Nathan and his family have been physically prepping at home and in place for the past 100 years. His great grandparents started the family farm 100 years ago where prepping was a way of life. Nathan is also a Boy Scouts of America Eagle Scout where the motto is “Be Prepared.” Nathan talks about how to prep or “bug out” in place at home and discusses his approach to “camping at home in place.” We are called to be victorious, not to be victims during tough times, so be prepared for what may come as you go forward in faith trusting in Elohim, walking with Yeshua and learning to hear from the Spirit of Elohim all the while storing up food, water, precious metals, ammo, meds and other emergency supplies.
YHVH Elohim is currently raising up real, Bible-Truth based prophetic intercessors in the perilous times of these last days, who will stand in the gap for those around them. These people are coming in the spirit Elijah and the John the Baptist as prophetic watchmen and prayer warriors as voices crying in the wilderness urging people to repent of sin and to prepare for the second of Yeshua the Messiah. What does it really mean “to stand in the gap”?
Many well-meaning people claim to be doing this, but don’t have an idea of what it means based on an ancient and Hebraic biblical context. What is the gap or breach that the Bible talks about, where is it, and how is the gap filled, and why is this necessary? Moreover, Who is the ultimate Repairer of the Breach and how can we also be repairers of the breach to prepare ourselves and other people for the coming Messiah?
The answers to these questions and more are revealed in this video.
Yes, this is another long video by Bible expert, Nathan Lawrence, but this is a complex, multi-faceted subject with many contextual and historical threads. So if you want to understand what the Bible has to say about the current war between the Jews and the Palestinians (Hamas et al), then you will want to watch this. Nathan tags a lot of bases in this video explaining the 4,000 year old roots of this conflict, who Edom is in Bible history and prophecy and how that relates to Jews and Christians, as well as to Islam and Hamas. You will also learn what the Bible prophesies will happen in the future to all of these people groups and how this conflict will be resolved. You will not hear any of this in the current news reports, but this understanding will help you to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together.
The conflict between the Jews (and Christians) and the Arabs has ancient roots. In Genesis 32, Esau (the father of many of the modern Palestinians) and his army stood in the way preventing Jacob (the father of Jews and Israelites) and his descendants from returning to their homeland—the land YHVH had promised to them. This historical event is prophetic of what will happen in the end times as the Jews and the rest of the Israelites endeavor to receive their promised inheritance and the kingdom of Elohim.
Not only that, YHVH used Esau to test Jacob, who had grown overly self-confident due to his business acumen, wealth and his ability to produce a large family clan. In the ancient world and in a tribal sense, he had reached the pinnacle of wealth and power. However, what mattered to YHVH more than these things was the character of a man. Would Jacob have faith in his Creator, or would he trust in his own abilities to outwit his adversaries and come out on top as he had done twice previously with his brother Esau and Uncle Laban? Jacob’s confrontation with his brother at the threshold of the land of Israel and his wrestling with the Messenger from heaven were the two tests that he had to pass. The Bible calls this Jacob’s Trouble and prophesies that something similar will occur in the end times to Jacob’s descendants(Jer 30:7).
As we read in Genesis 32, Jacob divided his wives and children into two camps (Gen 32:1, 7). This was prophetic of what would eventually occur to the nation of Israel after the death of King Solomon. The one nation of Israel became two houses or kingdoms—the Northern Kingdom of Israel (Judah) and the Southern Kingdom of Israel (or the northern ten tribes). The descendants of these two kingdoms are presently—loosely speaking—the Jews and the Christians (we have discussed and proven this point biblically elsewhere). But who are the descendants of Esau historically and, more importantly, today, and why is it important to know?
Many, if not most of the modern Moslems (especially the Arabs) trace their lineage back if not biologically then spiritually to Ishmael, the son of Abraham by Hagar. Islam in its religious book, the Koran, claims that it was Abraham and Ishmael who founded the religion of Islam and built the Kaaba, which is the small building containing a stone that supposedly fell from heaven. This shrine is located in the midst of the great mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Of Ishmael and his descendents, the Bible prophesies in Genesis 16:11–12,
The Messenger of YHVH said to her further, “Behold, you are with child, and you shall bear a son; and you shall call his name Ishmael, because YHVH has given heed to your affliction. And he will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him; and he will live to the east of all his brothers.”
