Home » Articles posted by Terry James (Page 6)
Author Archives: Terry James
Biblical Audio Commentary – Martyrdom & The Final Ingathering 9-26-25 :: By Gary W. Ritter
There has been a lot of discussion about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Rightly so, those on the side of desiring to honor God have lamented his brutal end, but also predicted what good might arise from the ashes of his earthly grave. Those on the side of evil have made their intentions quite clear: they hate God and intend to use his murder as a springboard for further violence. Given these two polar extremes what can we determine of all this from a prophetic perspective?
Martyrdom isn’t a rare event in the world. Yes, in America we react in absolute shock because we’ve essentially closed our eyes to that which occurs elsewhere around the globe. Our easy Christian life hasn’t really prepared us for the worst, yet that happens every day, multiple times a day, in nations such as Nigeria, China, India, North Korea, and so many more. In fact, the church in America has been pretty determined not to see those atrocities; the result being that we are spectacularly unprepared for what is still to come.
Not long after I was saved, I learned about Christian persecution for the first time. That led to my volunteering with Voice of the Martyrs. In that role I spoke at a variety of churches concerning the troubling opposition Christians had, primarily, in the 10-40 Window, i.e. the area generally between 10 to 40 degrees latitude north of the equator. My speaking opportunities came through churches inquiring about having someone visit to speak to their congregations and through my own initiative in creating contacts. I also worked the yearly conferences VOM held in my area where I served in a variety of ways.
Over time a distressing reality became apparent: fewer churches had any interest in learning about their brothers and sisters in Christ who were persecuted around the world. Finally, literally all speaking opportunities dried up. When Covid came along, that stopped the regional conferences, and VOM had to go online to present information. One of the major sentiments that I heard regarding the potential of having someone like me from VOM speak at churches as time went on was that learning about persecution was too hard – too distressing – and people simply didn’t want to listen.
I was quite interested in Bible prophecy even in those early days, and one of the warnings I gave regarding persecution and being too comfortable here in our nation was that a day was coming when we would also have to face it. I stressed that I didn’t believe it would be of the nature that Christians faced daily in Third World countries, but that it was going to reach us in some way. I knew this because the Bible told me so. I don’t know how many really heard that warning, but as we’ve seen over the years now, Christians in the US have been targeted in many ways and the hatred fueling the attacks is increasing.
The horrors of Christian persecution are very real. Entire villages are laid waste with tens, even hundreds, of believers – both simply professing and those truly sold-out for Christ – raped, tortured, kidnapped, maimed, or murdered. The persecutors don’t make a distinction. If Christ’s Name is attached to you in some manner, you will be targeted in those locales.
Here in our country, we’ve had freedoms threatened and perhaps a few murders, but nothing on the scale that happens elsewhere. In one sense, we haven’t become anesthetized to the brutality, but we also don’t expect it for having a Christian label. That could be about to change.
What the enemy has found, although few admit it, is that indeed Tertullian was correct in saying that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” The way that God has designed us is that for our faith in Him, when we witness persecution, that raises up something in us to desire God more. It can happen in lukewarm Christians as well as in secular atheists. Sadly, it can also cause those who are on the fence to hop onto the other side and oppose or run away from Christianity in the hope they will be spared. They are sadly mistaken. What we also see is that the blood of martyrs increases the bloodlust of those who hate God. In those 10-40 Window nations, the enemy is strong, and his allure is to man’s sinful nature that glories in the shedding of blood.
This is exactly what’s been happening since Charlie Kirk was assassinated. His Turning Point USA organization has been flooded with tens of thousands of new chapter requests as young people, and some older, have had their consciences stricken by the Holy Spirit. They realize that Charlie had something they don’t, and it’s attractive to them.
If anyone is shocked by the opposite reaction, he shouldn’t be. Social media has been awash in demon-possessed people mocking Charlie, his murder, and those affected by it. There are also reports that those who profess this ideology are increasing in numbers because they wish to carry out the hatred in their hearts in a physical manner.
Real Raw News is a rather fringy website, but I find it interesting to peruse at times. It came out with an article titled: ANTIFA Recruitment Surges Following Kirk’s Death and Trump Promising to Label ANTIFA Domestic Terrorists, which doesn’t surprise me a bit. Here are a couple pertinent quotes:
Within hours of Kirk’s death, leaflets celebrating his demise and encouraging young men and women to join the resistance were being passed around at college campuses across the country.
“We’re seeing it all over the place, and ANTIFA is winning the hearts and minds of Leftwingers. Promoting violence, anarchy. Even if Trump labels them terrorists, which they are, they won’t be stopped unless the government freezes every single one of Soros’ bank accounts and confiscates his assets,” our source said.
So, what do we have in the aftermath of the martyrdom of Charlie Kirk? With all the interest coming forth in TPUSA, we may actually be seeing the beginning of the final ingathering of God’s people prior to the Rapture. Of course, it’s a given that many who are influenced in this way won’t become true Christ-followers. The Parable of the Sower shows us this explicitly. However, even with those who are exposed to Christ who don’t believe today, they may be some of the martyrs in the Tribulation.
Likewise, the rise of evil is exactly what the Bible foretells. What we see now is only a taste of that which is coming. Once the Holy Spirit steps aside in the Rapture of Christ’s true church, all bets are off and every evil under the sun will be made manifest. If you’ve seen some of the craziness on social media following what was done to Charlie, that will have been a day at the park compared to what’s in store once the Tribulation begins.
Many in the NAR (New Apostolic Reformation) camp have predicted a great Christian revival throughout the world whereby great numbers of people come to Christ, leading to His return in the 2nd Coming. There are many in secular circles who likewise describe a coming Great Awakening whereby spirituality intensifies and good overcomes evil, mostly in the political realm. Since there’s nothing Biblical about a massive Christian turning to the Lord before the Rapture, actually the secular-spiritual Great Awakening makes more sense. Unfortunately, its manifestation is exactly what’s being shown on social media as many profess their hatred toward Charlie Kirk. Demonic presence is growing. The only real Great Awakening in this regard will be to the realization that vast numbers of people who reject God will be demon possessed and express that in violence and chaos.
Despite this, it may very well be that this awareness of Christ through Charlie’s example could be that which leads to the fullness of the Gentiles. It’s quite possible we’re seeing this reality in a final ingathering of true believers.
Pray that this is so. Pray also that God will have finally had it with those whose hard hearts will never turn to Him. Judgment is at hand and for this dark and decaying world, it can’t come too soon. Just as Jesus instructed us to knock the dust from our feet and move on after encountering those who hate God and refuse to see truth, let us hope that the Lord likewise does this so as to bring down His much-deserved wrath.
