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The Great Economic Crash!?
This is it! This is the beginning of the great financial collapse that’s going to send the world into Tribulation—the last seven years leading to Christ’s return, the last three and a half of which will be the worst time in human history, according to Jesus Himself (Matthew 24:21).
This is the apparent belief of some who study Bible prophecy and completely dismiss any notion that the Bible teaches a pre-Trib Rapture that will keep believers in Jesus Christ out of that terrible time the Lord warned about. Those who adamantly proclaim there will be no pre-Trib Rapture, or that there will be a mid-Trib Rapture, imply that now is the beginning of the Tribulation. Or, they believe the world is at least entering the portal that will lead into that last seven years the book of Revelation covers by giving twenty-one specific judgments in a series of seven scrolls, seven trumpets, and seven bowls, or vials.
All of this dire assessment is, of course, based on the turmoil stirred by the tariffs threatened against America’s worldwide trading partners for not treating the US fairly. The stock market has been fluctuating wildly, with nations threatening retaliation, causing panic within the world of economy and finance. The dire analysis reverberates within the no-pre-Trib sphere, to be sure.
Two articles posted on Raptureready.com more or less frame this “we-are-now-entering-the-Tribulation-era” view that ignores the great mystery revealed through the Apostle Paul about the Rapture of the Church (all born-again believers in Christ for salvation).
Here are the prompts linking to the stories on Rapture Ready News on April 8, 2025. The stories are products of a writer who covers news from a biblically prophetic perspective, for the most part:
We Are Witnessing “Lehman-Style Margin Calls” in the Aftermath of the Biggest Stock Market Wipeout in U.S. History
We have never seen so much stock market wealth get wiped out in such a short period of time. Unfortunately, many major players on Wall Street that made a ton of money on the way up were not prepared for a rapid reversal of this magnitude. All of a sudden, hedge funds are being hit with absolutely enormous margin calls, and this threatens to create a “doom loop” which could potentially push stock prices a whole lot lower.
The second such prompt linking to the full story is the following:
This May Not Be What They Were Originally Anticipating, but a “Reset” of the Global Economy Is Definitely Here
Over the past few years there has been a tremendous amount of buzz about an imminent “reset” of the global economy. Well, what we are witnessing may not look like what they were anticipating, but a “reset” of the global economy is definitely here.
The article’s writer (who covers issues and events such as the world’s economy as it might pertain to Bible prophecy fulfillment, and who, for the most part, does so very well) always points to the Tribulation, never to the blessed hope of the Rapture. This troubles me, of course, because that consistent perspective, which never includes God’s promises of Rapture, diminishes our Lord’s truth about things to come.
Jesus said in no uncertain terms that at the time He next catastrophically intervenes into the affairs of wicked, rebellious humankind, there will be no worldwide economic disaster in progress. The Lord said business will be doing well, perhaps even booming. He said it will be exactly like it was in Lot’s day when that “righteous man” was removed to safety (Luke 17:28–30). God will call all believers out of a totally debauched society and culture like that of Lot’s day while building, planting, buying, and selling are taking place–indicating a strong commerce at that future time. He will take them to a place of rescue, just like He did Lot and his daughters, because Lot was seen as righteous in His holy eyes. All believers in Jesus Christ will be removed from this planet before all of the disastrous judgments of the Tribulation begin. That’s what we must take from Christ’s words in the “days of Lot” prophecy.
Get it? Economy will be business as usual when Christ calls us into the clouds of Glory. No matter what the wild world financial markets indicate—or what any other indicator flashes before the panicked eyes of the financial gurus—the economy will be business as usual.
While in the process of writing this article, the news came that despite the fact that the direst warnings of financial collapse imaginable were in every headline of significance, the Dow had gone up 2,500 points. This, due to President Trump putting a ninety-day pause on all tariffs he had previously said the US would impose. In addition, it was reported that the tariffs will likely be only 10 percent across the board (not the tremendously higher percentages) on all nations (more than one hundred at this time) that had not retaliated against America wanting a fair balance of trade with the nations of the world.
China, at the time of the report, would have a 125 percent tariff for engaging in war against the Trump tariff initiatives for fair and balanced trade. (It later went to 145 percent on China.)
This president—and I give him credit only because he is, unwittingly, being used as God’s human agency in keeping Heaven’s control on matters as the end of the age approaches—is a negotiator like no other. Trump, as I’ve often expressed in these commentaries, is, I am convicted, not a godly man, but God’s man for this late hour of the age.
It should be obvious to any serious student of world economic matters, and of America’s economy in particular, that there are forces that have done all within their power to bring the world into financial collapse in order to reshape—“reset”—things so their power base might control all things, especially all things of the fiscal order.
One of the most-respected Wall-Street types weighs in on all of this:
Mark Spitznagel, one of Wall Street’s most prominent skeptics, is sounding the alarm once again—insisting that the recent market volatility is not the long-awaited reckoning he has been predicting for years, but rather a harbinger of something far worse.
“This is a trap,” Spitznagel told MarketWatch, dismissing the latest downturn as a mere tremor before a true financial earthquake. “I expect an 80% crash when this is over. I just don’t think this is it.”…
Last week’s steep selloff, triggered in part by former President Donald Trump’s announcement of new tariffs, saw the S&P 500 suffer its sharpest two-day decline since the COVID crash in March 2020, falling more than 10%. Monday brought further volatility, with the Dow losing over 200 points and major indexes continuing to swing wildly. Yet Spitznagel remains unfazed.
“This isn’t Armageddon,” he continued. “That time will come as the bubble bursts.” (“Wall Street Bear Warns: The Real Crash Is Still Ahead,” America’s News Brief, WWWAmericasnewsbrief.com)
This secular financial wizard is correct, even though he most likely doesn’t understand Bible prophecy. The worst—by far—is yet to come during that time of Great Tribulation Jesus warned about. It will be the Rapture that bursts that bubble he mentions. Until then, there will be no great economic crash.
God’s Staying Hand
While I think on and write this commentary for posting April 14, there are powerful storms brewing to the west in Oklahoma. This time of year always brings angst about the tornadic thunderstorms that threaten during the springtime in the mid-South. This one is particularly threatening, the weather gurus are saying. Long-track tornadoes are possible, even likely, and the rain, they say, could be the likes of which we haven’t experienced in…maybe…fifty years or so.
By now, at the time you read this, of course, that threat is long gone, and we have likely faced similar weather fronts since.
Always, while the storms are forming and approaching, we pray for God’s protection—that His hand govern so people aren’t harmed.
There is building at this moment in our world a storm potentially far worse than a long-track tornado that destroys only what’s in a relatively narrow path. World War III is looming across the horizon, and it is from the east, rather than from the west, from whence the tornadic thunderstorms come.