The Koran has further twisted the biblical account to declare that the biblical patriarchs were Muslims, and that Abraham gave the birthright blessing to Ishmael instead Isaac. Both Israelites and Arabs, therefore, believe that they have a right to the Promised Land of Canaan, which is the roots of the modern Arab-Israeli conflict.
We now need to add another player into this biblical drama. The Bible records that Esau (or Edom), the disinherited son of Isaac, also had ought against his brother Jacob, who, in a sense, stole the birthright promise from him. Furthermore, Esau married the daughter of Ishmael (Gen 28:9). Thus, some of Ishmael’s and Esau’s descendants intermarried becoming a people-group who had a jealous feud with the sons of Jacob or Israel. Again, this ancient family feud has continued in one form or another to the present day.
The Bible has more to say prophetically about the descendants of Esau, who scripturally are referred to as Edom (Esau’s alternative name, Gen 25:30; 36:1, 8) than about those of Ishmael. Edom is portrayed as an aggressive and bloodthirsty people who are opposed to Israel at every step. We will discover what the Scriptures have to say about this below.
In the mean time, let’s take a closer look at Edom.
Esau and Edom (meaning “red”) are synonymous names biblically. In other words, Edom was Esau’s nickname (see Gen 25:25, 30; 36:1, 8–9, 19, 43).
Esau intermarried with the descendants of Ishmael (Gen 28:9).
Seir is another name for the land of Edom (Gen 32:3; 33:16; 36:8).
Esau intermarried with the people of Canaan (Gen 36:2). He intermarried with the Hittites, the Hivites, as well as the Ishmaelites.
His descendants included the Amalekites (Gen 36:12, 16) who fought against the children of Israel upon leaving Egypt and as soon as they had entered the wilderness en route to the Promised Land (Exod 17:1).
Esau’s sons were dukes or chieftains (leaders of clans) and kings (Gen 36:15–16, 40–43).
Although Esau’s direct lineage was confined to the area of the traditional land of Edom, it is clear from the biblical record that he and his descendants intermarried with many of the neighboring nations, so that his descendants were scattered far and wide over the region that later became known as the Holy Land and Palestine.
The entire one-chapter Book of Obadiahis a prophecy against Edom. Let’s note several key points in this prophecy that might help us to understand who Edom is in the end-times. This will in turn help us to understand end-time world politics as prophesied in the Bible some 2500 years ago! Let’s now analyze some key verses in Obadiah to discover who the modern players are in this drama.
Verse 2, The descendants of Edom are greatly despised (scorned, held in contempt, disdained).
Verse 3, They dwell in the clefts (places of concealment, retreats) of the rocks (tunnels or caves in the rocks), and they are proud and view themselves as invincible.
Verse 4, YHVH promises to bring Edom down.
Verse 7, Edom has a confederacy (league, alliance) of nations, which include many of the modern Moslem nations.
Verse 10, Regarding Edom, this verse speaks of his violence against his brother Jacob. Interestingly, the Hebrew word for violence is khawmawce or hamas, which ironically is the names of the terrorist organization that rules the Gaza Strip and is an archenemy of the nation of Israel. The word khawmawce can also mean “wrong, cruelty, injustice, false, injustice, oppressor or unrighteous.”
Verse 11, Edom’s eyes are on Jerusalem. Edom along with his foreign allies will cast lots for possession or control of Jerusalem.
Verse 13, Edom has entered into the gates of the land of Israel in the day of her calamity or disaster.
Verse 14, Edom will kill Jewish refugees trying to escape the land of Israel in her time of distress.
Verse 15, The time-frame of the fulfillment of these prophecies is “near” the day of YHVH, when he will judge Edom and the other heathen nations.
Verse 16, Edom will be drinking (celebrating?) on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem or YHVH’s “holy mountain,” and as a result, they shall drink the cup of YHVH’s wrath. When this prophecy was written, the Jews controlled the Temple Mount. Now the Muslims control it.
Verse 17, The house of Jacob will get the Temple Mount back.
Obadiah’s description of Edom contains many striking descriptions of the modern Palestinian and other Islamic terrorists who hate the Jews and want the land of Israel for themselves. What other people-group could possibly fit this description than the Moslems? Not only do the Moslems want the land of the Jews, they want the land of the Christians as well, and they’ve made public their intent on conquering these nations.
