Saturday, September 23, 2017, has come and gone by the time you get this. I’m writing this on Sunday, September 17, 2017. If you are reading this when it is posted on the evening of September 24, 2017, or later, and you know Christ for salvation, the Rapture hasn’t occurred. If you aren’t reading this because you are no longer on the planet, or it was never posted because there was no one here to post it, then my commentary is inconsequential. But if you are a believer and you invested heavily in the notion that the date, September 23, and the Revelation chapter 12 Scripture pointed to the Rapture of the Church, you might find the considerations herein worthy of your time.

This is not to point fingers of shame at those who were invested in the September 23 date as tied to Revelation 12. There were many chronological and astronomical/astrological statistics and postulations to support a case that the date and the signs in the heavens meant something of prophetic significance was afoot.

Many–including some colleagues and friends of mine–believe that the sign in the stars that converged on September 23 didn’t necessarily point to the Rapture. They believe these strange comings-together of astral bodies is a confirmation from the Lord that the end times are here and Christ coming to put an end to man’s rebellion is imminent. These same colleagues and friends, thus believe–and I agree–that they haven’t violated the “doctrine of imminence” regarding the unknown time of the Rapture of the Church.

I won’t attempt to defend those who did dogmatically predict that September 23, 2017, was definitely when the Rapture would happen. There is no pinpointing the exact day and hour of Christ’s coming for the Church. Jesus said so.

To make such predictions is to enter into the folly that so many down through the years have entered. The result is the same. The Rapture did not occur on September 23. What else can be said?

Their disappointment, if they were totally invested in the proposition of Rapture on September 23, is no doubt profound. I, myself, wish it would have happened on that date. As a matter of fact, I prefer that the Rapture happen right now while I’m writing this on September 17.

Now, what do we do from this point forward? I believe we go from disappointment to determination.

We don’t have to look at perceived astronomical, astrological, and other anomalous signs to know that Christ’s return is imminent. We don’t have to look longingly each year for the Jewish holy days–the feasts, etc.–in thinking on the Rapture of the Church.

There are signals of the prophetic stage-setting sort that make it crystal clear concerning the time and season in which this generation finds itself.

The Gog-Magog coalition is practically 100 percent formed. Russia (Rosh), Iran (Persia), Turkey (Torgomah), and all the Arab world of the Middle East are gathering north of and surrounding Israel.

China and the kings of the east are growing in strength and leering westward.

The globalists elite and their minions are in a rage to bring in the Antichrist regime, even though they perceive their quest as attempting to establish Utopia.

The nations of the world are in economic and civil chaos. They are in perplexity with great distress at the center of their troubles.

There is a developing religious universalism in which the pope and many so-called Protestant pastors are proclaiming many ways to God and salvation.

Nature seems to be spinning up as part of the great end-times storm that is most certainly on its way.

Rather than suffer in the throes of disappointment because dates and prophetic events don’t work out to fit human calculus, let us be determined to serve our individual and corporate–heavenly–purpose. Let us lift the Name of Jesus during the time between now and when He comes for us who are called by His Holy Name.

We are not left without understanding of the lateness of these last days.

Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. (1 Thessalonians 5:5)

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

We are currently writing a book called Deceivers: Exposing Evil Seducers and Their Last-Days Deception.” I say “we” are writing it, because it is to be one of my books that presents a compilation of chapters by some of the most recognizable names. These include Todd Strandberg, Jan Markell, Dr. Dave Reagan, Gary Stearman, Dr. Gary Frazier, and others.

Jesus, while sitting on the Mount of Olives with His disciples nearly two millennia ago, gave as His first forewarning that, in the last days, deceivers will be in abundance. Certainly, there is deception at every level at this present time in human history.

Ruminating over the book we are in process of writing, the thought came that we have on the front burner of headline news a storm-like combination of signals harboring seduction and deception that begs exposure.

The primary foretellings I would like to look at that Jesus gave while answering His disciples’ question— “What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”–include the following:

1) There will be distress of nations with perplexity.

2) There will be wars and rumors of wars.

3) There will be earthquakes in various places.

4) The seas and waves will be roaring.

5) Nation will rise against nation.

During all of this last-days storminess, Jesus said, there will be deceivers and great deception. Again, this is the subject of our upcoming book. But, I would like to consider for our purposes here a peculiar seduction within the end-of-days storm that is assaulting this generation:

1)There will be distress of nations with perplexity.

We have only to consider recent news to validate this Olivet prophecy by the Lord.

The national and world economic distresses are phenomenal. America’s own national debt is right at $20 trillion. The unfunded liabilities for the nation exceeds $200 trillion. The world at large has economic circumstances that are maybe not so large, but just as perplexing to those trying to deal with the problem.

2) There will be wars and rumors of wars.

There exists at present, one of the most troubling confrontations since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.

The North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un threatens to launch hydrogen bomb tipped ICBMs at the U.S. and our possessions and allies. Whether he has this capability is a matter of conjecture. But, the threat is there.

Other rumors of potential wars can be found without effort simply by thinking on Israel and those blood-vowed to remove the Jewish state from the planet.

The cold war might again become reality in the near future. This, with Russia and China building massive military forces even at the expense of Russia’s already-dire economic circumstances on the one hand and China’s desire to, for its own benefit, interact commercially with other nations on the other.

Rumors of war are everywhere one looks on the geopolitical horizon.

