Author’s note: This article was originally posted in 2010. The thoughts expressed are even more relevant today, while issues and events are literally exploding all around us, pointing to the soon-coming time of Tribulation (Daniel’s seventieth week). 

One of the most false and cutting accusations launched at the belief that the Bible teaches that a person cannot lose his or her salvation when truly born again (John 3:3) is: “If you believe once saved, always saved, you are saying that people can live any way they want without fear of punishment.” Or so the line of condemning criticism goes.

The absolute assurance of eternal security, of course, engenders no such thought within the mind truly regenerated by the saving power of Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches that the Lord convicts His children in their spirits and that habitual, unrepented-of sin will result in severe penalties–even physical death, in some cases. The Heavenly Father’s patience is longsuffering, but it is not infinite.

A person who is a child of God cannot sin without severe repercussions if repentance isn’t forthcoming. But that person will never be kicked out of God’s family. Never.

A kindred sort of accusation is thrown at those who believe in the Pre-Trib view of Bible prophecy. The Pre-Tribulation view, of course, is the one we at Rapture Ready believe God’s Word teaches. It is the view that Jesus Christ will call all who are born again to Himself before the Tribulation, which is the last seven years of history leading to the Second Advent (Rev. 19: 11).

The angry diatribe against the Pre-Trib Rapture view–by even genuine Christians, in many cases–usually goes something like this: “People like you, who believe that the Lord is going to rapture them before the Tribulation, think you can live however you want, because you think and teach falsely that you are going to be rescued before God’s judgment and wrath fall, no matter what.”

The non-Christian accusers who castigate those of us who hold the Pre-Trib rapture view have their own version. It goes something like: “Christians who believe like that don’t care anything about making the world better. You even hope for things to get worse and worse. You wish for earthquakes, famines, pestilence, war in the Middle East, and for Armageddon to hurry up and get here so you will go to your pie in the sky and watch the rest of us get ours.”

Although the first criticism is absolutely not true, I have to admit that, regarding the second, too often I’ve sensed–even heard–such sentiments from some of those who believe in the Pre-Trib rapture. And it is entirely the wrong attitude for the Christian to hold. There are no excuses for wanting the Christ-rejecting world of non-believers to be the recipients of God’s judgment and wrath. It is only by God’s unfathomable grace that every one of us isn’t headed into that time of unprecedented horror.

No matter how–to use Lot’s King James Version word–“vexed” we become by the debauched, debased actions of the lost world around us, our job as Christ’s children–His representatives here on earth–is of a completely different nature than wanting to see them “get what’s coming” to them. The changed nature produced by being born again into God’s eternal family should make you and me do just the opposite of wanting them, in our vexation, to get what we see as coming to them.

The Christian whose spirit is attuned to the Holy Spirit’s desire for the lost doesn’t want to see them “get what’s coming to them” either during the Tribulation or upon death. Rather, we want to do all within our power to keep them from having to go through the coming time of God’s judgment and wrath. That’s what Christ’s Great Commission to His disciples before He ascended to sit at the Father’s right hand is all about, you see. That is what God’s love–love that those who have Christ indwelling them possess–is all about. (Read Matthew 28:18-20.)

In the same vein, that’s what Bible prophecy is all about. Prophecy given in God’s Word has purpose–profound purpose. Bible prophecy has at its center the commission from the Lord to forewarn of God’s judgment and wrath to come upon all who oppose Him–the Lord of Heaven and Creator of all things. It is not the hatred of God for the lost people of this fallen planet that drives prophecy. It is the love of God that powers His prophetic Word. It must be the Christian’s desire, therefore, to study Bible prophecy and put forth those forewarnings out of a spirit of God’s love, not through an anger-filled abhorrence of those who are lost.

Christians who do study prophecy–and they seem to be few these days, I’m sad to have to say–are often heard wondering about when Christ will call the church (born-again believers) in the rapture. Everything seems so ripe for His plucking His people from this sin-darkened sphere.

Nothing and no one can change God’s timing for His next catastrophic intervention into Earth’s history. It will happen exactly on time, as He has determined since before the foundation of this world. However, we might as believers look to ourselves for the Lord’s–often in our view–delay in calling us as outlined in 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

The apostle Peter gave the heart of the reason Christ hasn’t raptured His church: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).

