This week’s column is intended to build upon last week’s regarding what the violence and great unrest are about and where they’re leading prophetically.

One prophetic component of what will comprise the denouement of this Age of Grace (Church Age) has vaulted to top of the stage-setting platform. This ingredient has, I believe, put end-times prophecy into overdrive while we watch things unfold through today’s hourly news cycles.

This component is spelled out unequivocally in God’s Word as at the root of evil in this sin-infected world, fallen since humanity’s rebellion in Eden.

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:10)

It would be easy to conclude a probe into this root cause of all the world’s evil by simply pointing to the billions of dollars of fraud found by Elon Musk’s DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency). The tremendous fraud is still being uncovered daily after a year of the Trump administration coming to power.

Or an even greater proof that could be concluded is to offer the many billions of dollars of which the American taxpayers have been defrauded by Somalia operatives in Minnesota. But as profoundly evil as this larceny is, it’s only the tip of the enormous, evil iceberg that has grown to now threaten, in Titanic-like fashion, to sink the entire world in an economy-crushing cataclysm.

That iceberg of evil that’s grown exponentially harbors within its crushing power the love of money that God’s Word says is the “root of all evil.” Let’s examine this more deeply to understand its growth and orchestration by the being who, for now, owns the wealth of this God-rejecting world.

The destruction of humankind has, from some point near the beginning of Lucifer’s rebellion in Heaven, been Satan’s goal. That destructive effort has ramped up quickly and powerfully, as the news testifies.

Tyrants and dictators have long kept the victims within their despotic grips to suppress freedom that might replace their evil regimes. They control all commerce ruthlessly—creating, in effect, slave labor—while providing scant substance of money and foodstuffs. This has always been the case with evil leadership. Their power indeed comes from the barrels of guns–or from other murderous weaponry of dealing death to those who resist.

These who hold their victims in their grip of absolute control harbor the love of money at the center of their black, sin-saturated hearts. Money is what ensures that they will stay in power so they can enjoy the lives of billionaires. Money purchases the weapons they can use to suppress those under their dictatorships. It gives them the means necessary to invade and conquer more and more victims.

And that love of money isn’t exclusively owned by what we most often think of as the enemies of democracy. President Dwight D. Eisenhower once waxed eloquent on this when he warned against the West’s military-industrial complex.

Many of the top echelons within this conglomerate, it has been charged by Eisenhower and others, want to see the wars continue to rage. The fantastic wealth such buildup to wars produce is staggering, if one adds up the cost of all conflicts just within the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

The lives of the youths in the world’s nations have been fed into such conflict for the purpose of not just defending against tyrants, but to create great wealth to provide lavish lifestyles for politicians and corporate titans.

We see all this rolling before our eyes as we watch, for example, things going on involving Iran. The ayatollahs and their regime of Islamic terror are under great pressures from the people who now occupy the area that was Persia of ancient times. These evil leaders are about to loosen their stranglehold on their victims. The rioting and revolutionary fervor stem, in large part, from the people’s anger over economic deprivation. The regime’s dictators, the people know, are making life miserable, and they are rising up to rid themselves of their masters.

While it might seem the uprising is calming somewhat, it will, I believe, grow in swelling waves of discontent.

Exacerbating the ayatollahs’ problems with the current revolution in Iran is the fact that America’s president is promising, in some way not yet clear, to support the people in a way that will be disastrous for the regime.

This president follows through on such promises, so the regime’s leadership is in collective panic. For example, the leadership abruptly cancelled the execution of eighteen anti-regime protestors when President Trump said any executions would mean American action directly against those who ordered the executions.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, top leader and commander of the military, has reportedly made plans to go into exile–perhaps to Moscow—if America looks to be truly on the brink of regime change.

I don’t think this will be the case. These ayatollah types are satanically bound to the most radical and virulent form of Islam, and Khamenei is 87, so the regime might be ready to die on that hill, as is sometimes said for those who won’t change or quit.

But getting back to this article’s title, it is money that is at the root of what I sense is going on now in this regard. And it is profoundly prophetic, if it’s the way this might all be shaping up for one of the most notable of all Bible prophecies.

The people of Iran are revolting vehemently due to their destitution, driven to action by the regime creating that dire economic condition. And with sanctions in place that this American president has set against the Iranian dictatorship, they haven’t any way of satisfying the reason for the peoples’ revolt.

They must therefore do what every government, especially those under the tyrannical leaderships, usually do: create diversion—or, in this case, join a coalition that is strong so as to prevent their own loss of power.

It is fascinating to note that another nation of prophetic interest is in terrible economic shape, also. And, as stated before, it’s obvious to me that one reason Vladimir Putin of Russia is so adamant about taking back Ukraine because his own people must realize they’re being deprived and tremendous internal revolt is developing.

A much-appreciated reader wrote to say there are no such hard economic times in Russia–at least not to the extent the sources I’m hearing from are reporting. However, despite Russia’s economic condition one way or the other, with the American president, for example, cutting off Russia’s oil from Venezuela and other harsh monetary impositions such as sanctions, the Russian plight is destined to worsen.

Ukraine offers that diversion mentioned above, keeping the attention focused on the war. But the tremendous numbers of Russia’s youth lost in the war, and now even older people, are adding to the increasing displeasure among the people of Russia. At the same time, there is great need to get vast sums of money to keep their economic base out of the pit of destitution.

I wonder again if the “evil thought” that comes into the mind of the one called Gog will have the love of or the desperate need for money at the root of the decision to invade toward Israel to “take great spoil” (Israel’s riches).

The same question applies to Iran (Persia). Might the leadership see that their way to survive is to join that coalition with Russia and the others to gain strength back as they pursue riches to the south?

While the Tribulation grows nearer on the prophetic horizon, things seem to be shaping up quickly, with many of the developments wrapped around economic exigencies. And that shaping up includes the US, as we’ve looked at numerous times before.

While the tyrannical nations to the east are in declining economic conditions, I believe there’s about to be an economic boom in America. This is a reason, I believe, that Donald Trump was allowed in office again despite even assassination attempts against his life and every sort of unsavory political and personal attack imaginable.

Despite the declarations of some prophecy writers—those who deny there will be the pre-Trib Rapture and who think we are on the precipice of economic collapse, thus about to go directly into the Tribulation—the facts are coming out to the contrary. A just-released indicator of the up-trending fiscal outlook is highly relevant.

