In thinking on this commentary, it occurred to me that Genesis chapter 6 came into view when Khaled Mashal, former leader and a founding member of Hamas, called for war not just against Israel but against the entire world. He demanded that all of the Muslim nations surrounding the Jewish state come together and begin attacking in all-out jihad.

But he said it wouldn’t stop there. The entirety of Islam must take over the world, using all the violence, death and mayhem that could be mustered. The holy prophet Muhammad had long ago ordered such an action to fulfill Allah’s wishes, Mashal says. Those wishes included world conquest so peace and joy could then reign on earth.

This brought into view thoughts that I believe are most relevant at this moment regarding God’s prophetic timeline. Here are Jesus’ words predicting how things will be when He next intervenes into the affairs of wicked, rebellious humankind:

And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:26)

So what was going on that caused the Lord to completely destroy all flesh on earth except for Noah and his family? Genesis provides the answer:

And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. (Genesis 6:13)

Can we doubt with any degree of certainty that, over the past years, we’ve witnessed developments hinting strongly that the world is becoming like it was in those antediluvian times? Can we doubt that we’re seeing corruption that seemingly rivals that of the days of Noah? Just within the past two weeks or so, we’ve seen growing violence, as understood from the words of Mashal, who wants all-out jihad not just against Israel, but against all people who resist Mohammad’s call to Islamic world domination.

A former Muslim terrorist who is now a Christian was the first to expose the contents of Mashal’s demand for increased jihad. Brother Rachid, as he is called, gave the following as some of the Hamas founder’s desires.

1.      To show anger, especially next Friday [October 13, 2023] in Muslim countries and also among Muslim Diaspora around the world; he called it “the Friday of Al-Aqsa flood”, he said this will send a message of rage to Zionists and to America.
2.      He asked for financial help from all Muslims around the world; to help with their money, he called it “Financial Jihad”. He asked Muslims to give to the fighters of Gaza in order to compensate them for the destruction.
3.      He asked political pressure, from Muslim leaders and Muslim nations, to stop Israel’s military invasion of Gaza.
4.      The most important thing: He asked all Muslims around the world to carry Jihad by their souls; to fight and be martyrs for Al-Aqsa. He wants Muslims to fight against the Jews, starting with Muslims who live in the countries surrounding Israel: Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt (but also other countries), to go to the borders and try to enter, each by his own means. He said: This is the time for Jihad to be applied on the ground rather than just in theory. He asked the Mujahedeen to go in long caravans to spell their blood on the land of Palestine. (“Hamas Leader Calls For Global Muslim Uprising In ‘Day Of Rage’ On Friday, Report Says,” Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge, October 11, 2023)

The Genesis 6 sickness spreading by the likes of Mashal and other wicked minions are front and center at this advanced moment on God’s prophetic timeline:

Scenes of indescribable horror in which infants and babies were slaughtered — with some beheaded — in the kibbutz of Kfar Aza in southern Israel by Hamas terrorists were reported by international media on Tuesday morning.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) took dozens of foreign reporters to witness the site of the massacre on Tuesday. Charred homes stood in the background as smoke wafted in the air and the bodies of dead civilians and terrorists still littered the ground.

The journalists, under the protection of dozens of Israeli soldiers, toured the site with cameras rolling.
“It’s not a war,” Gen. Itai Veruv, head of the IDF’s Depth Command, told reporters. “It’s not a battlefield. You see the babies, the mothers, the fathers in their bedrooms, in their protection rooms, and how the terrorists kill them … It’s a massacre.”

The scene recalled some of the darkest chapters in Jewish history. Israeli officials have called Hamas’ surprise invasion of Israel over the weekend — in which Kfar Aza was one of the hardest hit areas — one of the largest massacres of Jews since the Holocaust. (“ ‘It’s a Massacre’: Babies Reportedly Slaughtered by Hamas Terrorists in Kibbutz Avatar,” by Algemeiner staff)

The Genesis 6 sickness has infected not just those who would wage atrocities against the Jews. The evil has spread to every culture on earth—including our own here in America. (Consider, for example, the many millions of babies in their mothers’ wombs who have been murdered through abortion, their bodies torn apart in the process.)

I believe Jesus’ “days of Lot” prophecy (Luke 17:28) spoke to the way things are in America today just before the Rapture. It is the Lord’s prophecy of coming destruction on a specific locale, like Sodom and Gomorrah in those ancient times. Thus, while His “days of Noah” (Luke 17:26) prophecy was about the way things are quickly developing worldwide—as witnessed by Mashal’s call for global jihad. Violence indeed is filling the whole earth!

Dr. David Jeremiah addressed to some extent this matter recently:

A rainbow. Animals marching two-by-two. A famous boat ride.

This is the happy picture so many of us have from childhood of the biblical story of Noah. But the message behind the story is much more serious—a depiction of God’s judgment raining down on a sinful world…with a critically important prophetic connection!

Jesus warns His followers, including you and me today:

So…are we living in those “days of Noah?”

The short answer is yes—our world today is just like Noah’s before the flood.
Jesus warns His followers, including you and me today:

“But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”—Matthew 24:37-39

Just like the ark that Noah was building could have been seen for miles, the warning signs for this generation are all around us. The clouds are gathering. Distant thunder is rumbling. And the door to salvation stands open. For now.

But despite warnings, people do not expect judgment. Noah’s neighbors did not expect a flood—and neither do yours.

Deep down, most people—if they give any thought to eternity at all—tend to think they will have a chance at the last minute to say or do the right thing to secure their place in God’s kingdom.
But the Rapture doesn’t work that way. It will be instant and irreversible.

And on that day, when God shuts the door as securely as He shut the door on the ark, no amount of knocking, pounding, or pleading will open it.

This is why you and I must be ready.

