The Day of the Lord

April 3, 2025
The Return of Elijah's Ministry

We’re looking at the “Day of the Lord”. Now, in Hebrew the day of the Lord is not called “the Day of the Lord”, it’s actually called the “Day of Yahweh”.

From the fall of man, until that time, it is “the time of Satan”. Jesus said directly that Satan is the god of this world. This will intensity in the Last Days. Certain things happen. What happens is this: God is the God of history. He exercises lordship over history. But with the manifestation of Antichrist, we’re told in the book of Daniel he will think to change the laws and the times. (Daniel 7:25) And they will be given into his hand for two “times, a time, and a half time”. Revelation and Daniel both break the last seven years of history into two halves of two “times, a time, and a half time“ – 3-1/2 lunar years, 1,260 days by the lunar calendar, thereabouts.

There are a number of things that teach about this “times, time, and a half time”, one of which foreshadows it – prefigures it – is what happened in the days of Eliyahuw Hanawbe, Elijah the prophet. Remember, it was 3-1/2 years when it did not rain. During that time he was in conflict with Ahab and Jezebel. Understand the pattern – this is Jewish midrash. Naboth‘s vineyard was coveted. Jezebel turns the king Ahab against Elijah because Elijah tries to defend Naboth’s vineyard. The wicked woman turns the king against Elijah.

Jesus uses Jezebel as a metaphor for the spirit of false religion in the book of Revelation. “You tolerate the woman Jezebel who beguiles My servants, who seduces My servants.”

John the Baptist – “Yochannan Hamadvil” – and Elijah – “Eliyah Hanawbe” – have the same spirit. They’re not the same person, but they have the same spirit, same anointing, same commissioning, same calling, same character. John the Baptist comes before the First Coming of Christ in the spirit of Elijah. And again, the wicked woman Herodias turns Herod against “Elijah”. It’s the same pattern.

We have to understand that will happen in the Last Days. The vineyard – that is, Israel – will be coveted. In fact, the church will be coveted. Christendom will be coveted. At this time during this period, the ministry of Elijah will again come into play in some way. The false religious system of the world personified in Jezebel will turn the political system against God’s people, bringing it into conflict with Elijah. What happened with Elijah happens with John, and it happens again in the Last Days. There is nothing going to happen that has not already partially happened. Now, the Last Days will be singularly unique, but there are things in the past that foreshadow it. If you want to know what’s going to happen, look at what did happen. Prophecy is pattern. Having said this, let’s understand what “the Day of the Lord” is.

The Day of the Lord

We’re going to look at the “Day of the Lord” as it concerns both Israel and the church. 2 Corinthians 1:14.
Just as you did partially acknowledge us, that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you.
This is not the “Day of Yahweh”, but the “Day of the Lord Jesus”. The New Testament explains in greater depth and in greater detail something the Old Testament Hebrews only understood in parts. We know that the “Day of the Lord” is inaugurated with the return of Christ.

Matthew 24:22, look at what is says carefully. In the Olivet discourse, Jesus says this:
And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.

That word there is “koloboo”. “Koloboo” in Greek is how they translate the Aramaic. It is a word for “amputate”. Had it not been cut short – had it not been amputated – nobody would survive. You think of gangrene in a limb or an extremity. No orthopedic surgeon takes any delight in amputating someone’s limb. But if you have medistatic bone cancer, osteocarcinoma, or if you have a form of gangrene, and it’s a question of letting the body die or amputating the limb, he will amputate the limb in order to save the body. That’s the way it is. It will take a radical intervention by the Lord Jesus in the form of an amputation to preserve human existence. There’s going to be an amputation.

Once that amputation takes place, once the faithful are removed, God pours out His wrath on the kingdom of Antichrist. He pours out His wrath on the kingdom of Antichrist. We must draw a distinction between “tribulation” and “wrath”; they’re different words in Greek. God’s people – the faithful church – will never experience the wrath of the Lord. But the cohorts of Antichrist will experience the wrath of the Lord. The “Day of the Lord” takes place when the church is removed. The faithful bride, the faithful church is literally amputated, taken out of here. When that happens then God pours out His wrath. This is the “Day of Yahweh”, the “Day of the Lord”.

We’re told in the Hebrew Scriptures – one of the passages – “be ye not anxious for the day of the Lord”. (Amos 5:18-20) We shouldn’t want it to come. We should want Jesus to come, but the “Day of the Lord” is something completely different.

The Babylonian Captivity

Let’s begin looking, please, for the book of Joel, the Hebrew prophet Joel. Joel was the first prophet who prophesied for the Babylonian captivity. And like all of Israel’s prophets, Joel prophesied for at least three time frames. He prophesied for his own time and the events leading up to the Babylonian captivity, he prophesied for the First Coming of Jesus, and he prophesied for the Second Coming of Jesus, sometimes all in the same breath, certainly in the same passage. When we read Joel, or prophets like him, we have to always be aware what was for his own time, what was for the First Coming of Christ, and what’s for the return of Christ. Or what is for a combination – both, when things happen again. What happened with the Babylonian captivity teaches about what will happen in the Last Days.

Now, you remember Nebuchadnezzar built the image, didn’t he, to be worshiped. Nebuchadnezzar desecrated the Jewish temple. The image – if you read the dimensions in Aramaic – it comes to six-hundred and sixty-six with the steps and so forth in the book of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar entered the “Beautiful Land”. And in the last days of Judah before the captivity, the people were being misled by their leaders. There were only a few people like Jeremiah and Barach telling the truth. The people on a popular level chose to follow the false prophets who were telling them things like, “Victory’s coming.” “Blessing is coming.” 

“Prosperity is coming.” They were being given this one message by all these prophets. People like Jeremiah were giving the opposite message. The people on a popular level chose to follow the false prophets and negate the voice of the true ones. The Last Days will be the same way. Most of Christendom will follow the false prophets and reject the people telling the truth. Israel will reject the true voices God has sent to it: Messianic Jews, Jewish believers who preach the Gospel. They would rather follow the deceptions of the rabbis. What happened then will happen again.

It Happened Again

Now, it also happened in 70 A.D. The same, exact pattern that happened in the last days of Judah with the Babylonian captivity happened in 70 A.D. In the Olivet discourse, Jesus begins talking about 70 A.D. before He talks about anything else. “Not one stone will be thrown down upon another”. Pay attention.

The mystery religions of Babylon that began with the Tower of Babel, with Nimrod – those mystery religions that began in Babylon – made their way through Asia Minor, particularly the city of Pergamum, “where Satan’s throne is”, and from there into the Greco-Roman world. Today those same mystery religions are preserved in things like Free Masonery, Roman Catholicism, the Greek Orthodox Church, and so forth, but the root of those things is in Babylon. The early Christians identified Rome with Babylon because they knew that Rome had become the new home of those mystery religions. That’s why in his epistle, Peter writing from Rome says, “She who is in Babylon greets you.”

The Babylonians destroyed the first temple on Tishah be’Av, roughly the 9th of August. They surrounded the city as Jeremiah predicted. The Romans destroyed the second temple in 70 A.D. the exact, same day: Tishah be’Av. The first temple and second temple were destroyed the same day. But it was only the early Christians who understood this is the same as Babylon. The Jewish believers escaped. They remembered what Jesus said, “When you see it surrounded, flee to the mountains.”

