Author: Mike Wingfield

  • December 2019 – The Kings of Men and the Plans of God

    December 2019

    Published monthly

    All Bible references are from the KJV

    (Examining the News in Light of Biblical Truth)

    P.O. Box 13006, Roanoke, VA 24030-3006

    Download the .pdf

    I am convinced that our world is entering a very dangerous and evil period of time. What is transpiring at this hour among the nations of the world is paving the way for the Antichrist to burst onto the scene.

    The world is in a state of sheer political chaos. The masses of the world are revolting against their governments – demanding their own selfish and godless agendas. Protests in the last few months have circled the globe, including Chile, Columbia, Venezuela, Bolivia, India, China, Ecuador, Mexico, United Kingdom, Cameroon, Nicaragua, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Thailand, Russia, Zimbabwe, Israel, and the U.S. Evil tyrants and dictators in North Korea, Turkey, Russia, and Iran, continue to advance their wicked agendas to take over the world.

    In the United States and Israel, the political liberal left is circulating lies and spreading deception to destroy the administrations of their respective leaders – President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It is my conviction that the leadership of these two men has been holding back the floodgates of evil in our world. Both of these men have spoken with moral clarity about the evil agenda of Iran. The United States and Israel have historically stood at the front lines of the war against communism/socialism, and the terrorist agenda of radical Islam. Should these two countries fall into the hands of the liberal left, it will, humanly speaking, leave our world defenseless against the tide of evil and violence that is marching around the globe. (more…)

  • November 2019 – Fear Not!

    November 2019

    Published monthly

    All Bible references are from the KJV

    (Examining the News in Light of Biblical Truth)

    P.O. Box 13006, Roanoke, VA 24030-3006

    Download the .pdf

    Fear Not!

    “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea” (Psalm 46:1-2).

    By Mike Wingfield

    In the last 30 years, I have had the privilege to travel across America and speak in hundreds of churches about major prophetic themes that relate to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. This journey has led me to discover the troubling spiritual condition of the American evangelical church. It is sad to report that I have witnessed the rising apathy and apostasy that are sweeping across this land like an infectious disease. I have witnessed this plight because as a conservative pastor, I am only invited to speak in conservative evangelical churches. And while the situation in the evangelical churches is becoming grimmer every day, the plight within more liberal mainline denominations has reached a critical level.

    I am convinced that the message the Lord has given me is not being well received in many churches. And this includes churches that are considered conservative and evangelical. Simply stated – many pastors and church members do not want to hear messages about the Second Coming of Christ. One of their leading responses is that Biblical prophecy frightens people. A friend of mine who attends a very large evangelical church in downtown Roanoke, Virginia, told me that he asked his pastor if he would consider inviting me to come and speak to his congregation. The pastor, whom I have met and who knows about this ministry, responded by saying he could not invite me. When my friend asked him why, the pastor answered, “If we invited Mike to come and speak, He would scare everyone.” How should we interpret this response by a pastor to the doctrine of the Second Coming?

    It is alarming to me that the same people who claim that Bible prophecy is scary, enjoy the world’s entertainment that is filled with things that cause people to shriek with horror. They openly embrace this kind of entertainment, while they refuse to consider God’s prophetic truth. They support the dark side by celebrating Halloween. However, they do not want to hear the prophetic truth about the reality of an approaching war between God and Satan. These people may be members of a local church, but they are not acting like true believers. Instead, they are following the path of those who are running from God and want no association with Him.

    The doctrine of the Second Coming is a major theme in the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments. It is estimated that more than one-fourth of the Bible is prophetic. About one-third of the New Testament is prophetic. The last book of the Bible is completely dedicated to the revelation of Jesus Christ at the end of this age. Therefore, to avoid Biblical prophecy is to ignore a major portion of the eternal, unchanging Word of God! Someone has calculated that the Bible mentions 1,846 prophetic events and circumstances of our Lord’s Second Coming that have not been fulfilled.

