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.
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.'
