I’m excited to announce my new book, Rapture Ready…or Not?, is officially available! You can preview the book by clicking here. I want to first say thank you for your support, prayers, and encouragement. I’m grateful for each of you. I would love your word-of-mouth marketing expertise to help spread the news that the book is officially available.

My team has prepared some easy ways for you to help (listed below). I would greatly appreciate it.

How Can You Help?

1. Reviews: Post a review on Amazon: The review feature for the book is now open. I’d love to have your feedback.
2. Blog: Have a blog? We’d love for you to write about the book on your blog. If you want to give away a copy to one of your readers, the publisher is happy to give you a reader copy. Just email: kgumm@nlpg.com and include “Blogger Review Copy” in the subject of your email.
3. Word of Mouth: What’s one of the most influential things when deciding what book to read? A recommendation from a friend, right?
4. Social Media: Below my team has listed out some sample posts you’re welcome to use. We’d love for you to share about the book and this message on your social media sites.

   Sample Facebook/Social Media Posts:

The Rapture is near, ready or not. Discover 15 reasons this is the generation that will be left behind by reading Rapture Ready…or Not? by Terry James- http://bit.ly/1Zh6bww

Where does this generation stand on God’s prophetic timeline? Find out by reading Rapture Ready…or Not? by Terry James: http://bit.ly/1Zh6bww

“With most every signal given by Jesus and the Bible prophets pulsing in headline fashion across our hourly news, this book expresses the urgency of being spiritually prepared for prophetic things to come.” –Dr. Tim LaHaye. Get your copy of Rapture Ready…or Not? by Terry James here: http://bit.ly/1Zh6bww

Jesus Christ is the Shelter from the coming Tribulation storm of God’s wrath and judgment. Are you Rapture Ready? http://bit.ly/1Zh6bww     _______________________________________________________

Here are a few graphics you’re welcome to use across social media platforms and online:

For promotional copies of the book and any media or promotional inquiries, please contact my publicist Katie Gumm: kgumm@nlpg.com or 870-438-5288.

Sincerely,
Terry James
World-Renown Author & Speaker,
on the topic of Bible Prophecy

The following is the author’s  preview of his new book, Rapture Ready…Or Not: 15 Reasons This Is the Generation That Will Be Left Behind.

Good Friday, April 11, 2011, is a day that is indelibly imprinted upon my thoughts. I was attacked painfully and unexpectedly by the “widow maker.”

Each of the three times my heart stopped—occurring a number of minutes apart— and I was clinically dead on arrival at the hospital because of the arterial blockage, I stood instantaneously before the same cheering group of young, beautiful people: men and women who bid me to come join them. They energetically laughed and leaped with their arms and hands extended upward in unrestrained jubilation.

My extensively documented clinical death and recovery on Good Friday of 2011 was so profound that the cardiologists’ association of my state gave me the “Cardiology Patient of the Year” award. Subsequently, I was asked to address the doctors at their meeting, and I did so. I gave God the Glory and them my thanks for their profession’s help in their part in being used by the Almighty in producing the “Miracle”.

I have been shown in my spiritual understanding that the youthful, heavenly beings in my clinical death experience were a “cloud of witnesses” as described in Hebrews 12:1–3. They were celebrating the victorious message wrapped up in the most glorious promise Jesus Christ made to His Church for this Age of Grace.

I have for decades written and spoken in conferences and interviews, as well as in TV and radio broadcasts on the Rapture as presented in God’s prophetic Word.

Rapture Ready…Or Not: 15 Reasons This Is the Generation That Will Be Left Behind is the resultant product of those decades of study and work that culminated in this  Heaven Vision. The experience I was allowed, I know beyond any doubt, was validation for the message the Lord wants presented to all within this generation who will listen and heed His urgent notice to a world swiftly moving into unprecedented trouble.

Jesus said: “For then shall be tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21).

The Lord promised to rescue those who believe in Him from this time of horror. He said the following:

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)

He said further:

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)  

Rapture Ready…Or Not: 15 Reasons This Is the Generation That Will Be Left Behind is dedicated to getting that message to the world in these days that are observably so near the time of the great, unprecedented, trouble about which the Lord forewarns. The message is one of urgency, I’m convicted in the deepest reaches of my spirit. Signs given by Jesus and the prophets are flashing their warning from our hourly news headlines.

