Terry James Prophecy Line

Author’s note: I wrote and posted this article years ago. I’ve probably posted it a couple of other times since. I post it again here because the questions about the Rapture and who will go to Jesus Christ upon His shout to “Come up here” (Revelation 4: 2) continue to dome to me quite often.

It is essential for Christians to know where they stand in the all-important matter of relationship with their Lord. To be Rapture ready is all important. To stand before our Lord and hear Him say, “Well done, good, faithful servant,” should be the desire of everyone who is God’s child.

On Being Rapture Worthy

Lately, emails and articles I’ve been receiving are trending toward the thought that Christians not living exemplary lives as believers will miss being taken in the Rapture of the Church, should they not be fully “repented up” and ready to go. These will be “left behind,” as the LaHaye and Jenkins novel title puts it. First, it is perhaps best to consider what is meant by the “exemplary life” in terms of prerequisites for making it to Heaven in the Rapture.

Those who insist that one must be living the exemplary life usually frame that as “living a life of holiness” or “living righteously.” By this, I presume they mean for the most part that one must be doing “good works” rather than living life in the “broad way” along which the pedestrian world moves. I would, of course, agree that the born-again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ should be doing exactly that every day. There’s no question that God’s Word calls us to that model for life while upon this fallen planet.

However, the question is now raised—and it is closely akin to the question raised whenever the declaration is made that one can lose one’s salvation: At what point does one “lose” his or her salvation? What particular “sin-point” is reached that causes the salvation meter in Heaven to go “TILT,” removing the sinner’s name from the Lamb’s Book of Life? Or, for our purposes here, at what point does one sin enough to be taken off the list of those who hold tickets into Heaven, who will be lifted to be with Jesus Christ in that millisecond of time known as the “twinkling of an eye” when Jesus calls: “Come up hither!” (Revelation 4:1–2)?

Those who believe that the names of the redeemed can be removed from the Lamb’s Book of Life, of course, use the following Scripture as one that prove their position is true:

He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. (Revelation 3:5)

This is proof, say the “conditional security proponents,” that one’s name can be removed from the Book of Life. But let’s have a closer look to examine whether this is true.

Those who hold that believers’ names can be erased from this blessed book insist that the born again must “overcome” sin. In their belief dictionary, this means we must stay sin free—that is, either live above sin or stay continually “repented up” in order to keep our names in the book.

They miss the point entirely as to who actually does the overcoming. It isn’t the believer who overcomes all sin, but the Lord Jesus, who died in order to take sin away from those who believe so that we are no longer separated from God the Father in the eternal sense. This is seen, for example, in the following:

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:4–5).

It is simple belief in the Savior who takes away the sins of the world that makes us overcomers. We still sin and come short of the glory of God, but His precious blood shed at Calvary covers all of our sins—past, present, and future. We overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil—all sin in this earthly sphere—only by belief in the Only Begotten Son of God (John 3:16). Our overcoming is only through God’s great grace, through faith. We can never overcome by our own power.

When we sin, we break fellowship with our Lord, but we never break the eternal, family relationship. We do the following to take steps toward making right the sinful break in fellowship that we have caused. First, we must realize and admit that we are not sinless, because repentance cannot truly be made unless we confess that we have sinned. Upon such confession and repentance there is given blessed remedy:

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8–9)

God’s Word shows us that our salvation and our ability to overcome is totally based on what Christ did for us and our faith in Him alone.

Going to Christ when He calls, as Paul outlines in 1 Corinthians 15:51–55 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, and given by John in Revelation 4:1–2, is a salvation matter. We know that from the overall gospel message and from the total context of God’s dealing with His family. Remember when Jesus prayed that beautiful prayer to His Father, as the Lord faced the cross (John Chapter 17)? Read it again, and you will see that it is absolutely clear that born-again believers are forever secure in the Father’s hand, based upon what Jesus did on the cross.

