In our book of some years ago, The Departure: God’s Next Catastrophic Intervention into Earth’s History, we point out crucial truth about who will go to Christ and who will be left behind when the Lord says: “Come up here!” (Revelation 4: 1, as prophesied by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:16–18).

Even though it is “my” book in that I developed it, I say “our” book because a number of the most knowledgeable authorities in Bible prophecy wrote chapters on the most relevant topics of our day. All issues and events involving what we consider having prophetic importance are looked at in that volume through the supernatural prism of God’s Word. I therefore consider it “our” book, not just mine.

More than that, I believe each of us who wrote for it considers it to be devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ for these troubling, although exciting, times at the end of the age. We trust it has been a tool to edify God’s family by pointing to the evidence proving that the coming of “the blessed hope” of Titus 2:13 is likely very near. To that extent, that’s another reason I call it “our” book. It’s written for all believers alive today, with the prayerful hope that God’s family will awaken to Christ’s imminent coming.

I thought it good to use the Prophecyline column this week to look again at exactly who I believe will go in the Departure–the Rapture—when Christ gives the command: “Come up here” (Revelation 4:1).

There might be some among the authors who would disagree on a couple of my views about specifically who will go to be with Jesus at the Rapture. However, I will let them answer for themselves in their own forums and in their own ways. My own feeling about the differences we might have is like that of the late Dr. J. Vernon McGee, who more than once said, “You can believe the way you want to believe. But, if you want to be right, you’ll want to come along with me on this.”

Dr. McGee said that with a chuckle, and I hope you can hear the chuckle in my written expression regarding my borrowing from that grand old Christian man’s humor.

First, I will state that God’s Word says, without equivocation, just who will go in the Departure:

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51–52)

So, Paul was clearly saying two major things about one classification of people. He was writing to the believers at Corinth. But he was also writing to every believer who would come along during the Church Age. Every believer in Corinth during Paul’s day is long since dead. So, he had to be addressing those who would be alive when Christ would call for them, as well as those alive when this letter was written.

The context of the letter is informing Christians about a mystery regarding a stunning event in their future. His words were to put to rest some of their worries about what would happen to the Christians among them who had died. What would happen to them in terms of their going to Heaven?

Paul was saying: 1) Not all believers would die; some would not have to die but would be alive at the time of a stupendous event; and 2) All believers, however, would be changed. They would be changed in one moment. The dead would be made alive and put into supernatural bodies. Those alive at the time would be changed into supernatural bodies while living.

The “mystery” Paul was revealing was the one wrapped up in Jesus’ words as recorded by John the apostle:

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:1–3)

Paul further expounded on this “mystery” in his letter to the Thessalonians:

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

So, the thing to consider is that believers of the Church Age (Age of Grace)– Paul was talking to believers of this dispensation—will ALL go to be with Jesus when He calls them in that “twinkling of an eye” (atomos of time) moment–the Rapture. ALL believers of this dispensation will go to be with the Lord! Not a single person who has accepted Christ for salvation will be left behind.

This truth includes everyone who never reached the intellectual ability–through brain incapacity or because of being too young—to understand their need to accept Christ for salvation. These are all under the blood of Christ for redemption and reconciliation to God, the Father. All will go to be with Jesus at the Rapture.

Some believe and teach that only believers who are living in the will of God will go to be with Christ at the Rapture. Those living “carnal” lives, they believe, will be left behind to go through a time of God’s judgment and wrath, along with the unbelieving earth dwellers. But God’s Word doesn’t teach a partial Rapture—that some will go and some will stay. ALL believers, Paul plainly writes, will go to be with the Lord at the Departure. Paul writes further to the Thessalonians:

For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. (1 Thessalonians 5:9–10)

It is true that we are told by the Lord (Luke 21:36) that we are to watch and pray always that we may be accounted worthy to escape all the things of the Tribulation. But “worthy” in this sense means we should be living in such a way that we will not be ashamed when we stand before Him at the judgment seat–the bema. We should desire to hear our Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

This might not seem fair to those who disagree with me on this—those who believe they are living their own lives within God’s prescription for Christian behavior. But it’s not what we think is or is not fair that matters. It’s what the Word of God says that matters in any question of spiritual truth. God’s Holy Word says plainly that ALL believers who have died or are living during this present dispensation (the Church Age or Age of Grace) will go to be with the Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, when He makes that shout heard around the world to His Bride: “Come up here!”

This makes the question all-important to every person alive today: How can one be assured of going to Jesus Christ when He calls those of God’s family to depart from this judgment-bound planet? Here is the answer:

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)

Author’s note: The following Terryjamesprophecyline.com commentary was first posted on Raptureready.com on Monday, February 6, 2012, and was meant to examine the swiftly growing invasion of Islam into Western culture. It points out the mainstream news media complicity in allowing the invasion. My “Nearing Midnight” column, also posted this week on Raptureready.com, takes a look at the wrongly growing claim by prophecy pundits that the coming Antichrist will be a Muslim and that Islam will be the religious power that will make up the nucleus of the false worship system of the seven-year Tribulation.

