April 18

The Power of Prayer

One of my friends asked me the other day how Terry and I determine what we are going to write about for each Nearing Midnight update. I told her the updates are based on what we feel are the best advice we can offer people.

Because Rapture Ready is mostly visited by Bible-believing Christians, the bulk of our commentaries are about current events and how they relate to the end times. I’ve become increasingly concerned about the need to provide more opportunities for visitors to become involved in activities that are productive to the Kingdom of God.

Far too many believers view the rapture simply as a moment when they will be released from all of their earthly problems. Unless something exciting is happening, their focus remains fixed on the cares of this life.

The lack of dedication will eventually catch up with every child of God who has failed to be active in the mission field. Because we will have to endure a rigorous accounting of what we did here on earth, it is foolhardy to neglect our responsibilities. I believe we are very close to the tribulation hour, which makes it all the more important for us to be thinking about the quality of our stewardship.

One of the areas where I think the site needs the most help in is prayer. The odd thing about prayer is that everyone can do it, but few people actually find the time to pray. The problem is very similar to weight loss. Everyone knows that diet and exercise are the two key factors for achieving a reduced waistline, but the love of food and the disdain for exercise stand as a huge barrier.

In both cases, the lack of immediate results is what causes people’s interest to fade. Praying about a problem doesn't guarantee that God will provide same-day service. Two trips to the gym are not going to give you a body like Mr. Universe.

I can testify that over time, prayer has had a huge impact on the success of this site. We’ve now reached the point that we receive a constant flood of email from people who have been blessed by RR, and the liberal media is now drawn to our site on a regular basis.

If only a small portion of our readers would determine to pray for the site, I’m sure we would see even greater things for RR down the road. Each month, we have an audience of around 100,000 faithful readers. The only component missing is the ambition to harness this potential prayer power.

I challenge you folks to help out by regularly interceding for the site. Here are three key areas I believe need to be our primary focus:

A productive Rapture Ready - In the internet world, content is king. Prayer can be very helpful as we build and maintain this web-based ministry. By having the Holy Spirit involved, doors of opportunity will continue to open and our creative output level will remain high. Sometimes distractions and mental fatigue can make it very difficult to keep pumping out information. Prayer is vital in removing these obstacles.

Guiding people to the site – We can write all the articles we want, but we can't ensure that people will read them. Prayer can bridge this gap by guiding people to the site. Over the years, we have received countless emails from people who have come to the site because they felt compelled to search the internet for answers to their spiritual questions.

RR in the Lord’s will – It is very important for a Christian organization to make certain its activities are following a course that falls within the will of God. Because the devil has been very successful in sidetracking a large percentage of Christian ministries, it's essential to have saints praying that we don’t lose our focus. Our ultimate goal is to find a role in the days that follow the rapture. With God’s blessing, this site could reach millions of people.

“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (Jam. 5:16).

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End Time Talk from Tulsa

The 2005 Tulsa prophecy conference, the annual middle America three days of meetings sponsored by Thy Kingdom Come Ministries, was the most successful in its 11-year history, according to ministry officials. Phillip Goodman, vice president of the ministry, said that both in number of attendees and in terms of objectives met in all respects, this year’s event was very satisfying.

Speakers were outstanding, as usual, presenting Power Point lectures that held the attention of everyone present. One disappointment was the last-minute withdrawal of Dr. Mark Gabriel, who developed a bleeding ulcer and required surgery. Two well-known speakers on Bible prophecy as it might relate to current issues and events stepped in to fill the speaking slots left vacant by Dr. Gabriel. Chuck Missler of Koinonia House, a Coeur d'Alene, Idaho-based prophecy and Bible teaching ministry, and Dr. Randall Price, an archaeologist and president of World of the Bible Ministries based in San Marcos, Texas, filled in for Dr. Gabriel in bringing attendees up to date on world events and on the nation Israel, the religion of Islam in particular. Both Missler and Price also filled their own speaking times, to make the flow of information seamless.

Mark Hitchcock, prophecy author and doctoral candidate at Dallas Theological Seminary, as well as pastor of Faith Bible Church of Edmund, Oklahoma, and Don Perkins, a noted prophecy conference speaker and evangelist headquartered in San Diego, California, added significant perspective on developments in where this generation stands on God’s prophetic timeline. Phillip Goodman, who has stepped into the active role formerly performed by retiring Dr. Charles Pack, 87, founder of the ministry, also added to the line-up of speakers.

To me, perhaps the most interesting presentation I heard was one of the lectures by Bill Koenig, an accredited White House correspondent. In addition to overseeing his Internet news service, he writes a weekly 12-page news report called "Koenig's Eye View from the White House," which focuses on world news that is biblically relevant and White House news from a Christian perspective. His behind-the-scenes information was fascinating, giving the Tulsa conference audience an inside look at how the White House press corps works.

He said he had, through the seniority system, managed to get a seat on the third row in front of the lectern where the president stands during presidential press conferences. Correspondent Helen Thomas, he said, has top seniority, and sits nearest the president during the briefings.

The most pertinent of Koenig’s information involved his concern for President George W. Bush’s advisors on the matter of Israel and Bible prophecy. Koenig said that the present Bush White House had a number of top aides whom he believed were truly Christian people. He said, however, that all but perhaps one or two of them are in churches that hold to replacement theology. Replacement theology is the belief that the Church (all saved during the Church Age) has been given all the promises that Israel would have received, had those people accepted their Messiah at the time Jesus offered himself to fulfill that role. This is crucial, because it is logical to conclude that those advisors offer erroneous advice to the President in matters involving the US dealing with Israel. We can see some of the results of that faulty advice just this past week, as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited President Bush at his Texas home. Although the White House spin was that the meeting was the best to date between the two leaders, the president expressed his displeasure with Sharon’s allowing settlements in areas of the West Bank that Bush said are critical to keeping the “Roadmap to Peace” on track.

Koenig said there are only two evangelical, pre-trib rapture believers in the White House press corps, so far as he can tell. One is himself, the other is Connie Long of USA Radio Network. He said he sometimes, during some of the recent press gatherings before the president, has found himself nodding, smiling, and agreeing with Mr. Bush on matters other than Israel. The correspondent said he often finds other correspondents near him, staring and frowning at him in silent consternation.

Bill Koenig’s website is watch.org.

I personally believe the conference was the best of the Tulsa conferences. There was good interaction between the audience and the speakers, and the Q-and-A sessions were fast-paced and informative. My friend, author James Michael Hile (Mike) and I conducted overflow Q and A every evening at 6:15 and the response was, as always during these sessions, well-attended and quite productive.

The Rapture Ready folks did a tremendous job of raising funds at their table. They raised more than $1,400 to present to Phillip Goodman to help pay expenses involved in the conference, which charges no registration fee. Todd’s and my sincere thanks to all of you who worked so hard and made a Christian impression on the attendees. We are most blessed to have such brothers, sisters and friends in the rr cause for Christ.

The sad note was that we all missed our fearless leader, Todd. He was again in Sandland, as he calls it, defending our right to meet and talk about that region so important to end-time prophecy. The bottom line of the conference this year, if we must provide one, is that everything points to the soon shout from Christ: “Come up hither!” --Terry