The threats have been building and ongoing for months, and have come more intensely into focus within recent weeks and days.
The latest indication of the building storm of potential world war came directly from the nation-state possessing reportedly the largest stockpile of nuclear weaponry. The warning implicit within the threat again brings back thoughts of the same nation-state and its part in bringing the world to the brink of nuclear holocaust.
I’m talking about, of course, the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when Soviet Premiere Nikita Khrushchev threatened all-out war while America’s President John F. Kennedy opposed Khrushchev’s movement of nuclear weapons onto the island of Cuba ninety miles to our south.
As a twenty-year-old college student, I was quite worried as that geopolitical storm developed and grew to the point that it looked like the nukes would be unleashed at any moment.
There is a report I’ve read of a Soviet submarine at that crucial moment carrying atomic weapons whose commander came within a hair’s breadth of pushing the nuclear button. Three of the sub’s officers had to make the decision to launch, and one of the three didn’t believe there had been the hostile action reported against the Russian navy that warranted retaliation. He refused to agree to the launch, and World War III was avoided.
Although the world of military history doesn’t acknowledge the truth, it was, to us who were Christians and went through that time, God’s staying hand that controlled the decision of those submarines in that fateful instant. It continues to be our God’s omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience that, as Kennedy said in his inaugural address: “stays the hand of man’s final war.”
The following demonstrates that man continues down that deadly pathway toward the great Tribulation storm leading to World War III and devastation even worse than nuclear weapons can produce. Ironically, again the threat comes from within a Russian nuclear weapons-laden submarine.
On the cold steel of the Arkhangelsk, a nuclear submarine anchored in the machinery of modern warfare, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a message that bypassed diplomatic filters and landed directly on the fault lines of international tension. He spoke not with rhetoric, but with a calculated, measured threat—the kind that doesn’t need to shout to be heard.
“He forgot, it seems, that Russia has crews like yours and submarines like yours,” he said, staring out across a sea of uniformed sailors and flashing cameras. His words, directed at former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, were neither casual nor symbolic. They were a deliberate invocation of power, a reminder carved into steel and uranium that history has not been forgotten—and will not be forgiven.
This wasn’t a nostalgic reference to past conflicts. It was a direct line drawn in real time between an aborted peace agreement in 2022 and the quiet hum of nuclear submarines now fully armed and ready beneath the waves. The implications are staggering, and the silence in London should no longer be interpreted as strength, but as ignorance—or worse, as denial. (“BREAKING: Putin Sends Nuclear Warning from Submarine Deck—‘You Forgot about Our Submarines,’ He Tells Britain as Poseidon Looms off the Coast,” amg-news.com, American Media Group, Telegram, by Medeea Greere)
It is not just the Russian dictator who’s threatening to initiate World War III, but other building situations to our east. Here are a few examples taken from Raptureready.com News.
- The Iranians Load Missiles “Onto Launchers in All Underground Missile Cities” after Trump Threatens Them with “Bombing the Likes of Which They Have Never Seen Before.” Iran threatens to target US-British joint base in Indian Ocean. Trump warned that any future attacks from the Houthis, who have targeted US Naval vessels hundreds of times and wreaked havoc with global shipping channels, would be treated as a direct aggression from Iran itself. Iran has threatened to retaliate against the joint U.S.-U.K. naval base on Diego Garcia in the Chagos Archipelago if the United States attacks the Islamic Republic,
- Kim Jong Un Unveils Large AI-Equipped Combat Drones. North Korea has unveiled a new batch of new AI-equipped suicide and reconnaissance drones which the country is showcasing as part of military modernization plans. State-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Thursday that leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the testing of “various kinds of reconnaissance and suicide drones.”
- China is practicing “dogfighting” in space, Space Force says. Chinese satellites have conducted coordinated maneuvers with “synchrony” and “control,” a top Space Force official revealed Tuesday, dubbing the moves “dogfighting in space.” The service is “starting to see our near-peers focusing on practicing dogfighting in space with satellite-on-satellite” operations, Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael Guetlein said during the annual McAleese defense programs conference.
The Tribulation storm, outlined in the book of Revelation, is building. Our new book, Tracking Toward Tribulation: And the Any-Moment Intervention of Jesus Christ, is a volume I hope you will read. The subtitle tells the great truth within these times that threatens ominously at this moment. Jesus is about to intervene. God’s staying hand until that stunning moment of the Rapture is easily discernable to the believer who knows it is God’s merciful, staying hand that keeps us from that terrible hour of His wrath and judgment.
If you haven’t yet accepted God’s grace gift offer of salvation through belief in Jesus Christ to forgive and cleanse you of all sin, here is the message whose divine Instruction I prayerfully hope you will follow:
That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)
Huckabee a Dominionist?
Members of the media today are as often as not a danger to truth. They are so in that 1) they deliberately lie about much to tailor their narratives so the public is deceived into accepting the media’s desired slant; and/or 2) they are so woefully inept and uneducated because of their lack of research accuracy that non-truth is far more prevalent than actual truth in conclusions reached and delivered for public consumption.
The Second Coming and Christian Reconstruction
Such a condemnation of the media is blatantly on display with the claim that former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, now in the process of being confirmed as the Trump administration’s ambassador to Israel, adheres to dominionism.
He is lumped in with those on the so-called Christian Right who claim Christian reconstructionism (CR) as the biblically prescribed way of governance.
The following is taken from a recent article we ran on Raptureready.com News. I wish we hadn’t done so—wish that I had read it before it was posted.
Dominionism constitutes a radical departure from traditional Christianity, in which believers await Christ’s return for a millennial reign. CR teaches that the world must come under Biblical law before Christ will return. Along with its inherent bias towards unchecked capitalism and disregard for the needy, Christian Reconstructionism provides a philosophical underpinning for world domination by rich, Christian American males.
As George Grant wrote in The Changing of the Guard, Biblical Principles for Political Action: “Christians have an obligation, a mandate, a commission, a holy responsibility to reclaim the land for Jesus Christ—to have dominion in civil structures, just as in every other aspect of life and godliness. But it is dominion we are after. Not just a voice. It is dominion we are after. Not just influence. It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time. It is dominion we are after. World conquest.” (“Trump names a Dominionist as Ambassador to Israel. Here’s What that Means,” Janet Phelan, ZeroHedge, March 23, 2025)
This source of news we post is usually on the mark and holds to information that is from an unbiased to slightly right-leaning slant. Therefore, I believe this comes from the second condemnation I mention above. I believe this to a large extent is due to ignorance–information that hasn’t been researched and vetted. That’s probably why I didn’t check it. ZeroHedge is generally a source I trust, thus don’t feel the need to fact check. That, I now realize, can be a very serious omission, so will do better in that regard.
