Prophecy Line
Why the Rapture Must Happen
Much has been discussed and written about speculation leading up to this calendar date. That the Rapture must happen during this year’s Jewish Feast of Trumpets observation is the central subject of the frenzied conversation.
To be honest, I’ve not looked very deeply into the Feast of Trumpets, as to its meaning and all attendant to it. I do have a general working knowledge of that tradition and others held by the Orthodox Jewish community but have come to believe and accept that the Rapture is not linked to any Jewish day of observation, so far as its timing is concerned.
Some scholars of the Jewish holy days say the Feast of Trumpets this year was to be September 16–17, not September 23–24. But here we are, at this posting, on September 22.
I would love, despite my skepticism, for the speculation that the Rapture will happen at this time to be correct. I, like most of us who believe the pre-Trib Rapture to be the correct view from what the Apostle Paul and Jesus, Himself, have said, am always “looking up” (Luke 21:28) and “looking for the blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). We are “watching” (Mark 13:37). We believe the Rapture can happen at any moment. It is imminent.
So, do I believe it can happen on September 23 or 24 of 2025? Absolutely. I believe it can happen on this much-talked-about date.
Do I believe it definitely will take place on this date? No, I do not. It could happen as I’m writing this almost a week earlier!
If the Rapture does occur on the date being speculated by many, then it will make no difference to believers who have been raptured about whether it happened on the date predicted other than that we will be celebrating eternal, joyous bliss! But if it doesn’t happen on that date, I’m concerned that the faith of some will be shaken.
This has always been the deleterious result of past date-settings regarding the Rapture. Many have gone into deep crises of faith in God’s promises over such failures.
So, with that as a preface, I’d like to examine why it is necessary for God to Rapture the saints of this Church Age—why He will be true to His Word and will do so, I believe, very soon.
The tremendous ramping-up of evil taking place today as humanity proceeds farther toward God’s judgment against sin and rebellion is most relevant to the premise implicit in the title of this commentary: “Why the Rapture Must Happen.”
When looking at the black-and-white films the Allies shot within the Nazi death camps following victory over Adolf Hitler’s Germany in World War II, it’s difficult to comprehend that level of evil. The images of walking skeletons that were the Jewish “survivors” of those camps remain etched in the memory of anyone who has seen those videos.
Upon viewing those films, one instinctively senses that there must be eternal punishment for anyone who perpetrates such absolute evil.
The same level of pictorial record doesn’t exist for the genocidal rampages inflicted on their own people by Josef Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, and the murderers of the other despotic regimes in modern times. However, eyewitness accounts and some photographic evidence make it hard to fathom that those beastly tyrants were restrained in their butchery.
The Bible nonetheless bears witness that God the Holy Spirit governs the human conscience. In biblically prophetic terms, this is most evident in Paul’s second epistle to the Thessalonians:
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. (2 Thessalonians 2:7–8)
Paul was saying here that evil was at work in a big way even at the time he was writing the letter. Still, the Holy Spirit was then “restraining” and would continue to hold back that evil until the Holy Spirit withdraws as the Restrainer of evil. Then all hell will break loose as the Antichrist is revealed. The spirit of Antichrist is already present in the world—and was manifest even during John’s day (read 1 John 4:1–3). The mystery of iniquity about which Paul prophesied and this spirit of Antichrist are interlinked in the ancient web of lawlessness we call evil.
Jesus told what will happen once the Restrainer (the Holy Spirit) withdraws from governing the wickedness in the hearts and minds of people of the post-Rapture world:
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matthew 24:21)
The Lord said just how bad things would become:
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. (Matthew 24:22)
God will shorten the days of the great Tribulation, because if He were to let things go on to their conclusion, without the return of Christ, every being of flesh and blood on the planet would be destroyed. Such is the mystery of iniquity that exists today, and it will become exponentially worse once the restraint of evil is no longer in place. Then, the ultimately evolved man—as evolution would have it—will step to the forefront of fallen human history. Antichrist will inflict horrors on the people of earth in ways Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and the rest of history’s madmen could not have even imagined. His regime will be the most bloodthirsty of all time.
Lawlessness is everywhere we look. Whether considering the Middle East and the unspeakable evil of satanic forces like Hamas, the absolute wickedness of mutilating children fostered by the trans movement, or America and the devil-inspired anti-Semitism of youth groups indoctrinated by US universities, the “mystery of iniquity” is swelling like a great caldera that is about to explode across the world.
Evidence of the growing global lawlessness is compiled hourly through reports like the following:
As recent as 2019, The Economist’s Safe City Index placed Amsterdam at the top in Europe and fourth worldwide, behind only Tokyo, Singapore, and Osaka, but a new debate hosted by local broadcaster AT5 has revealed that seven in ten panel members avoid certain parts of the city because they now feel unsafe.
That figure rises to 85 percent among women, while half of the women surveyed reported experiencing some form of harassment, with some subjected to intimidation, being followed, or assault.
The issue has gained urgency after several high-profile crimes, including the murders of two 17-year-olds, Rivaldo, shot dead on a soccer field, and Lisa, who was brutally murdered by a 22-year-old asylum seeker as she cycled home. Multiple sexual assaults have also rocked the city in recent weeks, and police were on high alert after recording three explosions in five days last week.
Headlines at the time read: explosions-rock-amsterdam-as-dutch-capital-continues-to-reel-from-recent-teen-girl-allegedly-murdered-by-asylum-seeker. (“Amsterdam used to be the safest city in Europe; now a majority of its citizens are afraid to go out at night,” Rapture Ready News, September 12, 2025)
The youth, guilty of most of such lawlessness in inner cities across the world, have been taught by cultural inculcation that they have been held down by the affluent, so their actions are justified. The inference is that it is no more than simply Robin Hood robbing the evil sheriff of Nottingham.