The purpose of Bible prophecy is to show the love of God to a lost and otherwise doomed world. God is not willing that anyone should perish (die in his or her sins) but that all should come to repentance (accept Jesus Christ as the one and only sacrifice for sin that God will accept).

The Lord is “longsuffering.” The reason, I’m convinced, that the Lord seems so “slack” to many in His coming is because those same people have neglected their duty to share the love of God with the lost–the lost whom God loves so very much that He sent His only begotten Son in order that they not perish.

It is well past the time for God’s people to begin investing in getting the message of the love of God to those who will otherwise not hear the warning of deadly things soon to befall this Christ-rejecting planet. Considering these times that so dramatically are signaling the coming Tribulation, Bible prophecy can and must be used as a productive tool for evangelism.

*** Important Notice! ***

God The Holy Spirit is turning on the Light of God’s Truth in Pakistan and other areas of the Spiritually darkened world.

Again, I’m appealing to you, who understand through Holy Spirit Enlightenment just how late is the prophetic hour, to help us print and distribute the little book Prophecy Power: Strength From God To Face Your Future to the people of Pakistan.

Pastor Anil Jasper worked diligently to translate the Sunday school quarterly sized book into his native language. The results have been powerful in helping turn on that Light of understanding about Jesus and His soul-saving Sacrifice. Anil reports that the book distribution is reaping great rewards in terms of his people accepting Christ –something that might not have happened if not for the presentation in our little book.

Please consider again supporting this effort, as time looks to be short, according to all prophetic stage-setting signals in the world today. We want to one day hear the words from our Lord: “Well done, good, faithful servant.”

Please go to the following to read more and contribute.

https://terryjamesprophecyline.com/2024/10/04/please-help-in-our-pakistan-missionary-effort/

Lucifer, now Satan, the chief prevaricator (liar), while looking into that mirror of iniquity, as reported in Isaiah 14:14, was struck by the sin of pride. There was none other as wonderful as himself, he concluded in that moment of total rebellion against Almighty God. It’s therefore somewhat amazing that he now does all he can to obscure his existence from humankind, whom he deceived into joining his rebellion at the Fall in Eden.

Much of humanity denies there is a God—at least that there is a deity with the right to govern them. People, likewise, for the most part, relegate the devil/Satan to esoteric lore and mythology. They don’t believe in a creature that roams about, perpetrating evil.

Satan relishes this view he’s managed to instill in people’s minds. If there’s no devil to fear, then the whole concept of biblical governance is out the window. Folks therefore don’t need a Savior from any original sin. It’s all myth, and people will face no other authority in some nonexistent, eternal judgment.

Satan’s entire plan of attack against God’s dealings with humans, then, is to get their thoughts off the fact of his influence in their affairs. The only right and wrong there is, the devil incessantly whispers, is whatever someone thinks is right and wrong. All is relative to the individual’s desires and aspirations.

The total non-involvement of any deity in decision-making isn’t even in the realm of day-to-day behavior. However, there are physical consequences that come with this individualism. Therefore, in the cause of the need to not suffer harmful chaos, there must be a collective will. Individuals must submit their wills to the collective to achieve and maintain the best possible quality of life—at least as determined by the majority.

And this brings us to where we are now in the process of life on this planet in 2024. Particularly, it brings us to where we are in the United States of America in the political world as we move toward the November 5 presidential election.

There are basically two sets of collectives as described above—both with fallen mindsets the devil has managed to influence from the time of the Fall in Eden. I’m talking about political collectives—the Democrat and Republican parties.

Both parties have at their base the mindset infused by the original prevaricator—the “father of lies”—the “old serpent,” the devil and Satan. All who are honest will attest that we’ve witnessed lie after lie over the years of observing the political process in America. So both political parties are guilty of the lies at every point along the many political campaigns, and even when there were no campaigns in progress.

But one of these American political entities by far leads in lying. This is my humble opinion, but that view has congealed throughout a long personal history of observation.

The number of lies being told now and over the last two decades or so has grown exponentially. And the latest process of political prevarication reminds me so much of Lucifer’s original lie to himself that I can’t do anything else but pass my observation along to you.