We know with absolute certainty that we are once and forever in God’s family because of the words of the One who created all that exists:

My Father, which gave [them] me, is greater than all; and no [man] is able to pluck [them] out of my Father’s hand. (John 10:29)

Paul confirms that the Rapture is a salvation matter as follows:

For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. (1 Thessalonians 5:9–11)

The Rapture will be Christ keeping us from the hour of temptation or Tribulation (read Revelation 3:10). The Tribulation is the time of God’s wrath—a time to which Paul tells us we are “not appointed.” However, many insist that Christians who haven’t properly confessed their sins will go through that time of God’s wrath (and the entire seven years of the Tribulation will be God’s judgment and wrath). These use the following verse to make their case:

Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. (Luke 21:36)

The key word they hold forth as relevant here is the word “worthy.” Does this word not mean that we as born-again believers must be good enough to stand before Jesus in that raptured throng? Does this word not mean, therefore, that if we fail to live up to God’s standards while on this Earth, we will (at some point in God’s holy view of what it takes to fall from being Rapture ready) lose our ticket in that translation moment, thus not be taken when the shout is heard, “Come up hither!”?

Like in examining the issue of salvation, in looking at the term “overcoming,” we now look at the word “worthy.” What does it mean to be “worthy,” as given in this Rapture example? Again, the answer is wrapped up in the same name as before: “Jesus.” Jesus is the only person “worthy,” in God’s holy eyes, to be in the heavenly realm.

Remember what Jesus said to a man who addressed Him as “Good Master”?

And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. (Luke 18:18)

Jesus, the second person of the godhead, was not seeking to chastise the man for addressing Him in this way. The Lord was confirming through this question that He is indeed God, the only good, the only righteousness. Righteousness is the only ticket to Heaven—either through the portal of death or through the Rapture. Only through Jesus—being born again into God’s family through belief in Him—can a person enter the heavenly realm.

Jesus spoke to this all-important matter by addressing Nicodemus:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)

God’s Word says about fallen humankind: “As it is written, There is none righteous no not one” (Romans 8:10) and, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 8:23).

So, Jesus is the only person “worthy” to enter Heaven. It is through Him that any of us are worthy to stand before Him in that heavenly realm. That is the truth found in the Scripture in question.

On a less magnificent scale, the word “worthy” in this passage means that we should be in a constant mindset of prayerful repentance. We should always want to be found “worthy”—cleansed of all unrighteousness, as stated in 1 John 1: 9, so that we will hear our Lord say to us on that day, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23).

The question has been concentric within the exploration of those who study Bible prophecy: Why is the United States of America—the most advanced, arguably the most influential nation in earth’s history—not mentioned by name in Bible prophecy?

What happens to America that by the time of the Gog-Magog assault on Israel our nation is not there to militarily intervene—while those nations whose names (at least their ancient names) are mentioned—when they attack?

My question: Are we now beginning to get an understanding of America’s fate?

Listening to Dr. Ben Carson on why things went as they did on November 3, I found him saying the same things as what has gone through my mind since, well…even before the midterms.

Dr. Carson said it started many decades ago. He said the founding fathers long before that twentieth-century time researched all the governments that had been on earth before constructing the republic they left us. He said it started changing dramatically all those decades ago. (I think he meant with the removal of prayer and Bible reading in public schools in 1962 and 1963.)

From that time, the dumbing down of students in the public schools has become akin to a disease in destroying the ability of people to understand how this republic engenders and defends liberty as has no other form of government in human history.

Children have been taught everything except the Christian principles upon which the founding fathers established the Constitution. Students have grown in that God-neglecting educational system until now, in 2026. The disastrous result is that they easily have fallen for supporting the absolute madness we are assaulted by every news cycle and entertainment media indoctrination. Our young adults, through social media inculcation by the satanic forces of Ephesians 6:12, think social programs and even communist-Marxist ideas are the way to provide the lifestyle of less work and more pleasure. The capitalist economic system, they have been taught, is oppressive, not progressive. The progressive way is the woke way that will lead to ever-increasing movement into utopianism.

Dr. Carson then brought to memory something I indeed heard said when Richard Nixon was president of the United States.

Nikita Khrushchev, then premier and dictator of the Soviet Union, told Nixon when visiting America that there would come a time when Nixon’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren will live under Soviet-type government. He added that it will happen without war.

