“Coming out of the closet” is an expression most understand in terms of the American lexicon. We have watched them “come out” over the last few decades. We have been a part of forewarning God’s words of condemnation for the practices of homosexuality–such as the following:

For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. (Romans 1:26-27)

The forewarning God gave the Apostle Paul to pronounce has been ridiculed as have few other of His prescriptions for living while on the planet He created for humankind. As a matter of fact, governments–such as that of Canada–have gone a long way toward making offering such scriptural condemnation crime worthy of punishable by imprisonment.

American Christian ministries are affected by those foreign governments whose laws are aimed at punishing those who “discriminate” against “gays.”

For example, one TV ministry recently told a guest minister you would recognize that he was not to say anything about homosexuality. If he did so, the TV hosts told him their ministry would be heavily fined–$50,000. And, the ministry possibly would be forbidden to air programs in Canada in the future.

So, the gay community has not only come out of the proverbial closet, but now has major governments championing them as they proceed to emerge.

Actually, the nucleus of this article isn’t meant to dwell upon the coming out of the so-called gay community. That is very old news in this swiftly moving era as we near the end of this Age of Grace, as I am convinced with every ounce of discernment within me this generation is approaching.

The opening of that barrier to total immorality–the homosexual closet door-–however, I believe, is precursor to–indication of–the opening of a much more massive door. I think the door has been opened to the demonic nether region–to the dark dimension from which end-times evil is beginning to emerge.

In every direction we look these days as prophetic observers (watchmen on the wall), there is inexplicable activity by people that flies in the face of common sensibility. I refer to the rage in the streets that not only has not abated, but continues to increase as part of America’s former political process. I say former because the process is no longer recognizable within what was previously the civility norms of that process.

The reprobate mindset for a growing number of people has, I believe, resulted from the spiritual infection gushing from that open door. Paul’s forewarning of what happens when people turn their backs on God becomes more readily apparent by the hour:

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity. (Rom. 1:28-29)

Many examples could be given to express what constitutes the end-times reprobate mindset. I’ll give just one of recent vintage you might remember.

Reacting to the Kavanaugh confirmation, a Georgetown professor said white Republican senators deserve to die “miserable deaths” while “feminists laugh as they take their last gasps.

Carol Christine Fair, an associate professor in the Security Studies Program, added that once the white Republican Senators die miserable deaths, their corpses should be castrated and fed to pigs. (WND, “Prof: White GOP senators deserve ‘miserable deaths,’” Oct. 2, 2018)

But the invasion from that netherworld seems to have transcended merely the bringing about of the reprobate mindset prophesied by Paul–the mindset of those like the professor who is charged with inculcating the minds of America’s youth. The insanity takes on even more pronounced end-times madness.

In what is becoming a regular political expression of the left-wing, an occult bookstore in Brooklyn is organizing a gathering to hex newly appointed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

The Facebook announcement read:

“Please join us for a public hex on Brett Kavanaugh, upon all rapists and the patriarchy at large which emboldens, rewards and protects them. We are embracing witchcraft’s true roots as the magik (sic) of the poor, the downtrodden and disenfranchised and its history as often the only weapon, the only means of exacting justice available to those of us who have been wronged by men just like him. (“Brooklyn Witches to Hex Brett Kavanaugh,” Breaking Israel News, by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Oct.15, 2018)

Each hour that passes brings such reports and even stranger indications that the demonic world is coming out of that netherworld closet.

And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8:19-20)

Much preparation is required when getting ready for a prophecy conference. This is especially the case for yours truly. A blind guy getting ready to give a Power Point presentation to an audience that is keenly clued in to the topics involved can be a daunting exercise. (Thanks, sweet Dana, for all the work on this. Couldn’t do it without you!)

Memory must be relied upon to know what is on the screen, to keep in line the order of points to be made, and to speak to all of the facts and ideas in between. So it is that while preparing for my speaking session (which, by the time this commentary is posted will already be history), the true importance of what is involved speaks to my spirit. It is a matter that burns into my conscience as one charged with trying to address what the Lord prompts me to present.

Lord willing, I have by the time of this posting, spoken on “Deceivers and the End of Days” at the Prophecy Watchers Conference in Norman, Oklahoma.

The lecture/session is based upon the book of the same name, Deceivers. It revolves around Jesus’ prophecy given on the Mount of Olives as recorded in Matthew 24:3-5. The book is a compilation of chapters written by fourteen of the most well-known writers, broadcasters, and teachers of Bible prophecy from the Pre-Trib view of eschatology. Authors present their analyses of how current issues and events of our time are all setting the stage for fulfillment of Bible prophecy for the very end of the Church Age (Age of Grace).

While working on writing this article and thinking on continuing preparation for the upcoming presentation (from my perspective at that time), I kept being distracted by the desire to watch the punditry about the Supreme Court nominee’s confirmation. I got caught up in this world’s political goings-on. My thoughts ran the gamut from: What does it mean to how the abortion controversy will play out from this point forward? to What does it mean for the upcoming November midterm elections? Does Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation mean that the national electorate will see fit to vote to assure that constitutional principles will prevail over the radical mob mentality that threatens civility? Also, I considered whether the current president and his policies will continue to build a booming economy as is happening presently.

