I’ve written elsewhere that I once heard an evangelist back in the mid-’70s preach during a city crusade that he believed the unthinkable would happen in America. It would take place just before the Rapture of the Church.
Prophecy Line
Evil Pressure vs. Heavenly Restraint
The evangelist believed that, just as the debauched society and, by then, totally anti-God governmental agencies would be about to grab Christians around their throats, the Rapture would occur.
A significant puzzlement to me is that so many who are truly born again (John 3:3)don’t seem to concern themselves with the tremendous evil that is building. They don’t seem to even notice that in the freest nation on the planet, the powers and principalities of Ephesians 6:12 are grasping to clutch and strangle believers.
Those who faithfully read articles such as those on Rapture Ready and other such forums exhibit concern for the evil pressures that are building. But God’s people in general–and I’m talking about those who are born again(and only God knows those who are in His family)– show little concern, it seems to me, while the anti-God forces do their nefarious work.
This is attributable in large part to neglect in the pulpits of America. Pastors and Bible teachers would rather not touch prophetic topics–particularly not prophecy yet future. We’ve noted before that they find those biblical areas too frightening to their flocks, too difficult to understand, or just of no importance for these modern times. Besides, such troubling messages might drive down attendance, thus dry up offerings.
And the evil pressures build…
Again, all we have to do is to look at the political scene in the nation. One party has all but publicly committed to abandoning anything to do with the God of the Bible. As a matter of fact, that party is seeking to totally debauch our society and culture. This is obvious, yet the pulpits for the most part remain silent on the fact that this very condition for the end of the Church Age was prophesied. God’s Word, through the Apostle Paul, forewarned and instructed those responsible for overseeing God’s people in the last days:
I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. (2 Timothy 4:1-4)
Evil pressure builds within the church itself. Just a cursory glance at what’s going on in some areas of a growing number of religious bodies that claim to be Christian lays bare the truth of Satan’s assault.
One such organization claiming Christianity as its belief system shows the lateness of this Laodicean hour:
The Vision Church of Atlanta, Georgia, a progressive congregation, has added a psychic medium who claims to commune with the dead to their staff.
Lakara Foster, who holds a doctorate of ministry from the Interdenominational Theological Center, is now a licensed minister at the Vision Church of Atlanta, Rolling Out reported. She is also the creator and star of the YouTube series “The Gift,” which she argues God told her to do. It follows her life as a medium, minister, and spiritual teacher.
“God told me to do the show. Honestly, I was reluctant at first because I felt very vulnerable and thought I would get a lot of pushback and negative feedback being a minister and a medium. I thought people wouldn’t understand but I knew I still had to do it. I knew I had been called to do it. When I asked God, ‘Why this gift? Why not singing?’ God said, ‘I promised my people eternal life. How will my people know that I’ve kept promise if you don’t demonstrate your gift?’” she told Rolling Out. (“Vision Church of Atlanta adds psychic medium to ministerial staff,” By Leonardo Blair, Christian Post reporter , Friday, May 24, 2019)
That the church medium is surprised she has received little to no pushback is itself surprising. The changes taking place within various denominations are becoming a ho-hum part of the quickly evolving reality. It would be a good bet, if a gambler, to wager that most Christians in the pews today would see little to nothing wrong with what this “psychic” said.
Pastors in the pews of Bible-believing churches are silent for the most part, for example. They just don’t want to get involved in these extrabiblical machinations–only they’re not extrabiblical. Read 2 Timothy 4:1-4 above once again. It is the minister’s God-ordained commission to fight against such heresy, especially as the last days of the Church Age manifest.
After considering the evil pressures and actions assaulting this generation, it is true that there is opposite and equal reaction. This comes from God, Himself, it is obvious and provable through watching things going on, particularly within the American political war being waged. To my way of thinking, the fact that this president remains alive–that is, not assassinated because of the hatred cast his way–much less that he continues to work hard for the American people–is nothing short of miraculous. Every evil influence has been brought to bear in trying to destroy Mr. Trump and his family. The mainstream media, the entire entertainment industry, the increasingly reprobate opposition party, America’s top intelligence agency heads, nearly half of the American populace, and even members of his own party who hate him spend 24/7 feverishly trying to remove him from office in whatsoever way possible.
The spiritual war going on is made obvious, too, by the fact that Christian leaders like Franklin Graham, Robert Jeffress, and many others have called for prayer for the president and for the nation. This call is as desperately needed as at any time in human history.
God, alone, is holding back the evil that is assaulting. This is undeniable to the Christian who believes in God’s Word and applies himself or herself to study of the Word.
Why more Christians are comporting themselves as if in a stupor is extremely troubling. Don’t be one of those who refuse to look up from your life’s routine in order to see that Christ’s promised redemption is drawing near (Luke 21: 28). Take part in the Lord’s heavenly restraint through prayer and study, in order to discern the signs that Christ is about to return.
Prayer Wars
Never in American history has there been in presidential politics a time that more fits within the descriptive given in Ephesians 6:12 than the time we are currently experiencing. That spiritual battle describes succinctly, in my opinion, the time that has led up to where America and Planet Earth stand at this moment.
