Football, Fatima and Fado – the FIFA-Olympic Connection - Chapter 30

 

Football, Fatima and Fado – the FIFA-Olympic Connection

The story goes that the last dictator of Portugal, J.A. Salazar, who was Prime Minister from 1932 to 1968, when asked what was necessary to rule the country, responded with the three ‘Fs:’ football, Fatima and Fado. He was saying that all that he needed to control the country was sports, religion and music.

Fatima, of course, stood for the religious element. The town of Fatima was where the famous three Catholic children were supposed to have seen a vision and to have received a message from the Virgin Mary. The apparition event took place just prior to WWI. Portuguese tradition has it that Mary’s appearance at Fatima and the public’s embracing response was the reason that Portugal was able to remain neutral during the war.

The ‘F’ for Fado stood for the typical sad folk music popular in Portugal at the time, while the ‘F’ for football, obviously, stood for sports. During those years Benfica was Portugal’s greatest football team, and Eusebio, a famous striker, was the star. When a famous Italian team offered Eusebio a large contract to come play in Italy, Salazar prohibited it, saying that Eusebio was a national treasure. Salazar knew the value of football over the masses and so kept their champion at home.

We all remember the words of Karl Marx, who said that religion was the opiate of the masses. Salazar amplified the opiate to include the music and sports industries, which at the time of Salazar were still in their infancy in comparison with today. But of course the Romans and Greeks had used sports in the same way. In the time of Rome’s decline it is said that the people demanded more circus and bread even while Rome was being surrounded by its enemies.

Today we could amplify the list of opiates further and include the giant commercial centers where thousands rush every weekend to shop for all the things that money can buy. These are the new temples of mammon, where the faithful go to worships the new idols. We buy gadgets that give us more time on the Internet where we can watch more sports, music or religious events, or even have Internet sex or watch movies that promote all the values we don’t want our children or grandchildren to have. And yet, with all our things and momentary pleasure, we still do not satisfy the deepest yearning of our soul for truth, love and eternal happiness. Like the Apostle John has said,

Love not the world neither the things of the world for all that is of the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, is not of the father but of the world. And the world passes away and the lust thereof, but whosoever doeth the will of God abides forever.[1]

Jesus said something similar,

A man’s life consists not in the abundance of things which he possesses.[2]

Apostle James put it a different way. He said,

Ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.[3]

The apostle is saying here that if we are lusting after the things of the world, or living for them only, we are committing spiritual adultery with the world. That is why we will never be ultimately happy. Man is not just a physical being. He is spiritual being, and he must seek first his spiritual needs. As Jesus said,

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.[4] Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceed out of the mouth of God.[5]

In the Old Testament the Lord said through Isaiah,

Why do ye spend money for that which is not bread? And you labour for that which satisfies not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline you ear, and come unto me: hear and your soul shall live.[6]

Man is constantly trying to find happiness in the things that are not eternal and therefore in the end do not bring ultimate happiness. His amusements help him escape from the predicament he finds himself in. They help him escape from his life without meaning and purpose. They help him escape the daily grind of making a living to acquire more things. In the end, he winds up empty, wondering if this is all there is to life. He ends up concluding he should “Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die.”[7] He spends his time trying to take care of and satisfy his body and its needs and desires, while neglecting his spirit, his eternal soul which will last for eternity. Like the old poem He Fed His Body But Starved His Soul.

There was a man that some folks called great,

said he’d done good, had grappled with fate.

He’d won some fame and some riches, too.

But in the crowd there were those that knew;

the soul of him so miserably small,

that real greatness he knew not at all.

For all through life he had missed the real goal,

he fed his body but starved his soul.

He had no time for the little things,

that so much peace and contentment brings;

a faithful friend or a child’s tender look,

a promise sweet from the dear Old Book,

a little talk with a Friend Divine,

a little walk where the wildflowers twine.

He was just half a man, not well rounded, whole;

who fed his body but starved his soul.

And when that day of accounting came

in God’s own time, death called his name;

then the poor, frail, worthless, empty shell,

he groomed and fed and tended so well,

was left behind just an earthbound clod,

while his shriveled soul went to face his God.

All unprepared and paid the full toll,

for he had fed his body and starved his soul.

So come my friend and take time today,

to read God’s Word and walk in His ways.

We’ll follow the trail that higher goes,

to regions where the soul larger grows.

You’ll never hear them say of you then,

just one of the common herd of men.