Much of this is what I will be talking about (did talk about, from the point in time this is posted) in that session–i.e., my thought was to dwell on America and all things going on in this country with regard to the end-times Deceivers acting within religion, society / culture, politics /government, and news and entertainment media.

It hit me, then, during that preparation: The religion, societal/cultural, political/governmental, and news/entertainment media things occurring in this nation are insignificant in relation to things going on in the human, spiritual heart at this critical moment. The ultimately important thing is not how all of the prophetic stage-setting is affecting the well-being of each of us and our lives in America. This nation–its governmental/social-cultural/media and religious systems–are all soon doomed to pass away.

My thinking on these things in terms of how Mr. Trump or any other leader or system of leadership might improve–or, for that matter, cause to be deteriorated–life in America is exercise in futility. The all-important thing consider is the human condition, in terms of spiritual exigencies.

We are told in God’s Word to pray for leaders in government so that we might “lead peaceable lives.” But, there is no percentage to be gained by placing faith, or even trust, in government–ever. Government–all of existence under the present world systems and regimes of this age–are passing away. All is “vanity,” as the “preacher” of Ecclesiastes put it.

There are no such worldly entities as a godly or Christian government. The best we can hope for is a reasonable government that adheres to basic, godly principles the Founding Fathers were influenced  by the Holy Spirit to build within our Constitution. It is wholly just and right to fight, politically, for these things at the ballot box and fight, literally, against those who would destroy our nation.

All that said, one thing matters most of all–beyond all else–to each human being alive at present: What is the status of one’s soul? Do you and I know Jesus Christ as the One who was crucified, buried, and resurrected to life those two thousand years ago? As important as it is to love country, family, and all the things that are good that life brings, the status of our souls are what matters.

We must pray and vote to see to it that our liberty is preserved so we may live peaceable lives despite all of the evil percolating all around us. But, embracing Jesus Christ for salvation is the one action we can take to assure life for an eternity of joy and ever-increasing exultation. We will, at that eternal moment, begin to live and love our friends and family who are saved more intimately than can be imagined while in this earthly existence. In Heaven we will praise the Savior who provided, once and for all, payment for the sin that would otherwise separate us from God the Father forever.

Again, the truth of that all-important matter is wrapped up in the following, penned by the Apostle Paul: “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  InfoWars website and radio program have been banned by the largest social media forums. Alex Jones, the host of InfoWars, has been termed a conspiracy purveyor and accused of being not only a kook, but a danger to the American public.

Mainstream media look down on Jones and every other forum and individual who don’t  view their “news” as the only news that should be accepted as truth–thus while the American public is fed such mainstream media “news” punditry as “Trump is complicit in Hurricane Florence slamming into the East Coast.” This, it is conjectured by such proclaimed to be reliable truth-tellers as CNN, based upon the current president’s being a denier of climate change as defined by the globalist propaganda machine.

CNN, you might have heard, is the same cable network that just a couple of weeks ago reported that Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, claimed that the then candidate for the presidency knew in advance of a meeting Cohen had with a Russian operative. Cohen’s own lawyer, Lanny Davis, a long-time member of the Clinton attack machine, at first said he, himself, was present at that meeting. Later, he recanted that claim when his client, Cohen, said it was untrue. Trump never had any knowledge of any such meeting.

Davis then publicly admitted to his own “mistake” in reporting the lie. CNN, who gleefully ran with the story, has not, to this point and to my knowledge, retracted the original claim that Trump was guilty as claimed.

Multiply that mainstream media lie times a thousand in just the past two years while Trump has been either a candidate for president or president, and there is compiled a mainstream media platform of untruth that staggers sensibility. Yet it is Alex Jones, and anyone else who defies the mainstream fake-news narrative, who gets banned from getting his version truth before the public.

Now, I’m among the first to say that I cast a skeptical ear upon some of what I’ve heard from Alex Jones’ reporting. Some of it defies logical discernment, if I may use that term. However, considering all of the madness prevalent today in this nation and world, Jones and InfoWars ring as true, as do things coming out of the likes of NBC, CBS, ABC, The New York Times, The Washington Post…and CNN.

With that as preface, I come to something that has been effervescing for quite some time somewhere within my cogitative processes. You have likely heard of the matter or matters involved.

“Q” or “Qanon” is the supposed entity to which I refer. I say supposed, because much of what I know about this entity, as I said about the mainstream narrative these days, defies logical discernment. Does he–for it is thought to be an individual within the immediate circles that surround the president, and I presume it is a man, if he indeed exists within that circle–truly have knowledge of the intrigues he reports?

To those who are clueless of what I refer to here, I’ll try to explain in brief.

Q or Qanon is the name given a supposed insider within the White House ranks who issues reports on a frequent basis about what is in actuality going on with regard to this president and the so-called deep state. The deep state is a term most recognize. This refers to those within government–particularly within the top ranks of clandestine services –CIA, FBI, NSA, etc., that are part of the Washington, D.C. “swamp,” as Mr. Trump termed it during his campaign to win the presidency. These, along with many D.C.-establishment types, have been doing all within their power to destroy Trump’s presidency and even the man himself, family-wise and business-wise.

The aforementioned mainstream media joins this cabal in the attempted destruction.

