Calamities But a Surprise Victory

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Short Summary
The discourse outlines a perspective that recent global calamities, starting from the long depression in the 1870s through events like the World Wars, the Great Depression, the Cold War, and COVID-19, align with biblical plagues and signify the unfolding of Christ’s second presence and impending kingdom. It emphasizes the simultaneous restoration of Israel and the decline of Christendom amid these troubles, interpreting current world conflicts and societal shifts as part of a divine judgment and preparation for Armageddon, urging believers to remain vigilant and separate from corrupt systems.

Long Summary
Detailed Summary of the Discourse on Contemporary World Events and Biblical Prophecy

Current World Outlook and Israel’s Return:
– Despite worldly chaos, there is cause for optimism when viewed through biblical prophecy.
– The miraculous return of Israel as a nation over the past 150 years is unprecedented; nearly 48% of the world’s Jewish population now resides in Israel.
– This return is a significant sign pointing to the approaching Kingdom of Christ.

Major World Events Since Eden:
– The first positive world event: creation of Adam and Eve.
– The greatest world event: Jesus Christ’s sacrifice once for all (Hebrews 9:28 implied).
– Negative events: Six or seven worldwide calamities have occurred since Eden, with the last one yet to come.

Chronology of Major World Events and Calamities:
The Fall of Adam and Eve: The first major negative event, bringing sin and death into the world.
The Great Flood (Noah’s Flood): Occurred roughly 1656 years after Adam; destroyed all but eight humans.
Subsequent pandemics and plagues:
– Plague of Athens (before 400 BC).
– Justinian Plague (around the Roman Empire’s rise).
– Black Death (bubonic plague, 1347–1348 AD).
– These were regional, not truly worldwide.
First truly worldwide calamity since the Flood: The Long Depression starting in 1873.

Five Major Worldwide Events Since the 1870s:
1. Long Depression (1873–1890s): Economic downturn starting with financial crises and poor harvests.
2. World War I (1914–1918): A bloody global conflict.
3. Great Depression (1929–1939): Severe worldwide economic crisis.
4. World War II (1939–1945): Another catastrophic global war.
5. Cold War (1945–c. 1989): A protracted period of geopolitical tension, often violent in localized conflicts.

COVID-19 Pandemic (2020–present):
– Possibly the onset of a sixth or seventh major calamity.
– Compared to the sixth plague of Egypt (Exodus 9-10), the COVID travel shutdowns are likened to the “three days of darkness.”
– Suggests we may be nearing the final plague before the prophesied Armageddon.

Biblical Plagues and Their Modern Counterparts:
– The seven last plagues of Egypt are seen as types of modern calamities:
– Flies (Long Depression)
– Murrain (World War I)
– Boils and blains (Great Depression)
– Hail (World War II)
– Locusts (Communism during Cold War, east wind blowing)
– Darkness (COVID pandemic)
– Death of the firstborn (Armageddon, yet to come)

Interpretation of Christ’s Second Presence:
– Christ’s return is described as coming “with clouds” (Acts 1:9-11, Revelation 1:7).
– The Greek words for “seeing” differ:
– *Blepo*: physical sight.
– *Horao*: mental or spiritual perception.
– Revelation 1:7’s “every eye shall see him” means all will perceive his return mentally or spiritually, not necessarily physically.
– Matthew 13:14 supports this distinction: “seeing they see but do not perceive.”

Daniel 12 and the Time of Trouble:
– Michael (meaning “Who is like God?” = Jesus Christ) will stand up for Israel (Daniel 12:1).
– This marks a “time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation” (likely beginning around World War I in 1914).
– Israel’s return to the land began in 1878, shortly before these troubles began.
– The difference between “sons of thy people” (fleshly Israel) and “thy people” (spiritual Israel) indicates the time of trouble begins before the full deliverance of the Christian church.