3) There will be earthquakes in various places.

Most recently, while hurricanes Harvey and Irma devastated portions of the U.S. mainland, an 8.2 earthquake struck Mexico.

Swarms of earthquakes up to 5.3 on the Richter Scale continue to shake the infamous Yellowstone caldera region, causing alarm even among seasoned, professional seismologists.

Earthquakes make much of the Middle East quiver on a regular basis. They are occurring in “various places” at most every hour of every day.

4) The seas and waves will be roaring.

There’s no question that the literal seas and waves have been roaring as of late. Again, Harvey and Irma were given 24/7 coverage on practically every news channel over recent days.

But, I believe the Lord was prophesying mainly about figurative seas and waves roaring in this particular foretelling while atop Mt. Olivet.

The peoples of the world are indeed in tumult. Europe is rioting because of economic turbulence. The Arab world is often in tumult against the hated Israel and against each other. America boils with clashes fomented in many cases by thugs paid to stir trouble in our city streets.

The seas and waves, both figurative and literal, are roaring.

5) Nation will rise against nation.

We have looked many times at the term “nation” in this prophecy Jesus gave.

The root of the word for “nation,” here, is the Greek word ethnos. This means that in the days just before Christ’s Second Advent (Revelation 19: 1) there will be great strife of one racial group against another.

Certainly, these kinds of conflicts exist at this very moment everywhere across the planet –including within our own borders. All we must do to understand this is to look at the groups known as the white supremacists and Black Lives Matter to see the reality of this prophecy taking place in our own time. –And we are at least seven years away from Christ’s Second Advent when Armageddon will be raging.

So, we can conclude that we are in the beginning of the great, end-times storm about which Jesus forewarned. Now, to look at the peculiar seduction that I believe is taking place as part of Satan’s deception that is, perhaps, at the eye of this prophetic storm.

The following news story, I hope, will help make the point I wish to make.

Sure, the US has a National Flood Insurance Program, but who’s covered by it? Besides, the Program was already $24 billion in debt by 2014 largely due to hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. With total costs of Harvey estimated at $200 billion or more, and Irma threatening to cause far more damage than that, where’s the money going to come from?

It took an actual fight just to push the first few billion dollars in emergency aid for Houston through Congress, with four Texan senators voting against of all people. Who then will vote for half a trillion or so in aid? And even if they do, where would it come from?

Trump’s plans for an infrastructure fund were never going to be an easy sell in Washington, and every single penny he might have gotten for it would now have to go towards repairing existing roads and bridges, not updating them -necessary as that may be-, let alone new construction.

Towns, cities, states, they’re all maxed out as things are, with hugely underfunded pension obligations and crumbling infrastructure of their own. They’re going to come calling on the feds, but Washington is hitting its debt ceiling. All the numbers are stacked against any serious efforts at rebuilding whatever Harvey and Irma have blown to pieces or drowned. (“After the Storms Are Over: America Can’t Afford to Rebuild, Zero Hedge,” By Tyler Durden, September 10, 2017)

The author paints the direst portrait of the results the storms will bring to America. (You must read the complete piece to get the full impact.) And, I would agree completely with his assessment of the situation–that is, if I didn’t know “the rest of the story,” as Paul Harvey used to say.

The world’s economies, as I have written many times, are intricately, inextricably linked to that of America. That’s why I build my thoughts on things that are likely to happen–prophetically speaking–upon the American model. If this nation implodes—comes crashing down–the whole world will be sucked into the vortex caused by the collapse.

Jesus tells us that, like in the days of Noah and of Lot, people at the time of his next catastrophic intervention into history will be buying, selling, planting, and marrying–doing all the normal activities of life. I believe, because it is Jesus who predicts the buying, selling, etc.,– that it will be far more than normal in its reality. I believe we are about to see an economic boom.

Somehow, some way–I don’t presume to know how–all of the destruction taking place now because of the hurricane damage might well turn out to be catalyst for the prophesied building, buying, and selling Jesus foretold that day atop the Mount of Olives.

The “seduction” I believe wrapped up in all of this might well reside within the good economic times that could result from the rebuilding—i.e., the economic boom that might be on its way might take people’s thoughts even farther from God. The seduction just might produce the think-not generation that Jesus prophesied will be doing anything but giving consideration to God and eternity:

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

Donald Trump is a builder perhaps unparalleled in history. Could it be that he is president of the United States for just this moment in regard to Jesus’ days of Noah, days of Lot prophecy?

One would almost think that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been pouring over prophetic Scripture in the Bible. He has predicted that the entity that becomes the ultimate leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI) will rule planet earth. His is a most interesting prognostication. Here’s an excerpt from the news item laying out ol’ Vlad’s foretelling.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin says that whoever reaches a breakthrough in developing artificial intelligence will come to dominate the world.

Putin, speaking Friday at a meeting with students, said the development of AI raises “colossal opportunities and threats that are difficult to predict now.” (Source: Putin: Leader in Artificial Intelligence Will Rule World, Houston Chronicle, 9/2/2017)

The former KGB operative turned dictator/oligarch of the nucleus of what was the Soviet Union before perestroika, glasnost, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and finally the dissolution of the U.S.S.R., said further that “the one who becomes the leader in this sphere will be the ruler of the world.”

