passing out tracts is not only offensive but also against the law…..

http://signsofthelastdays.com/archives/u-k-police-it-is-against-the-law-to-preach-and-hand-out-tracts

True Christianity is now considered to be “offensive” in the U.K., and if you seek to promote the Christian faith there you are apparently now in danger of being arrested.

Hopefully the hotel owners will win their case, but there is a bigger issue than that at stake here.  The reality is that millions of Christians in the U.K. will hear of this case, and they may become very hesitant to ever speak out about their faith for fear that they could be arrested and hauled into court.

The persecution of Christians is increasing not only in the U.K., but also in places such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and even in the United States.  Those of us who study the signs of the last days knew that such times would come, but to see it actually happening can be stunning at times.

The Scriptures tell us that one day there will be no place on earth where it is legal to preach the truth about Christianity. 

Are you prepared for that day?

Will you continue to stand for the truth when it may cost you your freedom or even worse?

It is something to think about.

Will the messianic expectations of all the major world religions pave the way for the rise of the Antichrist? The reality is that all of the major world religions on earth are awaiting a “Messianic figure” who will bring dramatic changes to the earth. Could the coming Antichrist use these expectations to establish his own kingdom?

Religious expectations can be a very, very powerful thing. The reality is that whether a particular religion is true or false, the people who believe those religions desperately want them to be true. Thus, during a time of extreme crisis in the future, it could potentially be quite easy for a world leader to tap into those religious expectations for his own benefit, especially if that world leader is able to tap into the supernatural and perform his own miracles.

For example, those who are Christians look forward to the day when Jesus Christ will return to this earth. Hundreds of millions of people believe that Jesus will return to this planet someday and will make things right. But specific beliefs about that return vary greatly from denomination to denomination.

Considering the fact that Christians seem to know their Bibles less than ever these days, could a supernaturally powerful future world leader who promises to bring peace and prosperity during a time of extreme crisis fool many Christians into thinking that Jesus has come back?

Probably so.

But Christians are not the only ones who are looking for a Messiah.

Jews believe that the Messiah has not come at all yet. One of the core beliefs of Judaism is the coming of a future Messiah who will be the great hero of the Jewish nation.

Connected with this belief is that this future Messiah will be involved in the rebuilding of the Temple and the resumption of Temple sacrifices. Could a future world leader who helps the Jews rebuild their Temple come to be regarded as their Messiah?

Most Christians and Jews don’t realize that Islam is looking forward to a Messianic figure as well. In Islam, that figure is know as “the Mahdi” and the expectation is that this supernatural figure will bring great deliverance to the Islamic world.

Belief in “the Mahdi” is predominantly a Shiite belief, but there are a large number of Sunnis that are looking forward to the coming of “the Mahdi” as well.

Iranian President Mahmoud’s Ahmadinejad is among those who are obsessed with this Shiite Islamic messiah figure.  Perhaps that explains his seeming lack of fear of Western military power.  According to public statements by Ahmadinejad, he believes that he is actually preparing the way for the Mahdi, and that even if Islam experiences short-term defeats, the reality is that the Mahdi is coming and Islam will be ultimately triumphant.

Of course the truth is that “the Mahdi” is not coming, but could the Antichrist tap into this messianic belief as well?

But it doesn’t end with those three religions.

Buddhists and New Agers are looking forward to the coming of a “Lord Maitreya”. 

According to Buddhist tradition, Maitreya is a “bodhisattva” who will some day appear on Earth, achieve total enlightenment, and will teach “the pure dharma”.

In fact, prominent New Age gurus in the West openly declare that either Maitreya has come (but has not yet been revealed to the world) or that he is coming very soon.  World famous New Age teacher Benjamin Creme has made headlines around the world for years with his pronouncements regarding the Maitreya, but so far the promised world teacher has not yet appeared on the scene.

Could the Antichrist some day appear and claim to be the Maitreya?

Hindus are anticipating a messianic figure as well.  Many Hindus are expecting the coming of a figure known as “Kalki”.

Wikipedia explains the expectations regarding “Kalki” this way…..

—–

Contemporary Hindu eschatology is linked in the Vaishnavite tradition to the figure of Kalki, or the tenth and last avatar of Vishnu before the age draws to a close, and Shiva simultaneously dissolves and regenerates the universe.

