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On Enduring Unto the End
Vince Lombardi, the famous Green Bay Packer coach of the 1960s, known for his draconian training regimen in preparing his players, said: “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.” He put his observation to practical use against his opponents by making sure it was the opponents, not his team members, who were fatigued by game’s end. Each Packer player was totally spent at the end of each practice session; he left all he had on the field of preparation.
When strength was returned and fully pumped up on game day, there was more than enough to overpower those not as intensively conditioned. The result was a championship team that continues to be memorialized in sports lore all of these years later. There was no team that could match Lombardi’s Packers when the fatigue set in during the later stages of the games they played during the height of their power. There were teams that could match their natural athletic abilities, but none could match their endurance.
The game was won by the intensive time of preparation as much as it was won on the actual field of play.
The use of the above sports analogy is not far-fetched. Paul, the great champion for taking the gospel of Christ forth, used just such an analogy to describe his life, death, and glorious future in God’s kingdom:
“For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:4-8).
Paul, it is obvious by studying his writings, was a sports fan. He used things like running a race, beating the air, finishing the course, and other terms that give us insight to the fact that he at least took interest in the society of his day. That society was one filled with sports activities, and that would have been a natural subject for the great teacher to interject as he presented the gospel and matters of Bible doctrine.
The games of the day included Olympics-type events. The races in particular turned on the cheers of fans of the day. Crowns of laurels (wreaths of leaves) were placed upon the victors’ heads by the judges.
Paul linked the races of his time to the bema (judgment seat of Christ), at which children of God will receive crowns of victory based upon how they ran the race in Christ’s cause during their lifetimes. The very nature of such a race indicates the necessity of enduring–persevering–through the long, sometimes uphill miles of living a life of righteousness.
Most often, Paul used such analogy to indicate, as in the verses above, the fact that the Christian should be willing to endure. In many places, he taught how to build endurance. That preparation most often was wrapped around prayer, Scripture study, and practical action–witnessing and teaching truth to others.
God’s Word telling us to endure is one area of Bible prophecy that has caused anxiety-ridden questions among some. It seems to those who question that the command to endure, according to the language used, is a requirement to assure salvation. One must “endure unto the end” to be saved–to win in the game of life, thus secure one’s place in Heaven for eternity.
Endurance is one of the things God requires of His children. As a matter of fact, He demands it. But, what does the term “endurance” used in the Scriptures, causing anxieties among some believers, mean, exactly?
A close examination of the key verses involved is necessary to understand the term “endurance” in God’s prophetic lexicon. One such reference is found in Paul’s words about a departure from Bible doctrine during the end of the Church Age:
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry” (2 Timothy 4:3-5).
Paul was prophesying a time–indeed, I am convinced we are in that time—when many within the very heart of the Christian church will move away from preaching and teaching that humankind is lost and needs the Savior, who is Jesus Christ, alone (John 14:6). This failure to endure the sound doctrine taught by Jesus, Paul, and the other apostles would, Paul indicated, be a fatigue that would make cowards of many, causing them and those they teach to turn to lies.
We see this very thing today. The gospel that humanity is lost in sin, thus must turn to the shed blood of Jesus Christ for remission of that deadly sin, has been changed to give the feel-good message that God is love and would never condemn those He knows to be less than perfect. The fable-makers teach and preach the do-good message that we must go along with the world of philanthropists who preach a social gospel to feed, clothe, and, in general, show the have-nots that humanism is their savior.
Much of the Church today thus has failed to “endure until the end.”
Jesus pronounced, in strong language, the role “endurance” will play in the days leading up to His second advent:
“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matthew 24:11-13).
Jesus even asks in one instance whether He will find any faith on earth when He returns. And, this is where the anxiety comes in for some. Is Jesus saying that those who do not hold to absolute Bible truth until the very end won’t be “saved”? Must we–and those of the tribulation era—never slip up and sin, thus departing from truth, or else suffer the eternal damnation of hellfire?
The answer is found within the character of the One who issued the solemn statement. Jesus, who said “It is finished” when He completed the redemption plan of God on the cross at Calvary, also said:
“My Father, which gave [them] me, is greater than all; and no [man] is able to pluck [them] out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:29).
Saints “endure” through Christ. We haven’t the ability to resist this fallen world apart from the strength found only in our Savior. The supernatural endurance required to “endure unto the end” is not in us, but in Jesus, who paid the full price for our eternal souls:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
When we are “in” Christ, we will “endure,” because Christ “endures.” He is the same yesterday, today, and forever!
Now, this does not excuse the Christian from remaining faithful to God. In that sense, “endurance” is our responsibility. It is our responsibility to the very end–of our lives, or until the Rapture of Christ’s body, the Church. We are to strengthen ourselves for spiritual battle in order to not become fatigued through prayer, Bible study, and exercising our witness before our fellow man. We put on the whole armor of God as we are directed to do in Ephesians, chapter 6.
God equips us. He doesn’t demand such a hard thing without providing the ability–even the absolute guarantee–of that sort of “endurance” that takes His child “unto the end.”
Those who fail to exercise their witness, in whatever way God directs, become flabby, ineffective ambassadors in Christ’s royal service. There is always a heavy price to pay for such sloth. Not loss of salvation for those who are truly in Christ’s grip, but a loss of position within the kingdom of God.
Those who fail to endure in the center of God’s will will suffer loss of rewards when kneeling before their Savior at the judgment seat of Christ.
That is one primary reason we at Rapture Ready exhort Christians to join in our efforts in these closing days of the Age of Grace–the Church Age. There are many, many opportunities to labor, to “endure,” during these trying times that are presented by this dynamic website effort to reach the lost world for Christ.
Many are writing articles, many are writing encouraging emails, and some are giving in other ways to God’s work on raptureready.com.
One area we very much need help is in finances. Donations have dwindled, yet the ministry-associated needs of Christ in these closing days of the age have never been more pronounced. Enduring to the end also means supporting Christ-centered ministries with our financial offerings. If hundreds of millions of dollars can be contributed to so-called secular causes–many of which are of little help to hurting humanity–why don’t those who hold to Bible truth support faithful ministries with greatly abundant offerings?
Jesus said: ”For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21). Again, Christ’s Great Commission that we as Christians must deliver to the end has at its center the following message to those who need Jesus to be saved from the sin that otherwise will separate them from the Heavenly Father forever.
“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).