The Russian warned that “it would be strongly undesirable if someone wins a monopolist position.” He pledged that Russia would share its know-how in artificial intelligence with other nations.

Putin predicted that drones will fight future wars. He said, “When one party’s drones are destroyed by drones of another, it will have no other choice but to surrender.”

The Putin prediction would be amusing, if not so much on the eerie side—kind of like Gog of Ezekiel 38–39 “prophesying” the emergence of the prince that shall come of Daniel 9:26–27.

We have mentioned numerous times that Vladimir Putin displays characteristics that the future leader of the Gog-Magog attack will possess, according to the prophet Ezekiel. Putin, here, is delving into perhaps not the characteristics of Antichrist, but certainly into the technological realm Revelation seems to indicate that future fuhrer will have at his disposal.

The Russian says that the leader in such advanced technology will eventually rule the world. To be sure, Antichrist is prophesied to rule over most of the world at a point during the seven-year Tribulation era. His rule will be brief and chaotic, but it will be brutal and, according to Jesus Himself, will bring a time upon the people of the planet worse than any before or after.

Artificial Intelligence will mark his despotic control. He will, through the most advanced computer (AI) technology, do the following:

And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 13:16–17)

But AI is, perhaps, prophesied to go much deeper than Antichrist’s 666 computer controls. Some would say there will come a destructive military force that appears to be completely robotic, commanded through AI to assault Jerusalem during that time known as the Day of the Lord. It is a terrifying description of a superhuman—or perhaps hybrid or robotic—force destined to riffle the city and ravish its women, according to prophecy.

Read about what some call Joel’s Army (Joel 2: 1-11).

(I wrote a short story of a fictional nature about Joel’s Army years ago for a filmmaker. That story can be linked below.)

http://www.raptureready.com/2017/09/09/joels-army-a-short-story

AI is a hot topic, causing an uproar even among some of the well-known leaders in its development.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk got into a spat recently on Twitter with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg over the dangers of artificial intelligence.

Musk urged a group of governors to proactively regulate AI, which he views as a “fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization.”

“Until people see robots going down the street killing people, they don’t know how to react because it seems so ethereal,” Musk said.

Zuckerberg shot back, saying fearmongering about AI is “irresponsible.” (Source: “Humanlike Robots Provoke Questions about our Humanity,” Rosalie Chan, Religion News Service)

Many scientists and futurists are declaring that from some point in the near future, major wars will be waged by beings of intelligence superior to that of mere mortals. However, Bible prophecy tells that, ultimately, it is human blood that will flow to the bridle reins following the fighting at Armageddon. It is the corpses of millions of human beings that will have to be buried following the battle of Gog and Magog.

News reports forewarn a nation descending toward chaos. Forces have obviously been set in motion that threaten to tear America apart. This instigation is purposeful, I have no doubt, and is spawned by Satan.

Saul Alinsky’s blueprint to bring about chaos so the one-world-order builders’ perfect, utopian plan can eventually rise from the ashes of this republic is well underway. George Soros and all the other globalists elite have little trouble finding minions of the human source to carry out the carnage. Lucifer’s demonic minions throw fuel of hatred on the fires of anarchy, and we see the incendiary results in our hourly headlines.

A 1979 Hollywood production, remade in 1980, 1985, and 2015, I believe, gives a fictionalized look at the real world to come when God the Holy Spirit removes from acting as restrainer on the already half-crazed minds of earth dwellers.

Mad Max is the disturbing foreshadowing of things to come when the Body of Christ—the Church—is removed in the Rapture.

Although made in Australia, the movie was Americanized in that the Aussie accents were dubbed over in the American-English accent in order to give the sense of the carnage taking place in the U.S. The storyline, set in the near future, portrayed a world gone mad with evil. The dystopian film presented in graphic terms people’s unrestrained actions against their fellow human beings.

Of course, the creators of the film had no idea that Bible prophecy presents just such a scenario—at least, I don’t think that entered their thinking.

We find the real story of things to come in this regard in the following Scripture.

And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now [restrains] will [restrain], until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. (2 Thessalonians 6–8)

When God the Holy Spirit withdraws from restraining wickedness perpetrated by fallen mankind, the world will become instantly worse than the fictional world of Mad Max. The present hostilities and chaos being churned by the would-be masters—both human and demonic—will swiftly result in destructiveness beyond description. We are indeed currently enduring a prelude to planetary madness.

But the Creator has not left us in a state of hopelessness despite the rioting and insanity going on in our nation and world. The Lord has provided a way to escape the carnage so vividly described in Revelation by John the apostle while exiled on Patmos two thousand years ago.

I wrote the following for our book, The Departure: God’s Next Catastrophic Intervention Into Earth’s History:

First, the Departure

Before God’s wrath falls, in the twinkling of an eye (an atomos of time), millions of Christians—those born again by believing in the shed blood of Christ on the cross two millennia ago for salvation—will vanish from the earth’s surface. The departure—the Rapture—will bring planet-rending disturbances to an already reeling world of nonbelievers.

God has been patient in allowing the world to see the Tribulation storm alerts. He has shown mercy and grace, as there is no prophecy given that must be fulfilled in order for the Rapture to happen. The departure can take place at any moment.

