These thoughts encompass the many things of prophetic progression going on as we enter 2023. Issues and events are, indeed, speeding full bore toward that twinkling-of-an-eye instant when we hear Christ shout our names, saying, “Come up here!”

However, I’d like to think a bit with you on the “race” Paul the apostle consistently worked into his great epistles. I want to bring our thoughts down to our individual sprint toward that God-ordained finish line, giving every ounce of our spiritual ability and strength to the effort.

Okay. At the risk of raising an eyebrow or two from the skeptics, I’m going to bring it up again. I can’t and won’t apologize for telling it—at least in part—again, because it is an experience I was given, and I know that not using it when appropriate would run counter to God’s purpose in the entire matter.

I’m talking about my widow-maker heart attack more than ten years ago. (The “widow-maker” occurs when an artery that runs directly into the heart is blocked. The heart stops if it isn’t cleared immediately.)

My heart did stop—on, the hospital records show, four different times. I remember three of those times, because each time it stopped, I was instantaneously in front of the same huge throng of magnificent heavenly beings. They were handsome and beautiful young men and women—smiling broadly with great, energetic enthusiasm—who were bidding me to come to them. They looked no older than their mid-to-late twenties.

Each time I was with them, things shortly started darkening from the spectacular brightness of that realm. That’s what happened when the doctors in the cath lab kept hitting me with the defibrillation paddles to restart my heart. By the third time it happened, I definitely remember not wanting to leave that joy-filled place.

That third time, I wasn’t in front of the group, but among them. We were running swiftly and effortlessly toward a destination I couldn’t know at that moment. They had their hands raised, and they were looking over at me, laughing out of sheer delight, making me sense they were saying, “Isn’t this the most wonderful thing ever?!”

It sure was, and I didn’t want to leave. But, being blind, things started fading to black yet again, and I was again in darkness on the table. The doctor had removed the blockage, and I was back to stay.

I now know the raised arms and bright smiles were the way these runners were saying as they looked over at me: “This is a race we are running together…and we are already in a victory lap!”

To add validation, that experience occurred on Good Friday, April 22, 2011. Meanings of the details of that heavenly visit were provided and remain at the center of what it was all about that strange day.

The Scripture assuring me the Lord is in that experience is constantly on my mind:

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1–2) 

I was running along with that “cloud of witnesses” toward the throne where Jesus sits with God the Father, wanting to award us for our victory. Our victory, of course, is possible only as we overcome this sin-filled world through our Lord Jesus Christ, who has already overcome this world of wickedness.

The race is full of obstacles made up of evil and corruption at every level, with luciferian maliciousness toward God becoming overwhelmingly evident at this hour.

We’ve looked at all of the levels of resistance to godliness throughout the past year. The “woke” insanity that has assaulted America and the world, bringing about recognition that God has turned much of our country over to the “reprobate mind” of Romans 1:28, is undeniable.

Defection from a strong stance against such insanity by even formerly staunch Christian churches has risen to apostate levels. Devilish practices (including transvestites being allowed to perform for children) have even entered some denominations.

And 2023 portends even more hellish lasciviousness. This, while at the same time the globalist-cabal—the demonic and human powers and principalities described in Ephesians 6: 12—make plans in the New Year’s first month to bring on Antichrist’s rule as quickly as possible.

Karl Schwab’s World Economic Forum (WEF) seems at the moment to be the primary force in this accelerated effort to bring about a one-world government. January 16, 2023, the WEF will meet to deal with the following agenda items to create systems of control, according to reports. This is the nucleus of their much-ballyhooed “Reset.”

1. A new system to deal with energy and food crisis.
2. A new system to deal with high inflation, low growth and high economy.
3. A new system based on the use of technology.
4. A new system to deal with social issues.
5. A new system to deal with dialogue and cooperation in multi polar world

The satanic powers are in a race to have everything in order when the real Reset takes place. The demonic minions among them, at least, understand that the real Reset will be the one God interjects into this world. They believe in the Rapture, because they know God cannot lie. They just don’t know when it will happen (it will be cataclysmic for the world of rebels, but not for Christians).

You and I are in an even more profound race of destiny. The race God has chosen for us to run is all-important within His eternal knowledge. We are to run it all out and give all we can to God’s great calling in our lives–individually and collectively as His Church.

Paul the apostle informs about his own race, which he carried out spectacularly to the very end of his life and until his beginning at home in Heaven:

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13–14)

Let us run this race in which we’ve been placed for this time at the very end of this Church Age. Like Paul heard, we want to hear what the Lord said will be His words for us when we finish this race to the best of our ability:

…Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (Matthew 25:21–22)

Have you ever, in a moment of immersion in deep thought, had a question like “When did the existence of God begin?” Or perhaps: “How could God always have existed, and how can He exist forever?”

I’ve had similar questions a number of times over my life as a Christian. Yet it isn’t with doubt, but rather with wonderment that I’ve indulged in these imponderable ponderings. The finite mind is incapable of such infinite cogitation. That is, the human brain is not able to carry out such thought to the point of securing satisfactory answers.