Yes, we desire all who will turn to the Lord to do it soon, but after that for those who don’t turn to Him, there is nothing left but God’s punishment upon this unbelieving world.
Surely, that time is here, which means our time as believers is also ended. In other words, we’ll soon be going up, and God’s wrath in Judgment will come down.
https://garyritter.com/biblical-audio-commentary-martyrdom-the-final-ingathering/
Sanhedrin Syllogism Betrays Blindness
I suppose I should initially define the terms used here.
First, a “syllogism” is a noun describing a philosophical methodology founded by the Greek philosopher Aristotle. It means deductive reasoning that reaches a conclusion that follows derived from two or more premises that are known to be true.
Second, we need to understand something about the Sanhedrin to try to make application as to the “blindness” I refer to in the title of this commentary. I assure you that the title encapsulates prophetic truth for this closing time of this Church Age (Age of Grace).
Here is what one authority on the subject says:
The Sanhedrin was the supreme legislative and judicial body of the Jewish people in ancient Israel, functioning as a supreme court and a council of seventy-one members including the High Priest, elders, and scribes. Though rooted in the time of Moses, it reached its peak influence during the Second Temple period in Jerusalem, handling significant legal and religious matters. Its power waned under Roman rule and ultimately ended after the Temple’s destruction in 70 AD, with its functions largely shifting to local synagogues and later Jewish authorities.(Stone Henry – Medium)
The Sanhedrin was reestablished in modern times. Here is what a Google search shows:
The modern Jewish Sanhedrin was reestablished in October 2004, when a group of rabbis inaugurated a provisional body in Israel, consisting of over 70 members and intended to function as the Jewish Supreme Court. This attempt to revive the ancient legislative and judicial council was a significant event in Jewish history.
With all that as frame of reference, we can look to understand what prophetic stage-setting might be in view from a recent news item.
The assassination of Turning Point USA’s founder and leader Charlie Kirk is a matter known by virtually everyone on the planet with enough sophistication of communication to get news. The murder transcends the interest generated by any other news story–at least it did so for a time.
Another story that has dominated news on a worldwide basis for years, particularly since the murderous Hamas attack on Israelis on October 7, 2023, is the ongoing war involving Israel and its enemies. The threat implicit in this conflict involves possible eventual nuclear weaponry usage, thus the cry for “peace and safety” from diplomats and world leaders.
Now the two major news stories seem to be intertwining into presenting a prophetic stage-setting configuration. The recent statements from Israel’s newly formed Sanhedrin, to my way of analysis, seem to form a picture in this regard.
The Sanhedrin’s statement, dated “22nd Elul, 5785” in the Jewish calendar, opens with explicit grief: “The Court grieves over the murder of Charles Kirk, who was an extraordinary and exceptional great supporter of the people of Israel.”
The declaration immediately connects Kirk’s death to messianic prophecy, quoting extensively from Isaiah: “The path to repairing the world, stopping murder and bloodshed, and all other great injustices committed in the world is when all nations recognize the choosing of the Holy One in the people of Israel, as the prophet Isaiah said:
“And many peoples shall go and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways and we may walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” Isaiah 2:3
The Sanhedrin elevated Kirk to quasi-prophetic status, declaring: “Charles Kirk was among the wise of the nations of the world, who understood reality clearly, who understood the divine election of the people of Israel. On his desk was written:
“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8
The Sanhedrin presented a direct theological interpretation of the killing: “In the terrible murder of Charlie Kirk, the fact stood out that those who oppose and hate Israel hold to the path of murder and violence. The path to heal the world from murders and other injustices is through the people of Israel, supporting it and learning from it.”
The declaration includes a global religious mandate: “We call on all nations of the world to walk in his path, to understand that the key to repairing the world is the positive connection with the God of Israel and learning the good ways from His people Israel through observing the seven commandments of the sons of Noah, as the Holy One, blessed be He, gave to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai.”
The court offered extensive praise for Kirk’s abilities: “We bless the Holy One, blessed be He, and thank Him for the many talents He gave to Charlie Kirk: debate ability, charisma, in his appearances he was always ready to conduct substantive and eloquent discourse, showed great ability to influence young people, established several organizations, Israel supporters in the United States, and was the beautiful voice defending the people of Israel against the wave of anti-Semitism plaguing the world.” (“Sanhedrin Issues Statement Mourning Charlie Kirk’s Death, Israel365 News)
So, the Aristotelian syllogism, as applied to the Sanhedrin praise for Charlie Kirk, brings up a pertinent proof of truth found in God’s Word. The court declares the martyred Kirk to be among the wise who understood reality clearly, who understood the divine election of the people of Israel. It further argues him to be connected in death to messianic prophecy.
This shows in stark terms, I think, God’s dealing with His chosen people by accentuating the supernaturally inflicted spiritual blindness given Israel. Paul the apostle told of God’s dealing with His rebellious chosen people–about the blindness they would suffer until the Lord’s program for them and the Gentile world was complete. Paul told first about the divine discipline’s implementation:
What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. (Romans 11:7–8)
Paul then tells of Israel’s future destiny, when the blindness will be lifted:
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. (Romans 11:25–27)
Charlie Kirk is praised by the highest Jewish religious entity for his recognizing Israel’s place in God’s great plan for them. But these Jewish religionists are the same in blind, rebellious ignorance as were their predecessors almost two thousand years ago who were part of condemning Israel’s Messiah to death.
Charlie Kirk boldly declared the Lord Jesus Christ at practically every venue at which he appeared—the same Jesus Christ the Sanhedrin rejected and had put to death on Calvary.
By so lauding this martyr as a champion of Israel–a man who held Jesus Christ as the Savior of Israel, and of the entire world of lost humanity, while continuing to reject their True Messiah–whom Charlie proclaimed as the Christ—they manifest their spiritual blindness for all to see. They do so through their own misguided syllogistic rationale.
God’s Word says it will take seven years of Tribulation (Daniel’s seventieth week) to produce a remnant of Israel’s belief in their True Messiah. The second half of that period will be what John termed “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7). Jesus said this will be the worst time of all human history (Matthew 24: 25).
What we have witnessed in the past few weeks all means that the stage is rapidly being set for the wrap-up of this age and the beginning of that Tribulation era.