A Type of Rapture

After the apostle James had been martyred, a cousin of Jesus names Simeon was the pastor – the senior pastor – of the church in Jerusalem. The Romans inexplicably withdrew the siege very temporarily and the Jewish believers escaped to a place called “Pellah”. Not “Petra”, but “Pellah”. They thought that was going to be the Rapture. And in fact it was a type of the Rapture, but they escaped. The way that those believers escaped before all hell came upon Jerusalem is exactly what will happen in the end.
If you want to know what the “Day of the Lord” will be like, read Josephus’ “The Wars of the Jews”. What happened inside Jerusalem after the believers escaped is what will happen to the whole planet. It’s a microcosm of what will happen to the whole planet. Starvation became so terrible, women began fighting over afterbirth. They were waiting for women to deliver babies so they’d have something to eat. That is what happened in Jerusalem. More than that, the partisans – their own people, the sikim, the Zealots – were more cruel and barbaric than the Romans were. It was something inside the city as well as outside. The “Day of the Lord” is prefigured by what happened in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. after the church was removed.

Now there are many other things in the Bible that teach about the “Day of the Lord”, what this period will be like, but for our purposes think of what happened in 70 A.D. Only those who followed Jesus made it out of there; the others were left and something terrible happened. And it will happen again.

Now, in 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed the temple, they set up Pagan incense on the temple mount where the Holy of Holies had been and began worshiping the incense, worshiping their gods where the Holy of Holies had been. After the believers escaped, they understood this to be the “shiqqutzim meshomem“ – the “Abomination of Desolations.” Once again, what happened then is a microcosm, a shadow, a picture of what will happen at the end.

Now, I’ll go through this again for the sake of new believers. Joel prophesied about the Babylonian captivity. What happened at the time Joel prophesied – predicted – is a picture of what will happen in the Last Days. But it also fulfilled partially in 70 A.D. What happened in 70 A.D. as Jesus warned in the Olivet discourse in Matthew 24, that is a picture of what the “Day of the Lord” will be like. Only it will not just be something local in Jerusalem, it will be the entire planet; an entire planet of people going through that kind of a situation. Can you imagine an entire planet of people waiting to fight over a maternal afterbirth to have something to eat? Can you imagine? If you read Josephus, it is shocking. It is horrific.

Now, Jeremiah laments this. The book of Lamentations is called “Eichah” in Hebrew, and it’s read on Tishah be’Av. It’s read the day the temples were destroyed. Ritually in the synagogues to this day, the rabbis read the book of Lamentations – “Eichah” – where Jeremiah laments the destruction that took place. Only Jeremiah was also rescued, wasn’t he? He got out of there with his followers. Before this happens, the faithful people always have a ticket out. Our task in this conference is to make sure you have a ticket.

The Insects

With this in view, turn with me to the book of Joel, chapter 1. “Yo’el Hanawbe”.

The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

Verse 4.

What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten;
What the swarming locust has left, the hopping locust has eaten;
And what the hopping locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.

Joel uses insects the way that Daniel uses monsters. These insects are pictures of political entities – invading political entities. Daniel generally uses beasts, Joel uses insects, the book of Revelation uses both. Notice there are four swarms of locusts, four different swarms of locusts. The Babylonian captivity of the Jews took place in four invasions. Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians invaded four times, and each time there was a greater and greater deportation of Jews.

This idea of a systematic deportation is exactly what happened in the Holocaust of the 1930’s and 40’s. They built a wall around the Jewish ghettos – the “shtettles” – and they would deport a certain amount the first time, a certain amount the second time, a certain amount the third time, and then the rest the fourth time. That’s exactly what happened with the concentration camps in the 1930’s and 40’s, very much in the character of Nebuchadnezzar; the same demonic spirit.

Deception in the Last Days

Now, you’ve got these four swarms of locusts. Look what follows it in verse 5. What does Joel say?
Awake, you drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you drinkers of wine,
Because of the sweet wine
For it’s been cut off from your mouth.

Understand the deception being perpetrated against the body of Christ today. I’m going to speak very directly.
This is a Calvary Chapel. In the earlier years of Calvary Chapel, Chuck Smith kicked somebody out of Calvary Chapel essentially. His name was John Wimber. He was part of Calvary Chapel and Chuck Smith booted him out, gave him the boot – in effect. Because he began teaching things that were based on experience instead of on Scripture: Experiential Theology. Wimber went into mysticism, he went into Gnosticism, he went into New Age philosophy putting it into Christian terms. And he would later align himself with people from Kansas City who said they were prophets. One of these people, Mike Bickle, said the rapture of Elijah was a judgment. Telling people “rapture” of God is a “judgment”? “Elijah was too negative”, so God had to remove him in judgment.

Another one of his prophets was Bob Jones. That was his name. A man found to be in serious sexual immorality (this was publicly known – I’m not throwing mud), but another was Paul Cain. Paul Cain, John Wimber, Mike Bickle – they came to England and they had a big, huge conference in London in August of 1990. And they told the people from England and from other places that the “Latter Day Rain” was going to happen, the “Manifest Sons” would be revealed, there’d be a great outpouring of God’s Spirit. And this revival would come and begin in England and then spread to Germany and then into continental Europe.

Well, it so happens I live in England (most of the time), and I can tell you that since the “great revival” prophesied for October of 1990 – that’s when they said it would happen – five times more mosques than churches have been built in England. For every church that’s been built, five mosques have been built since 1990. The Methodists close one church a week, the Church of England closes two to three churches a week, one mosque a week opens in England. They prophesied falsely, they predicted things that didn’t happen, and they made these predictions in the name of the Lord. It was then revealed about two years ago that Paul Cain is an alcoholic and a homosexual. But you had all of these Charismatics (and I am a Charismatic – I certainly am not a Cessastionist) following people who were making these predictions, who were alcoholics, who were homosexuals, and were telling people things they wanted to hear.

The people cheered them. They believed this was the “Latter Day Rain”, the “Manifest Sons”. And then they went on to say they were “the locusts who were going to devour”. We’ll come to that in a moment. Look at the next verse, 5.
Awake, ye drunkards, and weep.

The same churches who follow the Kansas City crowd followed people from Toronto, Canada and later Pensacola, Florida. And there was a South African gentlemen (who doesn’t like me) named Rodney Howard-Browne. (He actually denounced me in front of about 8,000 people in Melbourne, Australia because I put out a video showing what he was doing.) And he actually goes around singing a song – I’m not kidding you, this is the song – “Drinking at Joel’s Place”. He sings a song, “Drinking at Joel’s Place”, telling people to get drunk in the Holy Ghost and to fall in hysterics.

Now, that is what they are saying about the book of Joel. Look what Joel says about the book of Joel. They say they’re drunk, Joel says sober up. They say to laugh, Joel said to weep. No revival has ever begun with people laughing. Every revival has begun with people weeping in repentance.

Can There Be Revival?

Can there be a great, End Times revival? The Bible speaks more – much more – of a great, End Times falling away, of a great, End Times apostasy than it does a revival. Now, there is to be a second outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Israel and the Jews during this time. That is true. But it will come during the time of “Jacob’s Trouble”. During “HaTekufa ha Tsorat Yakov”, the darkest hour of their history that takes place at this period. It will not be a happy time.

If revival comes – pay attention – it will be like the revival before the Babylonian captivity. What was the revival before the Babylonian captivity? It was the revival of King Josiah. The sin had become so treacherous, particularly the genocidal sacrifice of Jewish children to demons like Molech under King Manasseh. King Manasseh sacrificed and killed all these kids. So even though a repentance did come, even though a revival did come, God said the axe won’t fall in your lifetime because you’ve been faithful, but the axe still must fall; things have gone too far. Pay attention.