So if you would be well-rounded and whole,

read God’s Word to nourish your soul.[8]

Are we feeding our physical body with food and drink and entertainments of the flesh to the full, while our spirits are empty and longing for satisfaction? Do we feel like the Rolling Stones’ famous song, I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.[9] We can’t get no satisfaction because all we’re trying to do is satisfy the flesh. 

But the trouble is that the flesh is never satisfied. It always wants more and more and never has enough. Like the Proverb says,

The eyes of man are never satisfied.[10]

No matter how many beautiful woman a man has seen, he will always look at another one. Like the rich Romans in the time of Rome’s great wealth and abundance who would attend banquets full of food and sex and alcohol. They would eat to the filling of their stomachs, only to vomit it all up, so they could fill themselves up once again. Like some of the scandals of recent times of rich politicians or wealthy businessmen well in years seeking sex with young girls hardly eighteen years of age. The flesh is never satisfied, it always wants more. But as Jesus said,

The flesh profits nothing.[11]

But in this article I wanted to look at the World Cup and Olympics and see what kind of affect they have on the economies of the countries that host the games. I also wanted to see if these sports events are part of the spiritual web woven to catch men within its borders and prohibit them from finding the way, the truth and the life. John Perkin’s Economic Hitman[12] which we have talked about earlier, explains of the infrastructure contracts that Third World countries are forced to accept from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. At minute 3:45 in the clip below he talks about the Economic Hitman.

These contracts ultimately leave the country poorer than when they started. Are FIFA and the Olympics part of the great financial sorcery to bind heavier burdens on the poor economies of the world in order to keep those economies and those peoples submissive to the international bankers?

Some time ago I did a study about the countries who had hosted World Cup and Olympic events. Some articles on the subject and a YouTube link can be found at the following footnote.[13] I had seen the affects of these games in Portugal, Greece, and Spain, where the governments invested large amounts of euros loaned from Europe. These loans went to improve infrastructure and to build the needed stadiums in the hope of reaping the financial benefits of the games. In the end we found out that the financial benefits hardly warranted such a financial investment, and the government and people were left with a big financial loan to pay back.

That’s why we saw the manifestations in Brazil before the World Cup soccer games, as some have come to realize that the games bring no relief to the poor and needy. They only serve to increase the wealth of the wealthy through construction contracts. Some cities are left with stadiums they do not know how they will pay off or maintain. But since football is part of the web to keep men caught, as Salazar so confessed, the Internationals keep sports as a high priority on their agenda. They want a pacific populace. They want a population which will not rise up against their masters, the financial elite. They want a population that will submit and adhere to the financial injustices perpetrated against them.

They bind heavy burdens grievous to be born and they themselves touch not the burdens with one finger.[14]

The bankers and politicians create big national debts and then expect the population to pay it back to them. Something is wrong with this picture, but the silent majority blindly go like sheep to the slaughter. Sports is one of today’s opiates that keep them walking in submission to their corrupt leaders.

But one of the problems today is the Muslim youth, many of whom have not integrated into the Western society. They remain aloof and therefore out of control through the normal methods of manipulation. The religious element usually helps governments control their populations. They’ll gain financial or influential favors because of their cooperation with the government. But radical Islamic movements from the Middle East embittered by the events that have occurred there are in this case feeding rebellion and violent acts of aggression as we have recently seen in France. But that’s a whole other topic. Let’s keep to FIFA and sports.

Of course FIFA always justifies the extra expense for the host country, saying it is good for the country's pride and national identity. Local government politicians will also parrot FIFA’s mantra knowing that big money coming into the country will mean contracts for their friends and supporters and something more in their own pockets. In the end, FIFA always manages to walk away richer than before, while the host country almost always has a great burden to pay and often some “white elephant” stadiums that are a burden on the local economy. In recent years, only Germany and the USA have had World Cup or Olympic events in which they have managed to break even. Many countries are waking up to the fact that the World Cup and Olympics are bad business.

But the truth is that for generations governments have used sports as a way to distract the population, keep them content, and foment national pride. Sports are an amusement. They keep men from thinking about their own problems. A man may have a poor and miserable job and life, but he can find self-esteem in his favorite champion who helps his team to victory over their rivals. The spectator gains euphoria through the victory his team wins on the playing field. His mind is distracted from his own wretched condition and he finds a sense of meaning in his favorite player and team.