The U.S. trade deficit has been reduced to $29.4 billion, after last being reported at $48.1 billion. The forecasted deficit had been $58.1 billion, Investing.com reported. The deficit dropped by $18.7 billion, and was $28.7 billion less than the predicted figure. The deficit is the lowest since 2009. (“US Trade Deficit Shrinks to $29.4 Billion, Lowest Since 2009,” https://amac.us/newsline/economy/us-trade-deficit-shrinks-to-29-4-billion-lowest-since-2009/)

Some financial authorities/experts believe an economic boom is thus beginning. This fits with our Lord’s Luke 17:28–30 “days of Lot” prophecy. It’s just a time like this—when building, buying, selling, and other economics are on the uptick—when He will call the Church into the clouds of Glory, according to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

So, after here looking a bit into the root of evil, let us rather, with great anticipation, begin looking up for our redemption, which is drawing near (Luke 21:28)!

Most observers of Bible prophecy and developments toward eventual fulfillment—from the pre-Trib perspective—believe a motivation for the Gog-Magog attack of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 will involve economics. It seems, as a matter of fact, that perhaps the primary motivation will be monetary.

The scriptural basis for this presumption derives from the following:

Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land. (Ezekiel 38:9–12)

Of course, the real motivation, the impetus for this future attack, comes from Satan. He wants the Jewish nation Israel destroyed. If he can cause God’s promise—for Israel to be a nation forever—to fail, he doubtless believes he can avoid his own promised punishment, which is to burn throughout eternity in the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

The “evil thought” in this Ezekiel prophecy, though, will have at its root in the mind of the Gog spirit indwelling the leader of this satanic coalition the dark idea of stealing all the riches Israel is blessed with.

This motivation, it more and more appears, will be not only from just the desire to take Israel’s riches, but also from the determination to turn around all the coalition members’ (Gog-Magog nations’) abject, dismal economic conditions.

And this monetary-fiscal failure is ever more evident within the economic conditions of these major players that will lead the Gog-Magog assault, according to today’s news cycles.

Russia is in dire stress economically, and many observers believe this is one reason Vladimir Putin keeps feeding the youth and now even the older soldiers of Russia into the deadly machinery of war in the bloody battles against Ukraine. He must distract from the increasingly horrendous economy and living conditions suffered by the Russian people to preserve his position of power.

This has often been the strategy of the likes of Josef Stalin and subsequent dictators of the Soviet Union and around the world.

But we’re looking here at the Gog-Magog coalition member called “Persia.”

This, of course, is the area now called “Iran.”

Here are some news tidbits about that nation’s dismal fiscal condition:

• Iranians use internet connectivity to fight hated regime: Iran’s latest wave of unrest began with the kind of trigger that regimes fear because it spreads through every class: money. Shopkeepers in Tehran’s large mobile phone market shuttered their stores, and the anger pulled in students and more cities as the rial kept sliding and prices kept climbing. The protests did not reach the scale of the 2022 uprising, yet the tone shifted quickly, and the content online sharpened.

• Why Iranians are calling for the return of the Pahlavis and their monarchy: Protesters took to the streets of Iran this week, amid chants of anger against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and fury over an economy in free fall, a slogan once considered politically unutterable returned, and the sounds of crowds chanting it filled the air. “Javid Shah” – Long Live the Shah.

• Regime Change Here? Protesters Call for the Death of Ayatollah Khamenei Aa Violence Erupts All over Iran:  Is this the end for the tyrannical regime of Ayatollah Khamenei and his minions? During the fifth day of protests in Iran, violence erupted in multiple major cities, and protesters were shouting for Khamenei to be killed. But I wouldn’t get too excited yet. Demanding regime change is easy. Bringing it about is something else altogether. Khamenei and his minions have a lot more guns than the protesters do, and the current regime will never step aside willingly. So those that are desperately hoping for regime change in Iran should not count their chickens before they hatch. (Rapture Ready News, January 2, 2026)

The stories of Iran’s radical Muslim regime coming under assault by the Iranian people continue to mount. And it is reported that the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini has made arrangements to go into exile in Moscow at any moment.

But it is reasonable to wonder if this will happen because of Islam’s absolute dedication to establishing the rule of Allah no matter the opposition. War in the cause of Allah—even to the extent of murdering all people who oppose the Islamic law and rule—is justified, and there is to be no quarter given.

Like in the case of Putin and Russia, the Islamic dictatorship will not be deterred. Anything and everything will be done, if history is an indicator, to forge ahead with satanic-directed hegemony. Therefore, Bible prophecy and its fulfillment could well be in play in light of the dire economic conditions and resultant rage by the Iranian people.

It’s easy to postulate that the wrathful unrest of the people who now occupy the land of ancient Persia will cause Iran’s evil leaders to eagerly join with Russia, Turkey, and the rest of the Gog-Magog force in the assault against God’s chosen nation and people.

The “evil thought” of the one called “Gog” will almost certainly center around deflecting the anger and rage of the millions of people under these regimes’ dictatorships.

We are perhaps witnessing now the buildup toward solidifying that coalition Ezekiel spoke of thousands of years ago.

Money—the love of which, God’s Word tells us, is the root of all sorts of evil—certainly is at the nucleus of much of what’s going on in our world today. Whether considering the hatred surrounding the Israel-Muslim world, the blood-drenched Russia-Ukraine war, or the US action against the drug cartels of oil-rich but citizen-destitute Venezuela, economics are surely a prime motivating factor in the drive toward global dictatorship that will one day be attempted by Antichrist.

In that regard, we can see where President Dwight Eisenhower had it right in his warning against the military-industrial complex. The munitions industry it takes to foment and carry out war continues to create wealth for the producers and the merchants of weaponry.

All this we see developing points to the truth that Christ’s call to the Church is drawing near.

Speaking of motivation: Seeing that glorious moment drawing ever nearer, how motivated should we be to be about our Father’s business in carrying out the Great Commission?

Here again is the heart of that gospel to use in our mission to reach the lost:

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)

Beginning the New Year 2026 and considering all that’s happening that looks to signal the very end of this Age of Grace, sets the stage for wondering just how near we might be to the time when Christ calls His Bride. And, meantime, the question arises: Just what might be next for life in America?

While thinking about my research in writing my Harvest House book released in 2009—The American Apocalypse: Is the United States in Bible Prophecy?—took me back to God’s dealing with America in the 1930s. The things Americans suffered were considered by preachers and politicians alike to be God’s wrath and judgment.

One well-known writer, John Steinbeck, even gave his famous novel on that depressed time in America the title The Grapes of Wrath.

America had gone through a tremendous time of growth and relative prosperity during the “Gay 90s” (for the younger readers, it had nothing to do with the 1990s, nor with homosexuality). It was the 1890s, and the term “gay” still enjoyed its proper definition.

Despite the early 1900s bringing about World War I, the nation leaped forward, and soon the “Roaring Twenties” brought forth the flappers and boisterous, even debauched, “good times.” Reformers tried to squash the hedonism, and the passage of the 18th Amendment instituted prohibition against alcohol manufacture, sale, and transportation. The action only increased rebellion against morality. American gangsters took over, and illegal booze, gambling, and every other type of nefarious activity permeated culture and society.

