Prophecy Line
Chinese Challenge and Prophetic Progression
China, to my way of analysis, is shaping to become the entity prophetically designated the king of the kings of the east.
The leadership of the CCP hasn’t been asleep while the Biden Administration has bumbled along in some instances and planned badly in others. Or, perhaps as some might put it, it is all a disguised blueprint which the so-called new world order has concocted. I.e., the globalists are pulling strings of this president like those strings many generations ago saw in watching Howdy Doody go through his antics. Only we can’t see the strings. But the antics are certainly manifesting while this administration dances to the globalists’ tune.
Again, the Chinese CCP schemers haven’t been oblivious to the Biden bumbling –or whatsoever is at the heart of the apparent downward spiral.
If the one-world crowd expects to outwit the CCP in their plans to dominate their part of the planet, and then expand everywhere else, they had better hurry and implement their brilliant blueprint to save the earth.
The Chinese communists are, themselves, pulling the puppet strings, in consort with Vladimir Putin. Things aren’t looking so good, for example, in the matter of the globalists’ plans to continue to rule the world of finance. The communist cabal that is comprised of the old Soviet oligarchs and the more modernistic and inscrutable Chinese monetary masters seem to be outwitting those of the west who want to continue to rule the fiscal world through the petrodollar.
The Chinese, long known for their patience in their movement toward conquering the world, are seeing weakness they apparently can’t resist. That is, weakness in an America under Mr. Biden, whose government is seen dancing around about like that old Howdy Doody puppet of all those years ago.
The CCP has made its own self-perceived strength felt in letting it be known its intentions with regard to Taiwan.
It has shown its contempt for American power or lack thereof, by issuing a direct order in the form of a threat. The following news excerpt will perhaps encapsulate that Sino contempt for apparent U.S. haplessness.
BEIJING (Reuters) -China warned on Thursday it would take strong measures if U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan and said such a visit would severely impact Chinese-U.S. relations, following media reports she would go next week.
China considers democratically ruled Taiwan its own territory and the subject is a constant source of friction between Beijing and Washington, especially given strong U.S. military and political support for the island.
The possible visit has not been confirmed by Pelosi’s office or Taiwan’s government, but some Japanese and Taiwanese media reported it would take place after she visits Japan this weekend…
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Fijian told reporters that Beijing firmly opposed all forms of official interactions between the United States and Taiwan, and Washington should cancel the trip.
“If the United States insists on having its own way, China will take strong measures in response to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity. All possible consequences that arise from this will completely be borne by the U.S. side,” he added, without giving details. China warns U.S. against House Speaker Pelosi visiting Taiwan, By Martin Quin Reuters)
Since this report, Speaker Pelosi has suddenly come down with COVID, or something other, it is speculated. The trip is off, and the report is that she is ill and can’t make it.
Perhaps she was at the white tie Gridiron Dinner in Washington D.C., the other day. That was apparently a COVID spreader, as many reportedly came down with COVID following the get-together. At any rate, following the Chinese directive the trip was called off.
My own postulation continues to be that if China is that future king of the kings of the east (Revelation chapters 9 and 16,) they will soon launch an assault on their Taiwanese neighbor. –Thus, due to the opportunity that has arisen because of America’s weakness. If they want to launch such an assault, they wouldn’t want the complication of having a U.S. official of such status in the way of the military power that would be necessary to do the job on Taiwan like Mr. Putin is having such a time doing on Ukraine. The warning against Ms. Pelosi making the trip thus has been issued.
If China is the leader of that massive force from east of the Euphrates, they will –as I have expressed before— have to bring within their hegemony all of the Far East, including Japan, Taiwan and the like which are tied to the western powers.
While we watch all of the power spheres shaping for the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, believers should be alerted that the time of Christ’s Call to the Church is almost certainly near indeed. Pastors across the nation and world should be issuing such alerts. We are not to look for the kings of the east to fulfill their dastardly role. We should be looking for the King of all kings.
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” (Titus 2: 13)
Prophesied Power-Bloc Players Appear
Such a great many end times stage-setting issues and events are inundating our hourly news that it is as if they are wearing camouflage, blinding the prophecy observer to things actually transpiring. In some cases, we don’t see developments in their actual, dynamic context; they’ve become so prolific that we’re desensitized to their importance.
This has, to this point, definitely been the case of developing geopolitical power blocs foretold by the prophetic Scriptures for the rollout of the end of human history. While the Second Advent approaches, the alignments of nations should become increasingly observable.
We’ve gone over a number of times the developing one-world order. We’ve examined, in general terms, the European Union and its likelihood for being the nucleus out of which the Antichrist kingdom will form. We’ve explored the fact that three major players that will make up the Gog-Magog coalition force of Ezekiel 38–39 have formed north of Israel.
We have looked—again, in general terms—at China and it becoming the king of the “kings of the east” found in the prophecies of Revelation chapters 9 and 16. However, there’s now appeared a definite formulation of end-times geopolitical entities that insinuate at least a degree of demarcation, so far as final arrangements for the abrupt end of this Age of Grace and the beginning of the Tribulation era are concerned.
I believe three distinct power blocs that are important to the playing-out of prophetic fulfillment have just emerged with the recent coming together of two primary nation-spheres. And by “spheres,”I mean to imply those two nations and the vast regions that now or will soon come under their hegemony.
Before we look at those, I want to mention the nations of the Western alliance, as it is generally configured.
The United States, for the most part, is still at the helm of this bloc. Europe is a growing influence, with guys like Emmanuel Macron of France and others making a lot of noise in attempts to shape how Western culture and geopolitics will control the masses from here forward. This group almost certainly is destined to shape things to come.