Interestingly enough, the word amusement means “away from thinking.” During the time of the spectacle the fan is not thinking about his problems, but is absorbed in the game, as if he himself were playing. He forgets his problems and worries and dissatisfactions with life and his government, and for those moments he is amused. The word “muse” comes from the Greek for “to think” or “to ponder.” As in the word “atheist” the “a” before a word is used as a negative. A theist is a person who believes in God. An atheist is a person who does not believe in God. “Muse” means to think or ponder. “Amuse” means to not think or ponder or to be away from thinking or pondering. We seek out amusements for that very reason. They help us get away from thinking about our problems, whatever they may be.

Karl Marx predicted that the poor man would eventually turn against the rich and over throw their unjust rule over the poor. Why has not this prediction come to pass, when the poor far outnumber the rich? As the Caesars of Rome and as Salazar of Portugal confessed and the elite of the world know, amusements - whether they be music, sports or religious events - are important to control the masses and govern a nation. The rich have learned they need to share a tiny bit of their wealth with the poor to keep them passively submissive. Today we have the middle class, though many claim it’s a diminishing sector. We also have politicians who are suppose to be attentive to the needs and wants of their constituents, but are actually controlled by big money and its interests. It’s a sad day for the poor man. But never mind - let’s go have a beer and watch the game! Shall we? 

To go to the next group of chapters click here

To go to the previous chapter click HERE

To go to the next chapter click HERE

To go to the index of the book click HERE

Notes:

[1] 1John 2:15-17
[2] Luke 12:15
[3] James 4: 4
[4] Matthew 6:33
[5] Matthew 4: 4
[6] Isaiah 55:2-3
[7] 1Corinthians15:32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, What advantages it me, if the dead rise not? Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die.
[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciSAMY9c--A (accessed 03/2016)
[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrIPxlFzDi0 (accessed 03/2016)
[10] Proverbs 27:20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
[11] John 6:63
[12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-a6jzU0YgQ (accessed 03/2016)
[13] http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/11/ugly-side-beautiful-game/# (03/16) http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/07/3-reasons-why-hosting-the-olympics-is-a-losers-game/260111/ (accessed 03/2016) http://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/book/hosting-olympics-and-world-cup (03/16) http://rozvojovky.vse.cz/2SM412/presentations/Bjornstad_Aleksander-Hiltunen%20Tommi-SA_economy_and_FIFA_WC2010-paper.pdf (03/2016) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi9gTj_i3Nw (accessed 03/2016)[14] Luke 11:46

To go to the next group of chapters click here

To go to the previous chapter click HERE

To go to the next chapter click HERE

To go to the index of the book click HERE

All Bible verses are from the King James Bible, although I have changed some of the old English. Any similarity to any modern version is only by coincidence. Bible verses other than the King James have been foot-noted properly.

Copyright @ Dennis M. Edwards (photos used from Google Images for educational purposes only)

Originally published March 2016.

Read More

Psalm 52 - The Futility of Boastful Wickedness

 

Psalm 52 A Psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech. Comments by Dennis Edwards.

Let us read first the section from the book of Samuel.

1 Samuel 22:9-11 Then answered Doeg the Edomite, which was set over the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse (David) coming to Nob (the city where the high priest lived), to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.  And he enquired of the Lord for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine. Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests that were in Nob: and they came all of them to the king.

1 Samuel 22:12-13 And Saul said, Hear now, you son of Ahitub. And he answered, Here I am, my lord. And Saul said unto him, Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread, and a sword, and have enquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?

1 Samuel 22:14-15 Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, And who is so faithful among all your servants as David, which is the king's son in law, and goes at your bidding, and is honourable in your house?  Did I then begin to enquire of God for him? be it far from me: let not the king impute anything unto his servant, nor to all the house of my father: for your servant knew nothing of all this, less or more.

1 Samuel 22:15-16 And the king said, You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you, and all your father's house. And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the Lord: because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not show it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the Lord.

1 Samuel 22:18-19 And the king said to Doeg, Turn, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod. And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.

Expositors believe the psalm can be directed at either Doeg who cruelly killed the priests and their families, or King Saul who commanded him to do so. Both are representative of antichrists since time immemorial and the ultimate Antichrist of the last days.

Psalm 52:1 Why do you boast yourself in mischief, O mighty man? The goodness of God endures continually.

