The secularists, those who demand that we not be exclusive at this time of year, have done all they can do to replace the greeting “Merry Christmas” with “Happy Holidays.” These don’t want us to hurt the feelings or offend the sensibilities of people by using the name of the person for whom we celebrate the season.

The politically correct insist that we all use the term “Happy Holidays”as we send out greetings in whatever form. They cringe at the sight of nativity scenes and become disturbed at the sounds of songs that name the one whose birthday we celebrate on December 25.

While it is true that the larger portion of American citizenry thinks it not wrong to proclaim “Merry Christmas,” the politically correct Nazis, many of whom speak loudly through their social activist, bully pulpits, try to make it miserable for those of us who use the greeting we cannot and will never  abandon.

These of the “Happy Holiday”-only crowd–and I mean the militant types who genuinely hate the moral authority that Christianity represents–see “Merry Christmas” as equivalent of the evil that they, themselves,  most often champion. They accuse, for example, in many cases, that Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime celebrated Christmas, many during those horrific years in Germany saying “Merry Christmas” right after saying “Hile Hitler.”

They, themselves, act like Nazi thugs in many cases. They are the types who demand that Christians who own bakeries be forced to bake cakes for same-sex couples or lose their businesses through fines and court costs. They demand that taxpayers, in a nation that claims to be more than 70 percent Christian in population, subsidize the arts, which often display most salacious, even anti-God, presentations. They expect Christian taxpayers to subsidize abortion through support of organizations like Planned Parenthood.

The fact is, there is little “happy” within the ranks of those who want to do away with the term “Merry Christmas.”

These are in constant turmoil. They are often found among those who foment rioting and claim it to be in the name of social justice. They form, in my opinion, the nucleus of the Apostle Paul’s perilous-times characteristic, “false accusers” (2 Timothy 3:3).

Those with the no-more-“Merry Christmas” rant fall in line with every effort to remove God from every public venue. It is just a matter of time, it is obvious to anyone with the ability to observe, that when they come to full power they will demand that Christ be taken out of our private lives as well.

Let’s look for a moment at the mindset that wants to break the bonds–the contact–of mankind with the Creator, a thing that will bring severe ramifications and wrath from Heaven, according to God’s Word. (Read Psalms 2:1-9).

Beginning with our government allowing Madelyn Murray O’Hair to achieve her enraged, singular purpose–to get God out of public schools–we have witnessed a rush to national insanity. We have watched entire generations be subjected to revisionist history and inculcated by anti-God education. The results have, in these days of bizarre behavior and brainwashing by anti-God forces–primarily through social media–brought this nation to the brink of change that cannot be reversed.

I believe it took the God of Heaven, Himself, intervening in the 2016 presidential election, to stop the shoving of America into the godless, grasping arms of the globalists.

The rage that intervention produced is self-evident. We have witnessed those who have been raised through O’Hair’s insane achievement go completely out of their minds. They believe the lies that the mainstream media, the entertainment world, and the social media liars have told them. They are miserable, and even when they get what they want, it just throws fuel on the fires of their anger against an America that, under God’s gracious hand, has allowed them to live better than any people on earth.

There is nothing “happy” about the mindset that demands we say “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas.” This fallen mindset has made this the most unhappy generation in American history.

Satan is at the core of the movement to push God out of this magnificent desire by true Christians to honor their Lord’s incarnation. The secularists’ “Happy Holidays” offers nothing but misery in a future apart from God and Heaven’s influence.

Bible prophecy foretells of a time that is coming that will be as far from happiness as can be imagined. Apart from God, Planet Earth is destined to become hell on earth.

Jesus Christ, the reason for our celebration, on the other hand, promises to save mankind–individually and collectively (as the human race)–so that they may live for eternity in the most blissful conditions beyond imagination. This is why we don’t say “Happy Holidays” rather proclaim “Merry Christmas!”

Presidents of the recent past have made statements that I recall as having Bible prophecy in view. I haven’t researched to find these statements in their exact verbiage, but they were made and could be rather easily found with today’s search engines.

I remember that Jimmy Carter referred to the Holy Land as having biblical and historical importance according to Israel’s prophets. Ronald Reagan sometimes would refer to the Second Coming of Christ and the reality of Armageddon. Bill Clinton once said that his pastor, Dr. W. O. Vaught, told him when Clinton was governor of Arkansas that if Bill ever became president, he had better treat Israel according to Genesis 12. –This, regarding the blessings or cursing to be given by the Lord, Himself, depending upon whether one blessed or cursed Israel.

President Donald Trump, in talking about his decision declaring Jerusalem as Israel’s eternal capital, and announcing he will move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, said something of profound significance, in my view. He announced a number of important reasons for his decision. Then he said: “…It is reality, And, its the right thing to do.”

One must wonder how much of this president’s declaring Israel’s eternal capital and moving the embassy there is based upon true understanding of why it’s “the right thing to do.”

A considerable amount of the criticism I’ve heard about Trump’s decision comes from a specific, leftist diatribe. These say it’s the crazy evangelical Zionists who base Israel’s right to the land they “occupy” upon the Bible. The word “Bible” is dripping with vitriol, even when read rather than heard. It’s like they are saying”…the Bible!…Ugh!”

