Countdown 2 Eternity

Intro Voiceover: Hey, welcome to Countdown to Eternity with Pastors James Kaddis and Andy Woods. It’s a weekly radio ministry from Calvary Chapel Signal Hill. James and Andy examine current events and connect what’s going on in our world to Bible prophecy. Let’s lean in and listen.

James Kaddis: Well, hello, my dear brothers and sisters. I want to welcome you to another episode of Countdown to Eternity. I am with the great Andy Woods, and we are in a state of affairs around the world that is unique. I don't know where to start. We're watching Saudi Arabia do some unbelievable things. This is on the heels of Marco Rubio giving remarks at the Munich Security Conference that were also unbelievable.

In many ways for the better, and then we are getting word that right now in the tri-state area in Syria, Al-Tanf base is now being evacuated by the United States military only to give it to Al-Jolani of HTS in Syria. There’s a lot to say about that, but that’s not the gist of all of the things that are going on. We’re going to talk about Babylon and a few other things that are just mind-boggling. So we’re going to have a great conversation today. First and foremost, let’s start with my dear friend Andy. How are you doing, brother?

Andy Woods: Oh James, I’m doing great. Getting ready for a prophecy conference this week out here that we’re hosting. It’ll be our fifth annual prophecy conference. It’s not too late for people to come and register. Just go to the Sugarland Bible Church website, slbc.org. It starts Friday, all day Saturday. I invite people to stick around as many of our conference speakers will be presenting during our normal service times at Sugarland Bible Church on Sunday morning.

James Kaddis: Tell some of the folks who the conference speakers are because I know these conferences are always amazing. A lot of people come back excited for what they learned. There’s always good stuff. Also, are you going to be streaming any of it? Maybe you can give us some detail on that.

Andy Woods: We are streaming from the Sugarland Bible Church website, YouTube channel, Andy Woods Ministries YouTube channel, Facebook page, and Sugarland Bible Church Facebook page. Some of the speakers are names like Patrick Wood and Alex Newman. These are both experts on the New World Order and transhumanism.

Dr. Paul Wilkinson is one of the best guys on Zionism and whether Zionism is biblical. He’s a big critic of so-called Christian Palestinianism. So he’s going to be one of the presenters. Russ Miller is a great guy on the whole creationist issue. I’m one of the speakers. I’m going to be doing an interview with Melissa Herre from the Mike Lindell Recovery Network. And of course, Olivier Melnick, who is an expert on analyzing and giving us up-to-date stuff on the whole subject of anti-Semitism.

James Kaddis: You've got a great lineup, bro. That’s going to be really, really good. People who go there are going to get equipped. It’s going to be a great time. If you cannot be in Texas, then you can go watch online, which is great. We want the body of Christ to be equipped. We want the world to be aware that God has given a way out of hell. I think that there’s a lot there and that conference is going to be awesome for it. My understanding is you're doing some giveaways and things too, right?

Andy Woods: Lots of raffles, book giveaways. If it gets here on time, we’ve got a special book by a guy named James Kaddis that he has generously donated, his Revelation commentary, which is part one. You got up to chapter 10, so you’re almost halfway there.

James Kaddis: Part two we think is going to be released around June or July of this year. We’re already working on it. I’ll probably be done with the first four chapters in the next couple of weeks. We’ve gotten good reviews from a lot of people on the book so far, and we think that God is using it.

Andy Woods: It’s going to be a great conference, and we hope people will check it out.

James Kaddis: Awesome. So bro, what’s happening? There’s so much to talk about. We could talk about what’s happening in Saudi Arabia. We could talk about some of the pivots that we’re watching right now along the coast of the African Horn. Oman is a place for discussion. Geneva is a place for discussion with what’s going on with Iran. But Babylon is lingering right now, looming. Let's say looming is the better word. What are some of the things that you’ve got on your radar that you’re looking at?

Andy Woods: I’m fortunate where people from all over the world send me articles. I just got a glut of them in from the whole subject matter of Babylon. Here’s a few headlines. This one says, "Iraqi Ports Authority discuss maritime and land connectivity with Oman joining the development road." Here is another one that says, "In the presence of the director of the general of ports, the business forum conference explores opportunities for the development road and Al-Faw Grand Port with German companies."

These are just fresh, hot-off-the-press type articles. Here’s another one that says, "Iraqi Ports Authority discuss maritime and land connectivity with Oman." I may have given that one to you a little earlier. But I think people are getting the gist. It’s literally one article after another dealing with the whole subject of Babylon. Here’s another one that comes from NewArab.com. It says, "Iraq's new offshore pipeline to dramatically boost oil exports."