It is time for believers to be “looking up” for Jesus’ any-moment call in the Rapture! It is, therefore, time also to witness, in the strongest effort possible, of Christ’s saving power to those who are lost and headed for that Tribulation and for eternity apart from Heaven and the God who loves them so much He sent His perfect, Righteous Son, Jesus the Christ–Israel’s Messiah—to die for them.
God’s End-times Dividing Line
Charlie Kirk’s going to be with the Lord in such dramatic fashion, I believe, is a profound prophetic marker at the end of this quickly fleeting Age of Grace. I believe what happened might indicate that a prophetic division might have been set in motion by the assassination that took place before the eyes of all the world in terms of its aftereffects.
A divine division, it seems to me, was possibly initiated in some prophetically scheduled way with that shot heard and seen around the world. I’ll try to explain.
Evidence of this specific hour in history fits the time Jesus and the prophets described when God will begin bringing the end of one age to an end and the next into being. The end of this age, the Age of Grace, and the start of the next era, the Tribulation, looks to be almost certainly at hand. Jesus could call all believers into His presence at any moment.
Those who are spiritually attuned to all that has been transpiring over recent years, months, weeks, and days sense that Heaven’s judgment is poised ominously above the earth. The evil, the absolute wickedness, cannot be dismissed as simply being things as usual, even though life in general continues seemingly as normal.
It seems to me that the Charlie Kirk murder, witnessed by entire populations of the world through cyberspace platforms, has resulted, through divine arrangement, in dividing those who want God’s order from those who want no part of it.
This divine division, I believe, involves particularly the young adults of this judgment-bound planet. These, I mean, are those of Gen Z. Of course, it involves many more and diverse ages than those, but these are the most vociferous in expressing their emotions following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
On the one hand, the young continue to cheer in the most hate-filled and vulgar terms imaginable, applauding the bloody death of the man who engaged them in debate about their anti-God beliefs and comportment. On the other hand, there is a sudden, explosive movement by the young in support of all that Charlie Kirk championed—many expressing newfound understanding of and belief in what Charlie taught about His Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The mainstream news and entertainment media—which was, for a hesitating moment, somewhat unsure of how to report all attendant to the Kirk death—has now recovered its anti-God balance, and I suspect we can expect these to soon return to supportive incitement of the young haters—spewing lies and angry rhetoric against both the godly things Charlie Kirk tried to get across to the young audiences in his reasoned debates with them and, of course, against anything and everything involving Donald Trump’s efforts to govern.
However, there is a growing sense that the evil intended in this assassination of a man who professed Jesus Christ as the answer to all that’s wrong with America and the world, God will use for good.
And it is the divine dividing line, as part of that good God intends, that I think we could be witnessing as the Rapture of the Church approaches.
The Lord has used such dividing in the past to separate those who want His governance from those who want no part of divine order.
Perhaps the most relevant to today’s rebellion against God’s order is found in the book of Numbers.
Moses was leading Israel and was told by God to follow His order in doing things that would move His program for the nation forward. Korah, a man who was charged with bringing the people in line with God’s order, rather than doing so, did all he could to prevent Moses from following what God commanded.
The Lord told Moses to tell Korah to obey or face God’s anger. Korah refused and complained bitterly that God had led the people out of the land of milk and honey to die horrible deaths in the wilderness.
Following Moses’ declaration of the Lord’s command and Korah’s refusal to follow, God’s divine dividing of the obedient from the rebels was executed forthwith.
And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation. (Numbers 16:31–33)
It is true that God was dealing with His chosen people in the case of this rebellion against His divine order. But Israel is a Heaven-ordained archetype for God’s dealings with all of humankind. Rebellion against Almighty God will always result in a divine cleavage of the good from the bad—the obedient from the disobedient.
There is coming such a dividing, and I believe we are seeing the beginning of divine preparation for that division. It is God’s dividing line I believe we are seeing being drawn.
In a sense, people today are being told, as Joshua told the Israelites millennia ago: “Choose you this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15).
We are seeing God’s order in the process of being issued to humanity, I believe, in this turbulent time following the bloody slaying of Charlie Kirk. It is particularly being manifested within the great masses of the youth whose passions are in full-blown turning to God or else turning angrily away from His order in these last days of this Age of Grace. The divine demarcation is becoming clearer by the hour—God’s end-times dividing line.
Whether you are of Gen Z or a different vintage, here is the only Way to be obedient to the God who is on the prophetic verge of having to judge all rebels during the coming Tribulation:
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)
End-times Extremes and the Rapture
Each hour, new and more highly pressurized dangers fill these end times with extremes. The occurrences aren’t necessarily unprecedented. However, they slam into our environment—our life’s surroundings—at a stepped-up pace and with an impact that seems unprecedented.
The end-of-the-age signs of God again beginning to deal with this fallen world in judgment are, I observe, even recognized by those in the news media. Being blind now since age fifty-one or so, I often listen to audio-only forums—radio, podcasts, talk shows, etc.—to get the latest on issues and events. These news purveyors are forced into painting word pictures, rather than relying on the screen graphics to explain to the viewers.
It’s clear that many of these broadcasters and podcasters are frustrated by not being able to explain the upside-down world matters. Their secular worldviews are out of whack, and they struggle, like their audiences, in their search for answers to why the world seems to be going crazy.
One recent incident was the murder of Charlie Kirk, the thirty-one-year-old founder of the Turning Point USA political forum that attempts to reach younger people with a conservative message of hope for the nation and world.
When he was shot and killed while speaking to a college campus audience in Utah, the reaction to his death was dumbfounding to many of the admittedly more conservative media I listen to. These broadcasters and podcasters reported—with astonishment, in some cases—that TikTok was full of myriad young people praising the assassination in the most vulgar terms imaginable.
Even though those reporting this evil know the leftist ideology is full of such hate, they were stunned and in disbelief that hatred would manifest in such a blatant display.
These seemingly insane people were wildly elated at their young peers’ assassination for no other reason than that he spoke to them and debated with them on geopolitical issues and disagreed with their ideology. Most of the program hosts I heard couldn’t fathom that, in America, the attitude of an entire generation could be so fanatically disposed as to cheer the violent death that took a young father from his wife and two small children.
A few media pundits implied that it was a lack of religious training, with prayers and Bible reading taken out of public-school classrooms, that might have had something of an influence on these raving haters. And I was surprised that very few conservative talk-show hosts expressed that they believed demon activity to be involved. Mark Levin, to my surprise, talked about Charlie Kirk’s strong Christian witness. Levin, a Jew, gave Charlie’s message in a most reverential tone. It was the gospel of Jesus Christ in every detail.