Getting out the warnings is the duty of spiritual meteorologists. This is a commission each author in The Departure: God’s Next Catastrophic Intervention into Earth’s History takes most seriously. We prayerfully hope many, upon reading the book, will take to heart the call of the only Lord and God of all Creation, who prompted the apostle Peter to write: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

This is the only way to be saved from the sin that separates the sinner from the Heavenly Father. This is the only way to be secure from the approaching Tribulation storm.

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

We join with the prophet John, who wrote, “He which testifieth these things saith, ‘Surely I come quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).

Observers of end-times events who believe there is an advancing power grab by the globalists elite look with interest at Steve Bannon’s exit as President Trump’s chief strategist. National politics that make up part of the intrigues going on in the White House are secondary at most, so the thinking goes. Matters involving the long-sought changed world order is all-important in considering the most recent developments in Washington, D.C.

On the secular side, many–perhaps most–media pundits speculate that the Republican establishment types have succeeded in convincing Trump to get rid of the ultranationalist Bannon (as they view him), so Congress will work with Trump in achieving a more rational legislative agenda. These, of course, have no concept that there is a much deeper meaning to all of this.

I take that back to some extent. They do have a strangely twisted thought process that touches on Bible prophecy yet to unfold.

Bannon, it seems, according to a number of these pundits, has an apocalyptic view of the world. He believes that Trump and America somehow are destined to be involved in world history as it winds up.

The media types who purport this to be the case don’t go far into this accusation. That is, they don’t give us details about how Mr. Bannon’s end-times view might  possibly have affected any outcome he personally desired to achieve while advising the president.

It is indeed strange…the secular media types sensing and commenting that there is some weird connection to apocalyptic matters in all of these goings-on.

There is such visceral hatred for this president that when anything bad happens, his enemies in media and everyone else find ways to link Trump to the evil involved. For example, this was the case in the recent white supremacist activities and the clashes over confederate statues in Charlottesville. Trump’s statements on the matters involved were made to look by mainstream news types like the president took the side of the KKK and the neo Nazis. Anyone who actually heard the president’s remarks knows the opposite is true. He plainly called out the evil. But, he made the mistake of saying there was evil on both sides. That gave the haters all the fodder needed to link him directly to the skinheads and all the rest. In the same sense, Steve Bannon is linked by the mainstream news types to a mindset like the Ayatollahs who want to bring on their version of the apocalypse. That is as deeply into Bannon’s “apocalyptic” worldview of geopolitics as they wish to delve. If they can make that linkage in the mind of the American voters–the evil of Steve Bannon to the Iranian religious madmen–their mission is achieved. Evil that lurks within the mainstream media as it currently exist, in my view, is the real linkage to the chaos now being perpetrated. It is luciferian. It is part of the Saul Alinsky blueprint–being utilized by the George Soros-globalist types–to bring America down so her power to influence is diminished. So her wealth can be redistributed to the have-nots in order to secure power bases for the globalists constructing the changed world order they desire.

There seems to me something boiling beneath the obvious–Bannon’s being dismissed from Trump’s advisory team in the White House. I have no idea of what that might be. Steve Bannon made the following statement shortly after leaving his post: “The Trump presidency that we fought for, and won, is over.” Bannon said further, “We still have a huge movement, and we will make something of this Trump presidency. But that presidency is over. It’ll be something else. And there’ll be all kinds of fights, and there’ll be good days and bad days, but that presidency is over.”

He said also, his statement unfortunately laced with profanity, that he was going to fight the globalists every step of the way. Well, you had better have the Lord at your side in that effort, Mr. Bannon. The globalists–knowingly or unknowingly–have the most powerful being ever to be created as their leader. Lucifer the fallen is determined to prepare the planet for the coming of his man of sin. 

There is no political strategy–even by a top strategist like yourself–that can alter Satan’s plan for his Antichrist regime.

But the Lord did so–and with ease–in this last presidential election. He is still in complete control. Trump is God’s man for this troubled hour as we move swiftly toward the Rapture of the church.

Meantime, it is much prayer by God’s people that is the primary Tool that must lead the fight against the globalists. Prophetically speaking, the battle is already won!

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. (Psalms 2:4-9)

I prefer to move on from writing about the enragement and turmoil within the American political milieu. Prophetic implications wrought by that process, however, keep imposing upon my inclination to move on. White House goings-on recently beg analysis in light of God’s prophetic Word, and I must dwell a bit longer in that arena.

The particular prophecy involved, I believe, is one we have looked at many times in overview fashion. I would like to focus on a peculiar area of that over all prophecy. I’m referencing Paul’s perilous times prophecy of 2 Timothy 3:1-5. The parts of this prophecy I would like to look at specifically  in regard to current White House intrigues are the following.

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be… trucebreakers,…traitors, heady, high-minded. (2 Timothy 3: 1-2, 3, 4)

The term “leakers” is at the top of the news. Attorney General of the United States Jeff Sessions, as we know, has put “leakers” on notice. They will be found, and if they have broken the law, they will be prosecuted.

Sessions pointed out recently that leaks are part of every government–and of every White House administration. With the Trump White House, though, the leaks far surpass the number, intensity, and possible harm to the nation than those of any previous administration of recent memory.

“Leaks,” of course, is information divulged by those within positions of knowledge of things being discussed, planned, and implemented within government. Here, we are talking specifically about leaks within the White House. They are being done, it is generally acknowledged, to do harm to Donald J. Trump’s presidency.