The reason these things are so interesting to me is for the longest time people have said, "Oh come on, you can't take Babylon in Revelation 17 and 18 at face value." Even though the word is used 300 times in the Bible, and it always means literal Babylon. It must be some kind of symbol for something else. But the truth of the matter is Babylon every time it’s used in the Bible is a technical word and it always refers to that city 58 miles south of Baghdad, situated in between the Euphrates and the Tigris in modern-day Iraq.

We’ve always anticipated that some way, somehow that city has to arise to economic significance and become a maritime city, thereby fulfilling Revelation 17 and 18 and countless other prophecies which point to those chapters. Isaiah 13 and 14, Jeremiah 50 and 51, Zechariah chapter five, verses five through 11. In fact, if people would just go home today after this broadcast and read Zechariah five, verses five through 11, Isaiah 13 and 14, Jeremiah 50 and 51, and Revelation 17 and 18, and don't bring any hidden magic to the text. Just read them for what they say.

People will see exactly what it is we’ve been yapping about for so long. What is described in those chapters is a destruction of a city that’s never happened in world history. If God's word means what it says and says what it means, Babylon has to be restored to life and brought back to a place of prominence so she can fulfill her end-times role. All of these headlines that I just read seem to give an indication that we’re watching the stage set for that very reality.

James Kaddis: Al-Faw got mentioned again, which is of unique interest to me because of what they're building there in Southern Iraq. It’s remarkable because there’s a lot of dynamics that are contributing to why that area is going to become such a critical component for trade, especially as it relates to what we know the Bible says concerning Babylon. We have the Strait of Hormuz that now Iran is doing military exercises on. They’re trying to flex. You’ve got the United States of America who's basically saying we're not going to let it happen.

You’ve got Saudi Arabia who's now exploring the possibility of having conversations with Turkey, which in and of itself is a remarkable picture. I think that also relates to them being willing to forgo the dynamic problem that exists by the Islamic Brotherhood and the problem that they’re trying to solve with their economic issues. Then on top of that, you’ve got even a bigger issue where India-Pakistan may come into play where if it works out the way that Saudi Arabia wants it to work out, it could become very lucrative for them.

Not to mention the fact that you still have active building going on immediately north of this area of Al-Faw, which of course is going to be Babylon as we understand it, literal Babylon. This alternative land bridge mechanism that we’ve been describing that so many people have said is the third rail of the geopolitical infrastructure in Iraq is now being completely looked at from the perspective of openly viable. Last week, the United States withdrew from Al-Tanf, which by the way is a huge deal.

By them doing that, it’s not symbolic. It’s not some small thing. It is a big deal. You’re talking about a 55-kilometer deconfliction zone that’s in this tri-state area. It affects Iraq, it affects Iran, it affects Syria, it affects Jordan and Israel for that matter. The United States is describing this as an orderly retreat, something that they planned, and they’re positioning themselves now in Jordan as they plan to eventually pull away.

Then you’ve got Muhammad Al-Jolani, who now is ruling HTS and has brought his people in there. That doesn't even begin to deal with the problem of the Kurds and the SDA, which Damascus is trying to integrate into their government, which of course would greatly contribute to the border issues that we know had to be solidified in order for there to exist a southern city in Iraq that we know as Babylon, especially as it relates to the land bridge or the corridor that people are talking about that opens up the tool by which things become persuaded, and that’s trade. All of this is happening and I’m mind-boggled by it. I know what the Bible says, but it’s pretty amazing when you think about it.

Andy Woods: I keep getting ready for so-called prophecy teachers who have been telling us that Babylon is Rome, Babylon is the United States. They’ve been telling this for ages and some of them are out there still talking this way. I keep waiting for them to read the paper and switch their view, but they don't. They seem to get more recalcitrant. I think that’s a dangerous place to be. We always want to be humble and pliable. We don't want to get our view of the scripture from the headlines.

If the argument is Babylon is not Babylon because there’s nothing but desert there and it’s not an economically viable city and it’s not a maritime city, we’re getting to the point where that argument is just not going to make any sense anymore because the Lord is moving everything around to make sure that that doesn't happen. I, of course, like to analogize this to Israel. People for a long time, you go back to Mark Twain days, who went over to that part of the world in 1867.

He wrote about it in his book *Innocents Abroad*. He said there’s nothing here but a barren expanse. There’s no greenery, there’s no shrubbery, there’s no life here. He said the soil is rich, but other than that there’s no economic viability here. These are quotes you never hear, by the way, because the news wants us to believe that the Israelis threw out a thriving indigenous population known as the Palestinians, and of course that whole thing is a myth. So they suppress the Mark Twain and others type quotes.

For a long time people said Israel can't mean Israel, Jerusalem can't mean Jerusalem in Bible prophecy. And yet, who in their right mind would say something like that today? 1948 is D-Day for that method of interpretation. And the same phenomenon is happening right now with Babylon. I’m waiting for all these people that are allegorists in those chapters, Revelation 17 and 18, to change their views and become public about it and maybe offer some kind of apology, but they don't do that. They seem to get more recalcitrant.

