(26 September 2026) After so many years of watching for the coming of the Second Signpost, it has arrived, as written about here, and in Daniel Revisited.
We have been watching the Iran War since February 28, and the “official” beginning of the Second Signpost on September 11.
Mindset of the Western Church
Today the Western Church (that is, the Church in Europe, the Americas, and Oceania) is asleep to what is happening in the end times prior to Christ’s return.
By and large, most western Christians expect the Rapture, whether one is Amillennial so that the only thing left prophetically is Christ’s return, or one is Premillennial so there is a Tribulation, but the Rapture will keep us from enduring anything harsh.
Either way, Western Christians believe they will escape. This is their normalcy bias. Everything will be just fine, until it isn’t, and then they will be raptured.
Also, there may be some Premillennial post-Trib folks out there, but they might be in the same boat as they wait for a Roman Antichrist that will never show up.
Normalcy Bias
Wikipedia has a brief article on normalcy bias that outlines the situation. I agree with the conclusions, including the idea that 80 percent of people will not respond immediately to a calamity because their brain is still processing.
One example not responding to calamity was how many people would stand on those Thai beaches back in Christmas of 2005, watching the tsunami come in. They stood there even as the wave towered over them just ten yards away.
The three steps of response to a calamity are denial, deliberation, and finally the decisive moment in which you act. Several days of precious time will be wasted as people deny what is happening and then figure out what to do (deliberation).
The Mental Advantage of Knowing the Signposts
For those who know the Signposts, though, the denial and deliberation phases could be quite short, allowing them to act sooner.
Whether one can prepare materially and physically ahead of time, or they cannot due to their financial situation, at the every least, you hopefully would have surrendered to Christ, pulled down your idols, and decided ahead of time that you will let the Spirit lead you as to what to do and what to say, both now and after the Second Signpost strikes.
Whether you experience fuel shortages, and/or food shortages, and/or social unrest, and/or outright war, you know there is no Rapture until we go through the last three Signposts.
With any of these shortages, or unrest, you hopefully have figured out how you can or should prepare, if you are going to stay where you are, or go to a friend’s or family’s house for the long-term.
Conclusion
As an example, in my own life, while living the last few years I would keep one eye out over my shoulder watching for Iran to make its move. I would continue to make preparations such as learning new skills and making sure various tools were in place. Then, when the US attacked Iran, I was expecting Iran to somehow pull through the bombardment. And I continued to prepare, but at a faster rate.
And now with people wondering when these high fuel prices will end, and having uncertainty as to what will happen next, I believe God has been gracious and has given me the knowledge that fuel problems and food problems will only get worse. I believe Iran will execute its plan to run out across the Mideast and unite the Muslim peoples.
This is one of the signs that the fig tree is signaling that summer is near.
Finally, we must combine mental preparedness with spiritual preparedness. As long as you are surrendered to Christ, having died to self, pulled down your idols, and exercising your Philippians 4:6 “faith muscle”, we have God’s promise of Matthew 6:33.
Therefore, though no one can be truly ready, I am at peace as to what I must do when the time comes.
There are at least two things to do among all the things that should be done, as the Second Signpost blossoms. The first is to welcome brothers and sisters as they show up on my doorstep, to feed and provide help, per Matthew 25. The second will be to rejoice as this will be the definite sign from the Bible that Jesus is not only on His way, but He is coming very, very, VERY soon.
Keep watch.
Categories: teaching, The Four Signposts
Goodmorning mr Davidson,
I’m grateful to have found this site and your work, I agree with your view but would like to hear your thoughts about the matter of Iran uniting the Middle East
I’m struggling with the idea of Iran becoming great when their critical infrastructure (and in retaliation the Gulf’s) will get destroyed
But maybe Trump’s big talk is just theater and a bluff, and Iran just wants to bleed the current situation for as long as possible, until the US is forced out of the Middle East one way or the other as its not sustainable
It’s hard to accept the US just quietly leaving though and certainly Israel would then bomb Iran infrastructure
I don’t know the future but it’s possible Iran beats the US and keeps their infrastructure intact, take the oil of the Gulf and do with it as they please, with BRICS at their back protecting them making them atleast in the Middle East a super power
Hi Bid,
Welcome. That’s been a historical problem with the Signpost framework, that is, we humans respond with “that’s impossible” or ” how is that going to work” and it does anyway. I couldn’t see how the First Signpost could happen prior to it happening, and yet it did.
More recently, for the last several years, people were saying the US would never allow Iran to do these things. And yet, they have started doing them.
So to your questions, Iran will “unite” the Muslims of the Middle East against their will. The IRGC/Basij would conquer, occupy, and force conversions to Twelver Shia so they all come under the supreme leader’s sway, and supposedly wait for their Mahdi. Even the Ansar Allah (i.e., the Houthis) are Fiver Shias and have some disagreement.
Iran becoming “great” can include being feared by other nations (they are feared), and/or being respected, and/or being militarily/economically powerful. There is already no doubt they are a regional power. And let’s face it, Iran “won” the war against the US, so far, because (1) the regime survives, (2) they wrecked the usefulness of US bases, and (3) the US military has withdrawn to the Arabian Sea and Jordan. For a nation to stand up to the US as it has done and come out as good as it has shows it being “great” as well.
Americans are having a hard time accepting this. The world’s most powerful nation getting a bloody nose is embarrassing. You wrote “infrastructure…will get destroyed.” That is only an assumption. And if it does get destroyed Iran will simply destroy the Arab oil infrastructure as a response.
I would say your last paragraph sums the situation well. Right, we don’t know, but that’s what the Second Signpost says.
Thank you Mark for helping me understand and do the research needed. When 2:2 Thessalonians happens there will be at the same time a very great awakening for people looking for John 18:37 and John 14:6. Those that come to us we must give encouragement and substance
Thanks again
Is the signpost framework contingent on the middle east getting forced converted to twelver shi’ism en masse? So all the countries and its sunni inhabitants would be forced to convert to shi’ism? Or is it more about Iran and its army occupying and controlling the population of those countries without necessarily forcing them to be shi’a en masse? And would the Iranian invasion also include capturing (and forced converting) Egypt and Albania, which are two heads of the third signpost?
And would the Iranian invasion also include capturing (and forced converting) Turkey? another head? I’m asking it because Egypt and Turkey are really big countries with a quite big military (although Egypt is seen as more of a paper tiger) and Albania is quite a bit inland of Southern Europe. But these are 3 of the four heads of the Leopard of the third signpost
Mij,
Good questions. No, the Signposts are not contingent on the populations actually converting.
If Iran’s time occupying the middle East is sufficiently short, then very little conversion would occur anyway. I mentioned forced conversions only because Shias and Sunnis hate each other ore than they hate infidels. The Sunnis might change to Shia out of fear. The Shias might force it to support the Guardianship view of a single Muslim community waiting for Mahdi.
Yes, it’s about Iran’s armies occupying and controlling. Keep this in mind though, the Bear will cause great maiming and chaos. The second horseman allows men to butcher one another. That sounds like one religious group conquering another. Will the victorious religious group force a conversion? They have in history almost every time. But again it’s not required here.
Mij,
In Daniel Revisited chapters 10 and 11 I do mention that the Ram runs “west” and that word is “sea crashing on a beach” west. That suggests Iran will get no further than the east coast of the Mediterranean. That in turn suggests that western Turkey and Egypt will not be conquered (and neither will Israel be conquered as the horsemen are all about Islam). The Goat appearing in the west is “sunset” west, i.e. further west than the crashing beach. Only Syria might be subdued completely, but we will have to wait and see.