This presidency is under unparalleled attack from every quarter. It is particularly the news media that has been the recipient of these leaks. The leaks are used by those extremely antagonistic to the Trump presidency to try to bring public opinion of this president  to as low a point as possible–thus to see to it that 1) he is so ineffectual as to not get his agenda accomplished; 2) he is impeached; or 3) that he will be voted out of office next presidential election.

The assault is unrelenting and more ferocious than any I have witnessed during my now 75 years on the scene. The voraciousness of many of those who hate this president is so virulent that those carrying out the “silent coup-d’état,” as it is called by some, totally cast aside any thought of the damage it is doing to national security. They apparently couldn’t care less that they are exposing things that should be kept secret for security purposes to enemies who wish us only destruction. It means nothing to these leakers that they have taken an oath to guard carefully such essential secrets. They are “trucebreakers” in the parlance of the apostle Paul’s prophecy.

A report/analysis from one source not friendly to this president says the following:

Government employees are growing increasingly willing to criticize or defy the White House and President Trump’s top appointees…

The growing opposition in the executive branch comes as the White House’s legislative agenda has stalled in Congress and Trump turns to his Cabinet agencies to change course in several policy areas. It also is emanating from career staffers or political holdovers whose resistance to Trump has, at times, been rooted in deep opposition to the president’s agenda…

Trump’s allies have often cast the president as the victim of the “deep state,” an entrenched liberal bureaucracy bent on damaging his agenda through leaks and resistance.

They argue the deep state extends from agencies such as the EPA, where employees could be angered with Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate deal, to career service intelligence agency staff who leak damaging information about the president.

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) on Friday even accused special counsel Robert Mueller, the former FBI director now investigating Russia’s involvement in last year’s election, as representing the “deep state at its worse.” (“Federal employees step up defiance of Trump,” By Devin Henry, www.thehill.com, 08/05/17)

The report, while couched in terms intended in my view to make those of us who understand the assault underway seem paranoid, the assertion within the above report is nonetheless true. There is a deep state–which includes mainstream media, entrenched government bureaucrats, and globalist elitists.

As an observer of Bible prophecy, laying that Holy template over the issues and events of our times, I go further. It is an assault directed and fueled by none other than the grand deceiver of all–Lucifer the fallen one.

The apostle Paul prophesied that there will come a time when people will be observably traitorous–like those leakers within the Trump administration. They will be heady–meaning they will demand their own way no matter who is hurt or destroyed. They will be high-minded–meaning they will consider themselves the sole determiners of what is best for everybody else. They will, like in the case of climate change/global warming types like Al Gore, say: “Do what I say, not what I do.” (Gore, it was reported a week or so ago, has a home that uses 21 times more electricity than the average home. He dispenses a huge carbon emissions footprint as he jets about the world in his private jets.) This is, in my analysis, the epitome of headiness and high-mindedness.

Paul’s perilous times are upon us, to be sure.

There continues to be much turbulence stirred within the American government and America in general. I’ve written a number of times here that I believe God Himself intervened in the 2016 presidential election. He, I’m convinced, answered the prayers of the people called by His name–Christians. He turned the American ship of state around–or at least began that process of steering in a better direction.

Donald J. Trump, a man who was and continues to be far from a godly man, in my view, was nonetheless chosen by the Almighty to head the project to at least slow if not completely halt globalism’s takeover of the United States.

Globalism, I believe, is the conveyance Satan intends to use to take America down the pathway to the eventual installation of his man of sin, Antichrist. That intention has been greatly slowed with the election of Mr. Trump, and the fallen one isn’t happy. The uproar amongst his many minions, both demonic and human, is witness that gives testimony to Lucifer’s enragement.

Donald Trump is God’s man of the hour, even though not a godly man. In that regard, I support God’s decision totally, as anyone who reads these commentaries knows. I continue to believe that if the other candidate had won the election, the effects, especially for those of us who value American ideals as founded and who believe that God’s Word, the Bible, is truth, would have been terrible.

One day, perhaps soon, the U.S. and the world will experience those feared results of losing such elections. For now, however, there is a Heaven-sent reprieve and we must support godliness and a movement back toward God’s way, rather than continue on the path to destruction.

This is why I–we as Christians–must call out ungodliness when it pops up its ugly head, no matter where it does so.

That brings me to the title of this article “Mr. President–Cursing or Blessing?”

The turbulence I mentioned at the outset was full-blown in the White House the week of July 14. It was no doubt stirred and fanned by the breath of the old serpent, the devil. The winds of inter-White House turf war continued this week just past.

President Trump, always one to keep the mainstream media–and the rest of us as well–off-balance with his actions and tweets, did so in his own inimitable fashion. He removed his chief of staff, Reince Priebus, and replaced him with Ret. General John Kelly. But, it wasn’t that cut and dried.

Mixed in with the shake-up of White House staff was the matter of the desire–the absolute necessity, in my view–to get rid of the so-called leakers. These holdover personnel from the previous administration were wreaking havoc on the president’s efforts to move forward with his agenda.

Sean Spicer, the communications director was also let go. In his place came one Anthony Scaramucci. We know now that this mouthpiece seems to have no boundaries on usage of language. And that is what inspired this commentary.

Mr. Scaramucci, chosen by the president to clean out the leakers, began his new job by talking with a reporter of The New Yorker–the hip New York City magazine that looks down on the rest of us as most generally just not with it.