    Any preacher who avoids this massive body of Biblical revelation in the Holy Word of God is failing to preach the whole counsel of God. When the Apostle Paul gave his farewell message to his dear brothers in Christ at the church of Ephesus, he said, “And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:25-27). I am convinced that when the Apostle Paul stated that he was “pure from the blood of all men,” that he was referring to the commission given to the prophet Ezekiel. Every pastor and teacher of the Word of God should read and heed this commission in Ezekiel 2-3. God has never called His messengers to avoid speaking words that are not offensive. He has not called us to please people. God has always called His servants to deliver a message of warning from Him. God told Ezekiel that those who heard him would not like his message and they would reject him. Yet, he told Ezekiel to go and proclaim God’s message so that the blood of the people, on the judgment day, would not be upon his hands. All of God’s messengers in Biblical days were hated and rejected by the godless people around them. Furthermore, they killed Jesus because they did not agree with His message.

    Those who only proclaim a message that is popular with people are not pleasing God. The Apostle Paul said, “If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10). God is looking for men of God who do not fear men or seek to please men, but only fear God and are determined to please God at any cost! Jesus spoke to the godless people in His day and said, “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! For so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26). I fear that too many pastors in conservative evangelical circles have churchianity, but not Christianity. They are building a church empire around themselves that will feed their pride, their pocketbooks, and their popularity. They refuse to preach on hell, judgment, sin, or the Second Coming of Christ. Woe be unto them!

    According to the Bible, a true child of God, walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, should not fear anyone or anything but God! Jesus said, “And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him” (Luke 12:4-5).

    I have noted that throughout the Bible, the true child of God is marked by a holy boldness. When God called Joshua to take the leadership of Israel to drive out the wicked inhabitants of the Promised Land, God said to him, “Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee; turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest” (Joshua 1:7). Later, when God chose Gideon to defeat a massive army that had come against Israel, He instructed Gideon to send all of the soldiers home who were afraid (Judges 7:3).

    Most people who attend our churches today do not know that we are constantly at war with wickedness and the spiritual forces of darkness (Ephesians 6:12-13). When we proclaim God’s Word we are involved in spiritual warfare. We are confronting the gates of hell in the power of the Holy Spirit because the Lord has promise us, “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

    The book of Acts, which records the history of the beginning of the church, helps us to understand that God is not looking for passive cowards to serve Him. He desires for us to be kind, loving, humble and courageous servants of Christ. There is no place for spiritual cowards in the army of Jesus Christ. Those who follow Him must completely surrender their life to the Lord for His purposes, even if it means death (Luke 9:23-24). According to Jesus’ words, this is not just a mark of the spiritual giants who follow Him. It is a distinguishing characteristic of true disciples who passionately follow Him and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.

    Years ago, when I was preaching through the book of Acts, I noted that the believers in the early church who were filled with the Holy Spirit were also filled with boldness (Acts 4:13, 29, 31). When the Holy Spirit controls a person, he is filled with courage to do what God has called him to do. God is looking for people who are “bold to speak the word without fear” (Philippians 1:14).

    It is our calling to warn people that the wrath of God is about to fall upon this wicked generation. That is not a message they want to hear. In today’s culture, people want to hear a nice, soothing message that lulls them into a spiritual slumber. Isaiah continually spoke of the coming of the Messiah and the day of His judgment upon Israel. The wicked people of his day refused his message and declared, “speak unto us smooth things” (Isaiah 30:10). The Apostle Paul warned us that in the last days the apostate church would have a “form of godliness, but [will deny] the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:5). He declared that this self-centered church would not be focused upon the truth of God. Instead, the collective churches would surround themselves with preachers that will scratch them where they itch (2 Timothy 4:3-4). We have arrived at that day!

    We desperately need preachers today that will sound the wakeup call to the church. The signs of the time tell us that we shall all soon stand before Judge Jesus. Those left behind will face the wrath of God during the horrific Tribulation.

    When the true child of God hears about the Second Coming of Christ, and the judgments of God that are associated with it, it should not evoke a response of fear! The Bible testifies to this statement. I am convinced that Psalm 46 was written for the people living during the future Tribulation Period. Notice that Psalmist refers to a time when the world will experience a global earthquake that makes the earth desolate (verses 2, 6, 8). It is a time when God exalts Himself by defeating the wicked nations of the world gathered for war (verse 9). As the children of God in that future day see these massive and horrific judgments that destroy the world around them, they will say, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea” (verses 1-2).