—–

But the truth is that the discussion above represents just the tip of the iceberg regarding messianic expectations.  Other ancient religions speak of a future “return of the gods”.  Many modern UFO cults have some really bizarre messianic expectations.  Various pagan, Wiccan, occult and Luciferian groups actively look forward to a coming leader, although these beliefs can vary widely.

However, even though there is variance among different religious traditions, the truth is that almost all major religions are looking forward to something – and in most cases that “something” involves a person.

Could the future Antichrist use these expectations by attempting to apply them to himself?

Could the future Antichrist claim to be the Christian Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, the Islamic Mahdi, the Buddhist Maitreya and the Hindu Kalki all at the same time?

Could this be what happens when all of the major religions merge into the one world religion prophesied in the book of Revelation?

The reality is that such a scenario is not going to happen tomorrow, but as the world descends into times of great crisis, the rise of a supernatural world leader become more likely.

The arms race in the Middle East is now officially out of control.  As if tensions in that region were not high enough, there are now reports that Hezbollah is stockpiling chemical and biological weapons near Israel’s border, that Syria is about to start receiving MiGs from Russia and that Iran has developed systems that can now intercept stealth cruise missiles.

In a region where it seems like war is almost always ready to erupt, this is really, really bad news.

According to DEBKA, European intelligence sources have recently indicated that Hezbollah has received and is stockpiling a supply of chemical shells and short-range missiles with chemical warheads.  These types of shells and warheads can do much, much more damage to a civilian population than the rockets that were fired into Israel during previous conflicts.

When you couple this news with the previous report that Hezbollah has stockpiled over 40,000 rockets near the border of Israel, this all becomes very ominous. 

Not only that, but according to DEBKA’s sources,  Hezbollah is about to receive biological weapons as well.  The amount of devastation that a terrorist organization can achieve with just a few of those is mind blowing. 

One of DEBKA’s sources describes the new Hezbollah as “bad guys with good strategic vision.”

If that wasn’t bad enough, a Russian newspaper is reporting that Russia has agreed to sell advanced MiG fighter jets to Syria but has not yet begun delivering the planes.

If this is true, and there is no reason to believe that it is not, then this would totally change the air superiority equation in the Middle East.  Up until now, the Israeli air force has always been vastly superior to the Syrians, but this would equal things up significantly.

One Israeli defense official put it this way in the Jerusalem Post: “If Syria gets new MiG-31s, this will pose a definite threat to our air force.”

Not only that, but there are several troubling reports about Iran’s military buildup.

Firstly, Iran is now claiming that it has developed weapons systems that are able to intercept stealth cruise missiles.  If this is true (and they are prone to exaggeration) then this substantially upgrades Iran’s defensive capabilities.

Secondly, DEBKA is reporting that Iran is now closer then ever to being able to produce a nuclear bomb.  According to DEBKA, Iran will have stockpiled enough high-grade enriched uranium for two nuclear bombs by February 2010.

Will Israel wait that long to strike?

Only time will tell.

Lastly, there are now rumors that the cargo ship that was hijacked and subsequently disappeared in the Arctic Sea was carrying S-300 missiles bound for Iran.

S-300 missiles are Russia’s most advanced anti-aircraft weapon, and if they had gotten to Russia it would have seriously made it much more difficult for Israel to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.  Thus there are rumors that seem to be very persistent that Israel may have been involved in the disappearance of the Russian cargo ship.

In fact, one anonymous source told a U.K. newspaper that in the event of a strike on Iran’s nuclear installations, S-300 missiles would likely increase Israeli casualties by up to 50 percent.

So what does all this mean?

It means that both sides are getting ready for something.  A major war in the Middle East is closer now than it has been in ages, and if something is not done this seething cauldron of tension is likely to boil over.

Let’s hope that does not happen any time soon.

Will you be forced to take the swine flu vaccine if you live in the United States?  Well, the truth is that the answer depends on who you are and where you live.  So far, Barack Obama is promising that the swine flu vaccine will not be mandatory for all Americans.  However, it has now been revealed that the swine flu vaccine WILL be mandatory for all active duty U.S. military personnel and for all health care workers in the state of New York, among others. 