Here is what the writer says about Mike Huckabee that I find in error at best, and deliberately misleading at worst:
President Trump has named former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as the next Ambassador to Israel. Huckabee is a Christian and a Dominionist. The Senate confirmation hearings will take place next week.
While pro-Palestinian media has been critical of Huckabee’s stance on settlements https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/12/trump-picks-pro-settlement-mike-huckabee-as-us-ambassador-to-israel and pro-Trump sources have been critical of the critics https://jewishbreakingnews.com/american-jewry-fractured-over-trumps-choice-for-israel-ambassador/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJMSlVleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHd3tzFULbZDT8aCe8mqk49j5BfjKK4VdkzibyvHqT9nG-SB-RzdsuGgToA_aem_secsh04VNNch9Qdp-_1rqQ , the fact remains that a core belief of Dominionism is that the Jews will need to die in order to enable the Second Coming.
In 2015, New Eastern Outlook published my article on Dominionism, which I have copied in its entirety here. I have only one question, which is how in the world could an individual with this set of beliefs possibly align those beliefs with the best and highest interests of a Jewish state. (Ibid.)
Ms. Phelan goes on to present her previously published article. She asks: “Have you ever wondered why the political arena in America has become so top heavy with Christian fundamentalists?”
She writes that as society continues to fray (things becoming less moral, etc.), the religionists came to the forefront. She then says the following:
A parallel movement of “back to fundamentals” began to emerge in all three Abrahamic religions. It is not only Islam that has birthed its own variety of fundamentalism. Orthodox synagogues are seeing a swelling of congregations, and a new strain of Christianity, which is both fiercely political as well as militant in its promotion of theocracy has emerged as a potent force on the American scene.
Christian Reconstructionism (CR) has been called “the American Taliban.” (Ibid.)
I need go no further in this brief space to lay out the egregious charge implicit within Ms. Phelan’s piece on Governor Huckabee and her view of the dangerous rise of so-called Christian Reconstructionism. Her calling Mr. Huckabee a dominionist represents a charge far from the truth regarding the Governor’s view of how God intends His representatives on earth to interact.
Mr. Huckabee is a Southern Baptist preacher who believed he should become involved in government. And, yes, he did so hoping to contribute godly influence when he became involved first as lieutenant governor, then as governor, of Arkansas. He also, of course, ran for president at one point.
Huckabee has been influential at every opportunity, drawing ire, in some cases, from even among some of the so-called RINOs (“Republicans in name only”) from within his own party. By championing causes that uphold true biblical, Christian principles, the enemies of the God of Heaven have emerged many times from the proverbial woodwork.
I know what Mr. Huckabee believes about government, because I come from the same biblically correct background. He does not believe, as Ms. Phelan charges, that all citizens should be made to conform to a Baptist or even a Christian view codified in constitutional law.
He certainly does not believe or agree with CR and the dominionists like Ms. Phelan writes. —That CR and the dominionists intend to make America and planet Earth good enough for Christ to return. He knows and declares that Jesus Christ, and He alone, can and will return to make this world ready for His thousand-year reign.
Mike Huckabee does believe with all that is within his Holy Spirit-directed mind that God has told all of humankind that He–God—will bless all who bless Israel and that He–God—will curse all that curse Israel (Genesis 12: 3).
We can be thankful that God has, for His own good reasons, put true Christians like Mike Huckabee in this government to surround this president. I haven’t a clue as to all of God’s great purpose in all of this. But I do know that it is to somehow bring all of Bible prophecy to fulfillment.
This means, I believe, that very soon the Rapture of all believers will occur. All Christian influence by believers–in whom the restraining Holy Spirit indwells—will be removed to the clouds of Glory, leaving a terrifying vacuum of Christian influence upon governing in America and every other nation of this judgment-bound world.
We–Mr. Huckabee and myself–along with every believer in Jesus Christ for salvation say with acclamation that Jesus Christ and His millennial reign on this planet is the dominion we desire in the deepest reaches of our souls—souls our Lord has secured for all eternity as the sacrificial Lamb that takes away the sins of the world.
Even so, come Lord Jesus!
Deity’s Derision on Display
Most relevant of the political questions presently is: Why can’t the Democrat Party acknowledge that the majority of America’s voters–and by a large margin—have rejected their party’s governance?
That this is the most relevant question isn’t even considered by that party’s radical membership–the base that so obviously controls that party. As a matter of fact, that radical base, I think it’s reasonable to say by observing their antics, doesn’t have the individual or collective capability of figuring out their dilemma. –That of why America’s voting public has shown them the door as of last November’s presidential election.
Their irrational antics include screeching in resistance to and protest of anything Trump. They also include burning and/or defacing with swastikas Tesla vehicles they just weeks ago championed over polluting, gas-burning vehicles.
They scream against deporting illegal migrants who have raped and murdered throughout this country. They rant and rave over the new administration closing borders that formerly allowed such murderers, rapists, and child sex traffickers into our nation.
They support wholeheartedly the drive by Israel-Jew-hating jihadists who perpetrate genocide, determined to remove all such people from the “river to the sea.” They embrace every anti-God cause that degrades, debases, and debauches human beings and normality. They worship at the altar of Mother Earth with their climate-change insanity. They favor in every way possible the abuse of the most innocent, championing the insane changing of children’s gender through bodily mutilation and hormonal disrupters.
They have, as the radical base of that political party, contributed mightily to turning America’s subculture into a mirror image of ancient Sodom.
This fanatical base sees America not as a light on the hill for freedom and national sovereignty–an example for the world to emulate—but as a holdup to bringing all the world together as one, as John Lennon would have it. They embrace the globalist goals toward that end.
But the God of Heaven has, for His own reasons, stopped these anti-God of reprobate mind (Romans 1:28) sorts dead in their tracks. At least for the moment…
Psalm chapter 2 is in view, I believe, and it can’t be missed:
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 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. (Psalms 2:1–5)
God the Holy Spirit, resident within each believer in Christ, is restraining evil and wickedness during this time so near the end of the Church Age (Age of Grace; see 2 Thessalonians 2). And I believe we are witnessing, through Heaven’s action, God saying just how near we are to the moment He will have His Son, the Lord Jesus, call all believers into the clouds of Glory.
I believe God is—by plainly putting His Psalm 2 “derision” of anti-God forces on display—giving a heads-up on things to come in the very near future. These things include proof of the truth Paul the apostle was inspired to write:
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)
Now, understand that I in no way whatsoever believe the Democrat Party is the devil’s political party and the Republican Party is God’s. All political entities of this fallen world are sin-laden. Please know that this is all to say I believe God is displaying that Heaven is restraining against and has in derision the anti-God forces at this late prophetic hour through His dealing with this particular evil. I believe it’s evidence that He is on the very cusp of intervening into this Sodom-like world.
