No scriptural proof-text in God’s Word more clearly points to the first of the two phases of Jesus Christ’s Second Coming than does the following: “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2). We who hold to the pre-Trib Rapture viewpoint are often accused of being deceivers. We are condemned by our detractors as leading astray Christians alive now–if they live to see it–who will be required to endure the tribulation, thus to wash their robes clean in preparation for inheriting God’s Kingdom.

We are castigated for foisting upon innocent, gullible believers a “secret rapture” that will somehow lead these Christians to take the mark of the Beast (Revelation 13:16-18).

I’m not precisely sure of their “reasoning,” but I think they claim this because they are convinced that the ones who fall for the Rapture viewpoint won’t be able to recognize Antichrist when he comes to power. We who teach the pre-Trib rapture, so the accusation goes, would have falsely led these people to think the Church would not be here when Antichrist is on the world scene.

Almost all who are antagonistic to the pre-Trib Rapture doctrine teach that the “elect” will have to endure part or all of the seven-year tribulation era. Those who hold to a post-Tribulation Rapture, or a no-Rapture position, believe that Christ will come back at the end of the Tribulation, at Armageddon. They hold to the notion that that is His only return in the Second Coming. Other views have Christ returning when the earth is perfected and made ready, but we won’t go there in this essay.

Let us look at only the pre-Trib Rapture and the post-Trib Rapture positions for the purpose of exploring what is meant by the “thief in the night” references in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 and 2 Peter 3:10.

These two viewpoints–the pre-Trib, and the post-Trib–offer the greatest contrast to examine in consideration of the second advent of Jesus Christ, within the overall belief that Rapture will, according to Bible prophecy, happen before Christ’s foot actually touches down on Planet Earth.

The pre-Trib view of Rapture says that Christ’s Second Coming is in two phases, separated by at least seven years. The post-Trib rapture view says that the Rapture and Christ’s coming back to the Mount of Olives will occur almost simultaneously–certainly with no more than a matter of days separating the two events. The post-Trib position says there is no “secret” Rapture. Christ’s coming again will be fully seen in the heavens by all, including Christians who will be watching for Him to break through the darkness of that hour.

We agree that the Rapture of the Church (all born-again believers in Jesus Christ for salvation since the Church Age began at Pentecost) will be anything but a “secret.” The world will instantly go into cataclysmic chaos at the moment that stunning event takes place. The imagination is hard-pressed to fathom the ramifications of what will happen when millions suddenly vanish. Every child below the age of accountability will be gone in that mind-boggling instant of time. I am convinced that all babies (including those in the wombs of their mothers) will be instantly in the presence of Christ in the clouds of glory.

Every corpse of every dead Christian will be raised to join with his or her soul to meet Christ in the air in that atomos of time. The Rapture will be mystifying, and to some an inexplicable phenomenon, but it will not be a secret. It will happen before the eyes of a stupefied planet of left-behind earth-dwellers. This declaration that Jesus will call His Church to be with Him seems audacious to many. But, it didn’t seem so to the Apostle Paul. He was quite confident–even adamant—in his prophecy concerning the “mystery” he had been given by the Holy Spirit to instruct all believers down through the Age of Grace (Church Age).

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)

He explains what will take place next, in that stupendous fraction of a second:

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall 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 4:15-17)

Jesus Himself told of this “mystery” Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians 15:51. The Lord explains what happens after believers–both the bodies of the dead and those who are living–are caught up in the air to be with Him:

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:1-3)

So, the Rapture will take place. Believers and the bodies of those who died during the Church Age will be “caught up” in one single moment of time. “ALL,” not “some,” will go instantly to be with Jesus, who will then take them into heaven, where He has been preparing their dwelling places since He ascended from the Mount of Olives.

Again, the pre-Trib position on this joyous event is that it is imminent (could happen at any moment), and will happen before the Tribulation Period begins. The post-Trib position says that it happens at the end of the most terrible time in human history, just as Jesus Christ is returning from heaven at Armageddon.

The pre-Trib view holds that it will occur at an unknown time. It will be a stunning, sudden, and unannounced-to-the-world-at-large break-in upon business as usual on Planet Earth. The post-Trib proclaims that it will occur following all of the horrors of the judgments outlined in Revelation.

The pre-Trib view says that the world at large (left-behind earth-dwellers) won’t see it coming. The Rapture will cause all left on earth to wonder what has happened. The post-Trib view says that all eyes will behold Christ’s coming again to a hellish planet, and the living and dead saints will then be gathered to Christ.

The defining thing to consider in thinking on the two diametrically different views of the Rapture and Second Coming is wrapped up in the term “thief in the night.” The Apostle Peter again uses this mysterious term, first used by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:2:

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2 Peters 3:10)

Peter is saying here that the day of the Lord–that time when God and His Christ, His Son, takes over this fallen planet—will begin like a thief in the night. It will be a sudden, catastrophic break-in upon a world doing business as usual. (Read Luke 17:26-29 to understand how things will be going along as usual when Christ comes back.)

