While the newly elected president declares a golden age ahead for America–an eventuation I, like you, wish I could foresee but cannot—the world around this generation continues to darken. We are in a time Jesus spoke of, I believe, while He and His disciples were approaching a man with whom I can somewhat commiserate.

The man had been blind since birth, while I lost my eyesight at around age 51, so my suffering with the affliction of darkness had been much less than this man’s.

Here is that account:

And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. (John 9:1–8)

This story of Jesus’ encounter with the blind man touches me as few other stories about our Lord’s interaction with people while He was in the flesh. The man no doubt had spent his life unable to do what society would consider productive work. Perhaps he spent his entire life begging for sustenance from passersby.

I, on the other hand, had very good vision until, at age 50 or 51, retinitis pigmentosa (a hereditary retinal disease) invaded my central vision and quickly caused total blindness. So I can in no way fully appreciate the degree of suffering this man endured.

Today I know people blind since birth who have accomplished far more than I did when in full possession of visual acuity. But in that culture in Christ’s time, there were no such technological marvels to give the blind the means to accomplish great things, as I have witnessed.

I, myself, am using one such technological marvel while composing this week’s commentary. It is a word-synthesis program called JAWS (Jobs Accessible Word System). A young woman, blind since birth, taught me how to use this phenomenal computer-based system nearly thirty years ago. Liz is as close to my heart as a daughter, in that regard.

All this I mention is to reveal that God, in this encounter between Jesus and the blind man, has put at the center of my spirit what He desires for my life. In regard to the key phrase in the scriptural account above is the following:

I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

Also, Jesus’ answer to His disciples about the man’s or his parents’ guilt that caused the blindness keeps my thoughts focused each and every day regarding the purpose for the time I am allowed to live here and now at the end of this Church Age–the dispensation of Grace. The Lord gave the reason this man was allowed to suffer total blindness:

But that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

This truth that Jesus gave at the time of the encounter with the blind man He healed has powerfully spoken to me personally. Time is limited; soon there will not be any opportunity to serve Heaven’s purposes–to serve the True, Living God. And we are here to serve Him. That is our great overall purpose—yours and mine.

One moment, perhaps much sooner than any of us can imagine, our time on this sphere where we have been placed by Heaven’s appointment will be over. We will be called into God’s presence, either through the Rapture, to be with Christ forever, or through the portal of death, at which time we must answer for the days of light and life we were given to accomplish Christ’s Great Commission–spreading the salvation message in order that souls will be redeemed.

In these times that certainly look like night is about to fall and the Tribulation is about to begin, it is wise for us, as believers, to work in the way Jesus worked to accomplish His Father’s will.

The Lord knew His time to do that earthly work was rapidly approaching the final moments. He was about His Father’s business in a mighty way and, as we know, He said with finality while on that old rugged cross, “tetelestai,” meaning, “It is finished!”

That is what you who come to Raptureready.com and Todd, Jonathan, editor Cindy, and yours truly are all about–finishing the work we have been put on earth to do in our God’s great cause: the saving of souls of men and women, boys and girls.

Rapture Ready–which is your website as well as ours—is devoted to carrying out our Lord’s Great Commission. Because of monetary requirements on the rise and attempts by some to interfere with our efforts, increased funding is very much needed to carry on with this work. We thank you with all the thankfulness possible to our Lord and gratitude to you our wonderful RR family for your love and generosity as we do our very best to serve the purpose we believe Heaven has assigned this website that is so Christ-centered and focused on the Lord Jesus’ any-moment call to you and to us. We ask for and will apply with all due diligence the donations you send, under the direction of our Heavenly Father.

So let us together forge ahead in full service while there is still time and light to share, even as we see the nighttime of Tribulation approaching.

Here is how to contribute to this effort on behalf of Jesus Christ, who died and rose again so that we can, on one eternal day (perhaps today), hear Him say, “Well done, good, faithful servant.”