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. “
For decades it has been as if the dark, hellish forces of the ages have been turned loose against this nation, which has been so openly blessed by Heaven. The cultural and social “progress” thought to have been made, according to those who want to detach America from the Judeo-Christian mooring the founding fathers provided, are threatened by a significant challenge. We the people of God just might have decided we don’t wish that progressive agenda to proceed further. Thus, the war is on in a way perhaps unseen in the annals of U.S. presidential elections.
We as God’s people are told how to fight such warfare as that in which we are presently engaged. We are to “put on the whole armor of God” (Ephesians 6:11).
The Bible provides a description of that spiritual armor with which we are supposed to adorn ourselves in order to wage war against this most powerful and wicked enemy force. Once we are fully, spiritually armed, we are told we are to be “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints” (Ephesians 6:18).
How well most Christians these days have fully armored up is in question. The dumbing-down by the godlessness of the secular world and–even more troubling–by the compromising churches of recent times, has taken a heavy toll. However, the one weapon mentioned in the apostle Paul’s spiritual battle preparation of Ephesians chapter 6 is in play during this war for the survival of this once-great republic.
I am believing that the core of the people in this nation who hold to the truth of the Word of God–the Bible– are “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” that the Lord will intervene in this war that is raging. It is a “prayer war” to be sure.
I’m aware of the seminary and other positions that say 2 Chronicles 7: 14 was only for Israel and doesn’t apply to America. But, the God of Heaven does not change. Jesus Christ, who is God, is the same yesterday, today and forever, the Scripture tells us. I am trusting, therefore, that that great promise given to Israel during their direst time of need applies equally to those of this day and time who are “called by His name.”
Although the nucleus of God’s people who hold fast to the Heavenly Father’s precepts and promises might be a dwindling number, we are still here in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. We are engaged in this Prayer War for a restoration of sanity in America’s government, society, and culture.
We are praying specifically that the evil forces that are raging to make this nation into a state totally apart from all godliness will be, at least on an interim basis, kept from their luciferian goal. I say “on an interim basis” because Bible prophecy plainly foretells that the satanic, globalist forces will for a time one day achieve establishment of a one-world order as Antichrist’s platform of power. It will happen. It’s just a matter of time.
Meantime, however, while the Church of Jesus Christ is here, thus the Restrainer (the Holy Spirit) resident within that Body holding back evil, it is right and proper–and I believe expected–that God’s people, called by His name, are to pray the prayer of 2 Chronicles 7:14.
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Millions, I’m convinced, are even at this late hour leading up to the 2020 presidential election praying this prayer to the best of our ability. I believe movements and revelations of corruption within the political processes of late reflect directly the Lord’s attentiveness to the genuine prayers of His spiritually attuned prayer warriors.
If America is again –like in the 2016 presidential election– to be so blessed by a positive answer to those prayers by Heaven’s throne room, I believe it will mean that the battle like that described in Ephesians chapter 6 will, after the election, intensify even more than if God’s answer is otherwise. And, it will, in that case, be this nation’s final dispensation of liberty, if there is not a turning back to God in a major way.
The war of the ages as this Church Age dispensation moves into its final stages will be fought most effectively by God’s people in the prayer closets of America. Let’s be sure to put on the whole armor before engaging in the battles we face.
Slithering Toward Sodom
The late Robert H. Bork saw it coming. His book, Slouching Toward Gomorrah, examined America’s decline in morality and movement into cultural decay. He gave the title to his book in terms reflecting on the poet Yeats’ 1919 poem, ”Slouching Toward Bethlehem.”
The United States was not, in Bork’s view, moving toward salvation of any sort, but toward depravity not unlike that which brought the wrath of the Almighty upon the infamous cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Bork was arguably the most distinguished, conservative legal scholar of his era. He served as a Yale Law School professor, solicitor general, acting attorney general, and a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. President Ronald Reagan nominated him for the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987. Many readers will remember the upheaval created by Senator Edward M. Kennedy and the Democrat Party over the nomination at the time. Bork was ultimately rejected by the Senate.
The proceedings in the “Borking” of the distinguished legal scholar (as Kennedy scoffingly called the travesty he caused against Bork and later Clarence Thomas) was itself indicative of the decline in morality and culture of which Bork forewarned. The salacious accusations–none of which were proven–were but a foretaste of what we’ve since seen take place against another innocent person, President Donald J. Trump.
That we have surpassed the good judge’s prediction that the nation was slouching toward Gomorrah could not, in my estimation, be clearer. The title of this commentary is, therefore, altogether fitting and appropriate, I think.
An emailer a week or two ago set me to thinking seriously on just how far down that slimy slide into the immorality America has moved. The emailer was reporting firsthand what went on in the very streets in front of her shop.
Here is a considerable portion of her report. My thanks to her for permitting me to share it with you.
This past weekend our city put on what they referred to as an arts festival. When I opened the blind on my shop I thought of that old television show, The Twilight Zone, only married to The Walking Dead.
An old friend, who is a police officer, actually kind of sheltered in place in my store for most of the day. He is not a believer but he is very distressed at what he sees and told me of the masses of police officers that are retiring early or committing suicide.
No matter the age, biological sex, race or nationality, full-on weirdness was the order of the day. Two “married” women carrying a small child walking a large dog wearing a huge purple tutu, men holding hands, women with half their heads shaved and the rest dyed in every color you could imagine.