The president’s new man in the communication director’s seat indeed began to communicate. He did so in a cursing rant he thought was, but in actuality was not, “off the record.” It was so bad that it apparently caused Chris Wallace of Fox News to blush when he read it.

Wallace said, “I’m no choirboy, but his [Scaramucci’s] language took even me aback.”

It was anger, framed in sewer language, whether real or feigned for impact, that to this point we hadn’t had a close associate of a sitting president use. I’m no choirboy, either, having grown up amongst my male peers as a youngster in junior high school, high school, university, and even the U.S. military. The report of Scaramucci’s vulgar tirade made me feel uneasy. I don’t like one so closely associated with my president using such ungodly language. It somehow dirties–sullies the office.

Of course, I realize that this president sometimes uses less than godly language himself. I don’t like that, either. This I say for those of you who were about to ask “Well, how about Trump’s language?”

When I first heard the report of Anthony Scaramucci spewing forth as he did, my mind began searching for words I once heard reported as spoken by our first president on use of vile language.

I soon found the quote. It was George Washington, then the head general of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, issuing a written command. That command said the following:

The General is sorry to be informed —, that the foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing, a vice heretofore little known in an American army, is growing into a fashion; — he hopes the officers will, by example as well as influence, endeavor to check it, and that both they and the men will reflect that we can have little hope of the blessing of Heaven on our arms, if we insult it by impiety and folly; added to this, it is a vice so mean and low, without any temptation, that every man of sense and character detests and despises it.  (Source: George Washington, Extract from the Orderly Book of the army under command of Washington, dated at Head Quarters, in the city of New York [3 August 1770]; reported in American Masonic Register and Literary Companion, Volume 1 [1829])

We have, of course, become a profane nation in ways that would make our first president wonder, no doubt, how the Lord of Heaven could let us proceed farther as a country. As much as I back Donald J. Trump and his much-beleaguered presidency, I must ask the question: Mr. President–cursing or blessing?

How can we expect the continued blessings of the Almighty when we allow such cesspool thinking and expression as Mr. Scaramucci used, representing a president of the United States, therefore representing us?

Anthony Scaramucci might be a tough, New York guy who uses street language to get things done. He did not have the right to use such while in an office that represents the rest of us, many of whom still prefer a more godly means of expression.

It is good that another general of excellent reputation, General John Kelly, evidently, according to reports, feels the same way. Scaramucci’s vulgar tirade to the New Yorker, in concert with his demand to be allowed to bypass the new chief of staff, General Kelly, was asked to leave the communications position he had occupied for only ten days.

Wise decision, Mr. President. Please consider the following in regard to your own language.

God’s Word says the following in use of language for the Christian–a tremendous number of those who voted for you:

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. (Ephesians 4: 29)

Even more to the point, James put it this way:

But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. (James 4: 8-15)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Explosive confrontations were spawned by an Israeli crackdown because of the murder of two Jewish policeman guarding a Temple Mount entranceway.

If there is one word that can define the tumult surrounding the Temple Mount in Jerusalem at this late hour of this dispensation, that word is hate. Hatred against the Jewish race and against Israel has again come to the boiling point. It is coming from, in addition to the usual suspects, a source considered by a large part of the world’s population to be a bastion of not hatred, but love.

Since this source is supposedly Christian–the Catholic pope–there is reason, from my point of view, to analyze the matters involved through troubled cogitation. I say this because much of the Christian world–the world to which I belong–believe the Jewish race and the nation Israel to be under satanic attack.

My view is that those who are outraged at the Jews and at Israel come not from a godly perspective, but from undiluted hatred. It is profoundly disconcerting, to say the least, that all of this vitriol comes from those claiming the Christian religion as their own.

Pope Francis is joined in his mild-mannered but sub-surface rage against Israel by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The Christian conglomerate, consisting of 13 religious bodies within the Jerusalem community, issued a joint statement condemning the violence surrounding the Temple Mount.

Although it was a condemnation of violence in general, the language reflects that of Pope Francis which, in tenor, was slanted toward support of the Muslim side. For example, the communiqué addressed all references to the sites of the area in Arabic terms rather than in Jewish or Christian terms. The statement clearly disregarded any connection of the Temple Mount area to the Jewish or Christian religions.

The statement read:

We, the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, express our serious concern regarding recent escalation in violent developments around Haram ash-Sharif and our grief for the loss of human life and strongly condemn any act of violence.

The statement, like the Pope, placed the blame for the ongoing violence on the metal detectors and cameras Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has placed in key areas to prevent further terroristic acts. Netanyahu, it is reported, has agreed to remove the metal detectors at some point, but not all safeguards. He will keep cameras and other devices in place in spite of the tremendous criticism of governments around the world and of threats of further attacks from the Arab-Muslim troublemakers.

The 13-member Latin Patriarchate stated in its declaration:

We are worried about any change to historical (Status Quo) situation in al-Aqsa Mosque (Haram ash-Sharif) and its courtyard, and in the holy city of Jerusalem. Any threat to its continuity and integrity could easily lead to serious and unpredictable consequences, which would be most unwelcome in the present tense religious climate.

We value the continued custody of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on Al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy places in Jerusalem and the Holy Land which guarantees the right for all Muslims to free access and worship to al Aqsa Mosque according to the prevailing Status Quo.

The following news item frames the “Christian” community’s condemning tone, directed toward Israel.

