Manchester Attack Is 'Evidence We Are Living in Prophetic Days,' Says End Times Pastor
Christians are handing "the enemy" the keys to society without putting up much of a fight, according to California pastor and author Phil Hotsenpiller, who argues in his new book that the increase in terror attacks and lawlessness around the world might be related to End Times prophecy.
Hotsenpiller, who founded the 1,200-member Influence Church in Anaheim Hills, California, is known for preaching and writing about End Times prophecy and is schedule to release his newest book on July 4 — One Nation without Law: The Rise of Lawlessness, the End Times and the Power of Hope.
As heinous terror attacks continue to take place in populated cities around the world and claim the lives of innocent men, women and children, Hotsenpiller's new book aims to explain the evil and demonic source behind the spread of lawlessness the world is seeing today.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
The book aims to help readers begin to "connect the dots between biblical prophecy about lawlessness and current events."
Speaking with The Christian Post after 22 innocent people were killed and 110 injured when a suicide bomber attacked the outside of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, last week, Hotsenpiller explained that the goal of his book is to help people understand "the mystery" of the extremist lawlessness.
"A lot of people, we look at something like Manchester and we think of lawbreakers but we don't think about a spirit behind that and where that originated from," Hotsenpiller told CP. "I really try to grapple with the hard questions — like what is really going in our world with the shootings, with terror attacks, how we can connect biblical prophecies to lawlessness and current events."
"To help those living in the last days discern the times, Jesus gave prophetic declarations (Luke 11:29–30,32) that would signify those times had come. One of them was His prophecy of the men of Nineveh [Mosul, Iraq] rising up.
"It is important to understand that the impact of ISIS reaches far beyond Iraq and the Middle East," he added. "For one thing, prophesy fulfilled in part or completely is a source of encouragement and a tool for believers worldwide. Secondly, a global terror network that is no longer restricted to geographical borders is a new phenomenon, with implications for the entire world. Unlike with other terrorist groups, the appearance of ISIS can be directly linked to the increase of lawlessness on a global scale. The attack in Manchester is further evidence that we are living in prophetic days."
According to Hotsenpiller, the reason why the Manchester attack and other deadly terrorist attacks like it keep happening is because of an evil and satanic spirit that is overtaking the minds of the Islamic extremists responsible for carrying out the attacks.
"When we start to look at evil in the world, it just takes on a whole different level," he said. "That is why Manchester happened, because behind the scenes are these demonic spirits of lawlessness. It says in 2 Thessalonians 2 that the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. It's being restrained right now by the Holy Spirit and by believers. But when the spirit and believers are removed from the Earth, then the lawless one, Satan, will be revealed."
"Lawlessness is the evil behind the evil acts and evil people," he continued. "So, it's a developed defiance that comes from Satan himself that does more than just act bad. They actually seek to control everything that is good and from God."
Hotsenpiller was critical of many Christians in the United States today and accused them of "handing over the keys" and conceding to the Islamic agenda.
For historical context, he noted that the Middle East, which is now predominantly Muslim, was once "a Christian Middle East."
"The Middle East was a Christian Middle East until about 700 or 800. By 1100, it was completely gone. Instead of resisting evil, Christians just folded," he explained. "They folded all across the Middle East. Rather than resist, they basically converted to Islam. What they did was they failed to believe the preaching of Jesus and defend that position."
Hotsenpiller told CP that Christians have the ability to "prevent the influx of evil." However, he stressed that most Christians in America want to be "isolated from politics and evil in the world instead of being a crusader."
"Every great advancement of Christianity required somebody's sacrifice and sacrifice wasn't that I went to church on Sunday," he said.
Hotsenpiller noted a few shifts that have happened which suggest that proponents of the Islamic and secular agendas have taken influence away from Christians in various aspects of the American society, including academia and politics.
"What we do is we have these wonderful ideas and we get this great thing going and then because we don't stand for truth, we hand the keys over to someone in the name of some kind of human goodness, but not divine justice. We hand it over and we give up territory to the enemy," he asserted. "Christians have to quit handing the keys over in the name of human niceness and realize that divine justice of God demands that we hold the ground that we have been given or sooner or later we will be giving up the keys to our own house."
Hotsenpiller further argued that too many churches in America today "lack a theological foundation."
"Even though they may be large churches and successful churches and they are ministering to a lot of people, do they have the theological background to know what is going on in our world?" he asked. "I talk to a lot of pastors and they don't have a clue about things that are happening in the Middle East, the history of the Middle East and why it is happening here. Samuel B. Huntington was a theologian at Harvard and he basically outlined in the 1970s the agenda of Islam in taking over America."
