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Plays On Word Radio
Ep 93: Unpacking Rapture Theology and Israel's Prophetic Future (Part 2)
"How can Christians today focus on “heavenly pursuits” while navigating today's complex global events? Pastor Teddy and Pastor John Durante discuss Israel’s 1948 re-establishment, current Middle Eastern tensions, and encourage Christians to live faithfully amid prophetic challenges."
Could ancient prophecies be unfolding right before our eyes? Tune in as Pastor Fred Kenney, Jr., also known as Pastor Teddy, and Pastor John Durante take us on a thought-provoking journey through the pages of biblical prophecy and its surprising implications in today's world. Our discussion kicks off with the vivid imagery of Ezekiel 37's valley of dry bones, which we interpret as a sign of Israel's re-establishment in 1948. Despite the controversy surrounding the absence of the Messiah, we argue that this stage of prophecy doesn't necessitate His presence. By exploring the historical tensions between Israel and its neighbors, such as Iran and Lebanon, we suggest that these tumultuous relations might signal the fulfillment of ancient predictions, marking our era as a crucial chapter in prophecy.
The conversation shifts gears as we tackle the delicate balance of end-times prophecy with Christian living. We address the geopolitical storm brewing around Israel, particularly with Iranian proxies like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, and consider the potential for both temporary peace and larger conflicts involving Turkey, Russia, and Iran. With America's role as a steadfast ally to Israel, rooted in its Christian values and mission, we ponder how political changes could alter this dynamic. Our message to Christians is one of hope and action — prioritize faith and focus on heavenly pursuits over worldly distractions, actively responding to the challenges of our times without succumbing to fear or idleness.
John Durante, Senior Pastor
Jersey Shore Calvary Chapel
https://www.jscalvary.com/
Things Above Radio
https://www.thingsaboveradio.com/
Bridge Bible Talk - Listen Live: Pastor John Durante frequent guest:
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Lord you know. Hey guys, you are now listening to Plays on Word Radio.
Speaker 2:It's the best.
Speaker 3:Jesus, you're the only name.
Speaker 4:You're the only thing. You're the only thing. How does prayer enable us to experience God's presence in our daily lives? In this episode, we explore the practice of enduring prayer, recognizing God's presence, sharing faith stories, all while embracing His guidance.
Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to Plays on Word Radio, where we discuss, analyze, work and play on the Word of God. Thank you for joining us on this excursion. Today let's join Pastor Teddy, also known as Fred David Kenny Jr, the founder of Plays on Word Theater, as he does a deep dive into the Word of God.
Speaker 5:Well, great, great catch there, Great call. 1948, for me, is a defining moment in the history of the generations in which we now live and how the dry bones Ezekiel 37, becoming his flesh, and there is a movement to believe that these things are not fulfilled in the current nation of Israel, that this is not the fulfillment of Ezekiel 37, which clearly states what I love about Ezekiel 37 is in the book of Ezekiel. You see a lot of these pictures being painted that are very strange or odd and they require interpretation. But this one gives both the dream or the vision, but then gives the interpretation. There is no questioning what the interpretation is. It says this is the nation that should be dead, that for no legitimate reason, suddenly becomes alive again. This picture of a valley of dry bones and the bones starting to rattle and then beginning to rise, with sinew and flesh forming around them, something that had long been gone, all the signs of life had long been gone, and now, all of a sudden, signs of life begin to appear and breath enters into them. And then for Ezekiel to give us the interpretation this is the nation of Israel becoming once again a nation, and it's just mind-boggling to me that people would say that this group of people living in the land of Israel today, in 1948, then becoming a nation again, isn't the fulfillment.
Speaker 5:Recently we saw someone somewhat close to the ministry that you and I are part of but no longer part of it. He's kind of stepped outside with another ministry saying on his radio program that he doesn't believe it is and his rationale is that they don't have the Messiah in the land. But if you go back and read that prophecy, that comes later. That comes later. Just because the Messiah is not there yet doesn't mean that it's not the fulfillment and that's not a good use of scripture because it's dishonest. It's a way of giving yourself the permission to not support the Israel of today. But it might make you uncomfortable to say, hey, I don't like what Israel is doing and they're evil, they're a capitalist, they're this, they're that, they're colonists. There's over 50 Muslim countries. There's over 60 Christian countries. You know how many Jewish countries there are One.