And why we must do everything possible to give our families, our friends, and our world every opportunity to enter in now—before it’s eternally too late! (Dr. David Jeremiah, Turning Point, October 12, 2023)

(I highly recommend Dr. Jeremiah’s new book on the Rapture: The Great Disappearance. You can find it at Davidjeremiah.org.)

Here is how to be ready before that ark door closes—the only way to be Rapture ready:

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)

In preparing to speak at the Prophecy Watchers conference at Norman, Oklahoma, recently, my chosen topic, “As it was in the days of Lot,” led, naturally, into thoughts concerning the wickedness of the days Jesus intimated.

The Lord gave, as I believe and presented, only the “business as usual” aspect of the days of Lot prophecy as recorded in Luke 17:28–30. But His prophecy that judgment of complete destruction would fall the very day He is next “revealed,” as happened in the day Lot was removed—and knowing the Genesis chapter 19 story—leaves no doubt. Evil just beneath that “business as usual” façade had saturated the culture.

That wickedness had become so egregious, had so singed the nostrils of God, that the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were completely erased with fire and brimstone from Heaven. In thinking on our day in America at this time, we see exact parallels to Sodom and to Gomorrah.

Lot had become mixed with the commerce and everyday activity of Sodom, serving as a city administrator in the gate to Sodom. Yet Peter tells us that Lot was “vexed” from day to day with the ungodliness that surrounded him. He had, in fact, I think the Scripture shows, backslidden to the point that he thought and behaved much like the rest of that society. Yet God considered him righteous in His holy eyes.

The proof that Lot had assimilated to the society is seen in that, when the nighttime fell and the true evil of the city surfaced, he was willing to act in an ungodly fashion. He offered the raging homosexual men of Sodom his daughters to sexually do with as they wished to keep from giving the depraved horde the two men from God he had taken into his home.

The proof Lot was nonetheless righteous is given without any shadow of doubt. God removed the only righteous people to the safety outside of Sodom—Lot and his two daughters, who themselves were less than holy in their conduct, as seen later when, away from doomed Sodom, they got their father drunk and had sexual relations with him.

This is proof that the only way to salvation is belief. Like Abraham, Lot’s uncle, Lot and his daughters obviously, despite their ungodly behavior, believed in their hearts the Lord God, and thus were removed from Sodom before God’s wrath rained down.

This means that all believers, no matter their state of faithfulness to conduct themselves as the Holy Spirit directs, are saved forever. Because the Rapture is a matter of who is in Christ (saved through belief in Him), all who are born again will go to Christ at the Rapture. We have only to read again Romans 8:38–39 to understand the scope of God’s love for His family. There is no one and nothing that can separate those who are in His family from the Heavenly Father.

This said, I must forewarn that God is the perfect Father, and such ungodliness amongst His family means divine discipline is on the way.

We are now, I am convinced because of all the things we see developing, at that point of Sodom-like configuration Jesus pointed to in Luke 17:28–30. The evil and wickedness have, in the past few years, saturated our culture and society. Yet, on the surface, there is a business-as-usual civility, with buying, selling, marrying, building, planting, etc., in this nation. Much more to the point, the evil we are witnessing is far more than just rampant. The wickedness is now at the point of being deliberately and without apology organized so that it has melded with the surface of everyday life.

Satan and his minions, both demonic and human, have implemented the hellish plan. Not only has the devil’s plan to ultimately bring all under his son of perdition’s rule been mainstreamed within the nation’s daily life, but it seems that the majority of Americans, even within many of the born again, have been sedated to the point that they neither understand nor care how near we are to the time Jesus spoke of:

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, nor shall ever be. (Matthew 24 21)     

The evil becoming mainstreamed and highly organized can be understood by reports of the wickedness being ramped up, such as follows.

Los Angeles elementary schools with students as young as five will participate in a weeklong celebration of “National Coming Out Day” starting Monday.

Suggested lesson plans for elementary students around LGBTQ+ topics. The document, which a teacher shared with City Journal, noted teachers can adapt the lesson plans to better suit the needs of their students.

The Los Angeles Unified School District is honoring “National Coming Out Day” with a week of action in its elementary schools…

The toolkit’s lesson plan suggests highlighting biographies of major LGBTQ+ advocates each day of the school week. Among those listed include transgender reality star Jazz Jennings, transgender actor Elliot Page and Carl Nassib, the first openly gay NFL player. (“LA elementary schools to celebrate National Coming Out Day with a week of LGBTQ lessons,” Teny Sahakian, associate producer/writer for Fox News, October 5, 2023)

It should be crystal clear to those who are watching as the Lord instructed. We are rapidly approaching the time like it was in the days of Lot when God judged Sodom with complete destruction. We are now at the time of satanically-organized evil. At the center of our society is a concerted effort to infect, through intensive inculcation, the very youngest among us with the anti-God, Sodomite purulence.

This evil that has invaded and changed America into an almost mirror image of ancient Sodom should alert us that Christ must be about to step onto the clouds of glory. You want to hear Him when He calls and the trumpet sounds. Here is how to go to Jesus when He shouts, “Come up here!”

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)

One of the strongest indicators of the approach of the Tribulation can be found in looking at things going on today through the prism of the following Scripture:

Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. (Revelation 9:21)

A single element is most often found at the center of these wicked activities today. The ignition point of these things God says people won’t repent of, seems to me, is wrapped up in the word “sorceries.”

The word “sorcery” is translated from the Greek pharmakeia (Strong’s G5331, KJV). The definition includes, as part of its scope of evil, the matter of witchcraft. It is used in God’s prophetic Word as reason for destruction of that city of global influence—the city and the worldwide system called “Babylon the Great”:

And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. (Revelation 18:23)

The most profound evil of this great city and its global influence is found in the condemnation: “for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.”