They made a point of making direct and pretty hostile eye contact, almost like a dare.
I told my dad that I thought the aggressiveness of this “pride” movement reminded me of the people of Sodom, hanging around the town square and trying to push into Lot’s home. I see a parallel in behaviors. Homosexuals have been with us for a long time, but, it’s this new aggressive, in-your-face mob that makes me think time is about up.
I kept my door locked the entire day and closed at 4 pm. I sensed a great deal of hostility…not the America of just over a decade ago, Charlie Brown Christmas, and It’s a Wonderful Life…
We have crossed some threshold and I don’t see us going back. I saw an awful lot of rainbow-colored rosaries, the nearest Catholic church having a homosexual priest. Tarot card readings, magical crystals, and pet consultations with the local witch being another attraction.
The emailer expressed, then, the thought of many who anticipate Titus 2:13:
“I would be so sad if I did not know we are all going AWAY very soon to the most wonderful place anyone can imagine.”
Hourly news reports validate our emailer’s concerns. The movement toward cultures and societies becoming more like that of Sodom and Gomorrah is worldwide–and intensifying in its evil. It is becoming increasingly dangerous, for example, for anyone to oppose that evil.
A majority in Brazil’s Supreme Court has voted in favor of making homophobia and transphobia crimes.
Six out of 11 judges voted to consider discrimination against gays and transgender people equivalent to racism…
“Homophobic crimes are as alarming as physical violence,” Supreme Court Vice-President Luiz Fux said on his vote, citing “epidemic levels of homophobic violence”.
For almost 20 years there have been efforts to make homophobia a crime in Brazil, but legislation on the matter has faced resistance among conservative and religious groups in Congress, the BBC’s Julia Carneiro in Rio reports.
The decision at the Supreme Court means that offences are to be punished under the country’s racism law until Congress approves specific legislation to protect LGBT people, our correspondent adds.
The remaining judges will vote in a session scheduled for 5 June. (“Majority in Brazil’s top court to make homophobia and transphobia crimes, BBC, 24 May, 2019)
It is wrong for any people to be mistreated in any way whatsoever. Those caught up in the LGBT and other such anti-God activities are not to be mistreated, but prayed for and given the gospel light so that they might turn to Jesus Christ. However, Satan is turning up the pressure, it is obvious, to prompt the world of rebels to force the rest of us to condone their depravity as acceptable.
That old serpent is, thereby, indeed causing many to slither with him toward Sodom.
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 17:28-30)
The Twinkling
You and many others who have chosen to read this commentary are likely in agreement. We find ourselves at a time in which the future is indeed murky. The very fact makes it a time of uneasiness–of profound uncertainty.
With so many existential threats (factors portending possible, even probable, future disruption for our lives), many look to the 2020 presidential election with a shadow of oppressiveness clouding their thoughts.
We have watched our American way–our laws and traditions–dismantled. We have watched the process happen with the acquiescence, even the complicity of those with whom we entrusted our vote to stop that degeneration.
More troubling is the almost certainty that if the opposition party to the present president succeeds, the tearing down of America as founded will be put on the fast track. The “promise and change” declared by Barack Obama –issued in January of 2009–would, it is feared, be completed. The global architects will, in that case, have removed what I believe to be the last roadblock from their ambition–to tear down national sovereignties.
America, in the earthly sense, is that roadblock–thus the all-out effort by national and world politicians as well as media–both news and entertainment–to utterly destroy the candidate in opposition to their vision for one-world order.
With most everything else in place for setting up for the Tribulation (Daniel’s seventieth week), including Israel again in the spotlight, hounded by UNESCO in denying Israel’s historical right to the land, we have as of late added some truly profound rumors of war. Russia and President Donald J. Trump have entered into an extremely dangerous era of international intrigue and gamesmanship. Russia, inserting itself into this hemisphere smacks of 1962 and the Cuban missile crisis. not just the Cold War, but a hot war might be forthcoming it is conjectured by some.
Additionally, the Russians have moved, uncontested, into the Middle East. They have naval power and growing ground and air force capabilities in position to defend the Syrian dictator. This American administration has moved to the extent possible to oppose this shift of Russian power into the region that is mentioned in Bible prophecy.
China is becoming an increasing threat through it’s attempted hegemony in the South China Sea and even in the western hemisphere. America has U.S. Air Force assets now in regions that some believe equates to a provocation-of-war-incident waiting to happen. Again, I’m convinced it’s all part of the globalist orchestration being used by Satan himself to bring his own son of perdition to power.
So many who consider all of this sense an incident or action in the immediate future that will explode in uncontrollable ramifications. Yet, nothing, no matter the circumstances, has to this point happened to initiate the long-anticipated catastrophe.
The Russians are seemingly trying to instigate direct confrontation with American aircraft. China is trying to provoke, seemingly, a confrontation in the South China Sea. Iran is, through proxies, trying to influence the Middle East enemies of Israel into provoking hostilities against the Jewish state. The economic bubble of insanity continues to build to the bursting point. And, we have a presidential election in 18 months that some believe will bring on an even greater national schizophrenia and possible civil war, no matter who wins.