Can there be much doubt that if they commit such bold acts now, then when the Holy Spirit is no longer restraining such evil thinking and actions, even America will quickly become a hellish existence in which anything goes?
It is almost as if the US federal governmental powers-that-be have taken Paul’s 2 Thessalonians 2:7–8 passage to heart. It seems they anticipate a time when draconian measures will be necessary to restrain the evil that is coming. Antichrist’s restraint will be even more draconian, but his own evil will far surpass all other iniquity of history, the Bible says.
Judgment of such rebelliousness awaits implementation by the God who must bring back the righteousness lost in Eden. Our Holy Heavenly Father is the only One who can cleanse humanity of this satanic infection called sin.
Only those who are born again through belief in the Lord Jesus Christ–God’s Son who has taken away the sins of the world—are not subject to God’s judgment of those left behind at the Rapture.
This is the purpose of the Rapture: to rescue all who are in God’s family through belief in Jesus. We are “not appointed to wrath,” which the world of left-behind rebels is about to experience during the Tribulation (Revelation 3:10).
God must remove all who are righteous and all those who have died while in Christ’s saving grace before His judgment and wrath must begin cleansing this fallen world. He will then, again, begin dealing with His chosen nation, Israel, to bring a remnant to accept their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus will return to the planet’s surface, destroy all enemies of God, and set up His Millennial Kingdom.
Ultimately, God will purge all sin, bringing humankind and all of creation back to the perfection that was lost when iniquity was found in Lucifer, and when sin and death entered through Adam’s disobedience.
It will all begin with the Rapture of the Church, which has been being constructed by the Lord Jesus since His death, burial and Resurrection, and His sending the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
This is why the Rapture must happen. Here is how to be sure you go to the Lord Jesus and be rescued from the coming judgment and wrath:
That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)
Be Like Noah – By Jeffrey Hauck
As a believer I understand that the ‘last days’ would be like the days of Noah and of Lot (Luke 17:26-29). It seems that it’s becoming more apparent for Christians today. On the surface, this warning has always provided proof that Jesus will return in the clouds for his church at a time that is not expected by the unbelieving world. The flood had come after 100 years of warning and faithful building by Noah and his family. Sodom and Gomorrah were reduced to ashes and ruin in 1 day, following an attack on Lot’s home. People were going about their normal lives with eating, drinking, marrying, buying, selling, planting and building. Then suddenly, they were destroyed.
But now, I believe we can see more clearly the underlying culture that Jesus warned about that would be present at the time of his return. Looking at the times of Noah and Lot (remember, they lived over 500 years apart from each other) we can see much evidence of overt wickedness throughout the chapters of Genesis 6,18, and 19. In Noah’s time, we learn that the daughters of men had ‘relations’ with the Sons of God. People’s hearts were always full of evil, and the earth was filled with violence.
With the case of Lot, homosexual men surrounded his house, demanding he give the ‘men’ in his house. Before this time, Lot had to be rescued by Abraham after the battle of 5 vs 4 kings over possessions and food supplies. What becomes clear is that cultures that have every need satisfied, yet they wipe their mouths, look around and try to fill their insatiable appetite for evil, while despising authority. Those generations met their sudden destruction, as will ours.
Let’s compare our generation. There are many aspects of our culture that have been captured wonderfully by many writers for Rapture Ready. I will just mention a couple. In our own nation we’ve seen the drastic decline of Christianity since the 1960s, following the removal of the Bible from public schools. Since then we’ve seen the proliferation of false religions, sexual deviancy, violence and broken families. It’s heart breaking for believers to watch our nation fall, to see gleeful celebration of martyred Christians, attempted murder and murder of righteous leaders. It’s so sad to watch lawlessness overcome our cities and others. Recently, Australia passed the Conversion Practices Ban Act that bans prayers aimed at changing or suppressing someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. 2 Timothy 3:13b comes to mind, concerning the last days. “..while evil people and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived themselves.”
What we are witnessing today is only going to get worse. Birth pains are increasing as we were warned by our Savior in Matthew 24.
How should we be?
We understand that Jesus will come and rescue our generation, not Abraham nor angels. But how should we be in the meantime? Let’s look again at the generations of Noah and Lot and how they acted. I suspect there will be a better role model between the two.
Let’s start with Lot. When Abraham and Lot were going their separate ways, Abraham told Lot to choose first. He chose the plains of the Jordan because they were watered and apparently bustling with business. We see him sitting at the gate of Sodom when the 2 angels come to investigate. He has some authority. And with his authority he offers his daughters to appease the vicious mob that want the 2 new ‘men’ (angels) in town. When warned to leave the city immediately, Lot hits the snooze alarm in the morning and negotiates with the angels about how far he must go to protect himself and his family. And let’s not forget Lot’s wife who aimed to preserve her own life and lost it. (Luke 17:32,33). I won’t even mention what happened with Lot and his daughters, afterward. Lot did not make the Hall of the Faithfull in Hebrews 11. But he is still declared a righteous man because he was distressed by the debauchery of those unprincipled people. (2 Peter 2:7,8). The fact of the matter is if God choses you and you respond, there is nothing that can separate you from the love of Jesus. Romans 8:35. Praise God! I can not give God enough thanks for his tender mercies.
Let’s look at Noah’s example. He was immersed in a severely, unholy culture. Looking through Genesis 6,7,8 and 9, we see a man who walked with God despite the earth filled with corruption and violence. God asked him to complete a task that was devoid of common sense and would take about 100 years to complete. He would have been mocked and possibly attacked by his peers. But he led his family faithfully. Not one of his peers befriended or trusted him.
Due to Noah’s faithfulness, he and his family were delivered while the rest of the world was destroyed. God blessed Noah following the flood and he had domain over all the creatures of the earth. Was Noah perfect? No. But he did make the Hall of the Faithful in Hebrews 11.