Perhaps none of us should have been surprised when the Department of Defense announced that all active duty U.S. military personnel will be required to take the swine flu vaccine.  After all, the Pentagon regularly makes U.S. military personnel take a large variety of vaccines – even experimental ones.  However, to hear that they will be forced to take this new untested swine flu vaccine was very disappointing for many members of the American military.

According to the DoD’s press release, the mandatory vaccination program for the swine flu will begin about early October, and swine flu shots will also be made available to all military family members who desire to take it.

But the good news is that the swine flu vaccine will not be made mandatory for the family members of military personnel. 

The swine flu vaccine will also be mandatory for ALL health care workers in the state of New York.  In fact, a new regulation now requires that any person who works in a hospital or a health care facility in the state of New York MUST get a swine flu shot or they will be fired.

According to New York state health department spokeswoman Claire Pospisil, this troubling new regulation, which officially took effect back on August 13th, will require all New York hospitals and health care facilities to provide proof that all of their workers have been vaccinated for the swine flu. Penalties for health care institutions that violate this new regulation include fines of up to two thousand dollars for the first offense and up to five thousand dollars for subsequent offenses.

Other local governments, hospitals, universities and schools around the nation are considering similar regulations.

So will you be forced to take the swine flu vaccine?

It is going to depend on where you live and who you work for.

Already there are millions of Americans for which the swine flu vaccine is now mandatory.

At least for now, however, most Americans still have a choice.

Unfortunately, it appears that in France the citizens are not going to have such a luxury.

A recently revealed internal French government document has uncovered the intention of the French government to vaccinate each and every resident of that nation for the swine flu without exception. The type of vaccination program detailed in this stunning document more closely resembles a military campaign than a public health program.

If you can read and understand French you may be very interested in looking over the original document…..

http://www.sante-jeunesse-sports.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/Circulaire_vaccination_090824.pdf

But it is not just citizens of France that need to be concerned.  The reality is that disturbing laws are being proposed and passed in legislatures across the United States.

For example, in Massachusetts, Senate bill 2028 (the “Pandemic Response Bill”) would impose fines of up to $1000 a day and up to thirty days in jail for refusing to submit to health authorities during a public health emergency.

This horrific bill has actually passed the state senate in Massachusetts and now it is before the house. The good news is that as news of this bill has gotten out opposition to it has grown dramatically.  Hopefully this bill will be stopped before it can officially become law.

But the reality is that as more people around the U.S. catch the swine flu, the temptation for schools, employers and state and local governments to overreact will intensify.  It is likely that we will see more regulations and more laws that seek to compel people to take the swine flu vaccine.

How soon we forget 1976, when only one person officially died from the swine flu, but thousands either died or were permanently disabled from the swine flu vaccine.  In fact, the swine flu vaccine at that time was so horrible that they had to pull it back.

So who says that this current swine flu vaccine is any better?  There are new articles on the Internet every week about the adverse side effects that people are experiencing from various vaccines around the world.  How do we know that this one is going to be safe?

The truth is that we are moving into a time when there will be increasing pressure to take the swine flu vaccine – whether or not it has been tested and whether or not it is actually safe.  Let us hope that this whole episode does not turn into an unmitigated public health disaster.

An implantable RFID microchip implant that can detect the swine flu or other bio-threats in your bloodstream? That is the ambitious new goal of VeriChip corporation.

VeriChip currently markets RFID microchips that patients can have implanted under their skin that contain a link to their medical records so that doctors with a special reader can access their medical information even if the patient is unconscious or unable to be identified. So far VeriChip is the only corporation to have such an implant approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

But now VeriChip is seeking to expand their technology in dramatic new directions. The goal for this new chip is to develop an implant that can not only recognize the presence of a bio-threat, but that can also diagnose what virus is infecting the host.

The plans for this new chip are documented in a white paper entitled “AN INTEGRATED SENSOR SYSTEM FOR THE DETECTION OF BIO-THREATS FROM PANDEMICS TO EMERGING DISEASES TO BIOTERRORISM”. You can read this white paper for yourself right here:

http://www.receptorsllc.com/documents/Virus%20Sensor%20White%20Paper.pdf

Now, many Christians may overreact to news such as this and declare that the Mark of the Beast is at hand. 

But this is most definitely NOT the Mark of the Beast.

But it is another step in the development of the technology that could eventually be used for the Mark of the Beast.

In any event, as the public acceptance of implantable RFID technology increases, the reality is that it will begin to be used for more and more applications.