So, I believe we are looking at the Antichrist empire in its gestation period. These, in addition to some Arab states in the Middle East, will likely comprise the group of countries that will send the note of protest when the Gog-Magog attack occurs. It is more than merely conceivable that Antichrist will anticipate that carnage, and will march in to claim his place in prophetic history despite that the Lord God of Israel clearly will have won the day.
Now to the most recent development that has piqued my interest.
The lead-in to the following news more or less depicts the matter. I’ll let it speak to the developing situation.
Lavrov: Russia, China Moving Towards Multipolar “Fair World Order”
Lavrov and Yi were seen on Chinese state TV in face masks bumping elbows in front of their national flags shortly before the meetings – which Lavrov will attend – to discuss ways to help Afghanistan….
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov affirmed Thursday his country’s keenness on the steady and continuous development of relations with China, noting that the two countries intend to move forward towards “a multipolar, fair, and democratic world order.”
Lavrov has arrived in the Chinese city of Tunxi to participate in the third Meeting of Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan’s Neighboring Countries.
At a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, the Russian minister expressed that Moscow is “interested in our relations with China developing steadily and consistently, our leaders – President [of Russia Vladimir] Putin and President [of China] Xi Jinping agreed upon this.”
He indicated that “Today, as you have said, we will consider concrete steps to ensure that all those agreements are consistently implemented.”
For his part, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Russian-Chinese relations “have withstood new tests by changes in the international situation, maintained the right direction, and demonstrated a solid development trend.”
Wang pointed out that “The desire of the two sides to develop bilateral relations has become even stronger, so did the confidence to promote cooperation in various directions.”
In a joint statement issued following the meeting, the two ministers “stated that in light of the challenging international situation, Russia and China continue to strengthen their strategic partnership and speak with a unified voice in global affairs.”
“It was agreed to further bolster foreign policy coordination, enhance cooperation on the bilateral track as well as in various multilateral formats,” the statement read. (“Lavrov: Russia, China intend to move towards ‘multipolar’ world order,” By Al Mayadeen, Net Source: Agencies, March 13, 2022)
As I view it, with this declaration by Russia and China to claim their part of the multipolar world order, the three major power blocs of final prophetic fulfillment are now brightly lighting up God’s radar scope. The Antichrist system, with all of the so-called Deep-State intrigues and COVID-type manipulations; the Russian system that will influence a confluence of nations to attack Israel, as given by Ezekiel; and China, the growing power of the regions east of the Euphrates set to dominate all within their sphere…all is in readiness. Can the Rapture of the Church be far off?
For when you see all these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your head, for your redemption draws near. (Luke 21: 28)
Day of the Lord
How near are we at this very moment to seeing our Lord and Savior face to Face? This is a matter that, I believe, each and every Christian should be asking, based on very good Evidence that this great Event can happen literally at any moment. It will be that twinkling of an eye Moment we should long for. We are promised a crown of Righteousness for loving His appearing. This great Promise from our God includes the first phase of His Second coming –the Rapture, and the second phase, the Second Advent.
Exactly how should the Christian conduct his or her life in view of coming face to face with Jesus –whether through death, or through rapture? The Apostle Peter had something profound to say about the matter:
“Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless” (2 Pet. 3:11-14).
The Day of the Lord
Peter, the great apostle, and earliest disciple of Jesus, tells Christians that they should first look for the coming of the “day of the Lord.” The “day of the Lord” will begin with that terrible time –that seven-year era of tribulation also known as “Daniel’s seventieth week” and “the time of Jacob’s trouble.” It will be the worst time in human history, according to Jesus and Jeremiah the prophet. Why should Christians be looking for such a horrendous time?
That time will see a series of three terrible manifestations of God’s righteous wrath, each of the three including seven judgments, for a total of 21 specific judgments. Each judgment that falls upon incorrigibly wicked, rebellious Earth-dwellers of that time will grow progressively more punishing. Things will get so bad that people will try to hide themselves in the caves and crevices of mountains to get away from God’s Wrath. They will come to the point they will beg the mountains to fall on them.
Why Look for Trouble?
Why would Peter tell Christians to look for these things to hurry and come? Actually, the apostle Peter is telling us to consider these things in the most serious terms and to heed God’s prophetic words on that coming era of horror. The key part of this prophetic passage God wants us to understand is: “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness…?” Christians are to think upon these coming judgments, and in thinking upon them with all prayerful seriousness, our lives will be changed into lives of godliness.
Concern for the Doomed
We, as God’s children, you see, can understand –if we apply ourselves to knowing prophecy—the things people of the tribulation will have to endure because of their rebellion, or their sin. We are expected, as Christians, to know, through Bible prophecy, these things to come.
We aren’t expected to know about those coming judgments because God wants us to fear going through them ourselves. We are to understand them out of love for those who will have to go through that time of horrors, if they do not repent and come to a saving knowledge of Christ, this side of the rapture.
Not Destined for God’s Wrath
Knowledge of Bible prophecy –of future events—will make us more holy and godly in our conduct of our own lives. It will make us more dedicated witnesses for the cause of Christ. Christians are not appointed to God’s wrath, according to 1 Thessalonians 5:9. We are to comfort each other with that knowledge according to 1 Thessalonians 5:11. Our future is secure in Jesus. Our concern should be for others who don’t know Him in an intimate, saving way. We are also to be looking for that “day of the Lord” because before it starts, Jesus will come for us and say, “Come up hither” (John 4:1).