The statement made no mention of the Muslim terror attack that led to Israel placing the metal detectors at the entrances to the site. Nor did it refer to the horrific Palestinian terror attack on Friday.

Bishop Munib Younan, head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land, said on Vatican radio that the metal detectors are a form of “collective punishment” which should not be permitted “because of an attack by two persons.”

The bishop claimed that thousands of Muslims pray at the site during Ramadan and “everything goes smoothly”. He did not mention the murder of IDF Border Policewoman Hadas Malkah, which took place during Ramadan.

“It’s essential to find a political solution to end the Israeli occupation, which is considered illegal,” the bishop concluded. (Catholic Churches in Jerusalem Blame Israel for Muslim Violence, Deny Biblical Roots of Temple Mount, By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Israel News, July 23, 2017)

Though couched in high-sounding phraseology of religion-diplomatic speak, the hatred for the Jewish state is there. It is even more hateful in its thrust than such vitriol issued by other sources. This is because these are those who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ.

It is hate-speech of the most troubling sort, in my opinion.

Jesus, who is God, and, incidentally, is Israel’s Messiah, loves the Jewish people. To hate them and falsely accuse them, even though they certainly have erred greatly as have all other peoples, is to show hatred for Jesus.

The issuance of such condemnation, falling in line with all other hate-filled antagonists of God’s chosen people, invites, ultimately, the curse of God (Genesis 12:1-3).

Claiming to be “Christians”–if they are indeed so–these have no excuse for their deliberate denial that the Temple Mount as well as all the contested territory and far beyond was given to Israel in perpetuity by God, Himself.

Those who claim Christianity as their faith base should take into consideration what it means to hate that which the Lord loves. About hate and hatred, the Lord–who here was addressing Jews first, as the Church wasn’t born until Pentecost–said the following.

If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me…

They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.” (Jn 15: 18-21; 16: 2-3)

Rapture Ready News headlines tell the story. Things are shaking on and around Moriah, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It is the  geographical area most central to Bible prophecy yet future.

Those headlines are:

Muslim authority protests Temple Mount security measures, blocks entrance; Ministers approve bill aiming to take Jerusalem off the negotiating table Arab-Israeli lawmaker warns of third intifada after Friday attack

Closing the Aksa Mosque;

Jordan’s King Abdullah calls for calm after Temple Mount attack.. 

No doubt about it, things are moving and shaking on and around the Temple Mount. Considering all the other signals taking place in the world today, the import of this activity should alert the student of Bible prophecy to the lateness of the hour.

The Temple Mount is not only the nucleus problem of the historical, Arab/Israeli ages-long conflict. That place where once sat the Holy of Holies in the midst of the Temple, housing the Shekinah glory of God within the Ark of the Covenant, is at the heart of the spiritual warfare that began with man’s Fall in the Garden.

It is where the ram was provided for the sacrifice God required, sparing Abraham’s son Isaac from serving that purpose. It is very near where God’s own Son hung suspended between Heaven and Hell as sacrifice for the sin of mankind in order to provide eternal salvation.

Mount Moriah is where the Tribulation Temple will be built and where Satan’s evil one, the son of perdition, will claim himself to be God.  

There is coming a great, planetary spiritual earthquake, and its epicenter is this very spot that is smack in the middle of our headlines today.

The rumblings from that spiritual seismic area is growing daily.

When three terrorists murdered two Israeli police officers, the latest quivering of Moriah began.

The officers were killed near the gates to the Temple Mount and the Israeli prime minister took action that infuriated the Muslims of the region and around the world.

Netanyahu closed the Temple Mount to Muslim worship at the religion’s sites on the Mount. This brought immediate anger and threats of a third intifada, or violent uprising.

The Israeli prime minister eventually agreed to gradually open some areas for worship on the Temple Mount. (Only Muslims are allowed to worship there; the Jews are forbidden to do so.)

Netanyahu, however, placed detection devices–metal detectors and specially placed surveillance cameras–to restrict possible terrorist activity.

King Abdullah phoned the Israeli prime minister to lobby for the gates to be fully opened, thus access to the worship places restored.

Before leaving on his trip to France and Hungary, Netanyahu dismissed the oft-repeated charge that the Israeli government was “disrupting  the status quo” in Jerusalem and at the Temple unt. This is a charge that has brought on violent rampages from the Arabs in the past.

“I decided that as of tomorrow, in the framework of our policy of maintaining the status-quo, we will gradually open the Temple Mount, but with increased security measures,” Netanyahu said.

“This evening, I held a discussion with the top security leadership and I instructed that metal detectors be placed at the entrance gates to the Temple Mount. We will also install security cameras on poles outside the Temple Mount… which give almost complete control over what goes on there,” the prime minister added.

The action threw the Muslim element into a frenzy of threatened violence. The crowds could be heard shouting: “Disgrace, enough with that, you are suffocating us! Al-Aksa belongs to Muslims!”

The anger is directed at the new safeguards against terrorists bringing weapons into the Temple Mount area. Apparently, the safeguards Netanyahu installed are doing a good job of keeping out those tools of the Muslim militants who plan for future such actions as took the lives of the policemen.

Tremors spawned from the rage that continues to build in and around this most critical promontory on the map of prophecy yet future are scheduled to grow stronger, not weaker. We know that it is all moving toward the time Jesus Himself prophesied nearly 2 millennia ago.

