Sound The Midnight Cry

“God’s Alarm Clock”

There's nothing quite like the shock of the alarm clock going off in the morning. For most, it signals the arrival of yet another dreary day of work or a reminder of the lack of sleep our body is craving. The name alone is enough to get one’s day started wrong. Why would anyone want to be “alarmed” at the waking moments of their day?

Today's alarm clocks are equipped with an assortment of features: built-in radios, nature sounds, dual alarms, CD players, iPod docking bays, voice recordings, sunrise simulators, programmable snooze buttons and some even offer aromatherapy. There’s even a website with the top 10 most annoying alarm clocks.

“So what’s your point” you ask? Simply this: as creative as we are at inventing alarm clocks, God has His versions too!

Over the past several months, U.S. headlines have appeared that many never thought they would live to see.

• $140 barrel oil with $200 barrel predicted.
• Gasoline $4-$5 a gallon
• Food prices soaring
• Housing foreclosures at record highs
• Major landmarks being sold to foreign companies
• U.S. banks collapsing with more on the horizon and people responding in fear withdrawing their money
• Wildfires in the West, floods in the Midwest and drought in the South are stretching government resources to the limits
• Air fares, college tuition and health care border on unaffordable

Add into those headlines a daily dose of war, terror threats, job layoffs and political upheavals and you have people wondering if the world is spinning out of control. Those are not my words but those of the Associated Press Washington Bureau on June 21st: “Is everything spinning out of control?”

2 Chronicles 7:13-14 says: “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

No matter how you slice it, that sounds like a wake-up call from God. It remains to be seen as to whether or not God’s people are listening or whether they will simply hit the snooze button!

“Islam’s Messiah”

Many people today don’t understand the important of all the developments with respect to Iran. They are presently pursuing nuclear capability, purchasing sophisticated anti-aircraft systems from Russia, threatening a blockade of 40 percent of the world’s oil and for what reasons? Iran’s president believes Allah has chosen him to prepare the world for the coming of an Islamic ‘savior’ called the Mahdi.

However, before the Mahdi’s return, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad believes there must be global chaos - even if he has to create it himself. He is a man on a divine mission and his speeches clearly reveal it to those that understand him and his beliefs.

Shiite Muslims believe that “The Mahdi is a personage that is expected to come on the scene, by Islam, as a messiah figure. He is slotted to come in the end of time, according to their writings, very much like how we think of the return of Jesus,” according to Ron Cantrell, author of a book about the Mahdi.

In Iran’s holy city of Qom, behind Jamkaran mosque, there is a well. According to many Shiite Muslims, from out of this well will emerge one day their version of an Islamic ‘savior.’ They call him the Mahdi or the 12th Imam.

Shiite Muslims believe the Mahdi, a descendent of the Prophet Mohammed, around the age of 9, vanished in the middle of the 9th century. He promised that he would return and he would bring Islam to its total fruition as the world’s last standing religion.

Now fast forward to August 2005 when the president of Iran came into power. Ahmadinejad has emerged as the Mahdi’s most influential follower and has stated publicly, that his “mandate is to pave the way for the coming of this Islamic ‘messiah’”. Ahmadinejad is reportedly tied to a radical Islamic society in Iran that believes man can hasten the appearance of the Mahdi by creating chaos in the world…and Ahmadinejad believes he is that man.

Ahmadinejad’s government has been reported to have given $20 million to help renovate the Jamkaran mosque. He is planning to build a railway line connecting Tehran and Jamkaran, and plans have been made for a road to be built that the Mahdi will take when he returns.

So the next time you see in the news threats of a potential Iranian showdown with the West, understand the followers of the Mahdi are getting ready for judgment day. And many of them are convinced that President Ahmadinjead will fulfill his divine mission to prepare the world for the coming of the Islamic ‘savior.’

"Getting Fit"

While visiting Jerusalem last month, our guide told us of the preparations of a group of people there for when the Third Temple would be built Jerusalem's Mount Moriah. At the present time, Islam’s the Dome of the Rock and the Aksa mosque are on the site for the Jewish Temple.

The Temple Institute was founded in 1987and is a non-profit educational and religious organization located in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. The Institute is dedicated to build the Holy Temple of God on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. Presently, all of the sacred vessels for the temple are made and are simply waiting on a place to put them. [Seen here: http://www.templeinstitute.org/vessels_gallery_1.htm]

Approximately one-third of the commandments in the Torah cannot be accomplished without a temple, including the obligations of the Kohanim.

Kohanim, priests directly descended from Moses's brother Aaron, are recognized by the Institute as such if their paternal grandfather observed the tradition. Today, they have special religious responsibilities; in the past they performed the most significant duties within the Temple.

So it was interest when The Jerusalem Post headline on July 1st - “Third Temple preparations begin with priestly garb.” For the first time in over 1,900 years, 120 sets of the linen garments of the lay priests are being produced in preparation for the rebuilding of the Holy Temple. The last priestly garments to have been worn by the priests were martyred by the Roman legions that brutally invaded and destroyed the Holy Temple on the ninth day of the month of Av, in the year 70 AD.

The JP article stated after years of research “to make sure the garments conformed to Jewish law, the tedious process as begun. Special flaxen thread was imported from India and overseas travel was necessary to obtain the correct colors for the clothes, including to Istanbul, to purchase mountain worms from which the correct shade of crimson is derived.

The secret of the correct shade of blue has been lost since the destruction of the Second Temple, as the identity of chilazon, the snail from which it was extracted, was uncertain until the Ptil Tekhelet nonprofit organization identified it as the murex trunculus, aka hexaplex trunculus, the banded dye-murex found near the Mediterranean Sea.”