Speaker 5:Why is it such a big deal to people that there's a Jewish country in the place where it is clear and obvious to all historians was their place, where they became a nation? That's their homeland? Why are people so angry? Why are people so passionate. That's more evidence that we are living during the time that Ezekiel 37 is being fulfilled. What does that mean?
Speaker 5:With regard to your question, how do I feel about the timing? It means that we're living in the time that it's going to come to pass, that these things are going to happen. And how else do I know that? Well, if you go on to read ezekiel 38, 39 and you start to put these pieces of these puzzles together, you're looking ahead to the formation of a, of one day there being in the new temple, the millennial temple and all these things um, you say to yourself well, we, we have the pieces of the puzzle coming together so quickly. We have Turkey, we have Russia, we have Iran. They're all saying all the right things that they're going to come together against Israel because of the threat against Iran right now and we're sitting here, and as we're sitting here right now, on this date, israel could literally be attacking iran.
Speaker 5:I thought it might happen. Last night, to be honest with you, I was seeing some signs. I got some websites and some things that I that I keep an eye on and some apps and different people and I'm looking for, you know, anything that might be going on. We know that overnight, as we were, you know, resting and sleeping, damascus was being attacked by israel because they found, uh, proxy people that were, you know, resting and sleeping. Damascus was being attacked by Israel because they found proxy people that were, you know, gathering there to try to plan to kill Israel, to take Israel out. They were fighting Lebanon. By the way, there was an explosion in a city just outside of Tehran, iran, and we don't know what caused it. That happened last night as well, and so when you see all these things happening, you think, man, there is actual war right now. Mm-hmm, there's actual, actual war.
Speaker 5:Uh, people try. And what is the war about? Not about people, not, no, no, it's about people wanting every jewish person dead period. That's their hatred, that's their motivation. Don't believe anything else. Anything else is alive. That's what they want. Uh, from the river to the sea means there should be no nation of Israel at all. Is what they? From the Jordan River to the sea or, excuse me, to the Mediterranean Sea, they're saying that they don't want Israel to exist at all and they want all Jews dead. Uh, and there's been a history that, throughout the history and the existence of the Jewish people going all the way back to Haman and you go right on down the line. Everyone's wanted them dead yeah, harry and there's no reason.
Speaker 5:Yeah uh, yeah right, it's crazy, it's insane why what started started when he saw.
Speaker 3:Actually he saw was like when my dad dies, I'm gonna kill my brother, then his grandson, amalek then through, then then down to to haman, who was who?
Speaker 4:was an.
Speaker 3:Agagite from Amalek Malachites. Agagites came from him then you go all the way down to King.
Speaker 2:Herod, who was an Edomian, who comes from Esau you know, and there's a theory that when Jerusalem fell in. Ad 70, there were a bunch of.
Speaker 4:Edomites that said we'll protect you, our brothers, we'll protect you. And then they turned their backs on the.
Speaker 3:Jewish folks with the Romans and a bunch of them went and lived in Italy. Masada. Oh, yeah, yeah, I know these, these were the, not the jews these were the um edomites and I forget where I read it uh, who, who had the theory, but uh, they said this son of perdition, he could come from that line, because that line is definitely I'm going to kill my brother who had the promises of Messiah. But we're getting off topic.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go on that rant.
Speaker 5:No, it's actually on topic, because the archetype has already come and gone and we see him spoken about quite a bit as a conqueror of Egypt and as a type of the Antichrist. We see him spoken about all the way back in the apocryphal writings, and it's Antiochus Epiphanes is who I'm referring to oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, he was shot out.