What can we take from these two righteous examples submerged in a culture that has outright disgust for all things ethical, honorable or decent? Let’s not use our authority to appease the wicked or put ourselves in situations where we need a rescue. Let’s stand our ground but not try to preserve our own lives. We go and do as the Spirit leads us. It won’t be violent. Noah did not use violence in his violent culture. But we can be sure he did not back down from his mission.
Ecclesiastes 8:12, 13 says “a sinner can do evil a hundred times and still live a long life; although I know that in the end things will go well with those who fear God because they fear him. But things will not go well with the wicked..”
We’ve seen this scenario play out many times throughout the Bible. And it’s playing out right now. Let’s keep our noses to the grindstone not giving ground to the enemy but giving a reason for our hope at each opportunity. A flood is coming soon.
Maranatha!
Jeff Hauck
jeffreyjhauck@yahoo.com
Weary Watchmen With PTSD – By Jan Markell
Have you had enough yet? Violence and lawlessness seem out of control. Senseless violence. Snipers unleashing bullets carved with evil messages on them! Who thinks this way?
The line-up of atrocities never ends. An innocent Ukrainian woman coming home from her pizza job, casually scrolling on her phone on a train in North Carolina, is stabbed to death by a demonized thug. She had left war-torn Ukraine for the supposed safety of America. Yet a monster lurked in the shadows and ended her young life. And it was all captured on camera.
Beyond Our Imagination
My hometown made notoriety again in a horrific manner—a school massacre. Children in a Catholic school five miles from where I grew up in south Minneapolis, were mowed down by a lunatic. The shooter blocked the church doors so that the children could not escape before he began shooting through the church windows. Can you imagine? I can’t.
Sure, the Bible says that evil is to get worse in the end-times (II Timothy 3:13), but who can comprehend such barbarism?
They said that about 9/11, which we recently observed and remembered as well. Even our national leaders admitted they didn’t have the imagination to anticipate the evil of Islam flying planes into buildings. More PTSD as we reflected back on that fateful day a week ago.
Don’t forget earlier this year, two Jewish believers were gunned down in Washington, D.C., and in June, an Egyptian terrorist set Jews on fire in Colorado a few days later. If we dared look, the Colorado event was also filmed and aired.
Good-Bye Charlie
Then on September 10, we had a flashback to July 13, 2024 when there was an assassination attempt on President Trump. This time, the target was Charlie Kirk, and this time, the shooter was successful.
What adds to the PTSD trauma is that 21st Century communications allow us to watch these horrors in real time—as it happens. Or, minutes later. We are viewing true horror show dramas that are unimaginable.
The assassination of conservative Christian Charlie Kirk was another shot heard around the world. But the bullet that killed Charlie didn’t kill a movement. It ignited many people to press on with truth-telling, love of country, and honoring God.
As one observer suggested, it is a reminder that speaking truth, particularly Biblical truth, is inherently dangerous in a world where truth sounds like hate to those who hate the truth.
When leftists rejoice at the death of godly people, as they are doing with Kirk’s death, it is a foreshadowing of the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11. The world will rejoice over their demise as well.
Very often, the perpetrators of the carnage are deeply involved in alternative lifestyles, and so they view conservatives, Christians, and the biblical worldview as the enemy. We become their prime target just as the early martyrs of the church. Constantly accusing righteous or conservative people of being fascists and Nazis has deadly consequences.
Charlie has now finished his race, his earthly course, and we celebrate his graduation into the presence of Jesus Christ and the glories of eternity.
Demonic!
The New York Post, not known as a spiritual publication, had an appropriate one-word headline—“Demonic.” That accurately summarized the end-time fight we are in. Satan is making his last stand before the church is taken in the rapture, which removes believers from this sin-wracked, violent world.
But this is today’s progressive movement: twisted and evil. What a reminder that the last days will be as the days of Noah!
Romans One On Display
And to add to the lunacy, and what should convince us we are in a Romans one society, is that the deranged Left celebrates some of this. Again, this stretches credulity and is beyond our imagination. It is last days delusion. The prophet Isaiah told us that evil would be called good by some (Isaiah 5:20). So, watchmen suffering from PTSD is a pretty normal reaction!
Take these daily evil reminders with the assurance that they are a sign that Jesus is coming again. Our rescue is coming. Soon. Perhaps today.
The Rapture Paradox
A woman from the Netherlands who years ago was a frequent visitor to www.raptureready.com once proposed we address a troubling thought she lived with as a Christian. It is a paradox I believe many Christians who look for Christ to come for believers in the Rapture have considered, at least to some extent.
The writer those years ago sent an article about the growing Islamic population in Europe and the threat Islam represents not only to Israel, but to the rest of the world that is not Islamic. She recognized that Israel being at the center of world controversy indicates the lateness of the hour, prophetically speaking. She put it this way in her email:
Every time I see these articles, I am on one hand horrified at the treatment of the Jewish people but on the other hand full of anticipation as I know that with each event that pushes the Jewish people back to their homeland of Israel, the closer the Rapture is for Christians. I do feel badly that I am excited for the Rapture though as I know what that means for those that will be left behind… Should we be as excited as I am to know that we can (I believe “will”) be raptured any second? I know this gives me an urgency to share the gospel with friends and neighbors, but I still always feel guilty for the anticipation and excitement I get when I see the current events played out daily.
This dichotomy within the believer’s thinking is, I believe, not unusual for those who truly look for Christ’s any-moment call as prophesied by Paul the apostle:
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17)
Christians who believe the pre-Tribulation Rapture is truth from God’s Word yearn—without need to apologize—for the blessed hope that is found in Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13). At the same time, they know that when that call from their Lord comes, those left behind will soon endure a time of horror, about which the Lord Himself said:
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matthew 24:21)
Those left behind will, the Christian knows, include perhaps close friends and beloved family members. So, the paradox of wanting the Rapture to take place, and at the same time dreading it for those who will stay on this planet to endure God’s judgment and wrath is, to some, troubling.