My great friend, the late Jack Kinsella, had tremendous insight, as many reading this column know. He left us some God-engendered thoughts for just this time in which we find ourselves. He wrote the following in one of his Omega Letter commentaries.
“We live in the most terrifying time of uncertainty in human history–the wrong move by the wrong guy could set off a chain of events that could potentially exterminate the human race. We have but a short time to spread the message of salvation, and it doesn’t help if we are paralyzed by fear.
The Lord knew the conditions that would exist just before His return. Which is why Paul ends his explanation of the Rapture with this exhortation:
“Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1st Thessalonians 4:16-18)
Jack had just written a fabulous piece on the Rapture. The “comfort” of which Paul assured us was all about that twinkling of an eye moment that Jack and I–and, I hope you–believe is about to occur based upon all of these things that have begun to come to pass (Luke 21:28).
Prayer Request for President Trump and our Nation
We agree with Franklin Graham in his fervent request for protection of the president and the nation. We ask those in our Prophecy Line family to please pray as Rev. Graham requests.
Here is Franklin Graham’s request.
Dear Friend,
Along with 250+ Christian leaders, I am asking followers of Christ across our nation to set aside next Sunday, June 2, as a special day of prayer for the President, Donald J. Trump.
President Trump’s enemies continue to try everything to destroy him, his family, and the presidency. In the history of our country, no president has been attacked as he has. I believe the only hope for him, and this nation, is God.
This is a critical time for America. We’re on the edge of a precipice. Time is short. We need to pray for God to intervene. We need to ask God to protect, strengthen, encourage, and guide the President.
We know that God hears and answers prayer. He can soften hearts and change minds. He is all-powerful, and He rules over the affairs of nations. The Bible instructs us to pray for those in authority, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior” (1 Timothy 2:2–3, NKJV).
On June 2, we ask that pastors would lead their congregations in praying for the President, that Sunday schools and other groups would join together and pray, and that individuals and families across the country would have a special focus on praying for the President that day.
Would you please join us in prayer and tell others so that we can have as many people as possible praying?
Sincerely,
Franklin Graham
The Snare Is Set
Hal Lindsey, of The Late, Great, Planet Earth fame, called it “the great snatching up.” The mental picture is of one of those old Jungle Jim films starring Johnny Weissmuller in his post-Tarzan days.
A leopard or other big cat would be stalking through a thick jungle and suddenly it would be violently snatched up when it hit a certain trip mechanism on the snare. A thick net would grab the beast and it would spring upward with the enraged cat, keeping it encased while it flailed mightily above the jungle floor. Jungle Jim would then have captured a leopard for a zoo or he would have rid the area of a man-eater. It was all very exciting for a boy of ten or so sitting in an air-conditioned movie theater munching popcorn back in those days.
Before those beasts could be caught up, of course, much preparation was made by the one doing the capture. Jungle Jim would usually order natives of the area to carefully place the net flat in a jungle pathway, then camouflage it. The sapling or thick branch was then bent to provide the tremendous spring the trap would need to capture and hold a 150-pound or larger leopard. With the big cat captured, the people left on the ground would be safe from its prowling about and possibly its attacking the most vulnerable inhabitants of the African countryside.
Hal Lindsey, of course, was talking about “the great snatching up”in reverse, so to speak. He, in his biblically prophetic study of times surrounding his writing The Late, Great, Planet Earth, was talking about the prophecy given by Jesus as recorded by the Apostle Luke:
And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. (Luke 21:34-36)
In this case, as laid out by the Lord, Himself, the viciousness of the beast world will be left on the earth, and the people to be protected will be snatched into the air to safety. Peter the apostle says this about the one who is even now on the ground that surrounds us, looking to attack us: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
The Apostle Paul tells us in great detail about this “snatching up.” Here is the prophecy most directly pertinent:
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)
Harpazo, as many know, is the Greek word to express being “caught up.” People who live to experience the Rapture and Christians who have died during the Church Age (Age of Grace) will be “caught up” or “snatched up.” It will happen in the “twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians15:52).
This instantaneous event that removes God’s people from deadly conditions on earth, unlike ol’ Jungle Jim’s snare that leaves people safe on the ground from the leopard while removing the evil, takes no preparation by any human agency. Jesus finished all preparation on the cross at Calvary when He said, “It is finished.”
All one must do to be removed in that twinkling-of-an-eye moment is to believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ according to Romans 10:9-10. While no preparation needs be made beyond simply accepting that call to salvation, the snare is set that will soon leave the world of rebels against God to face the roaring lion described by Peter.
We have, in these commentaries over the years, gone over in depth all of the signals Jesus and the prophets foretold will be in view at the time of this snare-like intervention into the affairs of rebellious earth dwellers. Those indicators are literally everywhere we look upon the planet’s end-times horizon. The spiritually attuned believer can know when that end-times generation will appear at the very end of the age.
Israel, the fig tree in prophetic symbolism, is the key sign.
Again, we look at Scripture to see that the snare is now set that will catapult Christians to Heaven.
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. (Luke 21: 25-36)
Satan’s High Anxiety
Lucifer, the ultimate rebel against everything godly, is perhaps the most brilliant being produced from the holy mind of the Creator. This proud creature wanted and continues to want to supplant the one who created him. He has been about that iniquitous, self-appointed mission since the thought came into his thinking (Isaiah 14:14).