In end-times Bible prophecy, Jacob is a prophetic archetype or picture of those who physically and spiritually descended from him, namely, the Jews and the Christians, or as the Koran puts it, “the people of the book”—a reference to the Bible. Edom or the modern-day Moslems are the arch-enemy of Jacob’s descendants, who YHVH will use to test and discipline the Jews and the Christians because they have turned away from him and put their trust in themselves. Until they pass this test, repent of their backsliding ways and put their faith in YHVH Elohim, they, like Jacob of old, will not be able to enter into their promised spiritual inheritance—the kingdom of Elohim. This test will be happening in the end times before the coming of the Messiah.
Edom Has a Perpetual Hatred for Jacob (Judah and Ephraim)
As we have noted, Edom’s hatred for Israel has its roots in the antagonism between Ishmael and Isaac, and then afterwards between Esau and Jacob. The murderous hatred that Esau had for Israel has been passed on down to successive generations of Edomites to the very end times. Let’s review some other biblical prophecies that speak of this.
Ezekiel chapters 35 and 36 also speak about the conflict between end-times Edom and end-times Israel. In verse two of chapter 36, we see that the enemies of Israel have regarded the “ancient high [or declared, promised] places” of Israel as “ours in possession.” This is a clear reference to the holy places in Israel (e.g., the Temple Mount for the Jews and Bethlehem for the Christians both of which the Muslims control).
Furthermore, Ezekiel not only identifies Edom as Israel’s main antagonist, but he prophesies against Edom. In verses four through five of chapter 35, we see that end-time Edom will be devastated because of its perpetual hatred for the children of Israel. They have killed their enemies by the power of the sword. This is a main way that Islam has traditionally spread, that is, by the curved scimitar sword. History is full of examples of advancing Moslem armies forcing its captives to leave, covert or die. According to verse five, this is to be occurring at the time of the punishment (of the children of Israel?) at the time of the end (NAS) or during the end of times (lit. Hebrew). This is another example of YHVH’s using Edom (Esau) to bring the two kingdoms of Jacob’s descendants (the Jews and the Christians) to their knees and back to him in the time of the end.
In this epistles, John the apostle mentions a term that has become synonymous with the archenemy of Christ or the Messiah and Christians everywhere. It is Antichrist. This word’s meaning is self-evident, but, by John’s own definition, let’s now discover who really fits the strictest definition of Antichrist.
The first place John mentions this term is in the second chapter of his first epistle.
Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. (1 John 2:18)
The prophetic apostles then goes on to make two further references to this arch-villain of the Messiah and his disciples.
…and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. (1 John 4:3)
For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. (2 John 1:7)
How does John define the spirit of antichrist? From 1 John 2:18–19, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7 we learn the following:
The antichrist spirit was prophesied to come on the scenes. Presumably, this specific spirit could not emerge until the Messiah had come.
The Antichrist or the spirit thereof pretends to the Messiah or the Anointed One from heaven and deceives people into believing this lie.
Antichrist and all spirits of antichrist, in the most literal sense, emerged of the first century apostolic faith of the Jewish Christian community or, by possible extension, its direct successors.
The spirit of antichrist denies that Yeshua is the Messiah (Savior and Redeemer of man).
The satanic spirit denies that Yeshua is part of the “Godhead”.
Next, it denies that Yeshua is is deity and is the Son of Elohim.
Finally, it denies the incarnation of Yeshua.
This then is how the Bible defines the spirit of antichrist.
Other biblical references that many Christians scholars believe allude to this end times Antichrist figure include:
The Beast (Rev 13:4)
The abomination that causes desolation (Matt 24:15)
The desolator (Dan 9:27)
The man of sin (or lawlessness), the son of perdition (2 Thess 2:3)
The little horn (Dan 7:8)
The Assyrian (Mic 5:5; Isa 10:5; 14:25)
What should be our reaction when we encounter this demonic spirit of antichrist? The wise counsel of John in his second epistle sums up our firm conviction on this matter.
Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Messiah does not have Elohim. He who abides in the doctrine of Messiah has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. (2 John 9–11)
What additionally can we learn about the person of the Antichrist and the spirit of antichrist from the four passages where antichrist is mentioned in John’s epistles?