The article this writer sent with her email those years ago encapsulates just a small part of the building evil the Lord of Heaven will judge with His righteous wrath. The matters the article involved point to the satanic rage represented within Islam, the number-one Israel-hating entity on the planet. Hatred for Israel, and the desire of the international community to force the Jewish state to divide the tiny portion of its God-given land to come up with a formula for peace with its Islamic neighbors, will lead to Armageddon, God’s Word says:
For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. (Joel 3:2)
The article the emailer sent contained a speech by Geert Wilders, a Dutch member of Parliament for the Netherlands. He synopsized with stunning description how Israel’s Islamic enemy was systematically infecting Europe, thus threatening world stability—or what little of it that remains.
Wilders, who was chairman of the Party for Freedom, the Netherlands, spoke at the Four Seasons, New York, introducing an Alliance of Patriots and announcing the Facing Jihad Conference in Jerusalem. He announced that Europe was in dire straits as it was undergoing Islamization. America and the world, he warned, faced the same fate as Europe if the threat wasn’t confronted and defeated everywhere it exists.
Wilders said that entire city sections throughout Europe were taken over by Islamics one street at a time. Local governments and police forces were often so intimidated that they dared not go into those areas to govern. Women, treated no better than slaves, according to the speaker, were covered from head to toe in tent-like attire, sharia law took precedence, and women in sections of the cities not part of the Islamic communities more and more were hearing hate-filled shouts of “Whore!” from those of the Islamic populations. (http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/wilders.asp)
That news report was from a decade and a half ago. Today the Wilders prediction is manifest in hourly news reports while American cities and states such as Texas are experiencing what can only be described in my view as an Islamic invasion.
In 1991, the Muslim Brotherhood issued a confidential memorandum that outlined the strategy for the group in North America. It details a plan for the “Enablement of Islam in North America,” understood as “establishing an effective and a stable Islamic Movement led by the Muslim Brotherhood which adopts Muslims’ causes domestically and globally, and which works to expand the observant Muslim base, aims at unifying and directing Muslims’ efforts, presents Islam as a civilization alternative, and supports the global Islamic State wherever it is.”…
The aim of Islamists is not integration into our society, nor to isolate themselves within their own enclaves, but rather to energetically integrate America into Islamist culture. Far from a Muslim “Benedict Option,” the Islamist strategy is political and confrontational…
Islamists oppose the American sense of nationhood and form of government and seek to replace constitutional and national governments with the global Islamic state…
The digital age means the annihilation of distance. Thanks to the internet, Islam’s reach and networks have globalized. Immigrants talk regularly with relatives on the other side of the world and establish international revenue streams. This new technology presents Islamists with an opportunity they never enjoyed a hundred years ago. Those advocating for stricter Islamic practices can use the power of digital connections to reach and reeducate Muslims around the world. Videos from conflicts in far-off places can be broadcast instantly to millions of Muslims in the West, encouraging them to see themselves as participants in the same struggle. The 1991 memorandum indicates how Islamists exploit this situation by encouraging Muslims to think of themselves not as members of a Western polity but as internationally interconnected engineers who are building one global Islamic state. Islamists will not permit Muslims to blend into America’s purported melting pot. (“The Islamist Threat to American Communities,” Nathan Pinkoski, May 7, 2025)
Israel and its being targeted for extinction by Islam, which has infected so much of the American radical leftist anti-Semite insanity with hatred, is the sure sign that the Tribulation is in view. The Rapture of the Church is, therefore, an event that must be very near to occurring indeed. That being the obvious case, what should be the Christian’s foremost priority? The answer is that it should not be considered a paradox for the believer, but an exhortation, a call to duty.
There is nothing anyone can do to hurry or delay the coming of Christ for His saints in the Rapture. The timing of that great event is out of our hands. Therefore, longing for the blessed hope (Titus 2:13) to rescue us from the terrible time to come (Revelation 3:10) doesn’t conflict with our concern and compassion for those who will be left behind if they don’t come to Christ for salvation. It is time for those who name the name of Christ to recognize the lateness of the prophetic hour; witness to those around us of the truth that Jesus Christ is the one and only Way to salvation; and live in such a way that we can earn our Lord’s commendation, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Promise of His Coming
Author’s note: The article for this week was first posted Monday, September 20, 2010. My reason for reposting it this week might seem rather unusual–perhaps even odd.
Let me explain.
Upon awakening early the other day, as is my usual way, the first moments of clarity came to me out of nowhere and wouldn’t leave.
The thought was that I had been saved at the age of six. Since I was born in 1942, that made the year I was born again 1948.
The thought wouldn’t leave. I was “born again” the same year–1948—Israel was “reborn” as a nation into modernity.
Somehow that all congealed into the need to write or find an article I had written on the importance of the rebirth of God’s chosen people, Israel, to the nearness of the Rapture.
Researching my personal article archives led me to the following.
Promise of His Coming
A biblically prophetic reality that perfectly fits our present day, and that has been looked at a number of times, is the warning given by the Apostle Peter especially to the generation alive at the end of the Church Age:
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?” for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. (2 Peter 3:3–4)
In almost every case of looking at this prophecy, the point has been exclusively dwelt upon that both the religious and nonreligious of the world mockingly chide those of us who believe Jesus Christ will return to the earth. This prophecy has observably come to pass in our time.
However, it is the phrase “promise of his coming” I would like to consider here.
Like the 2 Peter 3:3–4 prophecy, so many other things developing in these troubling although exciting times testify mightily to the evidence that God absolutely keeps His Word. Scripture promises, for example, that ultimately, no matter how scattered and oppressed the Jewish people have been throughout history, Israel will be a nation forever.
Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking my covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God. But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord. (Leviticus 26:44–45)
Israel was restored to the land after centuries of the people being removed from their own land and being persecuted unmercifully in the nations to which they were scattered. They were regathered and established again as a nation in a single day, just as foretold.
Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. “Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth?” saith the LORD: “shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb?” saith thy God. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her. (Isaiah 66:8–10)
That miracle rebirth took place May 14, 1948, following perhaps the house of Israel’s most horrendous persecution—that suffered under the Nazis. No other nation has been so torn apart and scattered to the winds of history, then regathered, having its original language restored. The Lord proved He alone is God. His promise to Israel goes into the future for His chosen people:
“Also I will restore the captivity of my people Israel, and they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will also plant vineyards and drink their wine, and make gardens and eat their fruit. I will also plant them on their land, and they will not again be rooted out from their land which I have given them,” says the Lord your God. (Amos 9:14–15)
Israel’s God is God! There is no other God. He continues to prove who He is through Israel. This, doubtless, is one extremely important reason He chose that people: to demonstrate the absolute veracity of His Holy Word. That same Word—who is the very Person of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1: 1)—has made a promise of staggering importance to His other chosen people.
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:1–3)
His coming again for God’s other chosen people–the Church (every born-again member of Christ’s body during this Age of Grace)—is assured. It is 100 percent certain, because He continues to prove His faithfulness through the nation Israel and by keeping every prophetic promise He has made.
Jesus tells us who constitutes His chosen Bride:
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10)
He promises:
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. (Luke 21:28)
Jesus is coming. It could be the very next moment!
Pre-Rapture Reconnaissance – By Joe Hawkins :: Book Review by Terry James
I most heartily recommend this short but powerfully written guide to living the Christian life in this time so near Christ’s Call to the Church.
Pre-Rapture Reconnaissance is a high-impact field manual for Christians navigating the turbulence of the last days. Written with the urgency of a military intelligence briefing, the book equips believers to recognize the enemy’s tactics and stand their ground in a world increasingly hostile to biblical truth.
Drawing from Scripture, the Joe frames end-time prophecy in terms of spiritual reconnaissance—the disciplined act of gathering intelligence before battle. Just as soldiers rely on scouts to assess terrain and identify threats, Christians are called to be both Watchers (discerning the signs of the times) and Warriors (actively engaged in spiritual battle). This dual role sets the tone for the entire work: vigilance and preparedness, not fear and retreat.
The book is organized into seven Prophetic Hot Zones, each serving as a critical front on the battlefield of the last days. These include Apostasy, Moral Decay, Global Disasters & Wars, Persecution, Beast System, Deception, and Israel. Within each zone, Joe identifies the enemy’s infiltration—whether through false teachers, lawlessness, technocracy, or rising antisemitism—and ties these trends to clear prophetic warnings from Scripture.
What sets Pre-Rapture Reconnaissance apart is its tactical clarity. Scripture is treated as intelligence reports directly from Headquarters, revealing both the enemy’s strategies and God’s battle plan for His people. Modern threats such as progressive Christianity, digital surveillance, and globalist agendas are examined through the lens of biblical prophecy, showing how the ground is being prepared for the coming Antichrist.
Yet, the tone is not despairing but mobilizing. Each section calls the reader to hold the line, test every spirit, and remain anchored in God’s Word. The book insists that prophecy is not meant to paralyze but to prepare. It issues a wake-up call for Christians to guard their doctrine, live in holiness, proclaim the Gospel boldly, and endure persecution with the confidence that victory is already secured in Christ.
Pre-Rapture Reconnaissance functions as a spiritual intelligence briefing for believers who sense the lateness of the hour. Urgent, biblical, and unapologetically direct, it is both a map of the enemy’s tactics and a rallying cry for the faithful to remain watchful until the trumpet sounds.
The reader will devour with great enthusiasm and encouragement this brief but powerful manual as an indispensable aid to study of God’s Holy Word. –Thus as together we keep looking up in anticipation of Christ’s Call! (Luke 21: 28)
Pre-Rapture Reconnaissance
Author Joe Hawkins
Publisher: Independently Published – Joe Hawkins | Prophecy Recon, LLC
ISBN:979-8296348111
Where to order: Amazon – paperback and eBook (free w/ Kindle Unlimited)
Who Goes to Christ in the Rapture?
In our book of some years ago, The Departure: God’s Next Catastrophic Intervention into Earth’s History, we point out crucial truth about who will go to Christ and who will be left behind when the Lord says: “Come up here!” (Revelation 4: 1, as prophesied by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:16–18).
Even though it is “my” book in that I developed it, I say “our” book because a number of the most knowledgeable authorities in Bible prophecy wrote chapters on the most relevant topics of our day. All issues and events involving what we consider having prophetic importance are looked at in that volume through the supernatural prism of God’s Word. I therefore consider it “our” book, not just mine.
More than that, I believe each of us who wrote for it considers it to be devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ for these troubling, although exciting, times at the end of the age. We trust it has been a tool to edify God’s family by pointing to the evidence proving that the coming of “the blessed hope” of Titus 2:13 is likely very near. To that extent, that’s another reason I call it “our” book. It’s written for all believers alive today, with the prayerful hope that God’s family will awaken to Christ’s imminent coming.
I thought it good to use the Prophecyline column this week to look again at exactly who I believe will go in the Departure–the Rapture—when Christ gives the command: “Come up here” (Revelation 4:1).
There might be some among the authors who would disagree on a couple of my views about specifically who will go to be with Jesus at the Rapture. However, I will let them answer for themselves in their own forums and in their own ways. My own feeling about the differences we might have is like that of the late Dr. J. Vernon McGee, who more than once said, “You can believe the way you want to believe. But, if you want to be right, you’ll want to come along with me on this.”
Dr. McGee said that with a chuckle, and I hope you can hear the chuckle in my written expression regarding my borrowing from that grand old Christian man’s humor.