We who are believers in Christ for salvation know that every word in the Bible is absolute truth. We can trust what is written in God’s love letter to mankind to us, His born-again children. John wrote the following regarding his and his fellow disciples’ closeness to Jesus during His time of ministry:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare us unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:1–3)  

So, while it is not just difficult, but impossible, to understand the questions above concerning the eternal existence of Jesus, we trust that every Word is truth.

Another question along this line might be: “Did God the Father Create Jesus?”

This is how we interpret naturally. Everything has a beginning–a moment of coming into existence. Every one of us had our conception, our birth. So it is a natural question for the human mind: “Did Jesus begin when He was born upon planet earth?”

Of course, we who believe God’s Word about our Lord’s earthly incarnation know God didn’t create Jesus Christ, the Son—just as God didn’t create the Holy Spirit. All three are, and have always been, God. They are coequal as the Triune Godhead–the Trinity.

The Bible teaches that Jesus is a separate and distinct God who existed with the Father before anything was created. The Father did not create Jesus; in fact, all three –God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—have existed from eternity past and will exist forever.

I want to delve into…well…into pondering with our finite thinking the infinite matters of that most important statement in all the Scripture so far as mankind is concerned.

We have just passed through another Christmas, a time when we honor the earthly incarnation –the advent/birth—of our Lord Jesus Christ.

While the Apostle John was exiled by the Roman government on the Aegean Island of Patmos, Jesus gave Him a vision–the Revelation, as we know it. The following is what John tells us he heard Jesus say to him at one point very early in the vision.

And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. (Revelation 1:17–18)

Much later in the Revelation, Jesus said: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (Revelation 22:13).

The Lord also said:

And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. ²He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. (Revelation 21:6–7)

Wrapped up in those powerful words is Christ’s declaration of His Godhood and eternal existence.

He exclaims that He is the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and Omega.

Jesus says without equivocation: “It is done!”  He promises further:

To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

You see, He declares He is God and gives eternal life to all who overcome. We know, of course, that we overcome only through our absolute belief and trust in Jesus, who has overcome the world.

The Lord’s declaration, “It is done,” is the most thrilling, greatest promise of all. Since He is the Alpha and Omega–the beginning and the end—He alone can say that salvation of the believer is already done.

It was done as He said while voluntarily giving up His life to death in order to rescue you and me from the penalty of sin: “It is finished!”

Really, though, it was done–finished—from eternity past. God’s plan for our salvation was already in effect then, as God is outside of time. He had His plan in place back in eternity past, and it is already finished in eternity future. He chose us from the foundation of the world.

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:4–6)

When we look around us at things going on–the world seeming to fall apart—we can say along with our friend Jan Markell: Things aren’t falling apart, they are falling together. They are coming together just as our Lord said they would. Everything is right on the heavenly course for redeeming us and rejuvenating planet earth.

The Rapture, too, is going to be right on time–on God’s time! And I, for one, believe it is so close we could reach out and touch it, were that possible. You don’t want to miss it. Here again is how to make sure you are part of Jesus’ profound promise, “It is finished!”

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

I will ask you to indulge me just a bit while I think on the great lie that is prophesied for the time of Tribulation.

Perhaps it’s again the novelist within me struggling to burst forth, but I rather believe the impression to address the much-gone-over topic goes beyond any mere desire I have to create fiction.

Nonetheless, this is a theory; it’s not based on exactly what’s entailed in that great “lie” scheduled to deceive most of the world’s population.

One thing is sure: Just within the past few years, we’ve endured deception and lies of cataclysmic consequences for the future of our nation and the world. These lies are spawned by the father of lies, Satan, and are setting the stage for prophetic fulfillment that’s on the brink of engulfing all who will be left behind when the next great intervention into human history by God takes place.

To begin considering all of this, here is the prophetic lie that will be the culmination, I believe, of all lies Lucifer has foisted upon humanity.

And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:8–12)

We pre-Tribbers believe this is saying Antichrist will be “revealed” after the disappearance of millions of believers. There should be no doubt by anyone—believer or not—that such a massive vanishing of people before the eyes of others would cause unprecedented panic. The world would, at least temporarily, go nearly insane.

I believe when all children go to Christ at the Rapture, the magnitude of that panic will be beyond anything we can fully anticipate. Even children at conception will be missing. The sheer terror almost certainly produced by such an occurrence is almost unfathomable. 

So the powers that be—the human minions, backed by the demonic beings of Ephesians 6:12—will have to produce answers to quell the terror that will grow from that event.

Here is a scenario-type supposition I believe might hold at least a degree of possibility. Actually, I base my thinking on two elements that are becoming more prevalent in the news at this very hour.

The first is a proven compliance-assured matter, already validated as a winner for the globalists who want a one-world government. The second involves an answer to what that great lie of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 might well be, long speculated by some. I’m pondering whether some combination of the two could be at the heart of the lie Satan will put forth to explain what happened to all those who suddenly vanished.

