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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/
Psyching Out Israel’s Enemies
To “psych out” means to insinuate a sense of intimidation into the psyche or cognitive process. At least that term encompasses the achieved ramification, to my way of intended meaning.
Perhaps you might think of better examples, but here are a couple.
Bobby Fisher, an undefeated chess champion in the early 1970s, was a reclusive, thus unknown, player who many say “psyched out” his Russian-Soviet opponent, Boris Spassky, in their July 1972 world championship match. Fisher was a strange, eccentric man holding anti-Semitic views. His brooding reclusiveness and odd ways apparently had a tendency to intimidate opponents who had to face him in their matches.
Another, more familiar, case of “psyching out” opponents might be when Goliath, the giant warrior, intimidated the Israelites—that is, until he came up against young David, Israel’s future king.
And this brings us to thinking about recent cases of Israel’s enemies who seek to destroy the Jewish nation and eradicate the chosen people of God.
We’ve witnessed God dealing with Israel’s enemies within the past few weeks in ways almost as dramatic as when He dealt with them in Israel’s ancient past.
And I’ve mentioned recently Israel’s defense force bringing Iran’s nuclear-weapons program to a standstill by introducing a computer worm called Stuxnet into the technology used to run Iran’s centrifuges.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has consistently said Iran never will be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Implied within that statement is the threat of using whatever military or other means necessary to keep the Israel-hating Iranian regime from developing nuclear bombs.
This threat, and Iran’s insistence on using proxies to harass and attack the Jewish state and its people through actions such as on October 7, 2023, has the diplomats of the world in a near panic.
To this point, the all-out war that might be necessary to destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons hasn’t happened. Israel has, it seems, been able to thwart Iran’s destructive intentions.
As stated above, we saw this with Stuxnet some years ago, and we continue to see Israel’s almost-magical thwarting of the genocidal aspirations of Iran and its proxies. The remarkable feat of causing the Hezbollah pagers and other communications devices to explode almost simultaneously, killing many terrorists and wounding many others, has put, it seems, an even more virulent “worm” than Stuxnet into the nefarious minds of the devilish Israel haters.
The following excerpt demonstrates the effects of this mind virus. If not such a serious matter of keeping Israel from the dastardly plans of the likes of Iran’s regime leaders, it would be hilarious to consider the paranoid reaction Israel’s “magical” doings have inflicted on those devoted to the destruction of the Jewish state and people.
As Israel continues to demonstrate impressive intelligence capabilities by eliminating much of the leadership of the Hezbollah terrorist organization, some of its enemies are reportedly attributing supernatural powers to the Jewish State.
Iranian opposition news site Iran International published a recording from a televised interview given by an Iranian cleric close to the Ayatollah’s regime accusing the Jewish people of trapping and employing jinn, or genies, for three thousand years, as well as using science fiction technology.
Iranian Shia seminary teacher Mostafa Karami claimed, “Considering the Zionists’ history of subjugating genies, they carry out many of their missions through this means, and demons are their secret army.”
“They [the Jews] have had access to genies and cosmic science since the time of David and Solomon,” he added. “Historically, they have always used genies, their documents and traditions proved that. They have used genies and demons for warfare and intelligence operations throughout history.”
Karami detailed his magical conspiracy theory in response to the elimination of Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah last week. (Arutz Sheva, “Iranian Cleric: ‘Jews have had access to genies since Davidic time’,” Israel National News)
It’s amusing that this Islamic cleric fanatic believes in Israeli magic. He isn’t far from wrong, in that it is supernatural in its reality, rather than the nonexistent “magic” to which he attributes Israel’s ability to perform things that seem miraculous.
In fact, the feats are miraculous. The God who calls this strange miracle nation His “chosen people” has imbued Abraham’s seed with His own power at points in history of His own choosing.
So the Islamic Jew-haters have had their evil minds invaded by the “magic” worm, as the cleric has complained. They’ve been “psyched out” by the God of Israel, about whom the Holy Scripture says: “Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4).
All of this involving hatred of Israel and the Jewish people at this moment means Jesus is about to intervene against the evil ramping up in the Middle East as well as in the rest of the world.
That intervention will be the Rapture of all believers into Christ’s presence in the clouds of Glory.
You don’t want to be left behind when that any-moment call to believers is made. Here, once again, is how to go to the Lord and to Heaven when that call issues forth, as Jesus told about in John 14:1–3.