In the article below is described the twisted religious fervor that leads to evil and destruction of families. Thankfully, as pointed out in “Nearing Midnight” on Raptureready.com this week, this system is slated for God’s judgment at the time of the Gog-Magog assault against Israel. Antichrist, who will assume much greater power once the Gog-Magog force is eliminated, will therefore not be part of that doomed religious system.  

What Kind of Love Is This?

A strange literary brain glitch seems to afflict mainstream news-media types these days. I find the disorder asserting its influence even in news briefs found on the front pages of my hometown newspaper. Such is the case as follows.

Mohammed Shafia, 58; his wife, Tooba Yahya, 42; and their son, Hamed, 21, all originally from Afghanistan, have been found guilty in Canada of first-degree murder in the killings of Shafia’s three teenage daughters and another of his wives in a polygamous marriage because they dishonored the family by defying its rules on dress, dating, socializing and Internet use. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, “In the News,” 1/30/12)

The story is front and center, yet a glaring fact is missing. It is as if the reporters are being blocked from finding the cause of the brutal killings that are almost routinely committed these days in the name of religious doctrine. The murders in the above news brief were, for example, reported in the following way by the Associated Press as passed along by NBC:

KINGSTON, Ontario—A jury on Sunday found an Afghan father, his wife and their son guilty of killing three teenage sisters and a co-wife in what the judge described as “cold-blooded, shameful murders” resulting from a “twisted concept of honor.” The jury took 15 hours to find Mohammad Shafia, 58; his wife Tooba Yahya, 42; and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case that shocked and riveted Canadians from coast to coast.”

Nowhere is the specific religious affiliation of the murderers mentioned. As a matter of fact, only one religion is mentioned, and that is through the use of the word “Christian” later in the piece. One of the teenagers murdered for her “twisted” concept of honor had condoms in her room and photos of herself wearing short skirts and hugging her Christian boyfriend, according to the story. The story broadcast by NBC never mentioned that religious reasons were at the core of the killings.

One might take from the story as presented that the reporting source wants us to infer that the girl was morally loose—as was her Christian boyfriend—and somehow deserved punishment.

What is it about the American media that causes an apparently unwritten rule that the use of the words “Muslim” and “Islam” are taboo in the contemporary journalistic lexicon?

The answer resides within the politically correct minds of those bent on shaping opinion in these dark days of setting the stage for the coming of Antichrist.

More to the point is the question posed by the title of this commentary: What kind of love is found in Islam, which we are told time and time again is a religion of love, not of hatred and violence?

It is a religion that commands–or at least condones—strapping bombs onto women and children and sending them out to kill as many as possible in the name of the religion’s god. When nearly three thousand people are murdered by nineteen adherents of the religion’s most fundamental tenets by flying airliners into buildings, the majority of Muslims celebrate in their streets. When every head of state and the governments–all of which are driven by Islamist rage—demand genocide to wipe the people of Israel from the map, good, loving Muslims around the world say nothing or agree that the Jews must go because the Koran demands it.

Killing teenage girls for the sake of Allah and a long-dead prophet of Islam because the youngsters want to assimilate into the culture that surrounds them is a growing crime in North America. Yet the news reports are completely silent about the real source of the beastly activity.

Of course, this shouldn’t surprise. Those who write and broadcast the stories are clueless pawns of the “prince of the power of the air.”

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (Ephesians 2:2–3)

Islam is neither a religion of love nor of peace–which are rooted in the same source. God’s Word tells us about His (the REAL God’s) prescription for living in love and peace:

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6–7)

“Millie! Get out of the street!” The yelling from the room next to me pulled me from my nap.

“Millie! Get out of the street!” The plea sounded again, and a few more times.

By now I was almost fully awake while sitting upright in my office recliner. My wife was trying to reason with a cat—not even our cat—to get out of the middle of the street in front of our home.

Over the many years, a number of our cats had met their demise in that street. So, the imploring wasn’t without a reason (although reasoning was a non sequitur, as you understand if you’ve ever tried to reason with a feline).

To Margaret, that has never been a factor—whether one can reason with a kitty. She wanted that female feline out of harm’s way before a certain neighbor—one who was apparently perpetually late, and who used the road as a quick route on the way to work, I presume—hit our street with her vehicle. My wife’s imploring was urgent, but it made no impact on Miss Millie. The cat was clueless and obviously had no intention of leaving her curled-up position upon the warm asphalt sleeping place.

My mind is most often these days, as anyone who reads these commentaries knows, on things that have to do with Bible prophecy and the indicators of how near we are to the end of the age. With all the signals in view that are so much like those Jesus and the prophets foretold, my thoughts are often triggered by incidental matters, bringing up topics to address in the articles.

While my thinking was clearing after I woke from my nap, my wife’s ineffective reasoning with Millie to get out of the street triggered the thought. Most today are clueless to the lateness of the prophetic hour, and, like Millie, aren’t paying a bit of attention to the nearness of the ultimate danger ahead—both in the Tribulation to come, and in an eternity apart from God.

