Aug 7
Time To Get the Pom-Poms Out
Every few months I devote a weekly NM update to detailing the accomplishments of the site and the financial needs we have for
maintaining our operation. Unless I get out the pom-poms and rally the home team, the donations naturally begin to wane.
There are plenty of accomplishments to cheer about. The past two months have been the most active periods in the history of
Rapture Ready. We have shattered records for the highest number of people who have visited our domain, and for the number of
media outlets that have featured the site.
When the date 06/06/06 became a newsworthy event, more than 300 newspapers ran articles that used RR as a resource. During July, the events in the Middle East generated a prolonged period of media attention. We had 220,000 unique visitors in June
and 225,000 unique visitors in July. The highlight was when CNN ran a feature story that had a reporter talking about our Rapture Index. CNN's religion editor invited me to be part of the program, but unfortunately, I was out of town at the time.
The Rapture Ready message board (RR-BB.com) has even come out of the shadow of its sister site by generating its own media
attention. In late June, a news article critical of the "Left Behind" games used quotes from board members to point out the
violent nature of the game. On the flip side, remarks posted on the board were repeatedly quoted by reporters who were seeking to get Christians' reaction to the unrest in Israel.
The heavy traffic flow experienced by the board has forced us to relocate to a bigger server. It now costs twice as much
to operate the message board as it did less than two years ago. Even with 10,000 members of on the board, it is difficult to get enough people to cough up two bucks each month to pay for the monthly cost. We have enough people stepping forward now to keep us going for a few months.
In May, I upgraded the Rapture Ready site to a new server to double its bandwidth. God must have directed my decision. If I hadn't made the switch, people coming to the site would have been greeted with the message "this site has exceeded its monthly bandwidth limit." July was the first time we ever used more than 100 gigabytes in a single month.
Whenever I see major events that have a strong relationship to Bible prophecy, I'm reminded that the rapture can come at any
moment. Because we only have one shot at life, it's very important that we stay focused on doing things that are productive
to the kingdom of God.
Most of the contents on RR that thousands of people have been reading the past few weeks have taken myself and others several
years to assemble. This is one of the reasons it's vital to have people who are willing to support RR over the long haul.
Someone once coined the truth: “There is no free lunch.” Somebody, somewhere, at some time, will, in other words,
have to pay the price for the meal. Rapture Ready puts on quite a feast of truth regarding God’s prophetic Word, and God’s
Word in general–at no cost to those we welcome with open arms to come and partake freely.
However, it is getting to be an expensive effort to continue to “feed the sheep” (John 21:16-17) as well as the
non-believers from the Rapture Ready table. We ask your help in continuing to help us offer the Bread of Life to those God has
appointed us to nourish with His blessed Word.
The best way to support Rapture Ready is through a regular donation. Paypal subscribers and people who have their banks send funds to our PO box have become the bedrock of the site's operation. If you're interested in signing up, you can find the link on the Donation Depot page. Donations can also be sent to our PO box at:
Rapture Ready Min.
PO Box 125
Bellevue, NE 68005
--- Todd
It’s Israel’s Land!
There is so much hyperbole about the Holy Land. Does it belong to the Palestinians or to the Jews? Does Israel have any rights to that region of the Middle East, or are they intruders? Exactly what makes the Jews think they have a right to any part of that geographical region?
Israel is blamed today by almost all of the world community as being the culprit in fomenting war against the hapless, helpless Arabs of Palestine.
What is the truth? Who is right in the millennia-long, bloody saga of the Jews versus the rest of the world in the matter of the right –or not—to the land that is strangely, violently, in the news every hour?
The answer to this boils down to a belief. Is God’s Word –the Bible—truth, or is it literature filled with flawed history that is little more than fiction? Either the Bible is God’s Word, or it is a volume that has stirred wars for no good reason.
We have reported that we receive daily hate e-mails telling us that we Christians who are of the evangelical/pre-trib belief ilk are the true hate-mongers and progenitors of war in these volatile times. We want to bring on the tribulation, Armageddon, etc., so that we can be snatched off the planet at the rapture. We are a blood-thirsty lot of people who want those who don’t agree with us to get their come-uppance…
Nothing, of course, is further from the truth. We want peace and happiness to reign on earth. It’s just that we know God’s Word on the matters involved says the only way that will happen is when Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, rules over the planet at a specified future time –the millennium.
We can do nothing to hasten, retard or prevent this from happening. We simply believe our mission is to tell the world what the Bible says –to forewarn of things to come so that people will seek Christ and the redemption from sin He gives. The philosophers through the ages have said they seek truth. God’s Word, the Bible, has the only truth there is. It is a love letter from the Creator of all things. So, it is –in our view—time to sit up and take notice when God speaks into our time. He has done so in no uncertain terms when it comes to the matter of the contested land of the region the world historians and geographers call Palestine, but that God called Canaan, and, later, Israel.
Now is time to review but a few statements God made about that land. It is either truth –or a lie. Take your choice. But, keep in mind, if you reject what the Bible says, and it indeed turns out to be truth, not lie, there is a tremendous price to pay for your rejection.
God’s words about the land He gave Israel (which includes much of the region we call the Middle East):
1) God’s first promise to Abraham about a nation
Genesis 12:7a: "The Lord appeared to Abram and said, 'To your descendants I will give this land.'"
Genesis 17:7-8: "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. And I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."
2) To those who say God’s covenant with Israel concerning the nation/land is conditional, consider these words from God:
Psalm 89:30-37: "If his sons forsake My law, and do not walk in My judgments, if they violate My statues, and do not keep My commandments, then I will visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. But I will not break off My loving kindness from him, nor deal falsely in My faithfulness. My covenant I will not violate, nor will I alter the utterance of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David. His descendants shall endure forever like the moon, and the witness in the sky is faithful."
Jeremiah 31:35-36: "This is what the Lord says, 'He who appoints the sun to shine by day, Who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar -- the Lord Almighty is His Name; Only if these ordinances vanish from My sight,' declares the Lord, 'will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before Me.'"
Space doesn’t permit me to add the many, many such promises God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We are seeing the bloody turmoil today because Satan is determined to make God a liar. If the old serpent, the devil, can destroy Israel, he will –he deludedly must believe—make his own defeat, as prophesied by God, of no effect as well. He can yet set his star above the throne of God.
Yet, Israel is firmly back at the heart of its homeland after nearly 2,000 years of dispersion, just as God said they would be: "'Also I will restore the captivity of My people Israel, and they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will also plant vineyards and drink their wine, and make gardens and eat their fruit. I will also plant them on their land, and they will not again be rooted out from their land which I have given them,' says the Lord your God" (Amos 9:14-15).
--Terry
