Second coming of Christ nearer after Trump's decision on Jerusalem, claims US pastor

A pastor in America is claiming the end of the world is nearer after Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

While US allies, other world leaders and religious leaders lined up to condemn to move almost unanimously, Trump had support from his most loyal fanbase – white evangelicals.

US President Donald Trump announced the decision to almost universal condemnation on Wednesday.

A small segment of evangelicals are even claiming the move is an important part of biblical prophecy and could herald the second coming of Christ.

David Reagan, the founder and director of the Texas-based Lamb and Lion Ministries, said the move was long overdue.

'I totally support his decision because Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, always has been for 4,000 years. The Jews have had that as their capital and it has never ever in all of history been the capital of another state, not a Muslim state or an Arab state. It is long overdue. Every US president has made a promise to move the embassy as part of their campaign and then as soon as they're elected they forget about it. But this is a good indication that Trump will keep his campaign promises,' he told news website Sputnik.

The belief that the 'end times' is near is based on the understanding that Jews must control Jerusalem and build a third temple on Temple Mount, one of the holiest sites in both Islam and Judaism, after both the first and second temples were destroyed.

Reagan, who claims to be an expert in biblical prophecy, explained the background of what he thinks will happen at the end of the world.

'Evangelical Christians in America generally agree that most likely there will be a war against Israel which the scriptures call the "war of annihilation" in which all the Muslim nations which have a common border with Israel, who are named in Psalm 83, will attack Israel and Israel will defeat them. Then the Arab world will go into a panic and cry out for Russia to come to their aid. And the Russians will come down with a specified group of Muslim nations, countries like Persia (Iran) and Turkey and they will be destroyed on the mountains of Israel.'

He added the Antichrist will come from within the European Union and would 'try to settle the situation in the Middle East' by making a treaty with Israel. 'And we believe, Daniel Chapter Nine [of the Bible] teaches that the moment he signs that agreement with Israel that is when the tribulation will begin,' he told Sputnik.

'He will have risen to power peacefully through his charisma and his super-intelligence in Europe and then he will seek to make a worldwide empire. He will launch a war for the purposes of the conquering the world which is described in Revelation, Chapter Six, and that war morphs into a nuclear war and by the middle of the tribulation he has the control of all the nations of the Earth,' he said.

'He (the Antichrist) marches into Jerusalem and goes into the rebuilt temple, which will have been rebuilt during the first three and a half years of the tribulation, and declares himself to be God. The Jews will immediately reject him and he will begin to persecute them and try to annihilate them from the face of the Earth. We believe Satan hates the Jews with a passion because it was through them that God gave the Bible and it was through them that God gave the Messiah...and Satan hates them and will try to destroy them once again, like he did in the Holocaust,' Reagan went on.

'When they are gathered in the valley of Armageddon at that point Jesus will return to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, he will speak a supernatural word and will destroy all the armies of the Antichrist and he will begin to reign over all the Earth. He will reign for a thousand years, what we call the millennial reign.'

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What President Trump's Jerusalem proclamation means for Palestinians

There are those who claim that acknowledging Jerusalem as the capital of Israel may not affect the daily life of its residents because Israel already controls the city and has been changing its demography and boundaries for over 50 years.

In spite of the fact the Jerusalem municipality is responsible for both East and West Jerusalem, in reality Jerusalem has remained divided, whether by ethnicity (Jewish or Arab) in some neighborhoods, or a separation wall in others.

US President Donald Trump has recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

All this said, President Trump's recent announcement left me with a heavy heart as I contemplated the implications of his proclamation.

Many Palestinians have struggled and altered their lives to keep their Jerusalem residency over the years. Many of my own friends have to deal with Israeli bureaucracy to maintain or regain their residency simply because they are Christians or Muslims born in Jerusalem. To Israel, they pose a demographic threat to maintain Jerusalem's Jewish majority, and therefore, many Palestinians in Jerusalem find themselves residents at best and stateless at worst.

During the past few years Jerusalem has had its share of violence with many casualties, many of whom have been under the age of 23. This has led to tight security checkpoints, not permanent but frequent, primarily at entrances to Palestinian neighbourhoods in and around Jerusalem. This limits the neighbourhood to having one entrance and exit. Going to work or school takes twice, if not three times, as long as the commutes from Jewish neighbourhoods.

As someone who has lived in the Old City for many years, I have encountered, how the Holy City becomes restricted to certain religious groups simply so that others can move freely, especially during religious holidays and political tensions. Even during Muslim holidays, young men are restricted from entering the Old City and only women, children and elderly men are permitted. This restriction is not imposed on Christians or Jews during their holidays and national celebrations, even when some of the Jewish national celebrations are purposefully and clearly inflammatory and provocative as they triumphantly march through Palestinian areas­ – for example each year during the annual Jerusalem Day celebration, marking the anniversary of Israel's success in capturing East Jerusalem from Jordan.

Palestinian house demolitions have increased in Jerusalem while Israel confiscates Palestinian land for Israeli settlers to expand and encroach on Palestinian neighbourhoods. You have only to visit the City of David to see this prominently displayed, with islands of settlers who have relocated to a Palestinian neighborhood to proclaim their national and religious history at the expense of the majority who have lived for generations there.

How can we understand all of these prolonged injustices when it comes to US support acknowledging Jerusalem as the capital of Israel?

President Trump, supposedly the leader of the free world and advocate of democracy, supports and even rewards Israel's undemocratic policies and behaviour favouring one people group over the other in Jerusalem. This inherent contradiction is prominent for Palestinians, for what is freedom and democracy when its leader further undermines both of these elements for 40 per cent of Jerusalem's population?

As a Christian Palestinian, I feel that same contradiction exists when I see the policies advocated by many American Christians. As Christians, we should help those with residency issues and those whose homes are threatened by demolitions, and mobilise our voices to restore their rights as Jerusalemites and as human beings created in God's image. Theological perspectives which support an end of days eschatology that is predicated on US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, or blanket support for the Israeli government regardless of the injustice it imposes on a substantial minority of Jerusalem residents, fail to make sense to me.How can Christians, Christ-followers, support injustice and occupation when Jesus did the opposite, speaking for the voiceless and the marginalised?

During this Advent season, I ask myself and my fellow Christian brethren worldwide, how should we respond? What is an appropriate response in this situation, for me as a local and for many of you living outside the Holy Land? I think of the shepherds who came from nearby and the Magi who came from a faraway land, seeking the new king Jesus. While the Magi had power, status and wealth, they did not find the new king in a place one would have expected.

This Christmas, perhaps we need to look inward, because the place we may find our king is not in the halls of power, or at the seat of an imperial outpost like Herod, but living precariously under occupation. This is the case of Palestinian Christians today, who see themselves as the fifth gospel, the living testimony of Christ's message in a world dark with evil and injustice. How can international Christians live in this fifth gospel with us, proclaiming God's goodness and subversive message of powerlessness confounding the powerful?

This is the challenge posed to us during Trump's proclamation of neo-colonial sanction for the Israeli occupation's acts in Jerusalem. Then, as now, Jesus won't be found among the powerful and privileged, but the poor and oppressed. And what will the Christian world's response be? Will you seek him in the halls of Herod? Jesus has a message for both oppressors and oppressed, but you won't find him among the oppressors. Will the Christian world stand with their Christian brethren this Christmas?

I'm not sure, but as a Palestinian Christian, I invite you to stand with us as we bear witness to the message of that first Christmas, that God incarnate has come to dwell among us with a message of hope and peace, and that message is not meek and mild but challenges the powers where justice has come to the world and all that is wrong needs to be made right.

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