From 1 John 2:18–19, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7 we learn that the Antichrist and all spirits of antichrist have come out of the first century apostolic faith of the Jewish Christian community. In the strictest sense, this eliminates some of the world’s largest religions (e.g., Hinduism, Buddhism) as being contenders for the end times religious system of the Antichrist. That leaves paganized mainstream Christianity and Islam. From John’s writings, we also learn that the spirit of antichrist denies that Yeshua is the Messiah (Savior and Redeemer of man), denies that Yeshua is part of the “Godhead,” is deity and is the Son of Elohim, and denies the incarnation of Yeshua. This rules out mainstream Christianity, even in its paganized or somewhat apostate form. Of the existing major world religions extant on earth today, only Islam fits the strictest biblical definition of Antichrist and religion thereof.
Yes, it is true that Islam did not yet exist in John’s day. John died in the 90s A.D., and Muhammad, the founder of Islam, was not born until A.D. 570. However, Islam did not spontaneously combust out of a religious vacuum. If one reads the Koran, one will discover that the tenets of Islam are pulled from several already existing religious systems of the day including Judaism, Christianity, the moon worshipping religion of Muhammad’s own tribal religious system, as well as from the Greek philosophers including that of dualism and gnosticism. When one reads the entire Koran, it is becomes evident that Islam is a mongrelized, jumbled mixture of a various religious threads and traditions.
This then begs a relevant question: To what religious system was John specifically referring when he penned his first and second epistles probably late in his life in the A.D. 90s? What religious ideology was in existence in his day that had broken off of early Christianity and was proclaiming a false Messiah among other things? This most likely would have been the religion of gnosticism that Paul was already combatting in his epistle to the Colossians, and which rose to prominence under Marcion (the heretic) of Sinope (A.D. 85–160), who came to prominence in the early to mid-second century A.D. Eventually, the early church fathers branded gnosticism as a heresy and Marcion a heretic for denying the bodily manifestation of Yeshua the Messiah. However, later on, Muhammad would pick up and proclaim some elements of Gnostic heresy and it would be enshrined in the Koran. Thus, modern Islam is the descendant of this antichrist doctrine.
Now having established which major religious system fits the strictest definition of antichrist as John defines it, we cannot overlook the fact that John also states, “it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come….” While in the end times there may be one Antichrist figure that personifies a larger philosophy of rebellion against the YHVH Elohim and his divine Truth as revealed in his word, the Bible, John leaves the door open for there to be many other iterations of the antichrist spirit as well.
In the loosest sense, anyone, any philosophy, any religious system or anything else that opposes Yeshua the Messiah or Jesus Christ and the Word and Truth of the Bible is of the spirit of Antichrist. This would include anyone or anything that aligns itself with Islam and takes a stand against the followers of Yeshua or those who teach the Word of Elohim. Let’s be frank here. This eventually includes almost the entire world!
Moreover, there are strains of the spirit of antichrist in modern religious Judaism, and even mainstream Christianity. That is why YHVH pleads if not commands his people to come out of Babylon (Rev 18:4).
To be sure, the spirit of antichrist exists in all of the false religions of the world as well such socioeconomic systems as Marxism and all of its ungodly substrates.
Eventually, the nascence of the spirit of antichrist goes back to Satan the serpent in the Garden of Eden, when he deceived the first humans into joining him in his preexisting rebellion against the commands or the word of Elohim.
Ultimately, the evil spirit of antichrist, which is rebellion against YHVH’s Torah-word, has spread its destructive cancerous tentacles globally and now infest everyone and everything. In a word, the spirit of antichrist is nothing more than sin, which is rebellion against and the violation of YHVH’s Torah-law or commandments (1 John 3:4). Only through a relationship with Yeshua the Messiah, who came as Elohim in the flesh as the Son of YHVH Elohim, can sinful and rebellious man be redeemed and set free from the grip of the spirit of antichrist. Those who remain under the control of this satanic spirit will die in their sins, while those who repent and turn to Yeshua and receive him not merely as their Savior, but as their Lord and Master and love him by conforming their lives to his Torah-word will experience eternal life and inclusion in the kingdom of heaven as adopted sons and daughters into the family of Elohim.