Foreshadowing Future Fearfulness
It has been said, and proven, that life often imitates art. Seems to me this might have been the case, at least to an extent, in the matter of the mysterious drone invasion, if that is the proper term for the sightings that have so held the attention in recent days–and particularly, the attention of so many during the nights…
I heard mention Lakehurst, New Jersey in conjunction with some of the most prolific sightings of the drones that suddenly began appearing in the New Jersey-New York area a week or two ago.
A real-life horror story took place in that very place in 1937, when the German dirigible, the Hindenburg, was ignited when contacting its mooring tower and collapsed in a fiery crash, killing some and injuring many more. Then, a year later, much of the nation became panicked when H. G. Wells’ novel was adapted as a radio program and narrated by Orson Welles. Again it was New Jersey that Wells placed the fictional invasion of invading forces from Mars.
The October 30, 1938, Halloween radio play was broadcast on CBS as a series of realistic-sounding news bulletins that reported the fictional invasion. Only the public didn’t understand it as fiction. The public quickly became panicked, thinking Martians were about to take over.
Since that time, programming has been governed to prevent a repeat of such fearful confusion.
Reports about the strange drones didn’t quite reach the level of panic that War of the Worlds set off, but the fear in some cases was considerable and remains somewhat concerning.
[New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy] urged Congress to give states more authority to deal with the drones.
Meanwhile, the FBI and New Jersey state police warned against pointing lasers at suspected drones, because aircraft pilots are being hit in the eyes more often. Authorities also said they are concerned people might fire weapons at manned aircraft that they have mistaken for drones.
But do the drones pose a threat?
The growing anxiety among some residents is not lost on the Biden administration, which has faced criticism from Trump for not dealing with the matter more aggressively.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said Monday that the federal government has yet to identify any public safety or national security risks.
“There are more than 1 million drones that are lawfully registered with the Federal Aviation Administration here in the United States,” Kirby said. “And there are thousands of commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones that are lawfully in the sky on any given day. That is the ecosystem that we are dealing with.”
The federal government has deployed personnel and advanced technology to investigate the reports in New Jersey and other states, and is evaluating each tip reported by citizens, he said.
About 100 of the more than 5,000 drone sightings reported to the FBI in recent weeks were deemed credible enough to warrant more investigation, according to a joint statement by the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Defense.
Speculation has raged online, with some expressing concerns that the drones could be part of a nefarious plot by foreign agents or clandestine operations by the U.S. government.
Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said it’s unlikely the drones are engaged in intelligence gathering, given how loud and bright they are. And he repeated Tuesday that the drones being reported are not being operated by the Department of Defense. (“Mystery drones in New Jersey and the US: What we do and don’t know about the sightings,” AP News)
I will only say in my own speculative way that something strange is going on–and I mean strange in the fact that such a sophisticated government as ours is acting like Ned in the Third Reader in explaining or dealing with the situation.
They are treating us like members of Ned’s third-grade class, as a matter of fact.
Some believe the drones to have demonic dimension to their activity. I agree, but here’s how…
Most everything going on at this late prophetic hour, I’m convinced, has an element of demonic influence at its dark center. For example, it is possible that the minions, both human and demonic, within deep-state high places are likely trying different tactics to diffuse the incoming presidential administration’s intention to change things from the nefarious ways that cabal has been operating.
Also, the stage-setting for the coming Antichrist regime continues, as the Lord allows. Lucifer the fallen one, I’m convinced, knows the Rapture is very near. Like us, he doesn’t know when, but he, of all of God’s created beings, knows God cannot lie. Satan knows that DISAPPEARING event is about to occur.
Perhaps, just perhaps, all of the strangeness the New Jersey folks and others are seeing in the night skies is a foreshadowing–preparing for the fulfillment of the terrors that await those left behind in the wake of the Rapture of Christ’s Bride into Heaven.
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. (Luke 21: 25-26)
You don’t want to be here when such terrors from the skies are assaulting left behind humanity. Here once again is how to go to the safety of the Lord Jesus when He calls believers to Himself in the Rapture.
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)
On Disappearing and Damascus
To my way of thinking, the next events of end-times importance outlined in God’s Word are front and center at this very moment. Two things are about to be fulfilled that Bible prophecy specifically details for those who “watch,” as commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ.
The first on the cusp of fulfillment is encapsulated within a book my friend Pete Garcia and I wrote a few years ago: The DISAPPEARING: Future Events That Will Rock the World is described by the following pulled from its back cover.
Each hour brings troubling headlines from the many news sources now available. Every report seems more intrusive upon our daily lives than the previous, and all accounts appear to be setting the end-time stage for soon fulfillment of God’s prophetic Word…
A dramatic presentation of the Rapture…
Vivid depiction of unfolding events immediately following the Rapture and beyond—through planet earth’s judgment and its ultimate restoration…
My presentation titled, “Rapture Ready,” delivered at the Prophecy Watchers’ conference at Branson, Missouri, on December 7, was meant to cover the reasons believers should be ready for that great event–and why.
That session was devoted to the proposition–the exciting and, yes, the comforting certainty—that all the signals around us today indicate all is in “Rapture readiness.” We who are believers and in God’s eternal family should be “Rapture ready.”
Using Power Point, I tried to make clear what it means to be ready for the Rapture by presenting the following:
- First, being Rapture ready means we who have accepted Jesus Christ are automatically, by default, Rapture ready through salvation—for redemption from sin. Our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. We will all, without exception, go to Christ when He calls!
- Second, being Rapture ready means we are watching for signals by understanding the times we live in as we anticipate Jesus coming for us. We are expecting the any-moment call of Christ into the clouds of Glory. The Rapture is a salvation issue. We are redeemed by the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Believers have a commission to “watch” (as recorded in Mark 13:37). So we know the Holy Spirit will give us a heads-up on the nearness of the end of the age. Those signals are everywhere at present.
- Third, again, we are to be living lives that are righteous in God’s holy eyes as we anticipate Christ’s call. This, too, is being Rapture ready.
Based on all we sense in our spirits–that something profound is about to happen—I am convinced the disappearing is now at the very prophetic moment Paul the apostle foretold:
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 5:2–6)
As we now watch soberly, with great anticipation of Christ’s call, the signals we are commanded to look for by Jesus are profound.
There is a growing cry for peace in various places where wars and rumors of war are threatening nuclear holocaust. And now the one city on earth–the longest-inhabited in human history, according to historians—is front and center in an unmistakable signal of the lateness of the prophetic hour.