Speaker 5:And so, yeah, well, and so we see the archetype and the method of conquering is deception, it's not bloodshed. And so when the Antichrist arises, it'll be through deception that he takes power. He'll seem to have the answer to all. The world would all lend its trust and put and invest its trust and allow the influence and authority of one man to be shared by so many nations. And how could that? There needs to be a problem so big in the world I think they were hoping it was that, but it wasn't it wasn't big enough nice try, but it didn't work.
Speaker 5:Right. So what do we see? We see the Islamic radicalism is likely the problem that needs to be solved, and so there's going to be the need for someone to arise, and we see the continued breaking down of the worldwide economy. There are people working hard to make the world one place, rather than a lot of individual places. They want.
Speaker 5:Yeah, right, right. So they're going to make the world dependent upon them to solve the economic problems. There's going to be someone who has to rise to solve the religious problems and differences and the hatred of the Jews and all these different things, and it's all going to culminate into one person who seems to be able to calm everybody down, take control and install a system that everybody agrees with. So the problems what do we need to see the end come? We need problems. Well, guess what we got.
Speaker 2:We got a lot of problems.
Speaker 5:A lot of problems. So you're saying the world's not going to get better and everybody's going to become a Christian from the way, the what is it? The post-millennialist, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:That was big 150 years ago, but then, two world wars and all the disaster sets, kind of put the kibosh on that
Speaker 5:right. Well, you know, if you look at the positions throughout the last 2 000 years that have taken uh people off track, it's because they they're not factoring in all the prophecies about the last days.
Speaker 5:They just focus on one that was famously uh in the year 999, they believed that the year 1000 was going to usher in the millennial reign and that beginning 1001 was going to begin the millennial reign.
Speaker 5:Well, when that didn't happen, people rather than look and say well, we're missing a whole lot of pieces to this puzzle. Right, ezekiel 37 hasn't happened. We don't see all these other things happening. So what they decided was well, this is the reason why God didn't do this was because and this is a warning, a warning of hermeneutics here because that didn't happen, it must be that because the Muslims have control of the Holy Land, that God has not started the millennial reign, control of the holy land, that god has not started the millennial reign.
Speaker 5:So it's our fault that god didn't start the millennial reign because we've allowed the, the muslims, to have control of the holy land. So that's when they raised up and sent out, you know, on a militia for the inquisition, and they started to begin to eradicate the muslim, the Holy Land. So that was the motivation, that was the initial motivation for raising up all those knights and sending them out to eradicate. It was a bad decision made because of misinterpretation of Scripture and I think a lot of people, when you don't take the whole of the Bible and everything it has to say on the subject, and make sure that you have all the pieces of the puzzle at least working in part together and that allowing for time to bring the rest of the parts together. You're going to make bad decisions.
Speaker 2:Yeah and setting a time, I think.
Speaker 3:A lot of times people will look at the day of the Lord and say oh, it's a day, it's a 24-hour day. It has to be a 24-hour day, Well, does it?
Speaker 2:have to be a 24-hour day.
Speaker 1:I don't know if it does. I do believe in Genesis, but that's for different reasons there are 24-hour days. But that's you know.
Speaker 3:I don't want to go off topic on that but the day of the. Lord is you know, when I say back in Michael Jordan's day, basketball was played differently.
Speaker 5:Am I talking about a 24-hour day? No, no, and you, correctly, are identifying the use of a word day that has been the same in multiple languages. So, whether it's yom in Hebrew or whether it's the Greek word, the same exact way that we're saying, you can use that word. There's evidence throughout literature in those languages that the word was used the same exact way In scripture. We have the word yom in Hebrew in the Old Testament used as a period of time, not a little 24 hours, and we have it as 24 hours. So when you see the day of the Lord and then you see the things that have to fit into that day, as it speaks of the day of the lord, what things have to fit into it, it's obvious he's not talking about a literal 24 hour period of time. It can't be right. And so, yeah, we, we can. We're very, very, uh, on solid ground. I should say we're, we stand on solid ground and saying that it's not only plausible, but it it's probable.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, so I mean, we're talking about Israel.
Speaker 3:Anything could kick off right now.