The First Element

I believe that most will agree that things changed perceptibly with the onslaught of the so-called pandemic near the beginning of 2020.

There eventuated, and in short order, an almost complete worldwide lockdown.

There had never been anything like it in history. No government, no dictator, had ever achieved such a global shutdown of human activity and redirection toward—demand for—compliance. We were to take the vaccine against the COVID–or else…or else we would lose our right to travel and congregate, lose our jobs and many other rights. At least that was the threat.

The Second Element

There is a ramped-up interest in extraterrestrial activity. The UFO controversy isn’t so controversial these days.

Now the governments—the US and others—have acknowledged that extraterrestrial evidence exists, and such information is continually forthcoming as governments release what much of the populace has thought about the probability of the presence of other life on other planets. This opens the door to helping foment the great delusion, once the disappearance of millions happens.

We have wondered whether the powers that be will say that those who have disappeared have been taken from the earth by the “space brothers.” 

I offer two items of interest in thinking on how the two elements mentioned above might play into Antichrist and his Ephesians 6: 12 minions foisting the lie God’s Word predicts.

The First Element

The World Bank has created a global pandemic fund, the largest fund in its history.  At the same time, preparations to implement the World Health Organization’s Pandemic Treaty marches forward.

We recently published an article about G-20 leaders calling for the establishment of global vaccine passports.  In it, we included remarks by Indonesian Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin on 13 November, from Day 1 of B20 Indonesia 2022. “G20 country has agreed to have this digital certificate using WHO standard,” Sadikin said.

Earlier in his remarks, he mentioned that the global pandemic fund is the largest fund the World Bank has ever created and it will increase in the next 5-10 years. (“Preparations to implement WHO’s Pandemic Treaty march forward as World Bank creates the largest fund ever for global pandemics,” Rhoda Wilson, December 4, 2022, Expose-News.com)

The Second Element

We’re unprepared for when E.T. reaches out to us. A team of experts is determined to change that with the first new alien “contact” protocol in 35 years.

If extraterrestrial life sent us a message tomorrow, how would humanity respond? According to researchers, we don’t know yet — and that’s a problem.

That’s why, for the first time in 35 years, a team of policy experts and scientists have united to establish a set of alien-contact protocols for the entire world to follow in the event of a sudden encounter with E.T. (“Scientists are working on an official ‘alien contact protocol’ for when ET phones Earth,” Isobel Whitcomb, Live Science,  November 5, 2022)

Everywhere we look, we see the stage being set for fulfillment of prophecy during the Tribulation. I’m just pondering whether the two items above might be combined to produce one of those stage-setting foreshadowings.

People are already conditioned for being controlled by governmental masters in the matter of a future pandemic that might be promoted as one even deadlier than the one that produced worldwide panic and unprecedented compliance. Many have been preconditioned to believe we will one day be visited by other beings from somewhere out there.

When millions vanish, might global leaders, under Antichrist, say it was a strange virus or microbe that caused the dissolving of flesh and bone? Will they say someone from “out there” is descending to help the people of planet earth, who now must accept a “666” vaccination/remedy?

Too fantastic, you say? Well, we believe Jesus will call us and we will vanish from earth in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, don’t we?

Can’t get more fantastic than that! But in the case of Rapture, it’s not a scenario; it’s an absolute promise from God Himself!

Here’s how to make sure you go to Jesus when He calls in that fantastic instant.

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

Sensing that we’ve arrived so near that spectacular moment those who are Rapture Ready desire, I present this with Holy Spirit-engendered expectation.

The following directive from Heaven should beat profoundly at the spiritual heart of every Christian who views God’s prophetic Word from the perspective of truth it presents: Jesus Christ will call all believers to Himself before the last seven years of human history leading to the Second Advent of Christ begin. 

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (Hebrews 10: 25)

That “day “we see “approaching” is wrapped up in Paul’s joyous foretelling of the moment of great expectation that’s there for every person who trusts in Jesus Christ for Salvation:

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: ^4:Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4: 16–17)

Paul tells us further: 

Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:18)

This magnificent promise from our God is meant to bring great anticipation and relief from anxiety about the darkening times as we look for our “blessed hope,” as exhorted in Titus 2: 13:

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

The Scripture telling us to not forsake assembling together as we see the day of Rapture approaching (Hebrews 10:25) has most always been taught as referring to gathering in church-house assemblies. And church attendance in that sense is important, to be sure. But the words of Hebrews 10:25 are perhaps most relevant to the anticipation of our going to be with Jesus when He shouts with the sound of a trumpet and the voice of the archangel: “Come up here!”

We are to gather our senses as one body in looking at all we see taking place around us when that moment of Rapture is upon us.

My own spiritual impression—and the message of agreement I’m getting from others—is that those who are truly attuned to these times of signs are being gathered in our spirits at this very moment. We sense with all that is within us that our Lord is about to shout those words of the Harpazo we earnestly long to hear. It is God the Holy Spirit Himself who is giving us a heavenly heads-up. Our work here on earth as royal ambassadors is nearly done.