Then, in 1929 came the stock market crash in the United States, and worldwide depression quickly followed. The wrath of God had fallen!

Or had it?

No, it had not. Neither had His judgment against America’s sin fallen upon the nation, thus affecting the world—not in the sense of God’s great judgment that came upon the antediluvians, the wicked, violent, even genetically corrupted earth dwellers of Noah’s day.

But God’s mighty hand of correction through the Great Depression and the horrendous “Dust Bowl” era came down hard on the backside of this nation He so manifestly chose to accomplish great things for His great purposes. Those things would include, in particular: 1) developing the technologies that would spread the gospel around the entire world, and 2) to act as midwife for the birth of modern Israel on May 14, 1948, and to become that Jewish peoples’ closest ally—an ally that just happened to soon become the most materially blessed, most powerful, and most influential nation the world has ever known.

America has, despite recession, economic downturns, and wars that took thousands of young American lives, known a standard of living and pleasures—both unsullied and debauched—like no generation of any people in history. The profoundly disturbing questions to ponder are: Will God choose to again correct this special nation called America? Or, will He take His hand off to an extent, allowing the US to find its own way, and the people to do what is right in their own eyes, which is what much of the American electorate seems to want?

Daily I read news, even from those who write on things from the Bible prophecy perspective who fear this nation will now feel the Lord’s hand of wrath. These writers usually are those who reject totally the pre-Trib view of Rapture. They hold that the die is cast, as one of Shakespeare’s characters said. I don’t necessarily subscribe to that “judgment and wrath is about to fall” opinion—at least not in the immediate, near-term way many who write the fear-filled articles and books believe.

God’s wrath, however, is building. It will be unleashed when the “prince that shall come” confirms the covenant with Israel and Israel’s antagonists (Daniel 9:26–27).

That pouring out of God’s anger won’t happen until the Church is removed. However, there is almost certainly a heavenly decision that has already been made and is even now in the process of implementation. It is likely the decision to either take corrective measures as in God’s past dealings with America in order to get this nation back on the moral course, to complete its work in His grand prophetic design, or to give rebellious masses what they more and more demonstrate they demand. They demand freedom to choose what is right in their own eyes.

God’s decision to take His hand off to some extent would be far more fearful than His again taking corrective action like world economic depression. To let the rebels do what is right in their own eyes, thus casting God away from any semblance of divine guidance, means America’s work is done. That is indeed a frightening thing to contemplate.

I must say that I, with reverential consideration, don’t expect immediate meltdown and correction from Almighty God. I believe with all that is within me that He has been demonstrating corrective movements over the past years and months—movements that have gone unheeded by even the majority of His people. These have chosen to bury their heads in the sands of watered-down messages that have practically no relevance to God’s message of doctrinal truth. Rather than revival, there have been false, emotional outbursts that have done disservice to the Lord, who purchased each and every one who has been born again. It seems to me that the Church’s work, like that of America, has almost run its course.

Dave Hunt once wrote a book called Peace, Prosperity, and the Coming Holocaust. His basic premise was that this fallen world system—and particularly the United States and even the Church—would be drawn ever deeper into believing in humanistic salvation by seeming peace and prosperity. He demonstrated, then, through historical precedent and Bible prophecy both past and yet to come that the world of fallen man will, at a future time of unprecedented evil activity on earth, endure a holocaust far worse than that perpetrated by Adolf Hitler. The end will bring, he concluded, God’s wrath and judgment on an incorrigibly wicked world.

I believe America and the world might be entering a time of so-called peace and prosperity as Dave foresaw. But it will be abbreviated by Christ’s sudden intervention. The “change” the country and the world is clamoring for through trust in human governmental entities rather than God’s moral governance will, as my late friend Dave Hunt wrote, swiftly bring the holocaust of the Tribulation.

As many know, I believe that Jesus’ prophecy on “the days of Lot” (Luke 17: 28-30) Is exactly where this generation likely stands on God’s prophetic timeline.

It will not be world economic collapse or the end of the American dream, as some declare, that will preempt the “sudden destruction” of Luke 17-30. Jesus said that the economy will be business as usual, while wickedness proliferates just beneath the surface of civility when He next catastrophically intervenes into the world of sin and rebellion.

As a matter of fact, instead of the economic collapse into the Tribulation, as some prophecy writers of the anti-pre-Trib Rapture sort are declaring, I believe we are headed for somewhat of an economic boom.

While, at the moment, the writers of economic collapse are pointing to the rise in prices they believe will bring economic despair at the Tribulation level, the facts are entirely different. The following item points to what is happening under this unusual president named Donald J. Trump.

Well, Donald Trump has done it again!

He stumped the chumps.

The “chumps” in this case were the “blue chip” academic and financial economists whose consensus forecast this time last year was for high inflation and low economic growth. Wrong on both counts.

As you’ve probably heard, the GDP growth for Q3 came in at a red hot 4.3% following 3.5% for the second quarter. Some 90% of the professional economists got it wrong — all underestimating the strength of the Trump economy. QED: these weren’t random errors. These were “hate Trump” errors.

They also predicted inflation of above 3% for 2025. It’s going to come in at closer to 2.7% with the last two months trending down to the Fed inflation target of 2%.

Starting in the second quarter, GDP has been nearly twice as high as predicted.

To quote the inimitable special agent Maxwell Smart: “Missed it by that much.”…

Krugman and others all thought Trump’s tariffs would ignite runaway inflation.

There’s no doubt tariffs did cause a rise in aluminum, coffee and beef prices – commodities that got hit by tariffs as high as 50%. But the economic pundits failed to take account of the disinflationary effect of pro-growth policies like deregulation, Trump tax rate cuts, and pro-America energy policies. These counteracted the impact of tariffs on prices overall.

One would have thought that the academics and media would have learned from their mistakes of always underestimating Trump on the economy. But they seem incapable of self-correcting. They keep doubling-down on dire predictions about Trumponomics. (https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/moore-economists-got-2025-all-wrong)

While prices continue to be too high for consumer affordability because of prior economic mishandling, I believe changes to bring costs down for the consumer are in process.

Do not think that this coming economic uptick is a good thing in terms of the world. Rather, it is a harbinger of the moment when God takes His great hand of restraint off this fallen planet and takes His family into the clouds of Glory!

It signals the any-moment Rapture!

Jesus said the economy will be just like it was in Sodom when Lot was removed. Business in that wicked place was booming—so much so that Lot chose to settle there when his Uncle Abraham gave him a choice.

It also will be like it was in Sodom once God’s family—all born-again believers in His Son Jesus Christ—are removed. Sudden destruction will follow, like in ancient Sodom.