In contrast to the evil done by past, present, and future antichrist figures, God’s goodness endures forever and even the seemingly unjust and evil events, God can transform for good. Even if we cannot see how God’s goodness transformed an evil event in the present life, He will transform it in the next life.

Apostle Paul writes about such circumstances in Romans 8.

Romans 8:35-36 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For Your sakes we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Jesus Himself had prophesized of future events saying,

Matthew 24:9&13 Then shall the deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and you shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake…But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

If we endure the persecution and death and do not give up our faith, God promises us a great reward.

Matthew 5:11-12 Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in HEAVEN: for so persecuted (and killed) the prophets which were before you.

Apostle Paul continues,

Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things, (that is, tribulation, persecution, and death), we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.

How can we be more than conquerors when we die? Because we go to a better place. Like the words of Nero in the film “Quo Vadis.” As he’s inspecting the dead victims of his persecution, he notices that they all have smiles on their faces. The attendant tells him that the Christians believed that when they died that they went to a better place. Nero, in a seeming panic attack, keeps distraughtly repeating the phrase, “They’re going to a better place! They’re going to a better place!”

Like Apostle Paul wrote elsewhere,

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Psalm 52:2-3 The tongue devises mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. You love evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.

These are the attributes of the antichrist types. Apostle Paul warns of them.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

2 Timothy 3:12-13 “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”

Apostle John also wrote,

1 John 2:22 “Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denies the Father and the Son.”

1 John 4:2-4 “Hereby know you the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.”

We are more than conquerors through Jesus that loves us and has promised us eternal life. Therefore, we fear not them that can kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. We fear, love, and obey Him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell, Matthew 10:28.

Psalm 52:4-5 You (the wicked unbelieving antichrists) love all devouring words, O you deceitful tongue. God shall likewise destroy you for ever, He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place, and root you out of the land of the living. Selah.

As we read above, God is able to destroy both body and soul in hell. Jesus said that there would be weeping and gnashing of teeth. In Revelation 20, we read about the “second death,” which could be indicating the death of the soul of those created beings, who, even after God shows them mercy and offers forgiveness, still refuse to acknowledge Jesus as Lord and God.

Revelation 20:12-15 “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Some souls will have their names blotted out of the book of life.

Revelation 3:5 “He that overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.”

Jesus had, also, warned in the Gospels:

Mark 8:34b-38 “Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

Psalm 52:6-7 The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him: Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.

God has pronounced His judgment on the wicked, and it shall come to pass. In Isaiah we read of Lucifer’s fate.

Isaiah 14:12-16 “How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How are you cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations! For you said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet you shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see you shall narrowly look upon you, and consider you, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake the kingdoms..?”

At the end of the present dispensation, the Devil, Satan, that old serpent, that dragon, shall be bound for a thousand years during Christ’s millennium rule on earth.

Revelation 20:3 “And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Revelation 20:7-8a “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth.”

He shall bring the millennium nations against Jerusalem where Jesus has been operating His millennium kingdom from. It is at that point that God must judge the millennium peoples who have rejected Him, and destroy the surface of the earth by fire.

Revelation 20:9b-10 “And fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast (the Antichrist) and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

That “for ever and ever,” could signify “for an age and an age,” that is, a given period of time, and might have an end in the “second death.”

Psalm 52:8-9 But I (the believer and follower of God) am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever. I will praise You for ever, because You have done it: and I will wait on Your name; for it is good before Your saints.

There is a reward for those of us that believe on the name of the Son of God. God will prepare a new heaven and a new earth, because the first heaven and first earth were passed away; and there will be no more sea, Revelation 21:1.

Revelation 21:2-5b And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be anymore pain: for the former things are passed away,…Behold, I make all things new.”

That’s the happy ending. Hold on to your faith. Hold on to what you believe, that no man takes your crown, Revelation 3:11.

Revelation 3:12 “Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God: and I will write upon him My new name.”

Revelation 22:12-14 “And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”

Revelation 22:17 “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

Revelation 22:20 “He which testifies these things says, Surely, I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”

Originally published March 15, 2025.

Read More

Psalm 48 - God is our God, He Will Be Our Guide Even Unto Eternity!

 

Psalm 48 with comments by Dennis Edwards

48:1-2 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

We seem to be continuing to be meditating on the Reign of Christ on earth during the Millennium. One of the reasons that the Jewish people rejected Jesus, was they were expecting a King that would rule and reign over the ungodly, and make them great again. They could only see the prophecies of Messiah the King and ruler over all the earth. They did not see the suffering servant who would lay down His life and be the sacrificial Lamb that all the sacrifices from the time of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and beyond pointed to.