Israel’s History in the Last 150 Years:
– 1878: Start of Jewish return (e.g., new Jewish communities established annually).
– 1918: Balfour Declaration supporting a Jewish homeland.
– 1930s: Jews fleeing Nazi Germany increase immigration to Palestine.
– 1948: Israel declared independent; Jewish population in Palestine reaches 600,000.
– Post-WWII: Jews driven from Eastern Europe (Russia, Ukraine, Romania) migrate to Israel.
– Present trends hint at possible future Jewish migration from Western countries (USA, Canada, Argentina) to Israel due to rising anti-Semitism.

World Trends and Biblical Judgment:
– The world is self-destructing politically and economically.
– The east (communism/Islamism) and west (capitalism/Christendom) are in conflict and expected to destroy each other.
– Armageddon will be the final plague, where Israel is miraculously delivered while its enemies are defeated.

Destruction of Christendom and Rise of Babylon:
– The Long Depression and World War I weakened Christian monarchies and Babylonian religious influence.
– Fundamentalism was displaced by liberal theology during the Great Depression, which failed to adequately respond to crises.
– The Cold War especially weakened Roman Catholic power.
– The drying up of the Euphrates (Revelation 16:12) may symbolize economic collapse or depression, possibly linked to COVID’s economic effects.

Future Conflict and Prophecy (Ezekiel 38 & 2 Chronicles 20):
– The alliances of enemies against Israel (Gog and Magog) correspond to current global power blocs.
– Sheba and Dedan, Tarshish, and “young lions” represent Western nations and their former colonies.
– Predictions include the possibility of Islam gaining influence in Western countries.
– Ultimately, enemies destroy one another, leaving spoils for Israel, reminiscent of the Exodus from Egypt.

Practical Application for Believers:
– Believers are called to “Come out of Babylon” (Revelation 18:4), avoiding participation in the sins of the world.
– Elijah, Lot, and other biblical figures were called multiple times to separate themselves from corrupt societies.
– Vigilance and faithfulness are stressed as the final events unfold.

Key Bible Verses Referenced or Alluded To:
– Acts 1:9-11 – Christ’s ascension and promise to return “with clouds.”
– Matthew 13:14 – “Seeing they see but do not perceive.”
– Daniel 12:1 – Michael stands up and a time of unprecedented trouble.
– Revelation chapters 10, 18, 20 – Angel coming down from heaven symbolizes Christ’s return.
– Psalm 76:10 – “The wrath of man shall praise thee.”
– Ezekiel 38:13 – Sheba, Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish involved in end-time conflicts.
– 2 Chronicles 20 – Jehoshaphat’s enemies destroyed by divine intervention.
– Revelation 16:12 – Drying up of the Euphrates as a prophetic event.
– Exodus 7-12 – The seven plagues of Egypt as types of modern calamities.

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Summary Conclusion:
The discourse presents a comprehensive view of recent world events as fulfillments of biblical prophecy, particularly focusing on the return of Israel and a series of worldwide calamities corresponding to the last plagues of Egypt. It interprets the current times as the “time of trouble” described in Daniel 12 and foresees the imminent conclusion of this era with Armageddon and the establishment of Christ’s Kingdom. Believers are urged to recognize these signs, maintain faith, and separate themselves from the world’s corrupt systems in preparation for Christ’s invisible but perceptible second presence.

Transcript

When we look at what’s going on in the world today, there’s not a lot of cause for optimism, is there, as we just see it through an ordinary worldly eye. But there’s some things that are on the positive side. Look at the amazing things that have been done in the past century and a half for bringing no nation back from the nations, whether Israel has been driven into making it not only a nation, but now almost 48% of all Jews in the world are back in Israel to this day. So realizing that what’s going on, that in spite of the chaos in the world generally, that the Lord is bringing Israel back to the land, let’s talk to each other about it and let’s tell the whole world about it, that this is something precedent to Christ’s kingdom to come.

Now, there have been a lot of major world events from Adam until now.

Actually, the very first world event we can think of is on the positive side, and that was the creation of Adam and Eve. But then there’s another one after that too, and that’s the greatest world event in all history, is a sacrifice of Jesus Christ once for all, and it will benefit all. After all, if he died once for all, should not all benefit.