At the heart of this drive to oust this president at any cost is the pile upon pile of lies that continue to spew from the swamp and are magnified and carried throughout mainstream media. You might have noticed how there has been a steady stream of such lies meant to destroy the president–a different lie almost every week for nearly two years.

Qanon tells a far different story than the mainstream anchors and pundits tell. In their reporting, Trump is always on the cusp of being linked to Russian collusion in defeating Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Special counsel Robert Mueller is right on the verge of proving that collusion, or is about to get the president on obstruction of justice, has been the mantra of these establishment-media types for almost two years.

Yet, there hasn’t been a single fact brought forward that makes the connection Mueller is desperate to make. There have been only accusations and innuendo–this, in my view, is designed to keep doubt in the minds of the voting public until Trump is no longer president.

Their world has been disrupted–again, in my opinion–by the Lord of Heaven, Himself. They cannot and will not abide their gravy train being taken away and their one-world plans disrupted.

The entity known as Qanon is disseminating through alternative news sources that there is a reckoning coming for the deep state and those complicit in opposing the president and doing great harm to the American Republic. He indicates something big is on the way that will expose and even bring to justice much of the deep state at every level. It will soon be made clear for all to see, Qanon assures, the corruption at the very top of U.S. government, and where the true collusion festers.

This supposed insider source has much to say that is fascinating. I can’t and won’t vouch for the absolute validity of everything that is said in his news releases. I will say, however, that this source’s news rings far more true than do the lies, innuendo, and corruptive evil that has been spewing from the keyboards, microphones, and cameras of the mainstream news and entertainment media and even from governmental minions of the father of lies–again, in my humble opinion.

I make this appeal to anyone reading this commentary who has insider knowledge of the Qanon intrigues to send me information (wtjames1@swbell.net)–while providing at least a degree of validation that the information you provide is credible. Please don’t send links to Qanon posts on various blogs. I’ve seen many, many of these. True insider information is solicited here, if it exists.

One thing sure, Ephesians 6:12 has never been more in view than at present.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

No matter how intensively I try to look in other directions these days for issues and events of possible prophetic portent, inner prompting brings me back to Matthew 24: 32-42.

Jesus’ words resound more powerfully in spiritually attuned ears than any other to be found in God’s Holy Scripture. Thus, things to be considered in the Lord’s Olivet declaration must have more relevance for these days in which we live than many seminaries will acknowledge.

Most of these bastions of higher learning put forth that the prophecies in Matthew 24 were given almost exclusively for the Jews of Christ’s physical time on earth. I completely dismiss that notion. I believe issues and events that unfold minute by minute around this generation continue to bring to light stage-setting for fulfillment given by the Lord in this profoundly important section of His prophetic teaching.

In my estimation–as those who read these commentaries know–we have come to the specific point on God’s prophetic timeline that Jesus foretold. We are, I believe, in the time He described: “As it was in the days of Noah…and of Lot.”

My own contemplation of things going on today and prophetic Scripture likely relevant to the very end of the Church Age (Age of Grace) has me carefully reconsidering Jesus words in that Olivet Discourse prophecy–His words about the “days of Noah” in particular. Let us look at them together yet again. We will look at the entire prophecy as Jesus gave it to us, recorded in Matthew 24:

^24:32Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: ^24:33So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near,even at the doors. ^24:34Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. ^24:35Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Seminary thinking on this, for the most part, has it that Jesus was speaking exclusively of the sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in referring to “this generation.” They dismiss that He was prophesying about the generation of people of the earth in general. The seminaries have it that the Lord was saying the Jewish race would not pass away. “Israel will not be eliminated by any foe” is one of the most common seminary takes on this prophecy.

I believe Jesus was prophesying that when Israel begins to become a nation that observably affects the rest of the world at the end of the age,  the consummation of human history will be profoundly underway. The Tribulation, Armageddon, and His Second Advent (Revelation 19:11) would then rapidly be fulfilled.

The Lord then stamped His omnipotent signature on the guarantee of its coming to pass:

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

What follows these words by the Lord of all creation sends chill bumps–I should say “thrill bumps”—through yours truly.

Jesus next gives us a precise look at what precedes this total consummation of human history that includes Antichrist, the worst time in history (the Tribulation),  His Second Advent at Armageddon, and the entire Millennial era! He next says the following:

^24:36But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.       

The Lord is, I believe, here referring back to His Words:

^24:33″So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.”

He then goes in-depth in explaining what is meant by His Words “it is near, even at the doors. ^24:37But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

Jesus is talking about His coming back to planet earth. He has already said it will be at a time that only the Father knows. This precludes His Second Advent, which will be a time that can be precisely calculated, according to Scripture.

Again, Jesus indicated that no one can know the precise time of His coming. But He then tells us exactly what the time of this arrival will look like from a cultural/societal and particularly an economic standpoint–this right up until judgment falls:

^24:38For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, ^24:39And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

To look more deeply into the circumstances prevalent at this prophesied time, we go to the Words of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of Luke:

^17:26And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. ^17:27They 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. ^17:28Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; ^17:29But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. ^17:30Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.    