Trump is listening to the Bible thumpers and doing it for their votes. That is the rant. Yet, the following Bible truth is exactly what makes Mr. Trump’s decision to declare Israel’s capital Jerusalem and move the American Embassy there the “right thing to do.”

Jerusalem, is, in fact, chosen by the Lord of Heaven to be at the center of His chosen land for His chosen people:

But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel. Now it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the LORD God of Israel. But the LORD said to David my father, Forasmuch as it was in thine heart to build an house for my name, thou didst well in that it was in thine heart: Notwithstanding thou shalt not build the house; but thy son which shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for my name. The LORD therefore hath performed his word that he hath spoken: for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and am set on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built the house for the name of the LORD God of Israel. And in it have I put the ark, wherein is the covenant of the LORD, that he made with the children of Israel. (2 Chronicles 6:6-11)

Almost every leader on the world stage at present is against the decision. Even our closest allies, like British Prime Minister Theresa May, are adamantly against the declaration and the move. Yet this president is unmoved. He seems determined to carry out the promise that presidents preceding him didn’t have the political will or courage to honor. –That of proving America’s commitment to declaring Jerusalem Israel’s capital by moving the embassy there from Tel Aviv.

Trump is one who has proven that he keeps promises, even bucking the heavy resistance of opposition from outside his own political party and from within. He forges ahead, despite the world’s opposition to this decision. He doesn’t wither under the fire of the fanaticism of the Islamic world that rages with hatred for Israel.

It is not possible for me to know for certain, but I strongly suspect that Christian counsel from people such as Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, have made it known to the president the truth about Israel from God’s perspective. Thankfully, Mr. Trump has wisely listened to such counsel, it appears. America stands in much better stead with the Almighty with this fulfilled, presidential promise.

Anti-God forces are still on the move, forging ahead with even increased intensity in their madness. We read about it every day or see it on our television and/or computer monitors. Anti-God forces’ determination to unseat the Creator of all things has not abated. It is, as said, intensifying.

We can go back much farther. But a modern starting point to see this intensification involves the 1962–63 decisions by the Supreme Court to attempt to kick God out of classrooms by banning Bible reading and prayer from public schools. Then, we consider most often the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 that gave us not only the right, but the commission, to allow the murder of babies in their mothers’ wombs.

God was, in these cases, ruled out of order by the Supreme Court justices. They, we can infer, believe they know better than did the Founding Fathers of America—and, better than God, as well.

The humanists continue in their incessant drive to remove all influence by the One who gives and allows each heartbeat, each breath for every living being upon the planet.

As example, it is interesting that while Sweden has allowed so many Muslims into their country that they are taking over, the most prominent Christian body in that nation, at the same time, seeks to rule God out of order. Many among the Lutheran Church—more than six million membership among ten million citizens of that country—are declaring, in effect, that the order God established is wrong and they are out to rectify the situation.

The following news excerpt explains.

The Church of Sweden is encouraging its clergy to use the gender-neutral term “God” instead of referring to the deity as “he” or “the Lord”.

The decision was made on Thursday, wrapping up an eight-day meeting of the church’s 251-member decision-making body. The decision will take effect on May 20 during Pentecost.

It is the latest move by the national Evangelical Lutheran church to modernise its 31-year-old handbook setting out how services should be conducted.

The decision to update the book of worship gives priests new options on how to refer to God during their services.

Priests can now open their services by referring to the traditional “Father, son and Holy Ghost” or the gender-neutral phrase “in the name of God and the Holy Trinity”. Other gender-neutral options are available for other parts of the Church of Sweden liturgy. (Church of Sweden to stop clergy calling God ‘he’ or ‘the Lord’ in bid to crack down on gendered language, The Telegraph, November 26, 2017)

God is thereby ruled out of order by the high, ecclesiastical body in the nation that seems to have developed spiritual dementia. God’s Holy Scripture refers to Him as “He.” But, Sweden’s Lutheran top echelon, now led by Archbishop Antje Jackelen, who was elected Sweden’s first female archbishop in 2013, says it is wrong to refer to the Lord in the masculine gender.

Obviously, the radical feminist agenda is on track and growing in Europe. That agenda, instigated and fueled by the same creature who first beguiled the first woman, continues to seduce and deceive. God is out of order, is Satan’s number-one accusation.

He told Eve “Yea, hath God said?” He continues to whisper, even shout, the same question. He thus declares on every continent, at every opportunity: God is out of order!”

Again, in Sweden, Muslims are taking over. Swedish women, I’ve read reports, are dyeing their hair black in many instances, and even wearing berkas, to keep radical Muslim men from raping them—thus, because blonde hair and blue eyes, to these radicals, gives license to rape, since the women are obviously, in their view, infidels.

That mankind has come to such a reprobate mindset should not surprise. Insanity has set in on a planetary scale. The lines between truth and lie, between good and evil, have become so blurred as to make God, Himself, almost unrecognizable. Paul, the great apostle, wrote the following prophetic Truth, which we’ve looked at a number of times.

