Special Series: Part One: What's so special about 1948 anyway?

For those of you who do not follow Bible prophecy or who don't believe in Bible prophecy, 1948 may not seem like a significant year. But for those of us who do believe in Bible prophecy and in the visions God gave to Daniel and John as well as other Biblical prophets, 1948 signals the beginning of the "season" that Jesus talked about in His Olivet Discourse, commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount. The signs of the End of the Age, before the Tribulation, before the end of all things and the beginning of Eternity.

I have really felt a burden this past week to get this out there so that maybe this might strike someone who doesn't believe in Bible prophecy to investigate further on their own to find the answers they may be looking for but don't know they need.

I will be posting some articles from my friend Jack Kinsella from the online group the Omega Letter that I am a member of. If, after reading any of these articles over the next week or so, you are interested in a free 7 day trial to explore these things more in depth click here (after that it's only 10.00 a month). Some of the most amazing things that are written in these articles over the next several days were written as much as 3-4 years ago and as recently as this year but they were based on Bible phrophecy - some as long as 2,500 years ago.

It is my prayer that you find some insight in these articles or answers to questions that you might be having to just WHAT IN THE HECK IS GOING ON IN THE WORLD TODAY?

Here are two articles regarding 1948:

*When Jesus talks about the "fig tree" He is talking about Israel.
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‘Learn a Parable of the Fig Tree’

The restoration of the Jews to the Promised Land is one of the most staggeringly overt fulfillments of Bible prophecy to occur in the last 2,000 years. The Hebrew prophets all foretold an eventual restoration of Israel, even addressing the future state by name, in some cases centuries after Israel had ceased to exist.

Jesus said, “Learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh; So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” (Matthew 24:32-34)

In his book, Personal Witness, Ambassador Abba Eban, one of Israel’s Founding Fathers and Israel’s first Foreign Minister wrote:
“In accordance with our plan, a letter from [Chaim] Weizmann to [President] Truman had been sent on May 13 asking him to recognize our new state. The expected infant state was still nameless, since the Zionist leaders were still characteristically, arguing over the name (should it be “Judea.” “Zion,” what about the name “Israel”?). Weizmann, for the first time in history, was asking for a nameless state to be recognized....

Although Ezekiel confidently wrote of the restored Jewish state as “Israel” 2,500 years before, those who actually served as midwives to the rebirth did not decide on the name until the very day before! (more on the rebirth of Israel in another post later)

Hosea said of Israel, “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time . . .” (Hosea 9:10)
Joel wrote of the northern invaders of Israel, “He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree. . .(Joel 1:7)

In 1948, the fig tree began to put forth leaves, so to speak, and Jesus said that generation would see ‘all these things’ fulfilled.

The Bible said that pivotal event in history would take place simultaneously with the birth of a revived Roman Empire. A unified Europe looks back to its’ foundation as January 1, 1948. The 1948 Benelux Treaty resulted in the establishment of the Western European Union (WEU). With the signing in Brussels of the Treaty of Mutual Assistance of the Western Union (United Kingdom, Benelux, France) Europe began to come together in the name of peace, not conquest. The 1948 Benelux Treaty led to the 1949 creation of the Council of Europe which in it's turn led to the expansion of the Belelux Treaty under the terms of the 1957 Treaty of Rome which led to the Western European Union.

Israel was reborn in 1948, as the embryonic European Community of nations was being born out of the 1948 Benelux Treaty.

It said an apostate world religion would develop at the same time. Revelation 13:11 describes this religious system as “having two horns like a lamb” -- symbols of Christianity. The World Council of Churches was born in 1948. (The World Council of Churches accepts just about every religion as valid and acceptable except true, Bible-based Christianity which they view as a hinderance to establishing a one world religion)

The Bible predicts that global political system will co-exist with a global economy. The World Trade Organization -- a trade organization empowered to regulate the global economy -- saw its genesis in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, enacted by the UN in 1948.

The Bible predicted that global economy will fall under the control of a single individual who will be able to regulate commerce down to the individual level -- “That no man might buy or sell” -Rev 13:17. Such individual control was impossible before the advent of computers.

