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Israel: The Bookends of Prophecy
Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, was saying Bible prophecy starts with Israel and ends with Israel. Israel is at the heart of Bible prophecy.
My thoughts started churning as I heard his sermon broadcast early that recent morning. I’ve always maintained that God’s “chosen nation” is the one sure signal of where this generation stands on His prophetic timeline. Dr. Jeffress’ statement helped confirm in my thoughts that morning that indeed Israel is inseparable, start to finish, from God’s Holy Word. It’s like bookends framing Bible prophecy from beginning to end.
Israel’s conception–its true genesis—began with the Words of Jesus, who is the Word of God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. (John 1:1–5)
Jesus, then, gave through Moses what would be the beginning of the nation Israel. He was speaking of His own conception—His Incarnation, coming to earth from His triune position within the Godhead to provide redemption for fallen humankind.
Jesus said to Satan the following about His one day coming as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world:
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3: 15)
So, Bible prophecy began with the promise of the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who would come into the world as a human being.
Again, Moses was given the Word about God’s people who would be chosen to give birth to this God-man.
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:1–3)
We know Abraham and Sarah were then given the child of promise, Isaac. From Isaac came Jacob, who was renamed Israel.
Jesus, the Son of God, was born to Mary, Jacob’s progeny, through the immaculate conception, to become the Savior of humanity, which has been lost since the fall in Eden.
Israel’s history is that of suffering as victim of satanic hatred throughout the millennia. This is because Jesus redeems all who accept God’s grace gift of salvation through Christ’s death on the cross, burial, and Resurrection.
As told in Genesis 3:15, the serpent, Satan, who “bruised the heel” of Christ, would have his head crushed by the Savior, by His redemptive action on that cruel cross at Calvary and His subsequent resurrection to life.
Jesus has overcome sin and death to provide eternal life for every person–all born sinful creatures because of Adam’s sin in Eden.
Christ the Redeemer came into this doomed sphere through Israel. The ongoing war against that nation and the Jewish race continues to play out within Bible prophecy, which tells of a time that will see the world turn against Israel:
Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about . And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though . gathered together against it. (Zechariah 12:2–3)
So, Bible prophecy continues to be Israel-centered as we witness the prophet Zechariah’s words playing out even at this moment.
In the near term, it doesn’t get better, but worse…much worse!
Jesus prophesied the degree to which hatred for Israel would progress:
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
The prophet Jeremiah said about this time:
Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. (Jeremiah 30:7)
The Lord, in His Matthew 24:21 description, skips the details of the time from which things become the worst ever right to the end, when the nation Israel will be saved out of the time of great Tribulation.
But Jesus, Himself, later describes, in explicit detail through twenty-one specific judgments, the time that leads up to Israel being saved out of the great Tribulation. Jesus gave the entire book of the Revelation through the Apostle John–the disciple the Bible said the Lord loved.
Paul prophesies the ultimate position of God’s chosen nation:
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 fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 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: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. (Romans 11: 25-27)
Israel will be saved out of this terrible time. Zechariah says:
And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 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.
So, Israel is at the center of Bible prophecy from Genesis to Revelation. And this is not to say there is a so-called dual covenant with God’s chosen people about salvation from sin. The Jewish people are saved from sin the same way all other people of all other races are saved: by belief in Jesus Christ alone.
The “saving” of Israel means a remnant of the Jewish people will comprise the nation of God’s covenant promises. That is, those who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior—Israel’s Messiah—inherit God’s promises for Israel. This remnant of Jewish believers will see Jesus returning from Heaven at the time of Armageddon and will realize He is their Messiah at that stunning moment. This will be the chosen nation and people God planned to establish from the time in Eden.
Israel is the indisputable signal of exactly where the world stands right now. The movement to fulfill all Bible prophecy is streaming more swiftly with each news cycle. All geopolitics are revolving around the nation that began in Genesis 3:15. The time of Jacob’s trouble quickly approaches.
You don’t want to be a part of people within the orbit of those who don’t know Jesus for salvation. Here again is how to go to Christ when He calls–an event that will take place at any twinkling-of-the-eye moment!
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)
America the Dutiful
When thinking about the prophetic implications of the present hour so late in this Church Age (Age of Grace), Israel is the prominent marker of where the world stands on God’s prophetic timeline.
God’s chosen people, the nation Israel, have contributed massively to achievements in many areas of human existence—just as the Lord promised Abraham, Israel’s progenitor. So, it shouldn’t surprise us that Israel is at the center of much turmoil and controversy at this time. This is precisely how Bible prophecy—through prophets such as Zechariah, for example—says Israel will be positioned the closer the world comes to Christ’s return.
Despite God’s promises to Abraham—many of which have been fulfilled—the people of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob have failed in many ways to fulfill God’s expectations. Primarily, they have failed because of rejecting their Messiah when He presented Himself to them.
Israel, therefore, is perhaps best example of the violation of Christ’s admonition: “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48 b).
God expects those whom He blesses to obey His directive and to trust His Word as given in Scripture through the prophets. There are inevitably severe consequences when His blueprint for conducting life on earth is not followed.
We know all about Israel and its place in God’s directive—His call to duty in the mission He gave Abraham’s progeny. That nation and people are everywhere we look in God’s Word and are prominent everywhere we look on the geopolitical horizon. And who could in truth deny that Israel has had nothing but trouble from this satanically saturated world?
To me, God’s appointment to our nation, the United States of America, is almost as profound in God’s blueprint as it is in that of Israel. The proof is in the dominance America has been given since its founding. And, at this moment, it is the most glaringly dominant and powerfully influential nation on the planet. The double proof of this is that America stands beside God’s chosen nation and people while most of the world’s nations demonstrate an inexplicable hatred for Israel and the Jewish people. This, to me, is absolute proof of the importance God assigned America.