    In Isaiah 2:10-22, when God “ariseth to shake terribly the earth” (verse 19), the wicked will go into the caves of the mountains and cry out in fear for the mountains to fall upon them (compare to Revelation 6:15-17). In contrast to this response of fear, in Isaiah 24, the prophet speaks of the massive earthquakes that will devastate the earth during the Tribulation. In the midst of this description, he writes about the response of the child of God during this period of time. “They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore glorify the LORD in [the east], even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the [west]. From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs” (Isaiah 24:14-16).

    The Bible clearly says that when God’s judgments fall upon man, the righteous will rejoice while the wicked are filled with fear. Therefore, it is odd that today, those who call themselves children of God say that the message about the Second Coming of Christ frightens them. This is not consistent with the message of the Bible.

    When the child of God hears the prophetic message about the Second Coming of Christ, it should not produce fear. While speaking about the events surrounding His Second Coming, Jesus said to His disciples, “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” Matthew 24:6). When the believer hears about the judgments of God that are coming upon this earth, He is reminded that God is sovereign and He is directing the affairs of this world to His divinely decreed consummation. This should not cause us to be paralyzed with fear. It should cause us to be filled with praise. Our God is in control!

    God did not give us prophecy to terrorize us, but to bless us! The one book of the Bible that is most avoided today in the church is the book of Revelation. People do not like the message of this book. Yet, this is the only book in the Bible that promises a blessing to those who read and heed its message. Revelation 1:3 says, “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.” This promise is repeated once again in Revelation 22:7, “Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.”

    Those who avoid the book of Revelation are missing out on the blessing of God! One of the greatest preachers in the Bible, the Apostle Paul, said only moments before his death that he “loved” the Second Coming of Christ (2 Timothy 4:8). Paul said that because He loved Jesus. The Bible declares, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). I believe that the people who love Jesus more than themselves will study and mediate upon the book of Revelation. Listen to what Sam Gordon, an international Bible teacher with Trans World Radio in England, said in his commentary on the book of Revelation. He said, “We study it because we passionately love the Lord and we are numbered among those who genuinely love his appearing. We approach a book like this with the adrenaline flowing through our veins, with our heart beating faster, and our mind filled with the twin components of wonder and worship. We can do no better than to come like John, and fall down in humility before the feet of Jesus” (Sam Gordon, Worthy is the Lamb, p. 21).

    We are also commanded in Revelation 1:3 to “keep” or heed the words of this final book of the Bible. The late John Phillips, another world renown Bible teacher who taught for years at Moody Bible Institute and was featured on the Moody Broadcasting network, said, “The word heed literally means ‘to watch over,’ or ‘to observe attentively.’ We must keep an eye on things in light of what the book has to say” (John Phillips, Exploring Revelation- An Expository Commentary, p, 15). This is at the heart of what I am endeavoring to do in this ministry.

    John MacArthur, world renown Bible expositor and conference speaker, and president of Master’s College and Seminary, says in his commentary on the book of Revelation, concerning Revelation 1:3, “Reading, hearing, and obeying the truths taught in the book of Revelation are to be a way of life for believers. Revelation is God’s final word to man, marking the completion of the canon of Scripture (22:1-19), and its scope encompasses the entire future of redemptive history (1:19). It is imperative that believers follow the truths it contains” (John MacArthur, Because the Time is Near, p. 22).

    How can believers be afraid of what God says when it is to be a blessing to them?

    Furthermore, the teaching of the Second Coming of Christ should bring comfort, not fear, to the life of the believer. After the Apostle Paul wrote to the church of Thessalonica about the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, he said, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18). Later, he exhorted this church concerning the teaching about the Tribulation Period and the time of great judgment that is coming upon the earth, with the words, “Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

    How can believers be afraid of what God says when it is to be a comfort to them?

    Also, the Bible refers to the Second Coming of Christ as the “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). The message of the gospel without the Second Coming is a message with no hope. Our hope is bound up in our resurrection and the completion of our salvation when we will be glorified at His coming – the Rapture of the church. To not preach about the Second Coming is to not complete the good news (gospel) of Jesus Christ. A faith that has no resurrection has no hope. It is an empty and incomplete faith. “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (1 Corinthians 15:19).