First, I will state that God’s Word says, without equivocation, just who will go in the Departure:
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)
So, Paul was clearly saying two major things about one classification of people. He was writing to the believers at Corinth. But he was also writing to every believer who would come along during the Church Age. Every believer in Corinth during Paul’s day is long since dead. So, he had to be addressing those who would be alive when Christ would call for them, as well as those alive when this letter was written.
The context of the letter is informing Christians about a mystery regarding a stunning event in their future. His words were to put to rest some of their worries about what would happen to the Christians among them who had died. What would happen to them in terms of their going to Heaven?
Paul was saying: 1) Not all believers would die; some would not have to die but would be alive at the time of a stupendous event; and 2) All believers, however, would be changed. They would be changed in one moment. The dead would be made alive and put into supernatural bodies. Those alive at the time would be changed into supernatural bodies while living.
The “mystery” Paul was revealing was the one wrapped up in Jesus’ words as recorded by John the apostle:
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)
Paul further expounded on this “mystery” in his letter to the Thessalonians:
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 Thess. 4:16-17)
So, the thing to consider is that believers of the Church Age (Age of Grace)– Paul was talking to believers of this dispensation—will ALL go to be with Jesus when He calls them in that “twinkling of an eye” (atomos of time) moment–the Rapture. ALL believers of this dispensation will go to be with the Lord! Not a single person who has accepted Christ for salvation will be left behind.
This truth includes everyone who never reached the intellectual ability–through brain incapacity or because of being too young—to understand their need to accept Christ for salvation. These are all under the blood of Christ for redemption and reconciliation to God, the Father. All will go to be with Jesus at the Rapture.
Some believe and teach that only believers who are living in the will of God will go to be with Christ at the Rapture. Those living “carnal” lives, they believe, will be left behind to go through a time of God’s judgment and wrath, along with the unbelieving earth dwellers. But God’s Word doesn’t teach a partial Rapture—that some will go and some will stay. ALL believers, Paul plainly writes, will go to be with the Lord at the Departure. Paul writes further to the Thessalonians:
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. (1 Thessalonians 5:9–10)
It is true that we are told by the Lord (Luke 21:36) that we are to watch and pray always that we may be accounted worthy to escape all the things of the Tribulation. But “worthy” in this sense means we should be living in such a way that we will not be ashamed when we stand before Him at the judgment seat–the bema. We should desire to hear our Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
This might not seem fair to those who disagree with me on this—those who believe they are living their own lives within God’s prescription for Christian behavior. But it’s not what we think is or is not fair that matters. It’s what the Word of God says that matters in any question of spiritual truth. God’s Holy Word says plainly that ALL believers who have died or are living during this present dispensation (the Church Age or Age of Grace) will go to be with the Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, when He makes that shout heard around the world to His Bride: “Come up here!”
This makes the question all-important to every person alive today: How can one be assured of going to Jesus Christ when He calls those of God’s family to depart from this judgment-bound planet? Here is the answer:
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)
Pastors, Prophecy, and Powerlessness
A power vacuum exists today that was foretold almost two thousand years ago. Its effects on this generation and beyond are profound and are destined to have an even more deleterious impact on America and the world in the days just ahead. The Apostle Paul prophesied the following:
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come…[men] having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. (2 Timothy 3:1, 5a)
Many pastors within Christianity today, I’m sorry to have to say, are complicit in helping fulfill this prophecy.
First, let’s define the term “Christian pastors.” Within the context of Paul’s prophecy I wish to examine here, I refer to pastors who truly preach and teach that Jesus Christ is the only Way to redemption, to reconciliation with God the Father. All others who claim to be clergy within Christianity I completely disregard, because God’s Word discounts them as false prophets, as defined by the following Scripture, to give but one example:
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (2 Peter 2:1–3)
Again, to be clear, when I say, “Christian pastors,” I’m referring to Bible-believing preachers who lift up Christ as the only Way to salvation.
Some will say that Paul’s “perilous times” warning of men who would have “a form of godliness,” but deny “the power thereof” applies to the false teachers of Peter’s prophecy, not to true preachers called by God to be shepherds of His flock. I agree that the prophecy applies to interlopers who deny Jesus Christ as the only Way to redemption.
However, the accusation against those who have a “form of godliness, but deny the power thereof” can apply as well to God’s true shepherds. The condemnation is, in some ways, even more to the point than when leveled at the false preachers and teachers. I contend that Christian pastors today–sadly, I believe this includes most of them—deny the power of God when they cast aside prophecy given in the Bible that is for a time yet future.
As I and many others have often pointed out, the Bible consists of at least 27 percent prophecy. Half of that prophecy has been fulfilled; the remaining half has yet to be fulfilled. Although it can be proven through Scripture and history that the Bible has always been accurate in past instances, preachers and teachers consistently and persistently ignore preaching and teaching about things to come.
By this willful disregard for presenting this vast body of scriptural truth, men of God–called and anointed by the Lord as guardians of His truth and shepherds of His flocks—deny the great power wrapped up in the astonishing reality that our God is the only One who knows the end from the beginning–and in excruciating detail, I might add.
For the most part, preachers today seemingly avoid the prophetic Word at any cost. And, in God’s holy economy, the cost must be astronomical. These shepherds of God’s precious people are denying them the assurance of the hope He promises. Jesus Christ, their Lord and Savior, is the fruition of God’s magnificent plan for their journey into forever. With the knowledge of Christ’s return plainly given as imminent in God’s love letter to mankind, the born again should be living victoriously, not with cringing fear or, even worse, in almost complete apathy.
The prophetic Word says:
Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (Titus 2:12-14)
The majority of those who aren’t informed about what’s going to happen next in this judgment-bound world, or who are totally unconcerned about things of God, are fed baby food rather than meat for living the way the Lord intended. These are, as often as not, force-fed the “feel good and let’s not dwell on sin too much” worldly message that is anathema to God’s truth.