Next we go back again to Jesus’ words recorded in Matthew chapter 24 to see exactly what will happen when He again “reveals” Himself in a catastrophic manner:

^24:40Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. ^24:41Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

And we look again at the Gospel of Luke to get further enlightenment from the Lord:

^17:34I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. ^17:35Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. ^17:36Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Those who dispute that this is referring to the Rapture say that those taken here are taken for judgment and wrath, not to a place of safety. But Greek words here indicate the opposite. Those taken are taken to safety and those left behind are left for judgment. I haven’t the space here to do a Greek word study to prove my contention. I will simply give the word used here by Jesus in defining the matter of those taken.

Paralambanó, if I have spelled it correctly, is the same word Jesus uses in John 14:2-3–“I will come and receive you.” 

“Receive” and “taken” use the same word–paralambanó: “I will receive you unto myself, for where I am, there ye may be also.” 

This is the Rapture!

We are in a “think-not” time, that is for certain. The Body of Christ–the Church–for the most part, has its collective attention turned away from God’ will. Worldly pursuits are the order of the day, both within the church edifices and within the lives of too many believers. All other issues and events scream through our hourly news feeds that  stage setting for fulfillment of Bible prophecy is in every direction one looks.

Israel is front and center–the fig tree that has been putting forth it leaves since May 14, 1948.

Financial experts say, and the facts show, that America is entering a time of economic boom, not bust. (Even though the fiscal laws of gravity are being defied by all rational ways of analyzing the matters involved.) The world follows the almighty dollar, so, many believe, a world economic boom may soon follow. Jesus predicted just such a time in His “days of Noah and of Lot” prophecy.

The Lord made the analogy of His next intervention into man’s history as being like the break-in of a thief in the night.  He wrapped up this account of this first phase of His Second Coming with this sobering exhortation for Christians who will be living when the Rapture occurs:

^{Matthew 24:42}Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. ^24:43But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. ^24:44Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

Actors for carrying out one of the most famous military actions of prophecy yet future are beating the war drums. At this point they are only the drums of economic warfare, but the beat sounds familiar to the student of Bible prophecy. Like so much of prophetic stage-setting going on at present, the Trump administration is at the heart of this particular end-times development.

President Donald J. Trump a couple of weeks ago announced a steep tariff on Turkish steel and aluminum. This was done, in part, because Turkey has kept an American pastor incarcerated under what the president considers false charges and refuses to release him. Turkey’s lira has fallen significantly as a result, and relations have degenerated. Some within NATO, of which Turkey is a member, have also gotten crossways with Trump on the matter.

At the same time, Russia is having economic problems, with its ruble falling to two-year lows. The trouble is caused in part because the U.S. imposed severe sanctions due to a poisoning incident in Salisbury, UK, for which the Russians were deemed responsible.

So, two nations that are thought to be key players in the Gog-Magog attack in the Ezekiel 38-39 prophecy are reeling economically. Like so much going on at present, one who truly observes from the biblical prophecy perspective can see the orchestrating hand of God directing the actors in preparation for things to come.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, angered by the American president’s actions, called the United States “wild wolves” for imposing the sanctions. He vowed that Ankara would pursue trade with the Russians that doesn’t involve the American dollar. This is a relationship that has been in process of coming ever closer together over recent months and years. It is, most who observe from the biblical prophecy perspective believe, a coming together that is inevitable. Russia and Turkey, financially strapped to prop up their dictatorships, will one day soon seek “spoil” as Ezekiel the prophet, under divine inspiration, put it.

Turkey is in the geographical area believed to have constituted what is termed Togarmah by Ezekiel the prophet. We see the prophetic relevance in the following passage:

And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee. (Ezekiel 38:3-6)

While the United States of America isn’t mentioned by name anywhere in Scripture, we see almost on a daily basis, in my estimation, that America is influencing the shaping of things to come, prophetically speaking. In this case, of course, the American president–no stranger to controversy–is instrumental in pushing Turkey into the arms of Mr. Putin’s Russia. It is an astounding thing to watch, if one keeps in mind at all times that God is directing the end-times play.

The American dollar, as example of the U.S. being used to shape the prophetic picture, is the most powerful influence on earth, economically speaking. All the while, the dollar is supposed to have collapsed–to have died, bringing the economies of the world down with it. I, as most who read these commentaries know, believe that the dollar and all other things in the global economic scheme of things are being supernaturally propped up in order to prevent world financial collapse. That will happen, I’m convinced, when the Rapture of the Church takes place.

Russia and Turkey, along with all of the other players in this end times drama, are being channeled into precise positions for prophetic fulfillment. This doesn’t mean that free will has been done away with by the Grand Director of things. It’s just that the Lord knows the end from the beginning.

Turkey–Togarmah–is being channeled into the camp of Rosh–Russia–as many who observe Bible prophecy believe. The stage continues to be set.

Satan’s assault on America as originally constituted increases daily. Human participants in the attack declare for the most part that their rage is justified. America was flawed from its beginning and has gotten its superpower status on the backs of other nation-states whose treasures it has illegally taken in one way or another.

The United States was, they are taught, built on the backs of slaves; otherwise, it would never have achieved its heights of dominance.

This is the rant against capitalism–against everything and anyone who champions the individual’s right to make it on his or her own. The collective–i.e., government and its ever-growing largesse–is the route to Utopia, they declare. These believe in freedom, but only in the first four letters of the concept of the word. Free stuff, they think, makes for happiness and success.

