THE MAINLINE CHURCHES “CANNOT INTERPRET THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES”

Martin M. van Brauman

When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’  And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’  You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. Matthew 16:2-4.

 Jesus was referring to the blindness of the religious leaders to the signs of the times and today modern Israel is the prophetic reality that is unfolding before our eyes and yet is unrecognized by the mainline Christian churches.  The sign of Jonah is the symbol of resurrection.  The resurrection of the Land of Israel by the ingathering of the Jewish people is that sign today. Such churches, which demonize Israel and attack its legitimacy, deny God and the Words of His prophets.

And I have loved you with an eternal love, therefore I have extended kindness to you. I shall yet rebuild you and you shall be rebuilt, O Maiden of Israel . . . You will yet plant vineyards in the mountains of Samaria . . . For there will be a day when watchmen will call out on Mount Ephraim, Arise, let us ascend to Zion, to the Lord our God . . . Behold, I will bring them from the land of the North and gather them from the ends of the earth. Jeremiah 31:2-7.

 For you are a holy people to the Lord, your God; the Lord, your God, has chosen you to be for Him a treasured people above all the peoples that are on the face of the earth. Not because you are more numerous than all the peoples did the Lord desire you and choose you, for you are the fewest of all the peoples. Rather, because of the Lord’s love for you and because He observes the oath that He swore to your forefathers did He take you out with a strong hand and redeem you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.  You must know that the Lord, your God – He is the God, the faithful God, Who safeguards the covenant and the kindness for those who love Him and for those who observe His commandments, for a thousand generations. Deuteronomy 7:6-9.

 He remembered His covenant forever – the Word He commanded for a thousand generations – that He made with Abraham and His vow to Isaac. Then He established it for Jacob as a statute, for Israel as an everlasting covenant, ‘To you I shall give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance.’ Psalms 105:8-11. 

 On the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, Peter addressed the crowd and spoke the words of the prophet Joel (Acts 2:14-21):

And it will happen after this [in the End of Days as explained in Joel 4:1] that I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters will prophesy; your elders will dream [prophetic] dreams, and your young men will see visions. Even also the slaves and upon the maidservants in those days I will pour out My spirit. I will set wonders in the heavens and on earth: blood and fire and pillars of smoke; the sun will turn to darkness and the moon to blood [red], before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the Lord. And it will be that anyone who calls in the Name of the Lord will escape, for on the mountain of Zion and in Jerusalem there will be refuge as the Lord said, and among the survivors whom the Lord summons. Joel 3:1-5.

 For behold, in those days and at that time, when I will bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all of the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat (the Valley of God’s Judgment) and I will contend with them there concerning My people and My possession, Israel, that they dispersed among the nations, and they divided up My land  . . . Joel 4:1-2.

Beware to those governments and world organizations who try to divide up My Land, Israel, for the rebirth of Israel has been revealed by all the prophets from Moses to Malachi.  Redemption means the actual, physical liberation of Israel from persecution and humiliation and the return of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland.  Israel is entering a time of material prosperity, fertile lands, great wealth, high birth rates, long life and good health and the world religions cannot interpret the signs of the times.