And while the world continues to move in wickedness farther and farther from God and His divine order for humankind, believers who truly understand these times sense a calming comfort that brings peace to our spirits.

I hope you’re sensing that calm and comfort, or at least are beginning to.

In regard to our gathering and being comforted by a growing embrace of peace in these last of the last days, I’m deeply impressed to introduce you to a venue I believe God has brought on the scene specifically for sharing the peace, comfort, and even joy of this prophetic hour.

I want no one to think for one second that I hold any person up as one we should look to for new enlightenment, as do the guru worshippers. Jesus, the Living Word, is our only Hope–our Savior –our God.

However, when God directs us to ministries that display extraordinary devotion to His truth, I gladly lift them up for all to see. This is the first time I believe I’ve done so—at least to this degree of recommendation.

I began listening to the podcast some time ago, and have heard nothing but powerful words of truth from God’s Word—particularly from the prophetic Word. Yet what has drawn me totally into what is presented by this ministry is the soft, gentle presentation.

The host I find as God-centered and forthright as any who teaches from the pre-Trib view. Yet, he lays out his analysis of issues and events in a most unique way. He is one-on-one in his half-hour presentations. He talks in conversational tones in a humble way that makes me think of how Jesus must have spoken while teaching here on earth.

Now, I’m not comparing this man to Jesus. You know me much better than that. And Tom would be the first to be aghast at any such comparison. But he speaks in a gentle way and connects with those listening in a very special way. The Rapture and the comfort it promises are usually at the center of his conversation. He is unique among all presenters I’ve encountered.

So, after listening for a number of weeks, I contacted him. I believe the Lord wants our website to put forward Tom’s podcast as a must to visit at every opportunity.

I don’t make such recommendations lightly. I believe he’s been commissioned to help believers gather and be comforted as we see that day approaching. You’ll most likely sense the same after joining my new friend Tom for his journeys into Bible prophecy as he simply talks with you about the joy we can anticipate, almost certainly in the immediate future.  

I hope you will listen by clicking this link I’ve chosen. I believe you’ll want to continue to hear his almost-daily podcasts and will pass the links on to others.

This particular program looks at seven questions about the Rapture. Tom discusses these as if you’re sitting there with him asking the questions he addresses, and he follows up by reading comments from those online at the time of the podcast.

All in all, there emerges a togetherness of the sort spoken of in Hebrews 10: 25. There is a gathering together in spirit around the Lord Jesus Christ as He prepares us for going Home.

Watchman River Podcast

Thanksgiving, the holiday, is just past, and thanksgiving is yet in the future when all the things Jesus and the prophets forewarned will play out on the timeline of human history leading to our Lord’s return. Turkey is at the center of that thanksgiving future, and the nation by that name is hastily dressing—militarily—for its part in a key prophecy, according to the prophet Ezekiel, as we have looked at numerous times.

To reiterate our overview, I revisit what I’ve written before in this regard.

A major leg of the Ezekiel 38-39 Gog-Magog coalition is coming into view. The Turkey leg is now on the end-times table of Bible prophecy.

We are given the nations that will make up that attacking force by the prophet Ezekiel:

Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet: Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee. (Ezekiel 38:2–6)

Modern-day Turkey covers most of the territory that made up ancient Togarmah. Ezekiel was told to prophesy that the house of Togarmah will be among the horde from the north of Jerusalem that will assault Israel near the time of Christ’s return.

Many things have been written that analyze developments to Israel’s north. It is as if those with spiritually attuned eyes and ears are being given a play-by-play unfolding of this coalition.

Russia is pared down from its configuration as the nucleus of the former Soviet Union. It more or less once again covers territory that it encompassed when Ezekiel gave the Gog-Magog prophecy. Meshech and Tubal comprised that territory. The “Gog” demonic spirit will, according to this prophecy, inhabit the chief prince, or leader of Russia. This leader is also destined to be the leader of the entire coalition.

Developments toward these prophecies have been nothing short of phenomenal lately.

Russia, after falling apart as the USSR, is again a powerful force. It has inserted its influence, including a considerable military presence, into the region directly north of Israel.

Iran, which is the centermost territory today that once was called Persia, has joined Russia as a close ally—again, just to Israel’s north. Russia and Iran’s military assets co-mingle in the region to influence Syria, another end-times player. 

Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, as we’ve said many times, looks to be the prototype for the leader who will be Gog of the Gog-Magog force prophetically scheduled to invade toward Israel to the south.

The prophet Ezekiel was told to foretell that God, Himself, will put hooks into the Gog-leader’s jaws and jerk him southward like a fisherman would set hooks into a big fish’s mouth and reel him in.

Now Togarmah (Turkey) is hastily in the process of militarily dressing for its end-times fulfillment as part of the Gog-Magog assault on God’s chosen nation.

[Turkish] President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey’s air operations against a Kurdish militia in northern Syria were only the beginning and it would launch a land operation there when convenient after an escalation in retaliatory strikes.

He said Turkey was more determined than ever to secure its southern border with a “security corridor,” while ensuring the territorial integrity of both Syria and Iraq, where it has also been conducting operations against Kurdish militants.