I don’t say revival can’t come. I don’t say the “Day of the Lord” cannot be, in theory, be delayed. But the axe must fall. Why? Look at it. 40 million babies aborted in the United States in non-therapeutic abortions since “Roe vs. Wade”. 40 million! Had they not done that, the Social Security system would not be in trouble. That same generation responsible for “Rove v. Wade” is now going to reap the whirlwind...euthanasia will be the next battle. The demands on the public health care systems, on Social Security, “We can’t let these people go on living into their 90’s and into their 80’s with improved medicine – we have to let them die.” Otherwise the system – mark my words – it will go from “voluntary” euthanasia to “involuntary” euthanasia. That fetus had no choice about being aborted, neither will that generation that aborted them. They will reap what the sowed. It is inevitable that the judgment of God must come on the western world. It must fall on the Protestant democracies.

If revival comes, the most you can do is delay the inevitable. Things have gone too far. “If my people, who are called by My name will turn and pray, I’ll heal their land” – that is true; but it can only be true in the way it was in the days of Josiah. Things have just gone too far. Too far. This is not to say we shouldn’t pray for revival – we should – but understand when it comes it will only delay the inevitable. A chance for more people to be saved. God will increase and return His grace ultimately back to His ancient people Israel.

Sober Up

So for this to come about, Joel is saying, “Sober up.” Today, major denominations are telling people, “No, get drunk”. The word is “sobreizo” in Greek. We’re told to practice self-control. The fruit of the Spirit is “egkrateia” – “self control” – they are saying be out of control. If someone is not in control of themselves, the Holy Spirit is not in control of them.

I went to Toronto, Canada on business and I visited that lunatic asylum with the cross on the roof to see what was going on. The first thing that I noticed was that everyone was talking about experience, nobody was talking about Jesus. And they kept saying, “I couldn’t control it! I couldn’t control it!” Well, the fact that you couldn’t control it proves it’s not God. The fruit of the Spirit is self-control.

Just think of somebody that used to be an alcoholic who becomes a Christian. An alcoholic, let’s say. I was a cocaine addict when I was a teenager, but let’s say somebody’s an alcoholic. The Lord delivered me from cocaine – actually He did – but for somebody else, the Lord delivers them from alcohol addiction. If that person goes into a pub or a bar and begins drinking again, is the Holy Spirit in control of them? No. A beer to them is what cocaine is to me: death. If the Holy Spirit was in control of them, they’d be in control of themselves. When people sin, the Holy Spirit’s not in control of them, are they? When we sin, the Holy Spirit’s not in control of us at that instance. We’re grieving the Holy Spirit. “I know it’s God, I just couldn’t control...” The fact that they couldn’t control it proves it’s not God we’re told twice in the New Testament. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is “egkrateia”. Now, notice that they’re saying the diametric opposite of what Scripture says.

Blow A Trumpet

Chapter 2:1 of Joel.
Blow a trumpet in Zion,
Sound an alarm on God’s holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
For the day of the Lord is coming near;
A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and thick darkness.
Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains,
A great and powerful people;
Their like has never been seen before,
Nor will be again after them
To all the years of all generations.
Fire devours before them
A flame burns after them.
The land is like the garden of Eden before them
But after them a desolate wilderness,
Nothing escapes them.
Their appearance is like the appearance of horses;
And like war horses, they run.
As with rumbling of chariots
They leap on top of the mountains,
Like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble,
Like a powerful army drawn up for battle.
Before them people are in anguish;
All faces grow pale.
Like warriors they charge,
Like soldiers they scale the wall;
They each march each his way,
They do not swerve from their paths.
They do not jostle one other,
Each marches in his path;
They burst through the weapons,
They are not halted.
They leap upon the city,
They run on the walls;
They climb up into houses,
They enter through the windows like a thief.
The earth quakes before them,
The heavens tremble,
The sun and the moon are darkened
The stars withdraw their shining.
The same as the Olivet discourse.
The Lord utters His voice before His army;
For His camp is exceedingly great,
He who executes His word is powerful.
For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome,
Who can endure it?
“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“Return to Me with all your heart,
And with fasting, weeping and mourning;
Rend not your garments but your hearts.”
Return to the Lord,
He’s gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love
And He relents.

But they wouldn’t blow the trumpet in Zion. This corresponds in figure to the Hebrew Feast of Trumpets. Today, the rabbis gave the Feast of Trumpets a completely different meaning than the Scripture does. “When the people in the city hear the shofar, will they not tremble?” It’s a convocation and a warning. It’s the Jews being regathered to Israel for the Great Tribulation. The Jews are not going back to Israel for a picnic or a blessing; they’re going back to be deceived by the Antichrist, to make a covenant with death, and to go into a holocaust in which two-thirds of them will be wiped out.

My children were born in Galilee. My own children are Israeli Jews born in Galilee. I firmly believe in the prophetic purposes of God for Israel and the Jews, I believe in Israel’s right to exist as a nation. I’m appalled at the pressure America and other governments put on it to acquiesce to Islamic barbarism. Nonetheless, I’m still left with the fact that there is no peace without the Prince of Peace. There is no blessing without the atonement of the Messiah.

When you see Jews getting on planes and ships going to Israel, they may as well be getting on a train going to Auschwitz or Buchenwald. There are organizations claiming to be “Christian embassies”, claiming to be “wings of eagles” who say, “Just get the Jews back to Israel and God will save them.” Two-thirds of them are going to be wiped out. Yes, all Israel will be saved, those who look upon Him who they pierced will be saved, but the others are going to be killed. The Jewish people need Jesus the Messiah. Do not support any organization or ministry that does not give the Jews the Gospel.

Now, one of the reason our ministry supports Brad Antolovich – Calvary Chapel Jerusalem – is because, oh they’re bringing Jews back from Ukraine and Russia, and they’re helping Jews with humanitarian aid, but they’re giving the Jews what they need the most: the Good News of Yeshua the Messiah. There are good ministries and there are bad ones. Unfortunately, a lot of the money goes to the bad ones.

Changing the Meaning

The rabbis changed the meaning of Trumpets. You know what they call it now? “Rosh Hashanah.” “Happy New Year”. Now, biblically they should be saying, “Oy v’voy”, “Woe upon woe!” When the trumpet is sounded, let the people tremble. But instead of saying, “Oy v’voy”, “Woe upon woe!”, the rabbis are telling Jewish people to say, “Happy New Year!” But they’re not saved; they don’t know their Messiah, Yeshua.

What do you do when the church, when its leaders instead of telling people to sober up are telling them to get drunk? Or instead of telling them to fall down and weep, they’re telling them to fall down and laugh. Israel’s blind, the church is blind. So much of Israel is blind. Only a small remnant, albeit a growing remnant of Jews, no the truth that Jesus is the Messiah. The proportions are not much different. In a Calvary Chapel you general don’t see the same degree of error you see in most other churches and denominations today, but they’re all going with this kind of stuff, one fad after another. Pensacola, Pepsi-Cola, Purpose Driven, anything as long as it’s not biblical, they’re going to do it.