So, like in the case of Lot’s family (the only righteousness God recognized in Sodom), the righteous–all born-again living and dead during the Church Age or Age of Grace will be removed from amongst the unbelieving of this fallen planet. This will be the Rapture—the pre-Trib Rapture!

Let us pray for the president and for all governmental leaders, so that we might lead peaceful lives. This is commanded of us by the Lord. But, let us work to complete whatever He puts in front of us to do for the Kingdom. Let us, as Oswald Chambers entitled his book of devotions, do “Our utmost for His highest” while our fleeting time remains upon this fallen sphere.

*******

Pakistan Ministry Mission Appeal from Terry James

To my Rapture Ready and Prophecyline family: I again solicit your support in spreading God’s Word in Pakistan.

Your generosity in past missionary efforts has just been wonderful beyond measure. I again prayerfully ask that you open your spiritual heart in helping fund the distribution of the books I have given to our pastor in Pakistan to use while he preaches and teaches about our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pastor Anil Jasper translated my little book, Prophecy Power: Strength from God to Face Your Future. He has now also translated into the Urdu language my small book, HeavenVision: Glimpses into Glory.

This is the book in which I describe my widow-maker heart attack on Good Friday of April 22, 2011. In this book, I tell of being somewhere in the heavenly sphere each time my heart stopped. The voluminous documentation of that medical emergency shows why my survival was so unusual that the cardiological association gave me the “Cardiological Patient of the Year” award and asked me to speak at their convention.

Of course, at the heart of my testimony is the salvation message that Jesus alone can save the soul from an eternity apart from God the Father.

The first book Pastor Anil translated, then distributed and continues to distribute to the people of his country, Prophecy Power remains a great witness of Christ’s saving power. HeavenVision will now add a second tool that will help Pastor Anil win souls for God’s eternal family.

I have special permission from my publishers to donate these books to this ministry. I receive no compensation whatsoever from their distribution in Pakistan.

Your donations are essential to carry out this all-important mission. I believe your contributions will result in great heavenly rewards some eternal day when we all come before our Lord at the judgment seat of Christ.

We need funding to print and distribute these books beginning this month.

May the Lord bless you mightily for helping in this mission to the people of Pakistan.

Again, I don’t have a way to accept credit cards or Pay Pal-type contributions. I ask that you send a check to the address below.

Please put in the line at the bottom of your check: “For our Pakistani mission.”

Also, please include your email address so I can thank you individually. Being blind now since I was fifty-one, sending out letters is beyond my ability. But sending emails is easily within my capability, and I certainly want to thank each of you.

Please make the check out to my name–Terry James—and send to:

Terry James Prophecyline

P.O. Box 38

Benton, AR 72018           

Thanks, and God’s Blessings.

Terry 

PS—I am thankful and so pleased to announce that we have received a donation offer that will greatly help in this effort to fund printing and distribution of my books in Pakistan.

A most generous brother in Christ has offered up to $7,500 in matching funds for donations we receive.

In other words, for each donation you send, he will match with an equal amount up to $7,500.

This will greatly bless our effort to provide for the printing and distribution of these two books, each  of which has been translated by Pastor Anil Jasper into his Urdu language.

Thanks to each of you who help reach our goal, which we believe will be sufficient to accomplish this missionary effort in our Lord’s service.

All funds received will be used toward reaching the people of Pakistan with truth from God’s Word.

New Year’s resolutions of every description are no doubt being sworn as 2026 makes its entrance. I’ve never made such commitments over my many decades of life; I guess I’ve always known my weakness in not being able to stick to them.

There is, however, a resolution I hope to make central to this commentary—one I believe you and I must keep while we watch the burgeoning evil of this late prophetic hour.

We can keep this resolution—a heavenly directed one—because the very hand of God is guaranteed to be upon us while we try to keep it. It is Heaven’s answer in dealing with the other matter, “revolution,” in this commentary’s title.

There is a deluge of news counter to God’s design for humanity’s conduct. We look at the incessant evil each week in this column and in other venues, books, etc.

“Revolution” is the antithesis of Heaven’s directive for humankind. The revolution springs from the original rebel who first seduced the mother of us all. It is the result of the venom called “iniquity” introduced when Lucifer, now called Satan, convinced Eden’s only human inhabitants to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Since that time, the deadly disease of sin has coursed through the veins of every person who has ever lived–except for Jesus the Christ, whose birth into this fallen sphere we celebrated a week or so ago.

And He is the One who has given us the antidote to the deadly malady from which all of humankind suffers.

The spirit of indwelling revolution against God within all of us is the cause of the wickedness and rebellion demonstrated across the world at this very moment. That revolutionary hatred is pushing all of humanity ever nearer the time of Tribulation. Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and Resurrection is the antidote to that deadly eternal virus, when the person infected receives that antidote as God’s grace gift to each of us.

To be free of this satanically induced, rebellious revolution that condemns all people to separation from the Heavenly Father forever requires a Savior. Without the Savior that takes away the sins of the world, the human creation would be condemned to eternal destruction.

The returning King of all kings and Lord of all lords Himself said that if He didn’t intervene at Armageddon, no flesh would be saved. Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world who takes away the sin that was introduced into Eden when Adam and Eve rebelled against their Creator.

He is the only way individuals can be saved. He is the Savior of the world!

And this is the truth wrapped up within the resolution for this new year that we must make and carry out. The message wrapped within this resolution is the only answer to what ails the entire world at present, the evil and wickedness that confront us in hourly news each and every day.

Jesus, the Savior of the world, issued Heaven’s command. It’s a command that we as members of God’s eternal family, saved by the matchless grace of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross at Calvary, must resolve to carry out in this New Year. Here is our Lord’s command, which we must make our resolution to obey in 2026.

Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:16–20)

Let us resolve to fight against the rebellious evil of this satanic revolution raging in this fallen world. Jesus and the message of the gospel must be presented to everyone on earth in order to offer Heaven’s antidote to the deadly sin infection afflicting all of humanity.

Here is that message:

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)

I must admit up front that I’ve delved into now ancient archives of my own thoughts in writing this week’s column. The things under consideration, however, are more relevant than ever. As a matter of fact, it becomes quite fascinating to look back at earlier times of analyses of issues and events. New perspectives and postulations can sometimes be derived from such retrospective.

Quite a few years ago, I put together (as general editor) a book with a number of prophecy scholars, broadcasters, and writers. That book was called Foreshocks of Antichrist. Its chapters dealt with issues and events of the times that the other authors and I believed were significant in considering prophecies about Antichrist coming to power, as described in the books of Daniel, Revelation, 1 John, and others.