    This is why all of the apostles constantly preached and wrote about the Second Coming. The apostle Paul spent only three weeks in Thessalonica during his missionary journey (Acts 17:1-3). While he was there he evangelized and taught the new converts. A central part of his teaching focused upon the details of the Second Coming of Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:5). One out of every three verses in Paul’s epistles speaks about the Second Coming of Christ. Clearly, the hope of the Second Coming was central to the teaching of the apostles, especially to new converts.

    How can believers be afraid of what God says when it is to be a blessed hope to them?

    God has not given us the prophetic Word to frighten us, but to inform us of His will and future eternal plans. Most of us are afraid of what we do not know. Ignorance many times leads to fear.

    God wants us to know what He has in store for us. When Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica about their gathering together in Christ, he wrote, “But I would not have you to be ignorant brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Paul openly stated, as directed by the Holy Spirit, that God does not want believers to be uninformed about His prophetic plans.

    I am amazed and constantly in awe and wonder at the incredible details of God’s eternal plans given to us in the Bible! The prophecies that surround the Second Coming of Christ are not vague or general. They are filled with minute details. God invites and expects us to know the details of His prophetic Word and to study the conditions in our world to know that the time of His coming is near (Luke 21:28). The signs of His coming are for seeing. Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of His day because they failed to “discern the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3). I wonder what He would say to the pastors who refuse to know and teach His prophetic Word to their congregations?

    God wants us to join Him in what He is doing. This is the practical part of making Him the Lord of your life. Prophecy is God’s agenda. It is what He is going to do in our world. How can anyone who is serious about following Jesus not consider the prophetic Word of God to be important? This does not make good Biblical sense!

    Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Do we know what this means? To pray for His will to be done on earth means that we consider what His Word says about His will – His eternal plans spelled out in the prophetic Scriptures. He wants us to identify His will and to pray for it to be accomplished on earth as determined by His revealed prophetic truth. For example, we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem because we know what His will is for this city. Psalm 122:6 and Isaiah 62:1-7 are divinely connected together in the will of God. We are instructed to pray for what God wants (John 15:7).

    We should be praying for the rapture of the church. Revelation 21:17 and John 14:3 are divinely connected together. We should pray for His coming because this is what He wants. He wants us to be with Him.

    How can believers be afraid of God’s prophetic instructions that are to guide our desires and prayers?

    God has not given us His prophetic Word to scare us, but to prepare us. After Jesus spoke of the conditions that will precede His coming, He said, “Therefore, be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 24:44). He does not want us to just know that He is coming, but that we are prepared for His coming. To drive this truth home, Jesus gave the parable of the 10 virgins to His disciples (Matthew 25:1-13). This parable illustrates the truth that the wedding party of the bride knew that at an unannounced time the bridegroom would come to take his bride away. The bridesmaids were to be ready to take that trip to the house of the groom’s father to attend the wedding. In the parable, five were ready and five were not. The five who were not prepared were left behind. They said they believed the groom was coming. However, their procrastination proved otherwise.

    The implications of this parable point to the church. As the bride of Christ, we are to be spiritually ready for Him when He comes for His church during the Rapture. Obviously, the church that is not focused upon the Second Coming of Jesus is represented in this parable by the foolish virgins who were not prepared. They were too preoccupied with themselves and not looking and longing for the bridegroom.

    How can believers be afraid of looking for the coming of their bridegroom?

    Friends, there are no Biblical reasons why true believers should be afraid of the doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ. When the Holy Spirit controls our lives, emotions, thoughts, dreams, and ambitions, we will long to be with Jesus. When that happens, the Spirit and the bride will say to Jesus “Come” (Revelation 22:17). If you cannot meaningfully pray, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20), something is not right in your life. It may be that Jesus is not your Lord or groom. Or, it could mean that the Holy Spirit does not live in you or you have not given Him control of the throne of your soul. When you are in love with your groom, you are not afraid to be joined to Him on your wedding day!