Speaker 4:Things are kicking off right now.
Speaker 3:That doesn't even make the news, it's straight up.
Speaker 2:there's a war going on and it's probably about to get even hotter. I know we've said this easily for the last 20 years. It seems like there's always been something.
Speaker 4:It may have been longer, yeah, actually longer. Since I was a kid, I remember, you know there have just been. Oh my God, this is it, this is it. But what do you see happening?
Speaker 2:from a biblical perspective. So what happens Israel?
Speaker 3:gets attacked? Is that when the Lord grabs the church?
Speaker 2:in the air.
Speaker 3:Because, when he comes back in Revelation he's coming back to the ground, I mean, he's coming back to Mount of Olives there. But it says in Thessalonians we're going to be caught up. The dead in Christ rise first, and those who are alive will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and they will be with him always. So what do you see as far as what's the John Durante playbook? And I encourage everybody, once we're in glory, find John and tell him if he was wrong or right, not me.
Speaker 5:Yeah, well, I can promise you that I will be right, because I'm saying that the playbook is God's playbook, not my playbook, so it's got to be right. Because I'm saying that the playbook is God's playbook, not my playbook, so it's got to be right. So I'm guessing, and you know, I think we're in a position to simply watch it unfold, not necessarily decide what it's going to look like when it does, and so we're sitting back going all right. Lord, will you show us? And I think that some people, one in particular who I respect tremendously, amir Saad Fateh from, Behold, israel. You can always look him up. He's on Telegram, great place to get information, by the way. His Telegram channel could so badly damage the Iranian proxies, like Hamas, which they already have decimated Hamas, hezbollah and the Houthis down in Yemen. He could so badly damage them, and possibly even Iran, that there could be a short period of peace. That comes out of that or results from that, comes out of that or results from that, but then, uh, an eventual backlash. That's when the gathering, perhaps, of turkey, russia and around iran come together.
Speaker 5:I think it's fascinating, and you know obviously you can't say anywhere in scripture that the west uh is mentioned at all, whether it's you know you're talking about superpowers like the UK or like us, for example the United States, or you know you can't bring those in necessarily, but it's an interesting observation that God has clearly used those nations and those superpowers for his purposes. In my opinion, the United States was raised up and made a superpower by God so that we would defend Israel in their homeland, and over the last 200 years, that's what that peace that we provided for the Jews started in the mid-1900s because of our Christian values. That started 200 years ago when we were founded as a nation, and this whole idea that Israel has a right to their land and that they would be our ally in the Middle East and that we would defend them, regardless of who was coming against them and for whatever reason. I think that's why we exist as a nation, exist as a nation, and what's so fascinating to me is how you know there's this, this rising, very deceptive political movement that will, during the election cycle, will say one thing, but in the opposite years of the election cycle, they do everything to undermine Israel. And so, yeah, and so you know again it's.
Speaker 5:Could there be a period of peace? Well, again, yeah, and so, uh, you know, again it could there be a period of peace. Well, again we're at the precipice of an election cycle. If it goes one way, uh, israel's not going to have confidence in in, in their, in their support from, from america. If it goes the other way, israel's going to have a lot of confidence in their support from america, right and so. So this could bring about war in America with countries that are against what we stand for American exceptionalism and the support of Israel, and those sort of things. Independence of the United States as a global economy, those kinds of things. People are against that or people hate that, but they can't admit it publicly, at least not in the political realm.
Speaker 5:So I think, when you factor in all these things, it's very possible that there could be a short pause of conflict and a time of peace, and then that would frustrate those who want Israel gone and cause them or provoke them to gather their forces together. Russia right now is busy on the Ukrainian front, but they have vowed the support of Iran, especially when it comes to all things nuclear, because they're monetarily tied together, their economies are tied together with with, uh, you know, nuclear issues and other issues, and so, um, that could be, that could be the case, I don't know. And what would a short pause look like? It could be a year or two, it could be three, uh, who knows. But amir has suggested that that's one possibility, but also offers that it could be just. It could just continue to escalate into this war that we see that's coming in Ezekiel.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So what advice, Pastor, do you have?