That was about 1996, I think, and I believed at the time that conditions couldn’t ripen much more so far as the world being ready to reap the bitter harvest concerning what the Antichrist will bring.

I was wrong, of course, which proves we must never be too quick to think things can’t get much worse. They can get worse—and they have, since my late mentors/colleagues such as Dr. John Walvoord, Dr. Dave Breese, Zola Levitt, Dr. Tim LaHaye, and many others dissected the issues with the scalpel of God’s Word in that Harvest House book.

The shadow of the coming Antichrist looms more ominously than ever.

All one must do is to consider the following report I used many years ago to see that dictatorship might be right around the proverbial corner. An Austrian newspaper reported the following result of a question posed to the citizenry of that nation: What was their opinion of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi annexation during World War II?

Reuters Report—May 21, 2013:

Forty-two percent said life was not all bad under Hitler, while sixty-one percent said they would be interested in a strong-armed leader who did not have to deal with democratic challenges like political opponents and elections. The survey, published this weekend, is getting prominent play in the media in Israel, which is home to some 250,000 Holocaust survivors.

Antichrist and the False Prophet of Revelation chapter 13 will be the ultimate, final dictatorship. Their regime will be the driver of the geopolitical and religious juggernaut that will crush anyone and anything that opposes it during the Tribulation era. The engine that will power Satan’s cruel, soul-rending Beast of Revelation 13:1–2 will be an all-controlling, enslaving economy. We see the Beast described as follows:

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. (Revelation 13:1–2)

The control that Beast will wield is described in this way:

And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 13:16–17)

The technologies for setting up just such a system of control over the people of the world have grown exponentially during the past several decades. Computer-satellite hook-ups between continents, linking most of the world in a geometrically progressing network of electronic funds transfer capability, brings this generation ever closer to the type of control prophesied in those familiar passages of Scripture.

The United States of America, the most materially blessed nation on earth, has been concentric to the global networking. Most of the great contributions to the computer and satellite revolution have been spawned from this country. But other super-industrious peoples around the globe continue the “progress.” Other nations are now taking the relevant technologies to new levels of “achievement.” Now, it is America who seems to be dragging its feet in bringing in economic Utopia—or so it would seem…

As we looked at these matters of international finance more than a decade ago, it appeared that the US was the hold-up to bringing in a new world financial order. The refusal to relinquish paper and coinage as currency was viewed as blocking the establishment of that changed monetary order.

With the unbelievable swiftness of movement involving all things fiscal since those earlier times, it becomes obvious that the powers that drive monetary movement determined to keep hard currencies in place with the US dollar as the standard (until other dynamics of financial interlinkages brought sufficient chaos) to create critical need for a system other than paper and coins to avert world economic disaster.

The United States’ great wealth and power, represented in the mighty dollar, was thus held high as criterion for international trade until just the right political changes within America had been engineered. That political change has, as of the coming of the Obama administration, now begun—and in a big way. The dollar’s fate is sealed. The advent of such profound technological intrusions as AI and Bitcoin is assuring the fate of paper and coinage.

Is America, then, a stumbling block to, or a catalyst for, the emerging system that will almost certainly serve as the framework for Antichrist’s Revelation 13 hegemony over the earth?

Rationale prompts one to believe something must happen to cause the US citizenship to come around to accepting a total e-money solution to the confusing state of currency exchanges, et cetera. But the process is agonizingly slow and would likely have to take place with powerful opposition from the American Congress and its constituencies and lobbyists.

Many observers of Bible prophecy, including yours truly, can’t see it taking decades for such a situation to develop. That is, we can’t imagine a scenario that would allow, in America, a lengthy transition to the coming global order essential to the future Antichrist regime’s system of control. This is because most other prophesied signals for the Tribulation appear to now be in place for setting the stage for the Tribulation.

In assessing all of this, Pete Garcia and I have just completed a book to soon be published by Defender Publishing with the title The Machine That Speaks: Building the Beast’s Image in Silicon Valley.

Again, the factor that fits perfectly into a scenario in which America is instantly brought to such a state of chaos that it acquiesces to the world’s call for a cashless system of digital economics, is—you guessed it—the Rapture!

Author’s note: Christmas 2025 is upon us. This article, now slightly updated, was first posted/published December 25, 2006. I thought it still most relevant at this moment–perhaps more so than ever before.

The Visitation

One solitary birth is the basis upon which the future hangs for every person ever to enter this mortal realm we call planet Earth. How each man, woman, and child who has reached the age of understanding salvation views this visitation determines where their home will be for eternity.

Many believe Jesus was sent by God to show us how to live a good life. Some think He was a great prophet and teacher. Others regard Him as a philosopher right up there with Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and the rest. A few among the billions who have lived since His birth have believed Jesus is the Son of God, but perhaps one among others of a created angelic order assigned to influence the affairs of humankind. Still fewer believe He was who He claimed to be: the only begotten Son of God; the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14: 6).

No birth of any individual has ever caused the excitement and controversy that the birth of Jesus has engendered. Was this baby a stranger of an otherworldly order sent to Earth to provide moral guidance? Was Jesus sent to philosophize on the vicissitudes of the human existence? Or was this visitation something more?

Jesus came into the world through the Jewish race. Only those inalterably antagonistic to the truth of history will argue against that. So, we should examine this birth–this visitation—through the prism of Israel and that Jewish nation’s dealings with the one called Jesus.

Although there are other histories about the era, the Bible’s historical account has, through archaeological unveilings, proven time after time to be accurate in details concerning matters surrounding Jesus, the Jews, and Israel. (One such example is the relatively recent discovery of artifacts and evidence that one called Pontius Pilate ruled the area of Judea during the times attributed to Jesus’ crucifixion. Until the discovery, Pilate’s existence as a historical figure was seriously doubted, even denied by many historians.)

We can know the accuracy of how Israel—and the religious Jews in particular—dealt with Jesus. We can know with assurance that He performed miracles and claimed to be God, Himself, by using the Bible’s documented veracity as proof that Jesus was born exactly as described in detail by Old Testament prophets. The Jewish religious leaders’ treatment of Christ’s First Coming as a baby lays groundwork for understanding what that means to the souls of all humankind. Understanding that First Coming also helps frame the importance of how each of us views Christ’s prophesied Second Advent.

Tragically, the pious Jewish leaders refused to accept that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah sent from Jehovah to be their King and Savior. They rejected Him despite the precise prophecies He fulfilled in His coming and His ministry. They chose to have Rome rather than Jesus rule over them. The results of their rejection continue to reverberate not only in the Holy Land, but throughout the entire world. Armageddon is building, its nucleus grounded in satanic rage against God’s chosen people.

Jesus wept over God’s people of Israel and the city Jerusalem. He saw times ahead that would eventuate in calamity for them.