The second matter covered under our article’s title, Damascus, Syria, as we all know from news accounts that proliferate daily with reports of tremendous turmoil in that ancient city, is a powder keg unlike no other possible ignition point for nuclear war outbreak. This city is known to be the headquarters for most every Islamic terrorist organization, to one degree or another.
Russia, in effect, having been evicted from influence by Assad’s removal, means tensions will ratchet up in days to come, with Russia’s Putin suffering yet another embarrassment under the scrutiny of the Russian government underlings hungry for power. His position becomes more and more tenuous.
The great prophet Isaiah’s words seem on the verge of fulfillment:
The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. (Isaiah 17: 1)
A recent statement issued by terrorists who are now taking over that ancient city makes understandable why it is destined to be obliterated, never to rise again. Again, most every terrorist organization headquarters is there, and now they have seized almost total power. Their statement shows why God will allow the destruction that is so complete, I believe: “This is the land of Islam, this is Damascus, the Muslim stronghold. From here to Jerusalem. We’re coming for Jerusalem” (Israel 365 News).
The forcible abdication of Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad and the powerful geopolitical turbulence created in its wake should alert every believer to just how near we are to the instant of disappearing. The Apostle Paul fervently told the generation of his day–and we who are now seeing all these things begin to come to pass—about that disappearance, the great rescue Jesus commanded us to look for when His coming for us is at the very door of eternity (Luke 21:28).
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 4:16–18)
Rapture Delayed
Author’s note: In preparing for speaking on the topic RAPTURE READY! at the Branson conference a couple of weeks ago, I looked through my files of articles I’ve written over the years. This one is most appropriate. I share it again here.
We have looked a number of times in this column at those who mock the end-times message and the Rapture in particular. Because those who scoff have been of the abrasive, unbelieving variety for the most part, there is a standard Bible verse reply I’ve usually employed in response.
The scriptural reply has most often been intended to let those mocking know that they are, in actuality, fulfilling Bible prophecy.
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. (2 Peter 3:3-4)
As of late, however, such a reply doesn’t quite fit that which should compose an appropriate response. That is because the questions are coming weekly from genuine believers in the Pre-Trib Rapture of the Church. These Christians are worried–some very worried.
These look around them and on every side they see and feel the satanic pressures from this fallen sphere closing in. Issues and events –the very ambience in which they find their lives engulfed–generate thoughts that their circumstance is beginning to look much like the Bible’s description of the Tribulation itself.
To illustrate the growing angst, I’ve chosen the email of one such Christian brother who wrote this past week. His words pretty much get right to the point of the many other emails expressing like emotion. Here it is in its entirety:
Why is the Lord delaying the rapture? It should have happened years ago. We would be in the millennium now enjoying true peace and prosperity without the suffering. I don’t get it. It’s God call of course but 58 million aborted babies in the US since 1973, Christians tortured and murdered worldwide, people who believe in Jesus longing for his return suffering immensely. I don’t get it where is our Lord and Savior?
The emailer didn’t use any soft nuances of greetings or any other niceties. He just laid his spirit-distressed emotions right out there.
You don’t answer such gut-wrenching concern with the apostle Peter’s prophecy as given above. This child of God is worried. He is puzzled; he is perplexed. It’s the kind of questioning I’ve heard in my own kid’s anxieties when they were young and felt disappointed for one of my failures or the other to keep a promise. “Dad should never let me down like that” is the tone.
Only, this perceived unkept promise isn’t from an imperfect, human father. I say “perceived unkept promise” because the promise isn’t unbroken whatsoever. The error is in the question of the imperfect child asking it. His Perfect Father will, as always, be one hundred percent faithful to keep every promise made.
The Lord Jesus, Himself, in His ascended position, said the following to John the Revelator:
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)
Jesus said it, and that means the Heavenly Father said it–promised it! Jesus said that He and the Father are One. They are inseparable–one and the same–the first and second Persons of the Godhead–the Trinity.
God cannot lie, the Scripture tells us. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. God keeps His promises. So, this brother in Christ, like all the other believers who look to the “blessed hope” of Titus 2: 13, who are in fear and worry while watching this fallen world closing in, need an answer from the Word of God.
The Heavenly Father gave the answer to Peter to pass along to us, just a bit farther on in Scripture. The answer to why the Rapture hasn’t occurred as soon as almost all of us wish it would occur is, at least in part, wrapped up in the following:
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)
The Tribulation that will follow this Age of Grace will be filled with horrors that even John, under divine inspiration, had trouble describing. The Lord wants to provide every moment possible during this present dispensation for those lost in their sin to come safely into the shelter who is His beloved Son Jesus Christ. God wants this for the lost, because, following the Rapture, making the decision to accept Christ for salvation will be more difficult by a multiple of factors. Facing beheading is but one of those factors!
That is the reason–or at least a primary reason–the Rapture hasn’t yet occurred in this generation, according to God’s Word.
That said, I must take notable exception with the emailer’s contention that God is “delaying” the Rapture. You can take this to the bank–well, to the banks the way they used to be–God is not delaying the Rapture. It will happen precisely in the twinkling of the eye at the moment the Father has determined.
Jesus said: But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. (Matthew 24:36)
God knows exactly the instant He will send His Son to get His Bride, make no mistake. There is no delay.
On that note, issues and events closing in on us show that we are almost certainly very near that exhilarating moment of instantaneously finding ourselves face to face with the Lord Jesus. Just how near we are to the Rapture–if we could indeed know–would likely allay all fears.
We want all people to come to the Lord Jesus for Salvation, thus to be Rapture Ready when He Calls believers to Himself.
Let’s tell everyone with whom we contact how to leave this Judgment-bound earth and to be with Jesus and the safety of Heaven. Here again is that message.
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)
Third Temple and Trump
Rather than slowing prophetic progression, the election of Donald Trump to be the 47th president of the United States seemingly continues to speed things up. (That’s although we know God’s timing is perfect and He doesn’t speed up or slow things down. He knows precisely when each prophetic event will take place).
My thinking involves the fact that movement toward war on a global scale, emerging out of profound rumors of war, seem to be on the fast track now that Trump is president-elect. The Biden administration, under the ominous guiding hand of the deep state (the globalists elite), has slapped Russian President Vladimir Putin with the militaristic glove of insult. The US military complex now will give Ukraine advanced missile weaponry that can reach deep into Russian territory with greater firepower and precision.
This is being done following Putin’s declaration that such direct intervention by the US will likely bring a nuclear retaliation—at a minimum, that of a tactical sort. In fact, the Russians did release, in an unprecedented action, an experimental mid-range missile in a precision strike into Ukraine. The missile, which travels at a rate ten times the speed of sound, had no nuclear warhead. But Putin intimated in a speech following the attack that the next such superweapon launched might be nuclear-tipped.