I wrote in the beginning of one of my books the following:
America burst forth from history’s slow-motion movement with brilliant inventiveness that would mystify if viewed from any perspective other than that of Bible prophecy. The stunning achievements within the mix of that quantum leap continue to engender awe. Human genius almost certainly had to have been infused with supernatural influence in accomplishing the exponential progress man has achieved within 100 years. We have moved, within that time, from traveling at speeds horses can run to streaking at the speed of light through communications technologies.…
The United States of America has been the nation at the very heart of the explosion of human technological progress. America has no peer in this regard, even to this present hour. Just as God’s hand of providence guided the founding fathers in bringing the country to birth in 1776, so His omnipresence inspired the American genius and industry resident in the nation to achieve things essential to the opening of the book of end-times prophecy.…
Again, the United States of America is inarguably the matrix out of which the geometrical progression of knowledge, thus spectacular increase in ability to travel to and from anywhere on earth, has grown.…
America’s influence within its brief duration of nationhood has brought mankind relief from drudgery, physical comforts, and luxuries that no other era has provided. Although vast areas of the world still wallow in squalor, the technologies–produced for the most part by this nation–are available to bring those victims out of their tragic conditions. It is the greed of tyrants–for the most part, the dictators who keep the very poor of the world under their despotic thumbs of oppression.
The United States has been at the forefront of reaching out to other lands and their peoples–almost to a fault, one might correctly surmise. Much of the largesse that has poured from the American treasuries into these dictatorships has been scarfed up by the despots and put into their own bank accounts around the world.
Many examples can be cited.…
The explosion of knowledge brought the technology that can make man’s life on earth a blessed existence. That same bursting forth of travel and knowledge has produced the ability to deliver destructive power from the air, the like of which no other generation could even fathom. Make no mistake: America is at the very heart of the end-of-days book being opened. And open it is! (The American Apocalypse, Harvest House, 2009)
So, I titled this commentary “America the Dutiful.”
We’ve been commissioned by God to a call to duty. America has been the most materially blessed of all nations of history, second only to Israel in spiritual blessings. While this nation has used its material blessings to help the poorest of the world and has reached out as no other nation with the gospel of Christ, we’ve also infected the world with much of the wickedness our technological wizardry has produced. It might be said that the peoples of earth have become intoxicated on the wine of the fornication and depravity flowing from America’s dark subsurface.
It’s always disconcerting to consider that we can’t find mention of such a blessed nation as ours even once by name in God’s Word.
Perhaps, frighteningly, it might be there in Revelation chapter 18, but this always comes down to supposition.
It is incumbent upon Christians in our beloved America to remain “dutiful” in carrying out the commission it seems our founding fathers were blessed to receive those 250 years ago.
“For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48 b).
“Well done!”
Many prophetically attuned believers, such as those who take notice of this column and of posts on terryjamesprophecyline.com, as well as of other Christ-centered, Bible prophecy platforms, pay attention to the nearness of Christ’s call to the Church. Vast billions of people on earth, however, go down that broad way of this brief life without a thought of their swiftly approaching destiny.
Sadly, we know that most Christians–even though they might be born-again believers—pay no attention to the lateness of the hour as the end of the Age of Grace draws near. Much of this disregard (even though the Bible consists of more than 27 percent prophecy) is the fault of the people in the pews who genuinely call Jesus Christ their Lord–because they have little interest in personal Bible study. But at least an equal share of blame for not paying attention to the prophetic signs of the times must be placed with the pastors whose flocks receive little or no teaching about biblical prophecy—for which the stage is being set for in every direction we look.
American Christians are caught up in not paying attention to the prophetic signals that burst in lightning strike-like fashion from each news cycle in reports from this nation and around the world. While these believers see the wars and rumors of wars, the economic strains and stresses that portend economic collapse and threaten to fracture their family well-being, or the absolute evil being perpetrated in the adulteration of a culture that murders millions of babies in the womb and subjects the youngest children to the most heinous sexual perversions imaginable, they only shake their heads and wonder aloud something like, “What’s the world coming to?”
If they would just get into their Bibles—and if their pastors would get into God’s prophetic Word—the Holy Spirit would open their spiritual eyes to what this world is coming to.
And what this world is heading toward—is soon coming to—is God’s judgment and wrath.
And I’m of the conviction–and believe that you are, also—that God’s judgment and wrath can’t be too far distant. This is obvious to the Christian who’s familiar with God’s warning and alert to the flashing signals that can’t be missed. It is imperative that we make our fellow believers aware they should be paying attention. We must hold up God’s prophetic Word to pastors in Bible-believing churches and remind them that they’re responsible for teaching and preaching Bible prophecy. They must do so today, without delay, because time is fleeting in this Church Age (Age of Grace).
We have in the book of Hebrews an exhortation I believe transcends merely urging believers to gather in physical meeting places–church sanctuaries, et cetera. Of course, this is indeed an important part of the exhortation. But I believe that, just as importantly, it means we are to come together as Christ’s Body in understanding the times, especially as we see the time of Tribulation approaching:
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25)
The words “the day approaching” in this passage is warning of the day when Christ will call the Church into the clouds of Glory, and the time of Daniel’s seventieth week—the Tribulation era—will begin.
We must come together and speak of coming judgment as a Church Body, especially as we see the stage being set for prophetic fulfillment.
We must, therefore, make sure our brothers and sisters are on the same page. Of course, we know from the apathy and because of the many different views of Bible prophecy that this cannot and will not be achieved in total, but we must do what we can to try to make it happen.
I am very thankful that those who come to read our articles here have been so supportive of our efforts. And you know who you are who have been so faithful and supportive of our Pakistani mission. My little Prophecy Power book has been used in a mighty way as the Pakistani minister has distributed it in that dark land and used it to shed the Gospel’s light about coming judgment on sin, and, more importantly, to give the wonderful message of God’s grace through His Son’s sacrifice on the cross at Calvary.