Jesus is No Thief
Jesus himself compared His coming to the coming of a “thief in the night.” Why would the sinless Creator-God of all the universes compare himself to a thief in the night? Jesus’ return to Earth will be in two phases. First will come the Rapture, then, at least seven years later, His glorious appearance. This description of the first phase of Christ’s Second Coming is found in Peter’s prophecy: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10).
A thief comes unannounced. He breaks into a tranquil setting, such as one’s home, and takes something. Jesus was forewarning that He will intervene in the affairs of mankind with a sudden, silent taking away of something. That “something” is His saints –all who were saved throughout the Age of Grace.
From Rapture to Re-Creation of Earth
The entire “day of the Lord” then will run its course until the end of Christ’s Millennial Reign, the Great White Throne Judgment, and the remaking of the heavens and the earth.
His coming “as a thief in the night” can’t be the Second Coming or Second Advent of Christ to set up His rule and reign in Jerusalem at the end of the great war called Armageddon. Every eye will see Him returning at that time.
The King Cometh!
The prophetic Word foretells the second phase of Christ’s Second Coming – His return to Planet Earth in power and glory, as follows:
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Rev. 19:11-16).
Be assured: Absolutely no one will miss that glorious appearance!
Jesus Keeps His Promises
At least seven years before that return in the clouds of glory, the Rapture will occur. Jesus, in His “thief in the night” coming, will fulfill his own words:
“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).
We Christians are to be looking toward the “day of the Lord” and desiring its soon coming, because Jesus, before that day begins, will come to take us home to Heaven with Him, to live eternally in magnificent dwelling places He has prepared for us.
Christians Must Watch
About looking for His coming for His saints in the Rapture, the Lord instructed all whom would be saved during the Church Age:” And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch” (Mark 13:37). Until that exhilarating moment of Rapture, Christians are to be power-filled sentries! What, exactly, does this duty entail?
The Power-Filled Sentry
No other generation in history has been privileged to see end-time things developing as has the present generation. Notice the word “developing.” These last-days signals are not prophecy being fulfilled. The signals consist of issues and events that are setting the stage for fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
It is proper to liken these stage-setting issues and events to a dark, ominous storm that is boiling on the distant horizon. We can see the apocalyptic tempest coming, with jagged flashes of lightning fracturing the black, rolling clouds. But we aren’t yet in the storm. We know it’s approaching with great swiftness, and it is our job to warn others before it’s too late!
Watch God’s Radar Screen
Just as a person couldn’t issue an accurate tornado warning if he couldn’t read the radar signals on the monitors of his weather computers, the Christian can’t warn of prophetic things to come without knowledge of the signals provided in God’s Word.
We must become good students by studying prophecy, as well as the other parts of the Bible. We are instructed:
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim. 2:15).
Note that the Apostle Paul didn’t tell us –under inspiration of the Holy Spirit—to study “part” of God’s Word. He said to “study…rightly dividing the word of truth.” That’s a direct order to study the whole Bible, not just parts. This is where God’s people are failing today. Let us resolve to take this command seriously while watching all the tremendous stage-setting for fulfillment of prophecy we are witnessing in every direction we look.
Our book soon to be released, TRAJECTORY: Tracking the Approaching Tribulation Storm, is devoted to acting as Sentries in forewarning that Apocalyptic devastation to come. The Day of the Lord is rapidly approaching. Be aware and warn others to beware.
Here is what to tell the lost to do in order to be kept from that time.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10: 9–10)
Thief in the Night
Note: This week’s article was written some time ago. Never, however, has its subject been more time-appropriate than at this moment. With issues and events moving at accelerating swiftness, and in ever-greater proliferation, we must be constantly aware of the glorious fact that we could at any moment meet Him face-to-face.
–Terry
No scriptural proof-text in God’s Word more clearly points to the first of the two phases of Jesus Christ’s Second Coming than the following:
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. (1 Thessalonians 5:2)
We who hold to the pre-Trib Rapture viewpoint are often accused of being deceivers. We’re condemned by our detractors as leading astray Christians who are alive now—if they live to see it—who will be required to endure the Tribulation, thus to wash their robes clean in preparation for inheriting God’s Kingdom.
We are castigated for foisting upon innocent, gullible believers a “secret Rapture” that will somehow lead these Christians to take the mark of the Beast (Revelation 13:16–18).
I’m not precisely sure of their “reasoning,” but I think they claim this because they are convinced that the ones who fall for the Rapture viewpoint won’t be able to recognize Antichrist when he comes to power. We who teach the pre-Trib Rapture, so the accusation goes, would have falsely led these people to think the Church would not be here when Antichrist is on the world scene.
Almost all who are antagonistic toward the pre-Trib Rapture doctrine teach that the “elect” will have to endure part or all of the seven-year Tribulation era.
Those who hold to a post-Tribulation Rapture or a no-Rapture position believe that Christ will come back at the end of the Tribulation, at Armageddon.
They believe that is His only return in the Second Coming. Other views regarding the Second Coming have Christ returning when the earth is perfected and made ready—but we won’t go there in this essay.
Let’s look at only the pre-Trib and post-Trib Rapture positions to explore what is meant by the “thief in the night” references in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and 2 Peter 3:10. These two viewpoints offer the greatest contrast to examine in consideration of the Second Advent of Jesus Christ within the overall belief that Rapture will, according to Bible prophecy, happen before His foot actually touches the earth.