Nonetheless, like the call made to that feline–who had no obvious interest whatsoever in responding—it is incumbent to keep calling those lost in sin to come away from the broad way leading to destruction by accepting Christ, the only Way to eternal life with God the Father in Heaven (John 14: 6).

Likewise, it is our job—yours and mine—as Christians, to warn other Christians who are clueless to the lateness of the prophetic hour. Believers—children of God—need to be aware that our Lord and Savior is on the very cusp of calling the Church into the clouds of Glory. This great event—the Rapture—could take place at any moment. The event, we are told, will come upon the entire world like a snare, like one of those nets that snatches jungle animals. This is the description God’s Word uses to indicate the sudden and unannounced occurrence at that “twinkling of an eye” moment when Christ shouts, as He did to the Apostle John, “Come up here!” (Revelation 4: 1).

The reason it’s so important for the Body of Christ—the Church—to understand the nearness of the Rapture is to create an awareness to be diligent in doing good works, as we will all be judged on our works at the Judgment Seat of Christ—the bema. We won’t be judged for our salvation, because Christ carried away all sin on the cross at Calvary. But the judgment will be for how well we have served our Lord.

The primary good work we are called to do is to carry out the Great Commission given by Jesus before He departed from earth to Heaven:

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:18–20)

In addition to reaching out to those who are lost in their sinful condition, we should, as “watchmen on the wall” who are aware of Bible prophecy and its truth, implore clueless Christians who are within our area of influence. We should beg them not to lie in that street cluelessly with the lost. These believers are not being taught about Christ’s return–about the Rapture—from most pastors in most pulpits. This is a neglected teaching in even well-known Evangelical church bodies today.

When Christians truly understand the nearness of the call from Jesus Christ, many will have a spiritual, holy fire ignited within their desires. They’ll then earnestly want to bring as many of the lost into the family of God as possible, seeing that the time is short.

We must warn the clueless—that is, reach out to the lost and to fellow believers who need to be clued in to where we stand on God’s prophetic timeline.

Unlike in the case of the plea to a nonresponsive feline in danger in the street, our plea to lost humanity to come from that broad way of death has a supernatural voice that is guaranteed to be heard. Maybe it won’t be heeded, but if not, it will be a willful rejection–a deliberate act of unresponsiveness.

For God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

This is a guarantee from God: No person is without a call to repentance. God the Holy Spirit makes it known that there is a need of the Redeemer to save them from the danger of separation from God.

Let us warn the clueless, for the field of souls is ripe unto harvest at this critical prophetic hour. Here is the message to inform these of God’s matchless grace:

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)  

In comparing our time on earth today to the “days of Noah,” which the Lord said it will be like at the end of the age when He next catastrophically intervenes into history, I believe we see absolute evidence of the lateness of the prophetic hour.

Violence, of course, marked that antediluvian era, and the world of humanity had been corrupted. We’ve looked in these columns at all the proliferating violence in just about every region of the planet. I can’t think of a time in my life when there have been more wars and rumors of war than today. And, with the nuclear factor possibly at play in many of the conflicts, the very existence of humanity, if not for God’s staying hand, would be questionable in considering the near future.

So, we can say that humankind, at this hour, fits within the “days of Noah” likeness in the matter of violence being in every direction we look.

However, it’s a bit more problematic to think about the second symptom of Noah’s day before the Great Flood. Corruption and violence went hand in hand with the Lord’s decision to destroy all He had created. Here is the account:

“The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth” (Genesis 6:12-13).

People had corrupted all of God’s order as He intended for human life on earth.

Mankind, after the Fall in Eden, embarked on a violence-ridden rebellion that included embracing genetic corruption through sexual union with fallen angels. The rebellion of humanity was so great that there was total rejection of Heaven’s order of life. The destruction was inevitable, with God making the exception of Noah and his family, those who had not corrupted their way on the doomed planet.

We can easily extrapolate from this terminal action that rebellion against God’s order reaches a point that He will end it—with great though righteous violence. There will always be, when this point of corruption is reached, reaction by God, who will exert His omniscient, all-powerful control.

Sometimes God’s control is executed instantly, like when Sodom and Gomorrah were decimated following the removal of Lot and his daughters to safety. At other times, such omnipotent controlling reaction is applied in an incremental way, such as when the Lord gave Nineveh forty days to repent. But when God’s order of things reaches an incorrigible level, He exerts His righteous judgment and wrath.

When it reached the time when humankind’s corruptive rebellion had come to the point that God the Father had to exercise His control over man’s incorrigibility—the Adamic, bloodstream sin-contamination that would destroy humankind for eternity—God placed all sin on the back of His Perfect Son, who became the scapegoat sacrifice: the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

God thereby displayed His love for His creation called “man.” He bestowed mercy and grace for all who will accept that great sacrifice.

The Lord Jesus Himself gave a heads-up on what happens when people rebel against God’s order of creation.