You have contributed to a mission in that foreign land and region where human history will one day culminate. When we work to get prophetic truth into the minds and hearts of pastors and their flocks, we are performing an equally worthy mission. It is a vital mission since we see that day approaching.
Like you, I want to hear the words of our Lord when we see Him face to face in that moment of Rapture. And I want every Christian to hear those words also. There will be no greater reward than to hear them as we look into the all-knowing eyes of our Savior, Lord, and God:
Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (Matthew 25: 23)
Chaos, Calamity or Comfort?
It seems sometimes that Americans, particularly Christian Americans, are anesthetized to things going on around them.
Things like the attempted takeover by the dark spiritual forces behind Marxism and worse don’t seem to register on Christian Americans’ worry meters—at least not to the degree it registers on my own meter of concern.
Some will say Christians are confident that God is always in complete control, so they just don’t worry about these things. But the truth is that most American Christians are complacent; they’re not interested in thinking about the evil around us.
Even what’s going on in the Middle East, the war with Iran, and the threat closing the Strait of Hormuz presents doesn’t seem to heighten the level of worry that World War III or, at the very least, portentous economic crisis is in view.
And the Church–all who are in God’s family—for the most part doesn’t seem to have an idea of what Israel being at the center of all this worrisome news means. There is no concern about how it all relates to Bible prophecy among those who should be most aware of and alert to the fact that the world is teetering on the edge of a time Jesus called the worst that would ever be.
Yet this is another sign of where we are on God’s prophetic timeline, in my view as we look out across that horizon of “things to come,” as Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost titled his great volume on Bible prophecy.
As I’ve written many times, I believe Jesus described exactly the condition of humanity as it will be when He next catastrophically intervenes into the affairs of fallen humankind. The Lord’s “days of Lot” prophecy (Luke 17:28–30) says it will be business as usual, like it was when Lot and his family were removed from Sodom by the angels.
The Lord indicated that business and life in general itself were ongoing, even doing well, at that time, while the subsurface society and culture in that twin-cities area were as wicked as when God intervened previously in the “days of Noah” (Luke 17:26–27).
This is what we who “watch,” as commanded by our Lord (Mark 13: 37 and Luke 21: 28), should expect the world around us to look like at the twinkling-of-an-eye moment when He will again intervene as He did in those earlier times.
One of my frustrations continues to be that the Christians who say we who hold to the clearly taught, pre-Trib view of Rapture are wrong and that we’re leading believers astray. These writers, preachers, teachers, and others most often imply, or even say outright, that all the troubles we see around us means the following: Either the world—including all believers in Jesus Christ—is about to enter the Tribulation, or we’ve already entered it. Some believe we’re already engaged in World War III.
These aren’t looking for Jesus Christ to rescue believers before the Tribulation as Paul taught; they’re looking for chaos, calamity, and—to be frank—the Antichrist rather than for the True Christ.
The following article presents the view that the world is on the brink of Tribulation but offers no hope of Heaven’s rescue for the Christian.
We live at a time when millions upon millions of us feel deeply unsettled. The news is filled with constant headlines about war, political chaos, economic problems and major natural disasters. A lot of people feel like humanity’s story is building up to some sort of a crescendo, and they are not optimistic about what that will mean.
In fact, a new study conducted by researchers at the University of British Columbia has discovered that nearly one-third of the people living in the United States and Canada actually believe that the world will end within their lifetimes.…
Of course the world is not going to end any time soon.
But as global events spiral out of control, it will certainly feel like “the world is ending” to much of the population…
We really are living in apocalyptic times, and much more mayhem is in our future. (“Nearly One-Third of People Living in North America Believe The World Will End,” Tyler Durden, authored by Michael Snyder, March 13, 2026, Zerohedge)
Well…I guess one-third of people paying attention is a bit more than I thought–if the survey is correct. But one thing is sure: There is very little acknowledgment, as expressed in the article, of the need or hope of Heaven’s rescue, or even of a desire for Heaven to rescue us. This is exactly as it was in Sodom and Gomorrah and in Noah’s day, according to the Lord Jesus.
And Christian writers, preachers, and teachers who rail against the pre-Trib view by and large offer no hope of such rescue as promised by the Apostle Paul, who, again, wrote this to the Thessalonians, and also to us, these thousands of years later:
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18)
The chaos, the calamities, the unbelievable evil we see taking place offer nothing but fear and worry to those who are paying attention. But all this evil that threatens shouldn’t induce fear in those who know Christ as Savior and Lord. We’re not looking for Antichrist, or for the chaos and calamity that Beast is about to foist upon a world lost in sin and rejection of God’s Word.
We are looking for Jesus Christ and His promise:
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10)
Now there is nothing but comfort in those magnificent words of promise given by the One who cannot lie.
Here is what we must share with those who want not chaos and calamity in their thoughts of the future, but comfort from the very heart of God:
That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)
Be Not Ignorant
Hoping this isn’t perceived as condescension aimed at the reader; it is, I’m convicted, good to think on what Paul was given by the Holy Spirit to urge us to not be ignorant. The instruction is crucial to understanding these prophetic days in which we find ourselves.
Paul uses this “be not ignorant” statement of instruction three times in the course of his epistles addressing Christians. These include his letters to the Romans, the Corinthians, and the Thessalonians. The emphasis on not being ignorant speaks of God’s strong desire for believers to understand what He wants us to fully comprehend.
While I present here all three of Paul’s instructions to “be not ignorant,” I want to look in particular at his letters to the Romans and the Thessalonians to imply that his teaching is especially relevant to where we are on God’s prophetic timeline.
Here are the three statements:
- Romans 11:25–32: Israel’s Condition, Purpose, and Future
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 fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 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: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
- 1 Corinthians 12:–11: Spiritual Gifts
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18: The Rapture
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Paul here makes it profoundly important—even mandatory—that we who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ understand the things covered in these instructions.