The pre-Trib view says that Christ’s Second Coming is in two phases, separated by at least seven years. The post-Trib view says that the Rapture and Christ’s return to the Mount of Olives will occur almost simultaneously–certainly with no more than a matter of days separating the two events. The post-Trib position says there is no “secret” Rapture. Christ’s coming again will be fully seen in the heavens by all, including Christians who will be watching for Him to break through the darkness of that hour.
We agree that the Rapture of the Church (all born-again believers in Jesus Christ for salvation since the Church Age began at Pentecost) will be anything but “secret.” The world will instantly go into cataclysmic chaos at the moment that stunning event takes place. The imagination is hard-pressed to fathom the ramifications of what will happen when millions suddenly vanish. Every child below the age of accountability will be gone in that mind-boggling instant. I am convinced that all babies (including those in the womb) will be instantly in the presence of Christ in the clouds of glory. Every corpse of every dead Christian will be raised to join with his or her soul to meet Christ in the air in that atomos of time.
The Rapture will be mystifying, and to some it will be an inexplicable phenomenon, but it will not be a secret. It will happen before the eyes of a stupefied planet of left-behind earth-dwellers. This declaration that Jesus will call His Church to be with Him seems audacious to many. But, it didn’t seem so to the Apostle Paul. He was quite confident—even adamant—in his prophecy concerning the “mystery” he had been given by the Holy Spirit to instruct all believers through the Age of Grace (Church Age).
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51–52)
He explains what will take place next, in that stupendous fraction of a second:
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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 4:15–17)
Jesus Himself told of this “mystery” Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 15:51. The Lord explains what happens after believers—both the bodies of the dead and those who are living—are caught up in the air to be with Him:
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)
So, the Rapture will take place. Believers and the bodies of those who died during the Church Age will be “caught up” in one single moment of time. “ALL,” not “some,” will go instantly to be with Jesus, who will then take them into Heaven, where He has been preparing their dwelling places since He ascended from the Mount of Olives.
Again, the pre-Trib position on this joyous event is that it is imminent (could happen at any moment), and will happen before the Tribulation period begins.
The post-Trib position says that it happens at the end of the most terrible time in human history, just as Jesus Christ is returning from Heaven at Armageddon.
The pre-Trib view holds that it will occur at an unknown time. It will be a stunning, sudden, and unannounced-to-the-world-at-large break-in upon business as usual on planet earth. The post-Trib proclaims that it will occur following all of the horrors of the judgments outlined in Revelation.
The pre-Trib view says the world at large (left-behind earth-dwellers) won’t see it coming. The Rapture will cause all left on earth to wonder what has happened. The post-Trib view says that all eyes will behold Christ’s coming again to a hellish planet, and the living and dead saints will then be gathered to Christ.
The defining thing to consider in thinking on the two diametrically different views of the Rapture and Second Coming is wrapped up in the term “thief in the night.” The Apostle Peter again uses this mysterious term first used by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:2:
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10)
Peter is saying here that the day of the Lord–that time when God and His Christ, His Son, takes over this fallen planet—will begin like a thief in the night.
It will be a sudden, catastrophic break-in upon a world doing business as usual. (Read Luke 17:26–29 to understand how things will be going along as usual when Christ comes back.)
This description hardly fits the post-Trib view, or any other view that says Christ will Rapture His Church during a time of unprecedented trouble (Jeremiah 30:7; Matthew 24:21). This indicates that it will be a total surprise, because a thief in the night doesn’t announce his coming with great fanfare.
The break-in is swift, stealthy—totally unexpected.
Peter foretells in these passages that the “day of the Lord” will then run its course, until the remaking of the heavens and the earth. The Rapture will begin this “day of the Lord,” which will then run at least 1,007 years.
This is the first phase of Christ’s Second Coming. The Rapture occurs like a “thief in the night.” The Second Advent, when Jesus’ foot touches down on the Mount of Olives, is the second phase of His Second Coming.
There are those who say with vehemence that it is blasphemous to equate Christ’s coming again as being like the break-in of a thief in the night. How dare we liken the Lord to a “thief”!
Really? Here’s what Jesus, the Creator of all things, said about this matter:
But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. (Matthew 24:43–44)
Looks like a pretty good case for the Lord’s sudden intervention into the nefarious affairs of this increasingly wicked world, doesn’t it? That thief-in-the-night moment could happen, literally, at any moment. Certainly, signals of the Tribulation are beginning to come to pass.
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).
New World Order End-times Catalyst
Recently, while working on the third novel, MESSIAH, following the first, REVELATIONS, and the second, MICHAEL, I was caught up in thinking how near the Rapture must be. I tried to get my mind around how near we might be to the time Israel will fall for the False Messiah, Antichrist.
The words of Winston Churchill came to mind in his 1942 speech at Mansion House in London. England had just survived Hitler’s Blitz and the horrific bombing. Rommel’s tank onslaught in Egypt had just been routed by the forces of Great Britain and others at Alamein.
People wanted to know how near they were to the end of the world war they were agonizingly enduring. Churchill was greatly encouraged because of the turn of the conflict’s direction. He said the following in his typical eloquent mastery of the moment and of the English language.
Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
People are constantly asking about when all of this will end and when the Lord will take us home. Thinking on the writing, as I say, and studying the deluge of events and issues of prophetic significance bombarding us, I was impressed that we are now not at the end. Prophecy is not yet in a state of fulfillment, as far the final prophecies. It isn’t even the beginning of the end—i.e., Jesus said, “there will be wars and rumors of wars, but the end is not yet.” But we are, maybe, bumping up against the very end of this pre-Trib time of the beginning of fulfillment of end-times prophecy.