“We are continuing the air operation and will come down hard on the terrorists from land at the most convenient time for us,” Erdogan told his AK Party’s lawmakers in a speech in parliament.

“We have formed part of this corridor (and) will take care of it starting with places such as Tel Rifat, Manbij and Ain al-Arab (Kobani), which are the sources of trouble,” he added.

Russia has asked Turkey to refrain from a full-scale ground offensive in Syria, senior Russian negotiator Alexander Lavrentyev said on Wednesday after a fresh round of talks about Syria with Turkish and Iranian delegations in Kazakhstan. (“Turkey plans to take action on Syria when it would be in its best interest to move forward,” Reuters, 11/23/22)

Syria, of course, is another key player in end-times prophecy. Damascus, as we have looked at many times, is prophetically scheduled for destruction. All Gog-Magog players in the Ezekiel 38–39 drama have their attention on Syria. This is the area to watch of great prophetic interest.

The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. (Isaiah 17:1)

We’ve looked many times at how Satan wants to be worshipped as God. From the very beginning, in the account of his actions against God, we can see that prideful tendency that exploded into full-fledged rebellion.

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. (Isaiah 14:13–14)  

As brilliant as this angel is (at one time he was said to be the most powerful of God’s angels), Lucifer (Satan) apparently never had an original thought. His only strategy seems to be mimicking God–counterfeiting what God has already finished.

Probably the best example of this is seen in what is prophetically scheduled for the Tribulation (Revelation 19:11). I and others have pointed out on numerous occasions the nature of Satan’s activity during that most terrible time of all history, as Jesus called it (Matthew 24: 21).

Lucifer will counterfeit the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit). This is found in Revelation chapter 13, with the introduction of the first beast, the second beast, and Satan himself as giving power and authority to these wicked cohorts during the Tribulation era.

Satan is, in the Revelation 13 account, the counterfeit of God the Father; Antichrist is counterfeit of God the Son; and the False Prophet is scheduled to be the counterfeit of God the Holy Spirit. We usually call these three the “unholy trinity.”

This evil triumvirate will cause all to worship Satan or be killed. They will be able to perform imitations of miracles—one of the most dramatic of which is described as follows:

And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. (Revelation 13:3)

This deception, of course, will be Satan mimicking Jesus’ return to life after death. The Antichrist will appear to be raised from the dead in a mocking counterfeit of the magnificent Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So the time of the Tribulation will be an era marked by satanic counterfeit miracles–signs and wonders from the dark dimension. The entire world full of deluded earth-dwellers, as they are called, will follow this false trinity to their doom.

We often point out that we’re now seeing foreshadows of things that will be in full force from Satan once the seven years of hell on earth arrive. For example, the Antichrist regime is in view in the form of the globalist efforts such as Agenda 21 and the World Economic Forum. Artificial intelligence (AI) and other technological wonders foreshadow the coming absolute surveillance controls that will be in effect when the marks-and-numbers system of Revelation 13:16–18 is in effect.

And, most interestingly, the harlot religious system of Revelation chapter 17 has leaped to the forefront of hints of things to come. We’ve recently looked at this blatant false religion emerging, and now eerie details are suddenly right in our faces as we watch prophetic progression.

Many of us remember the Cecil B. DeMille movie, The Ten Commandments. Despite literary license and occasional glaring errors, it was, in my view, a masterpiece.

One of the most dramatic scenes was when Moses came down from Mt. Sinai carrying the two tablets bearing the Ten Commandments that had been carved by the finger of God.

Remember how Moses, infuriated that the children of Israel were dancing nude and worshipping the golden calf, raised the tablets above his head and flung them angrily toward the then-terrified people. It was one of the most powerful moments of the film, as God’s righteous anger brought an earthquake, and many were swallowed in the fissure that opened beneath their feet.

Well, Satan’s foreshadowing is again in view as he prepares equally rebellious people of earth for his continuing intention to usurp the throne of God. We see this in the following:

A group of religious leaders held a ceremony in the Sinai Peninsula to call on the world to pay more attention to the environment by smashing a pair of tablets on the ground earlier this week.

In an initiative called The Sinai Climate Partnership, The Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development (ICSD), The Elijah Interfaith Institute, the Peace Department, the United Nations Faith for Earth Initiative, Gig watt Global, and the Israeli environmental advocacy organization, Adam Teva V’Din took part in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27), which is taking place in the Sinai Peninsula, in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

But the faith leaders took an alternative approach, seeking a faith-based solution to the ecological crisis by promoting the “Ten Principles for Climate Justice” in a global initiative. Toward this end, they held a sunrise ceremony on Sunday at the summit of Jabal Musa, a mountain in the southern Sinai Peninsula that according to some traditions is the site where Moses received the Ten Commandments.