Anytime God’s Word emphasizes something three times, the matters involved are vital to being understood—and believed.
The second instruction mentioned above, in the letter to the Corinthians, isn’t pointed directly at any future prophecy. However, it is very important in urging Christians to make every effort to understand the times only through enlightenment provided by the Holy Spirit.
So, we reflect on Paul saying that he would not have us to be ignorant about the mystery of Israel and all the things that involve His chosen people.
The apostle wants all generations of believers to understand that despite Israel’s opposition to the gospel of Jesus Christ and denial that He is their Messiah, the people of Israel are still His. They will at a future time be saved–that is, become believers in Jesus Christ as Savior and Messiah.
This will happen during a period of great trouble for them (Jeremiah 30:7). That Tribulation era will take place after the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled. This will be when all believers of the Church Age—the Age of Grace—are taken to Heaven in the Rapture.
During that time of Jacob’s trouble, God will bring out of the House of Israel a remnant of born-again believers who will be true Israel for all of eternity.
We must not be ignorant, then, of the significance of Israel. We must be aware that when Israel dominates the prophetic world horizon, the time of Christ’s return is very near. We must not be ignorant of Israel’s position, Paul is telling us.
The question to believers in Christ, then, should be: Is the nation Israel on the scene today in any significant way?
There is certainly no excuse for anyone, believer or not, to be ignorant in considering this question.
This brings us to Paul’s third exhortation.
Believers—Gentiles and Jews who have come to Christ for salvation during this Age of Grace—will be called into the clouds of Glory when Israel is at the center of world controversy. The last believer of this Church Age will accept Christ for salvation, and Jesus will call all Christians in the Rapture. This will be when the “fullness of the Gentiles will be come in,” as Paul prophesied.
The apostle told the Thessalonians all about that coming Rapture of the Church—God’s eternal family of believers who lived and died during the Age of Grace.
There is no excuse for us to be ignorant of just how near we must be to that call from our Savior. Can’t you sense the Holy Spirit’s assurance that this world so full of anti-God wickedness and turmoil is about to change in a twinkling-of-an-eye moment?
We are not to be ignorant. We’re to rely on God’s promise:
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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4: 17-18)
Answering Trump’s Question
As things in the Middle East are ramping up with a major conflict in progress (Operation Epic Fury), stage-setting for prophetic fulfillment, I think, comes into quickly tightening focus. The Iranian regime’s intransigence, in particular, helps bring matters regarding Mideast hostilities into understandable Bible prophecy perspective.
The same level of comprehension is not true for observers who don’t have God’s Word as the centerpiece of their thinking on the present warfare in that volatile region.
The primary consideration regarding what to address in the swiftly moving Iranian situation is the question the president of the United States was asking, according to a recent news item.
US envoy Steve Witkoff said in an interview with Fox News that aired on Sunday that President Trump was “curious” that Iran hasn’t “capitulated” to US demands due to the major US military buildup in the Middle East and threats of war.
“I don’t want to use the word frustrated because [Trump] understands he has plenty of alternatives, but he’s curious, he’s curious as to why they haven’t, I don’t want to use the word capitulated, but why they haven’t capitulated,” Witkoff told Fox News host Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law.
“Why, under this sort of pressure, with the amount of sea power, naval power, that we have over there, why they haven’t come to us and said, ‘we profess that we don’t want a [nuclear] weapon, so here’s what we’re prepared to do,’ yet it’s hard to get them to that point,” Witkoff added. (“President Trump ‘Curious’ Why Iran Hasn’t ‘Capitulated’,” Dave DeCamp, zerohedge, February 23, 2026)
It’s easy to wonder over the Ayatollahs’ refusal to cooperate, as did President Trump, knowing how devastating was the US military’s previous “obliteration” (in Trump’s own words) of the Iranian regime’s underground nuclear-weapons’-development facilities.
It is easy to ask this question the president was apparently asking. Why did the Iranian leadership not prefer to give in rather than face an even more decimating action if negotiations failed to produce results this president wanted—an ongoing assault that Trump has now delivered?
In last year’s so-called 12-Day War, American military forces proved beyond any doubt that powerful bombs of unprecedented capability could penetrate—precisely—deeply within Iran’s hiding places, and that the bombs could be delivered by aircraft so advanced they couldn’t be detected even though Iran’s defense forces knew they were going to be hit—i.e., the B-2s delivered the penetrator ordnance and were gone before the Iranians knew of the assault.
Understanding that this president doesn’t play games—he does what he says he will do—the Ayatollahs still refused to stop threatening Israel and the Mideast region…and America, for that matter. They refused to give up their ambition to develop nuclear weaponry and delivery systems that would give them the ability to accomplish those desires.
This attack in Operation Epic Fury by the American military—and by the Israeli Defense Force in Roaring Lion—proved to be much more destructive, with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and most of Iran’s leadership killed –as forewarned by Mr. Trump’s own words.
So, why indeed did the fanatic Islamic regime not do all things necessary to avoid the inevitable?
Bible prophecy answers the president’s question from thousands of years ago.
Daniel, the great Old Testament prophet, was and is the conduit through which the answer to today’s question by President Donald John Trump was given.
The same commander of the same evil forces Daniel faced in that long-ago time is still in charge of stirring problems in the Middle East. He whispers into the demonically inspired thoughts of the Ayatollahs who want to initiate worldwide war…so their Mahdi, whom they believe will help them rule the world, will come on the scene as prophesied when total war begins.
The following gives a clue identifying this evil, Ephesians 6:12 demonic minion that is as active as ever today.
My friend, the late Dr. John Walvoord, once addressed the time when the prophet Daniel had troubling questions about the threats he and his people, Israel, faced.