Again, in Zechariah, we see that when Jesus returns to begin that 1,000-year reign on the earth, he lands on Mount Zion, in Jerusalem.

“Behold, the day of the Lord comes, and your spoil shall be divided in the midst of you. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city,” Zechariah 14:1-2.

The Antichrist forces are coming against Jerusalem as has been prophesized in various places. We will look at Ezekiel 38 for a moment.

“After many days you shall be visited: in the latter years you shall come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have always been waste, but is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. You shall ascend and come like a storm, you shall be like a cloud to cover the land, you, and all your bands, and many people with you,” Ezekiel 38:8-9.

If we go back to verses 1-6 of the chapter, we see we are talking about the invasion of Israel from the land of Magog by the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, together with Persia (Iran), Ethiopia, Libya, Gomer, Togarmah (Turkey), and many people with you. We will continue to read from Ezekiel.

“And you shall come from your place out of the north parts, you, and many people with you,” Ezekiel 38:15a.

The Jewish scholars for centuries have conjectured that the words “north parts,” in the above verse, actually signify “the extreme north.” Therefore, many ancient expositors believe that the land of Magog from where the prince of Meshech and Tubal comes from is to the extreme north of Israel, not just to the north. Turkey is to the north and has one of the largest standing armies in the Middle East. However, to the extreme north, we find Russia who in recent years has been friends with the Arabs, friends with Iran, and friends with Turkey. Russia has one of the largest active armies in the world.

“And you shall come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when I shall be sanctified in you, O Gog, before their eyes. Thus says the Lord God; Are you he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring you against them?” Ezekiel 38:16-17.

God is going to be sanctified in Gog, in that He will use Gog to judge Israel for her sins which she has committed against the Palestinian peoples, and which she has committed against other nations such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria, manipulating the America military as her tool.

But as we have seen in Zechariah 12 & 13, there will be a great repentance by the Jewish people at the time of the rapture and 1/3 of the nation shall come to faith in Jesus. It is at that point, that God can now intervene in Israel’s behalf and turn His judgments on Gog, who is the Antichrist, and rescue the remnant of Israel. Read Ezekiel 38:18-23, and Ezekiel 39:1-7 for the full story.

It is at that point, at the end of the wrath of God that Jesus comes back, defeats the Antichrist, and takes over Jerusalem and Israel.

“Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half the mountain shall remove toward the north, and the other half of it toward the south…And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with You,” Zechariah 14:3-4&5b.

Therefore, when Jesus comes back, He is going to land on the Mount of Olives near to where He had been crucified and buried.

“And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea (the Mediterranean Sea), and half of them toward the hinder sea (the Dead Sea): in summer and in winter shall it be. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one,” Zechariah 14:8-9.

Jesus is the living waters of the Spirit and whosoever drinks of Him shall be saved. But on the physical level, Jesus will send out living waters to the east and to the west at that time. We remember that during the 75 days of the Wrath of God the waters on the earth: the sea, the rivers, and the fountains of waters, had all become blood, Revelation 16:3-4. On His arrival, Jesus immediately sends out living waters to refresh and save the people still living on the earth. Interesting enough, Gaza is to the east of Jerusalem and the West Bank is to the west. Both are occupied with a Moslem populations who have suffered in almost concentration camp conditions for many years.

Psalm 48:3 God is known in her palaces for a refuge.

God is a refuge for the poor and afflicted many of whom have had little chance to hear the Gospels in the countries in which they live. Moslem countries, communist counties, Hindu countries, etc. have made it difficult for the Gospel to be preached. Many of the poor of the world who received not Jesus as a result of where they were born, will have their chance in the new Millennium period.

“The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a strong hold in times of trouble,” Psalm 9:9. “For You have been a refuge for the helpless, a defence for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm, and a shade from the heat,” Isaiah 25:4. “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him,” Nahum 1:7. Maybe these poor who refused the Mark of the beast, or their countries were so poor that it couldn’t be implemented there, maybe these are the “blessed meek,” which Jesus said, would “inherit the earth,” Matthew 5:5.

Psalm 48:4-7 For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together. They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail. You break the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.