However, the news forum hosts failed, in most cases, to indicate that they understand that their own peers—the mainstream news types—were in large part responsible for the outrageous, bloodthirsty rants on TikTok and other leftist forums.
To make that charge against their colleagues would, it might be thought, make them themselves (the conservative pundits) complicit—because they had not adamantly opposed the so-called liberal press in its always covering up for leftist hatred, even trying always to turn their audiences’ attention to the responsibility for the evil to be the fault of one Donald John Trump and his supporters.
This devil-controlled mainstream media—news and entertainment—have indeed “seduced” the young of an entire generation into becoming as wicked as the father of lies, who foments such evil as murdering anyone who disagrees with you.
God’s Holy Word says, through prophecy, exactly the cause and effect of the ultimate influencer –Satan’s master plan to bring all into his hellish sphere.
The Apostle Paul prophesied:
But evil men and seducers will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:13)
The media agglomerate in general encourages violence by refusing to point to those who are really responsible for the often-deadly actions perpetrated by violent protesters. They thereby are seducers—seducing those who fall for their lies. For example, I believe most will remember that, with an area of Los Angeles burning in the background and chaos all around that city due to an enraged leftist horde, a mainstream network reporter stood in front of the camera telling us that what she was covering was a “mostly peaceful” protest.
A number of people died in that and similar riots around the nation during that timeframe, and it was all inspired by the media slanting coverage against anyone and anything that supported conservative legislative and executive actions. Mainstream media, through their heavily biased reporting, caused the leftist ideologues–especially many among the college-age youth—to go insane with rage. Added to this was the constant race-baiting that enflamed the core populace of many large American cities.
The insane leftist (communistic) demand in the face of this lawlessness was—and continues to be—to defund the police. And the crimes, especially violent crimes, in the large cities, run by leftists, continues to explode…so much so that the president took it in his own administration’s hand to clean up Washington, DC, the one city in the US under the ultimate authority of the federal government. The results have been spectacular. The numbers of murders that were ubiquitous throughout certain areas of DC were suddenly eliminated almost completely—within only a matter of weeks.
Still, the insane calls to defund policing authorities within the large cities are demanded by those leftist mayors and city councils. Some even threaten to go to war with any federal forces that might be used to quell the lawlessness and bring back sanity for the people who must live within the violence their streets have attracted and nurtured.
Just as the end-times extremes within the political and cultural milieu are plainly made manifest for all who observe these fleeting days of this Church Age through the prophetic lens of God’s prophetic Word, so, too, is the manifestation of the geophysical.
Those within the leftist ideology examined above have been deluded by the seducing forces described by Paul. Those so seduced believe in the global warming/climate-change hoax. Thus, even though scientific studies have concluded time after time—and through daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and decades-long studies and observation—that there has been no global warming other than normal cycles found throughout earth’s history.
Yet the scientists and weather experts are seemingly stumped that suddenly there are weather phenomena, as well as unusual earth convulsions, throughout the planet. They attempt to explain and allay concerns, even fears, that something inexplicable is happening to the physical environment.
There are explanations such as the sun adjusting as it has apparently done for millions of years, or that the Earth’s molten iron core gyroscope is transitioning through yet another phase, and they offer many other suppositions beyond my understanding.
I do understand that God’s Word explains how the geophysical and astrophysical environmental endangerment will manifest at the time Christ’s return approaches. As a matter of fact, Jesus Christ said the following to His disciples—and to all of us who are now alive and are seeing these end-times environmental manifestations:
Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. (Luke 21:10–11)
Jesus said further that environmental turmoil, both humanistically and geophysically speaking, would increase with troubling intensity as the time for His coming again nears:
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. (Luke 21:25–26)
Just a quick glance at weather-related news on any given day proves the ratcheting-up of strange, endangering atmospheric phenomena in many areas of the world. I’ve chosen only two such reports because of limited space in this rather lengthy commentary. I could have included a great many such reports from around the planet.
Strong Winds, Baseball-Sized Hail Pound Central Kansas
Severe thunderstorms slammed Wichita and other parts of Central Kansas with damaging hail and wind gusts Wednesday evening. See how hail as big as golf balls and baseballs rained down during the wild weather, making a mess of roads, damaging vehicles and knocking out power to thousands of customers.Severe floods collapse buildings, kill at least 6 people in Bali, Indonesia
At least six people were killed after torrential rains triggered severe flooding across Bali, Indonesia, between September 9 and 10, 2025. The floods inundated large parts of Denpasar, caused the collapse of multiple buildings, and left several people missing, while hundreds were evacuated to safer areas.(Rapture Ready News, September 11, 2025)
Many similar reports flood my newsfeeds daily. Strange weather, earthquakes, and other anomalies indicate, I believe, the end-times extremes Jesus predicted for the immediate days leading to His Second Advent.
All of this can be summed up in the words a friend said recently to me. It is a statement I seem to be thinking, if not audibly stating, to myself rather regularly. I’m sure you have thought and perhaps stated it as well: “I’ve never seen it like this before,” or, “It’s crazy, all the things going on.”
These are exactly the time of extremes Jesus, I believe, was thinking about when He instructed:
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)
Why the Rapture Must Happen
Much has been discussed and written about speculation leading up to this calendar date. That the Rapture must happen during this year’s Jewish Feast of Trumpets observation is the central subject of the frenzied conversation.
To be honest, I’ve not looked very deeply into the Feast of Trumpets, as to its meaning and all attendant to it. I do have a general working knowledge of that tradition and others held by the Orthodox Jewish community but have come to believe and accept that the Rapture is not linked to any Jewish day of observation, so far as its timing is concerned.
Some scholars of the Jewish holy days say the Feast of Trumpets this year was to be September 16–17, not September 23–24. But here we are, at this posting, on September 22.
I would love, despite my skepticism, for the speculation that the Rapture will happen at this time to be correct. I, like most of us who believe the pre-Trib Rapture to be the correct view from what the Apostle Paul and Jesus, Himself, have said, am always “looking up” (Luke 21:28) and “looking for the blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). We are “watching” (Mark 13:37). We believe the Rapture can happen at any moment. It is imminent.
So, do I believe it can happen on September 23 or 24 of 2025? Absolutely. I believe it can happen on this much-talked-about date.
Do I believe it definitely will take place on this date? No, I do not. It could happen as I’m writing this almost a week earlier!
If the Rapture does occur on the date being speculated by many, then it will make no difference to believers who have been raptured about whether it happened on the date predicted other than that we will be celebrating eternal, joyous bliss! But if it doesn’t happen on that date, I’m concerned that the faith of some will be shaken.