So, like Churchill said about World War II, we are, perhaps, at the end of this age and at the beginning of fulfillment of the last of end-times prophecy about to unfold.
I mean, of course, that it is the Rapture of the Church that will bring that beginning of end-time prophecies. There is no prophetic fulfillment given to precede the Rapture. The caveat is that Israel being once again a nation—and one at the center of controversies involving all nations—is a prophecy at least partially fulfilled at this point.
And that’s what we’re looking at here: the matter of Israel being at the center of things involving the world’s nation-states.
We all know the awful things transpiring in Ukraine, such as the loss of life and the carnage inflicted by Russia’s invasion. Alternate news sites are telling the full story that the mainstream media most often will not. For example, these alternate sources have reported that the Russian soldiers are sometimes laying down their weapons, defecting, and returning home to Russia. For some reason, such facts don’t fit the narrative of the traditional news media. Also, I’ve noticed a tremendous difference between reports of the majority of Russian people being against the invasion and the mainstream news reporting that polls taken in Russia show the Russian people are wholeheartedly in favor of the invasion.
It is almost impossible to get the full story. However, one thing becoming clear is the powers that constitute the New World Order—the globalists elite—have become exceedingly concerned about Vladimir Putin’s strategy to reconstruct the way business is done with regard to how and to whom oil and gas are bought and sold.
It seems that NATO, Biden, the European Union, and most every Western Hemisphere globalist principality are now chomping at the bit to do battle with Russia. All it took to begin talk of moving troops near the battle was for Mr. Putin to say he intends to make all who want Russian oil and gas to deal in rubles, the Russian currency unit.
That did it. Putin’s obvious strategy to diminish or even destroy the petrodollar as the chief exchange system in petroleum transactions made guys like Sen. Lindsey Graham want to go to war—even if nuclear—with the Russkis. The hawks have their feathers ruffled. Putin garnering most of the oil and gas business is too much to bear, as it is said.
It is quite interesting to see how Putin, whom many in the diplomatic circles are calling a madman, has completely out-strategized them all. Even America, after shutting down the pipelines, has to now look to Russia, as does Europe. It’s either deal with Russia and with rubles, or go without. Biden has even begged Venezuela to release more oil for sale. But the dictator Nicolás Maduro, like the oil sheiks of Saudi, has refused to even talk with the president of the United States.
Instead, they are more and more joining the Russian/Chinese economic model and are weaning from the American/European petrodollar conglomerate that has ruled the petroleum industry worldwide for so long.
Here’s where I hope to go with this. It is postulation, to be certain, but it is an interesting direction of thought, in considering the nation Israel and its strategic positioning—His chosen nation put there by the Lord Himself.
Europe is now at the mercy of Vladimir Putin and the Russian consortium that includes China and now other petroleum powers like Saudi Arabia. The oil and gas crisis will not only involve Europe freezing in the winter, but will inflict collateral damage to food production.
The US is now, as I see it, almost supernaturally paralyzed because of this administration being run by the green insanity that shut down the gas and oil pipelines. I’m not sure the Lord will even allow such thinking to come to a rational decision to reopen these conduits, so reprobate they are because of turning their backs on Him.
Now here is my thinking involving Israel.
Israel now has, it has been determined, tremendous oil and gas reserves, including in the Golan area, which Vlad has said is no longer Israel’s sovereign territory. There are vast such reserves, as I understand, beneath Israel’s territorial waters of the Mediterranean.
It is possible, without too much stretch of imagination—to suggest that the Western alliance—Europe and America—will pour whatever money and resources necessary into funding the swift development of Israel’s petroleum industry to enhance their capability of beginning to provide the West with the Jewish State’s newly acquired oil and gas assets. This would: 1) make sure Europe doesn’t starve or freeze; and 2) make sure the American and European financial masters in the petrodollar system of sales and distribution continue to make their billions.
This, the way I see it, could be why President Biden recently read the line that a New World Order must develop. He followed that up by saying “America must lead in this” (the New World Order).
If this eventuates, with the harshest possible sanctions imposed by the New World Order at the same time driving Russia’s economic plight into ruin, such a development could start Putin or a future Russian leader thinking the “evil thought” Ezekiel foretold. As we’ve mentioned, Putin has already told the world he considers the Golan (the mountains of Israel) to be no longer the nation’s sovereign territory.
The New World Order is already in place and raring to go to war. These economic globalists elite oligarchs are the humanist part of the Ephesians 6:12 wrestling match in which we as Christians are engaged. They could well be the end-times catalyst in bringing about the Gog-Magog fulfillment, the appearance of Antichrist, and the start of the prophesied seven years of hell on earth.
To avoid being here when God unleashes His wrath and judgment on the evil corruption every direction we look, the following is God’s way to soul-saving grace.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10: 9–10)
Assessing Prospects for WW III
It was a time when the Cold War continued with fresh memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Filmmakers stimulated the theater-going public with offerings of dark humor steeped in fears of thermonuclear war.
The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming! was the title of a 1960s movie—a comedy—in which there was panic in a New England village on the Atlantic Coast. A Soviet submarine had run aground because of its commander sightseeing the American coastline. The crew was sent from the sub to find a boat that could dislodge the sub and free it to continue its cruise.
There was great angst for a time, as the New Englanders thought they were being invaded by the Russkis. The movie was hilarious, with the people and the sub occupants coming close to conflict. But there was a meeting of two young people—the woman an American, the man a Russian submariner.
I took a year or so of Russian in college, but viewing this movie was where I learned to say “I love you” in Russian.