This description hardly fits the post-Trib view, or any other view that says Christ will Rapture His Church during a time of unprecedented trouble (Jeremiah 30:7; Matthew 24:21). This indicates that it will be a total surprise, because a thief in the night doesn’t announce his coming with great, cataclysmic fanfare. The break-in is swift, stealthy–a totally unexpected event.

Peter foretells in these passages that the “day of the Lord” will then run its course, until the remaking of the heavens and the earth. The Rapture will begin this “day of the Lord,” which will then run at least 1,007 years.

This is the first phase of Christ’s Second Coming. The Rapture occurs like a “thief in the night.” The second advent, when Jesus’ foot touches down on the Mount of Olives, is the second phase.

There are those who say with vehemence that it is blasphemous to equate Christ’s coming again as being like the break-in of a thief in the night. How dare we liken their Lord to a “thief”!

Really? Here’s what Jesus, the Creator of all things, said about this matter:

But 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. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. (Matthew 24:43-44)

Looks like a pretty good case for the Lord’s sudden intervention into the nefarious affairs of this increasingly wicked world, does it not? That thief-in-the-night moment could happen, literally, at any moment. Certainly, signals of the Tribulation are beginning to come to pass.

And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. (Luke 21:28)

Circumstances involving an email arose the other day,  revolving around a request that I address a question in Bible prophecy. A dear ministry friend had just received the email asking what I meant by something I wrote in a commentary that my friend posted on her website. The question was about Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 24 regarding the days of Noah and days of Lot–Matthew 24:36-44.

This prophecy is one I consider most relevant to this very moment in which we find ourselves. I believe the Lord was talking specifically to the present generation. We have covered the prophecy a number of times in recent weeks. I am convicted in my spirit that we stand upon the very precipice of its fulfillment.

Here is that prophecy:

But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For 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, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” (Matthew 24:37-42)

Jesus followed up the exhortation to be watchful with a second exhortation reinforcing the first: “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 24:44).

After responding to the emails from my friend and her website follower, I began to think back on one of the great prophecy teachers I’ve been privileged to call friend and Christian brother. It is Dave Hunt to whom I refer, as the title of this commentary suggests. I’m sure that most all who read this article know about this superb speaker, writer, and teacher of God’s Word.

Dave went to his heavenly home a few years ago. His ministry is The Berean Call, which continues today.

The question of whether the Rapture of the Church is in Jesus’ Matthew 24 Olivet Discourse has long been a somewhat contentious matter among students of Bible prophecy. Most often, the seminary line has it that there is no reference whatsoever to the Rapture in that account, although some within that high realm of Bible academia believe the Rapture is within the prophecy Jesus gave.

I, of course, don’t belong to that high realm, but do believe with all that is within my spirit that Jesus was foretelling not only the Rapture, but a pre-Trib Rapture, meaning that the Rapture will happen prior to the Tribulation era, that great time of worldwide judgment and wrath prophesied by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse, Paul in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, the prophet Daniel in 9:26-27, and John in the Book of Revelation.

The preachers and teachers of this present day continue to neglect Bible prophecy, and almost never express any thoughts whatsoever on the Rapture of the Church. These spend even less time presenting their parishioners with any teaching on the pre-Trib view of the Rapture.

It is with this lament weighing heavily that–upon dealing with the above-mentioned email–Dave Hunt came to mind.

Dave conducted a session at the Pre-Trib Study Group in Dallas on the Matthew 24 prophecy in 1998. I sat in on that early-morning session and was validated in my spirit by Dave’s facing the study group head-on with his lecture.

Many there that morning were of the higher academic sort–good brothers, sisters in Christ all. But, many–probably most–believed the Olivet Discourse held no mention of the Rapture. That prophetic utterance by the Lord, most held, was and is for Israel only.       

I looked into my computer and found my files on that session. I have both a transcript of the session and the audio file. I’ve had fun going over both since entertaining the email interaction mentioned above.

Dave Hunt gave a masterful rendering of  Matthew 24 that morning in 1998. He began with his terrific sense of humor in full force, although most of us were still trying to come to our senses as we sipped on black, caffeine-soaked coffee.

Dave said:

Well, if the truth were to be known, which is not easy, Tommy [Dr. Thomas Ice, Pre-Trib study group director] scheduled me at this early hour, hoping nobody would show up to here my heresies, and I was hoping the Greek scholars wouldn’t be here, to bombard me with errorist indicatives and that kind of stuff. Furthermore, I knew Tommy was throwing me to the lions this morning, and my name isn’t Daniel, so I got cold feet and decided to change the topic. He said the topic is “Is the rapture in the Olivet Discourse?” Well, I’d like to talk on the topic “The pre-trib rapture in the Olivet Discourse.” I couldn’t quite handle that question. I couldn’t justify why there ought to be any question at all. Why the pre-trib rapture, or the rapture, or the church, or anything else was in the Olivet Discourse.

