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The Trump Effect – A Key to Latter-Day Prophecy?

Updated: Apr 14


It’s only been just over a month since Trump took office, but the number of changes we have seen so far are truly astounding, and they extend well beyond the US. We’re seeing the opposite of what was done under the Biden administration, and it shows just how much impact America has on the world at large. It seems to me that God could be using Trump to shift the nations into their prophesied confederacies. We’ll discuss just these cataclysmic changes are as briefly as possible, yet I must express my excitement concerning what we’re witnessing!

Israel-Hamas War Update

With Trump in office, Israel has been significantly rearmed and Hamas has been forced to take the negotiating table more seriously. A number of Israeli hostages have been returned in the past few weeks, and their depraved condition was cause for condemnation from Israel and the US. While Hamas has returned some hostages, they are by no means giving in. Reports on the “deals” made to return the hostages show how one-sided the “exchanges” are, and the most recent swap saw Israel returning 602 terrorists to Hamas in exchange for the bodies of four dead hostages (World Israel News). This is no deal at all and quite frankly frustrating to think about, but it’s the current situation.

That being said, Trump has little tolerance for Hamas and has given Israel as much support as they need (for the time being at least). He has approved of Israel having a “long-term” presence in Lebanon whereas Biden wanted them out as soon as possible (World Israel News). Trump has also given Israel a tentative greenlight to “Do whatever you want” in Gaza depending on how Hamas negotiations go (World Israel News). As a result, the IDF is preparing for another offensive:

But the Hamas situation impacts much more than Israel, because Trump has a plan for Gaza that has the other Arab and Islamic nations in the Middle East scrambling.

Arab Summit – Trump’s Gaza Plan Rocks the Mideast

The Biden administration essentially wanted Israel to pull out of Gaza and leave Hamas alone after certain “guarantees” were made. That was his Gaza plan. Trump is formulating a very different plan that many find controversial. While it’s still being developed, a big part of the plan involves relocating “Palestinians” into other countries, specifically the surrounding Islamic nations. While many people see this as an unjust and horrific move to uproot Palestinians from their “native land”, those who know the history of the land and the “Palestinians” know that there is no such thing as “Palestinians” or a “state of Palestine”. The people inhabiting “Palestine” prior to Israel’s rebirth were simply people from neighboring nations of Egypt, Transjordan (modern Jordan), and other nations. The nationality of “Palestinians” itself is literally fictitious and was created in the 1960s as a marketing ploy to win world favor and smear Israel. This article we wrote addresses that subject more in depth. In essence, relocating these people to the other Islamic nations is simply returning them to where they originally came from. Another part of Trump’s big plan is to have a new trade route from Israel to India – another big change for the region (World Israel News).

But the “right” or “wrong” of all of this is beside the point for us a Bible students, for we know that God is the One orchestrating the events we’re witnessing. Our focus is on the turmoil that’s resulting from this deal and the affect its having on the neighboring Islamic nations, for they’ve been told that they have to either accept Trump’s plan or come up with a better one of their own.

I view this deal as a means to further “jolt” the nations into their prophesied positions, and I believe it’s easy to see how. An emergency Arab League summit is set to meet on March 4 to combat Trump and his plan (Reuters). Reuters reports,

“The upcoming Cairo summit is set to focus primarily on Arab efforts to counter U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to redevelop war-torn Gaza into an international beach resort and his calls for Egypt and Jordan to resettle displaced Gazans.”

Trump is therefore forcing Israel’s Islamic neighbors to join together, and this makes one think of the prophesied Psalm 83 confederacy. The Arab League that will be meeting next week includes all of the Psalm 83 nations, so it’s very possible that this could mark the beginning of talks which lead to the Psalm 83 confederacy (Member states of the Arab League). There are two players though which seem to be impacted the most by Trump’s plans, and they are Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Egypt is having a particularly hard time with the new Trump deal as the Pentagon has threatened to cut off aid to Egypt if they refuse to take in Gazans (All Israel News). It’s a smart tactic that we will see Trump is using in many places – to stop financially supporting nations and organizations which don’t reflect US interests. Cutting off US funding forces rulers to seriously try to fix things themselves instead of relying on the US to do everything. Egypt’s President Sisi is so angered by this that he has refused an invitation to the White House (The New Arab).