As He entered Jerusalem to become the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, the people began to praise Him, just as God intended, because Jesus was indeed the Messiah and the very Son of God. The Judaizers—who had fought against Jesus at every opportunity and, eventually, would, at least they thought, achieve in getting Him crucified—scolded Jesus, telling Him to make those praising Him to be silent.

Jesus answered these spawns of the devil: “I tell you, if these [people] were to keep silent, the stones would cry out” (Luke 19:40).

The very planet–the geophysical elements—Jesus was saying would, if the people did not praise Him in truth and within God’s order of things at that moment, convulse in an earth-shattering demonstration of rebellion against the Creator’s holy will.

This brings us to the encompassing purpose of the title of this piece: “Defying God’s Order.”

Considering all the evil perpetrated against God’s order of life on the planet He flung into space, should we have to wonder whether the geophysical gyrations we are witnessing are likely the beginning of the Lord’s incremental infliction against rebellious mankind’s incorrigibility?

With homosexuality, transsexual insanity, abortions, and other atrocities against children by the tens of millions, and other things of defiance against God’s order that we could name if space permitted, is it any wonder that the God of Heaven is about to intervene in a catastrophic way?

As a matter of fact, in a single day’s coverage of our Rapture Ready News, in my opinion, is a reflection, possibly, even likely, proof of how the Lord’s geophysical creation is beginning to convulse, as Jesus warned that day He was about to die for our sins. Here are a few brief descriptions of such geophysical likely evidence:

• Isesaki breaks Japan’s all-time heat record with 41.8°C (107.2°F) on August 5

Isesaki in Gunma Prefecture recorded 41.8°C (107.2°F) at 14:26 LT on August 5, 2025, setting Japan’s highest temperature on record and marking the second time in one week that the national record was broken.

• Smoke from Canadian wildfires triggers air quality alerts in 10 U.S. states, 2025 nears second-worst year

Air quality alerts were issued across the U.S. Midwest and Northeast on Monday, August 4, 2025, and remain in effect on August 5, as over 740 wildfires burning across Canada send smoke to the U.S. Currently, 2025 is the third most destructive year for wildfires in Canada and is likely to become the second most destructive year, surpassing 1989 when wildfires burned over 17 million acres of land across the country.

• Hong Kong records highest August daily rainfall since 1884; four black warnings in 8 days

Hong Kong recorded its heaviest August daily rainfall since records began in 1884, with 355-359 mm (14-14.1 inches) measured by mid-afternoon on August 5, 2025, prompting a black rainstorm warning that lasted more than 11 hours, the second‑longest on record.

• Destructive floods hit southern Taiwan after 2,900 mm (114 inches) of rainfall in one week

Extremely heavy rainfall totaling nearly 2,900 mm (114 inches) from July 28 to August 4, 2025, caused severe flooding and landslides across southern Taiwan, killing at least four people, leaving three missing, and forcing nearly 6,000 to evacuate.

• Southern Kamchatka shifted 2 m (6.6 feet) during M8.8 earthquake on July 29, 2025

Preliminary data from KBGSRAS shows that the southern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula shifted southeastward by nearly 2 m (6.6 feet) after M8.8 earthquake (Rapture Ready News, August 6, 2025)

God’s ultimate order of things for everyone is that you, whoever you are, be saved from the sin that separates you forever from Him unless you repent and ask Jesus Christ for the salvation, the redemption, He offers. Here, again, is how to be saved from the judgment that God must send against those who reject His Son’s sacrifice on the cross.

“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).

Anyone who studies Bible prophecy from the pre-Trib viewpoint and observes the issues and events under that great prophetic microscope must include the Apostle Paul’s “perilous times” forecast to comprehend this end-times panorama.

Here again is that prophecy:

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. (2 Timothy 3:1–5)

We’ve looked at these end-of-the-age characteristics many times in these articles and other venues. Usually, the topics have concentrated on the words used by Paul, including “men shall be…lovers of themselves, fierce and without natural affection.”

Certainly, this generation displays these characteristics in significant profusion. We’ve pointed out, for example, that posting “selfies” and creative narcissistic narratives on Facebook and other platforms indicates that this generation embraces the description “lovers of their own selves” given in this prophecy.

The characteristic “without natural affection,” we’ve noted, involves mothers aborting more than sixty million babies here in America. Also, it’s been pointed out that homosexuality and the transsexual victimization of children proves that this generation demonstrates that “without natural affection” trait as well.

We only have to look at the “wars and rumors of war” going on in the form of military conflict between warring nations, and at raging in the streets right here in America, to understand that we’re experiencing the characteristic Paul described as “fierce.”

All the “perilous times,” end-times descriptives are in play at this moment as we receive reports hourly of what’s going on in the world. But I’d like to look in particular at a couple of terms in Paul’s prophecy for the balance of the commentary: “trucebreakers,” “false accusers,” “traitors,” and “highminded.”