This has always been the deleterious result of past date-settings regarding the Rapture. Many have gone into deep crises of faith in God’s promises over such failures.
So, with that as a preface, I’d like to examine why it is necessary for God to Rapture the saints of this Church Age—why He will be true to His Word and will do so, I believe, very soon.
The tremendous ramping-up of evil taking place today as humanity proceeds farther toward God’s judgment against sin and rebellion is most relevant to the premise implicit in the title of this commentary: “Why the Rapture Must Happen.”
When looking at the black-and-white films the Allies shot within the Nazi death camps following victory over Adolf Hitler’s Germany in World War II, it’s difficult to comprehend that level of evil. The images of walking skeletons that were the Jewish “survivors” of those camps remain etched in the memory of anyone who has seen those videos.
Upon viewing those films, one instinctively senses that there must be eternal punishment for anyone who perpetrates such absolute evil.
The same level of pictorial record doesn’t exist for the genocidal rampages inflicted on their own people by Josef Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, and the murderers of the other despotic regimes in modern times. However, eyewitness accounts and some photographic evidence make it hard to fathom that those beastly tyrants were restrained in their butchery.
The Bible nonetheless bears witness that God the Holy Spirit governs the human conscience. In biblically prophetic terms, this is most evident in Paul’s second epistle to the Thessalonians:
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. (2 Thessalonians 2:7–8)
Paul was saying here that evil was at work in a big way even at the time he was writing the letter. Still, the Holy Spirit was then “restraining” and would continue to hold back that evil until the Holy Spirit withdraws as the Restrainer of evil. Then all hell will break loose as the Antichrist is revealed. The spirit of Antichrist is already present in the world—and was manifest even during John’s day (read 1 John 4:1–3). The mystery of iniquity about which Paul prophesied and this spirit of Antichrist are interlinked in the ancient web of lawlessness we call evil.
Jesus told what will happen once the Restrainer (the Holy Spirit) withdraws from governing the wickedness in the hearts and minds of people of the post-Rapture world:
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matthew 24:21)
The Lord said just how bad things would become:
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. (Matthew 24:22)
God will shorten the days of the great Tribulation, because if He were to let things go on to their conclusion, without the return of Christ, every being of flesh and blood on the planet would be destroyed. Such is the mystery of iniquity that exists today, and it will become exponentially worse once the restraint of evil is no longer in place. Then, the ultimately evolved man—as evolution would have it—will step to the forefront of fallen human history. Antichrist will inflict horrors on the people of earth in ways Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and the rest of history’s madmen could not have even imagined. His regime will be the most bloodthirsty of all time.
Lawlessness is everywhere we look. Whether considering the Middle East and the unspeakable evil of satanic forces like Hamas, the absolute wickedness of mutilating children fostered by the trans movement, or America and the devil-inspired anti-Semitism of youth groups indoctrinated by US universities, the “mystery of iniquity” is swelling like a great caldera that is about to explode across the world.
Evidence of the growing global lawlessness is compiled hourly through reports like the following:
As recent as 2019, The Economist’s Safe City Index placed Amsterdam at the top in Europe and fourth worldwide, behind only Tokyo, Singapore, and Osaka, but a new debate hosted by local broadcaster AT5 has revealed that seven in ten panel members avoid certain parts of the city because they now feel unsafe.
That figure rises to 85 percent among women, while half of the women surveyed reported experiencing some form of harassment, with some subjected to intimidation, being followed, or assault.
The issue has gained urgency after several high-profile crimes, including the murders of two 17-year-olds, Rivaldo, shot dead on a soccer field, and Lisa, who was brutally murdered by a 22-year-old asylum seeker as she cycled home. Multiple sexual assaults have also rocked the city in recent weeks, and police were on high alert after recording three explosions in five days last week.
Headlines at the time read: explosions-rock-amsterdam-as-dutch-capital-continues-to-reel-from-recent-teen-girl-allegedly-murdered-by-asylum-seeker. (“Amsterdam used to be the safest city in Europe; now a majority of its citizens are afraid to go out at night,” Rapture Ready News, September 12, 2025)
The youth, guilty of most of such lawlessness in inner cities across the world, have been taught by cultural inculcation that they have been held down by the affluent, so their actions are justified. The inference is that it is no more than simply Robin Hood robbing the evil sheriff of Nottingham.
Can there be much doubt that if they commit such bold acts now, then when the Holy Spirit is no longer restraining such evil thinking and actions, even America will quickly become a hellish existence in which anything goes?
It is almost as if the US federal governmental powers-that-be have taken Paul’s 2 Thessalonians 2:7–8 passage to heart. It seems they anticipate a time when draconian measures will be necessary to restrain the evil that is coming. Antichrist’s restraint will be even more draconian, but his own evil will far surpass all other iniquity of history, the Bible says.
Judgment of such rebelliousness awaits implementation by the God who must bring back the righteousness lost in Eden. Our Holy Heavenly Father is the only One who can cleanse humanity of this satanic infection called sin.
Only those who are born again through belief in the Lord Jesus Christ–God’s Son who has taken away the sins of the world—are not subject to God’s judgment of those left behind at the Rapture.
This is the purpose of the Rapture: to rescue all who are in God’s family through belief in Jesus. We are “not appointed to wrath,” which the world of left-behind rebels is about to experience during the Tribulation (Revelation 3:10).
God must remove all who are righteous and all those who have died while in Christ’s saving grace before His judgment and wrath must begin cleansing this fallen world. He will then, again, begin dealing with His chosen nation, Israel, to bring a remnant to accept their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus will return to the planet’s surface, destroy all enemies of God, and set up His Millennial Kingdom.
Ultimately, God will purge all sin, bringing humankind and all of creation back to the perfection that was lost when iniquity was found in Lucifer, and when sin and death entered through Adam’s disobedience.
It will all begin with the Rapture of the Church, which has been being constructed by the Lord Jesus since His death, burial and Resurrection, and His sending the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
This is why the Rapture must happen. Here is how to be sure you go to the Lord Jesus and be rescued from the coming judgment and wrath:
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)
Be Like Noah – By Jeffrey Hauck
As a believer I understand that the ‘last days’ would be like the days of Noah and of Lot (Luke 17:26-29). It seems that it’s becoming more apparent for Christians today. On the surface, this warning has always provided proof that Jesus will return in the clouds for his church at a time that is not expected by the unbelieving world. The flood had come after 100 years of warning and faithful building by Noah and his family. Sodom and Gomorrah were reduced to ashes and ruin in 1 day, following an attack on Lot’s home. People were going about their normal lives with eating, drinking, marrying, buying, selling, planting and building. Then suddenly, they were destroyed.