This leftist political entity that goes against all that is godly is in total derision. The fanatical adherents within its body are tearing apart the fabric of their political brand for all to see. That derision is from the very hand of God, in my view.
Again, I believe this is particularly important, because it could be a significant indicator of just how swiftly things are about to unfold from this point. Christ’s call to “Come up here!” could be very near indeed.
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. (Luke 21:28)
Europe’s Prophesied Power Emerging
Second only to Israel now being at the heart of the desperate search for global peace, I’m convinced that Europe being suddenly thrust to the top of the end-times quest for that world peace is a profound development. And, just as profound, I believe, is that this man—who, against all odds, is opposed by all the powers of geopolitics, and is the object of two nearly successful assassination attempts—is the force behind bringing this generation to the time when God will bring His prophecy to fulfillment.
Donald J Trump is, I believe, the man who is, unwittingly, key to the process in this matter—the world being moved toward the time God’s Word plainly says will be history’s most terrible era.
By this, I don’t mean Mr. Trump is a pawn of Satan in setting up the world for the son of perdition (Antichrist) to step onto the platform of power. Rather, I believe this unusual man (and, like him or not, who can honestly deny that he is unlike any we’ve seen?) is being used by heavenly direction—again, unwittingly—to bring all the evil of this world to its conclusion.
We’ve watched him jump without hesitation into the world’s most dangerous conflict—the one involving Israel, the number-one Bible prophecy signal of this being the end of the age. His doing so is because of another top sign of this late prophetic hour: the desire to bring peace in a region where war threatens to break into global nuclear conflict. This peculiar peace, in fact, is at the center of what Bible prophecy says will indeed bring carnage to all of humankind at some point.
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 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 5:1–3)
And now, Mr. Trump, the American president number 47, has jumped in with everything available to him into the second-most-dangerous situation involving the very real possibility of world war being ignited. We’ve watched with almost mesmerized attention the unprecedented lack of decorum when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tried to pull a fast one in the televised Oval Office visit.
The American president told Zelensky he was putting the world in danger of World War III by his effort to force America to guarantee troops on the ground in Ukraine to protect against Russian assault. This wasn’t part of the agreement already made before that meeting, and Zelensky was trying to make America look bad before the world through his subterfuge.
However, the confrontation, as entertaining as it was to some—me included—the greater takeaway is that the entire matter has Bible prophecy at its dark center, I have no doubt.
Here’s what I mean.
Zelensky was told to leave the White House in rather rude terms, but in terms well deserved. The Ukrainian president then returned to Europe, where he was received by the nations whose leaderships, though stunned by what had happened in the Oval Office, nonetheless embraced Zelensky, who was nursing wounds from his underestimation of Trump’s reaction.
Or was it underestimation? At the very least, it was, in total, governed by heavenly direction, in my opinion. Whatever it was, it has thrown fear into those who govern/rule Europe. It has put into fast-forward the movement toward establishing the prophesied military power for that area, which is destined to be the area out of which the world’s last and most despotic dictator will arise.
Here is a news item that somewhat enlightens, I think.
European nations are rapidly increasing defense spending in response to growing security concerns driven by the ongoing war in Ukraine and uncertainty over US commitments under Donald Trump’s presidency.
European leaders met in London on Sunday to advance plans for stronger defense cooperation, with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen warning that Europe urgently needs to “rearm.”
“We need a massive surge in defense, without any question. We want lasting peace, but lasting peace can only be built on strength,” von der Leyen said on Monday. She added that she would inform EU member states on Tuesday about plans to strengthen European defense industry and military capabilities.
The talks, which brought together 18 allies, came just days after Trump publicly berated Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, accusing him of being “disrespectful” and ungrateful for US aid…
“We should have woken up earlier,” [French President Emmanuel] Macron said. “I’ve been saying for years that we need a more sovereign, more united, more independent Europe.”
The UK, Germany, and Denmark are also set to increase defence investments. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged last week to raise defense spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2027 – the largest increase since the Cold War. (“‘We should have woken up earlier’”: Europe races to rearm as old alliances falter, Explainer, Rapture Ready News, March 4, 2025)
As I wrote in a commentary of March 3, “Antichrist’s Power Base,” this president, I believe, could well be fulfilling, unknowingly, the end-times movement toward Europe’s development of a unified military power base. When the Rapture occurs, America will be in disarray perhaps more than any other nation due to Christian influence within government and the military no longer being here.
I believe the probability is strong that a greatly weakened, disunified US will have to join, at a future time, a powerfully unified European defense consortium. This coalition will then be in possession of America’s awesome nuclear arsenal, along with all of its technological war-making assets. This would certainly bring to fulfillment the prophecy, “Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” (Revelation 13:4).
As we watch, as commanded by the Lord Jesus, it’s these two developments we should observe most diligently: 1) Israel and America’s/Trump’s involvement in the “cry for peace and safety”; and 2) America’s/Trump’s involvement in forcing Europe, through fear, to create, ultimately, the most powerful military force ever.
Of course, what all this means is that believers—all born again into God’s family through belief in Christ—will at any moment be called into the clouds of Glory in the Rapture.
Here again is how to tell everyone you know how to go to Christ when He shouts, “Come up here!”
That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9—10)
End-of-the-Age Assessment
It is the “times of the signs,” as my great friend Chuck Missler used to say.
Chuck has been in Heaven for a few years now, so he has missed seeing, from this earthly vantage point, the signs proliferating at an amazing pace. Perhaps he is, as he often proposed when teaching about our future life in that eternal, glorious place, “watching from the balconies of Heaven.”
Whether Chuck is seeing all that is now taking place here on earth or is too busy in other ways in that magnificent place God prepared for him, the signs Chuck often assessed while going about the world in his powerful ministry are exploding all around us—those left here to “watch,” as Jesus instructed (Mark 13:37 and Luke 21:28).
We endeavor in this column, as do other “watchers” in their various forums, to observe the signals of the approaching Tribulation—Daniel’s seventieth week.
The greatest general sign in these times so near that seven-year era, the second half of which Jesus called the worst time of human history (Matthew 24:21), is that Israel is back in the land. Other general signs, as I view them, are:
- The entire world is beginning to turn against Israel, God’s chosen nation and people (Zechariah 12:1–3).
- There is a cry for peace, with a two-state solution involving Israel and its enemies to divide God’s land (Joel 3:2).
- There is a drive-by anti-God force—the Ephesians 6:12 cabal, to tear down the US and all sovereignty of nations.
- Wickedness is growing to the Sodom and Gomorrah level, with insanity gripping the world in the way described by the Apostle Paul’s Romans 1:28 “reprobate mind” diagnosis.