Rabbi Yehuda Glick, director of The Temple Institute declared, "The Temple is not a message [just for] the Jewish people. It reunites the world all around one central prayer house. All the prophets say that at the End Times all the nations will be coming to Jerusalem and take part of building [the Temple]."

Considering the political implications of a Jewish Temple in place of the Dome of the Rock, for many this seems like a dream albeit a nightmare. One thing I know for sure: God’s ways are higher than ours and He has a way of bringing about His Word. All we need to do is get ready? Looks like the Temple Institute is doing just that!

"The Winds Of War"

The language is getting stronger between the president of Iran and its perceived enemies. While in Rome, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed that the United States and Israel would soon be "annihilated." In the past he has used phrases such as wipe Israel "off the map" and urged Muslims to "envision a world without the United States."

It was reported this morning that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard began a new series of war games code named, “The Great Prophet Maneuvers”. Last week, Ahmadinejad established border zones and ordered the digging of 320,000 graves to bury the enemies of Islam. He is calling for the unification of the Islamic world politically and economically, including the creation of a single currency. On July 5th, the Iranian Chief of Staff threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz through which 40 percent of the world’s oil passes.

What’s even more interesting is the media blitz within that nation concerning the religious beliefs of President Ahmadinejad. Iranian TV is running a new anti-Semitic documentary film series entitled, "The Secret of Armageddon." The documentary reveals how a coming apocalyptic war that will usher in the Islamic Messiah known as the Mahdi or the "Twelfth Imam." The series focuses on a series of Bible prophecies that resemble Jewish and Christian End Times theology but from an Islamic viewpoint.

Iranian scholar Dr. Ismail Shafe'i Sarustani, tells viewers that the word "Armageddon" is "originally a Hebrew word" and "is a real geographical region, situated south of Haifa," noting that "the place was shelled by Hezbollah during the 33-day [July 2006] war." Iranian historian Mohammad-Taqi Taqipour notes that "these [Evangelical Christians], along with the Jews, believe that the War of the End of Days will take place in the desert of Megiddo, in Palestine. They believe that Jesus will return, and that then there will be a millennium of happiness."

The series casts the Jews who were recently victims of the Holocaust [that Ahmadinejad denies ever happened] of actually planning to commit genocide. Iranian researcher Shams Al-Din Rahmani argues that "the goal of the Zionists is the total destruction of Islam." They allude that the Jews were behind the 9/11 incident to bring about war on Islam.

As I noted two weeks ago, John Bolton, former U.N. representative for the United States was quoted as saying that Israel had six months to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. One of Israel’s military leaders stated that they may not have any option but to attack Iran soon as they cannot allow them to get nuclear capability.

There are those that read these posts and scoff at the idea of anything like this happening…and they have that right. However, Sen. John Kyl, R-Arizona stated recently concerning a Homeland Security issue and I think his quote is worthy of repeating in this case: "The Sept. 11 commission report stated that our biggest failure was one of 'imagination.' No one imagined that terrorists would do what they did on Sept. 11. Today few Americans can conceive of the possibility that terrorists could bring our society to its knees…But this time we've been warned, and we'd better be prepared to respond."

Jesus said to watch for the signs of the times as they would be the barometer of things to come. Looks like the weather is starting to change!

“The Big Shakedown”

This past week, the Israeli Ministry of Health distributed a warning to Israeli hospitals to prepare for a major earthquake. Seismic activity in southern Lebanon over a three-month period showed 500 minor earthquakes. Avi Yisraeli, the health ministry director-general said, "In May, the tremors have become more intense and were felt in northern Israel…should an earthquake of such magnitude hit northern Israel, it may cause substantial infrastructural damage in the area.”

Interestingly, Lebanon's National Scientific Research Center is also warning of an impending major quake. Moueen Hamz, the director of the center, cited that 800-plus tremors ranging as high as 5.1 on the Richter Scale since mid-February are increasing in frequency and intensity causing his call for Lebanese authorities to take "serious prevention measures."

Israeli seismologists note that the Holy Land suffers a major quake every 80 years or so -- the last major tremor struck 81 years ago in 1927, killing 300 people and destroying more than 1000 homes.

Throughout the Scriptures, events of significance associated with end-times are marked with earthquakes. Both the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ were marked by earthquakes.

There are those today that believe that Islam’s Dome of the Rock that stands on the site of the Jewish Temple Mount will be destroyed by an earthquake enabling the building the Third Jewish Temple that the prophet Daniel tells us exists in the last days. This recent warning is of interest in that Israeli scientists forecast "the Big One" is just around the corner and the epicenter is expected to be near Jerusalem. It certainly will be worth watching.

I remember in the 1970’s and ‘80’s when writers such as Hal Lindsey quoted the increase in earthquakes throughout recent history. Of course, the naysayers pointed to the “lack” of scientific data in “ancient times” as proof that this wasn’t the case. The question of whether or not quakes had increased became subject to hot debates. However, present data from the USGS shows that the number of earthquakes has almost literally “gone of the charts”.

While in Israel last month, I visited an area that the day before had experienced several tremors in the 3.1+ range. While standing on Mt. Carmel looking down in the Valley of Megiddo, I was reminded of a great earthquake prophesied for that area. Zechariah 14 tells us that when Christ returns for the Battle of Armageddon, that when His Foot touches down on Mount of Olives, it will generate an earthquake that will split the valley in preparation for the Great Day of the Lord. (Zephaniah 1:14)

It sounds like things are lining up for the home stretch!