But now, I believe we can see more clearly the underlying culture that Jesus warned about that would be present at the time of his return. Looking at the times of Noah and Lot (remember, they lived over 500 years apart from each other) we can see much evidence of overt wickedness throughout the chapters of Genesis 6,18, and 19. In Noah’s time, we learn that the daughters of men had ‘relations’ with the Sons of God. People’s hearts were always full of evil, and the earth was filled with violence.
With the case of Lot, homosexual men surrounded his house, demanding he give the ‘men’ in his house. Before this time, Lot had to be rescued by Abraham after the battle of 5 vs 4 kings over possessions and food supplies. What becomes clear is that cultures that have every need satisfied, yet they wipe their mouths, look around and try to fill their insatiable appetite for evil, while despising authority. Those generations met their sudden destruction, as will ours.
Let’s compare our generation. There are many aspects of our culture that have been captured wonderfully by many writers for Rapture Ready. I will just mention a couple. In our own nation we’ve seen the drastic decline of Christianity since the 1960s, following the removal of the Bible from public schools. Since then we’ve seen the proliferation of false religions, sexual deviancy, violence and broken families. It’s heart breaking for believers to watch our nation fall, to see gleeful celebration of martyred Christians, attempted murder and murder of righteous leaders. It’s so sad to watch lawlessness overcome our cities and others. Recently, Australia passed the Conversion Practices Ban Act that bans prayers aimed at changing or suppressing someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. 2 Timothy 3:13b comes to mind, concerning the last days. “..while evil people and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived themselves.”
What we are witnessing today is only going to get worse. Birth pains are increasing as we were warned by our Savior in Matthew 24.
How should we be?
We understand that Jesus will come and rescue our generation, not Abraham nor angels. But how should we be in the meantime? Let’s look again at the generations of Noah and Lot and how they acted. I suspect there will be a better role model between the two.
Let’s start with Lot. When Abraham and Lot were going their separate ways, Abraham told Lot to choose first. He chose the plains of the Jordan because they were watered and apparently bustling with business. We see him sitting at the gate of Sodom when the 2 angels come to investigate. He has some authority. And with his authority he offers his daughters to appease the vicious mob that want the 2 new ‘men’ (angels) in town. When warned to leave the city immediately, Lot hits the snooze alarm in the morning and negotiates with the angels about how far he must go to protect himself and his family. And let’s not forget Lot’s wife who aimed to preserve her own life and lost it. (Luke 17:32,33). I won’t even mention what happened with Lot and his daughters, afterward. Lot did not make the Hall of the Faithfull in Hebrews 11. But he is still declared a righteous man because he was distressed by the debauchery of those unprincipled people. (2 Peter 2:7,8). The fact of the matter is if God choses you and you respond, there is nothing that can separate you from the love of Jesus. Romans 8:35. Praise God! I can not give God enough thanks for his tender mercies.
Let’s look at Noah’s example. He was immersed in a severely, unholy culture. Looking through Genesis 6,7,8 and 9, we see a man who walked with God despite the earth filled with corruption and violence. God asked him to complete a task that was devoid of common sense and would take about 100 years to complete. He would have been mocked and possibly attacked by his peers. But he led his family faithfully. Not one of his peers befriended or trusted him.
Due to Noah’s faithfulness, he and his family were delivered while the rest of the world was destroyed. God blessed Noah following the flood and he had domain over all the creatures of the earth. Was Noah perfect? No. But he did make the Hall of the Faithful in Hebrews 11.
What can we take from these two righteous examples submerged in a culture that has outright disgust for all things ethical, honorable or decent? Let’s not use our authority to appease the wicked or put ourselves in situations where we need a rescue. Let’s stand our ground but not try to preserve our own lives. We go and do as the Spirit leads us. It won’t be violent. Noah did not use violence in his violent culture. But we can be sure he did not back down from his mission.
Ecclesiastes 8:12, 13 says “a sinner can do evil a hundred times and still live a long life; although I know that in the end things will go well with those who fear God because they fear him. But things will not go well with the wicked..”
We’ve seen this scenario play out many times throughout the Bible. And it’s playing out right now. Let’s keep our noses to the grindstone not giving ground to the enemy but giving a reason for our hope at each opportunity. A flood is coming soon.
Maranatha!
Jeff Hauck
jeffreyjhauck@yahoo.com
Weary Watchmen With PTSD – By Jan Markell
Have you had enough yet? Violence and lawlessness seem out of control. Senseless violence. Snipers unleashing bullets carved with evil messages on them! Who thinks this way?
The line-up of atrocities never ends. An innocent Ukrainian woman coming home from her pizza job, casually scrolling on her phone on a train in North Carolina, is stabbed to death by a demonized thug. She had left war-torn Ukraine for the supposed safety of America. Yet a monster lurked in the shadows and ended her young life. And it was all captured on camera.
Beyond Our Imagination
My hometown made notoriety again in a horrific manner—a school massacre. Children in a Catholic school five miles from where I grew up in south Minneapolis, were mowed down by a lunatic. The shooter blocked the church doors so that the children could not escape before he began shooting through the church windows. Can you imagine? I can’t.
Sure, the Bible says that evil is to get worse in the end-times (II Timothy 3:13), but who can comprehend such barbarism?
They said that about 9/11, which we recently observed and remembered as well. Even our national leaders admitted they didn’t have the imagination to anticipate the evil of Islam flying planes into buildings. More PTSD as we reflected back on that fateful day a week ago.
Don’t forget earlier this year, two Jewish believers were gunned down in Washington, D.C., and in June, an Egyptian terrorist set Jews on fire in Colorado a few days later. If we dared look, the Colorado event was also filmed and aired.
Good-Bye Charlie
Then on September 10, we had a flashback to July 13, 2024 when there was an assassination attempt on President Trump. This time, the target was Charlie Kirk, and this time, the shooter was successful.
What adds to the PTSD trauma is that 21st Century communications allow us to watch these horrors in real time—as it happens. Or, minutes later. We are viewing true horror show dramas that are unimaginable.
The assassination of conservative Christian Charlie Kirk was another shot heard around the world. But the bullet that killed Charlie didn’t kill a movement. It ignited many people to press on with truth-telling, love of country, and honoring God.
As one observer suggested, it is a reminder that speaking truth, particularly Biblical truth, is inherently dangerous in a world where truth sounds like hate to those who hate the truth.