Can we agree that deception permeates every aspect of our society and culture today here in America? And can we agree that the fact that we derive the word for “drugs” from pharmakeia lends credence to the charge that this nation is at the center of the stage being set for the Tribulation to come?

Our borders have been leveraged fully open at our southern most parts. The drugs are pouring through the openings by carriers, many of whom are drug cartel members involved in human trafficking and even trafficking of children for sexual wickedness.

Our nation, through an explosive illegal drug eruption, is deceiving the world with its transport capability to infuse many people with mind-altering drugs. Through America’s “sorceries,” “all nations [are] deceived.”

One writer of interest observed:

We are not now in the 7-year Tribulation Period. But again, many present-day developments are already setting the stage for Daniel’s 70th week. Cartoons, TV shows, movies, and books (ex: Harry Potter) are laying the foundation for a world deceived by the occult. Cannabis, ketamine, speed and other so-called “soft drugs” are becoming mainstream. The world is being conditioned to accept that which the Lord clearly forbids. This includes the widespread use of (experimental) drugs. (“The Rich and their Pharmakeia,” Thomas, R. L., 1995, Revelation 8–22: An Exegetical Commentary, Chicago: Moody Press)

Even more concerning than our nation infecting the entire world with our sorceries and all of the other evils Revelation warns will bring devastating judgment are the effects the drug madness is inflicting here at home:

A Fairfield father says that a federally funded health clinic operating within Lawrence High School provided his minor daughter with a baggy of prescription anti-depressants without his knowledge or consent.

When the girl’s father, Eric Sack, discovered the baggy of pills over the weekend, his daughter told him that it was provided to her by the Bulldog Health Center, a School Based Health Center (SBHC) at Lawrence High School.

Sack saw the pills as an infringement on his parental rights, but he was also concerned that the school’s clinic sent unlabeled drugs with no child-resistant container into his home, where his two other younger children also live…

Sack pulled his daughter out of the public school this week to make her appointments with a doctor and a therapist.

“I’m looking out for the best interests of my daughter. That’s why I pulled her out of school,” said Sack. “Because I don’t think she really ought to be there if they’re going to start giving her pills, you know? Until I sit down with a doctor that I pick for my daughter, not through the school.”…

On Thursday, an agent from Child Protective Services (CPS) called Sack and informed him that he would be arriving shortly to make a surprise visit to his home to conduct a child welfare investigation…

“They called and said it was an emergency situation at my house, that I was pretty near holding my daughter hostage, is what the gentleman that came yesterday told me,” Sack said.

“He had information that only the school and Bulldog Health Center had,” he said.

For three hours, CPS Agent Dylan Wood grilled Sack and his family individually and as a group, including asking questions about Sack’s firearms and where he keeps them. (“Maine Dad Says High School Clinic Sent 17-Year-Old Daughter Home with Secret Baggy of Zoloft, Sicced Child Protective Services on Him for Complaining,” Steve Robinson, The Maine Wire, RR News, September 28, 2023)

The above deception by secretly sending this girl home with drugs is bad enough, but stories abound of fentanyl being made available in various forms, and that is the even deadlier form of evil being perpetrated by the drug lords. Thousands of young people and children are dying so the wicked merchants of earth can make their millions and even billions of dollars.

All of this is preparing the stage for the coming of Antichrist’s regime and all-out satanic assault upon the people left behind to go through that horrendous era called Daniel’s seventieth week and the Tribulation.

You don’t want to be here during the time Jesus said will be the worst of all human history. Here is how to avoid being trapped on this drug-saturated, judgment-bound planet when the Rapture occurs:

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the lord Jesus Christ, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)

The prophet Daniel would have been amazed at what we see happening all around us today. His question must have burned in the deepest part of his spirit while he appealed to the messenger who had just spoken about the end of all things:

And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? (Daniel 12:7–8)

Daniel, after being given so much to take in from the messenger-angel from Heaven, must have been bursting with desire to know the outcome of humanity’s plight. He must have been especially wanting to know the details of what would become of his own people, Israel. The angel was permitted only to say the following in answer to the great, old prophet’s question:

Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. (Daniel 12:9–10)

I believe this generation is in the time the angel was speaking of in telling Daniel that the “wise shall understand.” We who “watch,” according to Jesus’ commandment (Mark 13: 37) are literally deluged with signal after signal of the lateness of the prophetic hour. We continually present from the hourly news accounts all of the signs Jesus told us to watch for.

We certainly can identify those the angel spoke about with the words, “the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand.” That group is easily identifiable just within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) meetings last week. And we can also be identified today with the angel’s words, “but the wise shall understand.”

The following explanation, I hope, will make the distinction between the wicked and the wise crystal clear, and will help determine whether we are the generation the angel said will be here when that end-times book is opened.

This past week, I was told that my friend Tom Cote (“Watchman River Tom”),  a first-rate biblical prophecy observer, had what he called one of the best moments of his life. He said that many fellow prophecy watchers who read these columns and view podcasts were apparently experiencing the same amazing thing. He said he saw you in action on the UN’s live video feed on YouTube.

That forum has almost three million subscribers. Tom reported that the video of the SDG summit had a lot of red lights. Then something happened in the accompanying chat that amazed. Tom reported that it was, to his way of thinking, like a live wall of Jesus that manifested. It was incredible, he said.

The live chat was full of born-again believers—the Body of Christ. Tom said he was watching 2 Thessalonians 2:7–8—“He who now restrains”—in action: He felt as if he were watching the Restrainer restrain.

He reported that the comments were “Jesus is King”; “We love Jesus”; “When they say peace and safety sudden destruction comes”; and “Jesus has won the victory.”