Egypt has been holding their cards close to their chest for some time, but they have also been making military moves that are of concern to Israel. Their military presence in the Sinai has been building up as if they’re planning for an invasion of Israel (All Israel News). There are many parts which are moving behind the scenes.

Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, appears to be taking advantage of a new opportunity. While they too have rejected the idea of receiving Gazans, the Saudis are trying to position themselves as the new broker of a deal (Bloomberg). If they can help find a good solution, they will quickly be viewed as a leader in the region and have more power as a result. While it is far too early to know exactly what will happen, I wonder if this too could help form the Psalm 83 confederacy as the Ishmaelites of that chapter correlates to Saudi Arabia. This would strengthen their relationship with the other nations in the confederacy and help lead to its development. We wait to see.

On the same note of “joining together”, it seems that Trump’s actions have coerced the Islamic nations to warmly welcome the new Syrian President Al Sharaa, and this is important because Syria is also part of the future Islamic confederacy. The Syrian government was recently overthrown, and it was uncertain whether nations like Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and others would accept Al-Sharaa or not. Now, it’s clear that they have accepted him, for Jordan’s King has just received him and Sharaa was also invited to participate in the Arab League Summit (The Jordan Times, Reuters). The nations of the confederacy are getting closer together, and this is just what we expect from the Bible.

A Defiant but Fearful Iran

With the Trump Gaza plan at the forefront of the news, it would seem that Iran has gone quiet – not so. In short, it looks like Israel will strike Iran’s nuclear facilities this year either by themselves or with joint US support. Trump has given Iran a deadline to close its nuclear program (World Israel News). He has also heavily sanctioned over 30 entities involved in Iran’s oil trade because that is where Iran gets the money to fund their nuclear program (Israel National News). If you hurt Iran’s oil sales, you hurt their nuclear program. However, since Iran’s rulers believe their purpose is to eliminate Israel, they are unlikely to cave. The following headlines tell the rest of the story and show what might be in store for 2025, and it looks like we might finally see a knock-down drag out fight between Iran and Israel:

We’ve written many times about the importance of Iran’s absence from Psalm 83 and therefore believe they must not be an important part of that war. But as Iran was essentially the puppet master of entities like Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria, we concluded that an Israeli strike on Iran might be what forces them to be absent from the war. It’s therefore exciting to see Iran being pushed more and more OUT of the Middle East since their puppets have either vanished altogether like the Assad regime or have been beaten so badly like Hamas and Hezbollah that they’re of little use to Iran. I believe we’re now seeing the Arab League take Iran’s place as the Islamic head honcho of the area.

For Iran, this means that if they want to have any impact on Israel, a nuclear option is one of the only ones they have left. Given Iran’s determination to accelerate the nuclear process, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Israel and the US conducted a joint strike. That would officially knock Iran out of the ring and further set the stage for the Psalm 83 war, but we know that Iran we later come back and join Russia when she comes against Israel thanks to their inclusion in Ezekiel 38.

Trump’s Isolationism and WWIII

In my opinion, this is one of the most interesting things developing. What we’re seeing now is Trump truly putting “America First” just as his campaign slogan promised, but it’s causing the nations to scramble and reorganize themselves – a necessary thing if prophecy is to be fulfilled. As of today, the confederacies which prophecy describes do not yet fully exist, so things must change in order for them to come to pass. I believe we’re seeing that happen very quickly thanks to Trump’s “America First” policy.