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)
God’s Word Trumps Trump
It appears we are, in a sense, at the end of the cosmic end game. If compared to cards, the winning hand is about to be revealed. And the outcome is not a gamble in any sense.
The One who holds that winning hand cannot lose. He knows every card held by every opponent, and they are all losers. This is because they choose to not accept the hand originally given them, but rather continue determined to play by rules contrary to the One who deals only in truth.
Truth is all that matters in this game, and when deliberately denying the truth, either on purpose or in ignorance, the player suffers loss to one degree or another.
And now I get to the point of this metaphor. I will aim it at the presidential candidate I support in the upcoming presidential election. It is not a gentle comparison I make, because I want Mr. Trump to realize that when it comes to God’s Word, we are not in the hallway of our junior high years. It is a deadly serious matter to deny the truth—and God’s Word is the only truth there is.
In this eternal high-stakes end game, your word, Mr. President, is trumped by the inerrant Word of the one who holds the hand that cannot be overridden.
Your declaration recently is a most egregious misunderstanding of earthly geopolitics from God’s inerrant view.
In his characteristically outspoken manner, Trump has been critical of Jews who support his opponent. At a speech addressing antisemitism Thursday night in Washington D.C., he warned that if Harris enters the White House as president, Israel would be “eradicated.”
“If I don’t win this election, Israel in my opinion will cease to exist within two years, and I believe I’m 100% right,” Trump said. “If I do win, Israel will be safe and secured.”…
Dr. Miriam Adelson, the widow of late casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, [Who leads the way in a large Jews-for-Trump group] spoke in favor of the candidate, saying that Jews have a “sacred duty” to vote for Trump, “in gratitude for everything he has done and trust in everything he will yet do.”…
She has written that Trump “should enjoy sweeping support” among U.S. Jews and Israelis and that Trump deserves a “Book of Trump” in the Bible due to his support for Israel…
She did, however, chide Trump after the event. While noting that his claims had some merit, she added, “Our people have one more secret.”
Adelson quoted from the Passover Haggadah to explain what that secret is, “And this [promise] is what has stood by our ancestors and us; for it was not only one man who rose up to destroy us: in every single generation people rise up to destroy us—but the Holy One, Blessed Be He, saves us from their hands.” (“Trump warns President Harris would “eradicate” Israel but Megadonor corrects him: ‘Jews have a secret’”—Israel365 News)
Donald Trump as president did much to support Israel. He has taken strong and definitive stands against anti-Semitism. For this he no doubt was at least in part brought to that high office by the Lord. But it is obvious from his rhetoric that he is woefully ignorant of the truth in this cosmic end game we’re in the midst of.
This Jewish influencer/supporter has corrected him, although I’ve not seen or heard any evidence of Mr. Trump acknowledging that he was wrong by saying that if he doesn’t win this November, Israel will cease to exist within two years.
Mr. President, I hope someone will pass this along to you. You can’t play junior-high word games when it comes to God’s chosen nation. And I say that as one who is praying that if we reach Election Day, you will be the victor. I pray for your safety, and for ours as a nation.
That God will assure our continued traversing upon this planet is something we can’t know for certain. But the continued existence of the nation Israel is a God-guaranteed matter.
God’s Holy Word trumps your words, Mr. President. Here is that Word, issued from the Holy Spirit-inspired prophet Jeremiah thousands of years ago:
This is what the Lord says, “He who appoints the sun to shine by day, Who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the Lord Almighty is His Name; Only if these ordinances vanish from My sight,” declares the Lord, “will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before Me.” (Jeremiah 31:35–36)
The date of posting this article is most poignant as we remember October 7, 2023. Israel’s blood-vowed enemies inflicted the most heinous atrocities against the Jewish people since the time of Hitler’s Holocaust.
This is but one more reminder of just how near the world is to entering the time known as Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30: 7). But even during the time Jesus, Himself, said would be the worst in all of human history, Israel and the Jewish people will, as a chosen remnant, be preserved to go into the millennial reign of the Messiah they rejected two millennia ago.
It will not be Donald J. Trump, or anyone or anything other that will bring them to that glorious head of all nations of history. It will be done by the very Word of the Living God!