Dave defended his–and my- belief that Jesus was indeed speaking of the Rapture and even more so to the pre-Trib Rapture in the days of Noah, days of Lot portion of His Olivet Discourse.
We are at a time in human history that Jesus described perfectly, as only the God of all creation could. Again, I believe that Donald J. Trump was put in the presidency of the United States for just this hour. We are, I believe, entering a time of building, buying, planting, socially intensive activity like marrying and giving in marriage, unprecedented in the annals of mankind. It will be just at such a time–“a time you think not”- that the “Son of man is revealed.”

Jesus Christ’s “revelation” to this rebellious world will come in the form of the Rapture of all born-again believers, both sleeping in death and those alive, when He calls, “Come up here!” (Revelation 4:1).

“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of afresh, and put him to an open shame” (Jas. 6:4-6).

Those who believe you can fall from grace (lose salvation once you are saved) often put forth that the above Scripture proves their case. They say the words “if they shall fall away” teaches there is the possibility of being saved, then falling away from salvation because of sinfulness. Yet, if the phrase, “if they shall fall away,” proves the case that salvation can be lost through sinfulness once one is under the grace of God through Christ’s shed blood on the cross of Calvary, how, then, can the person who falls away be restored through repentance? They ignore this Scripture’s plain teaching that no one could, if he fell from grace, come back into the salvation fold. These same people usually believe in God’s forgiveness of sin and that a sinner can be restored to the point of being resaved. Their use of this scripture to make their point that one can lose their salvation, therefore, makes no sense.

What Hebrews 6: 4-6 teaches, of course, is that it is impossible to lose your salvation. The thing that must be considered here is whether one, if he then lives in sin, without any desire to repent, was ever a born-again believer. Paul wrote, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid” (Rom. 6:1-2). Eternal security is not license to sin without severe consequences. God will discipline His children. In some cases, the heavenly Father will call home His disobedient children who will not heed His corrective measures. The Bible truth about those who claim to be “Christians,” yet who live “like the devil” with seemingly no consequences is: they are probably the children of another father –the Devil.

John, the great apostle, through divine inspiration, spoke to this Bible truth:

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would (no doubt) have continued with us: but (they went out), that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us” (1 Jn. 2:19).

God’s Unbreakable Seal

Almighty God holds the saved within His all-powerful hand, Jesus said. It is stronger than any lamination process that could ever be devised. God’s seal cannot be broken under any circumstances. Paul wrote about Jesus and those who truly believe in Him for their salvation:

“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:13-14).

Paul wrote that a believer should strive never to disappoint or grieve God. But in the next thought he assures that the believer is eternally secure, no matter what:

“And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30).

Christians Sin

The Lord explained, through John, the relationship of the born-again child of God to his or her heavenly Father when it comes to the matter of sin:

“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:6-9).

Some claim that once saved, a person can live in sinless perfection. Let’s see what God says about this:

“If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 Jn. 1:10-2:4).

When Jesus Prays

When the Lord Jesus prays, the heavenly Father ALWAYS grants His Son’s prayer. Jesus prayed for the children of God –all children past, present, and future, saved through Christ’s precious shed blood:

“I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them…Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them (Jn. 17: 9-10; 20-26).

Paul wrote extensively about his own sinfulness –and he meant the sin he committed after his Damascus Road experience. He was saved, yet sinned, much to his sorrowful remorse. Read Romans 7, beginning with verse 14. He then wrote the following, telling us that we live above sin because we are seen by the heavenly Father through Christ Jesus, not through our flesh:

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Rom. 8:1-17).

Jesus is the One who makes us free. If we are free in Him, we are free indeed! Eternally!

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is the story of a man–but it is much more. It is a story of mankind.

The man is Abraham’s nephew, Lot, who chose to take the greener pasture when his uncle gave him the choice. That greener pasture was, of course, the land of Sodom and Gomorrah. It was much more appealing in lushness and the entertainment and other attractions it apparently offered.

The story of Lot, of Sodom and Gomorrah, is also a dramatic picture of all of mankind in its fallen state. The story foreshadows how the human race always chooses the ways of the world that take people farther and farther from their Creator.

Lot, despite being among the lost, debauched thousands of Sodom, was nonetheless considered righteous in the eyes of that Creator -the God of Heaven. There is one thing more we know about this nephew of the great progenitor of the people that would become Israel. Lot was sorely vexed. The story of the sorely vexed Lot can be found in the 19th chapter of the Book of Moses–Genesis.

