THE WARNING A Novel of America in the Last Days (The End of America Series Book 2) (33 page)

Small
Group Bible Study, Home of Hannah & Gary

Birmingham,
Alabama

        
Liz and Max weren’t in attendance as the small group
convened in Hannah and Gary’s family room. They were now settled in Central
America. They were thankful that their home in Alabama sold at a decent price.
Their absence and the reason for their non-attendance was a definite damper on
the spirit of the group of Christian friends.

        
Scott, as was his practice, began the small group Bible
study with prayer, “Father, we’re coming before you tonight seeking your hand
on our study and asking you to guide us as we look into Your Word. We ask that
you protect Max and Liz as they seek to be obedient to you and have moved out
of the country. For the rest of us, Father, we just ask for wisdom. We don’t
want to stay if you want us to go, and we don’t want to go if it’s your will
that we stay. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen….Beau, you’re always up on what’s
going on in the news. What do you make of these scary stories coming out of
Israel yesterday?

        
Beau had several news articles in his hands. He held them
up, saying, “Guys. We’re in
deep, deep
trouble. We’ve studied Ezekiel before. You all know that the prophet Ezekiel
warned that someday Israel would be invaded from the north by the nation we now
know as Russia. Also by Iran, which in the Bible was known by its prior name of
Persia. And also by Libya, known in the Bible as Put. The news reports are
still sketchy. But what is clear is that those exact three nations are
several miles into Israel
. Russia and
Iran apparently
lied
and said they
were just engaged in military exercises, but it’s
no exercise
to send your troops deep into another nation.”

        
Scott asked, “Beau, what are you saying? Are we seeing on
our television screens what Ezekiel said would happen? If we are, doesn’t that
mean that Israel’s treaty partner will
betray
Israel? What is the media reporting from the White House? Is the U.S. going to
send in cruise missiles or armed troops? Are we going to
keep
our 1979 treaty promise to come to Israel’s defense if it’s
attacked? I’m
really concerned
that
we’ll
betray Israel
just as Jeremiah
said. We studied the prophecies.
If
the U.S. is the Daughter of Babylon….
and
if we
betray
Israel….
and
we don’t come to its defense….
and
if there is blood shed in
Israel….then it looks like we will be destroyed by the same nations that invade
Israel….and God removes his hand of protection and lets it happen.
Whew!
Did I summarize what we studied
correctly?”

        
No one responded to Scott’s rhetorical question. No one wanted
to respond. They each knew what scripture prophesied.

        
Finally, Scott said, “Instead of our normal study tonight,
in light of what’s happening in Israel, and may soon happen in the U.S., I
suggest that
we go straight to prayer
.”
The balance of the small group’s time was spent on their knees seeking God’s
protection of Israel and His mercy on America.

Press
Briefing Room – White House West Wing

Washington,
DC

“We watched and
watched,
wore our eyes out looking for help.

And nothing.
We mounted our lookouts and looked
for the help that never showed up.”

(Lamentations 4:17 – The Message)

        
Normally when a President plans to address the media in the
West Wing’s Press Briefing Room a media advisory goes out with at least two hours’
notice. The advance notice allows the most visible talking heads to be in the
press room so they can appear on camera. Today the President’s Press Secretary
broke the informal rule. Media in the area had ten minutes’ notice that the
President would be doing a no question ‘presser’. Some speculated that the
President was not anxious to have maximum coverage, but nevertheless felt it
necessary to address the media.

        
The President strode briskly into the press room which is in
the west colonnade of the White House. He stepped up behind the podium on which
was hung his Presidential seal. Reporters noticed that there were no
teleprompters in use, which was unusual for this President. He had what
appeared to be a three by five card in his hand. During his brief statement the
President’s eyes never looked up, never leaving the prepared text on the card
which he held with both hands.

               
The
text was read by the President in what one Fox reporter called a “low mumble”.
The President said, “Thanks for coming. I have a brief statement….No
questions….We all know that the joint Russian, Iranian and Libyan military
training exercises north of Israel have taken a different turn. It appears that
these troops are at least seven, maybe eight, miles now into Israel. The United
States does not favor this incursion. We call on the nations involved to
withdraw their men and equipment before violence commences. I just spoke with
the Secretary General of the United Nations. I requested that he convene an
emergency meeting of the Security Council to discuss this potential threat to
world peace. I have also been in communication with the Prime Minister of
Israel. He has demanded that the United States enter this potential armed
conflict on the side of Israel. I have thoroughly discussed this request with
our nation’s Secretary of Defense, who is in complete agreement with my
decision. I have decided that honoring Israel’s request would not be advisable.
The United States will not honor Israel’s request. Our entry into any military
conflict could be de-stabilizing in this inter-regional disagreement. Again, we
urge these nations to work out their differences for the best of all concerned.
That’s all I have. Thanks again for coming.”

