Is Donald Trump 'the Last Trump' Before Jesus Christ's Return?

Is Donald Trump 'the Last Trump' Before Jesus Christ's Return?

   

Is Donald Trump specifically named in the New Testament prophecies about the end times? Some are speculating that the new U.S. president is "the last trump" that is mentioned in the Bible and that his geopolitical moves are heralding the end times. But one biblical expert says not so fast.

Dr. Samuel Lamerson, professor of New Testament and president of Florida's Knox Theological Seminary, told The Christian Post that such analysis is "ridiculous."

"First of all, it only works in the English language. The New Testament was written in Greek. Second of all, it only works in the King James Version and some other older translations. Many other translations will have 'trumpet' instead of 'trump,'" Lamerson explained.

Historian David Montaigne, who has written End Times and 2019, Antichrist 2016-2019, and The Two Witnesses of Revelation, pointed to two Bible passages in an online post last year that refer to "trump:"

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1 Thessalonians 4:16 reads: "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first."

I Corinthians 15:52 states: "Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

Montaigne noted that it is possible to look into such verses and explore what they might be saying about God's plans concerning Trump.

"I am not suggesting that Donald Trump absolutely *IS* the last trump – but since the LAST TRUMP is one of the most clear and final signs in end times prophecy, can we overlook the possibility that a presidential candidate named Trump is being used as a sign by God?" he posed.

Rejecting the argument, Lamerson told CP that he doubts that any New Testament scholar with legitimate credentials would give weight to such reading of prophecy.

"It's a textbook example of how not to read the text," Lamerson stressed. "It's what we would call an exegetical fallacy.

"These ideas that somehow the current president is named in the New Testament is the sort of thing that I teach my students to avoid at all costs."

Lamerson pointed out that this kind of discussion took place from Barack Obama's presidency all the way back to Abraham Lincoln.

"I think that often people forget that the book of Revelation was written 2,000 years ago," he said. The notion that what the Scripture says applies to the shape of the political world today "is to totally misunderstand what exactly is going on there," he added.

Other end times prophets have focused on the wider impact of Trump's presidency so far, such ashis criticism of the European Union, particularly when it comes to allowing millions of refugees to enter its territory.

Author and commentator Erika Grey, who analyzes Israel, the U.S., Russia, and other major players in geopolitics today and their role in biblical prophecy, has linked Trump's opposition to the EU to factors that could bring about the end times.

While previous U.S. administrations all embraced the EU, Trump has taken the opposite stance, Grey noted, and aligned himself with Britain's Nigel Farage of the UKIP party, who successfully oversaw Brexit, or Britain voting to leave the EU.

"In end time Bible Prophecy we know that the EU is going to become the greatest most powerful world empire to have ever existed and it is going to be an economic powerhouse," she wrote on her website.

"Despite BREXIT and Donald Trump in Bible Prophecy the EU is still going to move forward despite taking these bumps. With Donald Trump as president there is a new sheriff in town and the era of EU, US relations has come to an end, but with the new president will come a geopolitical shift and the EU will continue to move forward even to the surprise of some EU officials."

People have long been making predictions about U.S. presidents playing a part in end times prophecy, Lamerson noted, and they have all turned out to be wrong.

"I suppose sooner or later, just by pure luck, somebody is going to be right," the Knox Theological Seminary president commented. "But it will not be because they have carefully understood the text. One of the things about biblical prophecy is that often, it needs to be fulfilled before we can really understand it. It's intentionally vague. And often the fulfillment is much better than what we could have ever expected."

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Morgan Freeman Hears 'Extraordinary' 9/11 Survival Story As He Searches For Proof Of God

Morgan Freeman Hears 'Extraordinary' 9/11 Survival Story As He Searches For Proof Of God

Academy award winning actor Morgan Freeman has met with a 9/11 survivor in a search for "proof of God", calling the survivor's story "extraordinary".

Concluding season two of the National Geographic's The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, the actor this time visited New York City to explore the possibility of the proof of God, the Christian Post reports.

Freeman reflected on how distracting life in the city can be, and how in contrast to previous generations, many today are consumed with looking down at their screens.

Freeman said in his introduction: "But even in our modern world we still share something with our ancestors, that is the desire to find proof that God exists. Have we cut God out of our modern lives? Or are there special moments when God breaks through and makes his presence known?"