On the negative side, there have been six or seven worldwide calamities since Eden. It’s just that the last one is not quite yet.

We can see this in a schematic form if we look at it over on the left. Yes, the very first thing is the creation of Adam, and maybe some months later we have the first really bad worldwide event, the sin of Adam and Eve that brought death on all of us.

Now the next truly major world event after the sin and fall was 16 and a half centuries later, and that was the great flood that destroyed all but eight of the human race.

Since that time, there have been some major events, but not truly worldwide. We had the plague of Athens here somewhere before 400 BC.

And then we’ve had an even worse one, one that’s called the Justinian Plague. That was around the time that the Roman church was gaining favor with the empire, with the king.

And so it was not worldwide. For example, it didn’t reach the Americas because they didn’t have the worldwide frequent trade at that time. The transportation wasn’t there, and then we had another one, the bubonic plague, the Black plague, that was around 1347, 1348 AD. But again, that plague was not truly worldwide.

The first truly worldwide calamity since the flood was the long depression that started in 1873, and indeed it had been worldwide. Now perhaps we can see there are several major world events that have happened in this short space of time of the past 150so years, and so we’ll see this may be a little easier by starting with the flood. We can see a little bit more detail here for the sake of time.

Let’s go on to the next slide.

And we can see that first there was the long depression from 1873 into the 1890s. They called it the Great Depression at that time, but in the 1930s they wanted to use that term for something else. So this has been relabeled the Long Depression, and it got started. You can take your pick.

Between 1873 and the fall planning of 1874 and the terrible poor harvest in the Balkan Peninsula of 1875 until the Ottoman Empire declared bankruptcy in October of that year. So you can see 1874 plus or minus six months or maybe a year at the most, got things really started, and it’s gotten a bit hair raising when we go to the second of these major world events, which is World War I, and then after that there was a little bit of a respite until we get to the Great Depression starting that would be 1929, lasting in 1939 when World War II began. That’s the fourth of catastrophic major world events.

And after World War II we’ve got a long one, roughly 40 years since, and that’s been the Cold War. It’s been cold, but it’s been pretty bloody in places, one at a time. So we have had at least five major worldwide events since the 1870s began.

Now, since that time, maybe we’ve got the start of one more, and that’s in our own time. Now, the COVID events that started in 2020.

I think I’ll take just a moment here to mention that if we look at the seven last plagues in Exodus, the last one, of course, is a corresponding Armageddon which has not yet come. But the first of them was not destructive, it was just annoying the flies, and that could correspond to the first of these catastrophic events, that of the a long Depression. It was not that it was so bloody. World War I was bloody.

That would correspond to the murrain that killed the cattle, and then the next major world event was boils and blains on man and beast would correspond to the Great Depression. Then World War II. That would be the hail. Then the fire, thunder and the lightning that burned up the crops of Egypt.

And then we had the plague was that of the locusts. It was brought in by an east wind, and it ate up the new crops of Egypt. Not the wheat this time. It’s not the barley this time, but the wheat that comes up afterwards, and it finished eating it up until a mighty west wind came and blew them all away again.

Does that look like what happened in the world after World War II? The East Wind blowing the communism problem into all of the West, and it was economically devastating. It was who could outspend the other, the east or the West? And then with the Star wars, it wound up bankrupting the Soviet Union, the Eastern bloc.

And so that was ended with a mighty west wind blowing away all the locusts out of Egypt, and of course, the land of Goshen didn’t receive these plagues. Now, the next plague, in fact, is the sixth of the seven last plagues in Egypt. That was a plague of darkness, thick darkness that so that no man could move from this place for three days. We won’t talk about what happened to Santorini, the volcano at that time.

But when we look at what the COVID did in shutting down international travel in 2020, and then in 2020 22, I remember a brother in South Africa, Israel, Ogi said, well, the ban on the international travel here in Africa is ending now, and by the Latter Part of 2022, it has ended in the rest of the world as well. Could that correspond to the three days of darkness? If so, that would suggest where we are now, that we have maybe whatever is a residual of the COVID left to go. Is it a deep depression?