My question once again, with an added inquiry: Are we now beginning to get an understanding of America’s fate? Will America’s voting public ever again vote for governance that the founders intended for America? Or has the God-neglecting, even God-rejecting public school system, including the God-denying institutions of higher learning, produced a generation that will bring Khrushchev’s prediction to fruition?

An even more profound question: Has America reached the point in turning its back on the God of Heaven that Romans 1:28–31 now is beginning to take effect?

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful

To my way of considering America’s founding, its destiny, and—yes—its fate, our nation being put on the planet by the God of Heaven, whom much of the nation now all but disregards, is tied in some way to God’s chosen nation, Israel.

Although God needs no human help to defend and oversee any nation or people—for He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent—He seems to have chosen America in a special way regarding Israel, at least in Israel’s being brought again into modernity (May 14, 1948).

America has long mostly blessed Israel, and has been blessed by God, all within God’s promise of Genesis 12:3. As a matter of fact, this nation of ours is the country to which every other people on the planet, for the most part, want to come. Our blessings are obvious to all—so much so that America is hated by some nations, out of satanic envy, I imagine.

But the new American voting generation, inculcated over the past few decades by that same satanic cabal in the high places of Ephesians 6:12, now scream hatred for Israel, believing that nation to be guilty of genocide against the people of the nonexistent state of Palestine. They call for the elimination of the Jews—of Israel itself. They cheer the Israel haters, such as the murderous horde who attacked the Jews and others on October 7, 2023.

These who are disastrously ignorant of God’s Word, of history itself, are following in the footsteps of the people of Germany in the 1930s. If not corrected by repentance and turning back to God, America’s fate will result in the same fate suffered by Nazi Germany.

And evidence that this younger generation, ignorant of God and of history, is taking this nation swiftly down that fate pathway is made evident in the following:

On Oct. 31, “Philly Bike On Your Left,” a group that describes itself as an “anti-fascist, anti-Zionist social cycling collective,” posted a flyer announcing a boycott of what they described as “Zionist establishments” in the city’s Rittenhouse Square neighborhood.

The group plans to boycott the Philadelphia restaurants Mac Mart, K’Far Café, Huda, Goldie, Schlesinger’s, and Dizengoff on Nov. 8, 2026, in solidarity with the Palestinian community.

The planned boycott occurs on the eve of the anniversary of Kristallnacht, aka the “Night of Broken Glass,” an antisemitic riot against Jews in Germany, Austria, and Sudetenland that coordinated by the Nazi Party on Nov. 9 and Nov. 10, 1938. During the attacks, thousands of Jewish businesses, homes, schools and synagogues were damaged. An estimated 1,000 to 2,000 Jews were killed in the attacks and an estimated 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and incarcerated in concentration camps.

The boycott and its timing drew condemnation from Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday.

“By explicitly targeting businesses because their owners are Jewish, the organizers are engaging in a form of discrimination that falls back on some of the oldest antisemitic tropes and tactics in history,” Sunday wrote in a Facebook post. “This is not simply a protest directed at the policies of Israel, rather it singles out our fellow Pennsylvanians based on their Jewish identity, targeting them for policies they have nothing to do with and no ability to affect because of their faith.” (“Attorney General Dave Sunday and Other Officials Are Condemning a Planned Boycott of Jewish-owned Restaurants in Philadelphia,” David Chang, November 5, 2026)

Satan’s greatest desire, I imagine, as do others who study Bible prophecy, is to destroy Israel, the nation God has promised to be His forever. If the evil one can destroy this nation, thus make God’s promises not truth, the devil must believe he can avoid another promise by God. That promise is that the devil and the angels who rebelled in Heaven will spend all of eternity in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10).

It is obvious to those who understand end times from God’s Word that Satan and his minions are certainly doing all they can to influence the low-information voters of this late generation to come against Israel and God’s chosen people, the Jews. That same horde is doing all they can to bring America into a configuration like Nazi Germany, as described above.

I believe we might be living through the primary action that is the basis for this country not being mentioned in Bible prophecy.

Are we to still do our very best to keep this nation in place as a godly entity even through the evil all around? Absolutely!

Even though I am increasingly of the opinion that America might never again see an election where the Constitution as given by the founding fathers is upheld, I believe that the Lord will make that Rapture shout from Heaven before our blessed nation falls totally beneath the tidal wave of votes that will swamp America beneath the waves of the Tribulation era.