At that time, according to Daniel chapter 10, an angel was sent to inform and comfort the old prophet:
10:12–14 Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days.…
Daniel is further encouraged by the exhortation, “Fear not, Daniel.” To allay the fears of Daniel still further, the angel informs him that from the very beginning of his intercession, three weeks before, God had undertaken to answer his prayers and send the angelic messenger to him. What a reassurance it is that when one comes to God as Daniel did, setting his heart to understand and chastening himself before God, one may expect Daniel’s experience of the response of God that his words were heard and the messenger dispatched. The delay is explained in verse 13 as being occasioned by the opposition of “the prince of the kingdom of Persia” who “withstood me one and twenty days.” This “prince” is not the king of the kingdom of Persia but rather the angelic leader of Persia, a fallen angel under the direction of Satan, in contrast to the angelic prince Michael who leads and protects Israel. That the angel described as “the prince” of Persia is a wicked angel is clear from the fact that his opposition to the angelic messenger to Daniel is given as the reason for the delay of twenty-one days. (Chapter 10, The Vision of the Glory of God, https://walvoord.com)
Mr. President, this is the answer to your query. That same entity–the Prince of Persia—continues in his demonic activity. As a matter of fact, this prince of evil, like his master Lucifer the fallen (Satan), knows he has but a short time. His activity is growing in virulence, as is manifested more dramatically in each succeeding news cycle.
The Ayatollahs were and are satanically driven in their madness. Regardless of the success of this latest action to eliminate those who foment evil in the region, Bible prophecy tells us the evil minions that hate Israel will yet assault God’s chosen people, according to Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.
All the dynamic rearrangements in the areas involved in Operation Epic Fury show clearly just how near is the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7).
Christ will call all believers into Heaven in the Rapture before the seven-year Tribulation begins. The dynamics triggered by that great event will no doubt quickly arrange all things prophesied for the Gog-Magog attack and all other prophecies yet to be fulfilled.
That twinkling-of-an-eye moment of Rapture must be near indeed!
We must, therefore, as Royal Ambassadors on this Tribulation-bound world, instruct those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior how to come to accept God’s grace-gift offer of salvation through His Only Begotten Son. When a person accepts Jesus as Savior, he or she is Rapture Ready. –That is, he or she will go to be with Christ before that great and terrible day of the Lord begins. Here is how to accept Jesus Christ right at this moment and become a child in God the Father’s eternal family:
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)
Rapture-Ready Remnant
As if to frame the entire set-up for how near we are to the last moment of this Church Age, the exodus of God’s chosen people from around the world back to their God-given land is suddenly in stark view.
The set-up includes all the eschatological stage-setting things—the issues and events we’ve pored over for many months—particularly the prophetic signals that have become manifest over these last few weeks. There can be no missing it for those whose eyes and ears are spiritually attuned to God’s Word regarding how things will be when this age is at an end.
Key among the signals is the world’s treatment of the Jews. Jesus gave the conditions that would eventuate when the time of His return at Armageddon nears:
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. (Matthew 24:9)
Jesus was stating what will take place, full-blown, during the time of Jacob’s Trouble (Jeremiah 30:7). This will come to pass in its most virulent manifestation during the second half of the seven-year Tribulation (Daniel’s seventieth week).
However, it becomes more obvious with each passing hour that the nation Israel—and that includes all Jews worldwide—is in the crosshairs of satanic hatred. Anti-Semitism is on the rise, and not just in Europe or Germany as in Hitler’s day.
The effects this madness is having make clear that one of the most profound reasons for the coming Tribulation era is right before our eyes. The Jewish people are at the beginning of the great drive to return to the Promised Land—whether knowingly or unwittingly.
By this I mean that some Jewish scholars and others who believe God’s chosen people are prophetically scheduled to come into their God-given land see what is happening as prophetic fulfillment. They are wrong about Jesus Christ His involvement, but they non do believe that God gave Israel the Land of Promise and see the forced exodus from the nations of the world to that land as God’s hand in the matters involved.
The following excerpt from an in-depth article on aliyah (a call upward to a synagogue or to Israel as homeland) frames this observation and shows just how near we must be to the Tribulation, thus to the Rapture:
With antisemitism surging worldwide, Israeli officials believe more Jews will opt to make aliyah; but the path isn’t as easy as they think.
In December, when two gunmen opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, killing 15 people and wounding dozens more, Israel’s message to the global Jewish community was clear.
“Today, Jews are being hunted across the world,” Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said in the aftermath of the massacre, calling on Jews in Australia, Britain, France, Canada, and Belgium to “come home” to Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed the sentiment, urging Western governments to do more to protect Jewish citizens, while framing Israel as the only place where Jews could truly be safe.
Immigration action
Now the government appears to be backing up the words with action.
According to the Hebrew newspaper Makor Rishon, officials have begun advancing an emergency immigration plan called Aliyat HaTekuma, designed to fast-track the immigration process for those coming from countries experiencing a surge in antisemitism. (“Israel urges Diaspora Jews to come home, but will they?” Jerusalem Post, February 16, 2026)
Those who study Bible prophecy as it is meant to be studied–to be taken literally, unless otherwise directed by Scripture—know that most Jewish people alive at the end of the Church Age will return to God’s chosen land for them. Sadly, it won’t be a time of jubilation, but of great trouble, according to the Lord Jesus (Matthew 24:21).
From that regathering, God will bring out a remnant of people who will finally recognize their True Messiah, Jesus Christ. They will be rescued by the Lord Himself as He descends with the armies of Heaven to put an end to enemies at Armageddon (Revelation 19:11).
In the same sense, I’m convicted that God has gathered another remnant on this violent, Genesis 6-like present earth. This remnant, I believe, consists of those who are saved by the matchless grace of the same Lord who will rescue the Jewish remnant of people who look to Him as He descends and who believe in Him (as given in John 14:6).
