Storm Warning: World Politics and the Convergence of Signs

Michael Branch: I’ve been asked to speak on the topic of world politics. And I prayed about how I should cover this subject matter, because, quite honestly, there’s so much to cover, much of which can be downright depressing for anyone who doesn’t actually know what’s going on out there. And a few years back, I stopped saying that these are the signs of the times, and instead, now I refer to the times in which we live as the time of the signs, because we’re living in a convergence of so many signs, it’s hard to even keep up.

At this conference, the theme is quite appropriate because these signs can be best described as the gathering of a storm. In fact, the storm of all storms. Issues arising, and events happening with more frequency, gaining in strength, becoming more intense, and the repercussions even more severe. And I could spend my entire time today and barely scratch the surface of the current events taking place within the arena of world politics. And quite frankly, there are many here at this conference who are much more qualified to do so than I am.

So today I would like to pull back the curtain and answer some important questions to get to the very heart of the matter. Questions like: What lies behind these world altering events? What is causing the current rising tide? Why are these decisions being made by those in power now? The answer while bleak for those who have rejected Christ and continue to do so, for the folks who take the time to understand the times in which we live, like the folks who are here today and those of you watching online, the answer to those questions are beyond encouraging. They are the fountain of blessing for the ones who have their eyes to the skies. They are our hope of glory. Amen.

If we know our Bible, we know that the fruit that is being manifest today in the soil of world politics goes way back to the seeds planted east of the Garden of Eden. What came after were the thorns and thistles of the Fall, and they have twisted their way forward through time. We too often focus our eyes only on the world leaders, the men and women at the top making all the decisions, and we forget that there are various players on the board, some seen and some unseen. Do you recall Paul’s writing in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places.” The Apostle Paul mentions two groups of rulers there.

In Colossians 1:16 it says, “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him.” So, we have to keep our perspective. It goes all the way back to the beginning and it’s been the same old story throughout time. This is the heart of the matter right here. There are unseen rulers, invisible authorities, and these forces of darkness are in an unholy alliance, conspiring with and manipulating the thrones, rulers and authorities of the men and women who hold power on the earth.

Yes, it started in the Garden of Eden, and it happened again in Genesis 6, but it really dug its roots in deep at Babel and spread when God scattered the nations. That same ancient spirit of Babylon endures today. Thrones, rulers and authority, both seen and unseen.

We have to note, however, that mankind has a tendency to elevate leaders based upon their own fleshly desires, they want to do their own thing, in their own way. And we see this spirit exposed in Scripture, one example is Psalm 2:1, “Why do the nations rage and the peoples meditate on a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against Yahweh and against His anointed, saying, ‘Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us.'” The people, the nations, the kings and rulers casting away their accountability to God and striving to seize His authority for themselves.

Here’s what I want to point out about these thrones, these rulers, these authority, seen and unseen. Almighty God is the source of all authority. And we know that anyone that has any authority, any power has it because God Himself has allowed it. Daniel 2:21 says He removes kings and He establishes kings. So, whether they take power peacefully, by force, or if wicked people elect them, our world leaders have authority on loan from God Almighty.

Most have abused their authority. They reject the righteousness of Christ. And so, they have twisted their crowns into something unholy. In reality, they are striving for Jesus’ crown, but they are not worthy of His crown. Theirs are the crowns of Babylon. They cannot seem to help themselves, driven by fleshly ambition, manipulated by dark forces, they seek more and more power. They are compelled to achieve nothing short of financial totalitarianism and global governance.

So, when we hear world leaders, the likes of Klaus Schwab, say that, quote, the pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine and reset our world. Well, we know why he’s saying that, because he wears a crown of Babylon.

When we see that many of the world’s billionaires, such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk and various world governments, are pouring billions into anti-aging technology, attempting to prolong the human lifespan to 800 to 1000 years old. Interesting, isn’t it? When was the last time the human lifespan was between 800 to 1000 years old? The days of Noah. That’s right. You see, these are humans who think they’re gods and they don’t want to die. So, they seek power over death. There’s only one who has power over death. They are striving for His crown.

When we see them in their quest to get Internet access to every nook and cranny of the world, and when they seek to create a global digital currency. They may tell the populace that it’s for their benefit, but we know it’s all about gathering information and gaining control. They are striving for His crown.

