RAPTURE: The Zechariah Effect

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Zechariah, I propose, provides us a profound look at exactly that:

“The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it” (Zechariah 12:1-3).

When Israel was suddenly and viciously attacked earlier this month by Hamas forces—whose unspeakably evil terrorists murdered even pre-born infants, severed babies’ heads, raped girls and women in front of parents and husbands, slaughtered those parents and husbands, and took girls and women captive to continue their horrors—much of the mainstream media, particularly in the U.S., was relatively silent. As a matter of fact, the main rants coming from the media were calls for a ceasefire to stop Israel’s retaliation against Hamas while IDF forces made Gaza a land of smoking carnage.

Then, the anti-Israel media and all their complicit ilk, including U.S. representatives, got their opportunity to turn it all against the Jews. A Baptist-run hospital in Gaza was supposedly hit directly by a missile explosion. I say “supposedly” because it turned out later that an adjacent parking lot was the most affected by the explosion.

The cries were a cacophony of rage against Israel. And the rage was almost instantaneously echoed throughout much of the rest of the world–particularly the Islamic world. The following gives perspective:

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced that intelligence sources indicate it was an Islamic Jihad terrorist group rocket that hit a Gaza hospital, killing hundreds, as opposed to an Israeli strike as first claimed by international corporate media and terror group Hamas. The IDF provided video to support their claims.

“Following an analysis by the IDF’s operational systems, a barrage of rockets was launched toward Israel, which passed in the vicinity of the hospital, when it was hit,” the IDF said in a statement posted on X. “According to intelligence information from a number of sources we have, Islamic Jihad terrorist organization is responsible for the failed rocket launch that hit the hospital.”

In the immediate aftermath of the blast, it was reported that upwards of 500 Palestinians had been killed, with the number expected to rise. U.S. corporate media and some Members of Congress were quick to condemn the Israeli military, citing Hamas claims that it was an Israeli airstrike that hit the hospital. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said, “Bombing a hospital is among the gravest of war crimes.” Omar insinuated that it was the IDF that orchestrated the attack. CNN and MSNBC both reported that an Israeli airstrike was responsible for the deadly blast – repeating the claims made by Hamas.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also appeared to uncritically accept Hamas’s narrative. “The news coming out of Gaza is horrific and absolutely unacceptable. International humanitarian and international law needs to be respected in this and in all cases,” Trudeau said shortly after the news broke.

“The barbaric terrorists in Gaza are the ones who attacked the Gaza hospital, not the IDF,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pushing back against corporate media that was quick to blame his country’s military. “Those who cruelly murdered our children, murder their children as well.” (“A Jihadist Rocket Aimed at Israel Hit the Gaza Hospital, Killing 500+, Says IDF,” William Upton, The National Post)

Even the Biden administration–definitely not on the side of Israel, it has proved by its actions—was forced by the massive amount of evidence to admit that it was an errant missile fired by the Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group affiliated with Hamas, that struck the hospital parking area. Despite the terrorists of Gaza killing more than 1,300 Israelis and committing untold atrocities, the president gave the Gaza government $100 million in “humanitarian aid,” which will no doubt go straight to Hamas (the so-called elected governing agents) for rebuilding their weaponry.

Israel has done nothing more than defend themselves by attacking their attackers, yet the world of anti-Israel forces continues to blame them. This blame comes from even some of the leaders within the U.S. government and around the world.

Zechariah’s prophecy is truly beginning to set the stage to come. Israel will become that “burdensome stone and cup of trembling,” the prophet foretold.

We can be assured of this based upon things developing so rapidly that it’s hard to try to keep up.

For example, a recent Harvard-Harris Poll indicates that 51% of college students in the United States believe Israel deserves the attacks by Hamas because of Palestinian oppression by the Jewish state.

Last week in New York City, a throng of college-age students marched, wearing masks and shouting “Intifada!” Interlaced within their chanting were the words: “There is only one solution!”

To those who are aware of historical precedent, the chanting eerily rings in the ears of memory.

This smacks of Nazi Germany and the likes of S.S. General Reinhard Heydrich, who led hatred against the Jews at the January 1942 Wannsee Conference that came up with the Final Solution.

Many believe war in the Middle East, with Israel at the center, is the first salvo of what will become WW III. I disagree. That last war of humankind that will end at Armageddon with Christ’s return (Revelation 19:11) will have its genesis following the covenant Antichrist will “confirm,” according to another great prophet, Daniel (Daniel 9:26-27).

I believe things will keep moving toward the apparent start of that dreaded final war, but that the most spectacular event of all history will preempt plans of the globalists to provoke conflict that will have people of the world crying for “peace and safety.”

The Rapture is that great event, I believe God’s Word promises. The Rapture will provide escape from the “Zechariah Effect,” which brings cursing upon a world that curses Israel and will bring all anti-God rebels to Armageddon. Here is how to be part of God’s family and go to Jesus when He calls all believers to Himself:

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).