When leftists rejoice at the death of godly people, as they are doing with Kirk’s death, it is a foreshadowing of the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11. The world will rejoice over their demise as well.
Very often, the perpetrators of the carnage are deeply involved in alternative lifestyles, and so they view conservatives, Christians, and the biblical worldview as the enemy. We become their prime target just as the early martyrs of the church. Constantly accusing righteous or conservative people of being fascists and Nazis has deadly consequences.
Charlie has now finished his race, his earthly course, and we celebrate his graduation into the presence of Jesus Christ and the glories of eternity.
Demonic!
The New York Post, not known as a spiritual publication, had an appropriate one-word headline—“Demonic.” That accurately summarized the end-time fight we are in. Satan is making his last stand before the church is taken in the rapture, which removes believers from this sin-wracked, violent world.
But this is today’s progressive movement: twisted and evil. What a reminder that the last days will be as the days of Noah!
Romans One On Display
And to add to the lunacy, and what should convince us we are in a Romans one society, is that the deranged Left celebrates some of this. Again, this stretches credulity and is beyond our imagination. It is last days delusion. The prophet Isaiah told us that evil would be called good by some (Isaiah 5:20). So, watchmen suffering from PTSD is a pretty normal reaction!
Take these daily evil reminders with the assurance that they are a sign that Jesus is coming again. Our rescue is coming. Soon. Perhaps today.
The Rapture Paradox
A woman from the Netherlands who years ago was a frequent visitor to www.raptureready.com once proposed we address a troubling thought she lived with as a Christian. It is a paradox I believe many Christians who look for Christ to come for believers in the Rapture have considered, at least to some extent.
The writer those years ago sent an article about the growing Islamic population in Europe and the threat Islam represents not only to Israel, but to the rest of the world that is not Islamic. She recognized that Israel being at the center of world controversy indicates the lateness of the hour, prophetically speaking. She put it this way in her email:
Every time I see these articles, I am on one hand horrified at the treatment of the Jewish people but on the other hand full of anticipation as I know that with each event that pushes the Jewish people back to their homeland of Israel, the closer the Rapture is for Christians. I do feel badly that I am excited for the Rapture though as I know what that means for those that will be left behind… Should we be as excited as I am to know that we can (I believe “will”) be raptured any second? I know this gives me an urgency to share the gospel with friends and neighbors, but I still always feel guilty for the anticipation and excitement I get when I see the current events played out daily.
This dichotomy within the believer’s thinking is, I believe, not unusual for those who truly look for Christ’s any-moment call as prophesied by Paul the apostle:
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17)
Christians who believe the pre-Tribulation Rapture is truth from God’s Word yearn—without need to apologize—for the blessed hope that is found in Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13). At the same time, they know that when that call from their Lord comes, those left behind will soon endure a time of horror, about which the Lord Himself said:
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matthew 24:21)
Those left behind will, the Christian knows, include perhaps close friends and beloved family members. So, the paradox of wanting the Rapture to take place, and at the same time dreading it for those who will stay on this planet to endure God’s judgment and wrath is, to some, troubling.
The article this writer sent with her email those years ago encapsulates just a small part of the building evil the Lord of Heaven will judge with His righteous wrath. The matters the article involved point to the satanic rage represented within Islam, the number-one Israel-hating entity on the planet. Hatred for Israel, and the desire of the international community to force the Jewish state to divide the tiny portion of its God-given land to come up with a formula for peace with its Islamic neighbors, will lead to Armageddon, God’s Word says:
For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. (Joel 3:2)
The article the emailer sent contained a speech by Geert Wilders, a Dutch member of Parliament for the Netherlands. He synopsized with stunning description how Israel’s Islamic enemy was systematically infecting Europe, thus threatening world stability—or what little of it that remains.
Wilders, who was chairman of the Party for Freedom, the Netherlands, spoke at the Four Seasons, New York, introducing an Alliance of Patriots and announcing the Facing Jihad Conference in Jerusalem. He announced that Europe was in dire straits as it was undergoing Islamization. America and the world, he warned, faced the same fate as Europe if the threat wasn’t confronted and defeated everywhere it exists.
Wilders said that entire city sections throughout Europe were taken over by Islamics one street at a time. Local governments and police forces were often so intimidated that they dared not go into those areas to govern. Women, treated no better than slaves, according to the speaker, were covered from head to toe in tent-like attire, sharia law took precedence, and women in sections of the cities not part of the Islamic communities more and more were hearing hate-filled shouts of “Whore!” from those of the Islamic populations. (http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/wilders.asp)
That news report was from a decade and a half ago. Today the Wilders prediction is manifest in hourly news reports while American cities and states such as Texas are experiencing what can only be described in my view as an Islamic invasion.
In 1991, the Muslim Brotherhood issued a confidential memorandum that outlined the strategy for the group in North America. It details a plan for the “Enablement of Islam in North America,” understood as “establishing an effective and a stable Islamic Movement led by the Muslim Brotherhood which adopts Muslims’ causes domestically and globally, and which works to expand the observant Muslim base, aims at unifying and directing Muslims’ efforts, presents Islam as a civilization alternative, and supports the global Islamic State wherever it is.”…
The aim of Islamists is not integration into our society, nor to isolate themselves within their own enclaves, but rather to energetically integrate America into Islamist culture. Far from a Muslim “Benedict Option,” the Islamist strategy is political and confrontational…
Islamists oppose the American sense of nationhood and form of government and seek to replace constitutional and national governments with the global Islamic state…
The digital age means the annihilation of distance. Thanks to the internet, Islam’s reach and networks have globalized. Immigrants talk regularly with relatives on the other side of the world and establish international revenue streams. This new technology presents Islamists with an opportunity they never enjoyed a hundred years ago. Those advocating for stricter Islamic practices can use the power of digital connections to reach and reeducate Muslims around the world. Videos from conflicts in far-off places can be broadcast instantly to millions of Muslims in the West, encouraging them to see themselves as participants in the same struggle. The 1991 memorandum indicates how Islamists exploit this situation by encouraging Muslims to think of themselves not as members of a Western polity but as internationally interconnected engineers who are building one global Islamic state. Islamists will not permit Muslims to blend into America’s purported melting pot. (“The Islamist Threat to American Communities,” Nathan Pinkoski, May 7, 2025)
Israel and its being targeted for extinction by Islam, which has infected so much of the American radical leftist anti-Semite insanity with hatred, is the sure sign that the Tribulation is in view. The Rapture of the Church is, therefore, an event that must be very near to occurring indeed. That being the obvious case, what should be the Christian’s foremost priority? The answer is that it should not be considered a paradox for the believer, but an exhortation, a call to duty.