A considerably smaller group within the Christian remnant are those looking for Jesus to rescue them before that dark and terrible Day of the Lord begins, when the Tribulation is initiated by the confirming of the covenant of false peace by Antichrist.
(I want to make it clear that ALL who accept Christ for salvation will go to Him in the Rapture, not just those with the pre-Trib Rapture understanding of Bible prophecy.)
The even-smaller remnant–those of the pre-Trib Rapture belief—consists of those who hold to Christ’s promise that we won’t have to endure even one second of the Tribulation.
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10)
You want to be part of this Age-of-Grace remnant—those who know Jesus Christ for salvation. You will thus not have to endure the terrible time of Tribulation that’s about to break upon a violent, unbelieving world that will become subject to Antichrist’s vicious reign. You will not have to suffer God’s Holy wrath that will rain down on sin and rebellion to bring out of that horrendous era that remnant of Jewish believers and all who will accept Christ during that most terrible time in human history.
The pre-Tribulation Rapture will, in the twinkling of an eye, take (paralambano) all believers in Jesus Christ into His presence in the clouds of Glory.
Here is how to make sure you are part of this present-day Christian remnant before the coming judgment and wrath of God:
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)
Rapture Ready…Or Not
Rapture Ready…Or Not
Author’s note: I believe I am prompted to again present my book Rapture Ready…Or Not: 15 Reasons This Is the Generation That Will Be Left Behind, published in 2016 by New Leaf Press.—Thus because all indicators are pointing with flashing forewarning that the Tribulation (Daniel’s seventieth week) is almost upon this generation of those who reject Christ’s saving grace.
My article this week is the preface to that book (very lightly edited). It leads into the book by my telling of my clinical death.
I heard recently Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Dallas, cautioning in the strongest terms against believing accounts of those who claim to have died, gone to Heaven, then returned to tell of the matter. I agree. I have always been most wary of such accounts.
Dr. Jeffress says that the Bible is sufficient, and there is no need for any extrabiblical information about Heaven or what happens after death.
Again, I agree totally. However, I can do no other than testify as to what happened the moment my heart stopped that fateful day.
This book, I sense, is one of the most relevant for this late hour of the Church Age (Age of Grace) even though things described and reported are dated to the times ten years ago, and don’t account for the tremendous prophetic stage-setting taking place, especially since the influences of the second Trump Administration.
I think you will agree the book nonetheless is on point about Bible prophecy truth in every chapter. In-depth information about the pre-Tribulation Rapture and the reasons it’s about to happen is needed at this critical hour. My prayerful hope is that many reading this will, even if they have that volume already, want to get additional copies for pastors, teachers in the churches, and people in the pews, many of whom have no idea of just how near we are to moment when Jesus steps onto the clouds of Glory and shouts “Come up here!”
Information about how to get the book is posted below the article.
Instantaneously, I stood before a throng of cheering people who appeared to be in their mid-twenties. Young men and young women looked at me with expressions of absolute jubilation projecting from the most beautiful faces I’ve seen. Their hands were thrusting at full arm’s length above their heads while they looked into my eyes. I knew theirs was a cheer for some immense victory. They were bidding me to join them—or so I thought at that eternal moment.
But everything turned dark again, and I heard someone say, “I had to hit him with the paddles.”
“What paddles?” I asked.
“Your heart stopped and I had to use the defib paddles,” the young man’s voice said.
In what seemed mere moments, I heard a strange sound, the same one I had heard immediately before standing in front of that cheering throng. It was a blip sound, like that of going from one computer application to another.
I instantly stood for the second time before the same wildly cheering young men and women, their hands again thrusting upward, as if expressing victory. They laughed and gracefully jumped up and down while looking into my eyes with pure delight projecting into my core being, causing an inner warmth I had not known before that moment.
Things started darkening around me again, and I said—whether audibly or not, I don’t know—that I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to stay with them—wanted to join them.
But I was again on the gurney, or hospital cath-lab table. “What are you doing?” I asked the people who were working feverishly on me.
“They’re trying to save your life,” came the voice from the one who had said he had to use the defib paddles.
Then it happened again. I heard the electronic-sounding blip. Immediately, for the third time, I stood with the beautiful young women and handsome young men. This time I joined them while they continued to look into my eyes and wave their hands high above their heads.
This time we were running, and they were looking over at me while we ran. Toward what, I don’t know. We were moving swiftly, with no effort whatsoever, toward something wonderful—toward the reason for this “victory lap.”
The darkness came again, and I was again on the table. I didn’t want to be there. I wanted to be with the group I had somehow gotten to feel a visceral part of during my three trips to…where? I don’t know.
It was Good Friday, April 22, 2011, and I was said to be dead on arrival, and then was clinically dead—flatlined—on two other occasions. The interventional cardiologist told me that 95 percent of people with the “widow maker” never make it to the cath lab. Of those who do, he informed, only 50 percent live. Then he wanted me to look at the picture of my artery and what he had done to remove the blockage that had stopped my heart.
I told him I couldn’t see it. I’ve been totally blind since a hereditary retinal disease took my eyesight almost twenty years earlier.
“You should see where I’ve just been,” I tried to tell the doctor and the others who had just pulled off a medical miracle. They were too busy to listen.
My case was so unusual and the “miracle” of my recovery was so astounding that the cardiologist association of my state gave me the “Cardiologist Patient of the Year Award,” which still sits on a shelf in my office.
There isn’t a day that passes that I don’t think deeply on the reason for my experience—my trip into that realm, suspended somewhere between life and death, that could only be described as being on the periphery of Heaven.
Although there are reasons beyond my ability to know why I was allowed that Good Friday trip to be with those cheering, young, heavenly beings, I have been given over the months since some answers as to what the experience was about. I intend to share that knowledge here. Not only do I want to share what I know the experience involved, but I must tell you, because I am absolutely required to do so. It is my commission from God in Heaven. The purpose is that important.