A symbolic delegation of five members ascended and was joined by several participants from the COP conference. The group read from a new draft of their “Ten Principles for Climate Repentance,” recently composed by dozens of multifaith leaders meeting in London over the week. (“Spiritual ecological partnership smashes Tablets on Mount Sinai claiming ‘broken promises.’” Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Israel365 News)

Seems that Satan’s human minions have watched DeMille’s movie, too. The ten counterfeit commandments point to the false religion of Mother Earth worship that is front and center. The climate changers are angry that we aren’t all falling in line to join their one-world effort to save the planet—thus the symbolic Charlton Heston slamming of the tablets.

All of this means that the Lord’s call to His Church must be very near indeed.

Don’t be left behind to face what this devilish religious system has in store for those who will have rejected Jesus Christ–the only Way, Truth, and Life with God the Father in Heaven for eternity.

Here is how to make sure you don’t miss that call to “Come up here!” (Revelation 4: 1):

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

Often we overlook much prophetic truth when we read and study God’s Word. The Bible is without limits in its rich wisdom available to be mined. The Creator’s purpose in giving His Word to the human race is to provide direction for living in the most abundant way possible.

Jesus Christ is that Word. The last book of the Bible—Revelation—is the unveiling of Jesus in all His power, glory and majesty.

Prophecy—telling of the future—resides at the heart of that Word. The promises issued from the holy pages guarantee eternal life for each person ever to be born who genuinely accepts God’s grace-given redemption from sin through belief in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.

Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the Godhead, whom God the Father sees as the nucleus around which all things hold together:

“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” (Colossians 1:16–17)

So, with it established that the Lord Jesus is preeminent in all things, we come back to the opening statement to add that one truth we often overlook deals most directly with the next prophecy to be fulfilled—the Rapture of the church.

Jesus spoke about this commentary’s primary topic—the gates of Hell. Although the disciples He was speaking to really had no concept of what He was referring to, the prophecy and its details have been coming to pass ever since—and are now set for fulfillment.

“He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:15–18)

They didn’t understand the concept of “the church;” at that point they were totally ignorant of that “structure” Jesus prophesied to be built. But built it was, and it is still under construction as each person who comes to salvation is added.

The specific part of this prophecy I want to look at in perhaps a new way is wrapped within the phrases “my church,” “the gates of hell,” and “shall not prevail against it.”

My study of how God deals with people–including believers—in different dispensations leads me to conclude that there are entirely different fates awaiting believers in Christ. And I’m talking about physical fate, not spiritual/eternal fate.

In terms of eternal fate, the gates of hell cannot and will not prevail or win against any believer in Jesus Christ. All believers, of every dispensation, will enjoy the bliss and exultation of Heaven forever. But in terms of physical fate, believers are prophetically scheduled to meet differing destinies.

Here is something we’ve looked at before, but still is not the primary point I wish to address.

Jesus said in Matthew 16, as we’ve read above, that He will build His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. That has turned out to be the dispensation we call the Church Age. This began at Pentecost, as recorded in Acts chapter 2, when the Holy Spirit came to indwell believers. (I’m aware there are those who believe the church began along the shores of Galilee when Jesus began His ministry.)

On the other hand, the same Jesus, in His ascended form, gave the following prophecy to John to write in the Revelation.

“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” (Revelation 13:7)   

So it is plain that in the physical sense, Satan (his Antichrist) will overcome—prevail against—the saints (believers in Christ). But the gates of hell, referring to Satan’s evil domain, will not prevail over the church. The devil will never be able to physically or spiritually totally overcome or destroy Christ’s Bride, the church.

Now to get to that nuance of examination I hope will help make clear just how important this promise to the church—all believers of the Church Age—really is.

My friend Jonathan Cahn, in his most recent book, The Return of the Gods, points to the spiritually and even physically observable reality that portals of the demonic sort have been somewhat opened in these obviously manifest times of insane, anti-god activity. We’ve examined many of the bizarre manifestations over and over in these columns, but I will only repeat that it looks like God is in the process of turning rebellious human beings over to a reprobate mindset—to demented, upside-down thinking, as Paul prophesied in Romans chapter 1:

I’m in agreement with Jonathan. And I believe these portals equate to Jesus’ reference to the gates of Hell. Those gates are opening wider by the day, it seems. The demonic minions from those portals, as well as the human minions that are anti-God, intend to completely erase all vestiges of the true Christian church from the planet.

That will never happen. The very God who created all that exists has said so: “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it”—the church Jesus Christ is still building.

I’m convinced that the moment the Restrainer (the Holy Spirit) lifts His hand of restraint against these hellish forces, all believers will go to the Lord Jesus when He says: “Come up hither!” (Revelation 4:1). 

The church cannot and will not be on planet earth when those gates of Hell are fully opened and allowed to overcome the saints of the Tribulation era (those saved following the Rapture). We have Christ’s Word on that wonderful promise.

With all the wickedness deluging this time on earth, the end is about to come like a flood (Daniel 9:26). The gates of hell will soon swing fully open, bringing the most horrible, deadliest time of human history, according to the Lord (Matthew 24:21).