It was—of all things—a sea of “Jesus” comments on a forum designed for the New World Order minions! He said that about 98 percent of the comments were about Jesus. He reported that occasionally someone obviously a part of the UN Great Reset agglomeration would come on and say things like, “What is going on here?” Again, Tom says it was an incredible moment.

There was confusion among the Ephesians 6:12 minions (my comment, not his).

There are indeed incredible things happening—both in regard to the stage being set for prophecy to be fulfilled and amongst those who yearn for our Lord’s call in the Rapture.

I believe with all within my spirit that those who truly are watching, according to Mark 13:37, Luke 21:28, Titus 2:13, and other scriptural instructions, can see more clearly how near we are to that call. Each moment-by-moment unveiling of the issues and events speaks into our spiritual hearts: “Your Redeemer is drawing near.”

It is more than obvious that those who “watch” are receiving end-times enlightenment. The Holy Spirit is, I believe, giving the heavenly heads-up that Jesus is about to step out on the clouds of glory and say, as He said to John, “Come up here!” (Revelation 4: 1).

You don’t want to miss that thrilling command by the Lord of all Creation, who died as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world to save us from the sin into which we were born so that you and I could live eternally in the presence of God.

Here is how to go to the Savior when He calls in that great event we know as the Rapture:

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)

We receive reports each day that war is about to burst forth, that the world will change instantly when things suddenly go out of control. Global diplomats and governors will be helpless to assuage the rage into world war once the attacks begin.

For example, one front-and-center story that warns of war involves an ages-long trouble spot that has threatened to initiate nuclear conflict.

Is China “Massing Forces at Coastal Military Bases” in Preparation for an Invasion of Taiwan?

If the Chinese decide to pull the trigger on an invasion of Taiwan, it will instantly become the biggest news story in the entire world.  Because the moment that an invasion of Taiwan begins, the United States and China will be at war and nothing will ever be the same again. (Rapture Ready News, September 15, 2023)

The Russian invasion into Ukraine and the bellicose rants of some of Vladimir Putin’s military and diplomatic leaders make it clear the former Soviet Empire is again about to raise its ugly head. They threaten nuclear war at almost every opportunity. We can see that things are ramping up for the coming war against Israel, according to Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.

Many pundits—even from the Bible-prophecy perspective—are warning that America might at any moment be invaded from the northern and southern borders by the Chinese and Russian militaries. This is despite the fact that: 1) there is not sufficient evidence to support the supposed threats, and 2) such hyperbole goes against what God’s Word indicates for both the “King of the kings of the east” (Revelation chapters 9 and 16) and Rosh (Russia), as indicated in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.

Both of these bad actors on the war-making stage are destined to do their dastardly worst in other places of the world. Both China and Russia will be dealt with in the proper places and times by the Lord Himself, we are assured.

If these diabolists attacked the United States, our military would react, regardless of the feared impotence of the presidential administration and top military of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sort. There are automatic reaction forces in place to, through nuclear submarine retaliation alone, make such attacks by America’s chief enemies a suicide mission for the entire world.

This realized and stated, such potential for making a totally destructive war that threatens to end life on earth has its place in Bible prophecy. This truth is wrapped up in the one who will become the world’s last and most powerful evil dictator.

Actually it will be the threat of war that will cause the world to hand this wicked man his dictatorial crown. We are told this by Daniel the prophet:

And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant. (Daniel 11:21–22)  

Daniel went on to say:

And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. (Daniel 11:36–37)

This is in reference, of course, to the “prince that shall come” of Daniel chapter 9. This evil prince—the son of perdition, the man of sin, the Antichrist—will come in by offering peace. He won’t have to win victories to achieve the control he desires. People will willingly give it to him.

This, of course, I believe, is verified in the prophecy of the first rider on the white horse of Revelation 6. Antichrist has no arrows, but a bow and crown, which are “given” to him.

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. (Revelation 6: 1–2) 

So this most powerful, evilest despot of all of human history will be, at first, unlike the previous vile dictators on earth. Each of them—like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and all of the ruthless leaders like the Khans of the ancient past—arose to power by murderous, raw aggression. This final one will come with guile and demonically deceptive powers that will make people beg for him to take the crown of dominion they will gladly offer.

The question is valid: Why will such a man be not only accepted, but hailed and given complete adulation by most of the earth’s population?

The answer, of course, is that he will offer peace. This man, through demonic deceptiveness, will offer to take fear of world-rending nuclear war from the fear-filled thoughts of humankind.

We see that fear building even now, in preparation for the time when people will have lost reasoning guided by the Holy Spirit’s influence. The “restrainer” of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 will no longer hold back both the madness of humanity and human emotions. The fear will cause hearts to fail, the Word tells us.

This most charismatic geopolitical leader in history will promise peace and prosperity. But it will be “peace, prosperity and the coming holocaust,” as the title of my friend Dave Hunt’s book so marvelously described.

Here is a further description by God Himself—through Daniel’s vision—of the coming world leader that might even now be itching to take the reins of global government:

And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practice, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. (Daniel 8:23–25)

The fear of all-out nuclear war will clutch the reprobate mindset of most of humanity and will cause them to give Antichrist his crown. He won’t have to fire a shot—at least, not at first. His military firepower and much worse will be used later in his satanically driven holocaust we call the Tribulation.

Antichrist’s great power and authority will come through the false peace he will promise. That delusion that mesmerizes the masses will bring on the worst time of all human history, according to Jesus (Matthew 24:21). Paul the great apostle said the following:

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: 3)

You want to escape that time of horror that humanity faces—perhaps in the very near future. Here’s how to go to Christ when He calls God’s family to Himself to escape Antichrist’s dictatorship:

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)

A very old saying is: “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”

This, of course, is a reference to romanticism—a saying that links a woman’s ability to cook delicious food to winning a man’s love for her. I have no idea about the validity of that connection, but I’ve heard the expression many times over the decades—and long before the saying became more or less passé.