To the pastors and teachers who do in fact teach doctrine and sound biblical principles, may the Lord bless you to the extent to which you remain faithful to break the Bread of Life the way it should be fed to your flocks. But if you don’t include prophecy as an important and generous part of your messages—that Jesus is coming again and might come at any moment—you are falling far short of deserving full commendation. You are denying the true power of God. You are exhibiting only a form of godliness.
Respectfully, please pay attention, you who are the truth-bearing pastors of our Holy God. These are the times to which all of Bible prophecy has pointed for millennia. These are perilous times. Signals are rampant that this generation is the one that will almost certainly see the Lord’s return in power and glory. Israel and the peace process, with all nations beginning to turn against that state, dear pastors, is the number-one signal that we are bumping up against the very end of this swiftly fleeting age. Christ’s shout, “Come up hither,” is imminent!
You will be held accountable at the judgment seat of Christ for how you treat His whole Word in feeding your flock. Jesus spoke to the great power and importance resident within prophecy while addressing the churches. John recorded what the resurrected Lord directed him to write:
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw…Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. (Revelation 1:1-2, 7-8)
What Kind of Love Is This?
Author’s note: The following Terryjamesprophecyline.com commentary was first posted on Raptureready.com on Monday, February 6, 2012, and was meant to examine the swiftly growing invasion of Islam into Western culture. It points out the mainstream news media complicity in allowing the invasion. My “Nearing Midnight” column, also posted this week on Raptureready.com, takes a look at the wrongly growing claim by prophecy pundits that the coming Antichrist will be a Muslim and that Islam will be the religious power that will make up the nucleus of the false worship system of the seven-year Tribulation.
In the article below is described the twisted religious fervor that leads to evil and destruction of families. Thankfully, as pointed out in “Nearing Midnight” on Raptureready.com this week, this system is slated for God’s judgment at the time of the Gog-Magog assault against Israel. Antichrist, who will assume much greater power once the Gog-Magog force is eliminated, will therefore not be part of that doomed religious system.
What Kind of Love Is This?
A strange literary brain glitch seems to afflict mainstream news-media types these days. I find the disorder asserting its influence even in news briefs found on the front pages of my hometown newspaper. Such is the case as follows.
Mohammed Shafia, 58; his wife, Tooba Yahya, 42; and their son, Hamed, 21, all originally from Afghanistan, have been found guilty in Canada of first-degree murder in the killings of Shafia’s three teenage daughters and another of his wives in a polygamous marriage because they dishonored the family by defying its rules on dress, dating, socializing and Internet use. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, “In the News,” 1/30/12)
The story is front and center, yet a glaring fact is missing. It is as if the reporters are being blocked from finding the cause of the brutal killings that are almost routinely committed these days in the name of religious doctrine. The murders in the above news brief were, for example, reported in the following way by the Associated Press as passed along by NBC:
KINGSTON, Ontario—A jury on Sunday found an Afghan father, his wife and their son guilty of killing three teenage sisters and a co-wife in what the judge described as “cold-blooded, shameful murders” resulting from a “twisted concept of honor.” The jury took 15 hours to find Mohammad Shafia, 58; his wife Tooba Yahya, 42; and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case that shocked and riveted Canadians from coast to coast.”
Nowhere is the specific religious affiliation of the murderers mentioned. As a matter of fact, only one religion is mentioned, and that is through the use of the word “Christian” later in the piece. One of the teenagers murdered for her “twisted” concept of honor had condoms in her room and photos of herself wearing short skirts and hugging her Christian boyfriend, according to the story. The story broadcast by NBC never mentioned that religious reasons were at the core of the killings.
One might take from the story as presented that the reporting source wants us to infer that the girl was morally loose—as was her Christian boyfriend—and somehow deserved punishment.
What is it about the American media that causes an apparently unwritten rule that the use of the words “Muslim” and “Islam” are taboo in the contemporary journalistic lexicon?
The answer resides within the politically correct minds of those bent on shaping opinion in these dark days of setting the stage for the coming of Antichrist.
More to the point is the question posed by the title of this commentary: What kind of love is found in Islam, which we are told time and time again is a religion of love, not of hatred and violence?
It is a religion that commands–or at least condones—strapping bombs onto women and children and sending them out to kill as many as possible in the name of the religion’s god. When nearly three thousand people are murdered by nineteen adherents of the religion’s most fundamental tenets by flying airliners into buildings, the majority of Muslims celebrate in their streets. When every head of state and the governments–all of which are driven by Islamist rage—demand genocide to wipe the people of Israel from the map, good, loving Muslims around the world say nothing or agree that the Jews must go because the Koran demands it.
Killing teenage girls for the sake of Allah and a long-dead prophet of Islam because the youngsters want to assimilate into the culture that surrounds them is a growing crime in North America. Yet the news reports are completely silent about the real source of the beastly activity.
Of course, this shouldn’t surprise. Those who write and broadcast the stories are clueless pawns of the “prince of the power of the air.”
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (Ephesians 2:2–3)
Islam is neither a religion of love nor of peace–which are rooted in the same source. God’s Word tells us about His (the REAL God’s) prescription for living in love and peace:
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6–7)
The Antichrist-Muslim Scenario
Just as troubling as the erroneous teaching that the Rapture will take place post-Tribulation is the false premise that the Antichrist will be a Muslim or Islamist. Both predictions stray from the truth in God’s inerrant Word. Such deliberate misdirection brings profound misunderstanding.
During the past months and even years, I, as have my colleagues, received these diatribes—misunderstandings of prophetic truth at best, and willfully misleading false teachings at worst. In my experience, these have mostly come from those who are hostile to the pre-Trib Rapture. The senders or callers want to debate and have even accused me of being a coward for not wanting to engage in verbal or email warfare.