    The World’s Islamic Invasion

    Islam has declared that it will conquer the world. A major part of the Islamic strategy is to flood the world with Muslim immigrants. Here in the U.S., we should keep a keen eye on what is happening in many European countries. The traditional culture of Europe is rapidly declining due to the flood of Muslim immigrants fleeing the war-torn areas of the Middle East and Northern Africa. Italy stands at the front of this demographic crisis. Many voices are warning Italy’s political leadership that if they do not curb these legal immigration patterns, it will be cultural suicide. Native Italians are leaving their country because of fear. In some southern cities, Muslims comprise one-third of the population.

    A recent article by Gatestone Institute commented, “According to projections from the UN Population Division, the population of sub-Saharan Africa will double in 30 years, adding an additional 1 billion people and accounting for more than half the global population growth between now and 2050. Italy, which already has the third-largest population of migrants in Europe, is undergoing an “unbearable” crisis, and now faces the real risk of an “Africanisation”, as Stephen Smith called it in his book, The Scramble for Europe” (Website article on Gatestone Institute, October 28, 2019).

    As Western nations struggle with their immigration policies, it should be noted that this current flood of immigrants is stretching the economic capacities of these nations. They have reached the point of economic collapse. This is changing the moral fabric of our global culture, and bringing spiritual, social, political, and financial consequences. This sounds very much like the description of the world that will exist at the end of this age. Daniel 2:43 says, “They shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another.”

    Our country needs to listen to the Trump administration concerning the construction of a wall at the Mexican border, and the revision of U.S. immigration policies. To refuse this is to commit national suicide!

  • October 2019 – The Ashes of Auschwitz

    fence at Auschwitz

    October 2019

    Download the .pdf

    The Ashes of Auschwitz

    “I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” Isaiah 48:10

    By Mike Wingfield

    A few months ago, I approached my board of directors and shared with them that I was being compelled by the Lord to visit the former Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland. Part of me did not want to make this trip. I have been to the museum of the Holocaust in Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, many times. However, this did not seem to satisfy the yearning God had put on my heart. I told myself that I was too busy and my schedule was full. After sharing my heart with my board, they approved my request and I made the trip during the first week of August.

    I cannot begin to tell you how this experience has made a lasting impact in my personal life and ministry. Without question, this was one of the most sobering and heart-wrenching experiences in my life. God spoke to my heart in many ways, some of which I will share with you in this newsletter.

    One of the most prevalent signs of the last days is the global hatred for Israel. According to the Bible, when the end comes, the world will hate Israel and be zealously plotting its destruction.

    Satan’s attack upon Israel and the Jewish people is, in essence, an attack upon God and His eternal purposes. If Satan can destroy Israel or annihilate the Jewish people, He will have defeated God. Since the call of Abraham 4,000 years ago, Satan has made this his aim.

    Both secular history and the Scriptures testify to the violent global rejection of the Jewish people in the history of the nations. The plague of anti-Semitism has been with the Jewish people since the birth of the nation in Egypt more than 3,500 years ago. The Psalmist declared, “Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say” (Psalm 129:1). While speaking to His Jewish disciples about the end times, Jesus said, “… and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake” (Matthew 24:9). Hundreds of years before the time of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah wrote to the Jewish nation and delivered God’s message, “I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction” (Isaiah 48:10).

    As you examine the pages of Jewish history there have been many periods of horrific persecution and rejection. However, one of the most deadly attacks upon the Jewish people took place during the Holocaust more than seven decades ago. During this 10-year period about 6 million Jewish people were killed.

    During the horrific days of World War II, the Nazi regime developed a plan to re-engineer the human race by removing the undesirable minorities that did not measure up to its standards. At the heart of these liquation efforts was the annihilation of the Jewish people. This plan was personally created and orchestrated by the Chancellor of Germany, Adolf Hitler, who was the leader of the Third Reich from 1933 to 1945.

    Most people do not know that the plan to liquidate the Jewish race during the Holocaust was in part fueled by the teaching and writings of Martin Luther, who preceded Hitler by 400 years. Luther, a former Catholic monk in Germany, is best known for becoming the leader of the protestant reformation. While we can thank the Lord for many of the efforts of Luther, we need to take note that his teaching concerning the Jews and understanding of Biblical prophecy continued to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church. Like so many in his time, Luther did not know the prophetic Scriptures. He believed in what is today called “Replacement Theology.” This dangerous and erroneous teaching promotes the lie that God has permanently divorced the Jewish people from His covenant and replaced them with the Gentile church.