The Republican side of this political divide continues to hold to conservative values of the nation’s founders. The US Constitution continues to be at the center of the platform they adhere to. The Republican Party, for the most part, rejects proposed and forced change in the traditional national way of life Americans have lived throughout its history.

Democrat Party “progressives”—those who comprise the driving force of Democrat ideological change in the “transformation of America” Barack Obama boasted about—champion causes far from the traditional Judeo-Christian principles upon which America was founded. And this is where the luciferian lying becomes manifest, in my opinion.

Like that old serpent, the Democrat Party campaign to win the 2024 presidential election completely lies about themselves, and more so every day that passes.

Their candidate for president, Kamala Harris, whom President Joe Biden appointed “Border Czar” as vice president, and who was lauded by mainstream media at the time, now says she was never “Border Czar” or in charge of the border matters. This, the Democrat Party officials and even mainstream media blatantly lie, because the millions of illegals who have crossed the nation’s borders are now a tremendous political liability. They want no part in being seen as responsible for this dangerous and destructive invasion that has angered so many Americans.

The outright lies are in every direction this political entity speaks while trying to deceive the American voters. And, to get to the point I’ll try to make, their lies are Lucifer-like in this way.

Satan wants to divert people from thinking there is a devil. He doesn’t want to be recognized as that old serpent the Bible says brought humankind to this state from the time in Eden. He uses sleight-of-hand to get people to look in directions other than at the wickedness he is perpetrating. He wants us to think it’s not really happening.

In the same way, the Democrat Party and this presidential team are trying to get us to look in directions other than their record over the past four years.

The Democrat Party’s elite speakers, during their nominating convention, hardly talked at all about anything they’ve done to make us better off than we were when they took over. (And they took over under very suspicious electoral circumstances, might I add.)

Rather than talk about dangerous border security issues, a horrendous economy, the violence and chaos particularly within the “blue” cities and states, or the war-making that has exploded across the world due to weak American leadership, they spoke of love, unity, and good feelings in general terms. In other words, they’re doing everything they can to divert attention from their destructive policies and actions that have brought this nation to one of its lowest points in history.

The Democrat Party candidate, the most radically progressive among them, is now attempting to deceive American voters into believing she is for many traditional American values that her opponent has proven to champion and make secure during his presidency. She and her comrades in the party tried to make their convention entertaining and all smiles, with no talk of things plaguing America and the world. They declared the theme of their meetings to be full of joy. The sycophantic mainstream media ran with that declaration of “joy” for weeks following the Chicago meetings. It was a Lucifer-like ploy, to be sure. It was a deception like that old serpent’s that is meant to have voters think what they’ve endured over the past four years never existed. There is no devil…

But championing the murder of more than sixty million babies in their mother’s wombs is evil. It is real. And this party is champion of that evil. Homosexuality and Sodom-like wickedness are evil. And this political party and its adherents are champions of that wickedness.

There is a drive to bring America into the globalists’ New World Order. I believe this nation is the holdup to their determination to establish a world government Satan intends to use as his son of perdition’s Tribulation regime. I am of the studied opinion that the party of luciferian prevarication—those at the top of its leadership—is working hand in hand with the Ephesians 6:12 minions, both demonic and human, to accomplish this satanic purpose.

All of that said, I equally believe Jesus will, any moment, begin the heavenly process of bringing this wickedness to an end. It will start with the Lord calling all believers to Himself in the clouds of Glory. The Rapture is imminent!

You don’t want to be here when the devil and his Antichrist have their seven years of rule over the earth. Here’s how to instead go to the Lord Jesus, where He has prepared heavenly dwelling places for God’s children:

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)

• The plagues of Egypt—Genesis 7:14–12:29–30
• The parting of the Red Sea—Exodus 14:21–31
• The parting of the Jordan River—Joshua 3:14–17
• The falling of the walls of Jericho—Joshua 6:6–20
• The sun and moon standing still—Joshua 10:12–14
• The angel slaying thousands—Judges 13:19–20

The miracles performed on behalf of God’s chosen nation are prolific.