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; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. (Romans 1:28–32)

The reprobate (upside-down) thinking has set in across the globe. The radical, feminist, mindset is one proof that it has done so. They who hold to such upside-down thinking have ruled God out of order.

Paul writes concerning those who rule God out of order, and who, instead do things which are right in their own eyes: “But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things” (Romans 2:2).

My good friend, Bill Salus, published a book a few years back that continues to hold my fascination. The title is NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN IN IRAN: The Ancient Prophecy of Elam.

He presented a thorough treatment of a topic few, if any, writers about Bible prophecy have, to my knowledge, explored in recent times.

Today’s news headlines are dealing in serious concern with the most volatile area of the world at the moment. It is the same area of Planet Earth that has been the center of war, anger, and bloodshed for millennia. Bill Salus’ book, in my view of things that are developing, demonstrates a certain degree of prescience.

We have watched for a number of years the coalescing of military powers that look very much like the Gog-Magog force described by Ezekiel the prophet in chapters 38 and 39. We point out incessantly that this gathering to the north of Jerusalem and Israel looks to be a major part of preparation for fulfillment of Bible prophecy. This forming of Russia, Iran, and Turkey into an agglomeration that is an existential threat to the Jewish state, in combination with the convergence of many other prophetic signals, is well worth examination.

Ezekiel tells us this region of the Middle East he calls Persia will constitute a primary partner within the Gog-Magog coalition.

The news at the moment is particularly pointing the prophetic finger at Iran, ancient Persia. We begin by having a look at the forming alliance between the major players of the Gog-Magog force.

Moscow, Turkey and Iran are all sending symbolic messages to Washington that the Americans are out in the cold and the post-ISIS era may well be dictated by regional powers…

Turkish, Russian and Iranian diplomats will meet in Antalya on Sunday in the run-up to a major get-together in Sochi on November 22. The meeting is supposed to focus on Syria, but its real purpose is part of a larger effort by Moscow to illustrate its influence in the region…

According to Hurried Daily News, the foreign ministers from Moscow, Ankara and Tehran will meet in Antalya, followed a few days later by a meeting in Sochi between Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hassan Rouhani that is being billed as a “trilateral summit.” (Analysis: Russia-Iran-Turkey meeting is message to US – Middle East -Jerusalem Post Israel News, November 19, 2017)

The meetings between the prophesied powers is over the disposition of another prophesied power—Syria. The whole matter has Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exercised considerably regarding the threat to Israel—another nation in prophecy about which you might have heard.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised on Tuesday that Iran would not gain a foothold in Syria by which to attack Israel. The premier spoke via video to American Jewish leaders just hours after Russia clarified it had no intention of pushing Tehran’s military forces out of the country. “Iran is scheming to entrench itself militarily in Syria.

“They want to create a permanent air, land and sea military presence, with the declared intent of using Syria as a base from which to destroy Israel. We are not going to agree to that. I have said very clearly that Israel will work to stop this,” Netanyahu told the Jewish Federation of North America’s General Assembly which is meeting in Los Angeles. “We must all work together to stop Iran’s aggression and its pursuit of nuclear weapons. If we stand together we will achieve it. But if we have to we’ll stand alone. Iran will not get nuclear weapons. It will not turn Syria into a military base against Israel,” the premier asserted. (BEWARE IRAN: PM Netanyahu vows Israel will act alone against Iran to destroy their nuclear capability if given no choice, JEWSNEWS, Nov. 13, 2017)

And that brings us to my admiration for Bill Salus’ expansive work on what looks to be a fulfillment of Bible prophecy in the making as I write this commentary.

Much of the Salus book involves the following prophetic passage. “‘But it shall come to pass in the latter days: I will bring back the captives of Elam,’ says the LORD” (Jeremiah 49:39).

Bill believes this is a prophecy yet future. God will make it possible for Christians to escape from this, one of the most hateful regimes on earth against those who name the Name of Christ.

He believes the forewarning is dire for those of Iran (Persia/Elam) who refuse to let God’s people go.

He describes the land of Elam.

The prophet Jeremiah issued an interesting prophecy that could involve Iran’s highly controversial nuclear program. The subject of Jeremiah’s prophetic utterances is Elam. During the prophet’s time, Elam comprised what consists of the central western portions of Iran today. Elam basically hugged much of the northeastern coastline of the Persian Gulf, while Persia encompassed much of today’s southern and eastern parts of Iran. It was bounded by Elam to the west and Media to the north. (Bill Salus, NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN IN IRAN: The Ancient Prophecy of Elam, chapter 3)

The author believes the prophecy indicates Iran’s prime nuclear facilities in Bushehr, a mountainous region, could be struck by Israel’s military force. He also thinks it could be struck by a major earthquake, nuclear disaster, or directly by the hand of God in a supernatural cataclysm. In any case, he believes, as I take it, that believers of the region will be freed to go into the world to carry the gospel in a mighty way.

Bill sees the prophecy about this region also as proclaiming that Elam’s military will suffer destruction. This, he believes, is found in Jeremiah 49:34-39.

The prophecy says that Elam’s “bow” will be broken. He believes this might mean that the missile launching capabilities might be destroyed. The arrows (missiles) can’t fly to their targets, if there is no launch facilities.