        
The Fox reporter turned to the CBS reporter and said, “
Good bye
, Israel. Your
only
true friend in the world just
kissed you
adios,
suggesting that you
should
just get along
with your
attacking enemies….the Rodney King School of International Diplomacy. Since
when did an invasion and war become an
inter-regional
disagreement?
The SecDef hates Israel, so his lack of support for a
military response comes as no surprise. What about our treaty to
defend Israel
if it’s attacked? Julie,
CBS better get ready to start airing video of dead bodies,
lots of dead bodies
. What a
betrayal
of our ally!”

Office
of the President, The Kremlin, Moscow, Russia

Office
of the President, Sepah Square, Tehran, Iran

 
Sheba and
Dedan (Saudi Arabia today)…will say to you, ‘Have you come to seize spoil? Have
you assembled your hosts to carry off plunder… to seize great spoil?’
(Ezekiel 38:3)

        
“Mahmoud? Vladimir here. Did you just
hear
the President?”

        
“Yes, Vladimir, Allah be praised. You were
right
about him all along. You said you
had looked into his soul….you knew he would
flinch
.
There’ll be
no
American involvement
in our, what did he call it….our
inter-regional
disagreement
? We’re on the brink of
finally
getting rid
of the Zionist pigs and apes.”

        
“Don’t forget Mahmoud, we’re also on the brink of grabbing
the Middle East’s
largest supply
of
natural gas just off Israel’s coast. What a
coup
.
The only push back worthy of our attention is the protest by the Saudi King.
Can you believe that the King seriously asked us if we’re coming into Israel to
take
a great spoil
? What kind of
question is that? Why else would we invade….”

        
“To
push Israel into
the sea
, of course, and get rid of
the
Little Satan
. Don’t neglect that goal, Vladimir. Are your people in the
Great Satan
ready for our signal?”

        
“Yes.
More
than ready,
Mahmoud. As you know, we’ve had our gifts to America in place for some time. My
secure lines are ready to transmit, if you are ready to do the same.”

        
“
Let’s do it
,
Vladimir, Allah be praised.
Death
to
Israel.
Death
to America.”

Watch
For

THE
DAY

The
Third Book in the SECOND TERM Trilogy

·
       
Will radical Islamists use WMDs on the U.S.?
How will they use them? Where?

·
       
Will America survive its betrayal of Israel?

·
       
Will America be destroyed in one day, one hour
and one moment?

·
       
How will Americans respond to widespread death
and destruction?

·
       
How will Americans who live survive?

·
       
What end times prophecies will be fulfilled in
America?

Follow
the SECOND TERM series:

www.secondtermbook.com

 
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John Price was for forty years an Indianapolis attorney who
was active in political and governmental matters. He now devotes his time to
his wife, his grandchildren and his writing. He and his wife live in Central
America. The author may be contacted at:

[email protected]

Published Books by the
Author

AMERICA AT THE CROSSROADS

Repentance
or Repression

Christian House
Publishing, Inc. 1976

AMERICA AT THE CROSSROADS

Tyndale House, 1979

THE END OF AMERICA

3rd Edition, 2012

(Available in print
form on Amazon and e-version on Kindle)

SECOND TERM

A Novel of America in
the Last Days

THE WARNING

A Novel of America in
the Last Days

For a non-fiction look at America in
prophecy:

www.endofamericabook.com

See the next page for a sample from

THE END OF AMERICA

©
2012, John R. Price

Chapter
One

BEFORE
OUR VERY EYES

        
“The Pharisees and
Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from
heaven. He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair
weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for
the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the
sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.”
(Matthew 16:1-3)

           
“People
sense something slipping away, a world receding, not only an economic one but a
world of old structures, old ways and assumptions…There is a ‘perverse sense of
anxiety, as though everyone feels they are on thin ice…maybe it’s a sense that
we’ve had it too easy in the years since 9/11 and that the bad guys are about
to appear on the horizon’…Something is happening. Yesterday a friend sent the
warning of the Evangelical pastor David Wilkerson, of Times Square Church, that
a new catastrophe is imminent…One friend looks for small farms in distressed
rural areas. Another logs on late at night looking for a house to buy in a
small town out West, or down South, or in the Deep South.”
(Peggy Noonan,
Columnist –
Wall Street Journal,
March 14, 2009)

           
Something is indeed happening. We
sense it. We feel it. We know things in our world are changing, and not for the
better. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks on America and the financial
tsunami that became public on September 17, 2008, our personal anxiety levels
have increased significantly.