Let’s wait and see. But it suggests that there’s only one more plague to go, and that would be the Armageddon plague. The death of the firstborn of Egypt, the death of the heirs of Satan’s kingdom. But with the deliverance of the church of the firstborn by reason of it being completed and resurrected to the last number.

So what do we know about this time where we have so many major worldwide calamities? And there hadn’t been a truly worldwide calamity since the flood. All bunched up together here.

Is it not reasonable that it may be the day of vengeance, the day of wrath, Christ’s second presence, the harvest of the Gospel age?

Well, let’s go on from here.

The evidence in our time, since Adam was driven from the Garden of Eden, there have been six or maybe seven. Depends on how we’re counting things. With respect to the COVID pandemic, the first of them, yes, after the sin in the Garden of Eden was Noah’s flood, and then again no other for 4,000 years. But now, in the past 150 years, we’ve had five, maybe six.

What else can it signify except Christ’s second presence to judge the world?

Is this world being judged now?

So let’s consider what some of these things mean to us.

Christ returns. It says, a cloud received him out of their sight in Acts, chapter 1, verses 9 through 11.

And then John had said in 1419, Jesus said, A little while, and the world seeth me no more.

Now, what about the clouds? He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him. Well, that would seem to be a contradiction then, wouldn’t it? Except we have this word in the Greek there. There’s more than one Greek word that’s translated C. One is blepo and the other is harrow, means to physically see with our sight with our eyes, like you see a blip on the screen.

But that’s not the one that’s used here when it every eye shall see him. It’s harrow, and that means to see whether it’s physically or that would be physically or mentally.

And that’s why we have in Matthew 13:14 that seeing they see but do not perceive. Seeing is from blepho, but perceive is from Haral. So he cometh with the clouds, every eye shall see him. Means even though invisibly, we see mentally the evidence of his return.

How might that be? Well, let’s go on to the next slide here.

In Daniel 12. One at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who standeth for the children of thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. We see things in order, and first Michael stands up.

Great prince who stands for the sons of thy people would be literal Michael. That name Micah means likeness. So Micah L. He who is like God stands up. Who could that be except Jesus Christ? And he comes as an avenger of his people.

So the first thing that says after that is the great prince who standeth for the sons of thy people. Israel’s return began in 1878, and the things that made it possible started just maybe four years earlier, in the earlier 1870s. What’s the first thing that’s mentioned after standing for the sons of thy people? And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. Well, World War I began in 1914, and it’s been more and more troubles ever since.

Now, there’s one more thing. After the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. That’s the part where it says, and at that time shall thy people be delivered. Note the difference between the sons of thy people and thy people. The sons of thy people that’s fleshly Israel and thy people is spiritual Israel.

So the time of trouble beginning does not at the same time finish the Christian church. There were some people that thought, some brethren that thought that 10-1-1914 would end it all. Brother Russell and many more were not so inclined to think that it had to be, and that is proven to a sense because 100 years since 1914.

So we can still look forward to the completion of the church in the not too distant future. Now consider what has been happening as a result of this time of trouble that we are now living in. Systematically, the world is self destructing, but at the same time Israel is returning to the land.

The long depression started in the earlier 1870s into the 1890s, roughly two decades worth. It ended maybe not in the same year in every nation, but some. It was anywhere from 1892, 93, as late as maybe 1895. But that long depression at the same time brought about the possibility of Israel’s return, and it began at.

1878, shortly after, I think just maybe a month after was Guy Oni and then roughly one new Jewish community every year after that. What about World War I? Well, it brought about the Balfour Declaration for a jewish homeland. That’s 1918. Once that happened, no need to continue the war after that as far as we’re concerned.

Is it?

So what happened in the Great Depression, deadly or terribly destructive to the economies of the world and the people as well, badly hurt worldwide, and it resulted in Jews being driven from Germany, especially from 1933 onward.