Freeman then met with Sujo John, a committed Christian who claims that he felt God's presence with him on September 11, 2001, and that it saved his life.

John and his preganant wife both worked at the Twin Towers at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. John was on the 81^st floor of the north tower when the planes hit the towers, but managed to make it out alive. John immediately ran for the south tower to find his wife, but it was then that the towers collapsed.

"As the building is collapsing there is people with me and I'm huddled with them. I felt God speak to me in a very still voice, I felt God say, 'It's going to be OK,'" John told Freeman.

Freeman then asked, "You heard the voice of God? [He] spoke to you?"

John responds, "I did not hear God speak to me in an audible way but I felt God's inner voice speak to me and ask people to pray with me."

John said that he then called on the name of Jesus and he and others prayed as falling debris came down on them. John was stuck beneath the rubble, until he saw a red light which then enabled him to crawl out from beneath the wreckage. Those he has been with did not survive, and John expected the same of his pregnant wife.

Yet John suddenly received a phone call, from his wife. She asked: "Babe, are you alive?"

"So we're looking at a miracle right here," said Freeman.

"Yes, and it was God that preserved and saved my life. It's proof that there is a God," said John, who tells more of his story in the video below.

Freeman then asked why God hadn't saved everyone on that day.

John said: "Life on earth is such that no one is guaranteed today or tomorrow. Every human being on this earth will face death.

"But here's what I know from my experience. When you walk with God and go through the storms of life you have this peace in the presence of God. So if you carry the presence of God, even if it's going to be death, it's going to be ok."

Concluding, Freeman reflected on his meeting with John: "Sujo John's survival is extraordinary. Some say it's miraculous. What's most remarkable to me is that Sujo felt the unmistakable presence of God even while death and destruction were all around him."

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Hacksaw Ridge Isn't Just An Explicitly Christian Film, It's Also A Deserved Oscar Nominee

Hacksaw Ridge Isn't Just An Explicitly Christian Film, It's Also A Deserved Oscar Nominee

Lionsgate

Hacksaw Ridge won't win Best Picture at the Oscars next month, but its deserved presence on the shortlist represents something of a redemption story for director Mel Gibson. Ten years ago, his reputation was in tatters after an infamous drink-driving incident in which he reportedly made antisemitic remarks. After a long, deserved spell in the wilderness, during which he was effectively black-listed in Hollywood, Hacksaw Ridge represents his return to mainstream cinema, and perhaps also his forgiveness by the film community.

Fittingly, the movie tells its own remarkable story of redemption. Set around one of the most important battles in World War Two, Hacksaw Ridge is a biopic of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), a Christian pacifist whose religious beliefs wouldn't allow him to fire or even hold a gun in battle. Yet unlike most conscientious objectors, Doss also felt compelled to enlist and join the fight as a medic – an idea which simply didn't align with military thinking at the time.

The film is very much a story in two very differently-themed halves. In the first, we see something of the life he leaves behind, including his courtship of wife Dorothy (Teresa Palmer), and then his attempt to make it through basic training without being thrown out of the army. At first he's accepted by his fellow enlistees, but when Drill Sergeant Howell (Vince Vaughan, in a brilliant piece of stunt-casting) informs them of Doss' pacifism, they quickly turn him into an outcast. Yet despite the soldiers trying to bully him out, and the officers trying to court-martial him out, Doss receives blessing to "run head-first into the hellfire of battle without a single weapon to protect him".

True to the word of the general who speaks that line, the second half of the story takes place in a pretty-much literal hell on earth. The Ridge of the title represents an almost-unconquerable Japanese stronghold, and as the Americans try to take it through repeated advances, Doss and his fellow medics are kept horrifically busy. Unfazed by the waking nightmare around him, Doss continually prays to God to help him rescue "one more... just one more" from the battlefield. As the casualties pile up, the apparent religious nut, rejected by his peers, slowly writes himself into US military history.

Gibson, who has also been nominated for an Oscar, does a tremendous job behind the camera, proficiently delivering tender romance, tense drama, and epic spectacle in the film's various component parts. The slightly uneven pacing is not surprising given the episodic structure, but the story never fails to engage throughout. We really care about what happens to Doss, mainly due to Garfield's mesmerising portrayal of an apparently simple man who is more complex than anyone gives him credit for. It's a stunning performance, and rivals any of the others on the Best Actor shortlist.