Debate is fruitless, as minds are never changed in such interactions, and my answer to those wanting to debate is that I long ago saw its fruitlessness. I have long since just taught the truth from God’s Word, after much study and prayer. And, admittedly, there have been times such study and prayer have shown me my own erroneous conclusions.
But in the matters of the Rapture and the Antichrist, my spirit is totally at rest.
The Rapture can take place at any moment before the start of Daniel’s seventieth week (the Tribulation). Antichrist will not lead the Islamic hordes into a takeover of the world. Of these facts I am certain beyond any doubt.
We have presented so much information about the Rapture, confirming with proof texts from God’s Word that the great event will be pre-Tribulation, that I won’t go into it here. I simply recommend that readers go to our website, Raptureready.com, to find thousands of references, articles, and documentation of the proof of which I write.
We will look here primarily at the world’s last and most tyrannical despot. And I hope to give a primary reason Antichrist will not be a great Muslim leader who will cause all to worship Satan in anything like the Islamic model or tradition.
To begin, I can certainly understand why some believe Antichrist will be a Muslim. The following excerpts are just the tip of the iceberg in pointing to Islam’s never-ending quest to establish itself as the ruling religion on the earth.
The takeover isn’t coming. It’s here.
In just two decades, Houston has been transformed into the frontline of America’s Illumination. In the early 2000s, the city had about 41 mosques. Today, there are over 200 mosques and Islamic prayer centers — a 400% explosion that has redrawn Houston’s religious and cultural map. (“March of Conquest: Islamic Soldiers Seize Houston’s Streets,” RAIR Foundation, August 18, 2025)
The arrest of Jermaiah Yusuf Sawaqed, a pro-Palestinian jihadist tied to extremist networks, shows how Islam and its leftist allies are no longer confined to campus protests—they’re bringing their war to America’s streets.
Boston, MA—A 25-year-old pro-Palestinian Muslim activist and UMass Dartmouth graduate, Jermaiah Yusuf Sawaqed, has been arrested and charged after a spree of vandalism and the placement of hoax devices resembling IEDs at multiple Boston landmarks, including the Massachusetts State House. The case is raising alarm over escalating radical left-wing and Islamic activism spilling into criminal tactics inside the United States. (“Jihadi Arrested After State House Attack and Hoax Bomb Plot,” RAIR Foundation, August 18, 2025)
Chicago’s streets were hijacked by an Arbaeen procession that wasn’t a parade but a manifesto—a loudspeaker call to jihad, Sharia economics, and the subjugation of non-believers.
On August 10th, downtown Chicago was seized by an Islamic procession — the Arbaeen Juloos. Armies of men marched through our streets waving flags, chanting, and asserting their dominance — not as Americans, but as Muslims…
This is not a cultural parade. It is a political and essentially military show of force, designed to remind the faithful that their duty is resistance, sacrifice, and ultimately, the triumph of Islam. (RAIR Foundation, August 16, 2025)
While the assaults on American soil continue to mount, the Islamic assault on the nations of Western Europe are even more imposing. The Islamist militants have established “no go zones” more aggressive in domination in major European cities than such areas we remember were established in places like Minneapolis/St. Paul during the Obama and Biden administrations.
We read reports daily of Muslim men sexually assaulting women and girls on the streets in Europe and in America as part of their religion—all part of Islam’s contempt for females who don’t conform to the Sharia law demands in dress and comportment.
So, with the tremendous movements across the world to establish the Islamic religion, and, in Europe in particular, there being little resistance, it seems, it is easy for some prophecy pundits to conclude that the evil dictator, Antichrist, will be Muslim.
And the followers of Islam believe a supernatural leader is coming who will be their messiah. The definition of this leader is presented by a Google search.
In Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi is a prophesied figure expected to appear near the end of the world to establish justice and righteousness before the Day of Judgment. While both Sunni and Shia Muslims believe in the Mahdi, their interpretations and beliefs about his identity and role differ significantly.
One sect of Islam believes he will be a powerful dictator who will force all to bow to Allah or die by the sword. The other sect is more of the opinion that the Mahdi will be a peacemaker of sorts rather than a totally cruel tyrant.
Regardless, the fact that Islam predicts—prophesies—such a coming leader gives the “Antichrist will be a Muslim” crowd the fodder they need to put forth their erroneous teaching.
There isn’t room here for a complete presentation of all the reasons Antichrist will come from the area of Rome from which came Titus and his troops that destroyed the Temple and Jerusalem in AD 70. But there is plenty of proof that he will not be Middle Eastern. His being the Assyrian might mean he will have ancestry from that Mideast region, but his geographical origin will be from the western leg of Rome.
There is room in this commentary to express only one very strong proof that Islam will not rule most of the world, as will the one called Antichrist.
Ezekiel the prophet describes the fate of the hordes of the Islamic religion who will join in the Gog-Magog attack against Israel:
And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD. Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 38:18–39)
Islam is destined to be decimated when the Muslims, in their hatred for God’s chosen people and nation, join with the Gog-Magog coalition. God’s promise to Abraham will find its ultimate fulfillment:
I will bless those who bless thee, and I will curse those who curse thee.
Antichrist’s regime will be backed by the ten-member kingdom of Daniel chapter 2 and its tremendous military force. Antichrist will neither need, nor have the backing of, the war-making hordes of Islam. These will be destroyed. Antichrist’s force will doubtless possess all massive nuclear arsenals of the world, plus no telling what other source of destructive military capability at that time. The prophetic word asks: “Who is able to stand against him?”
Of course, God’s Son, Jesus Christ, will be able to stand against him, and Jesus will speak the words that destroy Antichrist with the brightness of His coming at Armageddon. I believe those words will be the same as when He spoke to the raging storm that day on the Sea of Galilee:
Peace…Be still.
Terry James Prophecy Line 