The story ended just right, as any good love story should, with the Russian sub threatened for destruction by US Air Force fighter jets flying overhead, but the pilots, seeing the New Englanders all around the sub, didn’t attack. The people were protecting the Russians, and soon the sub slipped back into the Atlantic deep.
I can’t remember what happened to the two young folks who were in love, but I presume all, too, was well in that department.
At this moment, the Ukrainian people find nothing funny about their experience. Yet there is a love story within its unfolding that can be discerned. While reports that hundreds, even thousands, on both sides of Putin’s aggression are being killed or maimed, there are reports of human interaction that unveils compassion of biblical proportion.
The Ukrainian people have, it is said, taken wounded Russian soldiers into their homes or to facilities and cared for them, even as the Russian forces continue their assault. On the other side, there are reports of Russian troops laying down their weapons and returning to their homes, because they haven’t the heart to continue killing people who are basically the same as the people they left back home.
I don’t know the degree of veracity of these stories, but give some credence to them because they are being reported across the entire spectrum of news forums—mainstream and alternative.
One wonders the fate of the troops who defect in this manner. Vladimir Putin is reported to be, like one-time dictator Joseph Stalin, executing generals who fail to accomplish their missions. Thus the four or five generals are reported to have been killed, with their deaths blamed on Ukrainian resistance fighters. What is the truth? Who knows. Well, only our God.
The troops who have a change of heart surely are meeting fates at least as bad as the generals rumored to have felt Putin’s wrath.
And it is Putin’s unknowns that have pundits and ordinary people worrying alike. Will there be World War III? As a matter of fact, has World War III already begun—has Putin now set out on a course that will end up involving all of Europe and eventually the entire world in a global conflict? Is Putin another Hitler, whose trajectory the Russian dictator seems to be following?
Some within Bible prophecy circles are wondering the same things. Is the world now seeing the beginning of the earth’s third global conflict? Are we about to get into nuclear combat one on one with the Russkis, as Slim Pickens, who played the captain of a hydrogen bomb-armed B-52 in the movie Dr. Strangelove, once said?
One acknowledged “expert” weighed in with the following assessment.
Author and former DIA intelligence officer Rebekah Koffler told Fox News Digital Thursday that a no-fly zone presents the most risk among known scenarios, but currently-unknown actions could inadvertently cause an escalation during the “fog of war.”
“Usually the path of the escalation is difficult to predict, it can come out of nowhere in the fog of war,” Koffler said.
Koffler argued that the current conflict in Ukraine is a “proxy war” between the U.S. and Russia that could easily escalate into a “shooting war.” (“The largest risk to an escalation of the conflict would be a no-fly zone enforced by NATO, experts say,” by Michael Lee, Fox News)
Diplomatic sources believe some within the US and Europe are poking the Russian bear by embracing the idea of no-fly zones over Ukraine—and by the introduction of MiG-29 fighter jets to the Ukrainian military to enforce that no-fly zone.
Such action, they believe, would bring about the shoot-down of Russian planes. A no-fly zone, plus such US-approved introduction of weaponry, would, Vladimir Putin has said, be considered an act of war.
The Russian tyrant has instructed his forces to fire a hypersonic missile into a Ukrainian underground military facility. The missile wasn’t nuclear-tipped, but the plain message analysts are saying Putin wanted to send is that Russia can, with the new, Mach 5 missile technology, reach not only the near points of Ukrainian territory, but all of Europe. The hypersonic missiles have a vastly larger range than the mid-range missiles heretofore used by the Russians.
Putin has said he is not averse to using tactical nukes to accomplish the Russian military mission of subduing parts of that nation the dictator believes belong to Russia.
All of this has the world of diplomats and even Christian prophecy pundits wondering whether there is about to be World War III, which will end in nuclear exchanges that will completely disrupt the world carrying on as we have known.
Well, we can interject that, with the way things have been carried on as of late, a heavenly disruption might be warranted. We’ve seen wickedness arise at levels that, as Ruth Graham might have concluded, rival the evil of the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. Only God’s divine patience and mercy can explain why nuclear combat, one on one with the Russkis, hasn’t already broken out into WW III.
Diplomats of the world, many of whom are Christians and even Bible prophecy students, would adamantly disagree with my assessment about the prospects for World War III and nuclear annihilation.
I say without reservation that I have no fear of an all-out, global war at this juncture in human history. And that is the salient point—the words, “at this juncture in human history.”
For the current war waged upon Ukraine—or any other war—to explode or even gradually grow to all-out World War III would be contrary to what the Word of God foretells. As a matter of fact, Jesus Christ Himself, who is the very Word of God who holds together even the elements of the atom, foretold the following. (Again, remember that “the day when the Son of man is revealed” refers to the Rapture of the Church.)
Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. (Luke 17:27–30)
It would not be business as usual if the planet had just been ravished by nuclear devastation, just as it wouldn’t be business as usual if Christ was “revealed” at the end of the most horrific time imaginable—the end of the Tribulation.
There will be World War III, and there will be nuclear devastation, I have absolutely no doubt. But it will be after the Rapture, when all believers are in the only safe harbor there is—in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ when He calls us to Himself.
There is only one way to go to this assurance and safe harbor.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)
Arkansas Alive Interview: Happy Caldwell with Terry James
PART ONE
PART TWO
Summoning Gog?
NOTE: Let’s try this again. My apologizes for the technical issue in posting this article this morning.