The film takes an extremely sympathetic view of faith, and certainly makes space for divine intervention, but unlike Martin Scorsese's recent Silence (which notably only received a single Oscar nomination), it doesn't bash you over the head with theological content. For me, Hacksaw Ridge presents the most positive and attractive portrayal of Christianity that I've seen on film. Faith is seen not only as a route to good personal morality, but also as a dynamic driving-force for good. Doss is propelled by his faith to perform extraordinary feats of courage, all while holding to counter-cultural principles about violence and behaviour. That's not to say that Christianity is seen simply as a great worldview; God himself is also seen as present and powerful in assisting Doss in literal miracles.

At one pivotal moment in the story, an officer tells Private Doss: "No-one ever won a war by dying for it." That line might be a little on-the-nose for some, but as Doss sets about to disprove it, the exposure of that flawed thinking creates a beautiful case for the Way of Jesus. Ridiculed by all those around him at first, Doss' worldview begins to make more and more sense in the context of a world gone mad and at war.

Having created The Passion of the Christ, and now said to be working on a Resurrection-based sequel, no-one in the world today is making a better case for the truth of Christianity – and on such a large scale – than Mel Gibson. But what's really remarkable about Hacksaw Ridge is that not only does it act as an awesome piece of pre-evangelism, but it's also a great film. It might not have the joyous escapism of La La Land or the dramatic oomph of Manchester by the Sea, but it is alternately moving and spectacular, and absolutely deserves to be recognised among the films of the year; faith-based film-making finally leading the way in art, instead of simply trying to replicate it.

Director Mel Gibson accepts the Hollywood Director Award for "Hacksaw Ridge" as cast members Andrew Garfield (L) and Vince Vaughn look on at the Hollywood Film Awards in Beverly Hills, CaliforniaReuters

It's important to be aware of our own biases when we're engaging with apparently faith-affirming media like this. Yet I believe Desmond Doss' story stands above them. Here was a man who truly understood what it was to live out his faith, and therefore to provide a witness to the work of God within him. Gibson has successfully magnified that witness to a global audience, and in a way that invites people to sympathise with Doss' faith, rather than alienating them because of it. Given where he was a decade ago, that's quite a redemption story.

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From Violent Witchcraft To Christ: Young Man's True Story Of Transformation

From Violent Witchcraft To Christ: Young Man's True Story Of Transformation

 

Emmanuel used to be part of a violent witchcraft gang. His life was transformed through the work of the Bible Society.Bible Society

A young man has shared of how his life was transformed from one of violent activity in a witchcraft gang to living a new life in relationship with Jesus.

Emmanuel, aged 16, from Congo Brazzaville was once lured into a violent witchcraft gang. At his initiation Emmanuel had to hold a venomous snake and chant strange prayers whilst other gang members cut into his arms "to make him strong," the Bible Society reports.

Emmanuel had been sent to an orphanage at age nine when his mother was too sick with AIDS to support him. At the orphanage Emmanuel was vulnerable and needed somewhere to belong. He was lured into a gang that promised magic powers and super strength found through special mantras and spells.

After initiation, Emmanuel was soon groomed into being a criminal. He was taught how to pickpocket and steal from street stalls. He began drinking and became increasingly violent. As the Bible Society said, "he'd beat up anyone if they had a disagreement."

Everything changed when Emmanuel met Jesus. The Bible Society visited his orphanage to run the Good Samaritan programme. The course uses the famous Biblical parable and interactive workshops to teach young people social values and how to be a "loving caring citizen".

At first Emmanuel was wary of the programme, and watched from the back, listening but not participating. Over time though, he heard more about Jesus, and began to engage more until his life was changed.

"The Good Samaritan showed me how to live differently" says 16 year-old Emmanuel.

"Now my life is very different," he says.

Emmanuel has been motivated by the parable of the Good Samaritan to help more at his orphanage.Bible Society

"I went to a pastor and talked to him about the things I had been doing. I started praying and reading my Bible."

Emmanuel has now forgone his life of crime. He has cut ties with the witchcraft gang, and prays for them instead. He helps out with chores at the orphanage, teaches other young orphans football skills and serves as a mentor. He now studies hard at school, and hopes to become an accountant. 

"I want to tell young people like me to avoid bad things and to accept Jesus Christ." Emmanuel says.

"I have done bad things. I have stolen from people and hurt people. But now I respect people because of Jesus."