- Apostasy is on the rise (2 Thessalonians 2:3), with the pope of the Catholic Church saying every religion has a way to salvation.
- Technology, through AI and other phenomenal so-called advances, is gushing this generation toward a time of Antichrist’s worldwide control (Revelation 13:16-18).
While there isn’t enough space in this commentary to deal with all these matters, we’ve done so over the preceding months and years. So, I would like to consider here only two specific, most-pointed prophetic elements that are, at this precise moment, on the verge of fulfillment. Certainly the stage is being set for these occurrences to suddenly burst upon this “time of the signs.”
First, I want to consider the Isaiah 17:1 passage involving the destruction of Damascus.
Dynamics affecting this volatile region of Syria have seemingly ignited into an unstoppable circumstance. The removal of dictator Bashar Al-Assad of Syria opened the way for a new anti-Israel regime, composed of several terrorist group leaderships, to take control. The situation now appears to be near exploding into an action by Israel that could cause all of the Middle East to erupt into conflagration.
Here is that prophecy:
“The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap” (Isaiah 17:1).
Here is an article that explains this developing danger of war in the Middle East:
The Sunni radicals that have taken over Syria are demanding that all Israeli forces must leave Syrian territory. On the other side, the IDF is hammering military targets in southern Syria with a blistering wave of airstrikes, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that any military forces aligned with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham will not be allowed south of Damascus. Do you understand what this means? It means that Damascus is now right on the front lines of a conflict between Israel and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that is rapidly heating up. If all-out war erupts, Damascus is likely to be absolutely devastated.
Of course, many prominent buildings in Damascus have already been turned into piles of rubble, but now it appears that things could be about to go to the next level.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has confirmed that IDF airstrikes are being conducted in southern Syria, and he is warning that any attempt by forces aligned with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to enter the security zone in southern Syria “will be met with fire”…
Israel confirmed it is conducting strikes in southern Syria, as the new Syrian government calls for the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Syrian territory.
“We will not allow southern Syria to become southern Lebanon,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said regarding the strikes. “Any attempt by the Syrian regime forces and the country’s terrorist organizations to establish themselves in the security zone in southern Syria will be met with fire.”
Katz said the Israeli Air Force is “now attacking strongly in southern Syria as part of the new policy we have defined of pacifying southern Syria.” (“Is The Stage Being Set for Damascus to Be Utterly Destroyed and Turned into a Heap of Ruins?” Michael, Rapture Ready News, February 27, 2025)
The other most pressing matter that’s key in these “times of the signs,” I believe, is things coming to a potentially violent head regarding Iran’s nuclear development program. Middle East Bible prophecy expert Bill Salus writes about this Jeremiah 49:34 prophecy concerning a coming disaster to Elam, the very area in which Iran’s nuclear laboratories are thought to be within the Bushehr mountain range.
Bill enumerates, by dissecting through paraphrased biblical terms, the destruction scheduled to take place.
The Seven I Wills and Details of the Lord in Jeremiah 49:34–39.
- The Lord will break the bow of Elam / at the foremost of Elam’s might.
- The Lord will gather the four winds from the four quarters of heaven / and scatter the Elamites worldwide.
- The Lord will cause Iran to be dismayed / before the eyes of its enemies.
- The Lord will create a disaster inside Iran / because Iran has fiercely angered Him.
- The Lord will send the sword after the Iranians / until they are defeated.
- The Lord will destroy the Iranian leadership / and establish His throne in Elam.
- The Lord will restore the land of Elam / and return the exiles to Elam.
(Taken from a document for media use to promote Bill Salus’ NOW Prophecies book and DVD)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long stated, in every relevant forum, that Iran will never be allowed to produce nuclear weapons. Now his declaration is backed by the US president, whereas the previous American administration did everything within its power to resist Netanyahu’s efforts to thwart the Iranian ayatollah’s determination to produce nuclear military capability.
Current developments bring Jeremiah 49:34 into view as we consider the following report:
Iran has placed its missile defense systems on high alert, anticipating potential Israeli and US airstrikes on nuclear sites, The Telegraph reported. The report follows a Bloomberg report citing the International Atomic Energy Agency, which found that Iran’s uranium stockpile has surged in recent months.
The Telegraph cited two high-level government sources that say Tehran has been expanding missile defense coverage around nuclear and missile sites for fear of potential joint military strikes by stealth fighter jets by Israel and the US.
“They [Iranian authorities] are just waiting for the attack and are anticipating it every night, and everything has been on high alert—even in sites that no one knows about,” one source told The Telegraph.
“Work to fortify nuclear sites has been ongoing for years, but it has intensified over the past year, particularly since Israel launched the first attack,” he added.
“Recent developments, including Donald Trump’s comments and reports about potential plans from his administration to strike Iran, have further intensified activities.” (“Iranian Nuke Sites on ‘High Alert’ for Stealth Jet Attacks; Enriched Uranium Stockpiles Near Level for Bomb,” Zero Hedge, Tyler Durden, February 26, 2025)
The times of the signs cannot be missed by those who “watch.” Jesus instructed us to “watch,” as referenced above, in order to assure us that “our redemption is drawing near” when we see “all these things begin to come to pass.”
Here, again, is God’s call to all people who don’t know Jesus Christ for salvation. These lost souls are facing living under Antichrist and the horrors of the Tribulation unless they accept this call to redemption from the eternal consequences of unrepented sin.
“That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10 9-10).
The Snare and Sudden Destruction
Some who make Bible prophecy their major study in writing and other ministry endeavors leave the Rapture of the Church out of their consideration. Or else they bring arguments meant to completely come against the pre-Trib Rapture in particular.
Some even are excellent writers and thinkers. These concentrate correctly on the darkening times, weaving into their messages current issues and events. They present such reports in speculating how those news items might be leading to the Tribulation, Daniel’s seventieth week.
However, if and when they mention the Rapture, they say that this event, prophesied by the Apostle Paul, will happen not before the Tribulation, but sometime during that last seven years leading up to the return of Christ at the time of Armageddon. There is, in their view, no Rapture prior to that terrible time. Christians, they believe and present uncompromisingly, will have to go through at least some portion of the Tribulation.
Some of these folks charge those of us who believe God’s Word holds forth the pre-Tribulation Rapture as guilty of causing Christians to not recognize Antichrist when he comes on the scene. Thus because we teach and preach that all believers will not be on earth when that man of sin becomes known.
It is a complete mystery how such otherwise biblically astute, Christ-centered, and quite talented, in some cases, believers can so misunderstand. It is most perplexing that they go against the Scripture as presented. God plainly presents the Rapture as occurring before God’s final wrath and judgment will fall.
They declare that God’s promise is to keep us “through,” not “out of,” the coming time of Tribulation, the worst of all times. But the word in Christ’s most profound promise in this regard is the Greek word ek, meaning “out of,” not “through.” We see this as follows.