Satan, as he is now called by God, knows Bible prophecy. He believes Bible prophecy–all except the part where it says that he loses in the end.
The devil, as the Bible also refers to him, knows that God cannot lie, that the Creator of all things knows every intimate detail of everything from eternity past into eternity future.
God has said that Satan loses at the end of human history. Yet the ultimate rebel believes he will still come out victorious over the omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent God of Heaven.
Lucifer the fallen one–who was instrumental in man’s downfall in Eden–is the being that serves as best example of possessing the reprobate mind as outlined by the apostle Paul:
“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” (Romans 1:28-32)
God’s Word calls Satan the father of lies. The Bible says of unbelievers that they are of their father, the devil. Those who continue to refuse God’s way–belief in Jesus Christ–ultimately suffer from the same insanity their spiritual father suffers–a reprobate mind.
This is a spiritual insanity that cannot discern truth. It is upside-down thinking in which the world as a whole is immersed. This is the reason we are witnessing the insanity in most every area of human endeavor at present. The affliction will one day soon bring all of humanity to the point of annihilation. Only Jesus Christ, Himself, will be able to save humankind (Matthew 24:22).
So Satan, obviously insane, though brilliant in his madness, continues on a course he believes will wrest control of planet earth from God Almighty. He knows and believes Bible prophecy, thus–I surmise–uses Bible prophecy to plot his overthrow of God’s Kingdom.
He doesn’t know, however, the intimate details of how Bible prophecy will play out. He didn’t know, for example, that murdering God’s Son on the cross would result in Christ’s resurrection three days later and that this would be the formula to redeem mankind. Satan played into the Lord’s holy, perfect plan that provides salvation for lost men, women, and children.
The devil, I believe with all that is within me, knows there will come upon earth the final earthly dictator and a one-world-order regime. He has, I think history shows, had a man ready to assume that role of earth’s last and most terrible tyrant on a number of occasions throughout history.
Lucifer the fallen has been working increasingly harder with each succeeding era, with each succeeding generation, to bring about that Antichrist regime outlined in Revelation chapter 13. As we have covered in these commentaries, as have many others in their various forums, the devil has worked tirelessly to bring all nations into configuration ripe for his pawns–the supernatural and the geopolitical human minions–to institute the new world order.
America, as I have tried to point out, is, I believe, the primary national entity that is blocking the rest of the world from falling into line with the satanic blueprint for global order. National sovereignty–national borders–must be erased to accommodate a neo-Babel structure.
Satan cannot foresee the future, but can only try to anticipate with now-perverted supernatural intelligence. He knows–as do we who look at world events and developments through God’s lens of Bible prophecy–that everything seems just right for removing America as that roadblock. The 2020 presidential election presents a clear-cut demarcation between maintaining America’s founding as a sovereign, God-inspired, republic, and bringing the U.S. into the neo-Babel configuration the globalist elites are determined to inflict.
That seems to me the reason we are witnessing an astounding attack upon the president, who wants to maintain the nation’s constitutional integrity as founded. The assaults, as anyone with any honesty at all will admit, constitute unbelievable rage from every possible quarter. They are absolutely satanic in their ferocity.
Satan knows everything is set up for his big opportunity to at last bring in his kingdom–the kingdom of Antichrist. But, he is full of uncertainty that this is the time Bible prophecy has given for the development of that end-times kingdom given by Daniel the prophet and John the Revelator.
The wicked one is full of anxiety about this election–thus the over-the-top rage as we near the day for voting in this presidential election. He doesn’t want to take any chances. His minions are in full attack mode.
Most who want a return to sanity in our beloved nation are anxious, of course. But, our nervousness don’t compare to the obvious anxiety Satan and his forces are projecting.
The Lord has each of us who are called by His name here, at this volatile yet fascinating time, for His own good purposes. He will finish the work He has started in us, we are promised in His Word.
We as God’s people don’t have to be overly concerned. We are in the mighty hand of the One who knows the outcome of this election, of America’s fate, and of our glorious destiny in Jesus Christ.
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7)
The Rapture Fact or Fiction? By Dr. David R. Reagan – Book Review by Terry James
I guess I’m name-dropping. Dr. David Reagan, host of the Christ In Prophecy TV program, is a personal friend of mine, as well as a much-admired colleague. However, I need infuse no such friendship or admiration to express with powerful praise what I have to say about this book. It is simply close to if not the very best book I have read on the Rapture.
It is simply the best, because it is presented so simply.
Let me explain.
The topic of the Rapture is presently under extreme persecution, if I may use that term to express the assaults being made on a biblical doctrine. I and others who teach the pre-Trib Rapture are frequently inundated with invective that accuse us of leading people to fail to recognize the Antichrist when he comes on the scene.
Our antagonists use every scriptural gymnastic move imaginable to try to obscure the fact that the Bible plainly teaches the pre-Tribulation call to the Church by Jesus Christ. The eschatological waters are sometimes so muddied that the individual searching truth on the matters involved can’t see beyond the muck.