    Luther hated the Jews. He wrote a book called The Jews and Their Lies. In this book, he wrote, “First, their synagogues should be set on fire. … Secondly, their homes should likewise be broken down and destroyed. … Thirdly, they should be deprived of their prayer-books and Talmuds. … Fourthly, their rabbis must be forbidden under threat of death to teach any more. … Fifthly, passport and traveling privileges should be absolutely forbidden to the Jews. … Sixthly, they ought to be stopped from usury [charging interest on loans]. … Seventhly, let the young and strong Jews and Jewesses be given the flail, the ax, the hoe, the spade, the distaff, and spindle, and let them earn their bread by the sweat of their noses. … We ought to drive the rascally lazy bones out of our system. … Therefore away with them. …

    “To sum up, dear princes and nobles who have Jews in your domains, if this advice of mine does not suit you, then find a better one so that you and we may all be free of this insufferable devilish burden — the Jews.” (https://www.wnd.com/2017/04/was-martin-luther-an-anti-semite/)

    One can easily see how Hitler, 400 years after these words were written by Luther, could use this ideology that was already a part of the church in Germany. During the years leading up to the Holocaust, Germans were fed a constant diet of anti-Semitism. Jews were ridiculed, falsely accused, and portrayed as a burden upon society. They were quickly denied employment, education, and the basic freedoms of life. They were forced to wear a yellow star on their clothing to mark their Jewish identity, attracting rejection and inhuman treatment.

    The plan of Hitler was successful. A great majority of Germans supported his goal of the extermination of the entire Jewish race. For example, Hans Frank, the governor general in Nazi occupied Poland in 1944, stated, “The Jewish are a race that must be totally exterminated.” In preparation for their final demise, the Jewish people were forced to leave their homes and were forced into designated ghettos. A million or more Jews died in the ghettos while waiting to be transported to the death camps. They died of starvation and diseases, succumbed to the harsh conditions, or were killed by the Germans.

    When the time came for their transport to the death camps, they were driven like cattle into railroad cars. Hundreds were crammed into each railroad car. They were forced to stand up for most of the journey that in some cases took days. There was no water, very little food, and no bathroom facilities. Ventilation was poor. Many died on t hese trains before their arrival at the concentration camps, hundreds of miles away.

    During the early years of the Holocaust there were more than 50 death camps scattered across the Nazi-controlled areas of Europe. During the last three years of the war, the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp in Poland became the major center for the Nazi efforts to exterminate the entire Jewish race. It is estimated that as many as 1.5 million Jews were killed at this camp.

    When the trains arrived at Auschwitz, or its sister camp, Birkenau, only 3 miles away, the Jews were separated based upon who was fit for work. Those who were not able to work – the elderly, children and infants, mothers with small children, or the sick – were immediately sent to the gas chambers. Statistics suggest this usually represented about 70 percent of those on the train. They were led to an area where they were forced to undress and told they were going into a large shower room. Hundreds were forced to enter. When the door was finally locked, the German agents dropped Zyklon B pesticide into the chamber. As the poisonous vapor filled the room, these poor people screamed and cried out for help until they died about 20 minutes later.

    After the deadly vapor had dissipated, some of the Jewish prisoners were forced to remove the dead bodies. Most of them were taken to the crematorium area. It was the goal of the Germans to cremate as many Jewish bodies as possible. At the height of the war, they were cremating an average of 4,756 bodies per day. Many other Jewish people were murdered and buried in massive graves just outside of the death camps. Tons of cremation ashes were dumped into the rivers and ponds around the areas of Auschwitz and Birkenau.

    Those who were kept as prisoners were forced to live in crude barracks. They were forced to surrender all personal belongings, were issued prisoner clothing, and were photographed, and tattooed with a number. They were tattooed with a number because in just a few short weeks they would lose so much weight they could not be identified by the photo taken at the time of their entrance into the camp.

