Gardner’s World

The King is coming!

by Charles Gardner

The untimely death of an Israel-supporting MP in a Methodist church coincides with a worldwide spike in anti-Semitism, along with ominous moves among key nations apparently preparing for an end-time joint attack on Israel

The shocking murder of an MP faithfully carrying out his duties in an English church is surely a wake-up call for us all.

It is also a reminder of a wider conflict that has implications for the entire world.

Sir David Amess was meeting his constituents during his regular ‘surgery’ at Leigh-on-Sea in Essex when he was brutally stabbed to death; Islamic terror was seen as the likely motive.

The long-serving Parliamentarian was not only a devout Christian, but also a dedicated supporter of Israel and the Jewish people. His untimely death in a Methodist church coincides with a worldwide spike in anti-Semitism, along with ominous moves among key nations apparently preparing for an end-time joint attack on Israel, as foretold in the Scriptures.

We need to ensure that we are ready for the calamities coming upon the world through having our sinful hearts washed clean by the blood of Jesus

This could mean we are very close to the return of Christ, which we know will be preceded by a great shaking among the nations marked by fearful events including plagues and earthquakes. We need to ensure that we are ready for the calamities coming upon the world through having our sinful hearts washed clean by the blood of Jesus, who is shortly to set up his millennial kingdom in Jerusalem.

Turkey, Iran and Russia have been forming an ever-closer alliance that could well lead to the fulfilment of Ezekiel’s Gog and Magog war (as outlined in chapters 38 and 39 of his book). The outcome for the aggressors, the prophet assures us, is not a happy one, for they will be destroyed on the plains of Megiddo in northern Israel.

Similarly another enemy of the Jews, Haman (in the book of Esther), made a rope for himself as he sought to exterminate the Jews of ancient Persia in 400 BC – and was hanged on the gallows he had erected for a Jewish man.

Some 250 years later, the vicious Syrian-Greek dictator Antiochus Epiphanes was also rebuffed by a brave band of God’s people – a victory that continues to be marked by the festival of Hanukkah, celebrating the re-dedication of the Temple following its desecration by the aforementioned emperor. It’s a feast that Jesus himself attended amidst much controversy over his claims for being the Son of God (see John 10:22-39).

Now Israel’s enemies are lining up again

And according to Jesus, such a desecration (or ‘abomination’) would be repeated in the last days (Matthew 24:15), signalling a period of great tribulation before his return in judgement and peace – judgement for the unfaithful and peace for believers.

Now Israel’s enemies are lining up again. With this in mind, the Israeli Defence Force has begun training for a possible strike on Iran’s nuclear facility in a bid to prevent the rogue regime from carrying out its oft-repeated threat to wipe the Jewish state off the map.

Naturally, such a strike could spark a war along the lines that the prophet has painted. Israel commentator Tony Pearce, in November’s Prophetic Witness magazine, writes: “A first strike attack by Israel against Iran’s nuclear programme would certainly lead to a military response by Iran. Such an attack would provide Russia, Turkey and others the excuse they need to launch an invasion of Israel.”

“A first strike attack by Israel against Iran’s nuclear programme would certainly lead to a military response by Iran. Such an attack would provide Russia, Turkey and others the excuse they need to launch an invasion of Israel” – Tony Pearce

This apocalyptic scenario is also expected (in biblical terms) to spark off national repentance in Israel as they recognise Jesus – “the one they have pierced” – as their Messiah, mourning over their past rejection of him (Zechariah 12:9f). It will be the wondrous day when “all Israel shall be saved” (Romans 11:26).

But we mustn’t just wait until then to share the good news of Jesus with them. It is our duty and privilege to share the Gospel with Jewish people now, to return the blessing we first received from them.

Next month’s international Holocaust Memorial Day is a golden opportunity to stand with the Jews by showing our love and concern for their welfare amidst ever-increasing anti-Semitism. This is the very least we can do.

Better still to demonstrate, like St Paul, that we are not ashamed of the Gospel “because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile” (Romans 1:16).

The Jewish people should be our Gospel priority, for it is their only hope – theirs and ours. My new book, ‘To the Jew First’, (Christian Publications International) explains this more fully.

Be ready. For the Messiah- King is coming!

The real apartheid state

The Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, was subjected to violent threats by pro-Palestinian protestors at an event at LSE on 7 November and had to be evacuated after the event under heavy security.

The usual slur is that of an ‘apartheid’ state, but a new series of four articles in Prophecy Today (starting 12 November 2021) gives facts about the behaviour of Israel’s neighbours towards their Jewish populations. Iraq, for instance, enacted a series of anti-Jewish laws in 1948 which mirrored the Nazis’ laws a decade earlier, denying Jews employment and confiscating their assets.

• In July 1948, the government passed a law that made Zionism a capital offence, with a minimum sentence of seven years imprisonment. Any Jew could be convicted of Zionism based only on the sworn testimony of two Muslim witnesses, with virtually no avenue of appeal available.

• On August 28, 1948, Jews were forbidden to engage in banking or foreign currency transactions.

• In September 1948, Jews were dismissed from the railways, the post office, the telegraph department and the Finance Ministry on the ground that they were suspected of “sabotage and treason”.

• In response to persecution and governmental threats of concentration camps and forcible expulsion, between 1948 and 1951, 121,633 Iraqi Jews were airlifted, bussed, or smuggled out of the country. These were officially more or less stripped of their assets. About 15,000 Jews remained in Iraq. Today there are just four, who are elderly and call themselves Christians to avoid trouble.

