In thinking about this article, something that both saddened and angered me came to mind.

Years ago, I heard a well-known actress talking with a TV show host; I believe it was on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. (So, it has been a long time ago—back when I still had eyesight.)

The famous actress said that when she was a very small child, she remembered sitting on a curb by her home waiting for a family who lived nearby to come by and pick her up to take her with them to Sunday school.

She said she remembered being excited because she would be together with her friends. But it was also a good memory because she enjoyed learning all about Jesus.

She said her father, one of the most famous actors in the history of cinema, would always mock her for wanting to go to Sunday school. He would say things like, “If you want to believe those silly fairy tales, go ahead.”

In telling it, she gave a little laugh, but I saw on her face the probability that the memory wasn’t one she cherished.

That same actress grew up and has been part of many movements that are ungodly, even unpatriotic. I still think of the little girl sitting on that curb and what might have been.

She has said at one point that she became a Christian, but one would be hard-pressed to see any public evidence of that conversion.

All children, although—due to the Fall—they’re born into sin like all of us, are innocent in the holy eyes of God until they grow to spiritual maturity, or the “age of accountability,” as I’ve heard it called since my own early childhood.

That little girl’s innocence disappeared from her life, we can presume, unless she indeed asked Jesus into her life, even at that early age. (I continue to pray that she is saved.) Her excitement and joy as expressed on that TV show might mean she had done so at that early point. I, myself, was saved through confessing Jesus as Savior at only six years of age.

But, again, from her public record, other than her later saying she had become a Christian, I see no evidence of her conversion.

So how does the title of this commentary relate to the prophetic picture?

Loss of innocence—as humans grow without the presence of the Holy Spirit, who lives in those who have accepted Christ as Savior—leads to progressive sinfulness. That is, the person, apart from God, lacks true moral guidance in life. This condition leads toward evil, not godly goodness. Paul, the great apostle, said in this regard: “But evil men and seducers shall [grow] worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13).

Certainly, we can understand this loss of innocence growing into absolute evil when reviewing the history of the lives of Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, or mass murders Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacey, and others. However, considering that all of humanity has, since the death of innocence in Eden, been moving ever farther from God’s governing goodness, we can’t ignore the frightening reality of where it’s all heading. The prophetic future is bleak almost beyond comprehension.

I believe there is no more profound example of how evil humankind has come than the millions upon millions of babies who have been murdered in the wombs of their mothers, and even outside the mothers’ wombs once born. America is at the forefront of this anti-God horror, with perhaps seventy million such abortions committed to this point.

And for those who might read this who have aborted their child, please know there is forgiveness of God upon repentance (asking for forgiveness, accepting Christ, and turning from this evil). The baby you have lost will, upon your repentance, be awaiting you in Heaven, with absolute love from God the Father.

And the evil in our very nation has progressed to a level that makes the actress’ childhood experience mentioned earlier come to light dramatically, in my view. This news item makes the point:

Despite her love of Christianity, a young Maine girl has been prevented since 2024 from going to church, attending religious holidays, being “exposed” to the Bible or other scriptural literature, and even having Christian friends — all because of a judge’s order in a parental rights case.

The draconian restrictions have been in place for some 18 months as Emily Bickford and her daughter Ava, 13, wait for a decision on an appeal to the state’s Supreme Court eight months ago after Portland District Judge Jennifer Nofsinger issued the shocking ruling in late 2024 as part of a dispute between the girl’s parents.

Not only has the ruling impacted the lifestyle and pursuit of happiness by both mother and daughter, on its face it appears incompatible with the founding principles of the United States.

The right to worship granted by the First Amendment is not in the grip of any judge to grant or abolish, the Portland mother told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview this week.

“That is not theirs to take away,” Bickford said. “It’s in our Declaration of Independence. Our forefathers knew we had inalienable rights given by God. God gave us the freedom to worship him, and there’s no government that can take that away from us.” (“Exclusive: Girl Kept from Church, Bible, and Christian Friends by Portland Judge Awaits Appeals Court Ruling,” Breitbart, Rapture Ready News, June 9, 2026)

America’s innocence since its birth, when most of the founding fathers had Christianity at the center of their thinking, has all but disappeared. In place of the loss of innocence has come the deaths of nearly seventy million babies, whose murders have been condoned by America’s national government. The results have been the coarsening of culture—the destruction of much of America’s founding innocence.

This is but a prelude to the ramifications of what’s to come due to the satanic influence embraced by those who reject the offer of redemption—the forgiveness of sin offered through God’s grace gift through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.

When the innocent (all who are God’s children through acceptance of Christ) disappear in one spectacular moment, evil will make life hell on earth for all who are left behind. Only the guilty will then inhabit this judgment-bound planet. Jesus, Himself, said it will be the worst time of all human history (Matthew 24:21).

The Rapture is imminent. It can happen at any second. All signals show that the time of Tribulation Jesus described is about to begin. The Rapture—the disappearance of innocence (Christians)—will have to take place before judgment falls, like in the days of Lot in Sodom.

Here is how to go to the safety of Jesus Christ in the clouds of Glory and be eternally in the grip of God the Father as His child:

That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)