The young are more and more embracing this definition of freedom. They are promised free college, guaranteed income–whether one has a job or not–and even complete freedom from financial responsibility within the technological activity they love most–social media. Polls show a growing number who would thus elect Santa Clause if they could. And there is a growing number of people within the camp of the political left who will be willing to offer themselves for such tax-and-spend positions.

Within this political/ideological equivalence of primordial soup gestates the Sodom Syndrome, if I may coin that term.

Satan is, in my estimation, using this insane offer of something for nothing–a free lunch–to throw in the proposition that freedom also means freedom to break from traditional American values. Further, it is incumbent on this progressive army of the young to break from all other norms held by previous generations. Their mentors–some in their seventies and eighties–are telling them they can be any gender and of any sexual persuasion they wish. Those rules are all inhibitors to true freedom and Utopian progress placed on humanity by founding fathers whose desire it was to enslave for their own selfish, racial, purposes.

The devil thus has unleashed the same infection he has employed in generations down through history. Greece, Rome–all fell to such promises and nudges into breaking with truth that God set in order for His creation called man.

Sodom and Gomorrah are prime examples of this insanity–the Sodom Syndrome–from which America is suffering, in my view of things that have developed as of late.

My thought processes were piqued while listening to a TV preacher the other day. Some who read this commentary, I’m sure, will have heard his message, thus will recognize to whom I refer.

He was talking about the current situation in America with regard to the satanic attack led by those who are attacking God’s view of righteousness. The preacher gave the story of how the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, beat on Lot’s door demanding that he send out the two men who were in his home. They wanted to “know” them, meaning, of course, to have sexual relations with them. They said if Lot didn’t send them out they would deal worse with him than with them.

The TV preacher likened this to things going on today in the volatile societal and political arena of American culture. He said that when any nation or empire becomes so full of iniquity that it is spilling over the edges, God’s judgment will fall. He–and I, incidentally–believe that cup of iniquity is indeed overflowing.

The minister brought out that the men of Sodom asked Lot the question: “Who are you that judges us?” The preacher then asked: “Have you ever heard that question?”

Of course, the answer is a thunderous Yes! This is the question those who embrace this ongoing assault on American  traditions and values–on godly rules for His creation called man–always throw back at those who look at things from a righteous perspective: “Who are you to judge me?”

The preacher said further that the men of Sodom threatened Lot–whom God called “righteous”–with extreme violence. Some of today’s movements within the “hate America and Christianity” crowds threaten and even carry out acts of violence. They will not abide righteousness, but want to do what is right in their own eyes. I’m convinced that many of these would kill those who oppose their self-willed ideology if they could do so.

This is yet another indicator that America’s cup of iniquity must be filled and overflowing in God’s holy view of things.

Finally, the TV preacher said that God told Abraham, Lot’s uncle, that He would spare the city of Sodom if God could find ten righteous people. He could not.

The television preacher’s contention is that the righteous living in America and the world constitute the reason He has thus far spared this generation. But, he said, the warnings of impending judgment might be about to make evident God’s acknowledgement that the cup of iniquity is overflowing.

God sometimes gives extremely dramatic forewarnings before His judgment is implemented. Could we be nearing the time when He will give such warning to America?

My own exhortation is that all believers pray like I believe we did leading up to the 2016 presidential election. The Lord answered those prayers with what most consider a miracle in election results.

Pray for God to intervene and continue to restrain the evil assaulting from every angle in our national life today.

We are experiencing what I term the Sodom Syndrome. The ultimate intervention might just be that which the Lord prophesied as recorded in Matthew 24:36-42 and Luke 17:26-30. I believe that intervention to be the Rapture of the Church.

It sure looks like we are in a time “as it was in the days of Noah and in the days of Lot.”

The Apostle Paul’s “perilous times” prophecy is becoming more manifest by the hour. Perusal of the news at any given point in the news cycle during daily life should make that abundantly clear to spiritually attuned eyes and ears. We are living at the very end of this dispensation known as the Age of Grace or Church Age, if this is the case.

Perhaps a closer look at Paul’s foretelling in 2 Timothy juxtaposed against news unfolding around us presently will establish the point.

As the title of this commentary implies, we will look at a particular term found within that end-times prophecy. That term is “traitor.”

Paul begins the familiar prophecy: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come” (2 Timothy 3:1).

The apostle is inspired by God the Holy Spirit in this Scriptural verse to forewarn of a special period of time that is yet future. When the Lord forewarns us, the thing of which He forewarned about represents a danger “on steroids,” as we like to verbalize things that are expressed in the vernacular of our day. These times that Paul has been inspired to call “perilous” are well beyond the normal troubles we face during the course of moving throughout life.

When going through these “perilous times” indicators in 2 Timothy 3, we can, in my view, discern the souped-up nature intrinsic within each.

Paul says further: “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy” (2 Timothy 3:2).

I have written before about the first of these, “lovers of self.”

I still can think of no more profound example of this “perilous times” indicator than of the forum we call Facebook and of the photographic phenomenon of our time called the “selfie.”