We have looked before at how the Gog-Magog force comes to destroy Israel, but it seems to be a conventional force, not one that involves nuclear weaponry. Certainly, To today’s Israeli prime minister and the Israeli people, this prophecy should be welcome news.

It is fascinating—and reassuring—to be a “watchman” while the Persian prophecy is in process of preparing for fulfillment.

A flood of stories continues to pour upon us. It’s as if a cesspool of salaciousness is in process of being purged and it’s all gushing into our eyes and ears.

If the things with which we are deluged aren’t true—and there is more than enough that is true— then the news media will make it up and throw it into the mix for their own nefarious purposes. I’ll let you think on what you consider that which is real sludge and that which is fake news.

Hollywood has always provided fodder for the tabloids to fill ears and eyes more than willing to take it all in. Now, however, even Hollywood seems to be regurgitating the sick things that have become worse and worse.

Wait! There’s a prophecy about such sickness. Oh, yes. Here it is: “But evil men and seducers shall [become] worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13).

The apostle, in his second letter to Timothy, seems to have been pointing to a time near the end of the dispensation of grace that would see an increase in the number of evil people who become worse by the day. He called them “evil men and seducers.” At the same time, he said they would be being deceived while deceiving others.

The rumors have been around for ages about the so-called casting couch. This, of course, is the term for those in the movie industry or the acting profession in general who misuse their power to give roles to the actresses seeking the jobs. They provide jobs for sexual favors from those seeking the available roles.

Until a few weeks back, this was all kind of looked at by the public and by the movie and acting industries in general as something that elicited a wink and a chuckle. It was all a consensual thing…no harm done. Just compromise one’s self a time or two, and many a budding starlet was on her way to fame and fortune.

The Harvey Weinstein story has suddenly changed all that. Now, we know details of the alleged crimes involved. Underage sexual contact, abuse, blackmail, and a number of other criminal actions make the casting couch no longer a thing about which to only give a wink and a chuckle. It is as if the Lord, Himself, has taken the cover between thumb and index finger and peeled back the lasciviousness. Suddenly, the evil of Hollywood has been exposed for what it is. Bible prophecy again is validated in our time as is revealed for the world to see, the evil-day seduction that has been going on among the much worshipped elite—the idols media and fans have made of those under this blanket of iniquity.

Pulling back this blanket has exposed such debauched evil at every level. It now is in process of exposing politicians at every level.

Some used to chuckle, wink, and revel in stories such as when Senator Edward Kennedy, the lion of the Senate, and Senator Christopher Dodd reportedly visited a certain D.C. restaurant and made “waitress sandwiches” in private dining rooms. Many other stories of orgiastic activities in D.C. and other halls of power have entertained the news-consuming public for decades. But, it is no longer funny. And, the same entertainment and news media types that have for those many decades secretly enjoyed knowing about the debauchery and/or engaged in it themselves now find it all an outrage.—Especially when an avowed Christian is accused by supposed victims from some thirty or more years ago.

And, indeed, it is not funny. It is an evil that is going to add to the horrors of God’s wrath and judgment in the near future. The following excerpted story illuminates the evil-day seduction taking place on a worldwide scale.

It’s not just pimps and escaped convicts involved. It’s the people we’re expected to respect or “look up to” the most: the politicians, the elite, the wealthy businessmen, your neighbours, and oftentimes the people that you’d least expect

In this particularly devastating case, it’s the people we’re supposed to trust to help others: the United Nations’ peacekeepers. As it turns out, these people are anything but “peace keepers.” Instead, they’re the ones wreaking havoc in these villages and causing children to have nightmares for the rest of their lives…

Many of the children living in poverty in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, are left to fend for themselves, scavenging for food and struggling with hunger on a daily basis. Their lives drastically changed when the UN peacekeepers moved to their village, as they were offered snacks and cookies.

However, this food came with a heavy price no one should ever have to pay. In exchange for food, the UN peacekeepers demanded sex from children as young as 12. In regards to the child sex ring run by UN peacekeepers in Haiti, nine children were being passed around from 2004 to 2007…

There was another pedophile ring in the Democratic Republic of Congo that the UN was involved in — UN police officers in Bosnia paid for prostitutes and were caught trafficking young women from Eastern Europe — and the UN was involved with child sexual abuse and rape in the Central African Republic as well. [“SHUT IT DOWN: United Nations ‘Peacekeepers’ Caught Running A Child Sex Ring: 2,000+ Cases of Sexual Abuse Reported,” JEWSNEWS, Rapture Ready News Nov. 12, 2017)

Many stories available at present contained reports much more graphic, disgusting, and heart-wrenching. They were quite difficult for me to read, much less bring before you in this column.

Evil men and seducers are becoming worse and worse, to be sure. They have been in the process of deceiving and being deceived by hiding much of the evil going on in America and the world. The uncovering of these things taking place now is long overdue. I believe the exposure taking place at present can be seen as the Lord revealing exactly how far along this generation is on God’s prophetic timeline.