Are these the same “shields of the earth” from the last psalm, which we understood were the leaders of the remnant nations of the earth, who submit to the new Millennium King? In Ezekiel 39 we see the condition around Jerusalem after Christ’s arrival.

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all this multitude…And seven moths shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. Yes, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, says the Lord God,” Ezekiel 39:11-13.

Psalm 48:8 As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem,” Isaiah 2:2-3.

“And it shall come to pass, that everyone that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain,” Zechariah 14:16-17.

Psalm 48:9-10 We have thought of Your lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of Your temple. According to Your name, O God, so is Your praise unto the ends of the earth: Your right hand is full of righteousness.

The Lord had said through Isaiah the prophet,

“I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear,” Isaiah 45:23.

Apostle Paul, the former Jewish Rabbi and up and coming leader of the Pharisees, tells us,

“That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” Philippians 2:10-11.

Psalm 48:11-13 Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of Your judgments. Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that you may tell it to the generation following.

God’s judgments are true and righteous altogether. We learn to love and fear the Lord through our straying from the straight and narrow path. “Now no chastening (or correction) for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby,” Hebrews 12:11.

Psalm 48:14 For this God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide even unto death.

Expositors say that instead of “death,” we should think, “eternity.” For those that love God will never meet for the last time, but will enter eternity, the eternal now, and live forever and ever. “For eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for them that love Him,” 1 Corinthians 2:9.

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away,” Revelation 21:1-4.

“And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son,” Revelation 21:4-7.

“Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand,” Revelation 1:3.

Originally published March 4, 2025.

Read More

Psalm 47 - God is King of All the Earth!

Psalm 47 with commentaries by Dennis Edwards

Psalm 47:1-2 O clap your hands, all you people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. For the Lord most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.

Here we seem to be picking up from where the last psalm left off. Jesus has come back and the Millennium period of Christ’s rule on earth has begun. God’s word tells us that the resurrected saints shall rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years. They will have received their resurrected bodies which we assume are similar to those of angels. Angels in the Bible seem to be able to appear and disappear. They seem to be able to appear as humans and interact with the human population or at least with those humans who are sensitive to God.

Psalm 47:3-4 He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet. He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom He loved. Selah.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the fathers of faith. If we are Christ's, then we are Abraham’s and Jacob’s seed, and heirs of their inheritance, Galatians 3:29.

Some expositors believe that at the time of the rapture 1/3 of the Jewish nation will come to God. In Zechariah we find,

“And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on My name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is My people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God,” Zechariah 13:9.

Elsewhere in Zechariah we find the collaborating verses.

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem,” Zechariah 12:9.

If you remember from our study of Ezekiel 38-39, God first brings the Antichrist confederacy against Israel and her allies to chastise them for their sins and iniquities. What they have sown to the Palestinian people, they shall reap. Then as Israel repents, or at least 1/3 of Israel repents, God is able to come to Israel’s defence and chastise her Antichrist enemies. 2/3 of the nation of Israel shall die during the Antichrist’s wars.

Israel’s repentance seems to take place at the time of the rapture, at the end of the 3 ½ years of Great Tribulation. The Great Tribulation is found in the trumpets of Revelation 8-10 and expressed in other imagery in Revelation 11,12, and 13.

During the 3 ½ years of tribulation, we remember that the two end-time prophets have been prophesizing in Jerusalem and preforming miracles.

“And I will give power unto My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days (3 ½ years), clothed in sackcloth…And if any man will hurt them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth will all plagues, as often as they will,” Revelation 11:3,5-6.

These two prophets will some how be working with God in the sending down the plagues found in Revelation 8-10. Maybe they will be coordinating with the angels who are sounding the trumpets found in those chapters.

“And when they (the two end-time prophets) shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome the, and kill them,” Revelation 11:7.

The Devil possessed Antichrist will make war against them and kill them at the end of the 3 ½ year tribulation period.

“And their dead bodies shall be in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified,” Revelation 11:8.

Obviously, they will be slain in Jerusalem. The Antichrist and his confederacy will fight an extended war with Israel. He first seems to be involved with the implementing of the Holy Covenant that allows the Jewish nation to begin sacrificial worship in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount. That takes place at the beginning of the last 7 years.

He then invades Israel at the 3 ½ year mark and places the abomination in or on the Temple Mount, and stops the Jewish sacrificial worship. It is at that point when the great tribulation begins, spoken by Jesus in Matthew 24:15&21.