But you and I, if we know Christ for salvation, don’t have to worry for a second about being here to face that time. Jesus said He will keep us out of that hour of horror (Revelation 3: 10). To be sure you are a part of the church that will be taken out before that Tribulation era begins, follow Paul’s Holy Spirit-given instructions.

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

Again we consider the words of the greatest of all prophets. He is the greatest of all prophets, of course, because He is God.

The words of Jesus Christ are reverberating today to all who are familiar with end-of-the-age signals. And one instruction the Lord Himself gave for this very generation, I’m convinced, is the most significant. It is the “heads-up”  we’ve looked at continually for months and even years.

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)

Jesus had just stunned His disciples, telling them that the beautiful Temple they were looking at would be completely thrown down. The Lord then addressed the questions Peter, James, John, and Andrew had asked: ^“Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?” (Mark 13:4).

We’ve gone over the Olivet Discourse many times, learning all of the things Jesus said would come to pass. He told of the horrors of the coming Tribulation, the arrival of Antichrist, and the plight of the Jewish people at the time of the Great Tribulation.

But let’s remember that Jesus wasn’t limited to only prophesying things that were scheduled for fulfillment. Concerning Jesus Christ, we are told: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

Every single prophecy in God’s Word, no matter the prophet through whom it is given, is a foretelling by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Word! So whether we’re considering the prophecy given under Ezekiel’s watch, or those given under the Apostle Paul’s, or those presented by anyone else in Scripture, it is the same as the Lord Himself speaking.

When Jesus left us with the command to “look up and lift up your head” when “you see all these things begin to come to pass,” He was saying that we should pay close attention to every prophecy for the end of the age. He was directing believers to carefully observe all prophetic signals when we know these things are beginning to happen, because, at that time, He is on the very cusp of calling all of His children to Himself.

So we look now at the title of our commentary: “Foreshadowing Foretellings.”

Jesus said we will “see these things begin to come to pass” (Luke 21: 28). He didn’t say “if” we see them come to pass. He was telling obedient believers who “watch,” as given in Mark 13:37, that we will know He is drawing near when we see things prophesied for the end of the age “begin” to come to pass.

Observation of these signals involves “foreshadowing of foretellings” found throughout the Word of God. We’ve looked—in practically every blog, article, and book I’ve written—at how things are precisely setting the stage for fulfillment of prophecy.

We’ve looked at the events and issues of these times that foreshadow the formation of the New World Order; we’ve seen the forming Babylonian beast that both Daniel and John said casts a darkening cloud of coming horrors upon the geopolitical landscape at this late hour.

We’ve gone over Israel’s rebirth into modernity and the prophecies surrounding that miracle. We have examined the headlines involving Israel’s enemies to the north as foreshadowing the Gog-Magog attack Ezekiel foretold.

The man of sin’s platform of world power seems almost ready for Antichrist’s ascendance.

We recently looked at the world’s governmental and religious leaders now coming together at the traditional Mount Sinai (Sharm El Sheikh) in Egypt—to pay homage to the planet by bringing their unholy machinations to bear in their insane efforts to save Mother Earth. We thereby see the foreshadowing of the false worship system of Revelation chapter 17—the whore that rides the beast foretold by Daniel (chapter 7) and John (Revelation chapter 13).

Time and time again, we ‘ve gone over the cultural and societal wickedness that has saturated our nation and the world with Sodom and Gomorrah-like evil. These blasphemous, debased developments foreshadow Jesus’ prophetic words of Luke 17: 6–30.

A number of personalities arising in world leadership seem to foreshadow entities foretold to appear at the end of the age.

Vladimir Putin of Russia, for example, seems to have the characteristics of the one who will be the “Gog” Ezekiel described. And all circumstances surrounding what’s going on in the Middle East and with Mr. Putin add to the intrigues regarding the possible soon fulfillment of the Gog-Magog prophecy.

And now I find most interesting the 33-year-old Jewish rabbi who is praised and even worshipped in some Jewish Orthodox circles. Rav Shlomo Yehuda is believed to be a miracle-worker who can quote the Torah and other Jewish holy scrolls with instant and total recall. He has been filmed performing healing and other miracles, according to reports.

Whether or not he might turn out to be the False Prophet—the second beast of Revelation chapter 13—his appearance at this time certainly is a false Messiah-type foreshadowing. That is, it seems to foreshadow Jesus’ foretelling about deceivers who would come in His name as the time of His return nears.

Jesus told Israel that they would reject Him, but would accept as Messiah another who would come in His name.

When I began my novel a number of months ago—MESSIAH and the Prince That Shall Come, this candidate for that end-times partner of Antichrist wasn’t in view.

Jesus’ words about these things beginning to come to pass are now on a fast track. Let us follow his directive!

But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch. (Mark 13:32–37)

Each passing second, advancing history goes deeper into the unknown for much—maybe for most—of the world’s population. From that unknown boils fear. The fear Is steeped in self-conjured premonition that the evilest things imaginable will soon engulf life, bringing devastation and even death.

It is the feeling of impending doom, of something dreadful lurking just ahead. In terms of Greek mythology, it’s the sword of Damocles hanging overhead threatening to decapitate the fearful.