And when you see all these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your head, for your redemption is drawing near. (Luke 21:28)

There is constant speculation, even chatter these days that President Trump will soon order another strike on Iran’s nuclear weapons production areas. Some reports say this will take place before the midterm elections (and at the time his article is being posted, it hasn’t happened; that tells us it won’t happen before the midterms). And some say it will take place following the midterms.

President Trump himself has said in impromptu news gatherings that he will likely strike again following the midterm elections.

There has been much speculation by news pundits and politicos about the whys and whens of such a strike. My own speculation is that such a strike is destined to take place, and it will have severe ramifications to the regions struck, as outlined by the prophet Jeremiah, which we have covered a number of times in these articles.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently spoke to his view of the necessity to deal finally with the Iranian regime. An excerpt of his thoughts is covered in the following news item.

Israel has achieved stunning military accomplishments against Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, militias in Syria, and, most notably, against the head of the terror proxy snake: Iran.

These pivotal elections, like the five consecutive elections between April 2019 and November 2022, are again a referendum on the continued governance of Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu is presenting Israelis with a stark electoral choice: Renew his mandate to capitalize on Trump’s bold endorsement this past week or risk surrendering the strategic gains of a multi-pronged war.

Netanyahu argues that the campaign remains unfinished. Even after the blows that Israel and the United States have delivered together and apart, Tehran, he warns, could restart its nuclear program. He therefore frames Trump’s endorsement as a promise to finish what was started, contingent on his remaining in the top job.

In a wide-ranging pre-election interview with JNS, Netanyahu casts his partnership with Trump as the foundation for an ambitious agenda: to bring down Iran’s regime, further weakening its regional proxies; expand the Abraham Accords normalization agreements with Muslim-majority countries in the region; and prevent the creation of a Palestinian state anywhere within Israel’s current borders. (“Netanyahu to JNS: ‘The only way to guarantee the future of Israel is to remove the Iranian regime’,” Alex Traiman, JNS, RR News, October 22, 2026)

I believe there can be little doubt that this prime minister and this US president fully intend to deliver a blow to this hellish regime. I am convinced they will attempt to do so. And the blow will be catastrophic, especially to the people of the region affected.

To do otherwise would be to make the previous destruction of Iran’s nuclear facilities nonsensical and merely an exercise in futility.

Much speculation about the MOAB (“mother of all bombs”) being used comes from some top Trump administration officials. This, of course, is the most powerful weapon in the American military inventory that is non-nuclear in nature.

But decimation to Iran’s nuclear facility is not the same as removal of the regime that has vowed to destroy both the “little Satan” (Israel) and the “big Satan” (the United States of America).

Most observers of geopolitics apparently believe and forecast that it would take a massive invasion of troops on the ground to finally and forever remove Iran’s regime structure. Neither Netanyahu nor Trump is willing to commit to such an all-out ground invasion.

However, more to the point, there is going to be in place during the future invasion of Israel an Iranian regime at least as wicked and hate filled as the present Iranian regime.

Ezekiel the prophet was given through Holy Spirit inspiration the armies of people to Israel’s north that will come to “take spoil” and annihilate God’s chosen people. This will never be allowed to happen, of course, as God Himself will intervene and destroy all but one-sixth of the invading force.

One of the chief members of that force will be the armies of Persia. This, of course, is the ancient name for the region of present-day Iran. So, a regime at least as evil as that in today’s Iran will exist at the time of the Gog-Magog attack outlined by Ezekiel.

Therefore, because of the lateness of the prophetic hour—based upon all of the signals that we are near the end of the Age of Grace—the present Iranian regime seems destined to be part of the Gog-Magog attacking force.

My own view is that the assault will take place very soon after the Rapture of the Church. I believe the man of sin who will become earth’s last and most terrible tyrant will watch, knowing this force will be defeated by God, then will move into Jerusalem to become that son of perdition.

So, my own take is to watch for a devastating strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities, but not for Iranian regime change. Iran’s destiny—that is, Persia’s evil regime’s prophetic destiny—is in God’s crosshairs for destruction!