There are three ways you can contribute to RR: You can send a financial gift via our P.O. Box address; you can make a one-time donation; or there is a “frequent” option that allows you to make monthly donations. If you’re interested in signing up, find the links on the Donation Depot page. Donations can be sent to our P.O. Box at:

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Great disservice has been done to the pre-Trib Rapture truth of God’s Holy Word. People such as Harold Camping and others have, by setting dates, thrown disrepute on the fact that Christ will call all believers into the clouds of glory before the dark and terrible time of the Tribulation (Daniel’s seventieth week).

By making predictions of the exact date when the Rapture will happen, such as found in the book by Edgar C. Whisenant titled 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988, some have contributed to fulfilling the Apostle Peter’s prophecy:

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) 

We seem to have a growth of pre-Trib skeptics within Christianity today. That’s because the erroneous date-setters have skewed truth in the Bible that Jesus said no one knows the time except His Father.

Now, some might say these skeptics are doing little or no harm. All believers, if the pre-Trib view is biblically correct, will be raptured. The only prerequisite for going in the Rapture to be with the Lord is to be saved–that is, believe in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross at Calvary. It isn’t necessary to believe in the pre-Trib Rapture to be saved. Those who believe in another view of prophecy are “in Christ,” so will be evacuated from this fallen planet when Christ shouts, “Come up here!”

This is, of course, true. One doesn’t have to believe in the pre-Trib Rapture to be saved.

However, the first thing I would say in answer to that reasoning is that we who are in God’s family–are saved—are to strive to understand things God wants us to understand:

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

The pre-Trib Rapture of the Church is built upon an extensive body of Scripture. The Rapture is a clearly presented doctrine, and even most pre-Trib naysayers admit that the Rapture is in God’s Word. However, they, in most cases, adamantly deny that it is a pre-Trib Rapture that the Bible presents.

They give all sorts of arguments for when it will occur, all pointing to the Rapture taking place during the Tribulation, the time when Antichrist will be ruling as history’s last, most despotic dictator.

But these ignore—or convolute through twisting—God’s promise to keep believers out of that terrible time of God’s wrath:

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)

This promise to spare believers of the Church Age, or Age of Grace, is seen while Jesus in His ascended form is revealing prophetic truth to John, who wrote the Revelation. Jesus here is talking to the seven churches. That’s the churches now in the dispensation of the Church Age. Jesus is telling believers of the Church Age that He will keep them out of the Tribulation.

Most who come against the pre-Trib timing of the Rapture refuse to accept that God deals with humankind in dispensations. And therein lies much of the problem with them not being willing to “rightly divide the word of truth,” as found in 2 Timothy 2:15. Unless this concept of dispensations is understood, the pre-Trib Rapture cannot be easily discerned.

And this matter of not understanding dispensational truth, I prayerfully hope, brings this article’s title into proper focus. Looking at prophecy yet future through the pre-Trib prism procures discernment. The pre-Trib viewpoint provides accurate perspective on issues and events as they might pertain to things to come. For an example, we only have to look at the prospect of nuclear war at this moment in history.

As I mentioned above, we, as a generation alive on the earth, are in the Age of Grace, or Church Age dispensation. Within the pre-Trib view, a nuclear war or even a World War III that would decimate the planet just isn’t foretold in God’s Word.

Yet rumors of nuclear war are abounding at present. Even writers on Bible prophecy are warning that nuclear war is about to break out at any moment. These writings are coming from those who are, in some cases, avidly against the pre-Trib Rapture viewpoint. These also, in most cases, deny that God deals with humanity in dispensations, as I’ve mentioned.

As of this writing, I have before me several articles proclaiming that China is on the verge of attacking the United States. The drone sightings, the huge balloons shot down some months ago, the sightings of Chinese subs off the coasts of America…all of these things indicate that China is scoping out our defenses in order to launch nuclear attacks.

I heard just hours ago a U.S. representative voicing that all of the illegals pouring into the nation, many of them young Chinese men of fighting age, portends an attack from the Chinese war machine that is about to take place.

And these kinds of warnings have been going on for several years.

I can say with authoritative confidence based upon God’s Word that such war-making by China is not in view for this dispensation. Here is what I mean.