    The goal of the camps was to make these prisoners slaves of the German war effort. It was their intention to kill these prisoners in about four months by starving them and submitting them to horrific and inhuman living conditions. They worked in the intense heat of the summer and during the harsh cold winters with no extra clothing or heat. They worked for 14-15 hours per day and their food rations consisted of weak coffee, water, a few pieces of moldy bread, and a small cup of very watery soup. They slept in bunks with about a dozen people and had only a few minutes each day to visit the bathroom.

    Each morning, at daybreak, the prisoners were forced to gather outside for roll call. In some cases they had to stand in the intense heat or sub-zero temperatures while they waited for everyone to be accounted for. If someone was found to be too weak for work, they were sent to the gas chambers.

    The entire camp was surrounded by an electrified bob wire fence. Sections of the camp were also isolated with the same kind of fence so that they could prevent a massive rebellion or attempt to escape. Guard towers were located along the perimeter of the fence. German guards were told to shoot any prisoner who tried to escape. Those who did kill prisoners trying to escape were rewarded with cigarettes, vodka, and attendance at parties.

    Some prisoners faked an escape so that they would be killed. It was their way of ending their torture. Those who did escape were usually tracked down by dogs and returned to the camp where they were hung in the presence of their fellow prisoners at roll call the next morning.

    Finally, the Germans realized that they were going to lose the war, and the prisoners would be set free after the death camps would be discovered. Therefore, they began to erase as much evidence as possible. They burned down the wooden barracks at Birkenau. They forced thousands of Jewish prisoners to march to other camps deeper into the German occupied areas. This march took place in the cold and harsh conditions of winter. Many of the prisoners were already frail, and had no shoes or clothing to endure the freezing conditions. Many prisoners that collapsed in the snow were shot. The path of this march was littered with frozen Jewish bodies.

    Hitler lost the war and he did not complete his mission of eliminating the Jewish race. His war was doomed to fail because He was in direct conflict with the God of Israel. The Lord promised Abraham that He, the Almighty, would curse those who curse His chosen people (Genesis 12:3). The continued presence of the Jewish people is guaranteed by the God of Jacob. He has declared, “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6). Furthermore, the Lord used the Holocaust to briefly soften the heart of the international community and bring about the creation of the modern state of Israel. These two events are wielded together in God’s prophetic plan. Psalm 102, which seems to be an amazing prophecy about the Holocaust, connects the suffering of His people with the building up of Zion. Ezekiel’s amazing prophecy of the vision of the valley of dry bones teaches that God will resurrect the dead nation of Israel and call the people back to their ancient homeland. God said, “Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel” (Ezekiel 37:12). Many of the people who returned to Israel had the tattoos on their arms as survivors of the death camps.

    As I reflect upon my visit to Auschwitz and Birkenau I believe I now know why the Lord directed me to make this visit to Poland to see the actual remains of the Holocaust death camps. First, I am reminded that the doctrine of replacement theology created the atmosphere for the Holocaust. This doctrine, which rejects God’s eternal promise given to Israel, attempts to denigrate the Jews with a false interpretation that the church has replaced Israel as God’s chosen people. As witnessed by Luther, this leads to a twisted view of the prophetic Scriptures and ultimately to a hatred for the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. Most of the pastors and churches in the United States hold to this deadly and deceiving doctrine. This is being duplicated around the globe and is setting the stage for the final rejection of Israel. Furthermore, most of the church today is Biblically illiterate concerning Biblical prophecy.

    My visit to these death camps also impressed upon me the level of deception that accompanied the hate-filled mission of the Nazi regime. From the very beginning, the Nazis lied to the Jewish people about their plans to eliminate them. They told them they were being selected for work. The sign over the gates at Auschwitz, which is still there today, reads, “Work will set you free.” As the trains arrived and people walked through this gate, the Germans forced Jewish prisoners to form an orchestra and to play soothing music to calm the Jews on their march toward death. When the Jews entered the area to disrobe and enter the gas chambers, the orchestra was there and they were told they were going into the chambers to take a shower. Shower heads were installed to add to the deception.