Although computers had been invented during World War II, they were huge, bulky monsters that used notoriously unreliable and hugely inefficient vacuum tubes. The first computers were slower than a pocket calculator, filled huge environmentally sealed rooms and required enough electricity to power a small city.

That all changed in 1948 when Bell Labs invented the transistor chip, signaling the official birth of the Computer Age.

That final age would be marked by 'rumors of war' - Matt 24:7. The ultimate 'rumor of war' was the Cold War. It began with the Berlin Airlift of 1948. The Soviet collapse was a direct result of the cost of fighting the Cold War. The ongoing decline of US influence in the world is also related to the costs of that 'war'. The power vacuum left by the simultaneous decline of each of these great powers is being filled by Europe, just as the Bible predicted.

Earthquakes began to show a marked increase in size, scope and intensity in 1948. The modern period of ethnos against ethnos can be traced to the death of colonialism beginning in 1948. Increasing 'pestilence' or deadly disease, can be traced to 1948. Economic 'kingdoms' began with the first multinational corporations in 1948.

Legislation passed by the UN in 1948 like the UDHR and the UNCPR function today as the legal cornerstones of our developing globalist worldview and the disintegration of US Constitutional guarantees.

The decline in morality -- worldwide -- can arguably be placed at the feet of the current trend of devaluing human life to the degree that legislation permitting abortion and euthanasia are evidences of an 'advanced' society.

The Japanese Eugenics Act -- the first legal abortion on demand legislation ever passed in modern society -- was passed in 1948. American Margaret Sanger was so impressed with the idea that she founded the premier abortion rights advocacy group -- Planned Parenthood -- in 1948.

Let's not forget the other technological advances introduced in 1948 -- commercial television, holography, cybernetics, meteorology, the nuclear arms race, microelectronics and dozens of other advances that served to demystify the books of Daniel and the Revelation for this generation.

Add that to the social breakdown that followed the ouster of God from American education following McCollum vs. the board of education decision of 1948. Don't forget the contribution made to evolutionary theory by the introduction of the 'Big Bang' theory of 1948. That served to further alienate the concept of a Creator God from the American worldview.

2 Peter3:3 warns "that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."

All these things taken in context point to one logical conclusion. This is the generation of whom Jesus was speaking when He said, "This generation shall not pass until ALL these things be fulfilled."
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The Year of the Countdown
As discussed in previous letters, most of the major prophetic fulfillments of the last days can trace their genesis to the same point in history -- on or near the year 1948.

This is most significant since Jesus said that the generation who witnessed the restoration of Israel (the blossoming fig tree) 'would not pass until ALL was fulfilled' (Matthew 24:34)

Jesus spoke, for example, of 'wars and rumors of wars', while cautioning, 'the end is not yet'. (Matthew 24:6) The Cold War was the ultimate 'rumor of war'. It lasted more than forty years without either side ever directly confronting the other on the battlefield. Historians trace the beginning of the Cold War to the Berlin Airlift to break the Soviet blockade of Berlin, imposed on June 24, 1948.

The most well-known of all Bible prophecies is the Mark of the Beast. According to Revelation 13:15-17, the antichrist will assume control of a global system of government unlike any the world had ever known. Under the antichrist, any person outside that system will be declared 'socially dead' -- any who refuse to accept the Mark will be unable to buy or sell.

Consider this for a minute, but I suggest you sit down before you do.

We are so close to that system today that the SAME METHOD is ALREADY being used to rout out and destroy terrorist cells! Every economic transaction, every internet session, every email and every phone call -- world-wide -- is already being electronically monitored as part of the war on terror.

To catch the terrorists in our midst, they must be isolated from mainstream society, their sources of funding targeted and destroyed, and their ability to engage in day-to-day social intercourse electronically interrupted.

Such intimate control of society was impossible before the advent of the Computer Age. Although there were clunky working computers dating back to the 1930's, they relied on notoriously unreliable vacuum tubes, and firing one up consumed enough electricity to light a small city.

Before the digital explosion, transistors were a vital part of improvements in existing analog systems, such as radios and stereos.