Pay attention. Jesus said directly, “When you see these things happening, lift up your head, your redemptions draws near.” The book of Revelation is the only book of the Bible with a special blessing promised for reading it. There’s a blessing for reading all of it, but there’s an actual, literal blessing – Jesus promises a blessing for reading it. So who are people listening to? Events are happening in the Middle East today, but the Scripture warned us. Things are happening in Europe. The re-confederation of Europe in non-democratic Europe is exactly what Daniel said and is happening today. “When you see these things happening, lift up your head, your redemption’s draws near.” We see the “Day of the Lord” drawing near, so who are people listening to? I’ll tell you who they’re listening to: They’re listening to a man in California named Rick Warren who said don’t study Bible prophecy, it’s a diversion. Jesus says when you see this stuff happening, you better get into this book and understand what’s going on. “Oh no, don’t do that”, says Rick Warren. Who cares what Jesus Christ said? Why do we need Him when we have the Purpose Driven? I can prove it; he said it, as well as at least a dozen other things co-equally as crazy and as dangerous. You see the deception?

Increasing Deception

There are three kinds of people in God’s economy as the “Day of the Lord” draws near: There’s the Jews, the Gentile nations, and the church composed of both Jew and Gentile. There’s the Jew, the Gentiles, and the church.
Satan has the Jews deceived; they don’t recognize their Messiah, except for a faithful remnant. Satan has the nations deceived. That leaves the church. He’s trying to deceive you and me.

When they asked the Lord Jesus at the Olivet discourse, “What will be the sign of Your coming at the end of the age?”, He spoke of wars one time, rumors and wars one time, famines one time, earthquakes one time, pestilence one time – one time, one time, one time – persecution one time, but He warned of deception perpetrated against the Elect four times. In fact, the first words out of His mouth – “Lord, what will be the sign of Your coming at the end of the age?” – “See to it that no one leads you astray.” The first words out of His mouth. He warned about deception perpetrated against you and me, your family and my family, your church and my church – He warned about that four times more than any other sign of the end.

If you asked me when I was a young believer back in the early 70’s, or even if you asked me 15 years ago, or even 10 years ago, why I though it was the Last Days, I would tell you, “Israel, the European Union, destruction of the environment, globalization of the world economy” – I would have told you all that stuff. Now in fact, I’m even more convinced that stuff is prophetically significant now than I was 10 years ago; I’m even more convinced that stuff is prophetically significant now than I’ve ever been. But it’s no longer the clearest signs. The clearest signs of the return of Jesus and the approach of the “Day of the Lord” is deception perpetrated against the Elect: The numbers and caliber of the people who are believing it and buying into it and subscribing into it.

How can anybody in their right mind think they can be out of control when the Bible says be in control? How can anybody in their right mind say don’t study prophecy, when Jesus said we should? Deception. He’s got the Jews, he’s getting the church. “Blow a trumpet”. No, it is not “Happy New Year”, it is “Oy v’voy”.

The Locust Armies

Now these armies of Babylon, represented by locusts, appear again in the book of Revelation. In other words, what happened with Nebuchadnezzar is a shadow of what will transpire eschatologically in the future, the Apocalypse. You understand? What happened with the Babylonian captivity will happen again. Turn to Revelation 9, please.

And the fifth angel blew his trumpet...

(Now, remember the trumpets.)

...and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace. And the sun and air were darkened with smoke from the shaft.

What does it say in Joel? The sun will be darkened, a star will fall from heaven.

Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth. And they were given power like the power of scorpions on the earth.

Well, here’s the locusts, they’re coming again. Look what they did the last time. So what does the church do? What should we do? We should blow this and warn people Jesus is coming. “No, don’t do that,” says Rick Warren. “That’s a diversion.” What are they doing? Can you believe it? These locusts are the demon cohorts of Antichrist. These locusts, who had a literal fulfillment in the Babylonian army, are a picture of the demon cohorts of Antichrist in Revelation 9.

I have been – not to churches – to stadiums. Stadiums – not with hundreds, not with thousands, but with tens of thousands of born again Christians, supposedly – and you know what they were singing?

“We run on the city, we run on the walls,
Great is the army who carries his word.”

They think they’re thinking about themselves. They think they’re singing about them. They think, “Daddy’s locusts”. These are the great army. Yes, it’s called Yahweh’s army, it’s His army of judgment to bring His own people to repentance like the Babylonians were. They’re actually singing about the demon cohorts of Antichrist and they think they’re singing about themselves.

The Absence of Doctrine

“Blow a trumpet in Zion, Zion. Here we come. Latter Day Rain, Manifest Sons, the Manchild, Kingdom Now.” This whole global peace plan, you know what it is? Kingdom Now theology. Over-realized eschatology, post-millenialism. Hyper-Charismatics don’t have any doctrine; they go by experience, feelings, mysticism. They don’t have any doctrine.

So where do they get their doctrine? They go to hyper-Calvinists called “Reconstructionists”, the followers of Rushdoony, David Chilton, Greg Bonson, Gary North. Reconstructionists, people who believe that the church has to take over the institutions of government and finance and establish the kingdom of God before Jesus comes. So you have a hyper-Calvinist kook and a hyper-Charismatic kook, where does this Charismatic get his eschatology? Where does a “kook” get his doctrine? Well, quite obviously and quite logically, he gets it from another kook.

• “Kook” + “Kook” = “Kingdom Now”.
• “Kook” + “Kook” = “Manifest Sons”.
• “Kook” + “Kook” = “Manchild”.
• “Kook” + “Kook” = “Global Peace Plan”.

There is a global peace plan, but you know what bothers me most about Rick Warren’s “Five Point Global Peace Plan”? It’s not God’s. It’s about education, it’s about social welfare, it’s about all those things, but it doesn’t talk about the Gospel. It doesn’t even talk about salvation.

They are being set up for this. They actually sing this. They’re singing about Antichrist’s army and they think it’s about them! Pay attention. David Hocking and myself were talking about this in Germany. Remember when Jesus warned, “When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases like the heathen do”? In Hinduism it’s a mantra. Over and over and over and over. The whole “Mary” thing in Catholic countries is so strong you can’t tell them, “Look, Mary says she needs a Savior” because they’ve said too many rosaries. Like Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister said, “If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it’s the truth.”
They get into the mantra. So we have what some people call the “7-11 choruses”: 7 words, repeated 11 times. Where do these people get their theology? They get it from mindlessly singing choruses as if they were a mantra. The people in these churches who went to this lunacy – you see, there’s no exposition of the Word, they just sing and sing the same thing over and over, but it doesn’t dawn on them much of what they’re singing is not even Scriptural. They become inundated by it like a mantra. It is the same as Hinduism .

The Eastern Invasion

This is the third time – third time – eastern religion has permeated – invaded – the western church. Jeremiah warns of it in chapter 5: “My people are filled with influences from the east.”

The first time it happened was with the post-Nicean fathers, particularly in Alexandria; that was the first time eastern religion invaded western Christendom, with the Gnostics.

The second time was when the Crusades brought the influences of Hinduism and Sufi Islam into Europe. The second time was the Crusades. The whole thing with little girls dressed like brides for the community and counting their prayers on beads, that was all copied from Muslims and Hindus. The flagellation things in the monasteries and convents, that was all copied from Shi’a Muslims. That was the second time.

This is the third time eastern religion has invaded the western church.

2004, the National Pastor’s Conference in San Diego, the keynote speaker – I’m only telling you what was on the agenda – 11:30 to 1, Rick Warren. After a coffee break, you know what the next session was? Yoga. It’s on the Internet. (At least it was.) The National Pastor’s Conference! These are Evangelical pastors! Yoga! They don’t have a clue what’s happening.

That day should not overtake us like a thief. He’s coming like a thief in the night, but it shouldn’t overtake us like a thief. It’s going to shock people, it’s going to surprise them, but it should not shock or surprise us. Let’s look. What should we be doing?