Listen to me now. When they preach and promote the Humanistic, false gospel of social justice, they seek to take His place. Only He has the ability and the power to deal out perfect justice, theirs will always be flawed. They are striving for His crown. They intend to offer their own brand of salvation to the world. But they are not worthy of His crown. Theirs are the crowns of Babylon. The more crowns, the more unadulterated pleasure. The more crowns, the more unlimited wealth. The more crowns, the more unrestrained power.

And many of these leaders have targeted God’s servants. Many have blood on their hands. From the blood of the martyrs to the untold number of unborn babies killed before they ever had a chance to take their first breath. These who want to decide who lives and deal out death. There’s only one giver of life and only one who is allotted the days of a man or a woman. And that is God. They are striving for His crown.

What does the future hold for these, for every man or woman who took their place in the highest seats of power, who have rejected the God who gave it? The Bible says they will drink from the cup of His wrath. Those who bore the crowns of Babylon will be utterly ruined. We read in Revelation 18:1-3, The angel cries aloud in a loud voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon, the great. She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit. For all the nations have fallen because of the wine, of the passion of her sexual immorality. And the kings of the earth have committed sexual acts with her. And the merchants of the Earth have become rich from the excessive wealth of her luxury.”

And this is their fate. After thousands of years, one failed attempt for world domination after another. In the end, it will finally be achieved, God’s Word tells us. But also, God’s Word tells us that He will destroy it in one single hour. The great kings and merchants, you could say corrupt presidents and CEOs will weep at a distance as they watch their kingdom burn.

In Revelation 6:15-17, it says that, “The kings of the Earth, and the noble men, and the military commanders, the wealthy and the strong.” In other words, all those who wore crowns of authority in this world. It says, “They will be found hiding in caves among the rocks of the mountains with those they considered to be the lowest dregs of society.” And then in verse 16 and 17, it says, “They will cry to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the sight of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For great is the day His wrath has come; and who is able to stand?” There’s not one mighty man who can stand against Him.

Part 2: Presentation by Todd Hampson concerning the Convergence of Signs

Todd Hampson: I’m going to talk about awaiting our extraction, how to navigate the chaos of convergence. Two quick things. One, I love talking after lunch because if you fall asleep, I can blame it on the lunch. And if I keep you all awake, I can say I was a dynamic speaker. So, it’s a win win either way. But thank you for hanging with me after lunch. I’ll try to keep it interesting. But we’re going to talk about awaiting our extraction and how to navigate the chaos of convergence.

When you hear the term extraction, you either think of maybe a dentist appointment, a tooth extraction. Like the dentist who had the guy come in and ask how much he charged to get his tooth pulled, and the dentist said, “Oh, it’ll be $150.” And the guy says, “$150 for just a couple of seconds worth of work!? That’s a lot of money.” So, the dentist turns to his assistant and he says, “Block out an extra 30 minutes for me. I’m going to make sure I pull his tooth out really slow so he gets his money’s worth.” So that might be one aspect of extraction.

But the other aspect you might think of when you hear that term, more of a military term. I’ve never been in the military, but I know a lot of people who have. And like every guy, I like military movies and all that kind of stuff. But you’ll think of Navy SEALs or Special Ops forces who go in behind enemy lines to take people out in a good way. Well, they’ll take people out and they’ll take people out. But maybe to go rescue hostages or rescue a soldier who is left behind or drop behind enemy lines. But it’s a quick extraction. You know, it’s something that happens really fast, really rapidly.

And when we think of the Rapture, obviously I’m talking about the Rapture here, we think of the beauty of it. Which it is, it’s an amazing event. But also, sometimes we forget it’s a spiritual warfare event. It is God going in behind enemy lines to snatch out His Bride. You know, from our perspective, we’re going to be with Him. But in a real sense, it is a spiritual warfare event.

Satan is known as the Prince of the Power of the Air. He’s also referred to in the New Testament in other place as the lowercase g, god of this age. And of course, you’ll recall when he tempted Jesus, he offered Him all the kingdoms of the world. And apparently this was a bona fide offer because Jesus didn’t say it wasn’t, He resisted the temptation, but it was a bona fide offer. And in the Tribulation Period that will actually happen. Satan will give his man the Antichrist, the entire world on a platter, and we all know what happens there.