           
Our bookstores reflect these
perceptions.
The End of Prosperity
(Laffer, Moore & Tanous, Threshold Editions, 2008),
The End of Wall Street (As We Know It)
(Dave Kansas/Wall Street
Journal, Collins Business, 2009), and
The
End of Food
 
(Paul Roberts, Mariner
Books, 2009) all are

views of a new
and different world in which we will likely live. What these and other similar
books, columns and commentaries are describing pale in significance, though, to
what Biblical prophecies tell us will happen to cause
The End of America.

        
Biblical prophecies? Some may
question if what is happening in the world today was actually foretold in
ancient scripture. But the Bible’s primary claim to authenticity is fulfilled
prophecy, i.e., the ability to know the future with precision.
“I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come…What I have said, that I will bring
about; what I have planned, that will I do.”
(Isaiah 46:10a-11b). This
claim is somewhat astounding, since we, as mere mortals, can only guess about
the future. God shares with us what will happen before it happens.
“Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing
without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.”
(Amos 3:7). Jesus
affirmed this in Matthew 24:15:
“See, I
have told you ahead of time.”
Thus, God’s claim to divinity rests in large
part on His ability to see and accurately foretell the future.

        
A fair
number of people believe not only that the Bible contains reliable and accurate
prophecies, but also that we are today living in the days described in the
Bible as the “end times.” Ten percent of all Americans believe that we are
living in the end times prophesied in the Bible (Pew Forum on Religion and Public
Life). That would be about thirty million of us. Though that’s a large number,
it conversely means that most Americans don’t share such a belief. The stark
reality, though, is that the
early days
of
the final end times prophesied in the Bible have already begun. Most of us
don’t have a clue that we are now living in the beginning of the last days,
which will be completed by a final world war that will end human history. If
you would like more background on the history of Biblical prophecy, visit
www.endofamericabook.com and click on
PROPHECY 101 – A Brief History of Prophetic Interpretation.

THE
END TIMES

        
How can we know from prophecy
that we are actually in the end times? It’s a question of considerable urgency,
as Jesus demonstrated by weeping when He came into Jerusalem to present
Himself, unsuccessfully, as Israel’s Messiah. He wept because Israel ignored
the prophecies that should have led to His acceptance:

        
“As he approached
Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had
only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from
your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an
embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will
dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not
leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s
coming to you.”
(Luke 19:41-44)

        
Likewise, for centuries, scriptures prophesying that the
sovereign nation of Israel would some day be re-born were generally not
believed. That is, until May 14, 1948 when Israel was re-born, to the
astonishment of disbelievers. God’s Word was, again, proven to be correct. In
our day, the re-birth of Israel back in the land is an element of fulfilled prophecy
that: a.) can’t be overlooked or ignored; b.) is clearly a fulfillment of Old
Testament prophecies; and c.) should cause us to watch, as Jesus said, for the
end of time, and all that will happen as part of the climax of human history.

        
Jesus gave us in Matthew 24:32-34, a clear prophecy for our
guidance:

        
“Now learn this
lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come
out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you
know that it
is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this
generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.”

        
These words answered His disciples’ initial question as to “
when shall these things be
?” The phrase
“
until all these
things
” used by the Lord at the end of this prophecy was to those
events that He had just told His disciples would happen in the end times,
including prophecies about the Antichrist, the tribulation, the Lord’s return
to earth, etc. So, what did He mean when He said the generation that sees the
fig tree bloom would not pass away until all those things have happened?

        
Hosea described Israel in this way:
“When I found Israel…it was like seeing the
early fruit on the fig tree.”
(Hosea 9:10).
Over time the clear consensus has been that the reference to the
fig tree is an allegorical identification of Israel, and its re-birth in the
land, as prophesied, in both the Old and New Testaments (Deuteronomy 30;
Matthew 24). Mike Evans has written:
“The
fig tree has always been a symbol of the nation of Israel. The leaves of the
fig tree are common ornaments on government buildings in Israel.”
(
The Return,
Nelson, 1986). Hal Lindsey
located a writer as far back as 1611 AD who wrote that Israel would, as the
Bible prophesied, return to the land. In 1819 former President John Adams wrote
“
I
really wish the Jews again in Judea an independent nation.”
Many wrote in the
1800’s that Israel would some day return to its original location, as unlikely
as that must have seemed at the time. See Attachment C (
End Times Time Line
) for details of end times events.