The Proper Context

Turn with me again to the book of Joel 2.

Blow the trumpet in Zion,


...verse 15...
Call a solemn assembly,
Gather the people, consecrate the congregation,
Assemble the elders,
Gather the children, even nursing infants,
Let the bridegroom leave his room
And the bride her chambers.
There’s a reason for that. Remember Jesus warned they’ll be marrying and given in marriage?
Let them gather between the vestibule and the altar,
Let the priests, the Lord’s ministers weep
And say, “Spare Your people, O Lord.”
Make not Your heritage a reproach,
A byword among the nations.
Spare Your people, O Lord.

A “text”, out of context, in isolation from its co-text, is always a “pretext”. Satan is great at taking Scriptures out of context. Look what he did with Jesus. He tried it with Jesus. That whole argument between Satan and Jesus in Matthew 4 was from the book of Deuteronomy. Satan would pull a verse out of context, Jesus would answer him in context. Whatever Jesus answered was from Deuteronomy because everything Satan raises from Deuteronomy – he was great at taking certain verses out of context. It’s simple: A text, out of context, in isolation from its co-text, is always a pretext.

So they’ll point out in Peter’s charigma in the Book of Acts 2 that he quotes from Joel 2:28.

Afterwards it shall come to pass I’ll pour out my Spirit on your flesh, and your sons and daughters will prophesy.

That’s true. But first of all, in its context, it’s mainly focused on Israel and the Jews. Secondly, it doesn’t precede calamity, it follows it. They’re buying into a big lie. Buying into a big lie. It doesn’t matter what you say.

Does It Matter To You?

Last week I was in Hawaii and the Lord put in my way the biggest con-artist, false prophet, money preacher in the world. Eyeball to eyeball, I with him. Eyeball to eyeball, I told him he was a false prophet, that I can prove he’s made these predictions in the name of the Lord that didn’t happen, that he needs to repent and get out of the ministry. It doesn’t matter what I told him. No, it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have told him. Ezekiel says tell them anyway, even if they won’t listen. It’s like serving an indictment, but they won’t listen. It just doesn’t matter to them. The question is, does it matter to you? Do you want a ticket out of here? The “Day of the Lord” is coming.

There is a message. The message is not, “Get drunk”, the message is not to lose self-control, the message is not, “Happy New Year”. The message is you pick up your Bible; this is the message. What does it say in Amos? “Set the trumpet to thy mouth.”

Blow a trumpet in Zion.
Sound an alarm in my holy mountain,
The day of the Lord draws near.

You see CNN today? You watch Fox News today? The “Day of the Lord” draws near. But when the biggest preachers in the world are giving the flock the opposite message, what chance will the sheep have from these wolves when their own shepherds give them over?

No, there is a message. The message is the “Day of the Lord” indeed draws near.

Blow the trumpet in Zion,
Consecrate a fast, call an assembly, a solemn assembly,
Gather all the people, consecrate the congregation,
Assemble the elders,
Gather the children, even the nursing infants.

Remember what Jesus said about the nursing mothers.

Let the bridegroom leave his room
Let the bride her chamber.

Blow the trumpet in Zion,
Sound an alarm in God’s mountain!
The day of the Lord draws near

Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord weep
And let them say, “Spare thy people, O Lord.”

God bless. 

 

 

 

 

Circling the Wagons

By David Passmore • July 14, 2026
Circling the wagons Ruben Rothler LLB, LLM Israel is a society riddled with tension and division. It is sociologically, if not politically miraculous that a country drawing Jews from all over the world is able to exist at all. The army affords a degree of integration as a melting pot. But this is only a marginal source of national unity in the overall scheme of things. More so are the myriads of external threats that face this small country. In the former generation the Ashkenazi (Jews of European descent) - Sephardic (Jews of Oriental descent) divide was far more pronounced. The dominant Ashkenazi establishment held the reins of political and economic power which was resented by the Sephardim. However, due to a combination of inter-marriage and political accommodation much of the chasm that separated these distinct groups was forged. Menachem Begin (an Ashkenazi politician) in 1970 successfully ran on the Likud Party ticket with a campaign that brought Sephardic Jews under his conservative political umbrella. Later the immigration of Russian Jews following the end of Communism would add a whole new dimension to the Israeli demographic milieu. The younger generation of these immigrants tended to adapt well to Israeli society and contributed much to the economy. The wider division in Israeli society that crosses ethnic lines concerns that between religious and secular Jews. This can be further bifurcated to the clash between the secular and specifically ultra-orthodox Jews (Haredim) as distinguished from the national religious Jews (Dati Leumi). The Secular and the Religious generally part on what they envisage a Jewish State to entail. Religious Jews desire the State to strictly adhere to the stipulations of Jewish Law (Halacha), while at present Halakhic influence is largely limited to certain areas of Family Law concerning Jewish citizens. Wider considerations of promoting a socially conservative political agenda would also be forefront amongst the religious mindset broadly. Secular Jews view the imposition of such proposed measures as a serious infringement of their civil rights. With regard to the Haredim, the bone of contention looms larger, in that this group is fundamentally opposed to participating in society at large. This is acutely manifested in diminished contribution to the work force and a refusal to be conscripted into the army. The 2023 judicial reform protests posed a significant threat to social civil order. The nation appeared to be bitterly divided into two opposing camps. This split reflected broader divisions concerning visions of how the country should be governed. The judicial reforms would have weakened the Supreme Court's ability to render the Executive branch accountable. However, the Supreme Court was also accused of using its considerable powers to promote a socially liberal agenda. Left wing secular Israelis tended to oppose the proposed reforms while those on the right (which included the majority of Religious Jews) supported the reforms. Every weekend droves of protesters were brought onto the streets causing major disturbances to traffic. The polarising nature of this impasse threatened the future of Israeli democracy. It was the October 7th attack that brought a swift end to this public debate and civil strife. The nation instinctually united in response to this common existential threat. The judicial reforms were shelved for a future point when the urgent security threats subsided. However, as the war dragged on the enduring issue of Haredi refusal to conscript into the army became more pronounced. Mounting casualties combined with ever increasing manpower demands to field troops on the multiple theatres of action on which the IDF is engaged has depleted the ranks, and the army is now in much need of fresh conscripts. Haredi belligerent refusal to participate in the pressing national defence has escalated from being a political debate to a matter of very practical vital importance. Overall we can observe that the challenges to national unity in successive generations since the establishment of Israel has recurrently been ameliorated by the common necessity of defence towards outside threats. Most recently we can see this happening with regard to the global anti Semitism and anti-Zionism that has been raging since the October 7th atrocities. These hostile attitudes have paradoxically acted as a force which promotes nationalism and a sense of national cohesion in Israel that otherwise might not functionally exist.  (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).