Facebook, I realize, is popular–and, no doubt–used ubiquitously by those who read these commentaries. I realize, too, that many, including those in my family, interact within this forum to keep up with friends and to enjoy other communication-type activities. So, I might be on tenuous footing in bringing this up.

However, studies have shown and continue to show that in cases of far too many the forum is a less than beneficial interactive technology. It can create in some instances alternative realities that present psychological dangers. I maintain that, in some narcissistic instances, it can do great spiritual damage. People can become “lovers of their own selves” to the point of pushing God completely out of the picture. Facebook and selfies can become encapsulated, egocentric universes in which some people become their own gods. These, then, become tools the devil truly uses to bring about his purpose–to separate forever men, women, and children from their Creator.

In my opinion, forums such as Facebook and Twitter are presently being used to try to manipulate culture and society. Satan wants life transformed into an existence he considers more conducive to one day serve the new world order he intends to create–the platform upon which to build the coming Antichrist regime. America, of course, is prime testing grounds for this manipulation, and we are seeing this in our news each day. The young–earth’s future populace–are the most vulnerable, the most prone to fall victim to the dangers within these technological communications forums.

Paul’s perilous-times forewarnings thus frame perfectly, I think, the effects on today’s youth–the Millennials and younger. Again, Paul prophesied that people at the end of the age will be: “covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy” (2 Timothy 3:2).

Any honest observation of what is going on in the world of social media will convinced the spiritually attuned observer that there is more there of an evil nature than of a godly nature. Hollywood–the entertainment media–inculcates the youth (and even those not so young) with ungodliness that reaches the souped-up sort of ungodliness of which Paul forewarns.

It is ungodliness with which the evil one–Lucifer the fallen–wants to infuse all of humanity. He is determined to permeate God’s creation called man with thinking and with actions that move us ever farther from the God who loves us so much that He sent His Son to die and resurrect in order to redeem us.

Again, the spiritually attuned observer can discern this insidious work by the devil in our breaking news.

Paul wrote that in the last days, men would be: “traitors” (“having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof”).

The characteristic “traitors” pervades our highest levels of government in America. While the current president is being assaulted with being called a traitor and with every other invective one can imagine, it is, in my observation, those accusing him of these things who are the traitors–traitors to him, personally, traitors to our nation as founded, traitors to the Lord of Heaven with their lies and accusations.

“False accusers” are streaming across our minute-by-minute news feeds. These accusations are particularly virulent within social media, which more and more is letting these vicious falsehoods proceed, while doing all within their power to ban opposing viewpoints. These believe themselves to have the moral high ground–a form of godliness that gives them the right to ban the speech of the ideologically unfit.

The perilous-times characteristics of “traitors” and “phony godliness” are prominent while we pass through our hourly increments of life on earth. They constitute a sure sign that we are approaching the moment when Christ will suddenly intervene in the wicked affairs of this world.

“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 24:44).

Presidential election day 2016, in my thinking, seems to have been a switch somewhere in the supernatural realm that put Bible prophecy in fast forward.

This column has been devoted on many occasions to how economic exigencies are–in my view–tied to Jesus’ foretelling about a marked uptick in buying, selling, etc., at the time He next catastrophically intervenes in the affairs of man–this involving Matthew 24:36-42, Luke 17:26-30 and the Rapture of the Church. I am convicted that we are entering such a time as the Lord described in those passages–a time involving economic boom, not bust, as many economic gurus would have it.

One can sense the hand of God holding back, moving around, shifting and manipulating things on the national and international scenes–amidst the satanic rage that drives the world toward complete insanity. That is, one can sense it spiritually, if properly attuned to God’s Word, and where this generation stands in relationship to what that Word has to say about end-times things.

This ability to spiritually sense the lateness of the prophetic hour is not exclusive to those who write, teach, lecture, broadcast, and preach on biblical matters. How near we are as a generation to Christ’s return can be spiritually discerned by any born-again child of God who will study God’s Word diligently and prayerfully seek enlightenment by the Holy Spirit. God tells us in His Word: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16).

This Truth is all-encompassing. It includes understanding prophecy and how it applies to the Christian. I believe this biblical truth is particularly essential to comprehend by this present generation of believers. Sadly, very few are aware of the privilege of understanding the times they have. This is the fault of both individual Christians and their pastors and teachers who should be doing the job God has put us here to do.

With all that as preface, we now examine the matter of end-times Bible prophecy that we are looking squarely in the face.

Just as we are living at a time when economic uptick indicates we are in the “days of Noah, days of Lot” Jesus foretold, we are seeing God’s mighty hand move the end-times nations about for the final act of this great play that is called human history.

The United States of America, although not mentioned by name anywhere in Scripture, is nonetheless in the middle of God’s directing of human history’s final act.

Iran, ancient Persia, is, as most who have studied Bible prophecy know, a key player destined to join the coalition in attacking Israel as foretold by Ezekiel the prophet. We have watched for months, even years, as the nations of prophetic import have been aligning to Israel’s north. Iran has been the focal interest, not just of those who look at eschatology, but of the diplomats of the world who fear Iran’s nuclear development program.

At present it looks as if the prophetic lens is focusing on that end-times player. The following article excerpt on “Rapture Ready News” lets us see the focus.