There, we remember, God sent two angels, first to Uncle Abraham, then to Lot in the debauched city of Sodom.

Here is what the Apostle Peter wrote in regard to our vexed protagonist, Lot. The context is God dealing with egregiously rebellious mankind in righteous judgment.

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 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;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. (2 Peter 2:1-10)

Now, Peter points out–under divine inspiration and without any doubt–that ol’ Lot was indeed vexed. The definition of vexed in one instance is the state of being extremely irritated or frustrated to the point of a sense of being oppressed.

I use the word sorely, because it has always been a KJV term that amuses me. Some in biblical stories, for example, have been described as “sore afraid.”

I have no doubt that Lot, living among these ravenously homosexual men who threatened the angels who came into Sodom, was not only vexed, but sorely vexed.

Now, I want to say here that while watching things going on all around us in today’s society and culture I am sorely vexed.  It seems that fully half of the American people are immersed in activity that can be construed as anti-God. Government, media–both news and entertainment–seem bent on tearing down most every moral pillar to which our national life used to be tethered. And, we who oppose that tearing down are called the irrational, ignorant morons that are holding up progress.

We who think boys, not girls, should be Boy Scouts, who believe males should not be allowed in restrooms that are designated for females, who hold that God knows best when saying that marriage should be between a man and a woman, not a man and a man or a woman and a woman, are hated and vilified. Those doing the vilification and hating see themselves as the supreme moralists. And, their side has the public airwaves for the most part. They have Satan’s propaganda machinery that, without ceasing, preaches their Sodom and Gomorrah-like comportment as being the way life is meant to be lived.

This being the case, all of my vexation instantly turns to a shudder of realization when thinking on the future for those in such rebellion. The words issued by Peter above are yet–perhaps very soon–to once again come to fulfillment.

The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government.

Dynamic issues and events continue to move and shake the world at a torrid pace. Central to all going on that presents danger to the world is the North Korean matter. That’s the take by most of the news punditry panels I’ve heard, at any rate.

The North Korean talks and economic trade talks are at the top of the heap of things to worry about, according to the talking heads. Even Russia and China have for the moment been moved, at least temporarily, to lesser positions in the order of things.

Of course, the specious matter of Russia-Trump collusion is at the very top of mainstream news and entertainment media, as it will be until the next presidential election. But, at least they have to weave the fake news narrative in between the truly historical things this president is bringing to the world diplomatic table.

With that understood, it is nonetheless impossible to consider those things top priority to cogitate upon when the Bible’s prophetic focus and the news of the day converge as one. I’m referring to God’s chosen  nation as being in the reportorial crosshairs every hour of every day.

Israel’s enemies seem to be in every direction one looks, as we’ve covered many times. It is a satanic hatred that rages, just like it continues to rage in the matter of the 2016 presidential election. That election disrupted the new world order builders’ plans to continue to move the United States into their globalist plans.

The hatred builds toward a crescendo because the new American president and God’s chosen nation are joined at the hip, diplomatically speaking. Never has the Jewish state had such a friend in the White House.

Israel’s enemies in the EU made their threatening anger known in recent days.

Spain has, as well as have most all of Europe, in one form or the other, joined in the Boycott-Divestment-Sanction (DBS) movement.

Following a major Spanish city’s vote to boycott Israel, the leader of Spain’s third-largest party called the Jewish state a “criminal country” during an interview aired by public television broadcaster.

Pablo Iglesias Turrión, leader of the Podemos far-left party, said this in an interview earlier this week on RTVE.

“We need to act more firmly on an illegal country like Israel,” said Iglesias Turrión, whose party in 2015 won 20 percent of the votes in the general election just one year after its creation. (Spain’s third-largest City Valencia officially declares Israel an illegal country,  JEWSNEWS, June 10, 2018)

Israel has only to look northward a few miles to find a threat that is one packed with deadly military virulence.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani  warned Friday that Israel “can never” feel safe, as thousands of Iranians marched in an annual day of protest against Israel.

Protesters took to the streets in the capital and other cities for Quds (Jerusalem) Day, held every year since the early days of Iran’s Islamic revolution to show support for the Palestinians. Iranian media said millions marched in hundreds of cities. Iran relentlessly encourages the destruction of Israel, and it finances, arms and trains terrorist groups on Israel’s borders.

“Israel can never feel that it is in a safe place,” Rouhani told reporters in Tehran. (Rouhani says “Israel can never feel safe” as thousands in Iran mark Quds Day, by Agencies and TOI staff, Times of Israel, June 2018)

God’s chosen nation has a diminishing  number of friends and a burgeoning number of enemies of every sort. The most worrisome of the enemies, to my way of thinking, is the “Christ at the Checkpoint’”global effort to, in its own way, destroy Israel.