And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. (Luke 19:41–44)

Christ’s First Visitation was ignored and scoffed at by the religious leaders of the time. Their choice was their own way rather than God’s. They preferred to do what was right in their own eyes. True to Jesus’ prophecy, Jerusalem was laid waste, the Temple destroyed, and the Jews scattered to every part of the world. Genocide was committed against them to the point that their very existence as a race was threatened.

Israel continues to pay the price. Anti-Semitism is growing in Europe and around the world. The nation is becoming marginalized, just as the prophet Zechariah said in Zechariah chapters 12 and 14.

But there is a bright day coming for that people–those who accept the Messiah’s Second Visitation. Paul the apostle warned believers not to feel superior to Jews. He forecast a time when Israel would shine among the nations:

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. (Romans 11:25)

God said, again through the prophet Zechariah, that believing Israel will yet recognize the Lord Jesus upon His Second Visitation to the earth:

And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for [his] only [son], and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for [his] firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10)

The Apostle Paul said:

And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. (Romans 11:26)

A parallel can be drawn between the ecclesiastical Jewish leaders of the time of Jesus’ First Visitation, and many among mainstream evangelical clergy today.

Neither group has considered prophecies of Christ’s coming as relevant to their times. Their attitude is much akin to the one described by the Apostle Peter:

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)

This sin-darkened sphere is on the brink of another visitation. Unlike the first, when He came as a humble baby who was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, He will come the next time as the King of all kings and Lord of all Lords. Let us who claim Christ as Savior heed His words about His coming again. And the first phase of that Second Coming will be unannounced, in the twinkling of an eye–the Rapture!

Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch. (Mark 13:35–37)

Stage-setting for the fulfillment of Bible prophecy continues through the acceleration of news, which I hope to show here.

A Catholic Church proclamation again has insinuated its centuries-old self-acclaimed replacement of Israel in usurping promises made to the chosen people—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Pope Leo XVI has weighed in with remarks, suggesting support for a two-state solution to achieving Mideast peace. By so doing, the leader of 1.4 billion adherents to the Catholic faith has pitted a large segment of earth’s population against God’s declaration that Israel is His nation forever.

Such anti-God opposition by the world’s nations is the primary ingredient that will cause God to bring all rebels to Armageddon for humanity’s final war.

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Leo XIV doubled down Sunday on the Holy See’s insistence on a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying in his first airborne news conference that it was the “only solution” that could guarantee justice for both sides.

Leo made the comments as he flew from Istanbul to Beirut for the second and final leg of his maiden voyage as pope…

On Gaza, he repeated the Holy See’s longstanding position supporting a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians. The creation of a Palestinian state in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza has long been seen internationally as the only way to resolve the conflict.

The Holy See had recognized a Palestinian state in 2015, but the push for a two-state solution received new impetus this year during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Several more countries formally recognized a Palestinian state during the U.N. General Assembly.

“We know that in this moment, Israel doesn’t accept this solution, but we see it as the only one that can offer a solution to the conflict that they are living in,” he said. an help bring them closer to a solution with justice for all. (“Pope Leo XIV Doubles Down on Insistence for 2-state Solution to Resolve Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Chicago Sun-Times, November 30, 2025)

Many who observe developments believe the Catholic Church will be a major part of the false worship system of Revelation chapter 17–the system that will be demanded by the False Prophet. I would add here that there are many within the Catholic system who know the Lord for salvation. However, these are saved in spite of, not because of, Catholicism. These are saved because of their belief in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation. The works system of any religion is a false belief system. It is Jesus Christ and belief only in Him, along with confession of Him with the mouth, that saves the individual (Romans 10:9–10).

The pope’s declaration that the two-state solution–Israel giving up land for peace by allowing a Palestinian state—is a declaration that God’s Word says is what will bring God’s wrath (Joel 3:2). This preachment by Pope Leo XIV is setting the stage for Armageddon.

Another stage-setting matter that leaps from recent news concerns the ongoing development of the Gog-Magog coalition that will bring about that disastrous assault, according to Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.

Despite the recent reimposition of UN sanctions on Iran, Turkey has called for closer diplomatic and trade relations with the Iranian regime, as both countries seek to bolster their influence in the Middle East while openly targeting Israel.

In a new interview with the semi-official Iranian news outlet ISNA, Turkey’s Ambassador to Iran, Hicabi Kırlangıç, said Ankara was working to expand bilateral cooperation with Tehran by leveraging existing capabilities to increase economic ties between the two countries…

The Turkish diplomat’s latest remarks followed Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s visit on Sunday to Tehran, where he also pushed for stronger bilateral cooperation between the two countries and denounced what he called “unfair sanctions” on Iran.

In a joint press conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Fidan reaffirmed Turkey’s support for Tehran while calling for the country’s nuclear program to be addressed through dialogue amid ongoing discussions to restart nuclear talks with the West. (“Turkey Pushes for Closer Ties with Iran Despite Mounting Sanctions as Both Countries Pursue Regional Ambitions,” Algemeiner.com)

It is more than interesting that the ties that are bringing Turkey (Togarmah) together with Iran (Persia) in a close, mutually advantageous relationship involve economy. Both nations are hurting in the world trade wars that are ongoing.

When thinking on Russia, the third major nation/entity of the future Gog-Magog assaulting force, it is economy that is most troubling to the Putin regime. Sanctions and other financial calamities continue to embroil the Russians.

The prophet Ezekiel said these three nation/entities will assault Israel in order to “take great spoil.” It is for economic reasons–at least partially—that the Gog-Magog force coalesces to come to plunder riches from Israel.

So, the setting of the prophetic stage continues on many fronts. This means that fulfillment of the Tribulation–the worst time of history, according to Jesus, Himself—is coming ever nearer. But it also means the Rapture of all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation of their souls is also drawing ever nearer. You want to hear Christ’s shout when He calls God’s family into the clouds of Glory. Here is how to make sure you hear that shout.

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)

We continue to watch developments that we believe mark this time as the one Jesus spoke of when addressing His immediate disciples on the Mount of Olives.

We are indeed “nearing midnight,” the time near the very end of the Church Age (Age of Grace) and the beginning of history’s darkest era, the Tribulation (Daniel’s seventieth week).

Jesus, the greatest of all prophets, because He is God, gave the most definitive overview of how things will eventuate as the end of this age nears. He spoke specifically during that Olivet Discourse of how things would be as the time of His return draws closer.

He said there will be great deception when the end of the age draws near (Matthew 24).

We’ve often looked at the deception in every direction on the end-times horizon. We have only to consider the political goings-on to know that the prince of the power of the air is at work deceiving people. America’s mainstream news conglomerate is a prime example of the lies Satan perpetrates in the hourly news cycles. We’ve watched numerous attempts by a political party, aided and abetted by the mainstream news and entertainment industry, doing all within their considerable deluding power to bring down a president, then to keep him from becoming president a second time.