The pre-Tribulation Rapture is built upon a body of scriptural references. But the most powerful proof that the Church—all believers in Christ of the Church Age or Age of Grace—will be kept out of the time of God’s wrath and judgment is given by the Ascended Lord Jesus Himself in one statement:
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10)
The word “from” in the phrase “from the hour” is the Greek ek, meaning “out of,” as stated previously. Jesus will keep the Church out of those seven years of judgment and wrath soon to come.
Jesus, in His ascended position following His resurrection, gave John the message He wanted to be presented to the churches of the Age of Grace. The message gave Christ’s holy assessment of each of the seven churches John was to address.
In the above statement, Christ was commending believers of the Age of Grace for their faithful belief in His death, burial, and resurrection as payment for their sin.
Because of this unbreakable belief that seals their souls forever (Romans 8:38–39), Christ would keep them out of the terrible wrath and judgment that would befall all of the world’s unbelievers. This promise was a prelude to John being called into Heaven, symbolically foreshadowing the believers being kept out of the wrath and judgment.
Revelation, then, beginning with chapter 4, lays out in terms of seven scrolls, seven trumpets, and seven bowls or vials, twenty-one specific judgments through which God deals with the rebels of earth. This is the unfolding of the time, the latter part of which the Lord foretells will be the worst time of all human history (Matthew 24:21).
The purpose of this time of wrath and judgment, the overall picture Bible prophecy portrays, is to: 1) judge the world for sin and rebellion; and 2) bring out of that terrible era a remnant of Israel (Jewish believers). This remnant will comprise the head nation of the world during the millennial reign of Christ, which follows Christ’s return at Armageddon.
Now the reason for the title of this commentary.
The writers and other presenters who ignore any possibility of the pre-Tribulation Rapture of believers in Christ watch and report on the issues and events of this darkening age, but see no hope for believers escaping the seventieth week of Daniel—the coming seven years of Tribulation. If Christians are alive when that era begins, they will, according to the anti-pre-Rapture pontificators, go into that time along with all the lost (those who don’t know Christ for salvation) and who are alive at that time.
However, here again is what the Bible tells us:
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:13)
What hope is there in “looking for” the worst time in all of human history? Our hope is in Jesus Christ and His promise to call us into His presence before the seven years of judgment and wrath begin, as, again, He told John to write to the Church.
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10)
The anti-pre-Trib Rapture proponents do not discern the entire body of prophecy; else they wouldn’t miss the following:
And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 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 21:34–36)
There is a sudden moment coming when all things on earth will change in a millisecond. It will come as a snare upon the world. Here is that moment from another Holy Spirit perspective:
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 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. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. (1 Thessalonians 5:1–6)
What is this moment of snare-like change upon earth? Paul explains in the verses immediately preceding the above. In the last verses of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, he says this:
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4: 15–18)
A profound question: What are the closing words of this Rapture promise? “Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
What comfort can be found if we are facing seven years of the most horrendous times in all of human history?
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tracking Toward Tribulation – New Book
Tim Moore, head of Lamb and Lion Ministries and Christ in Prophecy TV, encapsulates the essence of my new book of compilation, I think. He mentions in his chapter in this new book, Tracking Toward Tribulation: And the Any Moment Intervention by Jesus Christ, the words of Dr. Adrian Rogers, the late pastor of Belleview Church of Memphis, Tennessee. So I guess I will give credit to Adrian Rogers, as well as to my great friend Tim for capturing my thoughts as I began praying and thinking about this volume as it progressed.
Tim writes the following in opening his chapter:
The storm clouds of the Tribulation are gathering. The signs of the times are increasing in frequency and intensity. Even those who are spiritually blind can discern that our world is hurtling toward a chasm.
For those who are awaiting Jesus Christ—our Blessed Hope—even these foreboding signs point to the imminence of His return. As Adrian Rogers once said, ‘It’s getting gloriously dark!”
Indeed, movement toward the time on earth the Lord Jesus Himself declared would be the worst of all human history is storming upon this generation. Jesus said about that coming era that if He didn’t intervene, no flesh would be saved; all of humankind would perish. But He added that for the sake of the saints–believers in Christ—the days of that terrible time will be shortened.
And this is in fact the essence of Tracking Toward Tribulation.
Tim Moore was agreeing with Dr. Rogers that the times are growing “gloriously dark,” meaning the Lord Jesus Christ has assured believers He will intervene so we who accept Him as our Savior and Lord will not perish in that coming time of unalloyed evil. And I am convicted that, in some sense, Jesus was referring to the Rapture of the Church as well as to the rescue of Tribulation saints.
It is glorious to think of the moment of Rapture when Jesus calls us into the clouds of Heaven’s domain to be with Him forever.
That promise, of course, is reinforced in the words given to John, the writer of Revelation, by the Ascended Christ:
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10)
This book is a bit different from my many previous books of compilation—compilation meaning a number of authors writing chapters. It is different in that, in the previous books, I assigned topics I requested each author to write. The chapters were based largely on each writer’s area of expertise and interest.
For Tracking Toward Tribulation: And the Any Moment Intervention by Jesus Christ, I asked each author to choose material they’ve recently produced, with the only direction from me, the general editor, being that they stay within bounds of our basic title (Tracking Toward Tribulation). And our main thrust, of course, was implicit within my request. The glorious part about all the darkness in considering the time of Tribulation is the Heaven-guaranteed promise by Jesus, Himself, that He will suddenly interrupt that movement into the evil-spawned darkness by removing believers of the Church Age from this judgment-bound earth.
Within the past two weeks, we taped television programs for this book at SkyWatch TV in Crane, Missouri. Defender Publishing is the publisher of this and many of my books, is, along with SkyWatch TV, a part of my great friend Tom Horn’s inspired and brilliant vision for a corporate Christian media entity that deals largely in matters of Bible prophecy. Preparing for the programs, and actually doing them, I think, helped me to understand just how special this particular book effort is in covering where the world stands at this moment on God’s prophetic timeline.
The SkyWatch TV program’s host, Joe Ardis Horn, always manages to bring out in these interviews the most pertinent and fascinating information from among the authors involved during the tapings of the books Defender publishes. This was no exception. The book is one of the best volumes of its type of my experienced memory. And it’s due to the great writers and their acumen and expertise in God’s prophetic Word and in observation of prophetic import they see developing as this generation moves more deeply in the direction of the coming time of trouble described by Jesus and the prophets.
In my view, the Holy Spirit’s imprint is heavily on this joint effort. Each author, I believe this book validates, has been given special insight while addressing the topics they chose to present.