And so the population of a Jewish population in Palestine started going from a slow increase to a much more rapid increase Starting in the 1930s, 1933, Jews were allowed to leave Germany with 50,000 marks and many of them wound up in Palestine. Although Britain did try to shut down the immigration into Palestine, still a lot of them made it.

But that’s Germany. Along comes World War II, the Jews were driven from Central Europe.

Okay, Next thing that happens, the Cold War. Now Russia is turning against the Jews. Israel became independent right after the war. After all, there were now not 20,000 or 30,000 Jews or maybe 60,000 in the 1920s. It was now 600,000.

And Israel became independent in 1948. So the, the people who started the Russian revolt in 1917, three Jews, one part Jew which was the leading one and one one fellow from Soviet Georgia who was not at all popular with the Georgians because Georgians tell the truth and Stalin did not. But Russia turned against the what was happening because of the Bolshevik revolt led by not they weren’t religious Jews, but irreligious Jews, atheist Jews, and so in time things became quite uncomfortable for the Jews in Russia as well as in the Ukraine and other of the Eastern European countries, and they were driven from Eastern Europe.

First time when I was in Romania, I remember they’re telling about there were I think it was 10,000 Jews in one city in the north of Romania where we were, and by the time I got there there were fewer than a hundred that were left and a good portion of them made it back to Israel and similarly from Russia as well.

Now if we’ve found the Jews are leaving Germany where there were 600, let’s see, 600,000 before the war and before Hitler and after the war only 20,000 were left there. After they’re driven from Central Europe and driven from Eastern Europe, what’s left? Where are the majority of the world’s non Israeli Jews? They are in the West. They are in America, the States and Canada and in Argentina.

Do you think then what’s going to happen as a result of the COVID and maybe deep depression that they will be driven from the West? Do we see what’s going on in the world? The hatred that’s being expressed not only by the hard left but also the hard right? Okay, the conservatives and the some of the liberals are still openly pro Jewish, but there’s an awful lot of hatred coming. Okay, it’s especially from the Marxist hard left, but it’s also coming now from the a hard right.

So do you think then that’s going to resolve in the majority of Jews in the world being in Israel rather than outside of Israel?

We’ve got one more plague after number six and that would be the Armageddon plague where Israel will be delivered by more and more miracles as the east and the west world self destructs. The east and the west destroying each other. Do you think all of this is a preparation for Christ’s kingdom? It’s a good opportunity for us to tell the world.

Now. At the same time, these world events that have been so beneficial to Israel have been dreadfully destructive to Christendom.

Go back to the long depression of the 1870s and 1880s. At that time the faithful were called to come out of Babylon. Come out of Babylon, my people, that ye be not Partakers of her sins.

Then comes World War I. The last of the so called Christian kings fell.

They no longer support Babylon anymore because they no longer have the power and the money to do so, and I remember when I was in 10th grade, as school teacher quipped, Kaiser Bill went up the hill to have a look at France and Kaiser Bill came down the hill with bullets in his pants. So where are the great leaders of the west of Christendom?

They are no more.

What happened with the Great Depression? Now we take a look at the theologies of Christendom. We start with the fundamentalism and it was not able to adjust to the situation of the Great Depression. As a result, one observed, I think it was Louis Cassell’s observed, that the fundamentalists were driven out of the Protestant denominations and out of the theological schools, that they were left in the control of the liberals. But then the liberals were saying that mankind is evolving into a great society.

We no longer have any need of those old things like the Bible.

And they could explain the Great Depression as well. That’s just an adjustment after World War I. But then came World War II and they had the pinnings driven out from under them, and so the liberals took the back seat now, and without the fundamentalists coming back completely, they came back under the banner of neoconservative.

Now what’s happened during the Cold War, it has been especially a problem. The communist problem was especially a problem in the Roman Catholic nations. It was in South America. It was in Italy itself. I remember at one time, much earlier in my life, that the Pope was complaining about what’s happening and saying that they’ve taken over parts of Italy already.

And he says the Church seems fated to die in that. Does it seem that he was a prophet?

So.

The liberalism fell from favor with World War II and the Cold War, especially damaging to Roman Catholicism, its power and its wealth.