As shown from Trump’s actions, putting America First means to stop funding things that either the US doesn’t view as representing their interests or things where America is being forced to foot the bill for everyone else. It also means to get out of alliances that put all of the responsibility unfairly on America. It occurred to me a few weeks ago that this policy is similar to an “isolationist” policy, meaning that the nation will only look out for itself and does not want to be engaged on the world scene. In line with this idea, Trump has suggested that America’s military spending could be cut in half – a move which signals reduced presence on the world scene (Barron’s). This is precisely the kind of thing that could create new alliances in the nations and set the stage for a third World War. Just the other day, this headline appeared which mirrored our thoughts:

It notes that “History has shown that when America stands back, adversaries quickly fill the vacuum—whether in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, or Latin America. A disengaged America emboldens hostile regimes, undermines global stability, and endangers our interests and allies.”

This could have immediate relevance to all three stages of Christ’s conquering campaigns, and it seems to fit very nicely with Scripture. Let’s consider its impact on each phase:

1.     The Psalm 83 War

The article just quoted from The Jerusalem Post specifically emphasizes the impact of America’s isolationism on Israel. This might seem like a strange thing to be fearful of considering how strong US-Israel ties are right now, but some Israeli officials are seeing a trend in American policy which could eventually put the US-Israel relationship in question. If America is drawing back their relationship with other countries, Israel could eventually be next in line.

If the US were to pull back support of Israel, this would line up perfectly with what we find concerning this first conflict between Israel and her Islamic neighbors. We find Israel fighting alone and needing the relief of their Savior Jesus Christ (Isaiah 62:1-3, Habakkuk 3:13), and that means the US must be out of the picture. It seems that America’s new policy could easily lead to this and therefore open the door for Israel’s enemies to attack. The article from The Jerusalem Post explains,

“Turning away from Israel, as advocated by the "America First" isolationists, would send a dangerous message to other US allies: America is no longer a reliable partner. The isolationist sentiment echoes past missteps, such as America's reluctance to confront the growing threats of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. If the US pulls back now, nations that rely on American support may be forced to seek alliances elsewhere, including with adversaries like China, Russia, and Iran.”

The biggest deterrent for any nation to attack Israel is American support of Israel. Take this away, and Israel is a much easier target. Could this be what leads to the Psalm 83 war? Perhaps, and it looks like it could lead to the next phase of conflict as well:

2.     The Ezekiel 38 War

This second phase of Christ’s plan involves the confederacy of Ezekiel 38 coming against the newly established Kingdom of Israel headed by Christ. This confederacy involves Russia, Iran, Turkey, Libya, Sudan, and potentially a few others. What I find particularly noteworthy in this prophecy is that the Tarshish nations (the Western powers of Britain, the US, etc.) appear to take a weak stance against Russia. Instead of engaging in outright war, we find that they simply verbally oppose Russia’s moves southward toward Israel (Ezekiel 38:13). We have conjectured before that this could show a time after a third World War in which the eastern powers of Russia and China come out on top, and while that is still a possibility, Trump’s isolationist ideals suggest a new possibility. This is particularly seen concerning the Ukraine war.

The Ukraine was is in its third year, and while Russia has always been considered the “bad guy” as they were the invader, things appear to be changing. I think it is still agreed that Russia is at fault, but corruption in Ukraine and misuse of US funds shows that they’re not perfect either. Trump’s goal is to end the war as soon as possible, and he’s bringing different ideas to the table which appear to give Russia more freedom and less condemnation. Trump and Putin had a phone call which apparently went very well, and Trump has been invited to Moscow. Zelensky is now concerned:

Trump has also called Zelensky a “dictator” for having postponed elections due to the war, and the US-Ukraine relationship appears to be suffering (Times of Israel). Zelensky is also concerned because Trump is now wanting to trade with Ukraine and receive precious minerals in exchange for funds instead of just handing them money as America has been doing (not an unreasonable concept). There’s certainly more going on behind the scenes that we don’t know, but it seems like Trump could push for terms to end the war which could work in Russia’s favor.