There is nothing anyone can do to hurry or delay the coming of Christ for His saints in the Rapture. The timing of that great event is out of our hands. Therefore, longing for the blessed hope (Titus 2:13) to rescue us from the terrible time to come (Revelation 3:10) doesn’t conflict with our concern and compassion for those who will be left behind if they don’t come to Christ for salvation. It is time for those who name the name of Christ to recognize the lateness of the prophetic hour; witness to those around us of the truth that Jesus Christ is the one and only Way to salvation; and live in such a way that we can earn our Lord’s commendation, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Promise of His Coming
Author’s note: The article for this week was first posted Monday, September 20, 2010. My reason for reposting it this week might seem rather unusual–perhaps even odd.
Let me explain.
Upon awakening early the other day, as is my usual way, the first moments of clarity came to me out of nowhere and wouldn’t leave.
The thought was that I had been saved at the age of six. Since I was born in 1942, that made the year I was born again 1948.
The thought wouldn’t leave. I was “born again” the same year–1948—Israel was “reborn” as a nation into modernity.
Somehow that all congealed into the need to write or find an article I had written on the importance of the rebirth of God’s chosen people, Israel, to the nearness of the Rapture.
Researching my personal article archives led me to the following.
Promise of His Coming
A biblically prophetic reality that perfectly fits our present day, and that has been looked at a number of times, is the warning given by the Apostle Peter especially to the generation alive at the end of the Church Age:
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?” for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. (2 Peter 3:3–4)
In almost every case of looking at this prophecy, the point has been exclusively dwelt upon that both the religious and nonreligious of the world mockingly chide those of us who believe Jesus Christ will return to the earth. This prophecy has observably come to pass in our time.
However, it is the phrase “promise of his coming” I would like to consider here.
Like the 2 Peter 3:3–4 prophecy, so many other things developing in these troubling although exciting times testify mightily to the evidence that God absolutely keeps His Word. Scripture promises, for example, that ultimately, no matter how scattered and oppressed the Jewish people have been throughout history, Israel will be a nation forever.
Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking my covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God. But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord. (Leviticus 26:44–45)
Israel was restored to the land after centuries of the people being removed from their own land and being persecuted unmercifully in the nations to which they were scattered. They were regathered and established again as a nation in a single day, just as foretold.
Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. “Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth?” saith the LORD: “shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb?” saith thy God. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her. (Isaiah 66:8–10)
That miracle rebirth took place May 14, 1948, following perhaps the house of Israel’s most horrendous persecution—that suffered under the Nazis. No other nation has been so torn apart and scattered to the winds of history, then regathered, having its original language restored. The Lord proved He alone is God. His promise to Israel goes into the future for His chosen people:
“Also I will restore the captivity of my people Israel, and they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will also plant vineyards and drink their wine, and make gardens and eat their fruit. I will also plant them on their land, and they will not again be rooted out from their land which I have given them,” says the Lord your God. (Amos 9:14–15)
Israel’s God is God! There is no other God. He continues to prove who He is through Israel. This, doubtless, is one extremely important reason He chose that people: to demonstrate the absolute veracity of His Holy Word. That same Word—who is the very Person of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1: 1)—has made a promise of staggering importance to His other chosen people.
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:1–3)
His coming again for God’s other chosen people–the Church (every born-again member of Christ’s body during this Age of Grace)—is assured. It is 100 percent certain, because He continues to prove His faithfulness through the nation Israel and by keeping every prophetic promise He has made.
Jesus tells us who constitutes His chosen Bride:
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10)
He promises:
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. (Luke 21:28)
Jesus is coming. It could be the very next moment!
Pre-Rapture Reconnaissance – By Joe Hawkins :: Book Review by Terry James
I most heartily recommend this short but powerfully written guide to living the Christian life in this time so near Christ’s Call to the Church.
Pre-Rapture Reconnaissance is a high-impact field manual for Christians navigating the turbulence of the last days. Written with the urgency of a military intelligence briefing, the book equips believers to recognize the enemy’s tactics and stand their ground in a world increasingly hostile to biblical truth.
Drawing from Scripture, the Joe frames end-time prophecy in terms of spiritual reconnaissance—the disciplined act of gathering intelligence before battle. Just as soldiers rely on scouts to assess terrain and identify threats, Christians are called to be both Watchers (discerning the signs of the times) and Warriors (actively engaged in spiritual battle). This dual role sets the tone for the entire work: vigilance and preparedness, not fear and retreat.
The book is organized into seven Prophetic Hot Zones, each serving as a critical front on the battlefield of the last days. These include Apostasy, Moral Decay, Global Disasters & Wars, Persecution, Beast System, Deception, and Israel. Within each zone, Joe identifies the enemy’s infiltration—whether through false teachers, lawlessness, technocracy, or rising antisemitism—and ties these trends to clear prophetic warnings from Scripture.
What sets Pre-Rapture Reconnaissance apart is its tactical clarity. Scripture is treated as intelligence reports directly from Headquarters, revealing both the enemy’s strategies and God’s battle plan for His people. Modern threats such as progressive Christianity, digital surveillance, and globalist agendas are examined through the lens of biblical prophecy, showing how the ground is being prepared for the coming Antichrist.
Yet, the tone is not despairing but mobilizing. Each section calls the reader to hold the line, test every spirit, and remain anchored in God’s Word. The book insists that prophecy is not meant to paralyze but to prepare. It issues a wake-up call for Christians to guard their doctrine, live in holiness, proclaim the Gospel boldly, and endure persecution with the confidence that victory is already secured in Christ.
Pre-Rapture Reconnaissance functions as a spiritual intelligence briefing for believers who sense the lateness of the hour. Urgent, biblical, and unapologetically direct, it is both a map of the enemy’s tactics and a rallying cry for the faithful to remain watchful until the trumpet sounds.
The reader will devour with great enthusiasm and encouragement this brief but powerful manual as an indispensable aid to study of God’s Holy Word. –Thus as together we keep looking up in anticipation of Christ’s Call! (Luke 21: 28)
Pre-Rapture Reconnaissance
Author Joe Hawkins
Publisher: Independently Published – Joe Hawkins | Prophecy Recon, LLC
ISBN:979-8296348111
Where to order: Amazon – paperback and eBook (free w/ Kindle Unlimited)
Terry James Prophecy Line 