Known as the CatC movement, the organization has declared its intention to “go global” in its activity in opposition to Israel and to Christians who support the Jewish state. Until recently, the movement has been in the Palestinian-controlled city of Bethlehem.

One enemy against which they have declared themselves is “Christian Zionism.” Basically, that includes any Christian who, on the basis of moral and biblical convictions, stands with the Jewish state of Israel.

CatC official Alex Awad said  Christian Zionists worship the modern state of Israel instead of God.

He added further the night CatC 2018 began that those of the Zionists in the U.S. are responsible for “electing Trump and dashing hopes for Palestinian peace…. Why should Christian Zionists coming to the Holy Land—where they worship Israel, not Jesus—why should they draw tens of thousands and we not get those kinds of numbers?”

The rhetorical question was posed in the closing hour of the fifth anti-Israel Christ at the Checkpoint (CatC) conference in Bethlehem.

CatC counts among its friends some familiar names, according to the article from which I gleaned the information. For example, the following is stated therein.

At the CatC conference in 2016, the hired gun to assault Christian Zionism was the so-called “Bible Answer Man,” Hank Hanegraaff from the US.

Not only is the ethnicity of today’s Jews dubious, said Hanegraaff, Christian Zionists are directly responsible for what he called Jewish Zionism’s “murder, terrorism and ethnic cleansing in 1948.” Moreover, he asserted, all talk of a third Temple (as per the prophet Ezekiel) is “nonsense.” (For the full article, go to http://jerusalemjournal.net/news-and-views/7-ways-to-counter-the-global-assault-of-christ-at-the-checkpoint-conferences-by-brian-schrauger-photo-all-text-edited-out-for-facebook-censor)

Observers of Bible prophecy from the Pre-Trib view of eschatology shouldn’t be surprised or overly alarmed at these developing, incendiary actions against God’s chosen nation. It should, rather, reassure that Israel’s returning Messiah and King is soon to appear to rescue the believing remnant of that people.

We who are believers this side of the Rapture will return with our Savior and Bridegroom!

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. (Revelation 19:11-14)

In thinking on what is going on to  Jerusalem’s north, with Israel’s primary enemy, Iran, coalescing with Russia and other nations, I was looking through some of the documents in my computer. I wanted to get some sense of developments in prophetic stage-setting regarding Ezekiel 38-39. I’m referring, of course, to the Gog-Magog assault predicted for “the latter days.”

I found some quotes by some prophecy observers, their names with which you will be familiar. Two of these well-known men are now with the Lord, and the third has probably one of the most-watched television programs at the present time.

Hal Lindsey is the man, of course, who has a weekly TV program. He continues to analyze and present matters involving prophetic stage-setting all these years later after writing the foundational book on current issues and events in light of Bible prophecy–The Late, Great, Planet Earth, published in 1970.

I found in my documents surprisingly up-to-date forewarnings of things to come. Some might even call Lindsey’s words prescient in their analysis. I must admit that I’ve not thought too highly of the briefing service known as DEBKA-Net-Weekly Briefing over the years. I’ve found the information this service dispenses prone to be hyperbolic, that is, greatly exaggerated in many instances. However, Hal Lindsey’s own intelligence briefing from some years ago shows the source as having value I missed.

Hal wrote:

For students of Bible prophecy, even the title of this communiqué should set off alarm sirens. I just received some electrifying intelligence data – first, from the DEBKA-Net-Weekly briefing, and second, from some personal intelligence sources (which I carefully guard) that confirm Debka’s report.

Russia, Iran and Syria have entered a defense pact that is in the process of altering the balance of power in the entire Middle East. Russia’s part in the pact has been kept relatively secret for a long time. But the facts reveal a long, steady Russian commitment to the Iranian nuclear program and arms supply to Syria. (“Russian-Syrian-Iranian Axis” by Hal Lindsey, September 2006, Personal Update News Journal)

That information, presented in 2006, has proven to be extremely accurate. We have watched this relationship between the key Gog-Magog players blossom into the next major diplomatic crisis.

President Trump has said that Iran will not develop a nuclear capability, and Iran has declared that it will destroy both Israel and America.

Russia’s government, under a Gog-like leader, Vladimir Putin, has declared it will consider an attack on Iran as a most serious violation of Russia’s own interests in the region. So, the tension builds.

Two prophetic factors, when brought into the mix of unfolding history, present interesting questions, some of which we’ve considered previously.

1) The Gog-Magog attack on Israel as given in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 indicates a most basic, conventional, not nuclear attack. Question: What happened to Iran’s nuclear program presently under development and so hotly contested?

2) The nations of the presently powerful Western alliance, according to the Ezekiel prophecy, do nothing to try to stop the Russian-Iranian and coalition partners attack against the small Jewish state when it occurs. Why is this so?

Certainly there appears to be no president of the unwavering mindset like that  of Mr. Trump on the scene.