These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. (Jude 1: 19-20)

One of the pleasures in life at my advancing age is to have what I have come to call conflab sessions. Yes, I know the legitimate word would be confab. Not conflab, but the sessions are so informal that I use the urban rather than the mainstream dictionary term.

These conflab sessions are especially enjoyable when between my sons and myself or between myself and my partner in the raptureready.com website, Todd Strandberg—the Toddster, as I sometimes call him. He is like one of my boys—thus the informality.

We often go over the most pressing news of the day. Most always we discuss things from the prophetic perspective.

When discussing the seeming endless string of absurd, anti-God things going on, the bottom line usually expressed by these younger gentlemen is that it’s a good thing they don’t have divine power and authority, else—well—there would be a quick resolution to the absurdity and evil.

Being considerably more mature and mellow, I usually say things like, “Yes. I, too, am thankful you don’t have such power and authority.”

They, of course, realizing my wisdom from this senior vantage point, ignore my usually offered remark. I’m sure they remain unresponsive to the opinion because they so profoundly respect my… ahemmm…even temperament and sound judgment.

We do get deeply into the issues of the day, and there are plenty of them to explore, to be sure. More often than not, we end up talking about how the Lord seems to be putting up with so much, with people, in effect, telling Him, “in your face.”

We discussed, for example, things like the actress who held up the award she had won, saying Jesus didn’t give it to her. She then made a salacious remark involving the Lord that, my boys thought, should have brought an instant lightning bolt to the top of her lovely head.

Before that, there was the crucifix submerged in urine, for which the art critics gave great accolade. There has been since then the former New York City mayor who said when he reaches the pearly gates of Heaven, he will walk right in and demand his reward, because he’s earned a face to face with God—if there is one. Before him, a famous billionaire said that he didn’t need anyone to die for him, when asked about Christianity.

In the 1960s, we had people kicking God out of classrooms and throwing Bibles out the doors of those classrooms. We had a generation of if it feels good, do it trying to strip society and culture of all morality. In the 1970s we began to legalize the murder of babies by the millions while still in their mothers’ wombs.

We later had—and continue to have—men-with-men and women-with-women sexual-relations advocates. Much of the anti-biblical, anti-God activity was written into our laws or issued through governmental authorization by presidential edict. One president even gave a White House party, bathing the presidential residence in the rainbow colors.

—All of this, when the vast majority of Americans disapprove of such debauched activity.

Then came the official governmental declaration that homosexual marriage is the equivalent of heterosexual marriage, saying to God, in effect, “in your face!”

Now, we have the latest movement of the anti-God insanity down the broad way that leads into the abyss. Transgender, transsexual advocacy has trans-morphed into an even more rebellious, anti-God, anti-biblical proposal by the earth-dwellers.  

There are those within the scientific and medical communities who see men carrying babies in the womb at some future date. The following news excerpt tells the story.

WOMB transplants could allow men to have babies “tomorrow”, an expert claims. They would not be able to deliver the baby naturally, but could give birth by cesarean.

Richard Paulson, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said eight children had already been born to women after transplants.

And he told a meeting in San Antonio, Texas: “There’s plenty of room to put a uterus in there. Men and women have the same blood vessels.”

He said the next step would be trials involving transgender women to help them become natural mothers…

Doctors hope to perform the first UK womb transplant in 2018. (Source: Womb Transplants Could Allow Men to Have Babies “Tomorrow,” Victoria Fletcher, Rapture Ready News, 11/5/17)

Remember that movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger? His character was pregnant. The shocking movie poster had him, with his Mr. Universe body, with a swollen abdomen. He was smiling, being proudly with child. Well, that might not be mere fiction for too much longer.

Come to think of it, I’m glad I don’t have my finger on the trigger of divine power and authority, either! We can all be thankful that the Lord does…

Author’s note: Because  I’m convicted that we are so near the time when Jesus will say “Come up hither,” I wanted to again present an article, somewhat revised, from my past commentaries. It is vital that the Church (all born again believers) be aware of the nearness of our Departure.

The Scripture is haunting. It echoes and reverberates throughout the spiritual hallways of the Church with each passing hour.

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Tim. 4:1).

This forewarning fits into the last-days pattern, also given by the Apostle Paul, in the familiar prophetic passage: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of Perdition…” (2 Thes. 2:3).

The “falling away,” apostasia in Greek, means a “departure from.” Paul prophesied in the 2 Timothy 4:1 passage that there will come a time at the end of the Church Age when people will depart from the “faith.” He foretells in 2 Thessalonians that this will be a general “falling away,” the apostasy of the endtime. What is this “faith” from which people will fall away, and who are the “people” who will fall away? Another crucial question is: Can the departure that God, through Paul, forewarned about be recognized when it occurs?

“Faith,” as here defined, must, by context, be the faith in the One who is at the heart of the Gospel–faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God, chosen from the foundation of the world to be the propitiation for the sin that separates fallen man from God. It is the faith you and I must have in order to confess with our mouths that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, and to believe in the deepest part of our spirits that God raised Him from the dead.

“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” (Rom. 10:9).

A person can’t fall from a position (doctrinally speaking in this case) he never has attained. The “people,” then, whom Paul the apostle is writing about in his prophecies of 1 Timothy 4:1 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3 are those who have believed in Jesus Christ for salvation of their souls.

