Editorial Getting Close?

With the sad demise of Prince Phillip on April 9th, it seems only natural to look at the age of our wonderful monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who turned 95 on April 21st. It will be sad to see her without her beloved Phillip at her side. The Queen affectionally referred to Phillip as “Her Rock”, certainly his strong influence of her decisions demonstrated a stabilizing force that must have relieved much of the stress the Queen would have endured during difficult moments. Not many couples will celebrate long, long anniversaries but Elizabeth and Phillip had 73 of them.

Queen Elizabeth stands out in my mind in many ways but two hold firm in my memory. The first when I was a young man, maybe a young boy, on June 1st or 2nd, 1953. I was a member of the reserve army and on the hot, hot day, we stood at attention on the parade square for nearly an hour celebrating the coronation of the Queen. There were two or three speakers, I cannot remember which, but they were fascinating messages. One speaker in particular quoted this question by the Archbishop to the Queen as part of the Coronation Oath, “Will you to the utmost of your power maintain the Laws of God and the true profession of the Gospel”. I think the Queen has always been a faithful servant of God, even though in these last days apostasy has run wild. Still, in those days of the early 1950’s, I had a great interest in history and was very familiar with King George’s (Elizabeth’s father) speeches of World War 2. One thing was certain, in those days, the Monarchy held a special place in the hearts of most Canadians. For example, when the Queen and Prince visited Nanaimo in 1967, I was a bank manager and along with all the business owners along the main street, we closed our offices and stood with others on the packed streets, memorized by their elegance as they slowly drove by.

The other instance might have been prophetic. I came in touch with the Israel Truth movement in the early 1990’s. At an early Sunday meeting, I met Charles Hurst, who was getting along in years at the time, but we became friends, so much so that before he passed on years later, he asked me to officiate at his funeral. But, in those early days of 1990’s, he told this fascinating story. He said, “In 1921 when I was a young man, my father, himself an Israel Truth believer, related a story about the monarchy. He said that in the mid-1890’s, a well-respected psychic was holding a session with some reporters and others and he amazed them with his insight. After the session was close to the end, one reporter asked this question, he said. ‘If you are so insightful, tell me this, when will Jesus Christ return?’ The psychic thought for a moment, then admitted he did not know, but said, ‘I can tell you this, the Monarch’s name will be Elizabeth’”. Of course, Elizabeth was not born for more than two decades after that remark and besides, she was not even in the line of ascendancy, only the 1936 abdication by Edward VIII made this possible”. But, of course, she is queen, 95 years of age, so considering her longevity, it is possible we are close to the return of Jesus Christ”.

Still, the present turmoil in the world will at least give some speculation that the psychic of the 1890’s might just be right. So, let’s take a look at the world today, particularly in the Israel nations.

Readers might recall that in the early 2000’s we ran a monthly column entitled “O What A World”, dealing with a myriad of matters that were taking place in the Israel nations. These days, it might be more appropriate to write about “What In The World!”, because it is a world gone astray. Think about the Covid lockdowns in the past year; the closing of primarily small businesses, the shutting of church doors, travel restrictions, school closings and much more. They have all led to a loss of freedom to freedom-loving peoples. What’s worse, is that there appears no end in sight, each day we are faced with more restrictions amid more government and huge corporate inuendo.

Take, for instance, the State of Georgia’s recently passed voting law which appears nothing more than their efforts to have voters properly identify themselves when voting, in order to avoid voter fraud. It should tell us something when many of the largest corporations in America are taking forceful stances against this Law. Even MLB withdrew its All Star Game from Atlanta, thus costing the state tens of millions of dollars. And, also, it is significant that President Biden and other politicians came out against the new law. It must be telling us something when big corporate power and big government can dictate against the people’s choices and are apparently in favour of the unmanageable mail-out of ballots that were said to be so instrumental in deciding the result of the 2020 election.

Perhaps you will recall my comments on the seven prophetic hours (15 years each) and my observation that more will accrue to man’s system (the rich and powerful men and women and the major corporations of the world) than in all the first six periods combined. And powered by Covid 19, more of this is on its way to completion, as an unbelievable transfer of further wealth is presently taking place. Could it be true that the trillions being transferred from God’s people and their lands is the forerunner of even more planned evil.

Let’s look further at America. One of the great presidents of that nation was Dwight Eisenhower. Wikipedia wrote, “Despite his highly renowned military background and being the only general to be elected president in the 20th century, in his final speech, he warned the nation with regard to the corrupting influence of what he described as the “military-industrial complex””. In retrospect, it is almost like he had a huge crystal ball in front of him to enable him to see into the future. He was as great a president as he was a general. He had served as the president for two full terms from January 1953 through January 1961, and was the first U.S. president to be term-limited from seeking re-election again. He had overseen a period of considerable economic expansion, even as the Cold War deepened. Three of his national budgets had been balanced, certainly he could have taught future presidents. For since then, as one writer wrote, “Most recent US Presidents have got used to splashing the cash”. It almost looks that so far, the current president just might be the greatest splasher of all.

I have just touched on the problems facing the Israel nations. As the old expression, turned around, says, “The worst has yet to come”. Now that we have reached this point and given huge corporations and their minions in government full steam ahead, we cannot fix it by ourselves.

We need Divine Help. Can we get it? Certainly not by ourselves! We must collectively go to our knees and as Hosea 5:15 tells us, we must acknowledge our offence and seek his face. If we’re sincere, He will help us. Isaiah 41:10 confirms this, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”

We will sure need His strengthening because Jesus Himself described the ending years in His description of events that would come. He said “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” The year 2020 may just have been the time when the whole of the Israel nations felt the beginning of the full impact of the great tribulation.

So, readers, never has there been a time when we must remain resolute and pray as we never did before.