Trump could tell Putin that he can keep what of Ukraine he has gained but not to pursue any more. While this could “end” the fighting, it would still be a reward for Russia and encourage them to make further moves on different territories they desire. It feels similar to how World War II started – Hitler took over parts of Czechoslovakia, and Western powers wanted him to stop. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met with Hitler and told him that he could keep Czechoslovakia if Hitler promised to not to take any more. Hitler agreed and Chamberlain declared he had achieved “peace for our time”, but six months later, Hitler took the rest of Czechoslovakia. Six months after that, Hitler invaded Poland and WWII was officially underway. The same thing could happen with Putin and Europe.

As we are writing this article, the result of the Trump-Zelensky meeting was just released, and it shows how bad the relationship has gotten. The meeting quickly turned into a shouting match in front of the press!

You can watch the explosive meeting for yourself at this link. It’s about seven minutes long, and if you have time to watch it, I encourage you to do so. It shows how strained the relationship now is.

There are few takeaways from these recent developments. First, Trump’s isolationism could easily push nations to seek refuge in a Russian alliance and therefore help create the Ezekiel 38 confederacy as well. Nations would reason, “We need support and security, so if America will not provide, we will look for it in Russia.” Second, if Russia is not heavily reprimanded, a descent toward an Israel that has little or no American support and has recently acquired “the wealth of all the heathen round about” becomes all the more enticing and would explain why the Tarshish powers simply question Gog’s intent – “Art thou come to take a spoil?” Trump would simply not want to get involved (though this seems unlikely today). Thirdly, it seems that Trump’s friendly moves toward Russia is also presently creating the final confederacy which Christ destroys – that of Europe. Let’s consider that in its own section:

3.     The Papal War

Christ having conquered the Psalm 83 nations and the Ezekiel 38 nations, the final big phase of the plan is to destroy the Babylonian harlot system itself and the final remnant of the kingdoms of men. Having planted himself in Jerusalem, Christ’s dictate to the nations will command them to submit to his rule, and the Scriptures unfortunately show that they will utterly refuse this command. Instead, they will join forces in an attempt to destroy Christ and take back control (see Revelation 14:6-7 for Christ’s dictate and Psalm 2 & 21:11-13 for the response of the nations).

This conflict will involve more nations and seems to be centralized in Europe, and this is sensible considering that Europe is the hub of civilization. If Europe were to come under the rod of Christ, all other nations would know their fate is set. This conflict is described in many places, a few being Daniel 2:34-35, 8:23-25, Revelation 14:7-11, 15-29, 15:2, 16:13-21, chs. 17 & 18, 19:19-21. For our purposes here, we want to focus on Revelation 17. In this passage, we find a beast with 10 horns that is controlled by a harlot, and the 10 horns are used to fight against Christ:

Revelation 17:12-14 – 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.  (13)  These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.  (14)  These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful

Now is not the time to delve into all of the symbols of this chapter, but suffice it to say that these ten horns appear to be a confederacy of ten European nations which will align themselves with the beast and fight on its behalf. We presently believe the beast to be the European Union (EU), and the beast will be ridden and controlled by the harlot – the Papacy (Revelation 17:1-5, note vs. 3).

Knowing this and looking at the world today, it’s clear that the nations require more development. The EU is certainly gaining more prominence and presently includes a defensive pact for its members, so it’s easy to see how this could translate into the 10 horns which war against Christ (horns on animals are for fighting, indicating that these horns of the beast represent its defensive aspect). But the EU lacks a 10-member force like the prophecy says, and these nations have not yet “given up their power and strength unto the beast”.

Even more importantly, it seems to me that the beast (the EU) is not being ridden by the harlot yet (the Papacy). The harlot rides the beast and directions its actions, so this would mean that the Papacy has sway over the EU and its defensive arm. Such is not the case today, but this is not surprising at all considering that we are talking about the last big conflict which Christ engages in. 