This brings us to the question: Can the departure God, through Paul, forewarned about be recognized when it occurs? To recognize that “falling away”–that apostasia, or apostasy— when it begins to happen, will almost certainly give the Christian attuned to God’s will a heads-up on the nearness of the Tribulation era, thus to the nearness of the rapture of the Church.

We have looked at the “faith” as faith in Jesus for salvation, and at the “people”who will “depart” from the faith as being the Church–that is, the true Christians who are alive at the time of the end, when the apostasy takes place.

Although there are those who think this departure includes the possibility of one losing one’s salvation, the “falling away” of 2 Thessalonians 2:3 cannot include that meaning. A quick look at Romans 8:38 and 39, to name just one security-of-the-believer passage, shows that God’s Word teaches that the believer can’t depart from the Heavenly Father to the point of losing his or her family status. Jesus, in John chapter 17, makes that absolutely clear. I suggest that if you have questions about this, read the Scriptures I just mentioned.

What, then, is meant by “departing from the “faith”? Glad you asked. The “faith” mentioned in 2 Thessalonians and 1 Timothy 2:3 is a collection of faith principles wrapped up in the Lord Jesus Christ. These principles are doctrines put forth by the Word of God. The Word of God is none other than the Lord Jesus: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

“People” at the time of the “falling away” will “depart” from the “faith” –the doctrines put forth by the Word of God, who is Jesus Christ. This departure will mark the generation of Christians at the very end of the Church Age.

The question that applies most relevantly to us today is: Are we seeing signals of the departure about which Paul forewarned?

We have analyzed, dissected, examined, and inspected every endtime signal found in God’s Word many times in these raptureready.com webpages: Israel again in the land of promise; the EU looking to be the reviving Roman Empire; Russia, Persia (modern Iran) and other nations looking to be a nucleus that will one day form the Gog-Magog force of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. These, plus, all of the other endtime characteristics of this generation.

However, I believe the most insidious of all the things taking place under the clever, devious hand of the devil –Satan—is the falling away, the departure from the faith being currently orchestrated by Lucifer, the fallen one This departure is evident to the spiritually discerning when looking at the church growth movement. This “seeker friendly” approach to both the saved and the lost (all who don’t know Christ) through New Age, corporation-type seminar seductiveness and brainwashing techniques that water down or completely eliminate true Bible doctrine is leading in a profound departure from the “faith once delivered” (see Jude 1: 3).

The new paradigm instituted by the champions of the church growth movement is the shift from New Testament Christianity to “New Spirituality-Driven Christianity.”

Like in the modern corporate organization, invented in large part by German economic guru Peter Drucker, who mentored some of the leading designers of the church growth movement, the system is more an organism than an organization –adopting Drucker’s model based upon Freudian psychology and Darwinian evolutionary principles. The individual is assigned a value, and he must fit in, or be removed from the system. To put it as I heard one person of the movement say: “Pillars just hold things up. So, they need to be moved out of the way.” So, those who hold to doctrine must get out of the way so no one will have their feelings hurt by talk of sin, and blood atonement, and eternal punishment in the place called Hell, if repentance is not forthcoming. Again, the Apostle Paul wrote God’s view of this watering down of doctrine: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8).

Are we at the point of departure from the faith that is prophesied for the very end of the Church Age? Maybe we can get a better sense by looking at one more area of Scripture pertaining to the matter: “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Tim. 4:1-4).

There is another prophetically scheduled departure to consider. It’s the one to  which we should be looking forward. It is a God-ordained departure that will remove every child of God of the Church Age –living and dead—from Planet Earth in one millisecond of time:

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ” (Tit. 2:13).

Dr. Mark Hitchcock, speaking at the opening of the Prophecy Watcher’s Blessed Hope Prophecy Conference in Norman, Oklahoma, a little over a week ago, reminded me of a question some have had over the years. I, too, have asked the question. Why does the Gog-Magog coalition of Ezekiel 38–39 apparently mount a land invasion rather than simply nuke Israel?

It is a peripheral issue to be sure, but one that is interesting to ponder in light of current goings-on just to Israel’s north.

It is true that Ezekiel saw a massive military juggernaut invade “like a cloud to cover the land.” This could indicate a cloud of aircraft, but, not necessarily. A land invasion in that arid region would certainly kick up a lot of dust. We saw some of that kind of action during both Gulf Wars.

My friend Mark mentioned that some believe certain technological problems might be at the heart of it being a land invasion. The conjecture is based upon the same thought as expressed in Salem Kirban’s novel of many years ago titled 666.

Kirban portrayed the Russian-led attack, primarily from the north of Israel, as being one conducted with ancient weapons—horses and all—just like Ezekiel has it. I forget the technology that had, in the fictional account, rendered the modern weapons of war inoperable. But, they fought totally with, basically, weapons like the prophet describes.

The weapons were mostly of wood and other material that readily burns. So, Israel was able to use the weapons as fuel for heating, etc., once the flesh-and-blood part of the force, five-sixths having been dispatched by the Lord, was no longer a threat.