In my view, those words describe growing evidence encompassing the revealing of the false accusations and evil perpetrated within the so-called deep state over the past number of years. All the wicked subterfuge committed against first a presidential candidate, then the ongoing such activity against that man in his two separate presidencies is on the verge of being proven, I believe. Or perhaps by the time this commentary is posted, the revelations and subsequently the truth will already have come forth.

I’m sure those doing the traitorous activity will no doubt still be claiming, despite the evidence, that it’s all just political rhetoric—or is otherwise framed as not believable.

To me, it reflects on the biblical prognosis, “Be sure, your sins will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).

The perpetrators of this traitorous subterfuge just might have been found out. The following might be the evidence that will prove the traitorous activity that has filled the headlines with lies for so many years.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard accused former President Barack Obama of orchestrating a “treasonous conspiracy” to undermine Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory, making unprecedented allegations from the White House briefing room on Wednesday, July 23, 2025.

Speaking at 11:44 PM EDT, Gabbard alleged that Obama and his national security team directed the creation of an intelligence community assessment they knew was false regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election. The former Democratic congresswoman claimed Obama’s administration manufactured findings to promote the narrative that Russia interfered to help Trump win. (“Obama Accused of Treason in Shocking Development,” Headline Reporter, Sunday, July 27, 2025)

Following shortly thereafter evidence was discovered that might prove true the charges made by the National Security Director.

FBI Director Kash Patel has uncovered a trove of long-hidden documents tied to the Trump-Russia investigation inside a secret room at FBI headquarters, according to sources familiar with the discovery who spoke with Fox News. The stash—found in so-called “burn bags” typically used to destroy sensitive materials—reportedly includes thousands of pages and computer hard drives, among them the classified annex to former Special Counsel John Durham’s final report.

Speaking in a June interview with podcast host Joe Rogan, Patel described locating the previously undisclosed room inside the bureau’s Hoover Building. “Comedy and others hid [this room] from the world…locked the key and hid access and just said, ‘No one’s ever gonna find this place,’” Patel said. He added the room was filled with documents and storage devices “that no one had ever seen or heard of.” (“Patel Uncovers Hidden FBI Files Tied to Trump-Russia Probe,” by Walt Rasinger, New Conservative Post, July 31, 2025)

To me, this entire political cesspool smells of the Apostle Paul’s “perilous times” descriptions: “trucebreakers,” “false accusers,” “traitors,” and “high-minded.” That shouldn’t be surprising to those who seek truth in their study of Bible prophecy. As we discern prophetic stage-setting signals in every direction on the near horizon so near the end of this Age of Grace, this great traitorous betrayal predicted by Paul is front and center. When we see “all these things beginning to come to pass,” then we understand it is time to “look up! Our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, is drawing near”!

Israel is the one nation and Jerusalem is the one city on the planet God personally reserves for Himself. He doesn’t equivocate; it is His nation and city, and anyone or anything that tries to wrest it from Him will suffer eternal consequences.

We ascertain this when we read verses like the following:

• “For the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me” (Leviticus 25:23).
• “Then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you” (2 Chronicles 7:20).
• “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it” (Zechariah 12:2–3).

The God of Creation, who in reality owns every atom of existence, clearly tells the inhabitants of planet earth that these are His geographical places. The Lord, in warning those who would harm Jerusalem, refers to that city this way:

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. (Zechariah 2:8)

Jesus, the Messiah, said about this city, while weeping,

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [thou] that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under [her] wings, and ye would not! (Matthew 23:37)

These and many other Scriptures make it undeniably clear that God loves Israel and Jerusalem. He considers them His personal earthly real estate. He loved them in the past and has great prophetic plans for them. Therefore, He loves Israel and Jerusalem today.

This being the documentable case, I’ve had a question for a number of decades: Why the following reference to this divinely designated real estate?

And their dead bodies [shall lie] in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. (Revelation 11:8)

The reference here is to the two witnesses who will preach to the earth-dwellers of the Tribulation era. The question that has always ruminated in my mind is why God calls this beloved city and nation, “spiritually,” “Sodom and Egypt”?

The people of Israel, before its dispersions and after its modern regathering in the land, have been wicked and done things contrary to God’s will. But so have every other city and nation that have ever existed.

The condemnation in this Revelation context seems to reference prophecy yet future. Jerusalem is destined to become as wicked as the ancient city of Sodom and the idol-worshipping ancient Egypt, in God’s holy view. This shouldn’t surprise, considering how the devil is working overtime everywhere in the world today. Satan wanted to usurp the throne of God—e.g., Isaiah 14:13–14. It stands to reason—and to scriptural analysis—that the wicked one would want to usurp Christ’s future earthly throne as well. And, for a fact, not even the unbelieving heathens of the world can deny that Jerusalem and the nation Israel are at the center of global conflict today. It is the most feared potential point for triggering nuclear conflagration on this old, troubled sphere.