THE BUDDING FIG TREE OF ISRAEL

        
Before we examine the issue of timing,
it’s important to note that when Jesus told His disciples about the re-birth of
Israel, and illustrated it by describing a future budding of the fig tree, His
words were a meaningful symbolic prophecy to His Disciples, because of what
they saw and heard from Jesus in about the same time frame. Mark tells us in
11:13 that as Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem in the days before He was to be
crucified, he left Bethany, just east of Jerusalem. On the way, He saw a fig
tree. Alas, the fig tree, though covered with leaves, had no figs on its
branches. Jesus spoke to the tree and admonished it for not bearing fruit. He
then pronounced on the fig tree that this particular fig tree would never bear
fruit, a malediction which was confirmed the next day, as Jesus and His
disciples passed by the same fig tree, now “
withered
away
” and “
dried up from the roots
.”
(Mark 11:20, 21).

        
Obviously, this was about more than
talking to a tree. One of the stated signs of God’s blessings on the Israelites
was that
“every man will sit under his
own vine and under his own
fig
tree.”
(I Kings 4:25; Isaiah 36:16; Micah 4:4)
Fig trees bear fruit and
are a blessing to their owners. This particular fig tree was no blessing, as it
had literally no figs, and symbolically, no spiritual fruit. So, as Jesus ended
His earthly ministry, He gave a symbolic assessment of Israel’s rejection of
Him, by finding no fruit on that fig tree, representing Israel, and by saying
that this early fig tree, Israel at the time of Christ, would not bear fruit.
His statement, of course, was accurate, as early Israel didn’t bear spiritual
fruit, itself withering away and going into dispersion within a few short years
after the rejection of its Messiah.

        
Moving forward then to Jesus’ prophecy
that another, a second, fig tree would bloom signaling the end times, there has
been some significant level of dispute as to what Jesus meant by telling us
the generation
that would see the fig
tree rebud/Israel return, would not pass away/die until “all these things (the
end times prophecies He gave us) have all “
happened
.”
What is a Biblical generation? Some argue forty years, some one hundred years,
but that’s not really the relevant question. Jesus didn’t invite us to guess
how long a generation was considered to be. Instead, He said
the generation
that was in existence, or
that witnessed the budding of the fig tree, would not pass away, or all die
out,
before
all of the prophesied
events would happen. That’s not a terribly difficult concept. How long will
that be? One should be careful in this regard, as Jesus warned that no man
knows
the day
or
the hour
, except for God the Father. (Matthew 24:36). But Jesus
does invite us to “
watch
” and be
aware of a rebudded Fig Tree/Israel.

        
One writer in 1973 wrote that a
generation was forty years, added forty to 1948, and then concluded “
…we should expect the Second Coming by 1987
at the outside”
. Another writer, coming closer to the point nevertheless,
wrote in 1986 that “the generation of people that saw the blossoming (of
Israel), was born between 1925 and 1935. Their lifespan will be roughly seventy
years…,” thus, pointing to a 1995 to 2005 time of the Second Coming. The first
problem with this analysis is that people born as late as the first five months
of 1948 “
saw
” the rebirth of the fig
tree/Israel on May 14, 1948. That’s 13 years after the author’s start date for
a Biblical ‘
generation
.’ Secondly,
seventy years is not today’s average length of life because of the medical and
healthcare advances we have enjoyed.

        
So, how much time
should
we expect to pass after May 14, 1948, before all of these
things Jesus prophesied actually happen? Well, the last living American World
War I (1914-1918) veteran, Frank Buckles, died on March 19, 2008.
Once 16 million strong, U.S. veterans
of World War II are dying at a rate of more than 1,000 a day, and now number
about 2.5 million, the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates. Martin Morgan,
historian for the World War II Museum in New Orleans predicts that
all
World War II veterans will be gone
by 2020.

        
Obviously, Jesus
gave us enough flexibility and time-spread in His prophecy that no one, just as
He said, can know
the day and hour
.
Only general parameters are safe: a.) as noted, the end won’t come
after
those who saw Israel’s re-birth
have died off, but instead
before
we
who witnessed the rebirth of Israel in 1948 have all passed away; and b.) many
critical prophesied world events must occur
before
the end, some lasting as long as seven years, some happening before those
specifically prophesied periods of years. This means that the
early events
in the end times, such as
the Russian-Arab invasion of Israel (see Chapter 5) and the fall of the
Daughter of Babylon (see Chapter 9) could happen at
any
time
, but not too
much later, because those who witnessed Israel’s rebirth won’t live that long.
People who “saw” Israel re-born in 1948 will be around for several more years.
Whatever the specifics of the timing, Jesus just
did not give us the option
of timing the end times for any longer
than a few decades after Israel’s rebudding. About sixty of those years since
1948 have now passed, so fasten your seat belt.