If his sons forsake My law, and do not walk in My judgments, if they violate My statues, and do not keep My commandments, then I will visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. But I will not break off My loving kindness from him, nor deal falsely in My faithfulness. My covenant I will not violate, nor will I alter the utterance of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David. His descendants shall endure forever like the moon, and the witness in the sky is faithful. (Psalm 89:30–37)
Strange Winds Blowing
Climate change fear-mongering continues to grow as the nucleus around which the coming false religious system will likely be established. That harlot system of Revelation 17 will ride astride the beast described by Daniel the prophet and John, who was given Revelation to write by the Holy Spirit.
Most of us who closely observe these times from the pre-Trib view of Bible prophecy understand that the climate-change mantra is a Mother Earth worship ruse used by Satan to inject fear into the world’s populations. –Thus to bring into existence a new world order that will eventuate in the Antichrist regime of absolute evil.
Jesus Himself forecast the weather in His Olivet Discourse. He said the winds and waves will be roaring. This can include, I’m convinced, both the literal seas and waves as well as the seas of people. And certainly both the literal and the figurative are in tumultuous upheaval as these end times unfold.
With regard to the literal, any review of weather news on any given day is full of great storms that are becoming more violent and wreaking havoc on a global basis. The figurative seas and waves—the wars and rumors of war, the ethnic conflicts—are just as violent and growing more so by the hour. This ramping up of violence includes the ethnic strife within supposedly the most civilized nations such as our own. There are warnings from many quarters that such turmoil is destined to flair in dramatic fashion no matter which party’s presidential candidate is victorious in November.
All of the above is part of the Bible prophecy picture coming into focus as we watch for and anticipate the wrap-up of this Age of Grace (Church Age).
So the winds Jesus gave us a heads-up about, as far as what to look for as His Second Advent nears, are beginning to blow in hurricane fashion on the end-times horizon. And it is yet another sort of prophetic allusion to tumultuous winds that will blow in the last days that I hope to look at for now. This is a climate-change matter we can point to that is truly upon us as the time of Tribulation nears.
The Apostle Paul prophesied this particular type of climate change for the end of the age: spiritual climate change. It involves a prophecy I believe is taking place at this moment.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. (2 Timothy 4:3)
Paul further related this end-of-the-age doctrinal tumult to a dangerous windstorm:
So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (Ephesians 4:14)
It’s easy to see that we’re now in such an anti-biblical storm of anti-God assaults by strange winds that are blowing against the truth. The following gives credence to the tempest Paul warned of:
Brad Ruggles had already begun wrestling with his evangelical faith when he was called to launch a small church in a north Indianapolis suburb. As he pastored over his 200-member congregation, he found himself struggling with members’ resistance to issues of LGBTQ inclusion or questions raised by the murder of George Floyd.
Eventually, in 2021, he stepped down and away from his faith – but ultimately craved the brotherhood he’d enjoyed as part of a congregation. Then he found C3, an inclusive Sunday collective in west Michigan that had undergone its own transformation and now describes itself not as a church but a home for the spiritually homeless, dedicated to pondering existential questions and living out shared values…
“The post-religious organizational field is highly diverse and fluid,” said Christian Smith, a professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame who is writing a book about younger generations’ diminishing devotion to traditional religion.
The patchwork existence of such churches means these communities provide their own oversight; their adherence to no doctrine leaves teachings open to constant shift. For now, that’s how they like it. (“As Millions Leave Organized Religion, Spiritual and Secular Communities Offer Refuge,” Mark Ramirez, USA Today)
All of Christendom is under this heavy spiritual weather. Strange winds are blowing, particularly within the organization many prophecy watchers believe will be at the dark center of the Revelation chapter 17 whore of Babylon false religious system headed by the False Prophet of Revelation 13. That prophetic wind might be said to be coming from the voice of the man currently heading up that organization. The following is interesting in that regard:
Pope Francis told young people in Singapore that being “Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, Christian” are just “different paths,” as “every religion is a way” to God…
Continuing, the Pope declared that each religion is a means to attain God, stating:
“Every religion is a way to arrive at God. There are different languages to arrive at God, but God is God for all. And how is God God for all? We are all sons and daughters of God. But my god is more important than your god, is that true?
“There is only one God and each of us has a language to arrive at God. Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, they are different paths.”