This is why I say Dr. Reagan’s book is simply the best because it is presented so simply—i.e., the writer’s style and language in describing this most glorious event in the Christian’s future seems to indicate that he has at his authorial, cerebral fingertips some sort of purification filter. His presentation makes sparklingly pure the scriptural, spiritual water. The doctrine of Rapture thus is made crystal clear for the reader.
There is no fluff in Reagan’s book—just a marvelously plain explanation of all one ever needs to know about that “twinkling of an eye” moment.
The author says the following in explaining his purpose in writing the book:
I have tried to prove that the Rapture is an imminent event—one that could occur any moment without any warning—whereas the Second Coming is an event that will be preceded by many signs.
I have tried to demonstrate that although the Rapture is a phase of the Lord’s return, it is an event that is definitely separate and apart from the Second Coming.
I have also tried to show that the Rapture will occur before the pouring out of God’s wrath in the Tribulation because God has promised to deliver the Church from His wrath.
I must interrupt him at this point to say: “No, Dr. Reagan, you haven’t just ‘tried’ to do these things with this book. You Have ‘done’ it!”
The author goes on to make the most important points about what the doctrine of Rapture means to the life of a believer:
The promise of the Rapture not only provides blessings we can look forward to in the future, it also provides some very real blessings in the present.
This is a point I emphasize over and over to pastors who see no relevance of Bible prophecy to the here and now. Instead, they tend to view it as just pie-in-the-sky promises related to the distant future.
Our churches are filled with people who believe in the Second Coming intellectually, but not with their hearts, and therefore, their belief has no impact on the way they live. It is only when you convict Christians in their hearts of two prophetic truths that you will transform the way they live:
That Jesus really is going to return.
That this event could occur at any moment.
These life-transforming convictions can only come from a belief in a Pre-Trib Rapture because it motivates people to live with a sense of imminence, expectancy and urgency. Or, to put it another way, it promotes living with an eternal perspective.
This brief volume is so power packed and wrapped in such easy-to-read presentation that it gives one the immediate sense of comfort found in Paul’s inspired words: “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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:17–18).
The Rapture: Fact or Fiction?
Author: Dr. David Reagan
Price: $15
To Purchase at Lion & Lamb Bookstore
https://bibleprophecyresources.com/shop/the-rapture-fact-or-fiction/
Or call: 972-739-3567
Discernment All-Important
This world has gone crazy–completely nuts!
How many times lately have you thought or said that, or heard someone else make such an observation? I, myself, make it on an almost daily basis these days. I discern that these are the most out-of-control times I’ve observed in 76 years of life. I really mean that. There are things happening today within this nation the likes of which I’ve never witnessed.
- Things like a former pediatrician, now governor of a state, approving and even pushing that babies scheduled for abortion be legally murdered if they survive the procedure and are born.
- Things like men marrying men and women marrying women, with approval and even smiles of elation by many in the nation.
- Things like grown men being allowed to use public toilet facilities at the same time little girls and women are using the same facilities–all because the man supposedly is conflicted about his gender.
- Things like an 18-year-old young man with his underage transgender friend who is trying to turn into being a male shooting up a public elementary school because he hates Christians and President Trump.
- Things like the mainstream media that totally ignores this hate-filled act against Christians, yet engages in 24/7 coverage if such murderous hate is directed at Muslims.
- Things like sanctuary cities giving every amenity through tax dollars to illegal aliens, even those who murder citizens of those cities.
- Things like people, because of political ideology, who are so-called comedians or entertainers being allowed to talk about wanting to assassinate a president and not being arrested.
- Things like drug users and others being allowed to defecate and urinate on public streets in San Francisco and strew used drug needles in children’s playgrounds, all the while receiving protection from those cities’ governments that allow them to do so.
- Things like allowing a few Millennials who think America is the cause of all the world’s problems, because they have been taught this insanity through a now-perverted educational system, to change a major political party from one merely liberal to completely reprobate and anti-God.
- Things like a congressional committee chairman who hates the president demanding that the attorney general of the United States break the law and give him information that the law forbids him receiving–else holding the AG in contempt of Congress.
- Things like the Democrat speaker of the house being at the head of the party who has broken constitutional law at every juncture as part of the Trump Derangement Syndrome and yet accusing the president as being one who acts contrary to the Constitution of the United States.
- Things like the entire mainstream media, both news and entertainment, being totally against a president based only on the fact that he beat the candidate they wanted to be president.
- Things like that same media, the Democrat Party and even a number of those who claim to be part of the president’s party so hating him that they supported, and continue to do so, outright lies and a vile, fake dossier they themselves cooked up to try to ruin his presidency.
- Things like the top echelon of America’s FBI, CIA, and others of the intelligence services going along and even being complicit in these efforts to try a coup against a president who has inarguably lifted the nation economically, militarily, and, I’m of the opinion, in other ways.
- Things like those who mention the name of Jesus Christ and the need for the lost of the world to receive the grace of His redemptive act on the cross being called “haters”–and even being prosecuted for hate speech.
- Things like the tiny nation of Israel being assaulted by enemies all around, yet world opinion blaming the Jewish state for the hatred against it.
- Things like today’s rise of anti-Semitism, with the Holocaust and the anti-Semitism that spawned the Nazi regime not far back in the world’s collective memory.
