This is a message in response to one of the subscribers to The Strong Watchman News.

Keeping ourselves financially hedged and physically prepared is necessary but it is only scratching the surface of what we must do because of the calamity that is coming to America and the whole world.  I am not one to spread doom and gloom, but I speak the truth.

We may have a sure perception of what is coming financially just by observing the obvious facts around us. The problem is, most people do not even try to look for the signs of impending economic failure.  They live in a fantasy land America of yesteryear and hope blindly that things will just get better, having forgotten what the purpose of living ought to be.

Americans have forgotten how to be self-sufficient and they better learn how to do so quickly.  They crowd into cities and clamor for their sports, TV's, computer games, beer, and big toys, having forgotten what it means to live off the land, and having forgotten from where the sustenance comes.  God is the source of our health, life, provision, and salvation; but many have forgotten this as well.

The crumbling of these worldly concerns will be swift and we will have to make much more difficult decisions.

We have a more sure word of Prophecy concerning the last days which are coming upon us. The signs of birth pains: earthquakes, famine, and wars and revolutions, and rumors of wars are all around us every day.  You are witness to these days.

Matthew 24:6-8 6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8All these are the beginning of birth pains.

The Middle East and it's mostly Islamic Arab occupants are being primed for a willing takeover by an Islamic caliphate who will be the Islamic Messiah. This same leader will be the uniting force of Islam and he will be the antichrist who appears to bring a reasonable peace for Israel to the Middle East.

Only an Islamic Caliphate would have the power to restrain the Islamic people; even if it requires force, which it likely will.  As antichrist will subdue three kings once he takes power.

Daniel 7:24 "24The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings."

A revived Turkish-Ottoman Islamic empire is the eighth beast empire which will rise out of the nations surrounding Israel.  The empire and king will be of the seventh empire as scripture says.

Revelation 17:9-11 "The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. 10They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while. 11The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction."

Ezekiel 36-39 tells of the revived nation of Israel which will be attacked by this coalition of Islamic nations at the mid-point of the last 7 years.  Gog and Magog.

Ezekiel 38:2-6 2“Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of^aMeshech and Tubal; prophesy against him 3and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of^b Meshech and Tubal. 4I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army—your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. 5Persia, Cush^c and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets, 6also Gomer with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops—the many nations with you.

Daniel 9 explains the purpose of this last 7 year period, which will resume when antichrist confirms a covenant with Israel and the many; which covenant will allow for the building of a new Jewish temple and the resumption of the rituals of sacrifice and oblation.

Daniel 9:24 "24“Seventy ‘sevens’^c are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish^d transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy."

This time is yet future.  It has not yet occurred.  God will honor the everlasting covenant he made with Abraham to give the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem to the descendants of Abraham.  This was an unconditional covenant.  This will be fulfilled in the seventieth week of Daniel's prophecy.  This was to happen when Christ came to set up His kingdom, but the Jews refused their Messiah and the prophecy was fulfilled that Messiah should be cut off after 69 weeks. (483 Years)

Daniel 9:25-26 "25 Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree^f to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One,^g the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.26After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing."

Jesus know that the Jews would not accept Him as the Messiah, and that He would not set up the kingdom at His first coming.  Jesus tells Jerusalem and the Jews

Luke 13:34-35 "34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 35Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’^b”

So the seventieth week has never been fulfilled.  But it will be for the sake of God's promise to the Jews.  The seventieth will begin when the antichrist confirms a covenant with the many.

Daniel 9:26-27 "The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. 27He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ⁱ In the middle of the ‘seven’^j he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.^k”

When antichrist stands in the temple to proclaim himself God (the abomination of desolation - Matthew 24:15) and stops the sacrifice and oblation, the armies of antichrist will be poised to attack as they surround Jerusalem - (Luke 21)

Luke 21:20-24 20“When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. 21Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. 22For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. 23How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. 24They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Then begins the great tribulation (great distress) in which the saints and Jews will be persecuted by this antichrist. This is followed by the signs of Jesus return

Matthew 24:29-30 “29 Immediately after the distress of those days ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’^c 30“At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory."

Then the rapture of the saints.

Matthew 24:31 "31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other."

Then the wrath of God's trumpets

Revelation 8:6 "6 Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them."

And then the consummation of God's final bowls of wrath.

Revelation 16:1 "1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”

Now I am telling you the truth!  I have sought these things out as the passion of my heart and in answer to the call on my life!  I am a watchman for the house of Israel and the saints of the Most High!

These things can be known and understood from God's Word.

The question is will you survive until Jesus comes with the clouds of heaven to collect His saints?

Will you be a help to your neighbor in time of need or a drain on someone else's resources?

Will you be a faithful witness to those who need to understand these things or will you be lacking in understanding yourself?

Romans 13:11-14 "14 The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

The Strong Watchman