When it was placed in computers, however, the transistor became an integral part of the technology boom. They are also capable of being mass-produced by the millions on a sliver of silicon—the semiconductor chip. It is this almost boundless ability to integrate transistors onto chips that has fueled the information age.

Today these chips are not just a part of computers. They are also important in devices as diverse as video cameras, cellular phones, copy machines, jumbo jets, modern automobiles, manufacturing equipment, electronic scoreboards, and video games. Without the transistor there would be no Internet and no space travel.

Bell Labs patented the transistor chip in 1948, launching the modern computer Age.

Revelation 13 also highlights the career of the False Prophet, who will lead a global religious system that John describes as 'having two horns like a lamb' but 'spake as a dragon'.

The World Council of Churches, the UN-backed ecumenical movement, whose stated goal is to bring about a global religious system, was created in Amsterdam in August, 1948.

Ostensibly a 'Christian' council, the WCC doctrinal statement says, it passes "no judgment upon the sincerity with which member churches accept" the WCC's basic 'confession' of Jesus Christ. In other words, NOT believing in Jesus is no barrier to membership in the WCC, something Paul called, "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." (2nd Timothy 3)

The modern European superstate traces its roots to the 1948 Benelux Treaty that inspired the modern revival of the old Roman Empire.

And finally, we return to Israel. In Leviticus 26:3, 7-8, the Bible says that the army of Israel would have a supernatural power to prevail during times of conflict. Leviticus says that 5 people would be able to chase away 100 people, and that 100 would be able to chase away 10,000.

On May 15, 1948, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded Israel. The combined populations of these countries was at least 20 million at the time, versus less than a million Israelis.

When the war was over, not only had Israel driven off the invaders, but she expanded her territory by over fifty percent. The 1967 war lasted only six days and left Israel in control of Jerusalem for the first time in 2000 years. The 1973 Yom Kippur War was over in a couple of weeks.

The Year 1948 marked the end of one Divine Countdown and the beginning of another. The first Divine Countdown dealt with the duration of Israel's Diaspora.

In Ezekiel 4:5-6, the prophet records the period determined by God as punishment for Israel's disobedience:
"For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year."

Babylon was later conquered by Cyrus in 539 BC. Cyrus allowed the Jews to leave Babylon and to return to their homeland. But, only a small number returned. The return had taken place sometime around 536 BC, 70 years after Judah lost independence to Babylon as Jeremiah predicted.

Because most of the exiles chose to stay in pagan Babylon rather than return to the Holy Land, the remaining 360 years of their punishment was multiplied by 7. The reason is explained in Bible's book of Leviticus. (Leviticus 26:18, 26:21, 26:24 and 26:28). In Leviticus, it says that if the people did not repent while being punished, the punishment would be multiplied by 7. And, by staying in pagan Babylon, most exiles were refusing to repent.

So, if you take the remaining 360 years of punishment and multiply by 7, you get 2,520 years. That is 2,520 Jewish lunar years. 2,520 years x the 360-day lunar calendar works out to 907,200 days. Divide that by 365 and you come up with 2485.479 years.

2,485.479 years from 536 BC brings us to the end of the first quarter of the year 1949 -- exactly one year AFTER Israel's restoration in 1948. But 1 BC and 1 AD were the SAME year, so the ACTUAL date on our calendar that Ezekiel predicted the restoration of Israel corresponds to late spring, 1948!

1948 -- the Year of the Countdown, counts down in BOTH directions. It counts down with staggering precision to the exact point in history when the fig tree would once again blossom.

That event triggered the Second Countdown -- the one that signals the end of the Church Age. It is somewhat less precise, for obvious reasons.

Jesus said no man would ever be able to calculate the exact day and time, but He did tell us we would know when 'it was near, even at the door', saying, "THIS generation shall not pass, until ALL be fulfilled."

The current Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, fought in the 1948 War of Independence. He is still around. And so are we. So the 'fig tree' generation has not yet passed from the scene.

And it won't before the Return of Christ. Which could be any time now.

Keep looking up!

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Tomorrow: What's so special about Israel?