Nearing Midnight In depth weekly commentary (Mar 9)

March 9

Iran's Exponential Nuclear Program

The never-ending concern over Iran's nuclear program has surged back into the headlines. A new report by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy says that Israel is seriously considering unilateral military action against Iran to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons.

The report noted that "Israelis see the option fading over the next one to two years, not only because of Iran's nuclear progress and dispersion of its program but also because improved Iranian air defenses, especially the expected delivery of the S-300 surface-to-air missile system from Russia, are seen by Israel seriously limiting its military options."

Another recent news report said that Iran now has enough low-enriched uranium to produce at least one nuclear weapon, and enough raw uranium to produce 30 nukes.

Despite all the turmoil from a recent parliamentary election, Israel’s leaders remain focused on the threat. This weekend, Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin told the Israeli cabinet that Iran had "crossed the technological threshold" and “hopes to exploit the dialogue with the West and Washington to advance toward the production of an atomic bomb."

The key to nuclear bomb production is the enrichment process, in which the isotope uranium-235 is separated from uranium-238 in centrifuges. Natural uranium is 99 percent U-238 and less than one percent U-235. Reactor grade fuel only needs to be 4 percent U-235, while weapons grade material must be purified to 90 percent.

Iran currently has 6,000 centrifuges enriching uranium, and it will soon finish installing another group of 3,000 centrifuges in the next few months. Tehran’s ultimate plan is to move towards large-scale uranium enrichment that will involve 54,000 centrifuges.

Now that Iran has a nuclear reactor in operation, it can also produce plutonium. The spent fuel rods from the reactor have the potential to yield enough plutonium for several atomic bombs. Despite being a nation rich in oil, Iran has decided to build several nuclear power plants. Years ago, I said this was evidence enough that the Iranians will use their so-called “peaceful energy program” to produce atomic weapons.

A huge problem with Iran's nuclear program is the lack of information. Many facilities in Iran have never been visited by nuclear inspectors. The intelligence community can only make best-guess assessments of when Iran will have the bomb. The Iranians may have thousands of centrifuges the West doesn't know about.

The world needs to realize that Iran's nuclear program is growing at an exponential rate. In a few months, it could become unstoppable as it gains the capability of producing dozens of bombs.

The U.S. nuclear program is a good example of how quickly arms production can accelerate: In 1945, after the two nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan, the next bomb was not ready until later in the month of August. By June of 1946, America had a stockpile of nine nuclear weapons. By 1949, we had 200 A-bombs. By 1952, our nuclear arsenal had grown to 2,422.

It's doubtful that Iran will achieve the ability to produce thousands of nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, Iran only needs a few nukes to destroy the state of Israel. Nearly half of the Jewish population lives in three urban areas – Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa.

Israel is very reluctant to launch an attack. Iran now has hundreds of conventional missiles that can reach Israel. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said they would target Israel's nuclear plant in a counter-attack. Hezbollah forces in south Lebanon or Syria might also be drawn into the conflict.

A surprise attack on Iran could be what isolates Israel in the last days. The Bible says that when the Antichrist turns against Israel, no other nation will come to its aid. If nations are angry with Israel now because she decided to defend herself against Gaza rocket strikes, I can’t imagine what will happen if Israel triggers a global oil crisis.

“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 of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city” (Zech. 14:2).

At some point, Israel's survival instinct will engage and its leaders will give the go-ahead for a strike. Benjamin Netanyahu is about to become Israel's next Prime Minister, and his hawkish stance on defense will certainly add to the drive for action.

-- Todd

End-Times Flood Alert!

Daniel the prophet posted the end-times alert that, I’m convinced, forewarned the end-of-age, birth-pang-like convulsions we are experiencing today. He likened these to a great flood that will gush toward the last generation occupying Planet Earth when the flood occurs: “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof [shall be] with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined” (Dan. 9:26).

Daniel prophesied the same thing the Lord Jesus prophesied when He answered his disciples' questions. “And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Matt. 24:1-2).

Both Daniel and the Lord were saying there was coming a specific time when the Temple would be completely destroyed. Daniel included the destruction of the city of Jerusalem in the prophecy. He prefaced that prophecy with the statement that first Messiah would be “cut off.” He then indicated an ongoing war that would run the course of human history. The end of that war, which was already determined (foreknown by Almighty God), would gush in flood-like fashion at the very end of that war.

Jesus, in His Olivet prophecy, after foretelling that the Temple would be absolutely leveled, went through the flood of events that will mark the time of the end. That flood, first predicted by Daniel, then given in detail as it would inundate Planet Earth by the Lord, is beginning to surge through our daily headlines, as we of Rapture Ready have persistently been examining through constant updating and analysis.

Since the time of the Roman Empire’s destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple in 70 A.D., following Christ’s crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and ascension, Satan’s war against mankind, against the Jew, against Jesus Christ, has been unceasing. The devil has tried every tactic, from subterfuge within the true Church, world-wide wars, false prophecies, and false teachings that have brought about increasing apostasy to subtle, then phenomenal movement of mankind back to Babel. And there is now the geometric progression toward globalization brought on by the economic crises that threaten to melt and meld national economies into one luciferian governance.

The G-20 meetings scheduled for April, and/or subsequent such world forums to find a common fiscal denominator that will give the world leaders elite the new world economic controls they covet, will likely open the floodgates of Daniel’s prophecy even wider. The United States of America’s role/fate–alone--in this on-rushing flood is a phenomenon to behold. Many of those of us who analyze and report on matters that we sense form potential end-of-the-age prophetic fulfillment stand as astounded as everyone else in consideration of the swiftness of America’s continuing economic decline. We have always put forth that America must lose its status as the world’s greatest superpower–that the U.S. is not mentioned in Bible prophecy. Thus, in order for prophecy to be fulfilled, America must disappear from its prominence, among the nation-states of the world.

At the same time, Israel, it is plain from what God’s Word foretells, must grow in prominence on the world stage, even if it is a prominence that casts an unfavorable light upon God’s chosen nation. Clearly, both things are taking place in a flood of daily news. America is on the decline, Israel’s prominence, in terms of its becoming a perceived stumbling block to world peace, is on the ascendance in world news headlines. Todd and I think one of the most immediate prophetic indicators to watch is the G-20 meetings. The advancement of America and the other key nations into building a new economic world order is key to how quickly the prophesied agglomerate that will bring to power the beast and his regime of Revelation 13:16-18 is developing.

That global arrangement is prophesied in the following:

“And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast” (Rev. 17:12-13).

The G-20 meetings won’t immediately eventuate in this prophetic arrangement. However, the globalist elite’s search for answers that will address the economic distress and perplexity among the nations will likely move mankind dramatically closer to the system described in the Revelation 17:12-13 prophecy.

Perhaps we are about to see flung wide open the floodgates that will unleash Daniel’s end-times torrent. That means that Jesus’ call to His people–the Church—to "Come up here!" might indeed be near.

--Terry