Probably you’ve had that feeling, but maybe not as intensely as described above. I’ve certainly had moments when I had a sense that something bad is about to happen.

For me, the dread, thankfully, has never played out. The anxiety soon passes, and sometimes even a sense of joyful anticipation resides where the fear sat just a short time before.

For others, the premonitions have seemed to play out in worst-case scenario.

At this moment, even for those who are Bible-believing, born again people of God, the times are producing such fear. I know this because I get emails in which people share their worries about what’s on the horizon that will affect their lives and the lives of those they love.

Usually the alarm is expressed through questions such as: Do you think there will be a time of martyrdom for Christians before the Rapture?

Of course, what most writers really mean by that question, I suppose, is: Do you think Christians in America will face martyrdom before the Rapture?

Another question I often get is: Do you think there will be a World War III before we are raptured?

With all the reports of some of America’s powerful enemies preparing for war, we’ll think about that last question in particular a bit more deeply.

As we’ve looked at more than once in this column, it looks like the current American government and the so-called Western allies are doing much to provoke such a nuclear conflict. Rather than looking to ask Mr. Putin to sit down with the Ukrainian leadership—which itself seems to be a complicit partner in poking the nuclear bear—the United States is sending elite forces such as the 101st Airborne into places near the bear’s cave.

And, while that once-unthinkable move—provoking toward war rather than toward peace—brings the world closer to unleashing the nuclear genie, China leers Westward.

As amazing as this administration’s actions are in seeming to make Russia do something Putin obviously doesn’t want to do at this time, even more amazingly, the entire US diplomatic machinery all but totally ignores the threat China poses.

The US Navy has a presence in the South China Sea and purports to be a buffer against China invading Taiwan. But, in reality, with Taiwan being just miles from the Chinese mainland, it would take nothing short of nuclear weapons to offer any hope of dealing with such an assault. And, in that regard, China is as equipped as American forces. So it is feared that the US couldn’t win such a conflict due to having to confront China in its own backyard.

There’s good reason for many of us to be anxious, as that deadly sword is indeed hanging over our heads, based upon just these geopolitical realities. It seems as if everything is out of control—as if even the top leaders on both sides of the nuclear threat have little interest in a peaceful resolution to prevent WWIII.

But for those who know what God’s Word has to say about how things end up, the fears of nuclear holocaust this side of the Rapture don’t need to reach the level of trepidation I described earlier. That’s because of the thought wrapped up in the title: “Prophetically Appointed Day and Hour.”

We’ve incessantly gone over the Gog-Magog war prophesied by Ezekiel and how Russia is destined to lead that assault. There has even been speculation that Putin might be the one who will be indwelt by the Gog spirit at the time of that invasion against Israel. Although I have to say here that while he is a known dictator and a KGB operative from the Soviet days, Putin seems in many ways more honorable than a number of the Western leaders who foment globalist surreptition.

If there is all-out nuclear war, neither Putin nor Russia would be available to take part in that Gog-Magog attack—that is, not if the assault is scheduled to take place soon. God, Himself, is going to take care of that invasion force. And, while He could use nuclear force to take care of business, the description given by Ezekiel seems to be that God has scheduled a supernatural fire from Heaven, like in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah.

God’s schedule is key in considering why believers don’t need to sense that dreaded sword of destructiveness.

We see this by looking at the great book of prophecy that God has given us so we can know how things play out.

China is at the heart of God’s final dealing with humankind’s rebellion, I’m convinced. We can see clearly that the massive nation continues to build in every way toward becoming the head of the hegemonic force that will kill a third of the world’s population during the Tribulation. John, the prophet chosen to present the Revelation, terms this force “the kings of the East.”

I call China the “king of the kings of the East.” That nation is, I believe, scheduled to gather all others within its Oriental orbit for the movement to the Euphrates—the apparent barrier separating the Oriental and Occidental worlds.

Their 200-million-man army will, John said, be possessed by demons that have been kept beneath that area for a certain prophetic moment. It will be the time appointed by God, who knows and controls all things from beginning to end. Here is what He says about that horrendous army from the East:

And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. (Revelation 9:13–16)

John also said:

And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. (Revelation 16:12)

The reason believers shouldn’t fear all-out nuclear war is tied up in John’s statement in Revelation 9:15:

And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year.

Just as Russia is scheduled to come against Israel, the kings of the East have been scheduled by God Himself to cause—because of His righteous judgment—massive deaths across the world. He has appointed the “hour,” “day,” “month,” and “year” when it will happen. It is the God of all there is, not human warmongers, who will control when death and destruction on a massive scale will occur.

Meantime, we have been promised that we’ll be kept from that appointed time:

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)  

It becomes more evident by the hour that the world is quickly headed toward the Tribulation storm. That’s what our new book, TRAJECTORY: Tracking the Approaching Tribulation Storm, is all about HERE

You don’t want to be left on this judgment-bound planet when that storm begins. Here’s how to go to Jesus Christ and heavenly shelter before that judgment falls.

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