The other prophecy experts I mentioned had the following observations, as I discovered when delving into my computer documents.

Chuck Missler:

God apparently sends ‘fire’ down, not only upon Magog and his allies, but on some distant people living in the ‘isles’ or ‘coastlands.’ Who are they who dwell carelessly [securely} in the Isles? The word for isles could be an idiom for remote continents. Could this be an allusion to the United States? Is the ‘fire on Magog’-and these others-a result of a nuclear exchange? (2)

Grant R. Jeffrey:

When Russia is defeated by God’s miraculous power, the newly united European Union will emerge as the greatest economic, political, and military power on the planet. These pivotal events will set the stage for the rise of the new European super state

and the emergence of the new leader who will ultimately assume the role of the Antichrist, the final world dictator who will rule the planet during the last seven years leading to the climatic battle of Armageddon. (Duck, Daymond R., and Richards, Larry Ph.D, God’s Word for the Biblically-Inept Series, Starburst Publishers. 2000. p 89)

The possibilities exist, based upon the prophecy by Ezekiel, that nuclear “fire” will fall upon, perhaps, the nations of the western alliance, while the attack on Israel is taking place. The destruction of the Gog-Magog forces (all but one-sixth completely destroyed) would create a power vacuum for Antichrist.

My own thought is that the one who will be Antichrist will know and believe the Ezekiel prophecy. He will perhaps be content to watch these forces be destroyed, knowing that the world will be “easy pickins’” after the Russian threat is gone. But, we know that tidings out of the east will soon add to his worries (kings of the east).

It is all fascinating to consider as we watch these things shape in rapid fashion toward the climax of the age.

Now, we look at the latest addition to matters involving that future attack from the hordes to Israel’s north.

The prophecy is most interesting in light of the news item that follows it below.

Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?” (Ezk. 38:13)

The head of NATO said the alliance would not aid Israel in the event of an attack by Iran, according to reports.

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary-general, told the German magazine Der Spiegel that because Israel is not a member of NATO, its “security guarantee” doesn’t apply to the country, according to the Associated Press.

NATO is also not involved in conflicts in the Middle East or peace efforts there, Stoltenberg added.(“NATO Chief: No Assistance for Israel if Iran Attacks,” by Melissa Quinn, Associated Press, June 02, 2018)

It looks as if the international community is already setting up for the mere diplomatic protest that will be issued when the much-hated Israel is assaulted.

But, the God of Heaven–and of Israel–will have the last word.

Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, 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 leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel: And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. (Ezekiel 39:1-4)

Israel, always in the news while planet earth closes in on Christ’s Second Coming, again is drawn into the center of stage-setting for prophetic fulfillment. I’m referring specifically to prophecy involving ancient Persia–modern Iran.

We’ve looked at the prophecies involving these end-times players over the past number of years. Dynamics generated from things going on in the region have increased in intensity as of late. It is therefore worthwhile to catch up with developments involving Israel and its biblically foretold enemies.

Iranian leaders are angered over the Trump administration’s taking the U.S. out of the “nuclear deal.” They are threatening the Jewish state and vowing that soon Israel will feel their wrath.

Development of nuclear weaponry is at the heart of the threat. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump have both vowed that Iran will not have nuclear weapons. However, it is known that they already possess missiles thought to be capable of carrying nuclear payloads. And, their centrifuges and nuclear laboratories, deeply ensconced within Iran’s mountainous regions, are beyond inspection by the people who came up with the “worst deal in history,” according to President Trump.

A primary reason Trump considered the “deal” as such is because the inspectors could neither “trust” nor “verify,” as President Ronald Reagan insisted in the case of dealing with the Iranian’s chief ally, Russia.

A Jerusalem Post article reports Israel’s present mindset.

Netanyahu said he spoke over the weekend with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and expressed Israel’s appreciation for the strong and determined position the US administration is taking against the Iranian nuclear agreement and the Islamic Republic’s aggression in the region.

“The regime in Tehran is the main factor undermining stability in the Middle East,” he said. “The campaign against its aggression is not over, and we are still in it.”

Netanyahu said that Israel is working against the Iranian regime on three fronts: preventing it from acquiring nuclear weapons, working against its military entrenchment in Syria, and working against the transfer of game-changing weapons from Syria to Lebanon, or the manufacturer of that weaponry in Lebanon.

“Those weapons are intended for use against Israel, and it is our right – by virtue of the right of self defense – to prevent its production or transfer,” he said. (Netanyahu says campaign against Iran ongoing on three different fronts, by Herb Keinon,  Israel News – Jerusalem Post, May 27, 2018)

As mentioned, we have previously, and on several occasions, covered the threat to Israel from its prophesied enemy, Persia (Iran). That nuclear threat hasn’t gone away since we last paid attention in one of these commentaries. It has, as a matter of fact, progressed toward becoming not just a threat, but, possibly a real assault. The former U.S. presidential administration aided and abetted that ratcheting-up of Iran’s eventual achievement in producing atomic weapons. Israel’s military posture as of late, combined with Netanyahu’s elevated words of concern, illustrate, I think, just how near might be some action to neutralize Iran’s growing danger to not only the Jewish state, but to other nations as well.