My commission is to tell you that there is coming—and very soon—one specific tick of the clock’s second hand that is going to convulse every culture, every society, every individual on planet earth. God has spoken it. It will happen. That instant of time will be the event that is one of the most derided, the most mocked, of all biblical truths. It will come without any immediate forewarning. But it will not happen without a great number of prophetic signposts that presage its occurrence.
As a matter of fact, those signals are literally pulsing all around us at this moment. The very atmosphere is electric with the heavenly siren call to be alert. Something of earth-shocking impact is about to happen.
Multiplied millions of people across the world will disappear in less than a microsecond. The aftermath of the sudden vanishing in America in particular will produce carnage that staggers the imagination. Those left behind will face problems that will make any situations they are presently experiencing seem nothing by comparison.
Beware and aware: Believe it or not, it is going to happen. According to the signals that warn of its horror-filled aftermath, the Rapture is about to rip civilization as no other event since the Flood of Noah’s day.
This is the distinct impression permanently engraved into my spirit on that Good Friday, 2011.
The crowd’s cheering—the young, heavenly beings which were, I believe the cloud of witnesses of Hebrews 12:1–3—my spirit-impression tells me, is for the message I have been disseminating for many years through books, speaking engagements, broadcasts, and articles on our website, www.raptureready.com. However, the young heavenly cheerleaders were mostly praising. They weren’t praising me or the others who present the message of the Rapture in all its truth—although that was part of the reason they cheered. They were praising God that this astonishing event is on the very brink of bringing the vast body of believers into the Father’s house, just as God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, promised. Their jubilation was Heaven’s validation of the view of the Rapture that proclaims that believers in Jesus Christ—alone—for salvation will be brought instantaneously into His blessed presence before the most horrendous time of human history breaks upon a world ripe for judgment. Be assured: Rapture ready or not, these things are about to take place!
To order Rapture Ready…Or Not: 15 Reasons This Is the Generation That Will Be Left Behind, here’s the link:
Donation Drive February through April of 2026
Satan and his evil minions, both demonic and human, almost hourly seem to turn down the rheostat of spiritual enlightenment. The incremental darkening can’t be missed by those who are observing these times.
However, while that hellish darkening process intensifies, as witnessed here in our own nation in places like Minneapolis, Chicago, and other blue cities, and in the Middle East with the slaughter by the Iranian regime, we who belong to Christ have within us the light that cannot be turned down or extinguished.
Our Lord said the following:
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14–16)
Dear Rapture Ready family:
Jesus’ words, issued two thousand years ago, describe His thoughts about you and me as we strive to put forth light in His holy name. We’re here on this fallen planet at a time He knew would be the spiritual environment of darkening evil at the very end of this Age of Grace.
This website strives to put forth in this ever-darkening world truth from the very heart of God. Our purpose is to fit within Christ’s definition: “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hil [that] cannot be hid.”
You—as a citizen of Heaven and as a sojourner, a royal ambassador for God’s Kingdom upon this fallen planet—are part of that light. It is the heavenly light that all who are lost in the darkness of sin will forever be without…apart from God’s saving grace.
It is vital to the great cause of bringing souls under God’s saving grace for Rapture Ready to have the support of you, our RR family—that is, the family of God.
We’ve been assigned to be the light of the world. We’re like the Lord’s description of the shining city on a hill that cannot be hidden. We cannot let our efforts diminish but must make that light brighter than ever in these darkening hours so near the Tribulation.
The minions of the Ephesians 6:12 cabal (the wickedness in high places against which we struggle) are doing everything within their demonic power to turn off God’s light. This includes coming against this website as we strive to enlighten the world of cyberspace with truth.
For example: During this last quarter, Todd has had to increase the ad budget for RR. This is necessary because of restrictive movement placed on the site by those who govern Google, et cetera. This interference has diminished our prominence in regard to being easily accessed by those looking to link to Raptureready.com.
Unfortunately, the greatly increased expenditure is the only way to reach new people. Social media sites have a monopoly over the internet. The move has increased our traffic by 20 percent.
But this attempt to boost traffic to the level needed is expensive. We need more revenue to make Raptureready.com more easily accessible to those searching for God’s truth. We need you, our RR family members, to help keep God’s light bright in this spiritually darkening time so near Christ’s call to the Church in the Rapture.
I heard Dr. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas just as I was writing this appeal. He quoted a pastor he knows, who said: “When we leave this earth we will leave all in our bank account behind. That is, except for that which we send on ahead to our Heavenly Bank Account.”
The compounding interest that accrues from that investment over the trillions of years into eternity will reap heavenly riches beyond anything we can imagine.
But the souls saved because of our contributions will doubtless reap the greatest heavenly rewards of all!
There are three ways you can contribute to RR: You can send a financial gift via our P.O. Box, you can make a one-time donation, or you can make monthly donations. If you’re interested in signing up to do that, find the links on the Donation Depot page.
Donations can be sent to our P.O. Box at:
Rapture Ready
P.O. Box 969
Benton, AR 72018
–Terry
Perfect Prophetic Storm
It was one of the last major great weather events I remember being able to see. I lost my eyesight within a few years, but this storm stands out in my memory as no other.
What makes it stand out is that the news cameras were all trained at one point on the summer White House of President George H. W. Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine. The raging Atlantic waves were actually crashing into the home, and it was feared it would be washed away, the continuing assault was so powerful.
Here is a brief description of that great storm:
In late October 28 into early November 1991, a fierce storm wreaked havoc on the high seas, bringing hurricane-force winds, major coastal flooding, and perilous waves to New England. Though it never actually made landfall in the United States, it is regarded as a highly unusual and record-setting storm for the northwest Atlantic Ocean and was memorialized in the book Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger and a movie of the same name.…
In the first few days of November, the “Perfect Storm” evolved into a tropical cyclone, and then quickly evolved into a hurricane as it sped back towards the northeast. On November 2, it passed over the same area where it had originated, landfalling in Nova Scotia…
there were isolated rogue waves reported as high as 90 feet in the North Atlantic. Hurricane-force wind gusts, reaching almost 80 miles per hour in certain areas, swept the coasts and whipped seas into a frenzy.