Speaker 2:for the Christian the believer in Christ believer in Christ, do we?
Speaker 3:do like the Thessalonians and just kick our feet up and just say hey the.
Speaker 4:Lord's coming back. The day of the Lord has begun or is beginning.
Speaker 2:Do we?
Speaker 3:sit back and do nothing, Become idle as Paul said you know, warn him against that, or do we occupy until he comes? How do we not get obsessed with this? I've noticed many I don't want to say new Christians, but I've seen many Christians that they're obsessed with this end times thing. How is this game going to roll out? It's almost bigger than the Super Bowl, like oh man you know how is this going to happen?
Speaker 4:I think in the fourth quarter they're going to come back and they're going to do this, and then you see people obsessed over sporting events and stuff like that. People are obsessed over this end times thing.
Speaker 3:I'm like listen, I got news for you. God wins.
Speaker 4:And I want to keep my hands to the plow man.
Speaker 3:There's too many people that don't know him right now.
Speaker 5:Anyway, I'll let you answer it before. Well, that's the most important question of the conversation is what do we do with all this? And some people want to allow the emotional part of it, the fear that's associated with it, the fear of the unknown. Well, but what we know is enough to not be afraid.
Speaker 3:Amen, that's the point, amen, that's the point.
Speaker 5:What we do know is enough not not be afraid. That's the point. What we do know is enough not to be afraid. And if we don't have our priorities right, then football is more important than Jesus. If we have our priorities right, the kingdom of heaven is more important than sports or anything else in this world.
Speaker 5:And the most radical sermon ever preached was the Sermon on the Mount. People read that and they take verse by verse and they say, oh, this is a message on this subject and they pick it apart and they make a collection of messages. Three chapters, it's one whole sermon and literally Jesus is flipping religion upside down and saying, no, this has nothing to do with religious efforts. Being a good person has got nothing to do with that. It's got everything to do with religious efforts. Being a good person, it's got nothing to do with that. It's got everything to do with putting your focus and your emphasis on bringing the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness down. Not making yourself righteous so you can get there, but receiving from heaven. What, what heaven has sent, what did heaven send? Heaven sent jesus. He says crazy things in there that are impossible, literally impossible, he says, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees. You're not even going to go to heaven he set the bar so high.
Speaker 2:It's unbelievable.
Speaker 5:It's unbelievable and, and almost in a cruel manner, he set the bar unattainably. You could, you're never going to reach the bar, but, by the way, I'm going to keep it right in front of your face so you can see it. Why would Jesus do that? Well, he would do that so that we would never look to ourselves to get the bar.
Speaker 5:He is the bar, he's the bar. It's not us grabbing the bar, it's us following him. That's why he ends it with come to me all, ye, who are weary and heavily, and I will give you rest, yoke yourself to me. This whole thing we have here is about what heaven sent to earth. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. It has been since he came, and so for us, it's a matter of being content with the people god has, with the life god has chosen for us, and make the most.
Speaker 5:I know what life god has chosen for us our, our church, worship, our, our. Uh, who is my mother? Who is my brother and my sisters? Are not these, these, the disciples, those who do the will of my father? This is my family. Yeah, this is what we're. We're to live for.
Speaker 5:For that, the best life you can live, regardless of how many years or days are left, the best life you could ever live on earth is a life lived with, with heaven as your focus, investing treasures in heaven.
Speaker 5:When you live that way, as if you're storing up treasures in heaven, you will find that you will have the most satisfaction, the most enthusiasm and excitement about your life in this world compared to anything else you could have for yourself, apart from investing in eternity. But when you live, storing up treasures in heaven, you'll find that you become a person that you've always wanted to be but never could be. It's fascinating how it works, but it's because you're just. You're just working with Jesus, and, and Paul said quite literally uh, it is God who works in you, both to will and to do for his good pleasure. And so, please, god, by letting god work in and through you to accomplish his will for your life, walk with the lord, read your bibles, walk with the lord, and what will happen if you do that is you'll have peace yes great because you're not trying to create your own peace, you're accepting the peace that God provides.