Lucifer, the fallen one, is certainly working his devilish plan to bring all to Armageddon. This includes his all out-efforts against the apple of God’s eye—the city of Zion, Jerusalem. He will indeed succeed in making Jerusalem, spiritually, like Sodom. Proof that Satan’s plan is far along in its progress toward that goal is in today’s news.

Since 2006 the efforts have been ongoing to make Jerusalem the center or focus of the gay pride organizational drive in Israel. There continues to be resistance to that drive. The following report explains somewhat.

May 30 (Reuters)—Jerusalem on Thursday held its annual gay pride parade under heavy security and with a subdued vibe, given the solemn mood in Israel after months of war.

LGBTQ+ supporters marched the streets of Jerusalem carrying rainbow flags, Israeli flags and yellow ribbons, a symbol for hostages still held in Gaza. Absent were the vibrant cheers and music that usually accompany the event. Organizers estimated that 10,000 people marched. Police said some 2,000 officers were on guard.

The turnout was smaller than in previous years. Last year’s parade in Jerusalem was estimated to have drawn 30,000 people.

Netanel Shaler, executive director at Havruta, an LGBTQ+ group for those with a religious leaning, said the goal was to be sensitive to the overall security situation while still allowing people to march…

Some protesters appeared on the sidelines holding signs against the parade. There were no unexpected incidents or violence, the organizers said.

Yair Lapid, the opposition leader and former prime minister, took part in the event. “The march is more important this year than ever,” he said. “Here we are reminded that we are not only fighting for the life of the state of Israel but also for what kind of country it will be. What its values are. What it believes in.”

Things are prophetically setting up for the moment when the man of sin, Satan’s false messiah, Antichrist, sits in a temple atop Mount Moriah, precisely above the spot where the Ark of the Covenant once sat (2 Thessalonians 2:3–4). He might even sit upon the same Ark, if it is found, or a counterfeit one, declaring himself to be God, and demanding worship (Revelation 13).

So, the grand parade to pervert God’s order of things regarding sexuality will be on full display, no doubt, until the man of sin sits on Moriah declaring himself to be God.

They have given it the title “gay pride.” Here’s what God says about humankind’s pride–especially that which perverts His creation order: “The fear of the LORD [is] to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate” (Proverbs 8:13).

Can there be serious doubt that this generation—as witnessed through the events in Jerusalem—stands poised upon the precipice of these last days?

Most serious students of Bible prophecy—at least those who study from the pre-Trib perspective—agree that the most prominent indicator of where we are on God’s prophetic timeline is God’s chosen nation, Israel.

Again, the prophet Zechariah gives a clue to this being the case:

The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. (Zechariah 12:1–3)

Here, God’s Word, through the prophet, states that ultimately God Himself will bring all nations to account by presenting Israel as an offense that will bring their wrath against His chosen nation.

This hatred for Israel–for the Jew—will be manifest in the eyes of all God’s creation as time moves forward. The nations, infected with the sin-spawned reprobate mindset inflicted by the father of lies, Satan, will seek to destroy God’s chosen nation and people.

Jesus spoke to this prophecy while on the Mount of Olives answering His disciple’s question: “What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3).

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. (Matthew 24:9–10)

I believe that while Israel and the Jews have been hated and persecuted through the eons of time, the above prophecies speak specifically to the conditions when Christ’s return is nearing.

I have wondered why the Lord said: “And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.”

While the reason He said this might be different than I imagine, I’ve concluded that it might have at least something to do with what we see now in the United States of America.

Why do most Jews in the big blue cities seem to join with the leftist, radical Muslim rants against Israel and even the Jews as a race? This is a mind-bender—or maybe a Spirit-bender matter. Israel-hating ideological evil infects even the Jewish people themselves. So much so that they will come against, or betray, their own race just to join the madness that seeks to wipe Israel off the map of the world.

This reflects Jesus’ words about the time when everything moves toward the era of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30: 7)–a period Jesus said will be the worst in all of human history (Matthew 24:21).

It appears, according to hourly news, that the world today is well into that powerful movement towards the fulfillment of Christ’s prophecy that Israel and the Jews would face great persecution—even greater than that of Hitler’s Holocaust. Here are some examples of the build-up toward that time of Jacob’s trouble.

“Fine Scholar”: UC Berkeley chancellor praises professor who expressed solidarity with Oct. 7 attacks

Richard K. Lyons, who assumed the chancellorship in July 2024, issued the unmitigated praise while being questioned by members of the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce, which summoned him and the chief administrators of two other major universities to interrogate their handling of the campus anti-Semitism crisis.

Ontario teacher called six-year-old student “half-human” for having a Jewish parent

An Ontario teacher referred to a six-year-old student as “half-human” for having a Jewish parent. This is only one incident among many that are happening in Ontario, home to 30,000 Jewish children.

“Kill all Jews”—Beloved children’s character goes off script, calls for genocide of Jews

On Sunday, the official X account of Elmo, a Muppet character from the television show Sesame Street, was hacked and used to post anti-Jewish, anti-Trump, and Jeffrey Epstein-related posts. “Kill all Jews,” one post read. “Elmo says ALL JEWS SHOULD DIE. F*** Jews,” read another.

