How many are frustrated by the on-again off-again negotiations, totally opposite reports coming from the same meetings, and President Trump’s profanity-laced outbursts of anger toward our closest ally in the Middle East? Count me among them. But perhaps there is something more subtle in play. There is a sense of living in the time and season Jesus prophesied to His disciples in Matthew 24:

³ Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” ⁴ And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. ⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. ⁶ And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. ⁸ All these are the beginning of sorrows.
~Matthew 24:3-8

We’ve seen those signs since Jesus’ time, but not to the magnitude we do today. Not only are deception, war, threats to humanity and natural disasters rampant, but they are more powerful than ever before. In fact, deception is about to go on total overdrive with AI, and with today’s weaponry, the world could be wiped out many times over. In the hands of madmen, there are no deterrents against them making irrational or just plain evil decisions to use those tools or weapons. Russia and Ukraine are already doing so, and others with nuclear power have the proverbial finger on the trigger. Our world is crazy.

But here are some nuances, given the current situation in the Middle East:

• Few know what President Trump is really thinking. The warmongers want him to blow Iran into oblivion. Yet, they fail to understand you must get every last one of them or they reconstitute as an even greater blood-thirsty regime. Biblically speaking, we know for a fact that Iran is not going away. They will join the coalition led by Russia to attack Israel as the prophet describes in Ezekiel 38-39.
• The peaceniks just want war to stop so their gas prices go down. Little do they realize that an Iranian regime left with power, money, and any nuclear capability will surely race to develop the nuclear weapon capable of destroying Israel. Then they will turn their sights on America.
• To counter that, someone needs to remind the ayatollahs that God has promised to protect Israel. And His protection is exactly what it will take for Israel to survive the Ezekiel 38-39 attack because no one (including the US) will come to their aid. But Israel will not be destroyed. Per God’s promises, you can take that to the bank.
• What about America? Well here’s where it gets interesting for those of us who call this great nation home. America, arguably the greatest superpower ever, is not mentioned in Bibel prophecy. Why? Apparently, we will either not be around, will be too weak to do anything, or we don’t care enough to do so.

I vote for the “not around” option, due to the rapture of believers leaving America devoid of much of what made it great. America is not upholding its Judeo-Christian heritage and is becoming less a “Christian nation” every day. However, there are still enough Christians in America to cause utter collapse when we are taken out of here via the rapture. We don’t know when that is, so my vote doesn’t really matter!

“Too weak” or “don’t care” are legitimate possibilities. Some don’t want to admit it, but if an extremely strong-willed, America-loving president was not in the White House, our nation would continue down the path it did in the Obama-Biden days. Woke, weak, and corrupt. Allowing our country to be overrun by people who hate America and wish for her demise, pretending men can be women and women can be men, absolutely destroying generations of young people, building up America’s enemies rather than confronting them, etc. America’s survival is simply not tenantable under those circumstances. Destroy the foundation and the nation collapses. Too weak to be a player on the world stage.

Lately, Congress has grown tired of high gas prices and seem to be running out of ways to control President Trump (who does need some guardrails at times!) With support for Israel dropping like a rock, the “don’t care” crowd could care less what will happen if the President is not able to handle the Iran issue. On Wednesday, the US House of Representatives voted to limit President Trump’s war powers. If the Senate goes along with the idea, they could attempt to wrest control from him. (Though legislation ultimately has to be signed or vetoed by the president.) The internal battle is on, though it won’t be settled quickly or without fireworks.

Washington DC is a mess and will likely never recover enough sanity to function as our founders desired. But Biblically, it fits. As much as I want to see a strong, Godly US President and a strong, Godly Israeli Prime Minister come up with a unified plan to handle evil in the Middle East, it is not going to happen. Some in power (or who wish they were) believe that President Trump is Netanyahu’s lapdog, barking when he’s told to bark and biting if he has to. Others believe President Trump doesn’t understand the existential threat Israel faces every day and views Netanyahu as a spoiled child. Both positions are ridiculous!

The key is this: Trump and Netanyahu are pulled in a dozen different directions just within their own constituencies! Americans can’t agree on what’s best for their nation and neither can Israelis. Society has lost its way! Rather than seeking the Lord’s ways, every man does what is right in his own eyes. That got the Jewish people in trouble time after time, and the same is true of America. Unless and until we turn to the Lord, confusion will reign and those who wish to deceive will have their way.

Bottom line: As Bible believers, we know how the story ends. For Israel-haters out there, I’m sorry…God is not on your side. God is not done with Israel, and Scripture is clear that God has a plan for both Jews and Gentiles (salvation given through faith in Jesus the Messiah)! Everything else is just noise. We are far better off understanding God’s plan for the end and trusting His sovereignty than getting all worked up over the chaos happening around the world.

After all, such chaos sets the table for end times!