It is conjectured, and I’m convinced, that this militant move by the military/industrial complex of which Eisenhower warned is intended to somehow hamstring Donald Trump’s presidency–perhaps even prevent him from taking office next January.
Whatsoever the case, Jesus’ words come to the forefront of current events.
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. (Matthew 24:6)
I point you to the last of Jesus’ words here: “the end is not yet.” Jesus has this totally in control. There will be no all-out nuclear war this side of His taking God’s family of Church Age believers into the clouds of Glory!
So, as referenced above, the Trump election seems to have speeded up prophetic progression. Jesus’ words seem to be today’s prophetic headlines. The prophetic progression continues as part of this spectacular comeback of Donald J. Trump as president. We remember that Trump was in the middle of some prophetically important diplomatic movement when he was shortly thereafter defeated for a second term in what I continue to believe was a stolen election.
His involvement with God’s chosen nation, Israel, was, to those who observe Bible prophecy as absolute truth, action as from the hand of God. (Not meaning that Trump is godly, but that God used him to accomplish His holy will.)
President Trump announced the movement of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a matter that had been declared pending by previous presidents. A Jerusalem Post report explains.
SEOUL—President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the US recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and would move its embassy there, upending decades of a diplomatic consensus over the status of the city pioneered by his predecessors.
Citing a 1995 law, the Jerusalem Embassy Act, compelling the president to make the move absent national security risks, Trump said the time had come to recognize what everyone already knows to be true. “Jerusalem is the capital the Jewish people established in ancient times,” he said. “Today Jerusalem is the seat of Israel’s government.” (“Trump announces US moving embassy to Jerusalem, US president told regional leaders he intended to declare the city the capital of the Jewish State,” By Michael Wilner, Jerusalem Post, December 6, 2017)
The United States Embassy was indeed moved to Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, despite major angst of world diplomats and fierce threats from Israel’s blood-vowed enemies.
In keeping with that obvious use of this less-than-godly individual to move prophetic progression along at what looks to be an increasing pace, we now consider the words of one of the new administration’s presidential cabinet picks.
Donald Trump’s choice as the next United States defense secretary has called for the building of a third Jewish temple on the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Speaking at an event in Jerusalem in 2018 he said there was “no reason why the miracle of re-establishing the temple on the Temple Mount isn’t possible”, using the Israeli name for the raised plateau in occupied East Jerusalem where Al-Aqsa Mosque stands. “I don’t know how it would happen, you don’t know how it would happen, but I know that it could happen. (“Next US defense secretary Pete Hegseth called for new Jewish temple at Al-Aqsa,” Middle East Eye, November 16, 2024)
While Mr. Trump, who has appointed a Baptist preacher and former governor, Mike Huckabee, to be US ambassador to Israel, observably supports the Jewish state, background issues in the former president’s dealing with Israel are less than perfect.
Trump, so far as I know, continues to support the idea of a two-state solution to the Mideast trouble. This perhaps is forewarned of in Joel 3:2.
His advocating that Israel have the third temple is also an issue to consider. This will not be a temple approved of by the God of Heaven. God has announced it will be built, but it will be a temple of false worship (Judaism is a false worship system). It will be where the Antichrist will declare himself to be God.
This all means that things are aligning exactly as we have been told in God’s Word. The next great event on God’s prophetic timeline is not Israel’s capital being divided or the Jews having the third temple. The very next great event is the Rapture of the Church–the taking of all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation into Heaven.
God will then again begin dealing with His chosen people and nation as before His crucifixion. This will be the Tribulation, which Jesus said will be the worst time of all human history.
Here again is how to go to Jesus when He calls and not go through that terrible era ruled for a time by Antichrist.
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)
Back to Business as Usual
Once again, I want to address the belief expressed by a number of those who watch in anticipation of the Rapture of the Church. I’m referring to those who assert that now it looks like that glorious event will occur later than expected. Things now look not so Tribulation-like in the wake of the election of Donald Trump. It is now back to business as usual, with prospects much brighter. “It will have to get much darker again before Christ will call the Church out of this doomed planet of God-rejecting rebels” represents the thought of many.
The prophecy by Jesus frames how the times must be when He calls the Church in the Rapture. I’ve written about this prophecy many times. I believe this prophecy is exactly where the world is on God’s prophetic timeline. I believe it is the most relevant prophecy for this moment in regard to expecting the Rapture. Here, again, are Jesus’ words:
Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. (Luke 17:28–30)
My series of articles I titled “Scanning a Fearful Future” had this prophecy at its center. I therefore did have some reflective/introspective moments when I observed the economies of America and the world growing extremely tenuous under the Biden regime. With inflation, the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, and an invasion of illegal aliens this administration was increasingly funding with US taxpayer money, I was reflecting on whether my thoughts about this prophecy might be in error. It didn’t look like it was the “business as usual” environment I thought necessary to meet Jesus’ words recorded in Luke 17:28–30.
Here is a snippet of what I wrote in the series–written at the end of 2010 and beginning of 2011.
Yet Jesus tells us that it will be business as usual right up until the moment He removes believers from the planet. There is no man-made, worldwide catastrophe in Christ’s prophecy. As a matter of fact, Jesus says all will be relatively normal, in terms of human activity, until that removal. Then He will be revealed by way of His cataclysmic judgment that begins to devastate planet earth. It is God who causes the cataclysm, not George Soros or any other human or other entity.
I went on to say in the series that business as usual, like in the days of Lot in Sodom, meant that business would be more or less booming, not on a downward trajectory like during these last four years.
So, unlike those who look for the Rapture in a darkening economic environment as the most likely time for Christ to call in the Rapture, I see the opposite. Jesus says business will be as usual. And business in Sodom in Lot’s time was apparently booming, even though the culture and society beneath the surface of activity there was as wicked and evil as our own subculture has become within the last number of years.
And unlike those who think the Rapture must be farther off than before because of Mr. Trump’s election, my thinking is opposite. I believe it is Back to business as usual… There will be no collapse into economic dystopia that will be in effect at the moment of Rapture.
Since Trump’s landslide election, the business world, even as reported in Trump-hating European media, is looking for business to boom. The American stock market recorded a record high immediately following election results.
Here is one such report.