Signals of the coming Tribulation that are pulsing with urgency leap from these pages at readers who want to know where this generation stands on God’s prophetic timeline. Some of those signals are encapsulated within the book’s chapters as cocooned within these several of my conclusions.

• A sure reason that this is the generation that will be left behind are the many scoffers who, like in 2 Peter 3:3–4, ask in derisive, scathing tone: “Where is the promise of Jesus’ coming?”
• The world is being spiritually and psychologically prepared to believe the deluding lie of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. This is a prime reason I’m convinced this is the generation that will be left behind when Christians go to be with Christ in the Rapture.
• Greatly advanced technologies and control instrumentalities that have developed for the coming 666 beast-state system of Revelation 13, I believe, is a reason to say this is the generation about to be left behind when Rapture occurs.
• Today, like in the Genesis chapter 6 account of the days of Noah, thoughts of mankind are only on evil almost continually. This is a major reason this looks like the generation that will be left behind for God’s judgment.
• All nations now in alignment for the wind-up of human history in accordance with Ezekiel 38 and 39 and other Bible prophecies is a primary reason to understand that this will be the generation that will be left behind when the Rapture occurs.
• Paul’s perilous-times prophecy of 2 Timothy chapter 3 headlines our news daily. Those characteristics of end-times man therein depicted constitute a sure reason to believe that this will be the left-behind generation.
• The Roman Empire reforming, and geopolitical, economic, and religious prophetic indicators converging as forewarned in Luke 21: 28, are dramatic reasons to know that this will be the generation that will be left behind.
• Israel in the center of geopolitical controversy like in Zechariah 12:1–3, with anti-Semitism growing worldwide and attempts at forcing a peace covenant like in Daniel 9:26, demanding that Israel give up its land prophesied in Joel 3:2, constitute the number-one reason, I believe, why this is the generation that will be left behind when the Rapture occurs.

These and many other scripturally based prophetic factors are dealt with—all pointing to Christ’s call to His Church being heard by believers at any moment.

Here are a few chapter titles that harbor electrifying things going on in these very last hours of the age:

• UFO Sightings and Other Strange Stuff
• Big Brother for a Not-So-Brave New World
• Vampires, Zombies, Transhumans, and Other Fiends
• The Ravenous Bear and Other Prophesied Wild Beasts
• Wanna See Some Nasty End-time Pictures?
• The Roman Empire Strikes Back!
• Who is That Masked Man on a White Horse?
• A Really Strong Cocktail Called Israel
• Armageddon Line-up for the Super Bowl of War
• The Greatest Comeback of all Time!

Heaven’s Message to this generation is that, Rapture Ready…Or Not, planet earth is about to be convulsed in one microsecond of time. A truly giant leap for mankind will be the result. Don’t be left behind!

********************

Dr. Tim LaHaye, co-author of the Left Behind series, says the following about this book:

Terry James, my long-time friend and colleague in the study of Bible prophecy, has captured the essence of why this generation is likely to be that left behind at the glorious moment when all born-again believers are suddenly called into Christ’s presence. With most every signal given by Jesus and the Bible prophets pulsing in headline fashion across our hourly news, this book expresses the urgency of being spiritually prepared for prophetic things to come.

Rapture Ready…Or Not is a particularly prescient book for these troubling, though exciting time so near the end of the age.

Others highly respected in the study of Bible prophecy say the following.

“What a profound warning that the Tribulation hour is near and we need to get our houses in order—particularly spiritually. But this book also adds to the confidence of the pre-Trib Rapture that is now so under attack. My thanks to Terry James for defending this important theology.”

– Jan Markell, Olive Tree Ministries

“Terry James has done it again! He has written a fascinating and challenging book about end time Bible prophecy that should appeal to Millennials as well as others. His concept of the timing of the Rapture is particularly challenging and should drive the readers into the Scriptures.”

– Dr. David R. Reagan, Lamb & Lion Ministries

“Terry James writes with precision and passion as he documents the past, present and the soon-coming future.

Terry has had a long and prolific writing career  despite his blindness. I suspect God has purposefully given him ‘eyes to see’ prophetic truth with a degree of clarity few experience, that all may more perfectly understand the riches of Bible prophecy.

RAPTURE READY…or not? shows a firm grasp of history, abounds with insights and practical illustrations, and includes a plethora of Bible references. It will prove to be an invaluable resource for the serious Christian—and has the potential for birthing healthy alarm in the hearts of the carnally at ease.”