“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” (Matthew 24:15-21)

Christians could suddenly be called before Jesus Christ in any given moment of time.

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) 

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

We have for years in our Nearing Midnight commentaries been chronicling how close the world is to that spectacular moment. We have, using God’s Word, shown over and over that the lost of the world–all who have not accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior–will be left behind to go through suffering of unimaginable horror.

It doesn’t have to be that way for anyone. God tells all who will listen that He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God gives His plan of salvation for escaping eternity in hell and the way to escape this terrible time that is about to begin on earth once the Rapture occurs. The apostle Paul writes under divine inspiration the following:

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

Acceptance of Christ for salvation must be made before, not after, the Rapture in order to escape the Tribulation. Now is the day of accepting Christ for salvation, the Bible says. Few who have rejected Christ before the Rapture will come to salvation after the Rapture, is how I believe the Scriptures have it.

I’m going to, prayerfully, presume you don’t want to go to that place of torment called the lake of fire, or go through the hell on planet earth called Tribulation–the last seven years leading up to Christ’s Second Coming. I’m presuming–again, prayerfully–that you will accept God’s plan of salvation as given above.

Now we will look at what God’s Word tells us is wrapped up in His plans for all who have been wise enough to humble themselves and accept His Son, Jesus the Christ, for the salvation of their eternal souls–that is, we will look at what I will term here as Heaven’s Awards Ceremony.

The great promises for Christians that follow have been put together by many astute Bible scholars and students over many years. I have long ago forgotten the sources in particular. I will just say here that mixed in with my own thoughts is the scholarship of many folks much elevated above my own. I do know that many of these thoughts on the bema are from Dr. Harold Wilmington of Liberty University.

Immediately upon the Church–all born-again believers (John 3:3)–being called into Heaven in the Rapture, all will stand before the bema (judgment seat of Christ). Jesus Christ will judge each person–not for punishment, but for eternal rewards. This judgment will be for giving awards for the ways in which the individual Christian has contributed to God’s glorious kingdom while living on planet earth.

Things on which Christians will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ:

1. How we treat other believers.

Hebrews 6:10

Matthew 10:41-42

2. How we exercise our authority over others.

Hebrews 13:17

James 3:1

3. How we employ our God-given abilities.

1 Corinthians 12: 4, 12

2 Timothy 1:6

1 Peter 4:10

Add to these Scriptures Jesus’ teaching of the parables of the ten pounds (Luke 19:11-26) and the talents (Matthew 25:14-29).

Each believer has at least one talent:

1 Corinthians 7:7; 12:7-11

Ephesians 4:7

1 Peter 4: 10

 

There are 18 of these gifts:

Romans 12

1 Corinthians 12

Ephesians 4

 

It’s up to each believer to find/discern his or her gifts.

4. How we use our money.

1 Corinthians 60: 2

2 Corinthians 9:6-7

1 Timothy 6:17-19

 

All belongs to God:

1 Peter 18-19

5. How we spend our time.

Psalms 90:12

Ephesians 5:16

Colossians 4:5

1 Peter 1: 17

6. How much we suffer for Jesus.

Matthew 5:11-12

Mark 10:29-30

Romans 8:18

2 Corinthians 4: 17

1 Peter 4:12-13

7. How we run that particular race God has chosen for us.

1 Corinthians 9:24

Philippians 2:16

Philippians 3:13-14

Hebrews 12:1

8. How effectively we control the old nature.

1 Corinthians 9:25-27

Greek word adokimos, “castaway,” means “disapproved.”

It means self is disapproved. Paul wanted to keep his old nature in check–seen in:

2 Timothy 2:15

1 Corinthians 16:3

Philippians 1:10

1 Thessalonians 2:4

9. How many souls we witness to and win to Christ.

Proverbs 11:30

Daniel 12:3

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20

10. How we react to temptation.

James 1:2-3

Revelation 3:10

11. How much the doctrine of the Rapture means to us.

2 Timothy 4:8

12. How faithful we are to the Word of God and the flock of God.

Acts 20:26-28

2 Timothy 4:1-2

1 Peter 5:2-4

What will be the results of the judgment seat of Christ?

Some will receive rewards.

1 Corinthians 3:14

Bible mentions at least 5 rewards:

1. The incorruptible crown, given to those who master the old nature.

1 Corinthians 9:25-27

2. The crown of rejoicing given to soul-winners.

Proverbs 11:30

Daniel 12:31 Thessalonians 2:19-20

3. The crown of life, given to those who successfully endure temptation.

James 1:2-3

Revelation 2:10

4. The crown of righteousness for those who especially love the doctrine of the Rapture.

2 Timothy 4:8

5. The crown of glory, given to faithful preachers and teachers.

Acts 20:26-28

2 Timothy 4:1-2

1 Peter 5:2-4

If Heaven’s Awards Ceremony sounds just a bit intimidating, it doesn’t have to be so. God’s holy view of what constitutes acceptable, even superior, service as His royal ambassadors is almost assuredly different to the way awards are given out by award-givers of the human variety here on earth.

Jesus told us that the last shall be first, and the first shall be last:

And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. (Mark 9: 35)  

A truly humble spirit in serving the Lord through serving others–putting others first and ourselves last–will bring the believer to front and center of the bema seat–in Heaven’s Awards Ceremony.