Another saying is: “An army travels on its stomach.” By this, it doesn’t mean soldiers crawl on a battlefield to maintain a low profile to prevent hostile fire from hitting them. It refers an army needing to be well fed to maintain top fighting form—in the same way the army’s war machinery, like tanks, must be kept fueled properly to be effective fighting tools in battle.     

A time is coming when food will be the primary commodity that will fuel Antichrist’s machine of control over most of the earth. The unfortunate people alive at the time will comply with the demands of the man of sin’s regime—or face starvation.

Here is the Scripture verifying that this demand is on the prophetic horizon:

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)

This prophecy, of course, is about the 666 mark those of the Tribulation era must receive—or otherwise be killed, as the prophecy goes on to indicate. It involves the personal pledge of worship to Antichrist that allows people to interact within the economic system of that horrific time.

To most believers who have deeply considered this future time Jesus said will be the worst of all human history (Matthew 24:21), there is little doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) will play a major part in fulfilling Antichrist’s ability to, for a time, control almost all of the world’s population. That swiftly developing technology will, without a doubt, be used to control who eats and who doesn’t.

Those who accept the 666 mark, signifying that they worship the Beast (Antichrist), will have given their souls over to the satanic realm. They will be lost forever—no chance of redemption, according to Revelation 14.

In this sense, AI will be the way to humankind’s stomach, thus to their heart.

I once heard Dr. J. Vernon McGee say that, in the Tribulation, he wouldn’t blame people for breaking into stores and stealing food, because their little children will be starving and will need to eat.

Well, I would—because of the question of age of accountability—have some contention with this great, old preacher about whether there will be children of any age beyond toddlers on earth at that time (which is another topic for another commentary). And, with the AI lockdowns and surveillance capability no doubt a thousand times greater even than it is now, it is doubtful that it will be possible to break in and steal from the Antichrist regime’s food stores.

While there will be many believing martyrs, the Holy Spirit and God’s direct intervention during those years will doubtless be tremendous, so likely miracles from on high will be almost routine. Many refusing the mark will, we can expect, be supernaturally protected and assisted by angelic activity.

That system of Luciferian control, we believe, is currently developing at a pace that is beyond astounding. We can understand the speed of things going on in AI through reports such as the following:

Customs and Border Protection (CBP), part of the Department of Homeland Security, has bought millions of dollars worth of software from a company that uses artificial intelligence to detect “sentiment and emotion” in online posts, according to a cache of documents…

CBP told 404 Media it is using technology to analyze open source information related to inbound and outbound travelers who the agency believes may threaten public safety, national security, or lawful trade and travel. In this case, the specific company called Fivecast also offers “AI-enabled” object recognition in images and video, and detection of “risk terms and phrases” across multiple languages, according to one of the documents.

Fivecast, according to its mission statement is “used and trusted by leading defense, national security, law enforcement, corporate security and financial intelligence organizations around the world” and “deploys unique data collection and AI-enabled analytics to solve the most complex intelligence challenges.” It claims to work with the intelligence agencies of all five nations that comprise the so-called “Five Eyes” — the United Kingdom, United States, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada.

Among the many red flags that Fivecast claims to be able to detect with its software are the emotions of the social media user. Charts contained in the marketing materials uncovered by 404 show metrics regarding various emotions such as “sadness,” “fear,” “anger,” and “disgust” on social media over time. “One chart shows peaks of anger and disgust throughout an early 2020 timeframe of a target, for example,” 404 reports.

Logistical difficulties of AI assessing human emotion aside, this would theoretically open the door for the government to surveil and censor not just the substance of speech, but also the alleged emotion behind that speech (which could potentially at some point be admissible in court to impune the intent/motive of defendants). It’s almost impossible to overestimate the dystopian applications of this technology, which for obvious reasons governments around the world are eager beavers to adopt. (“Techno-Hell: U.S. Government Now Using AI to Suss Out ‘Sentiment and Emotion’ in Social Media Posts” By Ben Bartee, PJ Media, September 7, 2023)

Food shortages are being reported around the world—much of it deliberately contrived by despotic governmental agents. Severe food shortage of the deadliest kind is foretold in God’s Word:

And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. (Revelation 6: 5–6)

Starvation is indicated in this prophecy. The pale horse follows the black horse of starvation, meaning the deaths of many will result from food deprivation. This lack of food availability will certainly be a way Antichrist will control the populations of earth by causing many to worship him or die of starvation.

AI, as we’ve seen, is setting the stage for fulfillment of the rider on the black horse.

You don’t want to be on this judgment-bound planet when the rider on the black horse rides across the globe. Here is how to be in the presence of the Lord through the Rapture, and instead be sitting down to the supper of the Lamb, the greatest meal ever served, while billions on earth are starving because of rejection of God’s way of salvation:

That if thou shalt believe with thine heart the Lord Jesus, and shalt confess with thy mouth that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)

While walking from my office, passing through to another part of our home, I hear my wife’s music CDs playing. On many occasions I hear the same song, obviously among Margaret’s favorites.

Now I find myself humming that song, which has become much more meaningful and even deeply etched into my mind and spirit.

The song is “Teach Us to Number Our Days.” My wife’s favorite version—and now mine—is by Marty Goetz, a Jewish American songwriter and singer.

The words, as I said, powerfully resonate within my spirit. Perhaps that’s because of my advancing age toward the hereafter. However, I believe it to be more and more a God-prompted reminder of just how near I am to facing the Lord Jesus Christ in that glorious, twinkling-of-an-eye instant of Rapture. It might just be a heads-up alerting us to how near all believers, dead and alive, are to looking into Christ’s omniscient eyes at any second and standing before Him to be judged for rewards and crowns at the bema –the Judgment Seat of Christ.