Any such massive nuclear attack would bring equally massive retaliation by this nation. America has submarines under the ocean waters of the world–including waters near China. Each of the subs has as its nuclear repertoire MIRV ballistic missiles, each with multiple warheads armed with nuclear ordnance. These would obliterate the Chinese mainland when launched upon America being attacked.

So the world would be drastically and profoundly damaged if this scenario was played out.

Jesus told us (Luke 17:28–30) that when He next catastrophically intervenes into earth’s evil, all will be going along as it was in Sodom at the time Lot and his family were removed. There would be no destruction preceding that removal. People would be, as we are at present, conducting the business of life as usual–buying, selling, planting, etc.

Massive nuclear exchanges involving earth’s military powers simply are not scheduled this side of the Rapture.

We can logically understand that China will be a power as part of “the kings of the east” found in chapters 9 and 16 of Revelation. At that time, they will indeed destroy one-third of all humankind, the prophecy says. So they won’t have been destroyed, but will be greatly enhanced militarily.

So looking, dispensationally, at the fearful things to come through the pre-Trib scope of the Bible’s prophetic radar, we get an accurate—even precise, in some cases—picture from God’s great and perfect perspective.

Author’s note: I decided to reach way back in time in my files of articles I’ve written to present this week’s commentary. I’ve done so because the current Catholic pope continues to declare during 2025 that there are many ways to Heaven–to be saved.

There is no matter more important around which to put forth biblical truth than that involving redemption of lost souls. There is one way to God and eternal Life. Jesus Christ is that only way! He said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by me” (John14:6).

The following article was first posted on September 11, 2006.

History’s Most Troubling Name

Many names come to mind when thinking of individuals who have caused great consternation among the generations of earth-dwellers over the millennia.

We can immediately bring them to the surface of our thoughts. Adolf Hitler stands pretty close to the top, so far as people who have troubled humanity during their time is concerned. His was perhaps the most genocidal regime ever, although if we could hear from some of the other generations of human history–for example, that under the regime of Antiochus Epiphanes—we might hear good evidence for those tyrants being the worst ever. Christians under some of the Caesars and holy Roman emperors could also tell horror stories, giving names of dictators who bedeviled them.

Josef Stalin, the Soviet dictator, is another who has troubled the minds of historians and the rest of us in more recent times. He murdered, it is estimated, between 30 and 40 million of his own people, based upon his paranoid concerns that they were out to topple his rule.

Mao Tse-tung, the beast from China, Pol Pot, of Cambodia, and the man on trial for crimes against humanity, Saddam Hussein, the incarcerated Iraqi strongman known as the “Butcher of Baghdad,” are other troublesome names of recent vintage. And we might throw in guys like Iran’s late Ayatollah Ruhollah Kohmeini and even its current tyrant, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as candidates for the most troubling names in human history.

It is such an agonizing thing to do, writing about the next troubling name after bringing to mind all of the above horror-blighted names of history, that I can scarcely do it. But I must, because it is a name that is growing in disrepute, and in hatred among this present generation. The person whose name I will write about is dividing the peoples of earth, just as He said His name would do.

It is doubly agonizing for me to write, because evidence of this growing hatred is already well underway, even in the heartland of America. It is, as a matter of fact, manifesting itself in my own community. So, I didn’t have to go to distant sources or lands to make the point that we’re indeed nearing midnight of this Church Age (Age of Grace).

Proof of the growing antagonism to the name is observable in the portion of an article from a newspaper very near my own home. That’s right. Right in the heart of the Bible Belt. And, I must tell you that Arkansas was just listed as one of three of the states that have the most people who believe the Bible is the Word of God, a supernatural book directly from the mind of the Creator.

Little Rock city directors should apply discretion in the words they use when praying before board meetings, Mayor Jim Dailey said Tuesday night. Dailey’s statement followed the board’s receipt of a memorandum from City Attorney Tom Carpenter in which he cautioned board members about using certain words in prayers.

Prayer to open a board meeting is not unconstitutional but can cross the constitutional line of separation of church and state if the prayer emphasizes one religion over another, Carpenter wrote.