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Church Whose Pastor Was Caught Sleeping With Married Congregant Says 'We're Prayerful'

Church Whose Pastor Was Caught Sleeping With Married Congregant Says 'We're Prayerful'

   

Despite a firestorm of media reporting on his conduct, the congregation of a Tallahassee, Florida, pastor who was forced to flee naked after he was caught having sex with a parishioner's wife are standing by their pastor but said they are "prayerful" about the situation.

In a defensive conversation with The Christian Post Wednesday about Simmons remaining as pastor at the church, a female representative said: "We're not at liberty to discuss that right now and we're prayerful about the situation."

Just two Fridays ago on Jan. 17, according to the Tallahassee Police Department, the Rev. O. Jermaine Simmons Sr., 37, pastor of the popular Jacob Chapel Baptist Church was caught in bed with Claynisha Stephens, 34, by the woman's husband, Benjamin Stephens III. Both Claynisha and Benjamin are his parishioners.

The woman's shocked husband quickly reached for a small handgun forcing the frightened pastor to flee without his clothes.

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Two days later, Pastor Simmons was back in the pulpit declaring to his congregation that God and his wife had already forgiven him for his infidelity and he had no plans to vacate his position at the helm of his church.

"What I want from God I've already received it and that's His forgiveness. What I am asking of our members is something I may or may not get and that is your prayers. And I'm asking for your forgiveness," Simmons said as his congregation said "amen" and gave him a standing ovation.

"I was reminded that I can't run through this. And I got somebody who said, and I believe her, that she's gonna walk with me," Simmons added, apparently referring to his supportive wife and mother of his son.

He then declared that his sin should not prevent him from doing the Lord's work.

He said he will not be deterred from God's work regardless of what the public or dissenting members of his congregation might think of his decision to remain at the helm of his church.

"If I stop preaching, if I stop doing what the Lord called me to do over this, it presupposes that I was qualified to do it in the first place. If I quit, if I walk away over this, it presupposes that I deserved to preach last Sunday when there was no scandal. I was wretch [inaudible] I'm a work in progress now but what the Lord allows. We will move forward," he reasoned with his congregation. "I'll never be sorry enough for some people ... I don't have the energy for that right now. But I have to be clear that God is pushing us forward. Pushing us forward."

Simmons' speedy pardon of his behavior, however, has continued to attract strong rebuke from the public online who overwhelmingly believe he needs to step aside for biblical restoration.

"As a former pastor, this man needs to resign. He may have received forgiveness but that doesn't mean that there are no consequences," said Sarah Butler Laudadio. "A murderer may receive forgiveness but that doesn't change the fact that they have to pay for the crime with life in prison or loss of their own life. I'm not saying he can never pastor again, but if he has issues this way, it is not the right career choice for him.

"... according to God's word, he needs to step down for a time of correction and restoration by those he makes himself accountable to at the very least. He has disqualified himself from the Biblical requirements of leadership and as such should not be preaching anything to anybody right now," she added.

Claynisha Stephens, the parishioner who was caught sleeping with Simmons, had previously threatened to press charges against her husband but as of Thursday afternoon, officials at the Leon County Court in Tallahassee told CP that there were no charges against her husband on record.

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‘Pastor’ Caught in Adultery With Member’s Wife, Fleeing Naked Won’t Resign Since He’s ‘Already’ Forgiven

‘Pastor’ Caught in Adultery With Member’s Wife, Fleeing Naked Won’t Resign Since He’s ‘Already’ Forgiven

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The leader of a popular congregation in Florida is refusing to resign after being caught in bed with a member’s wife—fleeing naked—as he states that he has “already received” God’s forgiveness.

“What I want from God I’ve already received it and that’s His forgiveness,” O. Jermaine Simmons, pastor of Jacob Chapel Baptist Church in Tallahassee, told his congregation on Jan. 22, just days after the incident.

“What I am asking of our members is something I may or may not get, and that is your prayers. And I’m asking for your forgiveness,” he continued, receiving an “amen” from those gathered, as well as a standing ovation.

Simmons, who is married, said that he was sorry that his members had to try to defend him, and that acknowledged that sin cannot be defended. But he contended that he cannot step down from preaching because it will appear like his worthiness to serve as a pastor is based on his performance.

