Are Obama and Putin playing “Chicken?”

The U.S. and Russian governments are polarized on the future of Ukraine, and the annexation of Crimea. The outcome will affect Euro/Russo/U.S. relations for years to come. If Obama concedes, he'll look like he's kowtowing to Putin, who is unlikely to abandon plans to enlarge Russia's sphere. Is this an international game of “chicken?” 

This is not the first game of “chicken” between these two. Last year Obama surrendered control to Putin over the issue of disposing chemical weapons in Syria. And since drawing a red line with Iran, Obama has been resisted by Putin in stopping, or even slowing down, Iran's Russian-backed nuclear development program.

Why does this matter to us?  Most theologians believe Bible prophecy excludes any U.S. role in the end times. Is it too implausible to think that the influence of the world's only superpower could be waning? Could these failed “chicken” games be, as Joel Rosenberg would say, a harbinger of things to come? Is it not incumbent on us to discern the times, and to pay attention to these things?

Where are the Tears?

“While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death” (Heb. 5:7). 

Of Andrew Bonar, a Scottish minister used mightily of God during the great Revival of 1839-1840, it is said, he cared, wept and prayed like Jesus.

In the 17th century, Samuel Rutherford, said, “A bed watered with tears, a throat dry with praying, eyes a fountain of tears for the sins of the land are rarely to be found among us.”
 
Recently, David Smithers of the “Awake and Go Prayer Global Network,” wrote, “Far too often our own eyes are dry because we are blind to the needs around us... blinded by the temporal, we can no longer see the holiness of heaven and horrors of hell.” (edited)

You cannot Live with a Tumor

In 2003 when a CT scan found a tumor in Steve Jobs’ pancreas, doctors urged him to have an operation, but Steve chose alternative remedies. Nine months later, when the tumor had grown, he agreed to surgery, but by then, the cancer had spread to his liver. Though a liver transplant bought him a few years, ultimately his battle strategy failed.

You will recall that God's strategy for dealing with cancerous idolatry in Canaan was total annihilation.  Sadly, Israel compromised, choosing alternative remedies. Fast forward 4,000 years, and we now have two generations of Americans who have grown up without another world war. Our strategy has been diplomacy: peace at all costs. However, recent unofficial talks by our government with Iran seem to be demonstrating a national naiveté that we can make peace with an avowed enemy.

Canaan illustrates the necessity of a good battle strategy against the enemies of our soul—both within and without.  Coincidentally, we are living at a time in history when God's People are being asked to make peace with a sensually-driven culture. But it is a strategy as perilous as living with a tumor.

War on Christians

The Global War on Christians in the Muslim World was the cover story for Newsweek in their February 6th edition. The article’s author says in the wake of the Arab Spring, “a wholly different kind of war is underway—an unrecognized battle costing thousands of lives. Christians are being killed in the Islamic world.  It is a rising genocide that ought to provoke global alarm.” 

Jesus predicted the persecution of the Church: "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you... If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you... "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of my name." (John 15:18-20; Matt. 24:9). Furthermore, increasing persecution is a sign of the end times (Mark 13.9-13). 

More Christians were martyred in the 20th century than in all previous centuries combined. All over the globe, Christians are being tortured and killed, in an attempt to eliminate Christianity. Has the persecution of the end times begun? “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim 3:12).

The Antichrist and the New World Order

Earlier this month, I suggested that the stage is being set for the antichrist's one-world government.  Since then, I found this statement by David Rockefeller from 1994. "We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order." Every president since Regan has spoken of a new world order to describe the uniting of superpowers to secure global peace, safety, and stability.

David Rockefeller couldn’t have known how soon the predicted ‘major crisis’ would occur. But on 9/1/1, the world entered the war on terror that continues today with no end in sight. The need for a united front against terror is paving the way for a New World Order.

The New World Order will provide the antichrist a system of command and control to fulfill the Bible prophecy that just before Christ's return people will be saying, everything is peaceful and secure” (1 Thess. 5:3 NLT).  It behooves us to pay close attention to the candidates running for president in 2012 to see how they plan on addressing these global concerns. Listen for the phrase "New World Order."

Are We in the Red Zone?

In President Obama’s speech at the United Nations last week, he made this defining statement, “Something is happening in our world. The way things have been is not the way they will be.” (This is what might be called an understatement!) The entire world’s attention is focused on economic and political destabilization not seen since 1930.  It has all the drama of anxious coastal residents waiting to see where an Atlantic hurricane will land as it appears to be taking on all the qualities of a perfect storm.

The chief of the World Trade Organization said yesterday: “We are in a red zone. We are at a risk of repeating what happened in 2008—when market upheaval shook the global economy.” Unfamiliar with the term “red zone,” I went googling. The term was first used to describe a region of France that was decimated during World War I. More recently “red zone” was used to designate unsafe areas in Iraq after the 2003 invasion.  A “red zone” is a place to avoid.  Are we in the Red Zone?

But an even more alarming statement was made this week by the chief executive of one of the world’s largest investment banks.  In describing the inability of world leaders to solve this crisis, he said: “It’s like an orchestra with 2 sides playing different music and looking to the conductor—but there is no conductor.” The bible foretells a time when the world will look for a great leader: a man of peace, a messiah. But the Bible says shortly thereafter, the entire system of government and religion on earth will be brought to its end when Jesus takes the world stage to establish His kingdom. How close is it? Well, I think it's pretty close when people start looking for a leader to get us out of the “red zone.”

Is the End Near?

Threats of nuclear attack from rogue nations; unending terrorist insurgencies in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq; unresolved Israeli/Palestinian conflict; unparalleled numbers of earthquakes, incomparable floods, unprecedented global recession; warnings of global warming (endangering polar bears and cuckoo birds)—just a few of today’s headline stories—reminders, or perhaps heralders, of this earth’s ultimate doom.

Is the end near?

In his Newsletter this week, our longtime friend and trusted teacher Lambert Dolphin said: “I am following world affairs far more closely than ever this year because of the speed of major developments around the world. I believe we are very near the end of the age, which means the Lord Jesus could well return for His church at any time now. Christians in the First Century hoped He would take place back in their day. We can't predict the date, but the news is full of signs that the Stage of History is now being set for the last act in the history of this age. Up ahead will be a terribly violent time culminating in the return of the Lord Jesus to restore and rebuild His planet and His people.”

Jesus told His disciples: "…be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming…” (Matthew 24:42).