From studying the Scriptures and analyzing how nations respond to war, my personal view is that the situation we find in Revelation 17 with the nations of Europe, the EU, and the Papacy will be formed as a result of Christ’s previous actions upon the Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38 nations. Europe will have two examples of this new Jewish ruler conquering without fail and will therefore see the need to unite and solidify forces. As the Papacy preaches that a supernatural devil is to arise in Israel and try to take over the world, Christ will quickly be labeled “Satan”, and the nations will look to their own spiritual leader for comfort – the Pope. I suggest that this confederacy is therefore a reactive confederacy, meaning that it forms because of Christ, not before he comes. This does not mean that no pact will exist prior to Christ, but his appearance on the scene is what seems to solidify it. I find this indicated in Psalm 2.

That being said, present events appear to be setting the stage for this very thing. Thanks to Trump’s present relationship with Russia, Europe is feeling abandoned and vulnerable – leaving Europe open to attack from Russia if Putin desires it. Trump is helping push the European nations together, and I believe we could be seeing the early formation of this final European confederacy.

Trump has not only considered pulling back on funding Ukraine – he has also shut off significant funding for the United Nations (Ynet). This move, amongst others, tells other nations that America is taking a step back. But of primary concern is Trump’s position on Ukraine because this relates directly to the EU (the beast). Consider some of these headlines, and it will be seen how Trump is creating the need for a unified European defensive program:

US-European relations are suffering now too, and if European nations can’t rely on America, they’ll have to rely on each other. That’s what a confederacy is for. People have already begun looking into what it would take for Europe to defeat Russia without American aid, and the study showed that they would need significantly more resources (Fortune).

European nations are also scrambling to try and support Ukraine given Trump’s criticism of the country. Europe believes that if Russia takes Ukraine, then their own nations are next. European leaders have publicly backed Zelensky after Trump called him a dictator, and the EU has offered its own mineral deal to Ukraine so they still have funds to fight Russia (Euronews, POLITICO). The importance of Ukraine for Europe has been made even more apparent from the horrific Trump-Zelensky meeting that just took place today:

If Russia can do what they want with Ukraine, Europe fears that they are next. If Russia does claim a “victory” in Ukraine and decides to seek after parts of Europe too, that would certainly spell World War III. But it must be recognized that this is not the only spark that could ignite a world war – there are such conflicts all around the world. We are seeing nations all over preparing for it. Consider:

There is much more to consider on this subject, but hopefully suffices to show the current state of the world. Yet there are a great number of troublous signs of a different in both the political and natural heavens which make things even more uncertain for the world. For example, it seems that there could be a new Pope in power soon given the poor health of Pope Francis (NBC News). As to the natural heavens, a rare alignment of seven planets is supposed to take place tonight (February 28) (Science Alert). Then there is the growing alarm amongst geologists about the dramatic surge in volcanic activity that’s taking place throughout the earth, and many fear that these are pointing to one big earthquake of catastrophic proportions (Prophecy News Watch). It’s no accident that just such an earthquake is described in Scripture in Zechariah 14:4 when Christ sets his foot upon the mount of Olives to save Israel and establish the kingdom there! For more on this future earthquake and the fault lines which have been Divinely placed under the Mount of Olives for this event, see this article we wrote in early 2023.

What a blessing it is to see so many signs, and what a privilege it is to know the wonderful end of these troubles and try to discern how these prophecies will come to pass, for we know that they will be fulfilled. As always, let us who have come into Christ not fear when seeing these signs, but rather rejoice in the message which they all declare with resounding unity: our Lord is near! Instead of fearing, let us identity ourselves with the hope and praise of the Psalmist in

Psalms 98:4-9 – Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.  (5)  Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm.  (6)  With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King.  (7)  Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.  (8)  Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together  (9)  Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.

 

In the Hope of Israel,

Tanner Hawkins

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