But this is minor deception, when thinking on the cultural and societal evil that continues to foist anti-God wickedness on people across the globe.

The Sodom-level debauchery presented as an alternate lifestyle or even as preferable to God’s order in living life has gone from illegal (sodomy laws in various states) to being legislated into legal affirmation with punishment meted out to those who would come against those who practice homosexuality. Think on the bakers that have had their business destroyed and their owners suffering punitive legal actions for refusing to bake same-sex wedding cakes.

Consider people who have protested the murder of babies in their mothers’ wombs in front of abortion mills being arrested and fined, while those who riot and destroy for the supposed cause of gay rights are considered not to be prosecuted by liberal city administrations and judicial auspices.

Good is now called evil, and evil is now called good, just as God’s Word has forecast.

The mainstream media does all it can to ignore broadcasting and publishing riots like the deadly carnage that took place during the George Floyd death, upon his being arrested for perpetrating crime. Yet when rage takes place because of people wanting a return to sanity, it is covered worldwide in every detail.

It is surprising that a global news outfit quasi-fairly reported one such recent massive protest that took place in Mexico in which ordinary citizenry became fed up with the drug lords and other bad guys constantly inflicting their destructive evil against them and their children. The following account by a global news organization makes the point, I think.

At least 120 people – 100 of them police officers – have been injured in clashes during anti-government protests in Mexico City, police said.

Thousands of demonstrators marched in the Mexican capital on Saturday to protest against violent crime and President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government.

Sheinbaum said the marches, which also took place in other cities, had been funded by right-wing politicians who oppose her government.

The rally was organised by Gen Z youth groups, drawing support from citizens protesting against high-profile killings, including the assassination just weeks ago of Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo – who had called for tough action against cartels…

Demonstrators dismantled parts of a barrier protecting the National Palace, where Sheinbaum lives. Police protecting the compound used tear gas on the crowds.

Authorities have arrested 20 people for crimes including robbery and assault, Mexico City security chief Pablo Vazquez told reporters.

Protesters waved banners displaying messages including “We are all Carlos Manzo”, while others wore cowboy hats in tribute to him…

Manzo was shot on 1 November while he attended a Day of the Dead festival.

He was known for speaking openly about drug-trafficking gangs in his town and cartel violence.

He had been demanding tough action against armed cartel members who terrorise the country.

Sheinbaum has been acting against cartels but resisting calls for another all-out war on drugs. Previous attempts by her predecessors have ended with bloody results.

(“Thousands protest against government in Mexico as clashes leave 120 injured,” Ruth Comerford and  Ethirajan Anbarasan, Global Affairs reporters, BBC News, https://www.bbc.com)

This brings us to the point of the title of this commentary.

The tremendous restlessness of the masses across the world–including that here in America—is a key to understanding where we must stand at this time on God’s prophetic timeline.

Here are Jesus’ words describing a key indicator of the end of the age and the beginning of the Tribulation:

And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring. (Luke 21:25)

The “distress of nations, with perplexity” and the “seas and waves” of peoples across the planet “roaring” cannot be missed by those who are “watching” as Jesus commanded (Mark 13: 37).

It is almost certain that we will see this roaring grow in frequency and intensity, as will be the case for all other signals making an impact in these days.

We must warn those who don’t know Christ for salvation of the danger to their immortal souls, particularly as we watch this prophetic stage-setting.

Here is the message to give as we witness to the saving grace God offers all who will believe in His Son:

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 e saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)

Many questions have come to me over the years about topics such as the biblical reporting on strange things that have happened from the beginning of humankind.

One such line of inquiry by some has been about the fallen angels (those who followed Lucifer in the rebellion against God) and their sexual insinuation into humanity.

Some theologians and others see this Genesis chapter 6 account as the sons of Cain, Adam and Eve’s son, as having sexual relations with Seth’s daughters, Seth being another son of the couple. This is in error, in my view and that of other. Many, including yours truly, believe the Bible says these fallen angels saw human women and found them sexually attractive, so they mated with them. These unions produced the Nephilim–the giants from which many believe the legendary demigods such as Zeus, Thor, Hercules, et cetera, came.

The questions sometime involve how beings such as Heaven’s powerful angels can have such relations with human women of mere flesh and blood. Or, how angels can reproduce, since Jesus Himself said human beings are like the angels in that they neither marry nor are given in marriage once they’re in Heaven.

However, in the case of the first question, we have stories of angels taking on the form of men, such as in the account of their visit to Abraham before they went to Sodom to deal with that city and remove righteous Lot. These angels/men were attractive to the homosexuals, who demanded to “know” them sexually.

In the case of the second question, we must recognize the term “in Heaven.” They have no marriage-type relationships while in the heavenly realm. But outside of Heaven, there is no such restriction or encumbrance—at least none found in Scripture.

The Bible doesn’t say that angels are sexless–without the ability to procreate—only that they don’t have such relationships in Heaven.

Upon giving King Nebuchadnezzar the interpretation of the metallic man dream-vision, Daniel implies that the wicked angelic forces possess sexual “seed”:

Whereas thou safest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. (Daniel 2:43)

Here the prophet was giving a picture of how the world system of rebellion against God will come down to a ten-kingdom configuration, which Jesus Christ will destroy when He returns at Armageddon. Apparently, the agglomeration of evil leaders, “kings,” and their “kingdoms” will be influenced by and probably intermingled biologically with demonic forces (fallen angels).

This is seen as being the case even now through Paul’s warning about the powers and principalities we struggle against today (Ephesians 6:12).

And this brings me to the point I would like us to look at regarding days-of-Noah-level corruption.

Jesus said the time of His return would be like it was “in the days of Noah.” The specific thing for us to examine is found in Christ’s Words in Genesis. (And, yes, Genesis is the “word of Christ”; Jesus is “the Word,” as we are told in John 1:1.)

We find in Genesis the following description of those days of Noah:

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. (Genesis 6:11–12) 

The word to consider for our purposes here is “corrupted.” All flesh had corrupted itself; all was, in God’s holy eyes, changed from the genetic configuration He had created. Therefore, the following verses tell us that He would destroy the world and He told Noah to prepare the ark for their physical as well as spiritual salvation.

Satan and his fallen horde of angels had been instrumental in this “corrupting” of all flesh. The genetic contamination was so great that God no longer recognized humanity as worth saving, except through the one family that hadn’t corrupted themselves by being part of the world of rebels.

My point is that if we are again in a time like Noah’s days, we must be in a time of corruption at least in some regard like it was then.