-Pastor Larry Spargimino, Southwest Radio Ministries

***********************

To get your copy of Rapture Ready…Or Not: 15 Reasons This Is the Generation That Will Be Left Behind, order as follows.

“Rapture ready…Or Not? 15 Reasons This Is The Generation That Will Be Left Behind” is available for pre-order.

Special Offer: Pre-order today at NLPG.com and you will get a FREE DIGITAL COPY of the book to start reading today and the physical copy will be mailed to you as soon as it is available for shipping.

Link to use:

http://www.nlpg.com/rapture-ready

***SPECIAL OFFER TO PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS OF YOUR MILLENNIAL GENERATION CHILDREN!***

The Pass It On Offer:

Pass It On! Don’t be a “selfie”. The next generation needs to know that Christ will be returning soon! Sadly, the Rapture is not a topic most young people are talking about over their mocha lattes or debating on social media. May I encourage you to purchase a copy of Rapture Ready to give to a younger person in your life as a conversation starter? And together we will pray that seeds will be planted that have eternal impact.

My publisher, wants to help too! Right now you can order 2 books for $20 and FREE SHIPPING.

http://www.nlpg.com/rapture-ready-2-pack

Or, you can order directly from AMAZON

The Iliad and the Odyssey of the unknown Homer–the many tragedies that spun from Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and other of the ancient Greek playwrights–are but shadowy scripts of insignificance in the end-times stage lights that illuminate our headlines hourly these days. Gripping reality in the land that gave us the stories of the likes of Oedipus, Agamemnon, Prometheus, and, of course, of Zeus, Aphrodite, Hercules, and all that make up the Greek fictional accounts present movement toward tragedy with a far more bitter ending than any in mythology.

It is not tragedy for the Greeks alone of which I write. The stage is set to bring the whole world to the prophetic destiny laid out in Bible prophecy. When considering the roots of the continent of Europe, most first think of Italy or the center of that great empire, the city of Rome. The other state that most often comes to mind when thinking on where Europe began is Greece and its ancient center, Athens.

Athens, of course, predates Rome in fame–or infamy—depending upon one’s view of those empires. But, the thing to keep in mind for prophetic cogitation is that the ancient Roman Empire–which had at its heart great portions of the ancient Greek culture— is foretold to one day be a major power player. This will happen, according to Daniel the prophet, some time before the world leader who will be Antichrist achieves his full, satanic power.

We have given the Scriptures that give the geological location out of which the beast of Revelation 13 will come many times in these commentaries. Prophecy teachers have over the years persistently and consistently put the prophecy in front of us. Here it is again:

And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9:26-27)

Antichrist, that man of sin and abomination of desolation, will come forth out of the Romans, who destroyed Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple in AD 70. His biological heritage will be of the people of the area that comprised ancient Rome.

Greece, then, because of its tremendous influences on that ancient Roman culture, will be at the center of the revived Roman Empire as it develops for prophetic fulfillment. So, in the news coming out of that nucleus nation that will have to, by its very history, be front and center in the end times, we find signals of where this generation must stand on God’s prophetic timeline.

Greece’s on-going predicament presents a snapshot in this late hour of human history of how the fate of other nations will almost certainly play out–particularly the nations of the Western world. It will be a tragedy of the first magnitude! Bottom line is that the Greek populace, used to getting government subsidies and outright handouts at every level–particularly in the public work sector continue to go nuts because austerity measures to bring fiscal stability are being instituted.

Tens of thousands of protesters have over the past few years clashed with police before the parliament in Syntagma Square, with buildings set ablaze and many people injured.

According to reports, Trade unionists, nationalists, communists, students, retired people are consistently among those denouncing the “EU-IMF blackmail”, many of them in past clashes equipped with gas masks to resist the tear gas used by riot police. German flags have been burnt in protest as what is seen as a Berlin-prescribed austerity package for Greece.

Pundits on nightly news programs are wondering aloud whether, in looking at Greece and the angry protests over government yanking give-away programs from people used to them, we are witnessing an unrest-infection that will eventually spread to the U.S. Their answer should be stunningly obvious, especially for a mainstream news conglomerate that has worked with liberal presidential administrations–and even some moderate administrations–to create a cash-cow government, a political system that buys votes through taxpayer money.