In the memorandum, Carpenter advised board members to avoid phrases such as “In Christ’s name we pray” or “In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost” (“LR directors discuss prayer options,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Sept. 7, 2006).

The above report, I realize, doesn’t equate with people considering the name of Jesus in the same castigating way people view Hitler, Stalin, et al. But, again, marginalizing the name of Christ is taking place in the heart of the Bible Belt. The world at large is on the fast track to bring that Holy Name into hated status on a global scale. The being with the worst of all names–Satan—wants the name of Jesus to become the equivalent of the worst, most terrifying figures of history. Satan has sown in the minds of people that Christianity should be seen as narrow-minded bigotry and hatred, as proven in the Crusades, where, Christ-haters imply, many were murdered in the name of Christ.

The tactic continues to work. Tragically, it is becoming a tactic that even convinces some pastors in churches who fall for and preach the line that thinking there is one way to God is foolish at best and hatred at worst. By preaching and teaching that there are many ways to God and Heaven, that the Bible is actually just a book written by men in order to show us how to just get along, these preachers and teachers are calling Christ a liar–putting His Holy Name in the category of the many tyrants of history who led people down the pathway to destruction.

But the Scripture says: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

There is coming a time at the edge of eternity that is awesome in its prospect. Every human being who has been born on this fallen planet will give absolute acknowledgement of the name that is above every other, the blessed name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ:

For it is written, [As] I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. (Romans 14:11)

In the imagination, the Apostle Paul could well have been sitting watching a heavenly jumbo screen of some sort while penning what has come to be recorded as 2 Timothy chapter 3:

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their’s also was. (2 Timothy 3:1–9)

It does seem that Paul was permitted to look at some kind of prophecy jumbotron screen and see directly into this present hour. Certainly we’ve witnessed and/or endured much during these volatile times that we could use to make the case the great apostle’s words here project for our spiritual understanding of God’s dire prophecy for the end of the age.

Let’s have a brief look at some of this “perilous times” future wickedness Paul presents.

Here again I’m going to stay for the most part America-centric in considering Paul’s prophecy about these vexing days in which we find ourselves. That’s because this nation is the apex of all in recorded history, in terms of so-called civilization’s progress. God’s Word tells us that to those whom much is given, much is required.

Our nation has been materially blessed beyond all others of human history, and spiritually blessed beyond all but Israel. America’s responsibility to the God of Heaven is, I suspect, therefore held in Heaven’s most profound contempt for straying from His heavenly directives for conducting life on earth.

About these perilous times, Paul says the following:

“For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud…”

Social media frames this perilous-times characteristic as much as any that come to mind.

We start with the photo-taking phenomenon that arose quickly with the coming of the social-media platforms. The nation seems alive with the prideful sin of narcissism in this matter of taking one’s own picture for all the cyber-universe to “enjoy.”

Following hard on the heels of the selfie came the millions of autobiographical stories of the social-media users. These self-aggrandizing pieces, putting forth everything from personal wealth exaggeration to fabulous descriptions of many romantic and other adventures were and are mostly prevarication to the max.

America has led the way in all of this Hollywood-inspired hype. Those who watch the lives of the movie personalities and their fantasy world then mix and weave such reports within their own wannabe lives’ fictions to present throughout cyberspace.

The perilous aspect of all this is that it invades the very souls of men, women, and children, taking them far from reality, and particularly from the fact that they are, rather than perfect people, individuals who need a Savior from the sin that is carrying them down the broad way that leads to destruction.

“…blasphemers, disobedient to parents…”

God is blasphemed in this nation in that America has degenerated from a time–one in which I was raised—when Christian parents had their children in church and oversaw their teaching of God’s Word, to this current moment when the young are, in many cases, turned over to their devices. This parental failure instills in tender minds that they, under the tutelage of cyberspace inculcation, can determine their own course of life.

Whenever they are then confronted with a parental recall to reestablish control, the children rebel, resenting in the strongest terms their devices being restricted or taken away.

“…unthankful, unholy…”

Statistics from the Barna Group and other organizations show a turn from Christian concepts within the American family. Same goes for every other aspect of life in the nation. All we have to do is observe the daily news reports, even from within our own hometown news sources, to understand that we’re an unholy generation.