An Israeli nuclear strike on Yemen won’t stop us: Houthi official

A senior Houthi official confirmed that the Yemen-based terror group will continue attacking Israel even after the fighting in Gaza ends, pledging that it is fully committed to destroying the Jewish state.

Iran targeting UK Jews for abduction, assassination, intel panel reports

A July 10 report by the British parliamentary committee that oversees the United Kingdom’s intelligence agencies, including Mi5 and Mi6, revealed that Iran is targeting British Jews for killing and kidnapping in the U.K. Intelligence agencies told the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament that physical threats by Iranian Intelligence Services (IIS) against U.K.-based individuals has “significantly increased recently both in pace and with regard to the number of threats.”

These headlines were posted on Rapture Ready News July 14 through July 16 of this year. Many more such anti-Israel, anti-Semitic news items flow across my attention daily, as I’m sure they come before your eyes constantly.

The evidence that we are nearing the time of the Tribulation era shouldn’t be missed by those who look up in anticipation of the “Blessed Hope.” Israel is at the heart of the signals the Lord Jesus Christ gave us to observe. That evidence couldn’t be more blatant.

Here’s what Jesus told us to do as we observe the end times:

And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for our redemption draweth nigh. (Luke 21:28)

At this time in history when God seems far from the fallen, wicked minds of man, upon observing the evil in every direction, we might legitimately observe that some within the theological milieu no doubt say that Deity, if indeed He exists, has thoughts turned to directions other than this miniscule dot in the universe called Planet Earth.

Many who are less existential—that is, less agnostic in their view of the interaction between God and man—most likely think God is just awaiting the moment when He gets fed up and will strike, like He did in the cases of Sodom and Gomorrah. That it is, He will be “hands off” until that prophetic moment. (And there is much biblical evidence that that time is coming.)

But there is dramatic evidence, in full view, that the God of Heaven is neither existential nor brooding with building anger. The primary evidence sits starkly in God’s key city, Jerusalem. It is God’s very touchstone to humanity.

This touchstone is the key to thousands of years of wars fought by peoples, tribes, and nations. It is the one geographical feature on earth that will bring all rebellious humankind to the killing fields of Megiddo–Armageddon.

This touchstone is where God’s omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent attention once resided. It is the touchstone where God Himself will again take up residence.

Let’s look at this once and future dwelling place of the Creator of all there is, with the assurance that even now He is fully engaged with humanity.

David, king of Israel, wanted to build a house wherein God could reside. Jehovah, who called David “a man after my own heart,” proposed the question of whether He could be contained in such a structure. The answer, of course, was no…

The Lord did appreciate the thought, though, obviously. He told David he couldn’t build a place where God could dwell among men in that fashion. David had too much blood on his hands from all the wars he had fought to defend Israel and acquire land God gave the chosen people.

Instead, God told David that Solomon, David’s son, would build God such a dwelling place.

The Temple Solomon built had at its heart the Holy of Holies, a fifteen-foot-cubed inner sanctum wherein sat the Ark of the Covenant, the elaborately prepared container wherein the Shekinah Glory, the very presence of God, would dwell.

That spot is still somewhere upon the Temple Mount—Mount Moriah, most scholars believe. Religious Jews still are afraid to walk upon the Temple Mount grounds for fear of accidentally treading upon that one spot on earth where God chose to once reside.

The Temple and the Holy of Holies constituted God’s touchstone to humanity—and particularly to the Jews. It is the place where Abraham was to offer Isaac before God intervened with the ram caught by its horns in a thicket, thus providing the sacrifice Abraham made to the God of Heaven.

Not far from the spot of the Holy of Holies is Golgotha, where the Son of God—Jesus the Christ—the once-and-for-all sacrifice for all the sins of humankind—hung on the cross. When Christ died, the veil in the Temple’s Holy of Holies tore from top to bottom, giving man direct access to God the Father through that sin-Sacrifice, God’s only Begotten Son.

Solomon’s Temple, then, was the First Temple. Its glorious beauty stunned even the queen of Sheba when her eyes fell upon its splendor.

A Third Temple will be built at a future time, Bible prophecy says. Solomon’s was the First Temple. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it in 587 BC.

The building of the Second Temple took place following Israel’s Babylonian captivity. It lasted from 516 BC to AD 70. It became known as Herod’s Temple, when it was commissioned by the king to be greatly expanded in size and beautified to the extent that it was considered magnificent by those who looked upon it.

This Temple was destroyed by the Roman military in AD 70, when Roman Emperor Vespasian sent his son, General Titus, to put down insurrection in Jerusalem. (This was a fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy in Daniel 9:26–27 and of Jesus’ foretelling as recorded in Matthew 24:1–2).

The Third Temple will be in place during the last seven years of human history prior to Christ’s return. Daniel prophesied about Antichrist: “in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease” (Daniel 9: 27b). This last, most vicious, tyrant will enter the Third Temple and desecrate it.