We have already seen the storm fronts of financial turbulence. We recall Wisconsin a number of years ago, when the Democrat state legislators left the state rather than face up to their obligation to vote on cutting state give-aways (a vote the Democrats would have lost)? Remember the ugliness of the protesters–union thugs, mostly–who did an estimated $7 million in damage to the state capitol building?

We see, through the “Black lives matter” movement and other radical leftist organizations, a continuing disruption of domestic tranquility.

Ultimately, violence of the sort seen in Greece and other places  will come–not only to the United States, but to the entire world. It will be not just a Greek tragedy, but a worldwide tragedy–the Tribulation, as given in God’s prophetic Word.

Antichrist will bring some degree of order for a time. He will do so by lopping off heads and causing all to take a number and a mark. Ultimately, he will force all to worship him as God. It will take Jesus Christ to bring the curtain down on the final act of that great tragedy.

Terry James’ new book

Dr. Tim LaHaye, co-author of the Left Behind series, says the following about this book:

“Terry James, my long-time friend and colleague in the study of Bible prophecy, has captured the essence of why this generation is likely to be that left behind at the glorious moment when all born again believers are suddenly called into Christ’s presence. With most every signal given by Jesus and the Bible prophets pulsing in headline fashion across our hourly news, this book expresses the urgency of being spiritually prepared for prophetic things to come.

Rapture Ready…Or Not is a particularly prescient book for these troubling, though exciting times so near the end of the age.”

_____

Jim Fletcher, Director of ProphecyMatters.com says the following:

Whether you are Rapture Ready…Or Not, Christ’s call to believers “Come up here!” is on the very brink of happening!

This new book by Terry James is the product of what Terry is convinced is Holy Spirit-given assurance by Heaven’s cloud of witnesses of Hebrews 12: 1-2 when his heart stopped three times and he experienced clinical death on three separate occasions Good Friday of 2011.

“Each of the three times I stood in the presence of those beautiful, cheering, young people continues to be with me during my every waking moment,” James says. “It’s the first thing in my thoughts each and every morning when I wake up. The thought grows stronger by the hour. They were praising God and at the same time letting me know through their jubilation that the Lord Jesus Christ is on the very brink of intervening into this darkening world.”

The author of Rapture Ready…Or Not: 15 Reasons This Is the Generation That Will Be Left Behind, has never been one who believes in ecstatic experiences in any extrabiblical sense. He says he now believes, however, that, within biblical bounds, God is increasingly opening Heaven’s communications in supernatural ways held in reserve until these crucial times just before the end of the Age of Grace.

“I have been shown beyond any doubt in my spirit what these three trips to somewhere on the periphery of Heaven was about,” says James. “The primary message I’m expected to deliver is that Christ is coming in the Second Advent to establish His throne on planet earth very soon. The Lord wants it known by as many as will listen that the Rapture will take place at least seven years prior to His Second Coming to put an end to the Armageddon warfare. Like it or not, believe it or not…that coming for us in the air is going to happen—and very, very soon.”

Of his more than two dozen published books, James says this is the one whose writing the Lord has most powerfully influenced, impressing his spirit in directing the writing process.

“Every impression I deeply sensed during this book’s preparation greatly enhanced my spiritual understanding of what the Bible tells us about things immediately ahead in mankind’s prophetic future,” says James. “The bottom line message I have received and am commissioned to convey is wrapped up in one word: “urgency.” The Rapture is on the very brink of taking place.

If you ever considered taking action in helping get a book widely distributed, this should be that moment. Pastors and Bible teachers across the nation who believe God’s Word is 100 percent truth should be given a copy. Souls hang in the balance while preachers and teachers present God’s message in these closing days.

The author of Rapture Ready…Or Not: 15 Reasons This Is the Generation That Will Be Left Behind says, “My prayerful hope is that the message that Jesus wants many to come to salvation in these closing days, and for all believers to get their spiritual affairs in order will be spread quickly and thoroughly through this book. Time is rapidly running out.”

I urge you to order today to help the book achieve early visibility in the book market place. You can help support your favorite ministries that carry the book also by ordering from them.

Helping spread God’s message of the urgency of the hour to as many people of our circle of friends and family as possible—particularly to pastors and Bible teachers—is critical. I, for one, want to hear my Lord say to me in that day: “Well done, good, faithful servant.” I prayerfully believe that every person who names the majestic name of Jesus Christ also wants to hear those words from our Lord’s own lips.