LONDON, Nov 13 (Reuters) – Global investors changed their expectations on the global economy in the wake of Donald Trump’s election win, and now see higher growth than they did before, as well as higher inflation, according to Bank of America’s monthly fund manager survey.
As a result, investors have increased their allocations to U.S. stocks and to U.S. small caps, which are more domestically focused and so potentially likely to benefit particularly from a stronger U.S. economy.
BofA polled 179 participants with $503 billion assets under management. Of those, 22% responded after the U.S. election, won by Republican former president Trump.
A net 23% of those polled after the result said they expected the global economy would get stronger in the next 12 months, the most optimistic since August 2021.
This is a turnaround from October’s survey, which had shown more respondents thought the economy would be weaker in 12 months’ time…
Investors upped their allocations to U.S. stocks. A net 29% are overweight U.S. equities, the highest since August 2013, the survey showed. (“Investors expect more growth and inflation after Trump win, BofA survey shows,” Reuters, November 13, 2024)
All of America’s most knowledgeable folks in the world of finance and business are optimistic about the coming Trump presidency. He is a businessman of first order. It is provable that he had the nation going in a positive direction that verged on a boom when, in my view, the election was stolen in 2020.
My desire is to exhort pre-Trib Rapture believers to not be part of the think not generation. We are certainly in times like the days of Lot as recorded in Genesis chapter 19. At the same time, there appears on the immediate horizon every signal Jesus gave as what to look for when the time of His Return nears.
Let us therefore do as our Lord instructs through that conversation He had with the disciples who were at His side that day on the Mount of Olives:
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)
Post-Rapture Readying
Deniers and mockers who come against the pre-Trib Rapture as biblical Truth haven’t seemed to be as vociferous lately as in the relatively recent past. Or perhaps it’s just that I’ve tuned out such invective. That’s more likely the case as I’ve been intensely attuned to the stage being set for the Tribulation.
But it is also perhaps the case that the deniers and mockers of the pre-Trib Rapture are themselves now seeing so much of the same stage-setting as myself that they are certain they’re right. They don’t think it’s worth their while to rail against an event they consider now relegated to insignificance because of the torrent of Tribulation-like developments.
And indeed these developments constitute strong evidence that Daniel’s seventieth week looms ominously.
I’ve written that the pre-Trib deniers and mockers don’t believe in the coming Rapture of all believers from the planet, but that Satan harbors no such denial in his iniquitous mind. He knows the Rapture is on the verge of happening. He just doesn’t know when, thus has been furiously getting his minions and all they will need to carry out his world-rending wickedness prepared for that unknown moment God has set for Christ to call the Church.
The devil has prepared the minds of fallen humanity for things to come in ways the diligent student of Bible prophecy from the pre-Trib view can discern.
For examples:
In the area of society and culture, the corruption in America and the world cannot be missed.
Practitioners of homosexuality, although a very small percentage of the populations of the U.S. and the world, now command entire governments. The heterosexuals of the nation and world must accept the Sodom-like coarsening of the cultures—and to resist brings the censure of all, including non-homosexuals. And laws have been constructed to provide punitive actions against anti-gay activism equal to those imposed upon those who violate civil rights laws.
The Luciferian imprint can be discerned in the area of religion as the devil prepares the left-behind populations of the earth for the false religious system that will be headed by his False Prophet.
The Catholic pope declares at every opportunity, for instance, that there are many ways to God and Heaven. Therefore, he, in effect, is calling the Lord Jesus Christ a liar, because Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father except by me” (John 14:6).
Satan has governments in ferment and turmoil and the populations boiling with ethnic hatreds. And the globalist cabal of Ephesians 6:12 is becoming fully staffed and is in the process of implementing their plans for Antichrist to rule once believers disappear from the planet.
The evil one has been at work, in my view, preparing answers to the billions who will be asking what just happened when millions suddenly vanish from around them. The disappearances, including every child from conception to the age of accountability, will cause untold chaos. The world will suffer a nervous breakdown. But Satan’s man, Antichrist, will have answers to bring the peace they seek.
I write, of course, of the UFO (UAP) sightings that have become ubiquitous in these times so near the end of this Age of Grace.
I believe, as written a number of times, that all of these sightings and related phenomena are part of Satan’s stage-setting for when the Rapture occurs. “We’ve been visited by space brothers”—or something similar—will likely be the mantra to explain where the people have gone.
When the False Prophet calls down fire from Heaven in the sight of the image of Antichrist (Revelation chapter 13), it will not be these “space brothers” as claimed, but Satan and his hordes of fallen angels when they lose the battle with Michael and his angels and are thrown out of the heavenly realm for the final time.
And in the area of technology and the amazing progress being made in development of such things as artificial intelligence (AI), the devil is indeed showing his masterful planning for when the Rapture occurs.
A specific such technology is preparing the means for Antichrist and his regime of terror to keep up with every person left behind when believers are in Heaven with their Lord.
The following somewhat gives an idea of that post-Rapture readying now in process.
Cities across the United States are installing hidden surveillance cameras that track everyone, everywhere, and nobody, not even Donald Trump, is talking about this. What are the Top 10 most surveilled cities in the U.S.? We’ve got the list!
My old colleagues at World Net Daily have an interesting story up today about the city of Norfolk, Virginia. City officials have transformed Norfolk into a virtual lock-down surveillance society with more than 172 high-resolution, internet-connected cameras monitoring practically all human movement…
Multitudes of cities of all sizes across the U.S. are jumping on the technocracy bandwagon and setting up hidden surveillance cameras on every corner. They’re on light poles, bridges and overpasses, stoplights, buildings, you name it. Some are equipped with speakers so they can also listen in on what’s being said.
They claim it’s for our “safety.”…
Some abuses have already been documented, the [Institute For Fairness] said, noting just a couple of examples:
- In Kansas, the Institute reports that officials were caught using Flock to stalk their exes, including one police chief who used Flock 228 times over four months to track his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend’s vehicles.
- In California, several police departments violated California law by sharing data from their license-plate reader database with other departments across the country. And as is the case with other databases, these can be susceptible to hacking, which can reveal private data.
[Here’s a look at] a variety of camera types that have become ubiquitous in U.S. cities of all sizes.
- Fixed CCTV cameras.
- Cameras accessed through real-time crime centers.
- Private cameras within the police force’s network.
- Cameras on public transport facilities.
- Traffic cameras.
- Streetlight cameras.