Someday you may be faced with the choice of having to take an RFID chip to keep your job.  It may not be the Mark of the Beast yet, but are you willing to take a chip under any circumstances?

There are tough decisions ahead for all of us.  Each day brings us closer to the time when the Mark of the Beast will be implemented.  For more information on the coming Mark of the Beast, please read this excellent article that we put together some time ago:

http://signsofthelastdays.com/archives/the-mark-of-the-beast

The persecution of Christians in the U.K. and the United States is heating up like never before. Street preachers are being told it is against the law to hand out tracts and read the Bible in public, school officials are threatened with prison for praying over a meal and prison officials even cut Bible verses out of the mail sent to prisoners.

Yes, all of those examples are true.

We will deal with them one at a time.

Firstly, let’s examine the story of 29 year old Miguel Hayworth and his father. Hayworth has been a street preacher in the city of Manchester area for five years and he is often accompanied by his father when he does his street preaching.

Recently they were preaching at St. Ann’s Square in Manchester when they were approached by several police officers who accused them of inciting hatred by making homophobic and racial comments.

According to the Telegraph, one plain-clothed police officer made this statement to them:

It is against the law to preach and hand out tracts: preaching causes offence and handing out tracts is harassment and could result in an arrest.

So what Bible passages were they reading.  Well, according to reports, one of the passages they were reading from was Romans 1:27 which says this : “And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly…”

But apparently reading the Bible in public is no longer acceptable in the U.K. 

In fact, it can get you arrested.

Not that the United States is any better.

A principal and an athletic director down in Florida are likely headed to prison for saying a lunch-time prayer.

Yes, this is actually happening in the United States of America.

You see, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against Pace High School in Santa Rosa County, Florida last year accusing them of allowing teachers to endorse religion.  The school quickly agreed to a settlement whereby all school employees were banned from engaging in prayer or religious activities before, during, or after school hours.

Of course the settlement was blatantly unconstitutional, but very few people in the United States seem to care about the Constitution anymore.

Now a principal and an athletic director face the prospect of going to prison for offering meal-time prayers at an appreciation dinner for adults who had helped with a school field house project.

Seriously.

With all of the other massive problems that America is facing, why does the ACLU have to go after meal-time prayers like a rabid dog?

Why?

It is because they hate God.

Now even prisons are censoring Christian material.

One prison in Virginia is actually cutting Bible verses out of the letters that inmates receive from their relatives.

Seriously.

What in the world have we become?

Anna Williams, whose son was held in that prison for several months says that prison officials cut out entire sections of several letters that she sent to her son.

The section that they cut out contained Bible verses or other Christian material.

When she asked the prison about this, they said that they were following prohibitions on religious material sent from home.

What in the world is going on?

The truth is that the U.K. and the United States have rejected God.

We have removed Him from our schools, our courthouses, our government buildings and just about every other public place.  We have pushed Him and His followers deep into the corners and we have made it very clearly that we don’t want anything to do with Him.

So why in the world should God protect us and bless our nations?

The truth is that when nations willingly reject God, then God will reject them.

The judgment of God is coming, and when it does come, nobody should be surprised.

In another sign of just how serious the people of Israel are about rebuilding the Temple of God is Jerusalem some day, one organization has erected an enormous scale model of the Second Temple at a location that is directly opposite the Temple Mount.

The Aish HaTorah Yeshiva, which is located in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, has placed a huge model of the Second Temple on the yeshiva’s rooftop, where it overlooks the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.

The plan is for this very impressive model of the Second Temple to remain there on permanent display. Reportedly, the goal of this project is to reemphasize the connection between Judaism and Jerusalem’s holy sites.

The model is 10 feet by 4 and a half feet in size and it was built on a very precise 1:60 scale.  The creators of this model placed a great deal of importance on being as exact as possible.

For students of Bible prophecy, this is year another indication of just how very serious preparations for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem have become.

For more information on preparations for the rebuilding of the Temple, we would encourage you to read a couple of other articles that we recently posted on this topic:

http://signsofthelastdays.com/archives/the-sacrificial-altar-is-being-rebuilt-for-the-future-temple-in-jerusalem

http://signsofthelastdays.com/archives/a-plan-for-jews-and-muslims-to-share-the-temple-mount