Satan’s tactics might have changed a bit, but his determination to destroy humankind is the same as ever. Therefore, I propose that perhaps today’s satanic corruption of mankind is through a different tact. I believe this is the case and suggest that we might get an inkling when considering the advancing technologies of today, combined with Satan-inspired science and the medical “powers that be” tampering with human genetics.

For months, a small company in San Francisco has been pursuing a secretive project: the birth of a genetically engineered baby.

Backed by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and his husband, along with Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong, the startup—called Preventive—has been quietly preparing what would amount to a biological first. They are working toward creating a child born from an embryo edited to prevent a hereditary disease. In recent months, executives at the company privately said a couple with a genetic disease had been identified who was interested in participating, according to people familiar with the conversations.

Gene-editing technologies now in use for treatment after birth allow scientists to cut, edit and insert DNA, but using the process in sperm, eggs or embryos is far more controversial and has prompted calls by scientists for a global moratorium until the ethical and scientific questions get resolved. Editing genes in embryos with the intention of creating babies from them is banned in the U.S. and many countries.

Preventive has been searching for places to experiment where embryo editing is allowed, including the United Arab Emirates, according to correspondence reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Many experts worry that the science is too unpredictable to be safe and could usher in a new era of human experimentation by private companies without public or government input or debate. Some also raise the specter of eugenics. (“Genetically Engineered Babies Are Banned. Tech Titans Are Trying to Make One Anyway,” MSN November 11, 2025)

Corruption of humanity continues to be Satan’s goal. He still goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. All of humanity is in his crosshairs.

The supposed progress being made in science and technology will be turned into pure evil as Antichrist takes the reins of power for a short time during the Tribulation.

But the Lord Jesus will preempt that dystopian future for those who are in God’s family. The Rapture will take all believers in Christ into the clouds of Glory in the “twinkling-of-an-eye” moment Paul told us about in offering comfort.

Note that only the “incorruptible” will be taken; no corruption will be allowed into the heavenly realm!

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)

Even so, come Lord Jesus!

Stage-setting for the wrap-up of this age leading to the triumphant return of Christ continues briskly. A major member of the Gog-Magog coalition is in the forefront of ongoing volatility in the region involving Israel.

Over recent years, we’ve examined news about the coming forth of the national entities to the north of Israel that will comprise the Gog-Magog force of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. Russia, Iran (Persia) and Turkey (Togarmah) have become increasingly chummy in their cooperative intention to dominate the region. It’s the region in which the tiny, but nuclear-weapons powerful, Israel, stands as the holdup to the big three Gog-Magog nations achieving the domination they desire.

Russian leadership has, off and on, been semi-friendly to Israel, with their hostility to the Jewish state’s existence veiled to some extent. Since the shah was dethroned, Iran, of course, has been increasingly hostile and even directly threatening to Israel, with chants of “death to the big Satan!” (America) and “Death to the little Satan!” (Israel).

Regarding the third member of this diabolist triad, Turkey has been more or less secretly seething with disdain for God’s chosen nation while embracing Western ways—even joining NATO, as we know. But now Turkey is making moves to directly insinuate its influence into the region that threatens to disrupt Israel’s security.

The following report provides insight:

Turkey is positioning itself to play a central role in postwar Gaza and hosted a high-level meeting this week in Istanbul focused on the future governance and reconstruction of Gaza.

Representatives from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Pakistan, and Indonesia attended the talks, which also addressed plans for an international stabilization force to be authorized by the United Nations Security Council.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told reporters that discussions among Muslim countries are ongoing and that any troop deployment will depend on the final UN framework.

“Countries will decide on participation once a structure is agreed,” he said. Fidan added that Hamas had expressed willingness to transfer administrative authority to a Palestinian-led committee once reconstruction efforts begin.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking separately to delegates from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, praised what he described as Hamas’ commitment to the ceasefire and readiness to abide by the emerging arrangement.

Turkey’s ambitions have drawn mixed reactions in Israel, where officials view Ankara’s involvement with caution due to its long history of supporting Hamas and its frequent criticism of Israeli policy.

Though Turkey remains a NATO member and a U.S. ally, its alignment with Qatar—another state seen as close to Hamas—has raised questions about its impartiality. (“Turkish officials say Hamas is ready to give up control of Gaza,” World Israel News, November 4, 2025)

Ezekiel, as recorded in chapters 38 and 39 of the book by his name, points out the nations that will at some point assault Israel with the intention of “taking great spoil,” as it is given in the KJV. The primary nations to lead that coalition have drawn together over the past few years, with Turkey (Togarmah) aligning more and more with the fanatic Islamist leadership of Iran (Persia) in hatred of Israel. There will come a time, the prophet says, that only God Himself will be able to save His chosen people from being overrun in the great Gog-Magog attack.

Dr. Thomas Ice, director of the Pre-Trib Research Center, in his many prophetic studies, has dealt with this soon-to-eventuate assault and all it entails. He includes in the following some findings of fellow prophecy scholar Dr. Mark Hitchcock:

“Most Bible scholars and scholars of ancient history relate biblical Togarmah to the ancient Hittite city of Tegarma,” notes Mark Hitchcock, “an important city in eastern Cappadocia (modern Turkey).” But while scholars have differed slightly on the exact location of ancient Togarmah, concludes Hitchcock, “it is always associated with a city or district within the boundaries of the modern nation of Turkey.”…

The last few years has seen an Islamic majority emerge in Turkey’s Parliament and an Islamic Prime Minister is now in place. The breakup of the former Soviet Union included the independence of five Islamic republics: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kirghizia, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. Hitchcock notes that “Turkey has clearly been drawn to these former Soviet republics for economic reasons, Turkey also shares strong linguistic and ethnic ties with these nations…

Turkey sees itself as the economic developer of the vast natural resources like gold, silver, uranium, oil, coal, and natural gas that are found in these five new states… Once Turkey is spurned by Europe, she will have motive enough to enter into league with Russia and their Islamic brethren which will set the stage for the fulfillment of this prophecy. (The Pre-Trib Research Center, https://www.pre-trib.org)

Additionally, in the accumulating further evidence showing relationship to the Gog-Magog coalition, Turkey has issued arrest warrants for Israel’s leaders. The country accuses Benjamin Netanyahu and thirty-six other Israelis of “systematic” genocide and crimes against humanity. (Rapture Ready News November 8, 2025)

With the rapid developments in and around God’s chosen nation—in conjunction with the geopolitical evil, socio-cultural wickedness, religious deception, and technological progression—Turkey’s insertion into the prophetic picture is yet another strong indicator of just how near the Rapture must be.

Our prayerful hope is that you will want to be part of that stupendous event when Christ calls all believers into the clouds of Glory. Here is how to make sure you’re not left behind when Jesus shouts, “Come up here!”

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)