James Kaddis: I think there’s a bigger component here and that’s the spiritual. I think that the enemy is blinding many people's hearts. That’s what happens. And then the worst part about the whole Bible prophecy picture that you’re creating is the detriment that exists when you have people carrying this function of sensationalism tied directly to a specific passage that has no context. It creates this disbursement of, as some people would call it, "hopium" in something that is very real but is not generally understood because of the ignorance that they’ve chosen to give themselves to.

In this area of Bible prophecy, we live in a world of lazy men. We live in a world of people who aren't studying, who aren't looking at things, who are not willing to make the connections because they simply don't understand the connections. They say the same things, but they’re not doing what they’re doing. I’ve always believed this: pastors who study the word and do it effectively and understand Bible prophecy should be the best geopolitical analysts in the world. I really believe that.

But for whatever reason, we’re not seeing it, and instead, geopolitics is the thing that they throw in the back and they completely ignore while they create their own fictitious worlds in calling the United States the Lions of Tarshish and all the other nonsense that people say. No, stop. You’re not willing to study the Bible and in your lack of willingness to study the Bible, you’re studying sensationalism in its place because you know that’s the very thing that’s going to get brought to the table so that people can believe the out-of-context lie that you’re providing. While at the same time, the real world that the Bible is talking about is formulating in front of our very eyes. If you want something sensational, just go look at that.

Andy Woods: I was in a church a number of years ago as a new Christian, and something had just hit the newspapers at that time. This would go back to the 80s relative to Mark of the Beast technology. I said to one of my guys discipling me, "Why isn't Pastor So-and-So screaming and yelling about this at the top of his lungs?" As a new Christian, I didn't understand how this could hit the paper and the pulpit could be silent. That was back in the 1980s, and that scenario that I’m describing here has gotten worse and worse.

There’s just a handful of pastors like yourself, like myself, and others that want to bring all of this stuff into teaching and talk about these things publicly. I would think that trend would get better as the world situation continues to move in the direction that it’s moving in, but it isn't. The pulpit of the average church gets quieter and quieter, and I don't quite frankly totally understand why because they’re saying to the world that we’re not relevant. We’re going to talk about whatever topic, but we’re not going to talk about this, which is the elephant in the room.

James Kaddis: There are a lot of things that actually drive it. The first thing that tends to drive it is, like I said, laziness. People don't want to study. The other thing that drives it is pastors just don't want to be considered crazy. It’s a disease that develops. You have a large audience and you begin to develop a group of people that follow you meaningfully. There’s a dynamic that takes place in your heart where although you might say you don't really care what people think, there’s always this thing inside of your mind that thinks you really care about what people think about you.

If you allow that to become one of the overwhelming thoughts, it influences how you make representations to people. The problem is we lose sight of how serious the current state of affairs are, and as a result, we lose the edge that God wants us to have when we talk about this stuff. And it’s a big deal.

Andy Woods: One of my former professors, someone contacted them and said, "What do you think about Andy Woods?" And the guy said, "Well, there’s issues with Andy Woods." You hear that and part of me wants to suck up to a former professor. I want them to approve of me. But the truth of the matter is the Bema Seat is soon. I’m going to stand before the Lord, and he’s going to ask me, "I gave you a lot of truth. What did you do with it?" For such a time as this, you have to become more respectful towards that than what some worldly professor that is entrenched in academia thinks about you.

Most of my professors have a lot of good things to say about me. But there’s that handful that are kind of influenced by European thought, and they just would not do what it is you’re doing relative to Bible prophecy because they’re trying so hard to fit in with the crowd. Whose accolade do I want? Do I want the theological applause of the academia in our world, or do I want the Lord's applause? These guys are really good at name-calling: fundamentalist, right-wing zealot, reactionary, knee-jerk fundamentalist, date setter. So many of my friends and colleagues will cower to that and they will just kind of shy away from truth because they are afraid of being called some kind of name. It’s like a person that won't criticize Islam because they’re afraid of being called an Islamophobe. Well, the Lord is going to evaluate you very soon. What are you more afraid of?

James Kaddis: None of these people that you’re talking about are needle-movers. None of these people are actually making a real difference and that’s the sad part about it. You can go hang out in your little academia corner with your nose up, but the reality of it is you’re not taking what God has given you—the talent, the wisdom, the intellect—to actually bring it into a place of practicality that actually makes a difference.

Israel is the nation that God promised it would be. It is back and in business. The church doesn't replace Israel. We are looking at real Babylon beginning to formulate in modern-day Iraq. We are watching the Ezekiel 38 alliances begin to develop in ways that are pretty remarkable. We’re watching a temporary peace around the Middle East happen that we know will be the predecessor to the condition that we know must exist in order for the attack to take place that we read about that Gog leads, accompanying all the nations that are in Magog as well as Persia and all the other countries.