Not to mention, FedEx and Amazon are also spying on you each time they make a delivery to your home…
The top 10 most surveilled cities in the US as of October 2022
Based on the number of cameras per 1,000 people, these are the 10 most surveilled cities in the U.S.:
- Atlanta, Georgia– 24,800 cameras for 506,811 people = 48.93 cameras per 1,000 people.
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania– 28,064 cameras for 1,584,064 people = 17.72 cameras per 1,000 people.
- Denver, Colorado– 12,273 cameras for 727,211 people = 16.88 cameras per 1,000 people.
- Washington, District of Columbia– 11,441 cameras for 705,749 people = 16.21 cameras per 1,000 people.
- San Francisco, California– 14,266 cameras for 881,549 people = 16.18 cameras per 1,000 people.
- Las Vegas, Nevada– 10,208 cameras for 651,319 people = 15.67 cameras per 1,000 people.
- Detroit, Michigan– 8,836 cameras for 670,031 people = 13.19 cameras per 1,000 people.
- Chicago, Illinois– 32,000 cameras for 2,693,976 people = 11.88 cameras per 1,000 people.
- Portland, Oregon– 6,411 cameras for 654,741 people = 9.79 cameras per 1,000 people.
- Fresno, California– 4,706 cameras for 531,576 people = 8.85 cameras per 1,000 people.
(“The Surveillance State Has Arrived…And It’s Being Implemented by Our Cities and Towns,” The Gateway Pundit, Jim Hoft, Guest Post Leo Hohman, October 28, 2024)
All we see developing lends proof to the soon call of Christ to all believers. Satan is well aware that it’s about to happen. He knows God cannot lie. He believes in the pre-Trib Rapture.
How much more should we who name the Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ believe God when He tells us plainly that He will take us out of this soon-to-be-judged world?
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)
You want to be one of those who God keeps from the terrible time of judgement that’s about to befall this God-rejecting world. Here, once again, is how to go to Christ when He calls in the Rapture:
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)
Election 2024 Scenario
My late, great friend Tim LaHaye used to say that his detractors accused that all of his Bible prophecy presentations constituted fiction. This he would sometimes joke during the years he and novelist Jerry Jenkins combined to create perhaps the most successful fiction series in publishing history. Certainly it was the most successful series in the history of Christian publishing.
Their novels, given the overall title Left Behind, were, although fiction, based faithfully on God’s Truth about prophecy that will unfold from the “twinkling-of-an-eye” moment Christ calls all believers of the Church Age, dead and living, into the clouds of Glory.
Although these books were fiction, LaHaye and Jenkins could be assured that the scenarios they presented in the novels were not without credence from the Word of God.
Now, to try to explain why I preface this pre-presidential election commentary with the above.
My novelist alter-persona emerges to the writing surface to present this week’s thoughts on the presidential election that occurs tomorrow. (I write this more than a week in advance, and, of course, it is posted today as you have it available to read—Monday November 4).
The title of this article will, as intended, I hope, encompass and reflect Holy Spirit-directed thought (not, of course, “inspired thought,” as was given to Old and New Testament prophets, but the understanding/discernment given today to those who seek Holy Spirit direction). I hope readers will understand that I present how things might unfold, as I suspect is likely, considering that this is, as stated above, written a week in advance of the election.
The scenario I write, like in the case of Tim and Jerry’s Left Behind books, is a fictional prospective based on Bible prophecy. But it is meant to address actual, unfolding events of profound importance at this very moment. It isn’t biblically prophetic truth written for entertainment, like in the Left Behind series, but it’s intended to provide thought-provoking probabilities about things to come following this election.
The fictional elements in my commentary are in the scenario. These constitute a portrayal of things likely to happen over a period of time following this election.
America is in the most tenuous position it’s ever been in. That is a critically important statement. What makes this present status of our nation the most critical ever confronted?
In my scenario, Bible prophecy is the answer.
Never before has this nation—or any other—been situated at a time when Bible prophecy was so near fulfillment, in terms of the world being on the brink of going into the Tribulation. Taking into account all the signals Jesus gave for the last seven years of human history leading to Christ’s Second Advent, let us track through my scenario beginning with tomorrow’s presidential election, remembering that it is fiction, but projected from present realities based upon the Word of God.
*******
Donald Trump is now president-elect number forty-seven with a significant electoral victory. Certification, however, is forcibly dragged out slowly in the blue states, which use law fare to confute election results at every juncture.
Cities within those same states rage with angry protests reminiscent of past elections lost by those who champion radical, leftist ideology.
Republicans win a majority in the House of Representatives and narrowly win a majority in the Senate.
Screams of election-cheating blister the mainstream headlines with emotions of rabid anti-Trump hatred. Larger cities erupt inflames and carnage, destroying commercial infrastructure in ways worse than any before.
Paid instigators of violence push anarchistic forces into suburbs. For the first time, the rage is met with resistance by citizens bearing arms. Looters and rioters are killed and the forces retreat back into their inner-city enclaves.
Mainstream news, rather than lauding the resistance to the violence attacking citizens in their suburban communities, blames those defending their homes for use of gunfire and deadly force.
This media, both news and entertainment, now join in the accusatory mantra of election fraud and cheating. Those in mainstream media and those on the losing side scream about election corruption inversely to the way they prosecuted and ranted against those who made the same accusations in claiming fraud and cheating taking place in the 2020 presidential election. Real insurrection, unlike the pseudo charges of insurrection of January 6, 2021, is now waged by the rioters raging on behalf of the losing political party.
While the United States turmoil boils to near civil war, antagonist enemies of America and the Western alliance, sensing present weakness in the American government, and knowing that Trump will very soon take office and their opportunity will be missed, quickly make plans to take advantage. World War III looks to be inevitable.
China gathers to test the resolve of the US and other NATO members in threatening Taiwan. Russia moves its troops and North Korean-alliance troops in, staging for invading Ukraine. Mideast terrorist organizations move to begin major assault on Israel.
Israel knows of this plan of massive assault that’s on the brink of coming together. The IDF, without any warning to US or Western leaders, plans the immediate destruction of Damascus, where most terrorist organizations’ leaderships are headquartered. At the same time, the IDF moves to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons development facilities.
All of this movement toward world war feeds into the altered blueprint that was, before Trump’s reemergence as president, the Great Reset proposed by Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum. Now something must be hurriedly done, or else the collective power the globalists wanting a new world order have spent years constructing will slip away.
They do all they can to see to it that world war is begun—to neutralize Trump’s taking the reins of power and to establish themselves firmly in control of the Western power bloc.