“I have to be clear that God is pushing us forward,” he stated. “If I stop preaching, if I stop doing what the Lord called me to do over this, it presupposes that I was qualified to do it in the first place. Does that make sense? If I quit, if I walk away over this it presupposes that I deserved to preach last Sunday when there was no sin.”

According to reports, the incident occurred on Jan. 17 with member Claynisha Stephens, 34, who attends Jacob Chapel with her husband Benjamin Stephens III. Stephens told police that she had been in a relationship with Simmons since October.

That day, Simmons went to Stephens’ house to “talk over starting a business, patents and trademarks, and providing less fortunate kids with clothes and shoes.” But during the get-together, the two went to Stephens’ daughter’s room to have sex.

In the meantime, Stephens’ husband came home unexpectedly and found his pastor in bed with his wife. He grabbed a gun and yelled “I’m going to kill him,” according to reports.

Simmons fled the couple’s home naked, and Stephens called the police. Her husband took Simmons’ clothes and belongings and threatened to go to the church about the matter, as well as to expose the pastor on Facebook.

However, in negotiations with police, he agreed to arrange for the return of Simmons’ possessions and surrendered his gun to the NAACP.

While the congregation is largely supportive of Simmons’ refusal to resign, others find the situation deeply concerning.

“He made his sexual sin of adultery into a sermon. Yes, yes they say. … Get out of the pulpit, seek counseling, and be under church discipline. This is Scriptural reconciliation,” one commenter remarked. “If he remains in his position without any consequences, he will continue to [commit sin with] other men’s wives and it will spread throughout the church. He is only sorry he got caught. The show must go on.”

“He said if he stops preaching over this it presupposes that last Sunday he was okay to preach when there was no sin. What is he talking about? The man’s wife said they had been getting together … for months,” another noted. “It is the right thing to do to openly apologize if you truly meant it, but as far as preaching he needs to be sat down for a while. … He is fortunate that he didn’t lose his life that day.”

Simmons was just about to hold a signing of his new book “I Need a Man,” which “offers a fresh perspective on the issues of godly manhood and mentoring.”

1 Corinthians 9:27 reads, “But I subdue my body and I enslave it, lest I who have preached to others would be disqualified myself.”

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ISIS Chops Off Hands Of 2 Kids In Front Of Their Families For Refusing Order To Kill Captives

ISIS Chops Off Hands Of 2 Kids In Front Of Their Families For Refusing Order To Kill Captives

Three boys aim their rifles in this screenshot from a Jan. 8, 2017 ISIS propaganda video showing these 'Cubs of the Caliphate' executing three men for allegedly spying for Kurdish forces in Syria.(Twitter/Terror_Monitor)

They knew they would be severely punished for refusing to obey orders. Despite this, two child soldiers of the Islamic State (ISIS) bravely dared to refuse a direct order from their superiors for them to carry out the execution of two civilian captives.

The punishment for disobedience could be considered "lenient" in ISIS terms—the two loss only their hands, not their heads.

In a sketchy report with an accompanying photo released on Thursday, Iraqi News said "members of the Islamic State terrorist group amputated the hands of two children, for refusing to carry out the execution sentence on two civilians in front of their families."

Citing a local source, the Iraqi online news outlet said the two children who were meted the hand amputation punishment were aged 10 and 12 years old.

They were part of a group of children based in ISIS camps in Nineveh, Iraq, the report said.

These "Cubs of the Caliphate" have been featured in ISIS propaganda videos carrying out executions of the jihadist group's captives.

In December 2016, an apprehended would-be suicide bomber described how the ISIS leadership is training children to fill the group's depleted ranks as their fighters come under relentless attacks from Iraqi and other coalition forces.

The 15-year-old Iraqi boy named Mahmoud Ahmed had second thoughts in carrying out a suicide mission in Kirkuk, Iraq in August last year. He was subsequently arrested by Kurdish forces.

Ahmed confessed that he was one of dozens of other children who were being indoctrinated in jihadist doctrine and trained as young warriors.

Kurdish intelligence officials said there are thousands of other children across Iraq and Syria who are being trained by ISIS to fight and carry out suicide attacks. Some of the children are as young as nine years old, the officials added.

One of the officials said ISIS is using child soldiers because they are harder to detect by enemy forces and because they are also easily duped.

In November 2016, ISIS released a video showing children and pensioners being forced to carry out executions of prisoners.

The video also showed ISIS leaders crucifying alleged traitors in a bid to terrorise the remaining population under their control.

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