And it’s becoming more and more obvious. As a matter of fact, we’re even looking at a new Europe beginning to develop that deeply reflects what we understand and know to be the New World Order that’s driven by the mechanics of globalists that we have come to expect to be around because they will be the one that will yield their powers to the Antichrist. How in the world can it be ignored?

Andy Woods: You throw into the mix the push towards global governance, technocracy, artificial intelligence, and talking statues, all preparatory for the Mark of the Beast system. You throw into the mix the surveillance society. You throw into the mix this perpetual cry from the "one worlders" to relinquish national sovereignty to some kind of transnational government to solve crises for us. I call those kind of tangential signs that are coming into existence around the central sign. The central sign is Israel. In Ezekiel 38:12, God calls Israel the center of the nations.

When you look at that word in Hebrew, it’s the word for navel or belly button, which is the center of the body. So just as the belly button is the center of the body, Israel is the center of the nations. Israel is the centerpiece of everything that God will do in the end times. These other signs, as important as they are, need to be understood against the navel or the belly button, which is Israel. All of this is so transactional to them, yet they don't see the spiritual value.

James Kaddis: It’s all fundamentally predicated upon the spiritual. Colossians talks about it. It’s all throughout the scriptures. But it is interesting to see where it’s all going and how it’s literally undeniable. I feel privileged. I feel honored that we get to see all of this. This is something that in our lifetimes, especially early on studying this stuff, that we thought we’d never see. And look at how it’s just all happened in the last five or six years.

Andy Woods: Even what you said there about the abomination of desolation. Just think about that for a minute. Jesus says in Matthew 24, around verse 15 and following, "When you see the abomination that causes desolation, let the Jews living in Judea flee to the mountains." So my question is how could the Jews living in Judea see the abomination of desolation which takes place in the most holy place of the rebuilt Jewish temple? Even that prophecy would never make sense to prior generations. Boy, we sure understand it now with cameras and satellite television and cell phones. You can see how the Jews living in Judea would see what’s happening inside the temple. That’s just one example of many.

James Kaddis: Man, is that true. There’s so much to be said about that. And even Jesus said it. He actually says, "As Daniel the prophet said." Like, it’s all in front of us. We’re watching it. Okay, we’re out of time. I wanted to give you the last word. I also wanted you to share again the information on the prophecy conference coming up, and then we’ll wrap it up.

Andy Woods: It says there concerning Daniel, "Let the reader understand." And that’s so pivotal because many people look at prophecy as if it’s pie in the sky, ambiguity, and symbolic apocalyptic language which you can't understand. But Jesus himself said, "Let the reader understand." Revelation means the unveiling, not the veiling. God has given us all of this information not to confuse us, but to prepare us. He’s spoken in very simple, easy-to-understand terms.

The clearest thing you could embrace is the gospel, which is so simple a child can understand it, yet deep enough for a theologian to drown in. And the gospel is Jesus paid the full penalty for our sins 2,000 years ago. It’s done. Finish it. It’s completed. What God wants us to do is trust in what he did for us rather than us trying to save ourselves. We would encourage as many people to do that within the sound of our voice as is humanly and divinely possible.

If they want to learn more about the signs of the times, we’re having a conference coming up Friday the 20th and 21st, culminating in a Shabbat meal headed up by Olivier Melnick. It’ll run all day Saturday, culminating in a Q&A session amongst the various speakers. We invite people to stick around Sunday the 22nd at nearby Sugarland Bible Church as many of our speakers in the conference will be presenting during our normal service times. Just going to be a great weekend in terms of equipping people for having discernment for these end times.

James Kaddis: Amen. I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to hearing the great news that comes out of it. With that said, let’s pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, we pray for this conference coming up. We pray that you would rule and reign in the midst of your people in this situation. That people would be affected powerfully, they would develop a sense of urgency, and that more people would put their faith and trust in you. We thank you for this time that we have together. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Folks, on behalf of the great Andy Woods, this is James Kaddis. We want to thank you so much for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this as much as we’ve enjoyed making it. We love you. Keep fighting the good fight and thank you for joining us for another episode of Countdown to Eternity. God bless you.

Outro Voiceover: You’re listening to Countdown to Eternity with Pastors James Kaddis and Andy Woods. If you joined us late or just would like to hear this again, stop by countdowntoeternity.com. Have you heard? Pastor James has a new book. It’s entitled *The Last Book*. *The Last Book* will give you what you need to know about Revelation, the Rapture, and the end times. Learn what the Bible says about the days we're in and what God's promise is for believers in *The Last Book*, available right now at countdowntoeternity.com. That’s also the place to go to give to this ministry. Thank you very much for your financial support and prayers. Andy Woods is online at andywoodsministries.org. Join us next week as Countdown to Eternity continues. This program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.