The United States urged Britain on Sunday to ditch its support for a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and instead join forces with Washington to counter the global threat it says Tehran poses. Despite opposition from European allies, US President Trump in May pulled the United States out of a deal between world powers and Tehran under which international sanctions were lifted in return for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program.

Another “Rapture Ready News” headline shows the reason for concern by the international community regarding Iran’s nuclear threat.

Iran test-fired a ballistic missile in a brazen display of defiance months after President Trump pulled the United States out of a landmark nuclear deal and days before his administration slapped new sanctions on the Islamic Republic, three U.S. officials with knowledge of the launch tell Fox News.

The relevance to the U.S. being used in the matter of the Lord’s directing the great, end-times play is that the coalition plainly doesn’t use nuclear weaponry in the Gog-Magog attack. This is described as a land invasion. An attacking force wouldn’t contaminate “spoils” they intend to take with nuclear radiation. Therefore, it is possible to discern that Iran’s (ancient Persia’s) nuclear capability will either be destroyed or prevented from being used in some other way in that future attack on Israel.

The current president of the United States seems central in seeing to it that Iran doesn’t use nuclear weaponry in that future assault.

Mr. Trump also is instrumental in dealing with another of the Gog-Magog coalition members–Turkey (Togarmah, as Ezekiel calls that part of the world).

Turkey has been an ally of the U.S. for many years. It is a member of NATO. But, lately, its newly elected president for life is threatening those relationships. He, at the same time, has become close friend to Russia’s equally dictatorial president, Vladimir Putin. We see the focus on this prophetic stage-setting in the following “Rapture Ready News” excerpt.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the US of trying to “bring Turkey to its knees through threats over a pastor”. The US has demanded the release of Andrew Brunson and on Friday doubled tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. The diplomatic spat sent the lira down 16% against the dollar on Friday. Mr. Erdogan also wrote in the New York Times that unless the US changed course, Turkey would look for new friends and allies.

America, we can see on a growing daily basis, is being used as an instrument to shape things to come at the end of this dispensation–the Age of Grace.

This president, like him or not, accept him or not, was inserted into this generation in a miraculous way in the view of yours truly. He, although probably unknowingly, continues to performed his assigned divine appointment, as does the United States of America.

Economics on a worldwide scale continue to broil under intensive pressures exerted by America’s president. It is such squeezing, I am convinced, that will help induce the prophesied Tribulation era. That time, known as Daniel’s Seventieth  Week, looks to be on the near horizon.

The pressure has forced what many experts of the fiscal sort–before the advent of Donald J. Trump–would have said could not have resulted in movement away from the globalist model. An example I have in mind is seen in a current story out of Germany.

A transfer of nearly $400 million in cash to Iran has been blocked by Germany’s central bank in what appears to be a response to efforts by the U.S. ambassador to Germany.

Last month, Ambassador Richard Grenell urged Berlin to prevent Iran’s withdrawal of large sums of cash from German bank accounts in an effort to offset U.S. sanctions that took effect following Washington’s withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. (Source: “‘This is huge’: US Ambassador Grenell quietly blocks $400 million transfer from Germany to Iran,” by Frieda Powers, Conservative News, August 3, 2018)

 Ever since the new American president began to deal with the likes of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in such matters, the dynamics of economic interaction on the international scene has been in dramatic flux. While it has been, in my opinion, good for the United States and our position economically, the president’s influence has continued to drive the one-worlders crazy. But, they nonetheless seem to have no choice but to go along with Trump’s pressure–to this point, at any rate.

At the same time the caterwauling increases from those opposed to Trump in everything he does, the stock market, despite bumps and grinds, continues to be bursting at the seams to advance. This, many financial experts both welcome and fear.

They welcome the powerful forces trying to move things upward, but they have an innate fear of pending fiscal cataclysm.

I had a friend email me a week or so ago, including in the email an advisory from the emailer’s financial expert. The advisory said the following:

The stock market has been responding positively to better than expected earnings, “The Melt Up is officially here. This is the boom we’ve been waiting for. And this phase should last 12 to 18 months”, said Steve Sjuggerud, Stansberry Research. He went on to say, “The Melt Up will propel U.S. stocks to fantastic heights. The Melt Up is the final push of a bull market. It’s when the leading companies of this near decade long boom really take off and propel the overall market dramatically higher.”

As I have written before, do not be complacent; you must be vigilant. Please enjoy the melt-up as you prepare for a melt-down. I don’t know what the catalyst might be for a reversal of fortune, but we all see the huge elephant in the room.

The friend went on to say simply, “We know what the catalyst might be.”

That pleased me very much. My friend instinctively realized, because of her study of Bible prophecy, what the expert’s advice contained but could not understand or explain.

We have gone over time after time in these commentaries the catalyst the expert mentioned that he himself instinctively knew was poised to bring economic cataclysm upon the world. That catalyst is wrapped up in Jesus’ “days of Noah, days of Lot” prophecy found in Matthew 24:36-42 and Luke 17:26-30.

Jesus said the world will be in an economic uptick when he is next “revealed.” It will not be at a time when as much as three-fourths of humanity on earth has been killed through judgment and wrath.

The catalyst for that coming cataclysm–the Tribulation–will be the Rapture of the Church, I am convinced.