These astonishing movements of God to bring forth, establish, and perpetuate His chosen people as promised are the miracles we know the most about because they’re so profound in their impact. Whereas secular writers and pundits have most often relegated these miracles of God to legend and lore, evidence steadily emerges to validate the historical facts the Bible has chronicled. Archeological evidence of the total destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is recent proof of the truth of God’s Holy Word.

Certainly the monumental ways God has dealt with Israel and its enemies are important to consider when thinking on prophecy yet to unfold. The Lord has mightily intervened with Israel’s path forward in the past, and He is prophetically scheduled to deal just as mightily in the Tribulation era. As a matter of fact, the primary goal of the Tribulation era–Daniel’s seventieth week—is to purge Israel and bring forth a remnant of God’s people who will be part of the Millennial Kingdom of Christ.

But, to the believing observer of these days and all that is transpiring on an hourly basis, it is undeniable that God is dealing at this very moment with His chosen people and their enemies as surely as He has dealt with them in the past and is scheduled to do in the future.

I refer specifically to the if not supernatural way, almost certainly the heavenly influential way Israel has again pulled off an intervention against their enemies’ plans to inflict their satanic evil.

We saw this heavenly influence years ago when the Jewish state, with the malicious computer virus Stuxnet, reportedly ruined almost one-fifth of Iran’s nuclear centrifuges. Targeting industrial control systems, the worm infected over two hundred thousand computers. Iran’s fast-track program to produce a nuclear weapon came to an abrupt end–for the moment, at least.

Now we witness, I absolutely believe, God’s intervention–His influence—that was used to protect against something big in the way of Israel’s enemies’ plans to again attack Israel. The following reports the matter, with which by now most are familiar.

[Around 2,800 Hezbollah operatives were wounded across Lebanon as communication devices exploded.]

[Most of them were] Hezbollah operatives [who] were wounded across Lebanon on Tuesday afternoon when their communication devices mysteriously exploded at around the same time, according to Reuters and local reports.

Several hours after the incident, Hezbollah said in an official statement: “At 15:30, a large number of pagers exploded, many people were injured. A Lebanese girl and two Hezbollah members were killed in the incident, along with a large number of injured.”

“An extensive security investigation is being conducted to find out the reasons for the explosions. We pray for the speedy recovery of the wounded and call to be careful of spreading rumors that help the enemy. The resistance is in the highest readiness to defend Lebanon and its people,” the statement read.

A Hezbollah source told the Qatari Al Araby Al-Jadeed: “Israel remotely hacked into Hezbollah’s unique communication devices and blew them up.”

In the evening, Lebanon’s Health Minister said there were at least eight dead and over 2750 wounded, including around 200 in serious condition.

The son of Ali Ammar, a Lebanese parliament member for Hezbollah, died as a result of a pager explosion, two security sources tell Reuters.

Among those wounded in the explosions is the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, according to Iranian state-owned Mehr News. In addition, the Saudi outlet al-Hadath said senior commanders of Hezbollah were wounded. (“Mysterious Explosions Come as Israeli Leaders Hold ‘Dramatic’ Discussion about Northern Front,” All Israel News Staff, September 17, 2024, Updated: September 18, 2024)

Since the explosions of the pagers, hundreds of other devices used to communicate between terrorists have exploded, killing or wounding many who held them.

Lest one is tempted to think these were innocents, with the exception, sadly, of the young girl being killed by the exploding devices, these terrorists had been told to use the pagers in order to not be tracked through their cell phones by the Israeli IDF. Thus, their nefarious plans to attack the hated Israel were foiled. This warning to the terrorists to use the pagers were given through recorded orders by a high-ranking terrorist leader, so the proof of the pagers’ use to do Israel harm exists in a digital paper trail; Israel’s actions were both brilliant and warranted.

I recently heard one American senator or US representative state he wasn’t the least bit worried about Israel’s destruction by its millions of enemies that surround the Jewish state. He stated that God’s Word assures their perpetual existence.

I say “Amen” to that sentiment. Israel is the miracle nation among all the nations of earth. That truth continues to be played out through hourly news cycles. Undoubtedly we will see much more of that truth on display until the Rapture of the Church–at which time we will “watch from the balconies of Heaven,” as my great late friend Chuck Missler was fond of saying.