Paul the apostle says of that future temple and Antichrist: “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

The Third Temple is mentioned in the book of Revelation. In 11: 1–2 of that detailed account of unfolding events during the Tribulation, John is told to “measure” the Temple. This, apparently, is a symbolic way to assess its spiritual status.

Exactly when the Third Temple will be built is unknown. The prophetic Word says only that it will exist during the seven years of Tribulation—specifically, at the three-and-one-half-year mark.

Many who study the Third Temple matter believe construction of the structure must start well in advance of the Tribulation era. The completion of such an edifice, they believe, will take quite a measure of time. Others hold that the Jews are even now contemplating building a tent-type structure like Moses’ Tabernacle. They believe worship, with sacrifices reinstituted, could be going on there while the more grandiose Temple is under construction.

There are, of course, problems with beginning to build the Third Temple. These matters involve millennia-long hatreds against God’s blueprint for His chosen nation and the rest of humanity. The hatred is satanically driven. We watch it manifest as daily headlines unfold. Israel –the Jewish people—are beginning to be hated on a global scale, not just by Israel’s immediately surrounding neighbors in the Middle East.

Mount Moriah—the Temple Mount—is proof from Heaven that God’s mighty hand holds sway over all that’s said to occur. Watch with intense observation that great touchstone to humanity and all that unfolds from now until Christ calls the Church –all believers—to Himself in the Rapture.

We look around at the insanity that seemingly dominates culture and society and ask: “Has the world gone completely mad?” The Bible has the answer, of course. Paul the great apostle, for example, gives an answer:

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. (Romans 1:29–32)

We are in the middle of a generation that embraces evil, as we have looked at many times. I’ve proposed in these commentaries that Jesus’ own words give us the truth about a future generation like the one described by Paul. It is the Lord’s prophecy about the generation who will be alive when He next intervenes catastrophically into the wicked affairs of humankind. He said it will be just like it was during the time of Lot Sodom.

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)

While there are many things we can call “evil” and “wicked,” there is a specific form of wickedness that marked Lot’s day, as we all know. God came down to Abraham, Lot’s uncle, to say He was going to check Sodom to see if all the wickedness was taking place. Of course, God knew the state of that debauched society and culture. After Abraham tried to bargain with the Lord, asking if he would spare the city if a certain number of righteous people could be found, and only Lot fell into that category, God destroyed the city after removing the only righteous people–Lot and his daughters.

The primary evil reported in the Word of God concerning God’s judgment of and destruction of Sodom was the sexual debauchery rampant in the city. The sexual wickedness, according to Genesis 19, was that of homosexuality.

Again, Paul mentions this:

For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. (Romans 1:26–27) 

Jude tells of this matter that angers the God of Heaven to the point that He must act in His perfect righteousness. Many who read the little book of Jude are struck by his word that is ubiquitous in his prophecy for the very end of humanity’s war against the God who created them. That word is “ungodly”:

And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. (Jude 1: 14-19)

Jude, in his condemning prophecy about ungodliness, gave an example of the wickedness that would bring God’s wrath.

Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. (Jude 1:7–8)

Jesus, Paul, and Jude were speaking of our own time so near the end of this Age of Grace, I have no doubt. The following news story should make it clear as to the above prophecies could very likely apply to this very hour.

A video of a mock “de-baptism” ritual at a Michigan LGBT “pride” festival has emerged on Instagram.

The video shows a man in an orange shirt reading “God Hates FAGs” pointing an unplugged hairdryer labelled “reason” at a woman’s head.

The Instagram user said she underwent the ceremony at Lansing Pride 2025.

She reflected on being baptized in the Mormon Church at age 8, saying she had been baptized without “informed spiritual consent.” She described the “de-baptism” as a moment of release and healing, writing, “Dry, whole, and finally, by my own choice.”

The booth offering the ritual was hosted by “Michigan Atheists,” which described the ceremony as “a powerful act of self-affirmation.” The group also pledged support for gender ideology under the banner of “freedom of expression.” It plans to offer similar activities at “Royal Oak Pride” and “Ann Arbor Pride” later this summer.

So-called “de-baptism” (and “un-baptism”) ceremonies have also become common amongst satanist groups.

“Lansing Pride” itself featured over 200 vendors and performances. This year’s events included the “Free to Bee Family Zone” for children, which offered drag story times, free books, and LGBT-themed activities aimed at “empowering kids to embrace and celebrate differences.” (“LGBT ‘pride’ participants undergo sacrilegious ‘de-baptism’ ritual,” LifeSite, Rapture Ready News July 3, 2025)

What more appropriate word to use in defining such wickedness than that word used by the prophet Jude in describing Christ’s return to judge such evil? “Ungodly” is that word and, as Jude describes, ungodliness is worthy of God’s wrath.

For those caught up in the wickedness of this age so near the Tribulation, here again is how to accept God’s forgiveness and not come under His wrath and judgment that is swiftly approaching.

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)