Anyone familiar with today’s writers, broadcasters, preachers, and teachers of God’s Word in general and in Bible prophecy in particular will recognize this line-up of contributors as God’s people, gifted to do His prophecy-oriented work. I believe the reader will agree this book is meant to be released in this late hour of this fleeting Age of Grace.
In addition to my own contributions, here are the authors of Tracking Toward Tribulation. I give them here in the order of their chapters as presented: Jan Markell, Brandon Holthaus, Jonathan C. Brentner, Mike Gendron, Dr. Nathan E. Jones, Pete Garcia, Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, Bill Salus, Tom Hughes, Daymond Duck, Tim Moore, Dr. Randall Price, Jim Fletcher, Wilfred Hahn, and Mondo Gonzales.
With the words, “And when you shall see all these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your head, for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28), Jesus, God Himself, gave the formula for knowing just how close is His coming to receive unto Himself those who believe.
The key in this statement by the Creator of all that exists are the words “all these things.”
There are many things to consider included with in this framework given by Jesus Christ, in answering his immediate disciples’ question: “What shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the age?”
We who have determined to enter this examination prayerfully look at each of “all these things” in order to give the reader of this volume an accurate as possible picture of where this generation stands on God’s prophetic timeline.
Most who observe these times as Jesus commanded—“What I say unto one, I say unto all, watch” (Mark 13:37)—agree. All these things we are to “watch” have accelerated significantly within the recent months, weeks, and days. The ominous foreshadows of the Tribulation–Daniel’s seventieth week—hang heavily above every point on earth.
Yet the gathering darkness that closes in gives those who are in God’s family the opportunity to shine the light of His Truth that Jesus Christ alone is the hope for mankind. Christians are to be the light that reflects from our Savior’s heavenly luminescence. We are to be both salt and light to a decaying, darkening world.
We are to be looking up all the while for our redemption, which is growing ever nearer.
That moment—the twinkling-of-an-eye moment of Rapture—is indeed imminent!
There is one and only one way to go to Jesus in this glorious event when He calls—the one and only way of escaping the coming time of trouble such as people of the earth have never endured:
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)
Order Tracking Toward Tribulation: And the Any Moment Intervention By Jesus Christ at the ministry website of your choice, or at the following: AMAZON
The Nuclear Iran Non Sequitur
The mullahs who drive the hatred for Israel have, through Iran’s foreign minister, warned the newly inaugurated US president, Israel’s government, and the world that any attack on Iran’s nuclear development facilities will be met with catastrophic consequences for the region and the attackers.
Iran will react immediately and decisively if its nuclear facilities come under attack, an action that could trigger an “all-out war in the region,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi warned on Friday.
Araqchi, speaking to Al Jazeera TV and quoted by Reuters, cautioned that any military strike by Israel and the United States on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure would be “one of the biggest historical mistakes the US could make.”…
Iran recently informed the IAEA of its intention to “significantly increase” its production of uranium enriched up to 60 percent.”
The Biden administration sought to return to the 2015 deal and held indirect talks with Iran on a return to compliance, but those talks failed due to Iran’s insistence on the closure of the UN nuclear watchdog’s investigations of its nuclear sites…
Top Iranian officials have become increasingly concerned that Trump might grant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the green light to launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear sites. (“Iranian FM warns: We will react decisively if our nuclear facilities are attacked,” Israel National News, Arutz Sheva, Elad Benari, Canada)
While the radical Islamic regime continues to grow as the greatest threat for initiating all-out war in the Mideast, the Iranian government grows ever closer to Russia in setting up for hegemony over all the region. The mullahs, not the people of Iran, intend to wipe Israel from the earth. They say so almost daily.
Iran (Persia), of course, is to be one of the primary members of the invading force in attacking Israel, according to Ezekiel’s Gog-Magog prophecy (Ezekiel chapters 38–39). We believe Russia, Togarmah (Turkey), and Iran (Persia) will lead many other peoples in the assault on Israel in order to take “great spoil.”
The diplomats of the world approach the matter of Iran and its drive to develop nuclear weaponry from a totally humanistic perspective. No doubt, none among that community give much thought to Ezekiel’s prophecy. The only thing most diplomatic sorts care about is that all-out war won’t be initiated in the region. Israel—and now America, in particular, under the Trump administration—insists that Iran never gets a nuclear-weapons capability to make good on their wanting to erase the Jewish state from the world. I doubt seriously that many within the new administration give much thought to Ezekiel’s prophecy about the coming attack.
Well, Mike Huckabee, now the ambassador to Israel, certainly knows all about the Gog-Magog prophecy. He will, I hopefully presume, explain it to those in the new administration. And I have hope for the new Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. He declares without any hesitation that Jesus Christ is his Savior and Lord. That is quite heartening, to be sure. How deeply he understands the Ezekiel prophecy…another question.
Whether there is understanding by Secretary Hegseth or within the new administration, they have vowed—along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and most all of Israel’s government and military—that Iran’s getting nuclear weapons capability is not going to happen.
Thus the mullah-driven, carrot-and-stick approach. Again, Iran’s foreign minister has threatened all-out war that will be catastrophic for the world—especially for those who attack their nuclear-development laboratories, etc. At the same time, Iran is slyly reaching out with the carrot, trying to “reason” with President Trump to come to the table of negotiation to assure that peace remains the order of the day. All the while, Iran feeds military assets to its proxies–such as, for example, Hamas, the terrorists who incessantly afflict the Jewish state in attacks such as those that took place on October 7, 2023.
I really am convinced that soon, Israel, led by Netanyahu, backed strongly by the new US president, both of whom have vowed there will be no nuclear Iran, and the American military in some way will destroy the nuclear-weapons labs deep in the mountainous caverns of Iran. I base this on the Ezekiel 38–39 Gog-Magog prophecy.
Iran (Persia), as a major military force in the Gog-Magog coalition, apparently has no nuclear weapons in that attack. As a matter of fact, Ezekiel seems to go out of his way to present the assault as one of a conventional sort. He even uses the antiquated warfare methodology of his own time—horses, etc.—to describe the attack.
Now I know that “fire on the coastlands,” which might indicate involvement of nuclear explosions, is part of the attack, but it seems, almost certainly, that this “fire” is God’s own doing as the Gog-Magog forces invade His land.
This lack of nuclear weaponry in the attack upon Israel is why I titled this commentary “The Nuclear Iran Non Sequitur.”
It does not follow logically. That there is a nuclear Iran (Persia, in the Ezekiel prophecy) doesn’t seem to be the case in the least.
On this premise, and on the strength represented by America’s 47th president adamantly backing an immovable Israeli prime minister, I believe it’s relatively reasonable to conclude that Iran’s nuclear program will soon be no more.
All of this, and the Elam prophecy that a powerful destruction of some sort in the mountainous area where Iran’s nuclear facilities are located, gives backing to this likely scenario. The Iranian nuclear-weapons development will somehow be brought to a halt.