Many have speculated over the years about who will be Antichrist. We’ve heard names going back to Hitler, Mussolini, JFK, King Juan Carlos, Prince Charles, Kissinger, Reagan, Trump, Obama, Macron, and now Ukraine’s Volodymyr Oleksandrovych, with a few other names sprinkled in between. None have, so far, fit the bill as that wicked man of sin.
But with regard to the one who will be Gog of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, the naming of that leader who is prophetically scheduled to lead the assault against Israel seems almost a certainty.
I must include myself in looking rather intensely at one Vladimir Putin as a quite likely candidate for the one into whose jaws God will put the hooks to draw him and his forces down over the mountains of Israel. That is, the Russian Federation president—at the moment, at least—appears to be a prime candidate for being that chief prince of Meshack and Tubal.
Yet, if I were a betting man, as they say, I wouldn’t lay too much down on him in making that wager. Unfolding history has a way of making look foolish those who place too much faith in their own ability to predict prophetic events. Such will likely be the fate of those who invest all in predicting that Vlad is the man possessed of the Gog spirit.
Nonetheless, it is said by some that Mr. Putin has already been indwelt by the Gog demon, recently up from the abyss. And he certainly does act as if he is possessed, his sudden, explosive aggression—without anyone or anything apparently poking the Russian bear—inflicting death and destruction on the people of Ukraine.
Oh, he is said to have unleashed his forces because of Ukraine being courted by NATO as a prospective future member of the organization. But that is an unlikely thing to develop. More likely it involves Putin, a former KGB colonel who has expressed several times that the fall of the Soviet Union was the worst thing to have happened in history. He wants to be seen as a re-emerged, Soviet-style hero in beginning to regather the USSR as formerly constituted.
The prospects for his being that leader of the forces destined for destruction on the mountains of Israel were enhanced considerably when one of Putin’s diplomats made it known that Russia no longer considers the Golan and other areas sovereign territory belonging to Israel. We can extrapolate from that diplomatic note that Russia considers that area—an area recently found to be rich in gas and oil deposits—a legitimate target in the future. Wow! It sure looks like it’s all coming together.
My friend Mark sent an article the other day that goes even further in congealing the likelihood of Mr. Putin being that Russian leader who is either now or who will in the future be possessed by that evil spirit from the abyss—the demon that will make the chief prince of Meshach and Tubal have that “evil thought” to attack God’s chosen nation, as foretold by the prophet Ezekiel.
Mr. Putin seems to have a cheerleading group of the dark-dimension sort rooting for him. The following excerpt of that fascinating article Mark sent explains.
On March 12, about 100 self-described witches gathered at an indoor facility to call upon supernatural entities, and presumably the forces of darkness, to strengthen Russian President Vladimir Putin and help him in his invasion of Ukraine, reported Asia News.
The witches wore dark capes and hoods, and recited incantations.
Aljona Polin, Russia’s leading witch and founder of the Great Witches of Russia association, according to Asia News, said, “Those who hear, but do not hear, those who see, but do not see, those who are there, were there and will be there, will not forget my word: raise the strength of Russia, direct our President Vladimir Putin on the path of justice.”
“Let the great strength of Russia manifest itself,” Aljona intoned. The other witches responded, “Indeed.”
In the middle of the room where the witches gathered there was a shawl with a picture of Putin on it, next to a candle…
“The ritual lasted about 20 minutes in all, with a final physical connection of all the witches joining hands and energies, entering into a spiritual connection with Putin himself,” reported Asia News. (“Witches Gather in Moscow to Support Putin, Curse His Enemies,” by Michael W. Chapman, CNS NEWS March 15, 2022)
Whether or not the evil Gog spirit has been summoned by this coven, the short-of-stature but enormous-of-ego Putin, in considering the one who will be that leader of Rosh, sure looks interesting, doesn’t he?
Even so, don’t bet the farm on it is good advice. Let’s just watch, as commanded (Mark 13: 37) and look for the blessed hope (Titus 2: 13).
We who are in Christ don’t have to be concerned with knowing who will be the chief prince of Meshach and Tubal any more than we have to be concerned with knowing who will be the son of perdition when he steps onto the stage of history. We will be triumphantly within the ark of safety provided by our Lord and Savior.
For when you see all these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your head, for your redemption draws near. (Luke 21:28)
Rapture Sooner–or Later?
As anyone knows who reads these commentaries, our website is raptureready.com. The articles are, of course, generated and disseminated from this platform on a daily basis. Our Nearing Midnight section is our weekly platform from which to launch commentary on what we consider the most relevant and vital issues and events of the hour. All opinion pieces are Bible centered, and their overall tenor is to point to how near the midnight hour we are in regard to the occurrence of the Rapture—that glorious moment when Jesus Christ calls all believers to Himself.
The words I hear when talking to believers about the Rapture of the Church is that while they hope it will happen soon, they are afraid it’s way out there in the future. This is a common thread I find in thinking of fellow Christians these days. That’s not to say all are thinking in this direction. Many who come to our website look around at all that is happening and express that they don’t see how the Rapture could be meant for any other generation than ours. They see all collateral cultural and societal prerequisites for that stunning event to occur.
So what is the probability that the Rapture is scheduled in God’s plan for humanity in either a sooner or in a later timeframe? Is there any one signal on the prophetic horizon that might give a clue to answering that question? I believe one area to look at might provide illumination.
Believers and nonbelievers alike are being fed a daily diet of doomsday fodder. COVID-19 more or less suctioned the attention of the world’s populations into its orbit of terror. This, I sense, was done deliberately. That is, it was a deliberately created, worldwide, pathogenic assault specifically designed to bring people under the cloud of gloom and doom. As a matter of fact, documentation being unveiled is beginning to point in that direction, providing proof that it was spawned to control the minds and movements of the earth’s populations.