So, convergence, I wanted to define convergence a little bit, it’s basically when things come together. One analogy that I like to use is if you’ve ever been whitewater rafting, you’re going along at a nice pace, it’s nice and calm. You look at all the beautiful scenery. And then a couple estuaries kind of feed into the river, or the river narrows and the currents all converge. Then all of a sudden what do you have? Whitewater rapids. Violent whitewater rapids. You know, you see them far out, it looks like a little bit of whitewater at the top. Then you get to the top and you realize it’s like an 11 foot drop. And then you’re holding on for dear life. The boat’s flipping over. People are falling out. You’re pulling people back in. It’s an exciting adventure. But that is a great analogy for convergence.

Many of us didn’t realize how crazy things were going to get before the Rapture, and things could get crazier. Things could get darker. I’m stirring the pot a little bit, making us feel the tension. But there is a solution. There is some key marching orders that God gives us on how to live during this time. But that’s the nature of convergence. By nature, the more things converge, the more chaotic and confusing things can get.

And you may be wondering what’s the big deal with convergence? I talk about it as to two sides, two bookends of several sign categories. I mentioned that I like speaking after lunch. I also like speaking after other speakers because I get the benefit, this morning they beautifully unpacked each of the key sign categories. So, all those different sign categories are standalone categories that we could look at any time since the first, you know, since Christ went back home or went to heaven. But then we waited the super sign which is Israel. So, nothing key in terms of end time Bible prophecy could take place until Israel was in place. Israel being a nation again is a prerequisite for all other end time Bible prophecy. So that’s why we call it the super sign.

Every Old Testament prophet, except for Jonah in one way, shape or form, predicted that Israel would become a nation again. And in many of those, many of the many of those books, the context is that they would become a nation after being dispersed all over the world, like Dr. Reagan unpacked this morning as well. The dispersion of the Jewish people for almost 2,000 years and then suddenly they’re coming back into their own land is amazing. So that is absolutely the super sign that the stage is being set for all end time events.

And then the other bookend is the convergence that this conference has been so beautifully talking about and presenting to you all. That all these things we’re seeing like no other time in history are converging right before our eyes. We have a front row seat to God’s activity.

And I thought it might be neat, sometimes it’s hard to remember what it was like before. Those of you like myself who are old enough to remember 9/11, you remember what life was like before 9/11. Those of you who were alive before the 1967 War, when Israel regained Jerusalem, you remember what it was like before that. So, there are these key moments that there were before and after. We can remember what life was like, a lot of people even refer to it as before COVID and after COVID. The world is different. And that type of scenario is happening faster and faster.

So, I just thought, hey, let’s step all the way back to like 1900 and I won’t take a long time here, but 1900 in Israel. Israel had not been a truly sovereign nation since 605 BC, and in 1948, they became a sovereign nation. AD 70, the Jewish people were spread all over the world. Now they’re streaming back to their land. In 1882, there are roughly 24,000 Jewish people in the land; now there’s over 7 million. Almost half of all the Jewish people in the world now live in Israel.

In terms of travel, steam trains ran 40 to 75 miles an hour, in 1967 the X-15 went almost mock seven 4,520 miles an hour. So, I won’t go through all of those. You can take a screenshot of that or look through that. But when you think back to what things were like at a particular time, and then you look how they are now looking at that through the lens of prophecy, it really should get your attention and my attention. And it’s exciting to see how much has transpired since then.

And as we heard earlier as well, just the cultural signs. I wanted to bring this up because you can see this on any given day, when you turn on the news, you see all of these displayed before us. There are roughly 19 characteristics here, and all of them are at play at every level of society right now. And also, with mirroring that, the characteristics of Romans chapter one, after the whole devolution of the sexual immorality that just gets worse, and worse, and worse, the final stage of that is that they are deluded. They can’t even think straight. Can’t even decide what a man and a woman is. Can’t even decide how to protect children. I remember a biology teacher when I was in college went through this whole thing, which back then it wasn’t controversial at all, but he was talking about why are you a man or why are you a woman? And people gave different answers and he said, “No, every single cell in your body is either male or female. It’s all about the chromosomes.” It’s not about your imagination. He didn’t say that I added that part. But anyway, we are so delusional in our thinking now.

I was talking to someone at my table earlier today and they were like, What’s the difference between God’s wrath in the Tribulation period and his judgment and his wrath now? And I said, now it’s more, some people call it, abandonment wrath in Romans 1. God is a gentlemen, the more you push Him away, eventually He’s going to back up. But when God moves away, so does His protection and things start to happen. So, there’s a difference between His abandonment wrath and His active wrath. And I haven’t done a super deep study on that, but those two aspects of His wrath are seen. In Romans 1 it talks more about His abandonment wrath, or you might even call it His gentleman’s wrath. Like no gentleman is going to keep, you know, hanging over you and being around you if you keep pushing them out and kicking them, kicking him out and pushing him away. Eventually God steps back. And then what naturally happens, happens, and it leads to delusional thinking.