    At the heart of this evil regime was war and death. They had plans to create a utopia without God and to re-engineer society for their own benefit. The Muslims, socialists, and communists within the United Nations and in our own U.S. government are doing the same thing. They are deceptively orchestrating everything toward war and death so they can create a New World Order that fits their political or religious deceptive frame-work. During Hitler’s rise to power, the masses were so deceived that they placed their complete trust in a man who was filled with hate and evil. The world is being uniquely prepared to do this one more time. The international community is being prepared for the arrival of Antichrist. When he steps on the stage, much like Hitler did at a time of economic hardship in Germany, the world will eagerly embrace him and he will lead them to their death and eternal doom in their opposition against God. Concentration camps and the death of hundreds of millions are a part of the immediate future of our world. Read Revelation 13:11-18.

    Iran’s relentless aim to annihilate the Jewish nation of Israel illustrates just how late it is in these last of the last days. In the last few decades, Iran has openly declared that it will ultimately rid the world of the presence of the Jewish nation. In spite of this threat, much of the world continues to do business with Iran as if nothing were wrong. China, Russia, Turkey, India, and many of the European nations continue to purchase oil from Iran and blatantly disregard the economic sanctions that the Trump administration has placed upon Iran. During the years of the Obama administration, these nations joined the U.S. supported of Iran’s march toward the development of a nuclear program. It was no secret that Iran’s aim was to develop nuclear warheads. While very few nations would openly admit it, it appears that the world is ready to sacrifice the future of the nation of Israel upon the altar of economic convenience. In reality, they do not really care about the Jewish nation of Israel.

    This is one of the reasons why President Donald Trump and his administration are hated so much within the U.S. and the international community. President Trump wants to make America great and support the future of Israel. This does not fit within with the diabolical agenda of those who want a New World Order. The liberal left in America and Europe hate Israel and are blind to the dangerous threat of Islam. They are so filled with hate that they are blind to the truth.

    Conditions are ripe for the appearance of the Antichrist and his deceptive and deadly government that will hate believers in Jesus Christ and the Jewish people. He will decapitate Christians (Revelation 13:15; 20:4). He will declare a war to annihilate the nation of Israel. This is called Armageddon (Revelation 16:12-16).

    According to the prophetic Scriptures, the attack upon Israel and the Jewish people will reach unprecedented levels in the last few years of the end of this age. Today, Israel is surrounded by 22 Islamic nations that hate the only Jewish nation in the world. These nations have a population that is 60 times greater and a land mass that is 640 times larger. Yet, because God is on Israel side, the Goliath of hell is no match for little David who has declared “the battle is the Lord’s” (1 Samuel 17:47).

    A greater holocaust for the Jewish people is in the immediate future. They can see it coming. A few years ago, Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, expressed the fear that “we currently face as great a threat to the safety and security of the Jewish people as the one we faced in the 1930s — if not a greater one.” (www.religionnews.com/2015/05/21/people-hate-jews-judaism-commentary)

    Zechariah 13:8-9 indicates that God will preserve one-third of the world’s Jewish population during the final 7-years of the Tribulation Period. This entire Jewish remnant will be saved (Zechariah 13:8-9, Daniel 12:9, and Romans 11:26). Today’s Jewish global population numbers about 15 million. That would indicate that about 10 million will perish during the Tribulation. The red dragon of hell (Satan) has declared war on the Jewish people (Revelation 12:1-17).

    This war is heating up and is about to travel across America. Get ready for the shout that will take us out!

    Political Changes in the U.S. and Israel

    The world has two political leaders, U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who are fighting against the creation of a New World Order. These two men are also willing to go to war with Iran to halt its wicked agenda. It is not an accident that these two leaders are hated by the world and are currently fighting for their political futures.

    As a result of the recent elections in Israel, it is not clear whether Prime Minister Netanyahu will be able to put together a right-wing coalition to form a government that will enable him to continue with his conservative agenda. Should a more liberal government take control in Israel, it could pave the way for a more secular government that would accept the lies of the Antichrist and his false offer for peace. This false peace covenant that will start the Tribulation Period (Daniel 9:27), will be made with an Israeli leadership that the prophet Isaiah described as being those who scoff at the Biblical land covenant and the messianic hope of Israel (Isaiah 28:14-22). The time is getting late! Be ready!