I’m sure you can think of even more egregious examples of the madness of this strange age.
All of this is to make the point that we are at a time where those who name the name of Christ should strive to appropriate discernment as never before. This generation is observably bumping up against the very end of the Age of Grace–the Church Age.
Jesus said the following to the Judaizers–the Pharisees and Sadducees who mocked Him and asked for “a sign” that He was the Messiah even though Jesus had performed and was even then performing miracles and wonders prophesied by Israel’s prophets long before Christ’s time on earth.
When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? (Matthew 16:2-3)
All Christians have within themselves the ability to discern the signals of Christ’s soon bringing an end to this world system. This is a gift from the Creator to those who love Him. It is a distinguishing mark that separates the believer from the nonbeliever. Again, Paul wrote under inspiration of the Holy Spirit who indwells each and every believer.
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).
This is why Bible prophecy–eschatology, the study of end things–is so important. God has provided a road map of generally what to look for as we travel the course toward the end of the age. The Christian–the spiritually-attuned believer–can discern these weird, troubling times unfolding around us.
It is with this preface that I herein announce my next book. The title will be Discerners: Analyzing Converging Prophetic Signs for the End of Days.
We are working hard to produce this volume. It will be what I believe–based upon the brilliantly written chapters by the authors I’ve read so far–a book that has been given us by the Lord to present at this crucial time. I’m greatly inspired by what the sixteen authors–some of the best known writers, broadcasters, teachers, and ministers–have to say about discerning these times in which we are privileged to live.
We hope to have the book ready by July and will keep you informed. We will ask for as many preorders as possible. We want to get this book into the hands of many, many pastors and teachers as well as into the hands of each of you who want to be discerners like the Lord Jesus Himself obviously exhorts us to be.
The Times of the Signs – Part One – By Ed Wood
The phrase, “Signs of the Times,” is no doubt familiar to anyone who visits this blog, but can we turn this round and use the sequence of them to give us a clue as to how far along we are on the prophetic timeline? Using the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, Luke 21), let’s do a “status check” on the signs Jesus told us would be coming to the world after his Ascension.
Fulfilled
TEMPLE DESTROYED
This sign was completed within forty years of Jesus’ prediction when the Roman General Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in A.D. 70. Though Jerusalem exists once again and is under Israeli jurisdiction, the Temple Mount is under control of the Muslim Waqf and the site is presently occupied by the Dome of the Rock and the Al – Aqsa Mosque.
In Progress
FALSE PROPHETS
It’s important to bear in mind that “prophecy” is not limited to the disclosing of future events, but anything presented as being messages from God. Naturally, there are those who have taken it upon themselves to pass along lies in God’s name. They’ve been around a long time. The passage below from the Old Testament provides the way to recognize a false prophet :
Deuteronomy {13:1-3} If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
In Jesus’ time we have:
Matthew {7:15-20} Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither [can] a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. (Jesus is the speaker).
Many of the Epistles were written to combat false doctrine presented by lying prophets as well:
1 Timothy {4:1} Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.
1 John {2:18-19, 2:22-23} Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would [no doubt] have continued with us: but [they went out,] that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. . . . Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
That this kind of activity is increasing and is evident in the falling away of what comprises much of “organized religion” today. Much of Protestantism in the Western World has denied Jesus (sometimes, even his gender!) as the only means of salvation. Many have accepted homosexual lifestyles, even among their clergy which the Bible clearly opposes. These false teachings are nothing less than the “doctrines of devils” being promoted by lying prophets.
The worst of these deceivers appears at the end of the age during the Tribulation, namely the Antichrist and his henchman, the False Prophet:
Revelation {13:11-12} And I beheld another beast* coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast** before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. *The False Prophet (Revelation 19:20); **the Antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4; Revelation 13:2)
Multiple Signs – One Verse
Matthew {24:7} For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
WAR
The Twentieth Century was the deadliest in terms of casualties due to warfare, the First and Second World Wars alone accounting for millions. Along with these, there were more major military conflicts in that century than any which preceded it and the warlike tendencies of this past century appear not to have abated in the Twenty-First.
Indeed, it will be a war of an unprecedented scale that if allowed to continue would very likely be the end of the human race entirely, were it not for the direct intervention of Jesus himself (Revelation 16:12-14; 19:11-21).
FAMINE
This is unmistakably increasing, especially in Third World countries as the result in overpopulation accompanied by a deterioration in the ability of the land itself to produce food. Part of the reason can be attributed to yet another sign, that of natural disasters, which we will shortly see. Even in the industrialized countries such as the U.S., though there are not the extremes of hunger of the magnitude we see in other parts of the world, a significant percentage of their populations go to bed hungry every day.
PESTILENCE
Disease is increasing across the world and there are many reasons. In no particular order, here are the main reasons, in my opinion. Poverty is getting worse world-wide which deprives people of healthy living conditions ans access to medical care. Pathogens are adapting and becoming resistant to pharmaceuticals that formerly were effective. The relative ease, speed, and modest cost of travel and transport has provided an accelerated mechanism for the transmission of diseases quicker and over wider areas than ever before.