Part 3: Conclusion of Michael Branch’s presentation on World Politics

Nathan Jones: We want to leave you with Michael Branch’s closing exhortation, which to us, so perfectly sums up why there’s such an urgency for Christians to get the hope-filled message of Jesus Christ’s soon return out to the world. The King is coming! Jesus Christ is indeed standing at the very precipice of Heaven, ready to return and snatch away the Church in the Rapture. So, the question remains, are you ready?

Michael Branch: There’s only one head worthy to bear a crown with the supreme authority to rule all nations. In Revelation 19, we see Him coming in His glory, mounted on a white horse, signifying His sovereign power and His swift and total victory. He’s called faithful and true because He said He gave His word, He’s going to return. He’s going to come again and hold every evildoer to account. And that’s exactly what He’s going to do. When He comes, He will prove faithful to His promise. He will have kept His word. He is true, always true. It says in righteousness, He will judge and make war. He does not judge or make war, the way those who bore the crowns of Babylon did. He does not come in selfish ambition.

Satan offered Jesus the crown without the cross, and Christ rejected it. He accomplished His work as the suffering Lamb but He will come again as the conquering Lion of Judah. His wrath is just, every judgment, every act. His war is precise, it’s perfect because His eyes are a flame of fire, which means He sees everything. Nothing is hidden from Him. Every intent. Every hidden agenda in the heart of every single person He sees. And the Bible says that on His head, on His head are many crowns. He is the consummate collector of crowns, the warrior king, and all authority has been given to Him and Him alone. From His mouth comes a sharp two edged sword and with it He will strike down the nations and rule over all people with a rod of iron, which means He will bring instantaneous justice. And for the time being, for a little while longer, He will tolerate the usurpers. He will abide for the sake of His sovereign plan.

We see in Acts 2:22 & 23 we see an excellent example of this as Peter speaks to the men of his day who acted in their own self-interest and abused their power. Acts 2:22, says “Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus, the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles, and wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst. Just as you yourself know.” Listen. “This man was delivered over by the pre-determined plan and foreknowledge of God. You nailed to a cross by the hands of lawless men and put Him to death. And these lawless men fashioned thorns into a mock crown. And they pressed it into the head of our Lord, mocking Him and mocking His authority.”

The leaders of our day are no different. In Romans 1 fashion, they deny His very existence, and they worship the creation rather than the Creator. You and I, we will see them flaunting their crowns. We will stand witness to their conspiracies. But we are privy to their schemes and we will not be fooled, will we? When we see the headlines, we’re not fearful or downcast. We see the gathering storm, and we’re filled with hope because we know Jesus will not share one iota of power with any ruler or authority seen or unseen. There’s a day of reckoning coming for every single ruler who ever wore a crown of Babylon. The mightiest men and women who have ever lived. Judges and congressmen. Prime ministers and presidents. Kings and queens. And every unseen, wicked spirit.

Do you remember what the two demon possessed men said to Jesus in Matthew 8? The demons that possessed these men cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?” Well, this day of His return will be their appointed time of destruction, as well as that ancient serpent, the devil and death. Death will be destroyed forevermore. There will only be one left standing. And I can hardly wait for that day. Can you?

In the words of Isaiah 64:1-2, He groans with anticipation for this day as well. He says, “Oh, that the mountains might quake at your presence to make Your name known, so the nations may tremble at Your presence.” Is that the cry of your heart as well?

For those of you who have not yet confessed Jesus as your true Lord and Savior I implore you to do so today. There’s not a moment to lose. Today Scripture says is the day of salvation. So, don’t wait, approach someone now. Someone that you know to be a true follower of Christ and ask them to show you in God’s Word how you can truly make Christ Jesus your Lord.

But for those of you who are watching online, those of you in the room today, you know Him. You love Him. You long to see His face. While we remain, there is yet work to be done. We must be about our Father’s business. But our redemption is near. As we look ahead to His return, the catching away of His bride is so close. The groom is standing at the very edge of heaven. Look up. Yes, the storm is gathering. But the One to whom all authority has been given Jesus the Christ, the one who wears every crown is coming. The King is coming. He’s coming. Amen. Hallelujah

End of Program