*******
Just as the nuclear buttons are about to be pushed, the most profound intervening act of Providence in human history brings, for the moment, all war-waging intentions to an abrupt halt.
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 21:35–36)
Poking the Apple of God’s Eye
American mainstream news and entertainment media have degenerated in public trustworthiness to the lowest point in their history, according to those who assess such matters. Talk-show radio hosts such as Dan Bongino call these the most corrupt institutions in the nation.
I don’t know the accuracy of such pronouncements. However, I can observe, as can you, that these support most every issue and movement that is in obvious opposition to godliness while we survey today’s current political and moral landscape.
And, speaking of politics in this volatile political season, the media leviathans are in league with one political party in most every sense—i.e., they seem to take the party’s talking points and march in lockstep while demonizing their opponent for the office of president. As a matter of fact, they have melded with that party in generating an insane hatred for the opposition candidate, which, in my opinion, has engendered two assassination attempts, with a number of others reportedly in the making.
The mainstream media and the Democrat Party purport to champion the well-being and improvement in lifestyle of black families and their children. All the while, they accuse the other party and proponents of conservative American values of being Nazi-like and racist. Yet they, themselves, fanatically push for abortion that murders African-American babies in their mothers’ wombs at the rate of 40 percent of all babies aborted each year in the nation.
This cabal of media and political wickedness pushes for legalization and federal funding of programs that teach aberrant and perverse transgender ideology and demand physical mutilation as well. They champion Sodom-like activity in society and culture, bringing the nation into a quagmire of anti-God immorality that will bring God’s judgment.
All this said, it shouldn’t be surprising that there is a mainstream media push that confronts the Creator Himself with a challenge that is perhaps the most dangerous yet. And I mean dangerous to the media morons doing the challenging.
This is what is meant by the title of the commentary: “Poking the Apple of God’s Eye.”
CBS, a major news network, has openly defied the Creator by telling us—and Him—that the city of Jerusalem no longer is to belong to Israel. That’s right; Jerusalem is now to be considered not a part of God’s chosen nation. The following enlightens further on this declaration:
CBS News is facing backlash after an internal memo instructed journalists not to refer to Jerusalem as part of Israel, igniting criticism from media figures and raising concerns about journalistic integrity. The memo, sent by CBS News senior director of standards Mark Memmott in late August, emphasized the disputed status of Jerusalem, despite its recognition as Israel’s capital by the US government.
This directive, alongside internal tensions sparked by an interview conducted by CBS Mornings co-host Tony Dokoupil on anti-Israel perspectives, has fueled controversy both within CBS and across the media landscape.
Memmott’s email advised CBS News staff to avoid saying Jerusalem is in Israel, noting that “the status of Jerusalem goes to the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” While the US embassy is in Jerusalem, and the Trump administration formally recognized it as Israel’s capital in 2017, the memo emphasized that its status is disputed. Israel considers Jerusalem its “eternal and undivided” capital, while Palestinians claim East Jerusalem—captured by Israel during the 1967 war—as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
The directive sparked outrage across social media and among journalists. Adam Rubenstein, contributing editor at The Free Press, stated, “Standards desks are now instructing journalists to deny reality.” Fox News contributor Guy Benson responded, “Jerusalem is not only in Israel, it is the capital of Israel. What on earth is happening at CBS?” Washington Examiner senior writer David Harsanyi added, “Then we can stop referring to CBS employees as journalists.” (“CBS memo sparks outrage: Journalists instructed not to acknowledge Jerusalem as part of Israel,” Jerusalem Post staff, October 11, 2024)
It shouldn’t be surprising that Satan has influenced the institutions of journalism to poke God in the apple of His eye at this point in the stage being set for the time of Daniel’s seventieth week and Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7). Here’s what the Lord has to say about the matter of His holy city of Jerusalem that helps explain why the above offends the Creator of all things in ways we can’t fully fathom.
I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. Then said I, whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof. And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein: For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her. Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the LORD: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the LORD. Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon. For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD. And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee. (Zechariah 2: 1-11)
Jerusalem is the city God has made His own. The Temple Mount at its center is the touchstone between God in Heaven and humanity where the veil was rent from top to bottom upon Christ’s death as sacrifice for humankind’s sin. It is a fearfully dangerous matter to declare you are determined to rip Jerusalem from the Almighty’s Hand.
On Nuking Nuclear Iran
Diplomats of the world consider it the most crucial area on the planet in terms of attempting to force peace. Those who study Bible prophecy from the True perspective presented in God’s Word should not be surprised that this region is front and center in the cry for peace and safety at this late hour on God’s Prophetic Timeline.
The region of which I write is that which was called Persia in ancient times. At the heart of this volatile geographical arena is, of course, the nation of Iran. The Iranian Islamic regime is the most vociferous government on Earth in declaring they want death to the people of another nation. Its Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, declares at every opportunity that Israel must be expunged from the land –and must be eradicated as a people. Additionally, he and those of his ilk within the regime want America destroyed.
Khamenei leads his people in the chants of death to the Great Satan (America) and death to the Little Satan (Israel) – thus, even though there is tremendous underground resistance by much of the populace within Iran against the fanatical, despotic government that has ruled since the Shaw was deposed.
The reason I say those who study Bible prophecy from the true perspective given in God’s Word shouldn’t be surprised is because Daniel the prophet recorded thousands of years ago that Persia was at the center of Israel’s troubles when he prayed so diligently for his people. Daniel told us, through his prophecy, that his people –hated and harangued by the Prince of Persia– would be on the earthly scene at the time of the end. And the book of the end, we certainly can believe with developments we’ve witnessed, has been opened (Daniel 12: 4) so that Bible students who truly seek Truth can recognize the lateness of this prophetic hour.
So Persia, at this very moment, is at the heart of Israel’s current problems, while that tiny country is surrounded by all Islamist nations that are used by Iran (Persia) as proxies to bedevil the Jewish state. And the fact that the Iranian leaders are blood-vowed to destroy their hated enemies, Israel and America, and knowing as Bible prophecy students who view eschatology from the True perspective –the PreTrib view– that Persia (Iran) is prophetically scheduled to be part of the Gog-Magog attack (Ezekiel 38-39) means that Iran’s nuclear development program is crucial to consider.
The world’s diplomats don’t look through the prism of PreTrib Bible prophecy. They haven’t a clue that it is the God of Heaven Who will prevent all-out war. They refuse to believe any higher power than themselves can bring the peace and safety they want to broker between Israel and its neighbor antagonists. Neither do most of the Israeli government or IDF generals believe it is a Supernatural Power that guarantees their safety –although there is a small circle of those within both entities that possess some degree of belief in God’s Protection of Israel.