We covered in last week’s column the fact that five top hedge-fund billionaires sensed the coming cataclysm. They had questions for their futurist expert questions he wasn’t prepared  to answer. They wanted to know how to best survive a world-rending collapse that was, they obviously thought, imminent.

I wrote in that commentary: “The world is indeed moving toward some climactic event that will bring about a world more horrific than any yet experienced by earth’s inhabitants. But, those mentioned here have no idea of what that ‘event’ is or the signals of its approach. They simply sense that something is on the brink of bringing their world crashing down around their ears.”

Again, in a chapter in my newest book, Essays in Apocalypse: Some Thoughts On the End of Days, the chapter called “The Coming Economic Boom” presents an in-depth look at the catalyst for cataclysm that is even now coming into view within our hourly news.

Rush Limbaugh, the premiere conservative radio talk-show host, delved into an arena he rarely enters. He bordered on getting into Bible prophecy Thursday July 26, while reading to his audience from an article written by a so-called futurist.

A few days previous, I had received the same article from which Rush read. My friend’s email note, I inferred, indicated that the article’s content might have some peripheral relationship to the deep state things often in the news these days–news reports surrounding hatred for President Donald J. Trump.

The deep state milieu rivets my attention. This is because I view everything we are inundated with in each and every news cycle as involving the hate-filled politics that smack of Paul’s warning in his letter to the Ephesians. That Scripture should be quite familiar to readers of this column: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).

The spiritually attuned believer should be aware of this battle taking place behind the headlines. It is all part of the opening salvos of the great end-times battle that will lead to Armageddon. The battle will break out in full force once the Church–all born-again believers in accordance with Romans 10:9-10–are called to be with Christ:

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

But Rush, in that July 26 program, mentioned none of these prophetic truths–probably doesn’t grasp or even desire to grasp these future realities. I once heard him say his father didn’t believe the Book of Revelation even belonged in the canon of Scripture. He indicated that he believed the same.

However, during the Thursday program he said that the people who were the subjects of the article mentioned above didn’t recognize that the things they fear as soon coming to pass are given in that prophetic Book. He added that these men–five hedge-fund billionaires–totally left God out of their configuring for the world-rending event that is to come.

Here is a very brief excerpt of the article Rush addressed.  

Last year, I got invited to a super-deluxe private resort to deliver a keynote speech to what I assumed would be a hundred or so investment bankers. It was by far the largest fee I had ever been offered for a talk–about half my annual professor’s salary–all to deliver some insight on the subject of “the future of technology”…

My audience was brought to me: five super-wealthy guys–yes, all men–from the upper echelon of the hedge fund world. After a bit of small talk, I realized they had no interest in the information I had prepared about the future of technology. They had come with questions of their own…

They started out innocuously enough. Ethereum or bitcoin? Is quantum computing a real thing? Slowly but surely, however, they edged into their real topics of concern.

Which region will be less affected by the coming climate crisis: New Zealand or Alaska? Is Google really building Ray Kurzweil a home for his brain, and will his consciousness live through the transition, or will it die and be reborn as a whole new one? Finally, the CEO of a brokerage house explained that he had nearly completed building his own underground bunker system and asked: “How do I maintain authority over my security force after the Event?” (“How tech’s richest plan to save themselves after the apocalypse. Silicon Valley’s elite are hatching plans to escape disaster – and when it comes, they’ll leave the rest of us behind,” by Douglas Rushkof, July 24, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/23/tech-industry-wealth-futurism-)

The author of the article went on to write that the multibillionaires were interested only in surviving a coming “event” –one that would be the beginning of the end of the world. That was the future they wanted to learn how to survive–not how to plan, financially, to do even better than they already are doing.

Rush talked about how this sort of fear-mongering is normally part of the wild-eyed speculations of kooks. But these were men who dealt with the realities, not the apocalyptic fears of Hollywood-type fictioneers. And, these men now really believed there was one “event” that will initiate Armageddon!

The world is indeed moving toward some climactic event that will bring about a world more horrific than any yet experienced by earth’s inhabitants. But, those mentioned here have no idea of what that “event” is or the signals of its approach. They simply instinctively sense that something is on the brink of bringing their world crashing down around their ears.

Again, Jesus’ forewarns of just this scenario–but a scenario that is made of absolute truth, not Hollywood hype or writers’ fiction. These will not understand the true nature of what is about to happen because they, as Rush has charged, leave God out of the equation in looking to the future.

Those of you who read and believe what is written in Holy Scripture take the God who created all there is at His Word regarding Bible prophecy. You can, with study and prayer, understand things these great men of wealth refuse to grasp.

Jesus prophesied that there would be buying, selling, building, planting, marrying, giving in marriage–i.e., an extraordinary time of uptick in economic life at the very moment He next catastrophically intervenes (Matthew 24:36-42; Luke 17:26-30).

That great “event” will be the Rapture! (John 14: 1-3).

I believe we are seeing the beginning of that economic boom at present.

My new book: Essays in Apocalypse: Some Thoughts on the End of Days, is being released this week. That book contains my in-depth thoughts in a chapter titled “The Coming Economic Boom.”

Last-days dynamics are on full display for all to see. But the “seeing” of what is happening must be accomplished through unwavering belief in God’s Word on the matters involved.