There can be no doubt that, though it never touched down on American soil, the “Perfect Storm” will forever be remembered as a benchmark storm for the North Atlantic. (“Remembering the ‘Perfect Storm’,” National Weather Service Heritage—Virtual Lab, By Emily Senesac (edited by Greg Romano)
This was the storm that sank the Andrea Gail, a 72-foot fishing vessel, and took the lives of six crewmen.
That infamous storm will always be pointed to with legendary implication, much as the storm years earlier that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald in the Great Lakes.
The remembrance of that 1991 storm I was able to watch unfold, and the winter storm of a week or so ago I was not able to “watch”—the one predicted to be a storm like no other, at least for the central US—engendered thoughts of things we believe are coming together in a perfect prophetic storm.
The ingredients are now in place to produce the great Tribulation storm that will make all the maelstrom of human history seem insignificant by comparison when it breaks full-blown upon anti-God rebels left behind on earth. I often refer to developments we see coming together for this perfect storm as the stage being set for the seven years known as “Daniel’s seventieth week.”
Just as weather watchers could observe the various elements of that 1991 storm and the recent winter storm, so the student of God’s prophetic Word can observe what’s coming. We can witness and report the most prominent elements forecast by Jesus and the prophets as those ingredients coalesce while the Tribulation approaches.
With God’s chosen nation, Israel, at the center of world turmoil, and with many lesser ingredients on the stormfront horizon, here are the key elements that continue to come together that will produce the unprecedented prophetic storm John saw when he was inspired to write the Revelation.
Wars and Rumors of War
Wars are raging, as has been constantly in the news in the Middle East and the arena of the former USSR. The rumors of war have never in humankind’s history been more prolific.
America’s powerful naval forces now churn into the region, bringing speculation that a US military action against Iran will likely ignite a greater regional conflict. Nuclear war is a possibility, it is speculated, while the Iranian terrorist regime threatens to sink the Abraham Lincoln American aircraft carrier and fire on other US military assets.
As part of the overall buildup to war, the major coalition members that will constitute the Gog-Magog attack of Ezekiel 38–39 have come together north of Israel.
As we’ve looked at previously, economics–the need for fiscal stability among Russia, Persia (Iran) and Turkey (Togarmah) in order to quell unrest that threatens these dictatorships likely will drive the leadership to have that evil” thought” that will lead to seek “great spoil” to the south.
The Cry for Peace
The fears produced by the buildup toward war are bringing forth an unprecedented call for peace among the nations. This is a primary indicator the Bible gives as proof that great destruction—the destruction of the Tribulation—is about to occur.
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. (1 Thessalonians 5:1–3)
All we have to do is consider the cry for peace that’s in the news every hour of every news cycle. The Board of Peace the American president has presented to the world’s leaders is nothing short of profound in setting the stage for the perfect prophetic storm.
Leaders who have always been completely against everything Mr. Trump ever proposed apparently can’t resist climbing on the Trump Board of Peace train. Even Russia’s Vladimir Putin seems intrigued—wondering, no doubt, how to gain something economically advantageous by joining with the multi-world leader group part of Trump’s proposed peace initiative.
The Board of Peace comes at a time when all other ingredients for the perfect prophetic storm are brewing. And this is where I suspect a very special ingredient that ties this time so close to the Tribulation together.
Jesus’ Days of Lot Prophecy
As readers know, the one prophecy I believe most relevant to our time is Jesus’ word about the days of Lot:
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)
While all the volatile ingredients of the building Tribulation Storm are coalescing, Jesus gives those of us who are watchers (Mark 13:37) a heads-up on precisely what life will be like. And, again, I believe our Lord might have had America in mind when He gave this prophecy.
I say this because unless one just will not admit to truth, this country must be considered the apex nation of world history, so far as being materially blessed—and next to Israel so far as being spiritually blessed.
However, America, it is tragic and sad to say, has long since departed from God’s supreme directions in so many ways. We have become almost a twin—or I should say a “triplet”?—of Sodom and Gomorrah in ways of cultural anti-God comportment.
Our Lord said He will next catastrophically intervene into the wicked affairs of humankind—not at a time when there is world war or economic collapse into depression, but at a time of buying, selling, building, planting, and marrying—all the activities that indicate business as usual. As a matter of fact, I believe we are beginning to see economic times boom, as Sodom did in Lot’s day.
It will be at that time—like in the case of Lot’s day in Sodom—when Christ will call all believers to Himself in the clouds of Glory. That “sudden destruction” of 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 will then take place. That is, it will take place at the same time as the cry for peace is taking place!
I believe we are seeing the perfect prophetic storm very near the point of breaking upon a world totally unsuspecting that it is coming. “Like a snare,” it will come upon the entire world (Luke 21:35).
A Special Thank You!
The donation request for the Pakistani ministry was very successful, thanks to you wonderful brothers and sisters who so generously opened up your hearts to this effort.
Soon our Pakistani Pastor Anil will send for posting his personal note of gratitude to you and thanks to our Lord.
The printing and distribution of my two little books, Prophecy Power: Strength from God to Face Your Future and HeavenVision: Glimpses into Glory are now in process there in Pakistan. Let us pray together that many souls come to Christ in this mission effort!
Again, may our Lord bless each of you in every way!
—Terry
PS—I sent personal notes of thanks through email to those of you who included your email addresses with your donation.
Unfortunately, a few of those notes came back as undeliverable. So, to those who didn’t get my personal thanks, please send me an email at wtjames1@swbell.net and I’ll respond with a thank-you note, which is what I very much want to do.