Dr. Hitchcock brought up the possibility, according to what some believe, that electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) weapons might be used to render all modern weaponry useless by the time  the Gog-Magog invasion takes place.

EMP, of course, disrupts electronic circuitry of all instrumentalities not protected when a nuclear explosion takes place in the atmosphere. All computer and other electronic circuitry on land, and even in the air near where the explosion takes place, supposedly will be fried. Thus, nuclear warfare, some believe, will help fulfill—in the most literal sense—Ezekiel’s prophecy about horses, sword, bucklers, and shields used as weaponry in that future time.

At present there is much dispute about Iran’s (area of ancient Persia) nuclear program. Persia is given as one of the primary members of the Gog-Magog coalition military force. That force obviously, according to Scripture, doesn’t use nuclear force against Israel in that prophesied attack. So, the question is: Why not?

Perhaps it is the EMP scenario. However, there are other possibilities.

Gog, in his evil thinking, wouldn’t want Israel’s “spoil,” as it is called in the KJV, contaminated by radiation from nuclear weapons. Another is, the Gog-Magog force wouldn’t want to go into a nuclear-radiated territory in order to occupy it.

They want to completely destroy Israel and do away with every Jew, that’s for certain. But it seems the main thinking in Gog’s satanically inspired brain is to take the riches in the region.

Another scenario is, of course, that Iran will indeed give up its nuclear ambition. That would mean that Russia, too, and any others would have given up their nuclear weapons for whatsoever reasons by the time of the Gog-Magog assault.

This, in my thinking, is the least of the possibilities.

Maybe Israel will have been so weakened by the covenant made with Antichrist as given in Daniel 9:26–27 that Israel will be the proverbial sitting duck. Thus, ol’ Gog won’t believe he needs to use the nukes.

As part of considering all of this, it is more than of just passing interest that President Trump is about to nuke the nuclear deal President Obama made with Iran—this, even in the face of rebellion by all others in the deal, including U.S. allies.

The globalists, as I view the satanically influenced architects of the tremendous backlash against anything this president does to keep America sovereign, turn a blind eye to the fact that the ayatollahs allow no inspections of their key nuclear development facilities.

Mr. Obama completely cast aside President Reagan’s rubric for negotiations with diabolists such as Russia and Iran: “Trust, but verify.”

It seems those American allies, under the influence of globalist group think, have joined the insanity in giving the Israel-hating Islamists the benefit of a doubt, as the saying goes. The excerpt that follows makes the point, I think.

Global powers, including key US allies, have said they will stand by the Iran nuclear deal which US President Donald Trump has threatened to tear apart.

Mr. Trump said on Friday that he would stop signing off on the agreement.

The UK, France and Germany responded that the pact was “in our shared national security interest.” The EU said it was “not up to any single country to terminate” a “working” deal.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said the US was “more isolated than ever.” (Iran nuclear deal: Global powers stand by pact despite Trump threat – BBC, Oct. 15, 2017)

Developments in Iran, Russia, Turkey, and Israel are all part of another of the things Mark Hitchcock and many of us who spoke discussed at the conference. The word of the hour is convergence.

Convergence—the coming-together of practically every signal for the end of the age—is upon this generation. Developments north of Israel at the present moment are possibly the most significant of all of the signals that Christ’s Second Advent is near.

Since that great event will take place at least seven years later than the Rapture of the Church, we who name the name of Jesus should be in a state of anticipation of, not in fear of things to come.

When you see all these things begin to come to pass, then, look up and lift up your head, for your redemption is drawing near. (Luke 21:28)

It is inevitable. Peace in the Middle East must happen. This, according to President Donald Trump.

The president, while being interviewed on former Governor Mike Huckabee’s initial TBN program, made the declaration.

“I want to give that a shot before I even think about moving the embassy to Jerusalem.”

He said further, “f we can make peace between the Palestinians and Israel, I think it’ll lead to ultimately peace in the Middle East, which has to happen.”

Trump, in June of 2017, signed a temporary order keeping the American embassy in Tel Aviv. This follows the actions of presidents preceding him.

Some see this as his breaking a promise he made while on the 2016 presidential campaign trail. He received rousing ovations every time he declared he would move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, the city that Israel claims as its capital.

Mr. Trump has said on numerous occasions that his administration is working on a peace plan between Israel and the Palestinians that will result in peace for the whole region. He has appointed his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as unofficial diplomat in charge of working to accomplish peace in the Middle East.

Others–including the Benjamin Netanyahu-led government–deny that the president has abandoned the idea of moving the embassy. In his declaration that he wants to give peace a chance before moving the embassy, Trump simply means, in their view, that the move is postponed. To force such an action at this moment in the current volatile geopolitical climate would likely ramp up hostilities.

To watchers on the wall–those who view the world through the prism of Bible prophecy from the pre-Millennial, pre-Tribulation perspective, the president’s declaration and decision on the embassy move should not come as surprise.

Like every other prophetic indicator on the present world horizon, the fact that there is a continuing drive to force peace between Israel and its enemy neighbors is simply something that must be in view while final prophecies near fulfillment. Like Mr. Trump says, peace between Israel and its closest enemy neighbor “has to happen,” from the human point of view.