The lyrics of Goetz’s song, based on the words of the following Psalm, are doubly meaningful to those who look for Christ’s soon return. Scripture indicates we should realize the time is drawing near when we will stand before Him, thus we should ask to be totally aware and living righteously every conscious second of our lives.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. (Psalms 90:12–13)

The days each of us has been granted are indeed numbered in God’s heavenly accounting system. God’s Word puts it this way:

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. (Hebrews 9:27)

The Creator of all things measures everything with unerring precision. We’re told that every star is named. Every hair on our heads is numbered. Each and every created order is accounted for. The heavens are stretched and measured. The Creator intimates that He is aware of each grain of sand. His omniscience is without error; there is no place that He isn’t there.

Thinking on asking this great God to teach us to number our days brings to mind, in considering His dealing with rebels down throughout the millennia, His judgment against disobedient humankind.

The thing that stands out to me is that His judgment is measured. We see this truth time after time. He always shows divine patience. He never changes His mind about not being willing for anyone to perish, but wanting all to repent.

Consider the time of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Lord talking with Abraham about measuring the sins of the people of Sodom. The Lord had obviously been patient, but now came down Himself to assess the wicked city’s sins. Finally, when not even ten righteous people could be found, His judgment fell—after He removed Lot and his daughters to safety.

Consider how He dealt with Pharaoh in the days of the great Exodus. His judgment was measured. Each succeeding plague became more punishing until the Israelites were free to go.

Think of Babylon and the wickedness there. God had finally had it after years of Belshazzar’s evil doings. God’s divine measurement system was on full display—and was visible for all to see as His own hand wrote on the wall.

And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. (Daniel 5:25–27)    

Almighty God measures and numbers everything. All is under His all-seeing eye and His omnipotence. We are made in His image. He wants us to number all things in our lives and measure our actions so we will be accounted worthy when we stand before Him in judgment.

We’re told to judge ourselves in this regard so we won’t have to be deemed unworthy by Him:

For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. (1 Corinthians 11:31)

The prophetic application is that God’s measured judgment system is weighing all that is going on at this very moment. We are witnessing warnings of coming judgment because this world of rebels is being “weighed in the balances, and…found wanting.”

Still, the heavenly assessment is measured slowly, deliberately. God is still not willing for anyone to perish, but He wants all to come to repentance.

But judgment and wrath are on the way, make no mistake. And when they come, it will be the most destructive justice ever delivered:

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matthew 24:21)   

Even during that most horrific time of all human history, the judgment and wrath will be measured carefully and precisely.

There will be twenty-one specific judgments to call humanity to repentance, while devastating those filled with anti-God rebelliousness. The seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls of God’s wrath will incrementally rain down God’s holy and righteous anger in measured degrees.

You don’t want to be on this fallen sphere when that judgment falls. God wants us to number our days and live them through Holy Spirit-indwelt righteousness. This means you must be reconciled—made righteous under God’s way of salvation. Here again is how to make sure you go to Christ when He Calls, whether through death or in the Rapture—which we believe can happen at any moment, considering all the signs that are manifesting.

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10: 9-10)

The end-times scent is in the very ambience that surrounds us. Something profound is about to bring change in ways that we can’t fully anticipate. I believe what’s about to change things in this world forever is the great Rapture event.

The Rapture will be the sudden disappearance of people from the earth. Only those who are righteous will vanish. All who are left behind will, at that moment, be unrighteous in God’s holy eyes.

Again, I believe the key prophecy involving the timing of the Rapture is given in the words of Jesus:

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)

So it is essential that we understand the righteous and the unrighteous. Who exactly are these? To get to the heart of what’s involved, I repeat here what I wrote in a previous article.

To begin, we must first consider God’s words to Lot’s uncle, Abraham.

The Lord said He would tell Abraham about things to come, because He knew Abraham would do righteously. God wanted him to know His plan to deal with Sodom’s wickedness, once He determined that action was necessary. The Lord, Himself, stood with Lot, then, and discussed Sodom’s fate, while the Lord’s angel-representatives headed down toward Sodom and Gomorrah.

And the LORD said, because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? (Genesis 18:20–23)

There was then a profound back-and-forth between the Lord God and a lowly human being—Abraham. God answered each of the old man’s questions. Abraham was appealing to God to have those in the wicked cities spared from destruction. He asked if God would relent if 50 were found to be righteous—then 40, then 30, then 20.

Finally, after Abraham asked if God would spare the cities if the Lord could find even 10 righteous and 10 couldn’t be found, Sodom and Gomorrah’s fate was sealed.

God had said to Abraham before the countdown began—following Abraham’s initial question about the possibility of the cities being spared:

That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Genesis 18:25)

It was almost as if the Lord was mildly indignant to be thought of as being so unjust that He would condemn the righteous with the unrighteous.

Alas, there were not 10 righteous left in the city of Sodom. There were only Lot and his small family. God’s Word calls Lot “righteous,” even though Lot dwelt among perhaps the worst culture and society biblically recorded in such detail. The detail was so graphic it made the level of unrighteousness unmistakable.

It was business as usual during daylight hours, with the cities being apparently prosperous—buying, selling, building, planting, etc. But when the sun went down, they became a habitation of every sort of evil—particularly of debauchery, with homosexual rapaciousness leading the wickedness. The lustful males came even against the angels who visited Lot.

The raging men of the city threatened Lot with the worst possible attack if he didn’t go along with them and send out his visitors. They were on the verge of tearing down the door to get at their would-be victims. The only ones God considered righteous in the city at that moment were hated and threatened by the rest, who were the unrighteous.

And this is the angle I would like us to consider for now.