You and I must help in sounding Heaven’s siren-forewarning. That’s what this book is all about!

_____

Rapture ready…Or Not? 15 Reasons This Is The Generation That Will Be Left Behind is available for pre-order.

Special Offer: Pre-order today at NLPG.com and you will get a FREE DIGITAL COPY of the book to start reading today and the physical copy will be mailed to you as soon as it is available for shipping.

Link to use:

http://www.nlpg.com/rapture-ready

Or, you can order directly from AMAZON

A strange literary brain glitch seems to afflict mainstream news media types these days. I have found for a number of years the disorder asserting its influence even in news briefs found on the front pages of my hometown newspaper. Such was 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 was front and center, yet a glaring fact was and continues in these present days to be 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 was the specific religious affiliation of the murderers mentioned. As a matter of fact, only one religion was mentioned in the story, 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 actually never mentioned that religious reasons were at the core of the killings.

One might take from the story as presented that the reporting source wanted 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).

Pre-Trib belief antagonists are on the rise. Rapture critics, even among those who claim to believe in the eventuality of a Rapture, just not the pre-Tribulation view of that event, purport to present evidence on every side that our times trumpet the obvious: The world is about to enter the Tribulation. Christ’s call to believers, they say, just isn’t going to happen before Christians suffer at least part of the terrors of that beastly era.

They offer that anyone with knowledge of issues and events going on should recognize that the New World Order bunch is transforming America and the world into the kingdom of Antichrist. All is about to come together for the Gog-led invasion into the Middle East. As a matter of fact, many hold that World War III has already begun.

Advanced computer and other control technologies and instrumentalities are in place for locking everyone on the planet into fiscal bondage and physical slavery to the final empire as prophesied by Daniel.

Those of us who believe there is coming a supernatural Rapture-escape from these judgments on sinful mankind are just living in fantasy land is the collective message I infer from emails and articles that increasingly assault my senses. That I, and all of you, should begin prepping with food, water, gold, silver, and finding a good bunker in which to hunker down during these upcoming days seem to me to be the things these Rapture naysayers are presenting. Seldom do I hear coming from our opponents on the question of the Rapture the admonition to be trying to witness with all our might the gospel of Jesus Christ. I guess there will be plenty of time for that once the Antichrist regime is firmly in place.

While the Pre-Trib proponent holds at the heart of his effort winning as many souls to Christ as possible so those saved won’t go through that time of horrors, many of the anti-Rapture antagonists want to do things to make sure they are more comfortable while trying to survive that hellish time.

Coincidentally–or perhaps not–these just happen to, in some cases of TV and other ministries who openly disdain the thought of Rapture, offer for sale all of these things for survival. The packaged food items invariably are proclaimed to have shelf lives of three decades or longer. So, we can, if we survive, have these supplies to partake of well into the Millennium, I suppose. This, based upon the general theme that they believe the seven-year Tribulation, not the Rapture, is imminent. There have been over the past few years a number of debates taking place on whether there will be the Pre-Trib Rapture or not. The best I’ve heard was the one at the Pre-Trib study group meetings when Dr. Mark Hitchcock completely destroyed the anti-Rapture arguments of the Bible Answer Man.

There are some such debates scheduled for prophecy conferences in the near future. These will perhaps offer new food for thought, but I doubt whether they will change minds on either side of the controversy.

Personally, I believe the time for debate on this matter is past. It is time now to just offer the assurance of that soon to come exhilarating moment when Christ will say “Come up here!” (Revelation 4:1).

There are so many scriptural assurances of the Pre-Tribulation Rapture that we could fill many articles with them. As a matter of fact, we have done just that on the Rapture Ready website.

I wish to mention only one Rapture factor here, because I believe it is the most reassuring of all truth in God’s telling His children that they are not appointed to His wrath. Here we interject the question proposed in our title: Where’s the Comfort? By that we ask: What comfort is there in the argument that Christians will go through the Tribulation?

Paul the apostle first assures us of this fact: “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9). But, it is the next thought from the mind of God that should cause warm reassurance in the spiritual heart of every believer: “Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

Get it? We are to “comfort” ourselves, not wring our hands looking for these things to destroy us or to look for Antichrist. We are to be looking for our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13).