I wrote the following in a commentary on June 14, 2014:

My friend, Bill Salus, has just released an especially fascinating book relative to our time. NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN IN IRAN: The Ancient Prophecy of Elam points to a particular prophecy in the book of Jeremiah that the author believes foretells a devastating blow to a certain part of Iran–the area of ancient Elam.

One of my own burning questions has been: Why does Persia (modern-day Iran) seemingly intend to attack Israel alongside Russia in the Gog-Magog attack of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 without apparent deployment of nuclear weaponry? –Thus, since Iran is obviously developing such weapons as fast as it can.

That prophecy that both Bill and I had and still have in mind is the following:

Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come. For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the Lord; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them: And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the Lord. But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 49:35-39)

The title of Bill’s book–NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN IN IRAN: The Ancient Prophecy of Elam–might itself prove to be prophetic, as things wind up for the end of the age.

In thinking on Paul’s “perilous times” characterizations of end-times man, we have covered most all of them as they seemed to become most prominent in daily life.

Here, again, is the apostle’s forewarning of things to come in this regard:

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

We have looked at each individually and collectively. Paul’s description of how humanity will be while the wrap-up of the Age of Grace nears its end has proven to be stunningly accurate. Of course, this shouldn’t surprise, because the apostle received  the descriptive directly from the mind of the Living God.

Paul tells us that the nearer the Church Age comes to its conclusion, the more self-centered human beings will become.

We have discussed in these commentaries that–in my view, at least, the “selfie” –photos of one’s self–is such a manifestation of Paul’s prophetic characterization.

It is perhaps somewhat of a humorous example, but an example, nonetheless. Combined with social media and the desire of so many to one-up others in lifestyle creation -often fictional–the selfie becomes even more significant in fulfillment of this prophetic element.

We have gone over other characteristics of end-times man Paul lays out in this prophetic passage. Another example of these characteristics manifesting in our society and culture today is that men will be “without natural affection.”

My own view of this prophetic manifestation in our time is, of course, homosexuality and abortion.

My wonderment has always been: How can anyone consider sexual relations with a person of the same sex as “natural” activity? How can anyone believe abortion to be “natural” in a mother dealing with a baby in her womb? Yet these are two of the most prominent social and cultural manifestations of our day.

We know from our daily news of how “fierce” people can be in dealing with each other. This sort of murderous news seems to be the kind that most interests the viewing public–thus stimulates the news-reporting sources to broadcast it.

All we have to do is consider many of our congressional leaders and other governmental “servants”–such as those within our judicial system–to see the truth in Paul’s condemning words about mankind being “heady” and “high-minded.” These more often than not go against the will of the people in making decisions that “rule,” not “serve,” we the people.

Now we come to the title of the commentary–the characteristic Paul terms “false accusers.”

This characteristic of end-times man has, in my view, become the most manifest of all for this particular hour while the end of the age draws to its conclusion.

The 2016 presidential election has brought this one front and center for all to clearly discern. Any sound-thinking people can–if they simply open their eyes and ears–realize that the effort to destroy this president and his presidency has been the drive of the political left. As a matter of fact, I have characterized it as a satanic rage by both human and demonic minions that come against this administration’s efforts to get America back on track.

Certainly, America has been derailed, moving farther and farther away from God’s directions for life on earth as put forth in His Holy Word. Having been founded on godly principles by the Founding Fathers, it has been Satan’s plan to remove all tethers from those spiritual moorings. He has been phenomenally successful in doing so. The former presidential administration and its deleterious achievements are proof of the fallen one’s success in that regard.

The nefarious work of Satan and the minions continue. They do so through “false accusation.”

There are so many false accusers and false accusations that one commentary could not begin to cover them. So, we will look briefly at the most obvious of the false accusations.

I’m thinking here about Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence agent who, for payment, apparently, by the opponent candidate’s campaign against Donald Trump, wrote a fictional dossier, falsely accusing Trump of salacious activity while in a hotel room in Russia. This was done, it has been proven through many months of closely examining the facts, in order to give the FISA judge reason to issue permission to open investigation into Trump’s collusion with Russia in the defeat of Hillary Clinton.

It is all totally false, of course, but Muller’s investigation goes on. This is false accusation manifest for all the world to see.

No matter which channel or network that is giving news, this is the number-one story. And, it has proven to be totally “fake news.” That, friends and countrymen, is “false accusers” doing their minion work right in our faces.