Jesus said in Luke 17:28–30 that it will be for those alive at His next revealing like it was at that time for Lot when he was hated and threatened by the wickedness of that society.

Lot and his two daughters were the only people who escaped the total destruction that descended upon Sodom and its sister city Gomorrah following their removal from those doomed cities. Thus they were the only people God considered righteous.

Now this is a point of considerable questioning of God’s Judgment, in thinking about Lot and those two daughters.

Lot…righteous?

How can a man who offers his daughters up for rape to a town full of sexual deviants be considered “righteous”?

As a matter of fact, how can those two daughters be considered “righteous” when they got their father drunk then had sexual relations with him once they were safely away from Sodom?

Yet Lot and those daughters were considered “righteous,” they were, therefore, the only ones who escaped God’s devastating judgment.

Here is how Peter confirmed Lot’s righteousness:

And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.) (2 Peter 2:6–8)

So Lot and his daughters and their comportment are presented as proof that salvation—and the saving out of Sodom—was not because of their good works. They were obviously, in some ways, as corrupt in behavior as the culture in which they were immersed. What, then, made them “righteous”?

We go again to the story of Abraham to discover the answer. Here it is, the answer to what makes anyone righteous—thus able to escape God’s wrath against the unrighteous.

Moses said of Abraham, under Divine Inspiration: And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. (Genesis 15:6) 

When a fear-filled jailer asked the Apostle Paul, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16: 31).

In other words, Paul was saying that the jailer, those of his household, or anyone else can be saved only through belief in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the way, truth and life (John 14:6). He is the only way to reconciliation with God the Father.

This was true looking forward to the cross during Abraham and Lot’s days. It is true today, looking back to the cross on which God’s Only Begotten Son died for the sins of humankind.

Belief in Christ is the only way to escape from this doomed planet when Jesus calls believers to Himself in the Rapture. Belief in Jesus as God’s designated route to salvation is the only way to be considered righteous.

The story of Lot and his daughters answers the question: Will only Christians walking perfectly with God and looking for the Rapture go to Christ when He calls?

Good works will not get anyone to Heaven. Only Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world–the only righteousness God recognizes—will put the believer in the presence of Christ when He says: “Come up here!” (Revelation 4:1).

Again, here is how to make sure you hear that call and are taken out of the Tribulation that will devastate the rebels of earth, just like God’s judgment and wrath destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10: 9-10)

*********

Just a note here to say again how pleased we are that Jonathan Brentner has joined us in writing for Nearing Midnight. He’s not only a colleague, but a Christian brother and friend I value very highly.

—Terry

A couple of weeks ago in my blog article, “Looking Up While Locking Down,” I attempted to foster a bit of comfort. I tried to make the point that while we see the powerful and wicked minions, both human and demonic, going all out to bring all people on the planet into global gulag, we can know that Jesus’ call to believers in the Rapture must certainly be drawing near. Surely we are in the time of Luke 21:28, because we’ve been seeing “all these things come to pass” for quite some time.

Jesus said when we see all of these things, we are to “look up,” for our Redemption–Jesus, Himself—will be drawing near. Paul told us we should “take comfort” in anticipation of that glorious event.

For those who are “watching” as Jesus admonished (Mark 13:37), the evidence is literally in every direction on the prophetic horizon. All of the signals are converging—in a proliferation of end-times signals that hasn’t happened before.

So there is every reason to be “looking up” as Jesus instructed those two thousand years ago when He was sitting atop the Mount of Olives.

And now the ominous reports are beginning to come forth, as if they’re paving the way to prepare for the minions’ next major attempt at bringing the populations of earth under the lockdowns that are obviously a part of the blueprint for the Great Reset. It is all within the Luciferian scheme the World Economic Forum and other Ephesians 6:12 powers and principalities intend to implement in establishing their New World Order.

Apparently, this September through December is the time they plan to again bring about the lockdowns that were successful in their previous such wicked, freedom-robbing test to see who would and would not comply.

The following somewhat gives a heads-up on what we might be facing before this year is out.

The Biden regime is preparing to reinstate full COVID-19 lockdowns, beginning with masking mandates for TSA and airport employees reportedly as early as mid-September, Infowars first to report.

A high-level TSA official reached out to Infowars, detailing a Tuesday meeting where TSA managers were informed of new memorandums and policies that would reimplement mask-wearing.

These policies will reinstate the mask mandate for TSA and airport employees starting in mid-September.

According to the TSA official, further details on how the policy will escalate will be provided next week.

The official added that by mid-October, mask-wearing will be mandated for pilots, flight staff, passengers, and all airport patrons…

[A trusted Border Patrol source] corroborated the directives, confirming that similar measures were being planned for Border Patrol personnel.

“They were told it was not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ official Covid numbers will go back up and they expect by mid-October a return to forced-masking policies that the Biden administration previously only reluctantly ended after massive pressure. (“Biden Regime to Reinstate COVID-19 Restrictions Beginning with Mask Mandate as COVID Cases Rise, Say TSA and Border Patrol Whistleblowers,” Jim Hauft , Gateway Pundit, August 19, 2023)

The lockdowns are apparently going to be used to again influence the US presidential elections in their favor—i.e., steal the election. As we’ve said many times, America must be brought into compliance with the globalists’ plans. This nation is the holdup to their Great Reset blueprint implementation. They can’t allow an administration that believes in national sovereignty and borders to win as did Trump in 2016. Their plans were upset then, and they are doing all within their power to prevent Mr. Trump or anyone who puts national interests above globalist interests to again attain power.

So, while they think they are locking down America and the world’s populations, they are, in nautical terminology, battening down the hatches for a storm, the likes of which they cannot survive. It will be that great Tribulation storm Jesus said will be the worst time in human history.