There is no comfort –nor is there directive in God’s Word–to be had in anticipating going through the time of God’s wrath and almost certain martyrdom (probably by beheading). There is no comfort in looking for the worst dictator in the planet’s history to hunt us down and lop off our heads.

Here is what God’s Word promises instead of the dreaded scenario proposed by the Rapture antagonists:

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18)

Paul McGuire and Terry James discuss what the Bible says about Heaven based on Terry James’ recent near death experience.

Terry James summarizes what God taught him through his near death experience.

Terry James shares a story from his personal life that shows how every little mundane work that a person does for God is significant in God’s economy.

Paul McGuire and Terry James discuss what Bible prophecy reveals about the last days.

A cursory glance would seem to indicate that the decision once made by Congress to flush the anti-piracy legislation into the sewer reserved for liberty-robbing legislation accomplished the preservation of Internet freedom.

Democrat Harry Reed and Republican leaders put aside the incendiary legislation after fearful resistance to the governmental grab for control of the internet.

It was hailed as a stunning win for Internet companies that staged an unprecedented online protest at the time. However, the congressional powers that be said only they would “postpone,” not eliminate the effort to control things involved in the future.

The Obama Administration displayed a moment of atypical behavior, quickly jumping on the bandwagon against the very legislation to govern Internet they had been championing.

White House officials weighed in, saying in a blog post that they had concerns about legislation that could make businesses on the Internet vulnerable to litigation and harm legal activity and free speech. the Protests erupted on Internet, turning Wikipedia and other popular websites dark for 24 hours. Google, Facebook, Twitter and others protested the proposed legislation but did not shut down. The protest had quick results: several sponsors of the legislation withdrew their support.

To put it bluntly, so many people within cyberspace communities went into fits

of rage that it threw Big Brother into shock. The Harry Reeds who are bent on controlling every aspect of our lives from cradle to grave instantly pulled back their meddling fingers that had just been bitten by the entities government was intent on collaring. But, again, the congressional leaders involved only “postponed” not eliminated the threatened intrusion.

These said they would “delay” action on such legislation until there was agreement–i.e., the hounds of Big Brotherism haven’t given up on ways to get into governing Internet. They are merely backing off for the time being to figure new ways to come at that area of freedom from other angles. And, they are indeed continuing to come at our freedoms from every angle.

Their intrusion is always in the guise of wanting to benevolently secure one area or the other of our lives. In the case of the Internet legislation, PIPA (PROTECT IP Act) in the Senate and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) in the House, solutions were promised to piracy and copyright infringement in America and around the world. Now, the forces are marshaling to come up with new versions that the enforcers are promising will not chill free expression or threaten the economic growth and innovation the Internet provides.

When reading about the backtracking of the would-be Internet masters, I can’t help but think on what Bible prophecy tells us will be the cry of the end times’ New World Order builders. It is a mantra we have heard time and time again in the Middle East land-for-peace deals these same types have been striving to knit together for a decade or more. They want to build an era of peace and security, with the land God gave Israel as the price for such an arrangement. Even Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, uses the phrase “peace and security.”

We know what God’s Word says about that humanistic process: “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:3).

We have been witness to the results of demand for security. Since September 11, 2001, developments within the U.S. government and other governments of the world have been stunning in terms of prophetic import. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has, by itself, demonstrated how easy the taking of liberty from the American citizen really is. The pat-downs, body scans, and other violations of basic personal rights simply stagger the mind of one who still believes in the U.S. Constitution as a viable, governing document.

More and more federal government intrusion into daily life should cause even the most ardent anti-conspiracy skeptics to wonder…

For one example, Tuesday, January 17, 2012, residents of Leesburg, Florida had their tranquility disrupted when their local Social Security office suddenly became a random Homeland Security checkpoint. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers armed with semiautomatic rifles and accompanied by sniffer dogs forced locals to present identifications. At least one DHS officer was stationed at a door to the building with his automatic weapon at the ready, it was reported.

The action was apparently part of something called “Operation Shield,” an unannounced drill conducted by the DHS’ Federal Protective Service centered around “detecting the presence of unauthorized persons and potentially disruptive or dangerous activities.” –This, according to the local newspaper, the Daily Commercial.

One report gave the following account: “Thomas Milligan, district manager for the Social Security Administration office, said staff were not informed their offices were about to be stormed by armed FPS officers. DHS officials refused to answer questions asked by local media and left with no explanation at noon,” (Paul Joseph Watson, “Staff of Florida Social Security Office Not Informed of Drill, Homeland Security Officials Refused to Talk to Media,” www.infowars.com).

