JOEL C Rosenberg, an evangelical Christian and New York Times best-selling author who has extensive experience in Middle East affairs, warned at a conference that Iran and Israel will soon be thrown into a war.
“War is coming,” Rosenberg said. “You and I are living in an extraordinary moment in one of the most dangerous moments in the history of our country; one of the most dangerous moments in the history of Israel and the Middle East; and one of the most dangerous moments in the history of the church.”
And the question is, “Are we ready for what could be coming?”
Rosenberg, who grew up with a Jewish father and a gentile mother, shared lessons from Daniel 5 on the future of America and the coming war in the Middle East.
Rosenberg, whose newest book ‘Implosion: Can American Recover from our Economic and Spiritual Challenges in Time’ is set for release in June, said many pastors are unwilling to speak about the future in terms of Bible prophesy.
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For some it’s because prophecy has been ‘sensationalized’ in the past and they resist the ‘cheapening of God’s Word’, he said. Others might feel unprepared. Some have simply forgotten its power.
“Prophecy is an intercept from the mind of an all-knowing and all-seeing and all powerful God,” he said. It is meant to inspire, motivate and encourage. It will lead to repentance, holiness, and prayer and fasting, Rosenberg said, adding that prophecy is about the “preaching of the Gospel, making of disciples, planting churches, reaching young people with the Gospel, [and] reaching all people with the Gospel.”
Speaking on “The pastor and his future,” Rosenberg asked pastors, “What is it that God is calling you and your congregation to do?”
Sharing examples of escalating tensions in the Middle East and rejecting ‘replacement theology,’ Rosenberg said the physical state of Israel is the Israel about which the Bible refers. “God is not done with us, He loves us, He has a plan for us,” Rosenberg said. “God so loves the world, the whole world, that He gave His only begotten Son.”
After a recent trip to the concentration camp at Auschwitz, Rosenberg said he was reminded “bombs can do in six minutes what it took Adolph Hitler about six years to do; to kill six million Jews.”
The church needs to teach Bible prophecy he said. Bible passages like Ezekiel 38-39, Jeremiah 49, and the book of Joel. “God is going to use a whole series of events ultimately for His glory, but in the meantime, the church has got to ask ourselves, ‘Are we just gonna be silent? Are we just gonna act like nothing’s happened? … Or we don’t care?’”
A question arising from his Auschwitz visit, Rosenberg said is: “Do I love the Jewish Messiah enough to love the Jewish people with unconditional love and unwavering mercy?”
“We are going to stand before the Jewish Messiah one day, but I don’t want to stand before him and have done nothing. … This is a universal message for Jews and gentiles. We need to be ready to show the love of Jesus.”
Other Middle East experts in recent times have also warned of the very real possibility of a new war involving Israel soon – including Bill Salus, an author, researcher and lecturer who focuses on the prophetic relevance of current Middle East and world events. He claims that the Rapture, a belief that believers will be taken into heaven, leaving unrepentant sinners behind on earth to experience God’s judgment, will soon occur – and that Christians today might be living in the last days.
It appears that Iran may indeed be considering war against Israel, as only at the end of last month, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, made a statement describing Israel as a ‘cancerous tumor that should be cut, and will be cut.’ The ayatollah declared Iran’s support for anyone who opposes the Jewish nation, further supporting fears of growing hostilities between the two Middle Eastern countries. Florida Baptist Witness / Christian Post