A Divided Nation

By David Passmore • July 8, 2026
A Divided Nation Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM The Haredi community has had a complicated, paradoxical relationship with the State since its founding. Rooted in a Talmudic precept that the Jews are forbidden to resettle the land of Israel en masse by force before the coming of the Messiah, the secular democratic State of Israel presents itself as blasphemous by its mere existence. Yet due to practical considerations such as the need to obtain funding for its religious academies the Haredi leadership reached a settlement with the State's founders that exempted Haredi men from being conscripted for military service. This was at a time when the Haredi population in Israel was relatively small. Over the past decades this demographic ballooned until the point that soon the majority of Jewish children in Israel will be born into Haredi families. Such a situation is clearly unsustainable. Recently the Knesset's (Parliament's) Haredi parties have pressured their coalition partners in government to codify Torah Study as part of the Country's Basic Laws. This was purposefully done to elevate the status of their institutions to be on parity with service in the IDF. Israel is yet to promulgate a written Constitution, so legislation classed as a Basic Law holds Constitutional status for all intents and purposes. These moves by the religious parties represent a back door power grab to enshrine in law very significant hurdles to prevent the enlistment of Haredi men. The burden of Israel's defence is comparatively massive for a country its size and it is vastly disproportionately shouldered by the secular population. Until now there have been political initiatives to conscript the Haredim. But given the huge manpower shortages emerging in the wake of near continual conflict on multiple fronts since the events of October 7th this matter has become urgent and not merely a theoretical discussion of what is fair and equitable. It is important to draw a distinction between the Haredim and national religious Jews (Dati Leumi). The Haredim adhere to a lifestyle entirely committed to observance of Jewish Law and Talmudic study. This is embraced to the exclusion of gainful employment and participation in wider society. They are either outrightly opposed to Zionism or consider themselves non-Zionist. Conversely, followers of the national religious movement in Israel although being observant of Jewish law and learning would alongside this pursue secular professions. Furthermore, they are ardently Zionist and disproportionately serve in IDF combat units. This is often done within the framework of a program called Hesder Yeshiva that combines religious learning with military service. Efforts to cater a similar model for accommodating Haredi participation in the IDF have so far failed to make substantial gains. Such measures designed to override Haredi objections to service based upon modesty concerns by strict segregation of the sexes in these specially formed units have failed to appease the Haredi leadership. For them, any form of military service is considered a dereliction of their duty to fully devote themselves to a Torah lifestyle. They argue that their Talmudic learning and prayers are in itself a form of national service and act to protect the Jewish people spiritually from enemy attack. It is as if two parallel societies exist within Israel. And the trajectory of separation between the two is only growing. The Haredim are cloistered away in their Yeshivas, immersed in lives devoted to adhering to the stipulations of Jewish law. While the particulars of actually running the State is left to the Secular. The Haredim desire all the benefits of subsidizing their lifestyle without contributing to society. What we really have going on here at source is two profoundly different and opposing ideological visions of what is important in life and what is the purpose of a Jewish State. At the State's founding these divergent perspectives were more manageable. Ben Gurion only had to contend with one religious party –the National Religious Party. Later in 1970 Begin aligned with the NRP to form a coalition government that also brought Sephardic Jews under the Likud umbrella which had the effect of bringing unity to the country by bridging the Ashkenazi-Sephardi divide. However, over time Israeli politics has seen a proliferation of religious parties, gaining further leverage as king brokers in forming governments due to the proportionate representation voting system which secular Israelis not uncommonly view as political blackmail. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).

Why Is It Always Israel? | Zechariah 12 Is Happening Before Our Eyes

By David Passmore • June 29, 2026
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Pray for South Africa!

By Mea Fredrickson • June 23, 2026
New Paragraph

Disclosure - A Christian response

By David Passmore • June 22, 2026
THE CAPTION AT THE HEAD OF THE POSTER IMAGE FOR THE MOVIE ‘DISCLOSURE DAY’ BOLDLY DECLARES ‘WE DESERVE TO KNOW’ Indeed, we do need to know the truth. But will we find it in Stephen Spielberg’s new movie ‘Disclosure Day’? Could it just as well be entitled ‘DECEPTION DAY’? In an interview with USA Today Spielberg says that evidence of non-human contact has become “overwhelming” to him. He has suggested that his film could raise significant theological questions for Christians. But will it? For us Christians - No, not on our watch! The movie raises no questions for those who accept the proven accuracy of God’s Word, the Bible. The film, which is capturing the imagination of the public, only confirms exactly what scripture tells us about what are in fact extra-dimensional beings. ALIENS OR FALLEN ANGELS? God inhabits the heavenly realm along with a vast array of angels. Because Lucifer, a created angel, wanted to usurp God as ruler of the universe, he was expelled to another realm outside of our time and space, along with one third of the angels who rebelled with him. These fallen angels manifest themselves as demons who can appear on earth and disappear at will. Spiritual hosts of wickedness exist in heavenly places, wherever this realm is, it is not the place where God dwells. ARE ALIENS BENEVOLENT? In the movie, the ‘aliens’ are portrayed as friendly beings who want to help mankind in a time of crisis. If the aliens are really demons, not visitors from outer space, this is a dangerous delusion. Whitley Striber in his book ‘Communion’ writes on encountering ‘aliens’; ‘I felt an indescribable sense of menace. Whatever was there seemed so monstrously ugly, so filthy, so dark and sinister. Of course they were demons. They have to be.’ Many others have reported similar malevolent experiences. During the movie, Daniel claims to have had an encounter with extra-terrestrials during which he received a special gift of empathy, which is regarded by him as the ultimate superpower. However, there is only One who completely understands our human frailty. We read this concerning Jesus: ‘For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet he did not sin.’ (Hebrews 4 v 15). Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11 v 28) END TIMES DECEPTION Before he was crucified, Jesus warned his disciples about these last days in which we are living. The first words he used in this context were: “Watch no one deceives you. For many will come in my name saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” Deception was top of the list! Later, the Apostle Paul wrote about these days: ‘The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.’ (2 Thessalonians 2 v 9) Have you received the love of the truth? Have you received Jesus who is the way, the truth and the life? If not, you are in great danger. Perilous times are here and they are only going to get worse as man turns more and more away from his maker. Things will only change when Jesus returns soon to establish his own Kingdom on earth, where justice and peace will rule. JESUS, OUR ONLY HOPE! The Bible says all human beings are sinners. The message of Jesus is simple; repent and believe the good news, that God wants humanity, his highest creation, to be reestablished in relationship with him. His plan was simple: to give his life in unconditional love for every human being that has and ever will live, by shedding his blood on a Roman cross. In doing this, we can receive forgiveness of sins. Our old life will then be buried with him, giving us new life with the hope of an eternal future of true peace, love and joy, with freedom from pain and tears. Why ignore such a great gift of salvation? If you do, your fate will be sealed for eternity in hell, which is a real place without God, and thus without love, to face only eternal consequences of punishment. We condemn ourselves to such a fate. REPENT AND BELIEVE THE GOSPEL BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE! Jesus loves you and asks that you repent and believe in him. It would be the best and safest decision of your life! If you commit your life to him, he will give you a new heart, you will be a new person inside. You will also gain a new desire for all that is right and true. And his Holy Spirit will give you an ability to discern the lies of the age we are living in. ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave us his only son, that whosoever believes in him, will not perish, but have eternal life.’ (John 3:16) FINALLY, A RECOMMENDATION  All that is described in this leaflet has been open, in the light for millennia. On the other hand, the theory of extra-terrestrial life has been hidden in darkness, awaiting ‘Disclosure Day’. Which would you prefer to believe, the Word of God, or the word of Stephen Spielberg? I made my choice years ago, and have never regretted it! If this message has spoken to you, just call upon Jesus in a short prayer. Confess to him that you are a sinner in need of salvation. Ask him in sincerity to forgive you and to fill you with his Holy Spirit. You will then become what the Bible describes as being ‘born again’. (John 3 v 7) Then you need to seek a Bible believing church where you can be baptised and become part of a group of believers who can help you get to know Jesus more and more fully. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8 v 32)