The fact that we are seeing our rights eroded at a frightening pace is bad enough. But, it is the staggering implications of what the present ground-laying assaults on our freedoms will likely mean in terms of the fulfillment of Bible prophecy that is especially troubling, but at the same time, quite fascinating. Big Brotherism, in its contemporary stage of metamorphosis, makes the lie that our lives will be more secure if we will just acquiesce to governing by those who know best the centerpiece of their enslaving master plan. The noose that is tightening day by day is the incrementalism being employed in every facet of our lives.

Take heart. God is in control. Although Antichrist’s forces can be sensed forming, and his noose tightening, the final page of man’s long, brutal history will be written by the finger of Jesus Christ: “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” (2 Thessalonians 2:8).

Thinking on the rise of Adolf Hitler to power in the Germany of the 1930s immediately produces realization that the bringing together of ruthless enforcement entities was key to establishment of der Fuhrer’s dictatorship.

It started with the brown shirts, headed by Ernst Rhome, a homosexual thug who did Hitler’s bidding in creating chaos and fear in a failing German republic. When the future Fuhrer began to consolidate power through eliminating opposition, the German Wehrmacht (Germany’s army) soon had to share controlling authority with the Waffen-SS, the black-uniformed, select group of supposedly Aryan troops assigned as Hitler’s personal body guard. The brown shirts were eliminated, and the SS, headed by the now infamous Heinrich Himmler, began the implementation of the final solution—the genocidal war on all Jews in Europe.

At the same time, the civilian police establishment was turned into the dreaded Gestapo, the police force that locked the Nazi regime into place. The Nazi military and civilian policing establishment became, in effect, a single force against which there was little resistance.  

And, this brings us to the crux of things going on in that same geographical area from which Hitler terrorized the world.

There is seen by some the development of a movement to establish similar tyrannical controls within the European Union (EU) at the present hour. A recent article frames the growing threat the concerned observers fear. It states the following to begin the piece.

As the European Union and the establishment behind it become increasingly totalitarian, paranoid, and unstable, the EU super-state is raising up and training its own transnational military-police force. According to reports and its own propaganda material, the EU “Gendarmerie,” as the force is known, will apparently be charged with putting down protests and civil unrest, raiding illegal political meetings, propping up foreign governments, and even confiscating weapons. (“EU Building Potentially Tyrannical Military-Police Force” by  Alex Newman, http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/europe/item/23163, May 10, 2016)

The article states that the EU’s military-police force is merely one component of the broader transnational police-state apparatus being quietly imposed on the formerly sovereign peoples of Europe. The force includes the bringing together of “transnational police” with “transnational army units” and “EU air and naval operations.”

The bringing together of the forces has all been accomplished in the shadows, but is now being thrust into the light of geopolitical reality, according to the concerned observers reporting–those of Breitbart’s U.K. operation.

It was a controversial training operation taking place in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia in April that sparked concern and alarm within Europe and beyond.

Media reports stirred fears of the rise of a tyrannical, controlling force. According to those reports, the training consolidated 600 troops and police officers in order to prepare for crises of the international and civil war sorts.

The EU military-operation information branch reported about its training scheme that the aim of the [April 15, 2016] Comprehensive Live Exercise will be capacity building of police and gendarmes who will participate in international stabilization missions and projects with a police component. The force is aimed at preparing the hybrid military-police force for “future” missions.

The troubling reports said that forces from Islamic Turkey, and Tunisia, as well as the African nation of Cameroon, participated in the “scheming.”

There remains, of course, considerable resistance to the reuniting of Europe. There is at the same time all of this is going on, a strong trend toward nationalism. The threat from the Islamist world, with deadly attacks such as that in Brussels, make the populations, if not the one-world order leaderships of EU nations, deeply concerned about a reviving, unified, European empire that takes protection against dangerous, Islamist, “migrants” out of the hands of local and national authority. Yet, crises that loom, particularly involving Greece-type financial meltdowns and rioting, make probable over-arching EU police controls and military involvement inevitable.

Remember, it was severe fiscal crisis that brought Hitler to power, along with and through his all-controlling military/police monstrosity. There are those who agree with George Santayana that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

God’s Word foretells that history repeats time after time. Every empire has eventually fallen, even, arguably, the greatest of all world empires, the Roman Empire. The same basic ingredients have constituted most every such collapse.