This particular characteristic of end-times man, forewarned by Paul the apostle, threatens to create a constitutional crisis, threatens to tear apart the United States by dividing America in a way not even the Civil War could accomplish.

The only comforting thing those who are under the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ can take from all this is that seeing all this in our headlines today means that our redemption is drawing near.

While Iran and Russia continue to merge and coalesce north of Israel, controversy is stirring mightily over the Iranian nuclear “deal.”

President Barack Obama, in 2015, agreed to the nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. The agreement that included the US, the UK, Russia, France, China, and Germany was considered the signature foreign-policy achievement of his presidency.

The lifting of crippling economic sanctions on Iran in return for limitations to Iran’s forging ahead with nuclear development was at the heart of the deal. The agreement was struck out of fear that the Iranian regime would use their nuclear program to develop nuclear weapons.

With Iran’s Islamist-controlled government constantly and consistently calling for the total annihilation of the “Little Satan”–Israel–the deal continues to be the international community’s idea of the best way to assure that the nukes never reach the level of being usable.

The election of President Donald Trump disrupted the deal-consummating matter. Trump stumping for president, while calling it a “bad deal,” declared that, if elected, he would do away with it and would do a “better deal.”

The new president has said he will not recertify it because it is too weak and Iran has already violated key provisions. He said that it is much too lenient, and that Iran has broken the agreement by, for example, violating heavy-water limits and access to international inspectors.

He wants new sanctions on Iran and, in particular, against the regime’s Revolutionary Guard police force.

He has referred the deal to Congress for changes to the US terms.

Israel has seemingly exercised considerable patience, staying relatively silent, while the  Trump administration applies its policy-making to the critically important process. The world of diplomats–particularly in Europe–look with a wary eye not toward the treacherous Iranian-Russian cabal, but at the Jewish state. They see Israel as the most dangerous element in the whole matter. And with good reason.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear that if the world of diplomacy doesn’t get rid of the nuclear threat–a threat directly aimed at Israel–the IDF will.

So it is that President Trump has yet another pressure point to his multitudinous pressure points since taking office.

There is rumor–speculation–that he will renege on his campaign promises and presidential promises to drop the Iran nuclear deal and do a “better deal.”

Europe sent to America the leader they consider to be closest to having Trump’s proverbial number.

France’s young president, Emmanuel Macron, and the American president seem to have formed a mutual admiration society of sorts. While the president has rubbed most of Europe’s leadership the wrong way, especially the EU’s most economically powerful leader, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump and Macron seem to hit it off, personally and diplomatically.    

The same reports that say Trump might be about to change his mind on his campaign opinion, and that since becoming president, regarding the Iranian nuclear deal, he is about to face a dual assault in an attempt to sway him into keeping the deal as is.

Both Macron and Merkel are scheduled, as of this writing, to present their unified message. That message, it is said, is save the deal.

The French president has done some stage setting for the meetings with his close friend, as the media pundits would have it.

“I don’t have any Plan B for nuclear [protections] against Iran,” Macron said Sunday on Fox News. “Let’s preserve the framework because it is better than a sort of North Korea-type situation.”

The American president wasted little time upon Macron’s visit to make clear that his mind has not changed about the “worse deal ever made” in reference to the Iranian deal the Obama administration put together. Trump said if the Iranians start again toward a dangerous nuclear program, they will pay a price like no one else has paid. At the same time, he indicated that the North Korean situation to which the French president made reference is on track for a meeting that might lead to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. If not, he will walk away from the meetings.

International politics, like national politics, often make strange bedfellows, as the saying goes. Certainly that seems to be the case in this instance of today’s diplomatic machinations.

I hope the following gives some clarity to what I mean.

MOSCOW – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday he had agreed with his Chinese counterpart that Moscow and Beijing would try to block any U.S. attempt to sabotage the Iran nuclear deal, Russian state news agency TASS reported.

“We are against revising these agreements, we consider it very counter productive to try to reduce to zero years of international work carried out via talks between the six major powers and Iran,” TASS quoted Lavrov as saying after talks with Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, in Beijing.

“We will obstruct attempts to sabotage these agreements which were enshrined in a U.N. Security Council resolution,” Lavrov was cited as saying. (Jerusalem Post Breaking News, “LAVROV: RUSSIA AND CHINA TO OBSTRUCT U.S. ‘SABOTAGE’ OF IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL,” Rapture Ready News, April 23, 2018).

The strange bedfellow situation, however, in this case, isn’t really so strange, when considering things from the perspective of Bible prophecy. All who are involved against this president are under the master director of the globalist cabal. That cabal belongs to Satan, who desperately desires to construct the platform from which his coming man of the hour–Antichrist–will launch planet earth’s deadliest conflict.

Beware, Mr. President. Russia is definitely colluding–and with America’s so-called friends, at that.