And, all of this prophetic progression means Christ’s call to the Church into the clouds of Glory must be very near indeed.
For 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)
Tell all the people you know about how near is the coming of Christ. Witness to them the saving power that’s only found in the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did on the old rugged cross at Calvary.
Tell those God gives you the opportunity to witness to the following:
That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9–10)
The Trump Arrangement Syndrome
Sometimes, as a morning routine, I listen to the Chris Plante national radio show. The other morning, he played sound bites of a typical anti-Trump night-time comedian saying, with sarcasm, that it is now, since the election and inauguration, 24/7 coverage of Donald Trump, whereas before it was only 24/7 coverage of Donald Trump.
Chris Plante then said in his own humorous way: “Ahh yes…mental illness is such a terrible thing, isn’t it? When did they all come down with the same mental illness?”
Plante was, of course, talking about what long ago became known in pseudo-psychological vernacular as the “Trump derangement syndrome” (TDS). Certainly, that widespread hatred for the now forty-seventh president of the United States wasn’t stanched by his overwhelming win in the 2024 presidential race. The Trump bashers, which include the radical left on the political spectrum, mainstream media, and almost the entire entertainment industry, continue apace in manifesting the syndrome.
One of the more amusing aspects of the ongoing hatred these TDS entities project is that they now–after Donald J. Trump’s win—seem to be joining in agreement with those of us who study Bible prophecy from the pre-Trib view. I’ve heard some of these anti-God types refer to Trump as “the Antichrist” a number of times, so I guess they now believe in Bible prophecy.
Of course, I’ve also read the charge that Mr. Trump will be the Antichrist put forward by more than a few who are presumably Christians claiming Bible prophecy as their source for such a proclamation. These, too, seem to have been infected by the Trump derangement syndrome.
Truly there has never been such a man as Donald J. Trump to so dominate presidential political headlines most every day since he came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower in New York City. Since that moment in 2016, never has any person endured at one and the same time such hatred and accolades on the national stage.
Despite the Trump derangement, the election on November 7 seems to indicate powerfully that most of America’s voting public didn’t fall for the mainstream and entertainment media-fueled Trump hatred. In spite of everything thrown at Donald J. Trump, including the proverbial kitchen sink, he has emerged as the leader that even many of his former hate-filled enemies in many cases now eagerly seek to embrace.
Those who exclusively attribute to his charismatic persona this mercurial political entity’s rise to the ultimate governmental position in the world, then his nation-rendering fall, then his rocket-like rise again is, I believe, as blind spiritually as I am physically. I, you see, am not downcast by the Trump derangement syndrome. Rather, I’m spiritually enlightened and uplifted by understanding what I call the “Trump arrangement syndrome”–a thing, as believers, we must avoid, as I hope to make clear.
This understanding begins with the knowledge that God raises up kings and brings them down:
He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. (Daniel 2:21)
Donald Trump is, as I’ve written many times, not a godly man. He is, however, there is no doubt in my thinking, God’s man for this late hour of the Church Age (Age of Grace). In this sense, the term “Trump arrangement syndrome” is the right one that encapsulates this president’s ascent to the ultimate, earthly, geopolitical power. The present Trump arrangement is a matter only our Mighty God could bring into this, the prophetic hour just before He again begins dealing in a final prophetic way with His chosen people and nation, Israel.
Proof of this heavenly action–arranging Trump’s positioning–I now believe, was when God spared Trump’s life on that August 14, 2024, afternoon in Butler, Pennsylvania, for the entire world to witness. It was the God of all creation making a statement and preparing the way to get back to “business as usual,” rather than allowing the reprobate thinking to be unchecked—the anti-God insanity that was moving too quickly toward satanic stage-setting for Antichrist’s rise to power.
Now let me explain. By saying “business as usual,” I’m not referring to the business of returning to normalcy in the human sense so that we can all just live happy, secure lives. That would mean God approves of the wickedness that “business as usual” has produced–business that has taken us far from Him.
The “business as usual” to which I refer is the exact kind that was going on at the time Lot, his wife, and daughters were removed from Sodom. That activity was, I believe, very much like it will be here in America—and by extension, the world—at the moment Christ next breaks in to the wicked affairs of humanity on earth.
We see how quickly this arrangement is shaping up following Trump’s return to the Oval Office. Even the technocrats–the billionaire producers of the great, advancing technologies are on board this man of destiny’s Trump Train. The president has announced the AI wonders that will constitute what he termed Stargate, which he says will be funded by $500 billion, and immediately produce more than 100 thousand jobs.
I believe Mr. Trump truly believes this will lead to making America great again and will bring about an American Golden Age, as he puts it. Indeed, America might for a time experience an unusual uptick in economic achievement. But we must not be deluded. It all smacks of preparing the post-Rapture world for AI technological controls for the era Jesus said will be the worst of all human history.
So the Trump arrangement taking place is, I believe, Heaven preparing the world for fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy as recorded in Luke 17:28–30.
The Lord said it will be “as it was in the days of Lot” when He is next “revealed.” Then, just like in Lot’s day, judgment will begin falling on a world that has rebelled against God.
It will be, Jesus said, at “a time you think not.” We’re told in Scripture that “It will come upon the world” “like a snare (a surprise snatching-up).”
For the Christian, we are to be watching all these developments (Mark 13: 37) We’re to notice that Israel is again in the center of all things, and that the desire for peace also is at the center of all things. We are to take notice that the world is not in as dire a situation, economically speaking, as it was looking when the Biden era came to a close. Yes. The world continues to be in an anti-God spiral downward morally, culturally, and throughout society. But now we see an almost exponentially upward spiraling economic and technologically advancing situation in America—and, by extension, worldwide—we are assured by Mr. Trump and others.
At the same time, there are wars and rumors of wars, and all of them revolve around major players in God’s prophetic Word for the time of the end. Russia, Iran, Turkey, China–all are poised to fulfill their disastrous destinies during the Tribulation—the last seven years leading to Christ’s Second Advent.
We do not want, as believers in Jesus Christ, to get caught up into the Trump arrangement syndrome. This term means Donald Trump is going to make America great again. That syndrome is as wrongheaded as what those with the Trump derangement syndrome suffer.
I am, like you, thankful the 2024 presidential election went the way it did. The Lord arranged it, no doubt. All thanks and glory be to Him! This heavenly arrangement perhaps gives believers time to work to bring more souls into God’s family through salvation in a culture and society that remains free to do so.
At the same time, we are to be “looking up,” for our Redeemer is drawing near. The Rapture is the next event on God’s prophetic calendar!
Here again is the message to share as we go about witnessing the soul-saving power of our Lord:
That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10: 9-10)