Now, the next to last plague in Revelation was the drying up of the River Euphrates. Does that suggest a deep depression? Or was what happened to the economy during the COVID years enough to satisfy that? Well, what we’ll be seeing over the next few years, but then comes Armageddon, and that will destroy both Christendom and its enemies.

And that calls to mind, I think Brother David Rice mentioned in his talk about Jehoshaphat that Jehoshaphat had three enemies. So had Gideon, three enemies. But Jehoshaphat’s three enemies were given a little bit more a detail about them. The second Chronicles, chapter 20 starts off by talking about three enemies being, it would be the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the first time it’s mentioned, it is.

And some of the Ammonites that evidently took over Mount Seir, and when the Lord’s people started singing hymns of thanksgiving to Jehovah, that’s when the Lord sent liars in wait against the enemies. The result was the Ammonites and the Moabites gang together to utterly destroy the inhabitants of Mount Seir. Does that suggest what may be going on today? That the Marxists and the Islamicists are ganging together to destroy what’s been called Christendom?

Now, for the Christian, that’s not entirely bad news. If the power of Christendom is destroyed, then the world will not be able to blame Christ for Armageddon. But after the two tribes destroyed the third one, then they go and destroy each other so that there’s nothing left for the Israelites to do but to go down and take the spoils, and that suggests then that Armageddon will be Gog and Magog with his allies and coming against Israel.

But then something’s going to happen. The Islamicists, they’re coming not only against Israel, but against the Muslim nations as well, the Arab Muslim nations, and that they’re going to destroy each other. The east versus the West, and that would include the Western world as we think of it now.

Something I don’t know, but it mentions that in verse 13, Ezekiel 38, 13, that it’s Sheba and De Dan with the merchants of Tarshish and all the young lions thereof. The merchants of Tarshish. Okay, there we have westernmost Europe, the former Celtic nations, that would be Britain, are they world world merchants. Spain, are they world merchants. Portugal, France, and all the young lions thereof, their former colonies, the Americas, maybe Australia, New Zealand.

So the east versus the west, they destroy one another, and there will be nothing left for the Lord’s people to do but to take the spoils, and that’s what happened when Israel left Egypt. They were to ask things. After all they were being told, leave their homes behind and get out and get out now, lest we be all dead men.

And so they asked for some remuneration for it, and so they took with them the spoils from Egypt, and that’s what will be left for the Lord’s people to do, is to take from this present evil world the things that can be salvaged.

Now, when Sheba and Edan are at the head of the Western bloc, that suggests that Arabia is going to be at the head of the Western block. Now, does it also mean that maybe not just Belgium will turn to a Muslim? It’s expected that that will be the first of the Western countries to do so, and there’s a question as to whether France or England might be the second one. Does that extend to America, the States and Canada? Is it already happening in New York?

Let’s wait and see. Will in fact Islam be the ruler of the west at that time? Let’s wait and see and not be surprised if it should happen, may be glad if it doesn’t, but not surprised if it does happen.

So what we are seeing, then? Let’s see. I losing something here.

Let’s go on to the let’s see. I think what we can see is that Psalms 76:10 the wrath of man shall praise thee, and so let it inspire us in the awe of Jehovah God, and now our Lord’s words to the watchers I saw an angel come down from heaven. That signifies Christ’s return. Each of the first places that it occurs in Revelation, it’s always the first verse of a chapter, chapter 10, chapter 18, and chapter 20.

It’s also similarly used in 1st Thessalonians 4:16. So for those who are watching not for those who aren’t watching, but those who are watching Come out of her, my people, that she be not partakers of her sins.

It’s typified also by Lot, who in Genesis 19 was called to come out of the city not once, but out of the little city too. Do you think the Brethren might have thought about that after Brother Russell died? Come out of Babylon number two, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins. But Elijah was called to come out of the city three times.

So let us be cautious, let us be careful lest the call continue. Come out of us, that you be not partakers of our sins, and that’s our practical application of Christ’s second Presence.

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