The Pope’s words were warmly welcomed by those present in the hall, which included leaders and representatives of Singapore’s many religious bodies and the large papal retinue. (“Pope Francis: ‘Every religion is a way to arrive at God’,” Michael Haynes, Snr Vatican correspondent – LifeSite)
To my way of discerning these times and considering the strange winds of doctrine blowing across the spiritual landscape at this late prophetic hour, what might happen next is always at the tip of my mind. Everything points to the beast state–Satan’s Antichrist system—rapidly advancing toward Daniel’s seventieth week–the Tribulation era. That goal of the Ephesians 6:12 cabal cannot take place until the church–all born again believers—is removed from the planet and taken into the clouds of Glory.
This is why we urge believers to be Rapture Ready.
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you must be watching for Him, as described in Mark 13:3, 7; Luke 21:28; and Titus 2:13. Be aware of and beware of strange winds of doctrine–like that which denies the scriptural truth that Jesus will come for His Church before the Tribulation begins (Revelation 3:10).
If you are not a believer in Christ for salvation, your time to get ready for when He calls looks to be very short. Here is what the Bible says you must do in order to be saved from the wrath to come and go to the Lord when He calls believers:
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)
Blessed Assurance
True believers in Jesus Christ will never be depressed. We will never face circumstances that can cause a loss of trust in our position within God’s family, if we are truly saved.
The above statements are not validated by God’s Word. On the contrary, they’re propagated by the father of lies—the wicked one who stalks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he might devour. And I must confess to myself—and to you—that I have sensed the tempter’s whisper into my own ear lately. It goes something like, “Look around you. In every direction, things are growing ever darker. Think on these things and believe these conditions will grow infinitely worse, as Heaven taking action just isn’t in sight.”
This is my thought, even though I write about all of the strangeness I observe that is transpiring at this time so near the end of the age. I then reason that our Lord wouldn’t charge me with the business of correlating issues and events with end-of-the-age prophecy if there wasn’t the best possible end to it all at some glorious point in the future.
One sentence from Scripture almost always emerges in my thinking to replace the depression begun from that whisper from the evil one: “Comfort one another with these words.”
The most prominent placement of this statement in God’s Holy Word is where the promise of the glorious end of these evil days for believers is presented. And what a presentation it is!
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)
So it was the other morning when I began my day with a number of thoughts about the depressing things going on in the world. Paul’s great prophetic utterance above, ending with the comforting exhortation, finally emerged near the surface of my aging gray matter. Then the thought struck that obliterated the depression the minion whispering earlier intended to inflict to ruin my day.
The words of “Blessed Assurance” burst into my memory–melody and all.
The Holy Spirit brought to mind that great old hymn I’ve heard all my life. You may have heard and sung it, too. And what a remembrance it was; what a comforting truth it delivered! Depression from all the oppression that dark region of Satan’s realm could fling had no chance of surviving that burst of “Blessed Assurance”!
Here are the lyrics to remind all of us of the magnificent future we believers in Christ have as inheritors of all of the heavenly riches that belong to Jesus Himself.
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine
Heir of salvation, purchase of God
Born of his Spirit, washed in His blood
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
Perfect submission, perfect delight
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long
Praising my Savior all the day long
We can’t avoid the pure evil assaulting our eyes and ears–our spiritual senses—such as yet another attempt on the same presidential candidate’s life while he played golf Sunday, September 15, in Florida. Yet all the wickedness we observe fades in the brightness of the Lord Jesus’ promise to call us into His presence at any moment. We have blessed assurance that we will not face the concluding seven hell-on-earth years marked by Antichrist’s regime or face the wrath and judgment of the righteous God of Heaven. We will be in Jesus’ Father’s house–which is our house, too (John 14:1–3), because of what Jesus did on that old rugged cross at Calvary.
As that old hymn, “Blessed Assurance,” says, we who are in God’s family are heirs…heirs of salvation and all of Heaven’s glory.
So, as we’re thinking about what Jesus has done for us, we can cast aside the depression–the oppression—Satan desires to inflict. All of this brings to mind another hymn with lines that express how Christ’s work on that cross and His Resurrection give us blessed assurance. This hymn tells us what we should be doing to do the work assigned us while we’re on earth:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
If you don’t have that blessed assurance because you’ve never accepted God’s grace gift offer of salvation through belief in His Son, Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, here is how to be part of God’s eternal family:
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)