At the end of the 3 ½ year period of tribulation, he makes a further invasion of Israel to wipe the Jewish people off the face of the earth, Psalm 83:4. It is at that point, that He seems to be able to kill the two end-time prophets.

“And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth,” Revelation 11:9-10.

It seems these two prophets were connected with the 6 trumpets of plagues that fall upon the earth during that 3 ½ years of tribulation. The people see them as such and are glad they have died. But then, just as the world is making merry, and believe they have defeated the forces of God, that they perceive as evil, the end-time prophets are resurrected.

“And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them,” Revelation 11:11-12.

The two end-time prophets will be raptured up after the tribulation of those days, as Jesus prophesized.

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other,” Matthew 24:29-31.

Remember, the Jewish people will have been suffering under the Antichrist for 3 ½ years. They will have heard and seen the two end-time prophets. Some of them will convert and become Christian and be raptured at the coming of the Lord. But it seems from Scripture, that it is at the time of the rapture event, and seeing the Lord in the heavenlies, that 1/3 of the Jewish nation repent of their apostacy and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of their true repentance, God will be able to justly intervene and once again fight for Israel, as in the days of old. We will read from Zechariah once again.

“And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem,” Zechariah 12:10-11a.

God will save a remnant of the Jewish people who repent of their unbelief in Christ at the time of the rapture. He will then fight for them against the Antichrist and his confederacy. Ezekiel 38-39 and Revelation 19:11-21 show the terrible outcome of that war. Evil will be defeated and Christ shall reign on earth for a thousand years.

Psalm 47:5 God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.

“For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord,” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.

At that point in time, Christ does not initiate His earthly rule. He comes in the heavens and raptures His elect and then escapes with them to a heavenly realm. It is after appearing before the judgment seat of Christ and receiving our rewards at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, that we return with Christ during the Battle of Armageddon to take physical control of the earth and begin the 1000-year Millennium period.

“And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years,” Revelation 20:4b.

Psalm 47:6-8 Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth: sing praises with understanding. God reigns over the heathen: God sits upon the throne of His holiness.

It is during that thousand-year period that men will no longer learn to war.

“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountains of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore,” Isaiah 2:2-4.

Psalm 47:9 The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields (or leaders of the nations) of the earth belong unto God: He is greatly exalted.

As the Millennium begins, the peoples that have survived it, shall be given their opportunity to know and love the Lord. These nations were unbelieving at the time of the rapture. God in His extended mercy gives them another chance to come to faith and learn of the love, and mercy, and fear, and knowledge of the Lord.

“And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain,” Zechariah 14:16.

These unbelieving nations will be given their chance to come to faith in Christ. But as the Scripture shows, even after all that has happened some will be slow to believe. God will have to use the weather to chastise them and convince them to believe in Him. Even here we see that God does not force conversion. He lets man’s free will decide for himself. Eventually, slowly, but surely, all will come to believe. Those that do hold out and refuse God’s calling to faith, will, of their own volition, choose the second death.

“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death,” Revelation 20:15&14. 

The choice is ours. Like Moses spoke to the descendants of Israel 3,500 years ago, we choose our own destiny. “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore, choose life, that both you and your seed may live. That you may love the Lord your God, and that you may obey His voice, and that you may cleave to Him: for He is life,” Deuteronomy 30:19-20a.

Are you choosing life or death? Jesus said, “I am the resurrected and the life: he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

That’s the question we all need to answer. Jesus is the door to eternal life. There is no other. “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man goes unto the Father, but by Me,” John 14:6. Are you entering in through the door? Or trying to climb up some other way?

Jesus said, “Enter in at the straight gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in there at: because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it,” Matthew 7:13-14.

If you have not found Him yet, call out to Him today. He says, “Call upon Me, and I will answer you,” Jeremiah 33:3a. We’ve got to do the calling. We’ve got to do the searching. But He tells us, “Seek and you shall find,” Matthew 7:7b. “And you shall seek Me, and find Me, when you shall search for Me with all your heart,” Jeremiah 29:13. He leaves it up to us. But His Spirit is calling, “Come, everyone that thirst, come to the waters and drink…Incline your ear, and come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live,” Isaiah 55:1-3 abbreviated. It’s just that simple. It’s up to each one of us to answer the call and come.

“Come unto Me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly of heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light,” Matthew 11:28-30.         

 Originally published March 3, 2025.

Read More