EARTHQUAKES AND NATURAL DISASTERS
United States Geological Survey data clearly indicates that seismic activity has ramped up considerably since the turn of the century for reasons that are not understood. Accompanying these, hardly a day goes by when extreme weather stories do not appear in the news. This year (2019), vast areas of the United States alone have hit with major flooding and unusually powerful spring snowstorms. Formerly record breaking meteorological events have now become commonplace.
The Human Condition in the Last Days
PEOPLE GET WORSE
Look at how people are acting of the opening decades of this century and see if it squares up with what the Bible predicts. Ask yourself: Do these nearly 2000 year-old passages sound very familiar in our own time?
Matthew {24:12} And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. (Jesus is the speaker.)
2 Timothy {3:1-4} This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.
Let’s face it, unless you’ve been marooned on a desert island for the past half a century, you know that the answer is a definite “Yes!” It seems like every day we are encountering blatant examples of all of the above. The behavior ranges for the more subtle instances of people just looking for pleasure above all else to the extremes of sociopaths committing crimes on a frequency and magnitude hitherto unprecedented. It’s becoming increasingly easier to believe that the inmates are in firm control of the asylum.
CHRISTIANS PERSECUTED
Matthew {24:9-10} Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. (Jesus is the speaker.)
Jesus was the first to die for the truth that he was not only the Son of God, but God himself and he made it clear that those who also believed this would likewise subject to persecution – up to, and including death. Of all his original apostles, except for Judas Iscariot who betrayed him and subsequently committed suicide, only John died of natural causes at an advanced age.
In the intervening centuries, history records the many accounts of those persecuted even up to the point of death for their Christian beliefs. There are probably even more whose did so whose names are known to God alone. The persecution continues today, notable in atheistic and Muslim societies where proclaiming that one is a Christian will subject a person to prison or death.
It is certainly not limited to these extremes because even in a free nation like the United States, those who believe in Jesus are increasingly subject to discrimination. For example, in our public schools, Jesus and God have been effectively banned by the Supreme Court since 1963. That this obvious infringement on our First Amendment rights and freedoms has been allowed to stand for 56 years is, to me, even more distressing that this unjust ruling itself. Perhaps what it reveals is that in the United States, God’s opponents are more dedicated to their cause than those who call themselves followers of Christ.
Perhaps even more telling is that those who believe in the Jesus of Scripture often find themselves unwelcome in the congregations of most of the liberal denominations of the church today. It seems these organizations have an open mind toward just about everything except those things revealed as truth in the Bible and the people who maintain that Scripture alone is the ultimate authority.
GOSPEL PREACHED WORLDWIDE
Matthew {24:14} And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Jesus is the speaker.)
With the invention of the Gutenberg printing press in the Fifteenth Century, the age began in which printed material could be mass-produced, ultimately making it affordable by the general public. (Interestingly, the Bible was the most notable product of his press.) From that beginning, the Bible remains the best-selling book in the world.
No longer limited to only a physical document, the Bible is now freely available in a multitude of languages on the Internet, accessible anywhere on the planet where one has a laptop, power supply, and a satellite link. We presently see Jesus’ words on this subject fulfilled on a level surpassing any other time in history. Yet, the dissemination of the Bible will go beyond technology into the supernatural during the Tribulation:
Revelation {14:6-7} And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
It seems that in our present time and the turbulent years of the Tribulation, God is still giving people the chance to make the choice of whether to accept or reject him. It certainly makes a defense of ignorance a lot less tenable, doesn’t it?
FAMILIES IN STRIFE
Mark {13:12} Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against [their] parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.
In totalitarian societies, the situation was (and remains) grim. For example, the betrayal of a family member to the Gestapo in Hitler’s Germany was considered the duty of a loyal citizen. This outrageous sort of practice continued in Soviet Russia and no doubt has been replicated in many authoritarian regimes past and present. There continue to be beheadings by those who have converted from Islam to Christianity, some betrayed by family members in fundamentalist Muslim nations where such conversions are considered a capital offense.
Free nations, such as the U.S., are not immune to family problems. Even in the instances where an intact family exists, too often economic necessity requires the income of both mother and father to support the household which leaves the rearing of the children, even in infancy, in the hands of a daycare center. Now this is not in any way meant to malign these dedicated and often underpaid individuals who provide this service, but one must wonder if anyone other than a parent can be as committed to the child’s best interests.
Complicating these matters is the growing number of single-parent families where what should be a shared responsibility is now shouldered by only one person – a situation which is, at best, a lot tougher economically and emotionally on both parent and child.
Finally, in a direct threat to the traditional family, as I see it, is the legalization of “gay” marriage and allowing same-sex couples to adopt children, thus exposing them to a lifestyle which not only the Bible declares as objectively wrong, but, up until very recent times, so has secular society. As to where this will lead in the years ahead, one can only guess. My personal guess is that it will not lead to anything good.
Conclusion
Of all the signs given here, one has been fulfilled, the others are already in progress. Now where do we stand in the prophetic timeline at this point? I believe we’ve arrived at the point where NO additional prophecies, except the Rapture, need to be fulfilled before the Tribulation period begins. The signs that remain will only come to pass until the last seven years of this age have begun. We’ll look at them in the second part of this article. Now, more than ever, let’s remember the words Jesus told his disciples concerning the Last Days:
“And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” Mark 13:37
Terry James Prophecy Line 