See https://prophecytoday.uk/ – articles by David Longworth

Israel prepares to strike Iran

As talks aimed at returning Iran to the 2015 nuclear agreement remain stalled and Tehran continues its unprecedented uranium enrichment, the Israeli Air Force has reportedly embarked on a highly specialised training programme in preparation for a strike on the Islamic Republic.

An unsourced Channel 12 report said IDF Chief of Staff Lt-Gen Aviv Kohavi ordered that funds for exercises simulating strikes on Iranian facilities be set aside, and directed the air force to train ‘intensely’.

Meanwhile an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman told Israel’s Maariv newspaper: “The war with Israel has already started.” Addressing the World Peace Forum in Normandy, Saeed Khatibzadeh said: “Israel has carried out attacks that were intended to destroy our nuclear program for peaceful purposes. It murdered nuclear scientists and harmed the Iranian people. Iran is accused of terrorism, but…the whole crisis in the region is Israel’s fault.”

Pope backs Palestinian cause

The Pope has reiterated his support for the Palestinian cause following a private meeting with PA (Palestinian Authority) president Mahmoud Abbas, and the Vatican subsequently called for renewed peace talks towards a two-state solution. A statement said Jerusalem must “preserve its identity and universal value as a Holy City for all three Abrahamic religions”.

Meanwhile PA rule is responsible for a Christian exodus from the Holy Land, with Palestinian Christians suffering repeated harassment and discrimination. For example, the Christian population of Bethlehem, birthplace of Jesus, has shrunk from being a majority in 1994 to representing less than 20 per cent of the city.

Archbishop apologises for Nazi gaffe

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has apologised for suggesting that the impact of climate change would be worse than the Nazi genocide of six million Jews.

The worldwide leader of the Anglican communion was commenting in an interview with the BBC at the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow.

He said that politicians who fail to tackle environmental issues would be spoken of by future generations “in far stronger terms than we speak today of the politicians of the 30s who ignored what was happening in Nazi Germany”.

Biden’s consulate plan opposed

Two hundred Republican lawmakers have expressed strong opposition to President Joe Biden’s plan to reopen a special US consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem. And former Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren said the move reverses President Trump’s recognition of the city as Israel’s capital, saying: “It effectively makes American policy similar to that of Russia, which recognises the western part of the city as our capital, but not all of it.”

Queue for peace lengthens

The Muslim-majority island state of Comoros appears ready to join a growing list of Arab nations in signing the Abraham Accords normalising diplomatic relations with Israel. The peace deals are seen partly as a response to the increasing threat of Iran, a Shi’ite Muslim nation at loggerheads with the Sunni version of the Islamic faith practised by countries to the south of Israel, but could well also be a part-fulfilment of Isaiah 19:23-25 prophesying a highway of peace from Egypt to ancient Assyria via Israel.

Giant fireball destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah

New research has revealed that it was a meteor ‘cloudburst’ – a space rock that exploded 3,650 years ago in a giant fireball – that destroyed the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The Genesis account tells of God’s anger over the sin of its inhabitants, noting that he “rained brimstone and fire” on them (Genesis 19:24).

“We saw evidence for temperatures greater than 2,000 degrees Celsius,” a University of California professor recorded in the Nature Scientific Reports journal. “All the observations stated in Genesis are consistent with a cosmic airburst,” said James P Kennett, adding: “An international team also found building materials and pottery shards melted into glass… There was no man-made technology at the time that could have produced such astonishing damage.”

It was further claimed that the settlements of Sodom and Gomorrah at that time were respectively ten and five times larger than Jerusalem and Jericho.

BBC accused of bias

The BBC has been accused of shameful anti-Israel bias in its coverage of the Tokyo Paralympics by refusing to acknowledge an Israeli-Arab as the first Arab to win a gold medal at the games.

Iyad Shalabi, 34, won the S1 division’s 100m backstroke, but the BBC’s Arabic service refused to acknowledge the Israeli as an Arab, simply because of his nationality.

Labour motion condemns Israel

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was reported to have distanced himself from a party conference resolution labelling Israel an ‘apartheid state’ and condemning “the ongoing Nakba in Palestine” – Nakba being a Palestinian term of abuse for Israel’s rebirth in 1948.

Silent prayer ‘is war’

Terror group Hamas reacted with fury to an Israeli court ruling permitting silent Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, calling the decision a “declaration of war”. The court subsequently backed down, and the ruling was overturned.

Communists back Israel

The Communist Party of Austria has placed on record its opposition to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign to isolate Israel, declaring that the movement has Nazi overtones.

Other recent articles

Other recent articles by Charles Gardner, include:

‘Mayflower reminder’

‘Terror in an English church’

‘Britain’s betrayal’

‘“Religion is dead” – vicar’

‘Hidden wonders’

Charles is also editor-in-chief of Prophecy Today at www.prophecytoday.uk as well as a regular contributor to Israel Today at www.israeltoday.co.il

His latest book, ‘To the Jew First’, is available from Christian Publications International. He is also author of ‘King of the Jews’, ‘A Nation Reborn’ (both CPI), ‘Israel the Chosen’ (Amazon) and ‘Peace in Jerusalem’ (olivepresspublisher.com & Eden) – all available from Amazon.