The Apostle Paul’s forewarning from God in Romans 1:28—to any people who turn their backs on God—rings an alarm for our nation today. It seems we’ve reached the point in many ways that show God is turning this generation over to a reprobate mind. (As evidence of the upside-down thinking, I offer the wokeness insanity we’ve lately been subjected to.)

“…without natural affection…”

This perilous-times characteristic is one I’ve covered many times in this column. My thoughts haven’t changed–because God doesn’t change.

Abortion–shedding the blood of the innocent—is a matter I believe angers God to the extent few other sins reach. The denial that life begins at conception is the lie from Satan for which the world is about to pay a tremendous, wrathful price, I’m convinced.

Abortion, in which a mother deliberately allows the murder of her child while in her womb, is at the very heart of Paul’s forewarning. It is an act “without natural affection,” as is homosexuality. I believe the Lord is going to display for the entire world to see exactly when life begins, in His holy view.

I believe every child will go to be with Christ when He calls in the Rapture—including each and every child just conceived.

Homosexuality is another characteristic Paul forewarned when he labeled it as being “without natural affection.”

Satan constantly strives to take humankind away from belief in God’s order of things. One is the lie that same-sex relations in the matter of sexual pursuit are every bit as legitimate as heterosexual relationships. Another is the insanity of reprobate thinking that people can be whatever gender they think they are, not the one God gave them at birth.

This is a generation steeped in that perilous-times characteristic “without natural affection.”

“…trucebreakers, false accusers…”

There is no better (or worse) example we could consider in thinking on this characteristic than the political process in America today.

Truce-breaking is at every level in this, perhaps the lowest-rated job endeavor in America. Traitorous politicians make and break “deals” without a moment’s concern for whom the action is harmful, whether to opponents or to friends, for that matter.

But it is the area of false accusations that stands out most egregiously in these times. All we have to do is consider the many lies told about former and future President Donald J. Trump to understand we are witnessing Paul’s end-times characteristic termed “false accusers.”

As a matter of fact, the false accusations have become so prolific that they’ve morphed into a malady that refers to a psychological disturbance. We all know about the “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

“…incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good…”

This characteristic can readily be understood in these end times. The word “incontinent” here can mean “addictive” or “in a state of agitation.” This is a precise picture of the tremendous use of illicit as well as prescription pharmaceuticals that saturates today’s American society and culture.

Many of those who exhibit this characteristic rage against those who want only a peaceful existence as they go about their lives. Christian values are particularly targeted by those who want no governance, especially not from the God of Heaven.

“…heady, highminded…”

There are perhaps many ways to look at this characteristic presented by the great apostle. However, I choose to assign this one in particular to American academia.

The colleges and universities of higher education have joined together to try to inculcate young adults to want to change this nation from its founding principles–principles that are influenced by God’s own hand in dealing with the founding fathers.

To paraphrase the Apostle Paul again, “Thinking themselves to be wise, they have become fools.”

Through denying the God of Creation, they teach anti-God, humanistic rebellion. Thereby they continue with the lies from Satan, the father of lies.

And it’s not only the higher institutions infected by the venom of rebellion. The public education system in America suffers this inculcation of evil at every level.

“…lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.”

The one matter that stands out to me in this regard revolves around the churches in the nation that have defected from the true faith.

These have embraced the Sodom-like culture of this late, prophetic hour. They proclaim such lies as “the times have progressed,” thus making changes in order to accommodate is necessary to draw in and retain those who seek to know God.

The current pope, as a tremendously wicked example, proclaims there are many ways to God and eternal life. All religions, he has recently declared, have their route to salvation. He and those who teach this are calling the Lord Jesus Christ a liar.

Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by me.” (John 14: 6)

That you and I are within these perilous times at the precise moment prophesied for when Jesus calls all believers in the Rapture is abundantly clear. You don’t want to miss that call. To do so means you will endure the worst time of all human history, according to Christ Himself.

Here is how to instead go into the clouds of Glory to enjoy the wonders God has prepared for those who love Him.

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)