While Santayana’s bit of philosophy has been proven true time after time, he left out a key element in phrasing his thought. It should be: “Those who do not acknowledge God and cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Every world empire has ignored the true God of Heaven. Prophecy tells us that the final empire–that of Antichrist, the Roman prince of Daniel 9: 26-27—will be the most God-hating empire of all history.

Along with all other signals of Christ’s soon return on the world-scene today, the reviving of the Roman Empire is more and more coming into view. It is a sure signal that this generation is at the end of the Church Age and that Christ’s call to His Bride must be near indeed.

It is always with reticence that I write about government intrusion into our lives. This is because so much wild-eyed speculation is thrown around in cyberspace that one must be alert to what is and is not true in this incendiary area of concern. We get an endless parade of alerts that FEMA camps are almost ready to begin herding Christians, in particular, into the American version of Nazi-style concentration camps. The reports never cease of things such as the claim that gigantic, coffin-like containers are stacked and ready for mass burials at such a time when citizen resistance will be met with deadly force to put down rioting throughout the homeland.

The very term “homeland security” evokes thoughts of 1930s Germany and the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and his genocidal Nazi maniacs. Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security director, is referred to caustically in some circles as “Big Sis,” a takeoff on George Orwell’s sinister symbol of tyranny, Big Brother. It is a matter concerning which she is said to recently have expressed her considerable irritation.

No matter how one chooses to frame in words the growing hold the federal government progressively exerts on our lives, it is essential that we look seriously at the problem while there remains freedom to do so. I dislike triteness, but the trite is true in this case. Where there is smoke there is fire. There is a lot of smoke clouding our future with regard to whether Americans will remain a free people.

The most concerning news that sparked this writing was the report so close to the doings of Hitler’s rise to power as to be chilling. At the same time, the news item seemed so low key at first glance as to be innocuous. But, after that first glance, it became so blatant that even the strangest of bedfellows were, in my mind, joined in resistance to the intrusion.

Children in the Long Island, New York area a few years back were strapped with monitors to keep a running check on their health. The program was the results of the school administrators’ desire to know about the condition of the kids’ problems with obesity. The action was apparently taken without the parents’ knowledge in many cases.

Reports were that this would soon become a full-scale program to monitor the children’s physical activities around the clock. The devices were like wristwatches, and counted heartbeats, monitored body movement during daily activities, and even measured sleep habits, according to the news story of that time. It was all an attempt to get a handle on what the powers that be considered a growing obesity problem, according to those doing the monitoring.

The information was displayed on a color-coded screen and got transmitted to a password-protected website that students and educators could access.

The devices, ostensibly to keep check on health status of those monitored, were put on children in public school systems around the U.S. without the knowledge of many of the parents whose children were involved. Considering the government-controlled health system voted in before 2010 by Congress and signed by President Obama, we can only imagine what the system has produced thus far, and where use of this kind of information might lead.

The matter was and is of sufficient concern that even an entity traditionally sycophantic toward any liberal government program was at the time of its implementation expressing concern. Jay Stanley, of the American Civil Liberties Union, said, “When you get into monitoring people’s biological vital signs, that’s a pretty intrusive measurement. There are key privacy interests at play.” Stanley said that at the very least, parents must have a say in how long the data will be stored and who will have access to it and schools must obtain parents’ consent. “A program like this should only be voluntary. Nobody should be forced to reveal biological indicators,” Stanley added.

The Hitler “Youth Corps” comes to mind when thinking on this and other of today’s government power grabs to control the structure of the American family and the day-to-day rearing of our children.

When Congress–and the president—decided in 1963 to try to kick God out of the American public school system, a flood of insanity gushed in to fill the void. It hasn’t stopped gushing. We have reared generations of children who are becoming ever farther alienated from the family model the God of Heaven instituted. Government has become the keeper of our children. The results are not greater freedom, but an ever-more restrictive way of life in what was once called “the land of the free.” Big Brother’s noose of enslavement, like that Hitler perpetrated those many decades ago, might be on America’s horizon.

Next, we will look at how other signals of government control threaten the American way of life.

The cure for what ails this, or any nation, of course, is found in the most notable of scriptural prescriptions found in God’s Holy Word. It is an Rx that speaks directly to all born-again children of God today–the Church.

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).