Prayer request for Teerth Sond

By David Passmore • June 20, 2026
Prayer request for Teerth Sond Petitioned Prayer-Supplication/Personal Prayer/ Collective Prayer/Thanks Giving Prayer Our Dear brethren in Yeshua, my family & myself Teerth request your prayers in The Spirit that the latest drugs Ramicirumab & Pacilitaxel will destroy the cancer cell in the Authority Of The Lord Yeshua in The Power of The Holy Spirit. Targeted Petition: Please stand with us in prayer & fasting; The Lord will target the 2cm legion & that it will be cast out of my Liver in the love (agape), compassion, kindness, grace, mercy of God. I do not deserve it because of me- but By His Stripes we are healed for His Glory. This will allow the main operation to go ahead (which should have been done 18 months ago). Step by Step in the leading of The Holy Spirit and the in the Lord Step by Step, as our beautiful sister Beryl said, has worked on my Spiritual man- thank you Lord for waking me up. Lord raise me up for your glory forever because of your love to me, the family & fellowship- an unworthy sinner saved by your grace & love. Email sent to my Oncologist & my Local MP: Greetings Natasha & Dr Mano Joseph Hope All Is Well Thank you for our meeting today. At our meeting we discussed my MRI & CT scans which were done in May 2026. We discussed the operation on my oesophagus which I believe is the best option. (This should have been done 18 months ago). My Kidney operation will be done- non evasive- Lord willing within the next month. Will you be talking to Mr Chacravaty about this? The liver must be targeted first- this is wisdom and the latest radiotherapy treatments available- proton therapy-radiotherapy atezolizumab and bevacizumab sorafenib lenvatinib regorafenib cabozantinib durvalumab and tremelimumab At the meeting we discussed the next CT & MRI scans to be held end off July. Wouldn't it be to better to have them in August so by then I've had 4 full treatments on the latest medication. Also we have Zolbetuximab on compassionate usage- all glory to The Lord. After all the past wrongs I have no doubt now Dr Joseph you will pursue the best for me and family. Dear brethren- King Manasseh, David, Hannah, The Church For Peter, James, The Lord Jesus Christ for example made petitions onto the Lord. We pray as one body to cast off the illness in the Power of The Holy & The Authority Of Yeshua. The Great Physician who came for the ill. To lay out raised hands 🙌🏽 upon the head of our Lord. ABBA/Daddy/Lord in your mercy have mercy on us. Love you all in Yeshua our Lord & God. Teerth, Family & Fellowship

The End of an Extended Honeymoon – Are Trump and Netanyahu Parting Ways?

By David Passmore • June 19, 2026
The End of an Extended Honeymoon – Are Trump and Netanyahu Parting Ways? Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM  The Israeli public had high hopes for Trump. Unlike his predecessors, he consistently endorsed Israeli measures of self-defence in the different theatres of conflict in which it had to contend. Further to these ends Trump shared in Netanyahu’s determined agenda of preventing the Iranians from pursuing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. During Trump's first term he tore up Obama's negotiated settlement with the Iranians concerning enriched Uranium, echoing Netanyahu’s position that it didn't go far enough. Now in his second term Trump partnered with Israel in a war with Iran that turned out to lack clearly defined goals. The campaign required resolve on the part of America that it wasn't willing to commit. After an initial lightning blitzkrieg that decapitated the Iranian leadership, the Persians dug in and the conflict became a protracted war of attrition hinging on Iran's stranglehold on the straits of Hormuz that could only be realistically lifted by placing boots on the ground or an intensified air war directed against Iranian coastal positions and the destruction of Kharg island, or at least the viable threat to obliterate Kharg island if Iran did not acquiesce. It transpired that Trump and Netanyahu underestimated the resilience of the Iranian regime, thinking that it had already received a near mortal blow during the prior popular demonstrations. So now we are left with a situation where Trump is exasperated with this protracted endeavour and appears to be aiming his frustration towards Netenyahu. A sticking point is Israel's continued occupation of Southern Lebanon. Iran is insistent that Israel withdraw its forces from there as a precursor to fully committing itself to a final status agreement with the U.S. to put an end to its nuclear aspirations. With the midterm elections looming Trump seems to be desperate for an exit strategy from this war. From Israel's perspective the fight against Hizbollah is an inextricable part of the Iranian equation. The IDF has invested massive resources and personnel in the hopes of quashing the Iranian proxy once and for all. Netanyahu is determined to build on the momentum achieved after the spectacular pager attack in 2024. After the catastrophic Hamas massacres of October 7th, the majority of the Israeli public is unwilling to tolerate a capable hostile force on its borders. Trump's proposed solution to this dilemma unrealistically suggests that Syria should take on the role of disarming and removing Hizbollah from Lebanon. In the ultimate reckoning of international relations, America doesn't have iron clad allies, but rather interests like any other nation. If, (as appears to be occurring now) U.S. and Israeli interests fail to align the two countries will cease to act in unison and there may be a rupture in relations on the not-too-distant horizon. Trump has indicated that Israel owes him big time. He has asserted that were it not for his decisive actions they would have been obliterated by Iran's missiles. This is nothing to say of the robust diplomatic support Trump has lent Israel in such forums as the United Nations Security Council and sanctioning officials of the International Criminal Court. Netanyahu is acutely aware of what may be next after Trump. The way public opinion is turning against Israel it is unlikely that the next administration is going to be any way near as friendly as Trump has been thus far to Israel. Trump too of course is mindful of this turning tide opposing Israel. The Iran war has been unpopular to his domestic audience, and the President has been caricatured as Netanyahu’s stooge doing Israel's bidding. Another major consideration for Trump is the colossal impact that the war has had on his other major regional allies: the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia. They have received the brunt of the Iranian backlash that has effectively targeted their energy infrastructure and trading routes. They, along with the Europeans have been exerting pressure on Trump to end the conflict and reopen the Straits of Hormuz regardless of whether the most favourable terms of Iranian capitulation are achieved. Israel, however important a strategic asset and technological powerhouse will not override these broader concerns that are endangering global energy markets. An unspoken factor is Trump's propensity for a belligerent severing of his relationship with allies in the political sphere. His public displays of hostility with former political allies such Senator Ted Cruz, Governor Ron Santos and Elon Musk demonstrate a temperament that the same kind of falling out could invoke with strategic allies as well as those political. Both Trump and Netanyahu are approaching the sunset of their political careers and are naturally inclined to deeply consider the legacies they will leave behind. In the international sphere Trump projected himself as a peacemaker from a position of strength. But as many commentators have pointed out, the war with Iran demonstrated the limits of U.S. power. Trump appraised Iran as low hanging fruit that could be swiftly toppled like Venezuela. However, when push came to shove and the only prospect of landing a decisive blow demanded a massive ground offensive on the scale of the Iraq war, he bottled out and sued for a premature peace that will leave Netanyahu in the cold. Netanyahu is anxious to rehabilitate the injury inflicted on his reputation of the greatest disaster to have occurred in Israel's history having happened on his watch. Eliminating Iran as the great regional adversary pulling the strings of its proxies would have done much in this regard. Neither leader is able to craft their legacies as they would have wanted. Trump is choosing the perceived option of mitigating the damage done to his legacy in foreign affairs. He is trying hard to sell his Iran deal as being more than what Obama bargained in terms of guaranteeing a nuclear free Iran. But as further details of his proposal are leaked this is becoming a tall order. Netanyahu is faced with October elections and he may decide to stay the course in Lebanon as otherwise he will seem weak to most voters. Should this happen, we will be in uncharted waters as it will thwart Trump's designs for an immediate end to this affair.