Added to the pandemic was the intent to radically change cultures and societies through the wokism we’ve all been subject to over these weeks, months, and years. Overall, it’s been an effort to move people’s thinking away from the God of Heaven and toward anti-God thinking. That effort to totally corrupt mankind has been largely successful, and governments of the world have become, as Romans 1:28 tells us, reprobate at every level. That is, our leaders can’t and/or won’t think rationally. Every thought is only on evil continually, it seems.
This is exactly the mindset of the antediluvian world of Genesis 6, the one Jesus said would be prevalent at the moment of His catastrophic intervention into the affairs of mankind. He said it would be “as it was in the days of Noah.”
We see not only the mindset that was anti-God, but violence, that fills the whole earth, exactly as described in Noah’s day. Consider that with the upside-down thinking of the legislators and city councils of the so-called blue states and blue cities, murder rates are up exponentially in some areas. The catch-and-release policies of the blue cities have validated those policies’ wrong-headedness, their insanity. The reprobate thinking of governors, mayors, and legislators are manifest for anyone who cares to see.
America has at least half a population and half a Congress with the same deadly disease—Romans 28-level reprobate thinking. The current president of the United States seems at the apex of present American leadership manifesting upside-down or reprobate thinking. This isn’t just the ranting of some prophecy nut. His wrongheadedness is evident, and his handlers who surround him must closely guard his movements daily, keeping him from press conferences and having him avoid most questions of substance by White House and other reporters.
While wars and rumors of wars ratchet up to the point of threatening to break into World War III, according to some, the American military, led by the present chiefs of staff who advise the president concentrate on creating a culture of woke-ism within the ranks. Some in our military even wear rainbow symbols, indicating their awareness that the transsexual movement is front and center in their midst. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff seems all in regarding his support for this LBTQ incursion into the American military. This is, to my thinking, Sodom and Gomorrah-level reprobate manifestations in these days that look forever more like those days of Noah and days of Lot of which Jesus prophesied.
All of the above constitutes substantial evidence that the Rapture of the Church might be close to fulfillment. But one particular symptom of our time stands out significantly. And it is much more than just a symptom. It is a growing monster created by evil men and seducers, who deceive and are themselves deceived. Those greedy creators of the monster have reached the point they can no longer control its voraciousness.
The evil men and seducers to whom I refer are the money powers that be. These are the men (and women) whose only desire, it seems, is to create larger and larger debt among those they force to do their bidding, financially speaking. These globalist, fiscal elitists’ evil, economic shenanigans have brought this generation to a moment I believe Jesus, Himself, was speaking to, regarding His next intervention into this doomed, rebellious world. More about this in due course.
The following excerpt defines the uncontrollable monster, I think.
For years I have been clear that the world is reaching the end of an economic, financial and monetary era which will detrimentally affect the world for probably decades.
It is unequivocal that all currencies will finish the 100+ year fall to ZERO in the next few years. It is also crystal clear that all the asset bubbles – stocks, bonds and property – will implode at the same time leading to a long and deep depression.
We had the warning in 2006-9 but central banks ignored it and just added new worthless debt to existing worthless debt to create worthless debt squared – an obvious recipe for disaster.
So as is often typical for the end of an economic era, the catalyst is totally unexpected and worse than anyone could have forecast…
If a miracle doesn’t stop this war [Russia and Ukraine] very quickly (which is extremely unlikely), the world will soon be entering a hyperinflationary commodity explosion (think energy, metals and food) combined with a cataclysmic deflationary asset implosion (think debt, stocks and property).
The world will be experiencing totally unknown consequences without the ability to solve any of them for a very long time.
All the above will most likely happen even without a global war. (Buckle Up: Greyerz – The Dark Years for the World Are Now Starting in Earnest, King World News, Rapture Ready News, March 12, 2022)
Prices at the gas pumps and in the grocery stores—the shelves of which are growing increasingly sparse in products—are rising quickly. The above expert analyst and others predict the whole world economic system is about to experience a crash of apocalyptic dimension. If this happens, the world will again have to gather up the shambles and bring things back to a relatively normal way of conducting life. This would take many decades if it could ever be reconfigured in getting things back to how they are at present.
Jesus’ words tell us that when He comes again, people will be in times like in Noah’s day. That is, it will be a totally evil time of violence. Well, we are there at present, are we not?
But the Lord foretold something other. And it is what makes me think the Rapture of believers will be sooner, not later.
Jesus said the generation will be like in the days of Lot and his vexation in Sodom and Gomorrah. That means, of course, that it will be a totally debauched, sexually perverted and wicked time. Are we not there?
But He said one thing more. He said people will be buying, selling, building, marrying, planting—all the things of normal activity. He predicted no worldwide financial collapse. “It’s the economy, stupid,” we might say to those who believe we are going through the Tribulation. (Although I would never use those words issued by James Carville in managing Bill Clinton’s election.)
But it is, in fact, the world economic situation we should look at in wonder. It is still held up in spite of the any second collapse the experts have been predicting for some time.
The collapse is being held up by God, the Restrainer, I have no doubt. It will be the Rapture that will pierce that enormous, constantly building economic bubble.
That moment is indeed imminent!
There is one and only one way to go to Jesus in this glorious event when He calls—the one and only way of escaping the coming time of trouble such as people of the earth have never endured.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10: 9–10)
Terry James Prophecy Line 