All parties –the diplomats and Israel’s government and military—do understand nuclear power and the threat to peace and safety that power represents. Thus, there is great controversy at present on what to do about Iran’s nuclear weapons that it is feared the blood-vowed Israel haters might soon have in their possession.
With the recent missile attacks directly from Iran, many are urging Israel to use this as an excuse to obliterate the nuclear development facilities. The following somewhat explains the ongoing angst.
Two years ago, dozens of Israeli fighter jets roared over the Mediterranean Sea, simulating a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, a drill the Israeli defense forces openly advertised as an exercise in “long-range flight, aerial refueling and striking distant targets.”
The point of the exercise was not simply to intimidate the Iranians. It was also designed to send a message to the Biden administration: The Israeli air force was training to conduct the operation alone, even though chances of success would be far higher if the United States — with its arsenal of 30,000-pound “bunker busters” — joined in the attack.
In interviews, former and current senior Israeli officials acknowledged doubts about whether the country has the capability to do significant damage to Iran’s nuclear facilities. Nonetheless, for the past few days, Pentagon officials have been wondering quietly whether the Israelis are preparing to go it alone after concluding that they may never again have a moment like this one…
“Israel has now its greatest opportunity in 50 years to change the face of the Middle East,” Naftali Bennett, a hardline nationalist and former prime minister who once described himself as to the right of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, recently wrote on social media. “We must act *now* to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, its central energy facilities, and to fatally cripple this terrorist regime.”
He added: “We have the justification. We have the tools. Now that Hezbollah and Hamas are paralyzed, Iran stands exposed.”
[Source: Washington Worries the Israelis Will Bomb Iran’s Nuclear Sites. But Can They? – The New York Times, October 9, 2024]
My commentary’s title, On Nuking Nuclear Iran, isn’t meant to give the impression Israel will use nuclear weaponry to destroy Iran’s nuclear program. While that option is no doubt available to the IDF, they could accomplish it, I believe, through conventional war-making means. Regardless of the means, destroying it certainly is the recommendation of many.
Former President Donald Trump is one such advocate, although it might be seen as merely a political bit of hyperbole. He didn’t make such statements or recommendations that we know of back when he was president. And every time I read a report back then, Iran was within a month or two, or even a week or two, of achieving weapons-grade fissionable materials that could then be used to develop nuclear bombs within a short time.
President Joe Biden has strongly demanded to Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel not take out the nuclear facilities. He has even, it is reported, offered financial rewards to Israel to think in other terms than attacking Iran’s nuclear laboratories and other facilities such as those for oil production. This means, to me at least, that the globalist powers that be fear losing the control they have lied, cheated, and fought so hard to achieve over world war-making on their own terms.
It seems to me there are some possible prophetic stage settings to consider in all of this.
Iran, we know (Persia,) will be at the heart of the Gog-Magog coalition when that horde descends in an all-out attack against an Israel which is at peace, according to Ezekiel 38-39. There seems no nuclear weaponry unleashed on the Jewish state, only primarily a land invasion.
The attackers’ nukes have somehow been taken out of the picture, so far as is known in that attack itself. Neither are Israel’s nukes apparently available to retaliate, as given in Ezekiel’s description of the assault. However, God Himself uses, it seems, some sort of Heavenly Nukes!
It is interesting that “fires on the coastlands” is part of the description of that tremendous prophetic scene. Are these nuclear in nature? Could be, but I rather am of the opinion that the fire that’s sent on the coastlands is a Supernatural Judgment sent by the Lord upon those in the region, other than the Gog-Magog attackers—the Anti-Semitic forces– who perpetrate evil against His chosen people. Perhaps it is like the sulfur and brimstone Judgment that fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah.
God has Dealt very recently with Israel’s enemies in observable ways for those who hold to Bible Truth and watch for prophetic signals of these troubled times. It will be, as Daniel the Prophet foretold, for those of us who name the Name of Jesus Christ to Watch and Discern these times that are almost certainly stage-setting for the coming Tribulation era (Daniel’s seventieth week).
“And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand” (Daniel 12: 8-10).
Those who obey the Lord Jesus Christ’s Command are the “wise” at this moment about whom Daniel prophesied.
“And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch” (Mark 13:37).
For those who know Christ for Salvation, there is the Promise of being kept out of that terrible time of Tribulation that will come upon the whole world (Revelation 3:10).
Jesus said the following about that Promise:
“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).
This Promise by the Lord Himself was for believers of both the Church Age (our current Age of Grace) and for believers who come to Know Christ as Savior during the Tribulation.
For us today, this is the Rapture, of which Jesus Spoke.
He will call all believers to Himself in the Clouds of Glory before the terrible 7 years of Hell on Earth begins.
You want to be part of the Rapture. You can then “Watch” as developments in stage-setting move daily toward the Tribulation. You can do so with the absolute confidence that Christ will call you to Himself before the world reaches that time of God’s Judgment and Wrath.
One of the most observable signals of that movement toward the Tribulation is Israel’s dealing with Iran’s (ancient Persia’s) nuclear weapons facilities. Actually, it is God’s dealing with Israel’s enemies you can “Watch” with Spiritual Eyes Attuned to Holy Spirit-infused Wisdom, as Daniel was given to tell us about by the Angel (Daniel 12: 8-10).
Here again is how to become a believer in Jesus Christ, thus a Member of God’s Family Forever.
“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).
–Terry
*** Important Notice! ***
God The Holy Spirit is turning on the Light of God’s Truth in Pakistan and other areas of the Spiritually darkened world.
Again, I’m appealing to you, who understand through Holy Spirit Enlightenment just how late is the prophetic hour, to help us print and distribute the little book Prophecy Power: Strength From God To Face Your Future to the people of Pakistan.
Pastor Anil Jasper worked diligently to translate the Sunday school quarterly sized book into his native language. The results have been powerful in helping turn on that Light of understanding about Jesus and His soul-saving Sacrifice. Anil reports that the book distribution is reaping great rewards in terms of his people accepting Christ –something that might not have happened if not for the presentation in our little book.
Please consider again supporting this effort, as time looks to be short, according to all prophetic stage-setting signals in the world today. We want to one day hear the words from our Lord: “Well done, good, faithful servant.”
Please go to the following to read more and contribute.
https://terryjamesprophecyline.com/2024/10/04/please-help-in-our-pakistan-missionary-effort/