The Battle for Israel's Reputation

By David Passmore • June 17, 2026
The Battlefield for Israel's Reputation Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM Israel has enjoyed strong U.S. support since its founding. Within eleven minutes of Israel's Declaration of Independence Truman recognized the Jewish State. Under the Kennedy administration the Pentagon sold advanced missile systems to Israel. However, it was the 1970 attempted PLO takeover of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan that demonstrated to the U.S. Israel's regional prowess and indispensability for implementing Washington's agenda. During Arafat's attempted Coup Syria mobilized its forces on the Jordanian border in support of the PLO's bid to dislodge the ruling Hashemite dynasty. Upon Washington's direction the IDF also mobilized its army upon its border with Jordan, thereby deterring the Syrians from taking further action. From then, the Pentagon and U.S. military planners invested heavily in promoting Israel's defence. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War disaster Nixon's massive air lift came to Israel's aid. For decades U.S. diplomatic and military support for Israel was a non-partisan issue. Both Democrat and Republican members of Congress voted nearly unanimously in support of measures concerning Israel. However, in the mid 2010's this began to change. To the extent that now 80% of Democrats hold views in opposition to Israel and this is reflected in how their representatives are acting. It is difficult to praise an exact moment when this turning point occurred. For years Democrat grassroots activist groups across the nation were lobbying their local representatives about their attitudes to Palestine and the mass student protest movements following the Gaza war built upon this momentum. The dual standards by the academic establishment were riddled with hypocrisy as if by the same criteria Israel is condemned for its responsive self-defence counter attacks in Lebanon and Gaza, Britain and America would be similarly indicted for what they did to Dresden, Hamburg and Berlin in response to Hitler. This is facilitated by the funding of Western Universities by Qatar and other Islamic interests associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. There is alienation between Israelis and the traditional left-centre Jewish Diaspora in the U.S. with a third of New York Jews voting for Mandani a vehement anti-Zionist in the New York Mayoral election. This is counterbalanced by a growing Jewish Right in America led by Ben Shapiro, David Ruben, Dennis Prager, Mark Levin and Trump advisor Steven Miller who are in political harmony with the Evangelical Right. The Republicans are also approaching a crossroads. Just as the Democrats have been hijacked by the Woke Left there has emerged a virulently anti-Zionist Woke Right led by Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes and Candace Owen who are also attempting to hijack the Republicans. What is alarming here, is the fact that the majority of young Republicans under forty now hold an unfavourable view of Israel. So, it is very much a matter of fighting for the future of the Republican Party. The growing populist movements in Britain and Europe may counter the anti-Zionist and anti- Semitic political activities of the Muslim vote and their left-wing allies. In any eventuality, even if the least favourable trajectory of U.S. public opinion were to further materialize it is unlikely to dismantle the massive military and intelligence sharing cooperation between the U.S. and Israel. The Pentagon views Israel as far too big of a strategic asset in a volatile region to cut ties with. (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).

Urgent prayer request - India

By David Passmore • June 10, 2026
MAJOR PRAYER REQUEST - STEVE MITCHELL MORIEL ORPHANAGE (Andar Pradesh, INDIA) Please read the enclosed missions report from Moriel Missions Branch India: Our children need us and we put a lot of money into buying and then expanding the Moriel orphanage to take in more children. These precious orphan children are coming to Christ and the devil is angry. Until now we had opposition from radical Sheikhs at the Moriel Horeb church we built in Punjab, but the Hindu Authorities in Andar Pradesh have largely until now left us alone. The BJP government is however as wicked as Hamas or Hezbollah - only Hindu (I was in India when radical Hindus burned the Australian missionary family alive in their car; these are the ones who wanted to murder Steve Mitchell when Moriel helped to quickly get him out of the country some years ago). Some pastors have been murdered again in West Bengal. (Samuel, who oversees the Moriel orphanage went to Bible College with one of them). Because our orphan children are Dalet (treated as subhuman 'out casts' by the Hindu caste system), or from Muslim backgrounds, we have largely been been left alone and some of the local officials liked us. This is obviously not a good situation. Prayer is urgently requested. Please pray for Mark Masih particularly that they will not cancel his visa. They are now forbidding us from bringing any more bibles into the country. What would happen if Britain, Australia, or America outlawed Hindus from bringing the Bhagavad Gita into England, Oz, or the USA? MARANATHA Come Quickly Lord Jesus  "You Will Be Hated By Men For My Name's Sake" Matthew 10:22

Staying the course amidst isolation

By David Passmore • May 30, 2026
Staying The Course Amidst Isolation Rubin Rothler LLB, LLM Living in Israel one gets the feeling that the metaphorical walls are closing in. Israel's reputation is being tarnished all over social media and the mainstream media, and this is reflected in massive public disdain towards this country. We are constantly told that there is near consensus amongst academics and commentators that a genocide was committed in Gaza. The very legitimacy of the state is brought into question. The majority of Americans are now hostile towards Israel. There is real fear that the next U.S. administration will turn against Israel. Even if this were to happen passively, by the U.S. refraining from exercising its veto power towards Security Council Resolutions condemning Israeli actions this could be catastrophic. Internally it is a fractured society leaning increasingly right wing which further alienates Israel from world opinion. An example in point is how Ben Gvir mocked the most recent participants of a global aid flotilla to Gaza. Such conduct further agitates outrage at Israel. The left-wing media presents the ruins of Gaza as a mortal wound in Israel's side. When the world observes this level of carnage no degree of public relations can ameliorate the sense of indignation towards Israel. We can liken the situation of Israel to that of a depressed person. All he sees is hopelessness and gloom. But this isn't the first time that the Jewish nation has been faced with such darkness. Things change and we don't know how the geo-political map will reconfigure in the future. We need to ride out this storm and keep going. On a historical note, the situation is reminiscent of what our ancestors faced when we returned from the Babylonian exile to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah was faced with constant lies and conspiracies designed to entrap him by hostile actors: Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arab. They employed deception, slander and ridicule in order to maintain their political eminence. There was also a certain sense of abandonment amongst the Jews in Israel then as in our own day. We read in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah about the anguish of the leadership in Israel concerning the lack of assistance from the Babylonian diaspora towards the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem and the Temple. Only 20% of the exiles returned to the land. It was largely the poor who returned. Most of the affluent, established Jews remained in Exile. This is a continuing theme in Jewish history. It is also important to observe that from its very beginnings there were bible believing Christians who spearheaded the return of the Jews to their land. The idea of organizing a return of the Jews to Israel began as a Protestant Restorationist objective that can be traced to 17th century Puritan England. The protagonists of the Cromwellian Republic viewed themselves as the new Israel fighting the Papist forces of Satan. Alongside this, interest grew in the notion that biblical prophecies pertaining to the return of the Jews to Israel were a necessary precursor for the return of Christ. The growth of the British Empire in the 19th century lent political clout to Christian Restorationism with specific missions to the Jews established. Although there had been a longing to return to Israel as written in the thrice daily Amidah prayer, Jewish Zionism arose in the midst of mid nineteenth century nationalism and was further fermented by European antisemitism. It was an altogether secular enterprise. Although Israel's situation appears rather stark, we can draw strength from the Providence afforded to our ancestors in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah when they too were faced with defamation. This is also an opportunity to grow closer to our natural allies in the evangelical world who from the beginning of Zionism were steadfast supporters of the project to establish a Jewish homeland in Israel.  (Author is an Israeli American lawyer academically qualified in British and in U.S.A. law, and a graduate of the School of Oriental & African Studies, London. He is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is currently based in Israel).