Considering that all flesh except for Noah, his family, and the animals aboard the Ark was completely destroyed in the Flood of Noah’s day, Jesus’ description—followed up by His presentation in Revelation, is indeed a terrifying forecast!

Jesus said:

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matthew 24:21)

There will be no battening down of the hatches…no place to find safety during that future Tribulation storm on earth. You don’t want to be here during those seven years of hell on earth. Here is how to go to the safety of Heaven when the Lord Jesus calls His own from this judgment-bound sphere:

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)

“There are a lot of people coming against the pre-Trib Rapture,” a friend I was on the phone
with said.

I asked him to name names, and he said, “Guys like Joel Richardson and Walid Shoebat.”
These and many others, my friend said, are saying things like those of us who believe in and
teach a pre-Trib Rapture are heretics. And some are saying worse, like we’re leading people to
Hell with our false teaching.

I, of course—as reported in these commentaries—have heard those invectives and worse
against those of us who believe in and teach the pre-Trib Rapture of the Church. However, I’ve
met both Joel Richardson and Walid Shoebat. Mr. Richardson never came across as a man who
would make such strong condemnation. And I haven’t heard much about Mr. Shoebat, an
admitted former Mideast terrorist who is now a Christian, since we met at a prophecy
conference some years ago. He was passionate, to be sure, and I knew he didn’t believe there
will be a pre-Trib Rapture, but I never heard from him any such diatribe accusing us of being
heretics, as my friend said he and others were declaring.

So I did some research to see, in particular, what Joel Richardson (not his real name for his own
reasons, I’ve heard) was saying.

I could find no written documents of significance by Joel on the subject, so listened to his in-
depth discussion with a podcast host as they dealt specifically with Joel’s opposition to the pre-
Trib Rapture of the Church.

I totally disagreed with all of his reasons the pre-Trib view is unbiblical. I found them so weak as
to wonder why anyone should even worry about his view making inroads against the truth
regarding the timing of the Rapture.

I did agree with him on one thing, though. The pre-Trib view is diminishing amongst believers.
But it is not, in my view, Richardson and others providing anti-pre-Trib Rapture teaching that is
causing the diminishment. Rather, it’s a part of the end-times falling away from the faith in
general that is caused in part by the lack of biblical prophetic truth being preached and taught
in churches.

That said, however, when I met Joel Richardson, I found him to be a gentleman and a gentle
man, as Paul Harvey used to say about those he found to be so. And, upon listening closely to
him and the podcast host who was of the same anti-pre-Trib Rapture mindset, I heard the same
gentleness in his presentation.

As a matter of fact, he lamented that some within the pre-Trib prophecy preacher camp had
called him a heretic and much worse. Someone who had hosted, or cohosted, a seven
thousand-attendee prophecy conference had said these things about him.

Mr. Richardson said when he confronted the Christian brother, the conference host admitted
he was wrong, but had just “needed a scapegoat” to make his point while speaking at the
gathering.

I don’t know of any prophecy conference of that size, or what the man meant by “needing a
scapegoat” in this case, but I believe Joel Richardson to be a brother in Christ in every respect,
and one who tells the truth as he understands it. (It’s just that, after listening to him and the
host of the podcast, neither understands the truth in the matter of when Christ will call the
Church to Himself.)

Another anti-pre-Trib Rapture Bible-prophecy proponent I find to be otherwise quite accurate
on the way things are trending toward the Tribulation is Michael Snyder. He is excellent at
gathering information and reporting news of developments in the Ephesians 6:12 minions’
attempts to bring in Antichrist’s regime of control.

He wrote a book with the title The Rapture Verdict, in which he attempted to tear apart
evidence from God’s Word for the pre-Trib Rapture. His “verdict,” of course, was that he had
managed to prove there will be no pre-Trib Rapture.

Neither Mr. Richardson nor Mr. Snyder denies there will be a Rapture. But they lump Israel and
the Church together, so to speak. Their verdict is that both Israel and believers who comprise
the Church will go through the Tribulation. Mr. Richardson, at least—I can’t remember the
position of Mr. Snyder—denies that God deals with people in dispensations. They both put
forth that the Rapture will take place within the Tribulation, as I understand. Their belief is
based upon the “last trump of Revelation,” to a large extent.

Mr. Richardson, as I heard him in the interview—and the host agreed wholeheartedly—said the
best we pre-Trib Rapturists could come up with was Revelation 3:10. He admitted it did seem to
indicate believers will escape God’s wrath. However, he said that Scripture didn’t mean we will
not go through the seven years of Tribulation, but that we will be kept “through” that time,
which will be, according to the Lord Jesus, the worst in all of human history.

To me, Mr. Snyder and Mr. Richardson’s “Rapture verdict” is overthrown–overturned—in one
simple word in the following promise from our God:

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)   

As I understand, Joel Richardson believes the word “wrath” means in the eternal sense, not in
the sense of the physical—i.e., we won’t suffer the eternal wrath reserved for the lost, but must
be here for the physical punishment phase.

But even more confusing is the that he said, if I heard him correctly, that this Scripture says we
will be kept “through” this period of horror during which God judges and makes war on
unbelievers and on Satan and his angelic hordes. I find this to make little sense, as millions of
new believers will die during that era.

But one word totally overturns the Rapture verdict of the anti-pre-Trib argument, in my view.
That term is the simple little word “from.”

It is the Greek word ek, which means “out of,” not “through.” We will be kept “out of” that
hour that will come upon the whole world of rebels during the Tribulation.

Of course, there is an overwhelmingly extensive body of evidence that could be brought into
play that proves the pre-Trib Rapture is truth. And that evidence has been presented over and
over, beginning with the great Apostle Paul’s words that we should “take comfort.”
No “comfort” can come from knowing you are going through the worst time of all human
history. Here are Paul’s words of comfort:

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 4:16–18)