Like all the world has cried for decades–as wrapped neatly in the lyrics of the song by John Lennon–we must “give peace a chance.”

But, that much-ballyhooed peace process leaves out the one essential ingredient that can make it come to pass. God is ignored. The very Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ, is not even considered in their humanistic effort. As a matter of fact, His Holy name is ridiculed and mocked at every turn by most of the diplomatic world. Christ is viewed as the holdup to peace in most instances, rather than the solution to the hatred and war-making that has dominated human history.

Mr. President, much of your political–electoral–base is made up by those of us who support Israel. We want peace for Israel, the Middle East, the United States, and the world. We know, however, from what God’s prophetic Word has to say, that there will be no peace until the Prince of Peace rules and reigns in the hearts and minds of mankind.

The present call for peace is addressed, I’m convinced, by the apostle Paul as follows:

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. (1 Thessalonians 5:1)

Mr. President, peace will happen. It will come in two distinctively opposite forms.

The first peace will be a false peace, brought about by the man of sin, the son of perdition — Antichrist.

Daniel the prophet said the following about this false prince that shall come:

And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many. (Daniel8: 25)

The other peace–the real peace–will be brought upon the planet at Christ’s return to make all things right again.

Jesus, the Prince of Peace, said the following just before leaving this sin-corrupted world:

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27)

Recently I listened to a well-known preacher on his TV program saying something to the effect that only those “watching” for Jesus will go to be with Christ in the Rapture. He defined “watching” as those Christians who are truly wanting for Jesus to return and that believe with great faith that He will call them to Himself in that great Rapture event.

This didn’t totally surprise me, because this particular preacher has, in my opinion, never been clear in his thoughts on the security of the believer—that is, the once saved, always saved doctrine, as the sometimes hotly debated term goes.

While his remark in making such a statement—to be watching is commanded by the Lord—is scripturally correct, I totally reject the premise that it is possible for even one truly born-again person to be left behind when Christ says: “Come up hither” (Rev. 4: 1).

I believe that the apostle Paul made very clear who will be taken in the Rapture when Jesus calls the Church. Paul, in revealing the mystery of the Rapture, said the following:

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)

Paul, given the key to this mystery by the Lord Jesus Himself, tells us clearly that all will be changed. It will take place in less than a microsecond. That’s the Rapture!

The word “we” is the pronoun that is all-inclusive as given in this context. The “we” here means all who are born again—the Church.

There is no room for any believer to be left behind in Paul’s declaration. Those who are truly saved—that is, who are in Christ Jesus, who shed His blood and resurrected to redeem all who will but received this free, grace gift, will go in that twinkling-of-an-eye moment.

Paul, under divine inspiration, further enlightens concerning the security of the believer:

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

Again, Paul uses a pronoun that is all-inclusive of believers in God’s way to salvation—Jesus Christ—the only righteousness God the Father recognizes. Paul, under that divine inspiration, says that nothing and no one will ever be able to separate “us” from the love of God.

Paul is undeniably talking about the born-again, because he goes on to say that this “love” of which he speaks is “in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The pronoun this time is “our,” meaning those he is talking about—including Paul himself—who are born again—that is, who are believers in Christ for salvation. 

The TV preacher then said that watching for Christ means one is “worthy” to stand before the Lord on that Rapture day. Again, implying strongly that unless one is watching, he or she is not going to go in the Rapture.

He used the following Scripture in that declaration:

Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. (Luke 21:36)

Some years ago, I addressed the matter of being “worthy” in God’s holy eyes.

What does it mean to be “worthy,” as given in this Rapture example? Again, the answer is wrapped up in the same name as before: Jesus. Jesus is the only person “worthy,” in God’s holy eyes, to be in the heavenly realm.

Remember what Jesus said to a man who addressed Him as “Good Master”?

And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. (Luke 18:18)

Jesus, the second person of the Godhead, was not seeking to chastise the man for addressing Him in this way. The Lord was confirming through this question that He is indeed God, the only good, the only righteousness. Righteousness is the only ticket to Heaven–either through the portal of death, or through the Rapture. Only through Jesus—being born again into God’s family through belief in Him—can a person enter the heavenly realm.

Jesus spoke to this all-important matter by addressing Nicodemus:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)

God’s Word says about fallen mankind:

As it is written, There is none righteous no not one. (Romans 8:10)

And:

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 8:23)

So, Jesus is the only person “worthy” to enter Heaven. It is through Him that any of us are worthy to stand before Him in that heavenly realm. That is the truth found in the Scripture in question.

On a less magnificent scale, the word “worthy” in this passage means that we should be in a constant mindset of prayerful repentance. We should always want to be found “worthy”—cleansed of all unrighteousness, as stated in 1 John 1:9, so that we will hear our Lord say to us on that day:

Well done, good and faithful servant. (Matthew 25:23)

Many of God’s children will doubtlessly lose rewards at the Bema (judgment seat of Christ,) for not being watchful and not listening for their Lord’s call in the Rapture. But, they will make that fantastic trip into Heaven, every single one, because of the Lamb of God who redeemed them.