Speaker 5:You're trusting him, not yourself.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 5:So that's the answer to all our problems is to live for him, and that's what you and Katie did when you moved down there. It's like no, the Lord's sending us here. We don't know what it means. We're just following the Lord. We're investing in heaven, not in earth.
Speaker 3:Yeah right.
Speaker 5:You invest in heaven, earth gets better.
Speaker 2:Amen.
Speaker 3:Amen to that. Well, on that note, we're almost out of time.
Speaker 4:At some point we'll have to continue this discussion and we'll try to get our dear brother, pastor John Durante, on as many times as we can before he starts charging us, and we're going to get a Jersey Shore Calvary Chapel invoice.
Speaker 3:But we're absolutely grateful for you, bro. We are grateful for all the work you've done and you're doing what's going on at the church there that used to be our home base for a while. We missed the whole crew there, man.
Speaker 5:You got any news? What's going on well? Well, um, please pray for jersey, sure, calvary chapel, we, uh, we have a problem that some would say, well, it's a good problem, but it's still a problem, overwhelmingly. Yeah, that's. We've grown quite a bit and, yes, I'm thankful for it, but at the same time, I don't have a solution to the problem. We're looking, we're actively trying to find a new place to move to and praise the Lord for that, but it's still a problem. And I'm not going to glory in a problem. I'm still looking at it as a problem. But here's the cool thing is it's not my problem.
Speaker 2:Amen, that's a good approach, it's.
Speaker 5:God's problem, yeah, so please pray for us, and should the Lord have some other place for us to meet or something, you know, I don't know what the solution to this problem is, but we want to be effective at ministering to the community, the community, and I don't see as we are being as effective as we could right now, because we lack the space for us to to do a very good job with ministry, so it was adequate.
Speaker 2:the building was adequate when you needed it, but you guys have absolutely outgrown it there now it's when you have the amount of people that are coming, like you have now, it can wear down everybody, especially the pastors.
Speaker 5:So here's something I got to try to make happen is I got to come and visit you guys. Yeah, that's what I got to come down and do and come down and encourage you guys and spend a little time with you and maybe visit, take up a seat at the church service there with you guys, and let me get my two wheels back together you know in dream but um yeah either that
Speaker 2:or get my two wheels and we'll ride because there's perfect roads down here for you.
Speaker 5:I love it.
Speaker 2:Why don't you close?
Speaker 3:us out in prayer bro.
Speaker 5:Oh, what an honor. I'd absolutely love to Lord. I thank you for this time that we've gotten to spend together. I thank you for Ted and Katie, and I ask a blessing on their household and on their ministry, lord, that you would continue to use them and bless them and provide for them, lord, and I'm thankful that you've allowed us as humble beings as we are sinners, rotten, horrible sinners Lord, you've made room on the handle of your cloud that we can come alongside and work with you and do meaningful things.
Speaker 1:This program was made possible by the Plays on Word. Family of supporters To find out more.
Speaker 5:check out our website at playsonwordorg. So we offer ourselves to you a living sacrifice, lord. We do this in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 3:Amenorg. We desire your will for their lives, so we offer ourselves to you a living sacrifice, Lord.
Speaker 4:We do this in Jesus' name. Amen, amen, amen, and there will be links in the show description there, so please check out my brother. Shoot him an email or text or something like that If you're in the Point Pleasant, new Jersey area.
Speaker 3:I would say stop by. But good grief man, go on the website and stream the service. We'll make room. Oh man, I can't believe I'm saying don't stop by.
Speaker 4:Anyway we love you, bro.
Speaker 5:Tell everybody we said hello and I'll be back in touch with you ASAP. All right, Sounds like a plan. All right, man. God bless you, man.
Speaker 2:Go head out, all right, amen bro. All right man, God bless you, man, go head out, all right, amen bro. Thank you bro.
Speaker 5:God bless you. Good to talk to you, thank you.
