Jul 14
Apathy: The Key To Understanding the End-Times
We live in a time of profound paradox as related to Bible prophecy. The end-time warning signs grow stronger
with each passing day, and yet people's awareness of these signs seems to decline at the same rate.
In my 30 years of studying prophecy, I have never seen a period with so much activity related to Bible prophecy. I remember in the '80's, there would be certain weeks when I was hard-pressed to find a single event that stood out as being active in relationship to prophecy. Today, the problem is in deciding which of a hoard of events deserves my attention.
Here are some headlines from just one recent week:
Arms Race: 13 Mideast states have advanced nuclear programs
Oil could reach $200 per barrel
Bush plans Iran attack before end of term
California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban
UK scientists get green light for half-animal, half-human embryos
Experts: Twisters getting larger, deadlier
Russia: A totalitarian regime creating the new fascist empire
Palestinian Authority President: "East Jerusalem must be returned"
In the past few years, I have noticed a sharp drop in the media coverage of prophetic events.
The last time we had a seismic event on the scale of the one in China was the earthquake that struck north Pakistan in 2005. I recall dozens of newspapers running stories about its prophetic significance. For the China quake, despite the added bonus of the Myanmar cyclone disaster and the massive flooding in the U.S. heartland, I have not found a single news story that could be linked to Bible prophecy.
On the book front, there are hardly any new releases on the market. The Christian publishing world is sitting on its hands waiting for some new trend to kick prophecy back into motion. In 1980ʼs, I made weekly visits to a small Christian bookstore in Bellevue, Nebraska and found new books
on prophecy. Today, it seems like all the prophetic authors have writerʼs block.
I firmly believe apathy is the greatest sign of the rapture's nearness. Jesus talked more about this subject than He did about any other end-time sign. In the book of Matthew, the Lord was so insistent about getting this point across, He repeated himself four times in the space of a few verses. He also included a story about the 10 virgins to illustrate the point of world caught
completely off guard.
"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only" (Mat. 24:36).
"Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come" (Mat. 24:42).
"Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh" (Mat. 24:44).
"Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" (Mat. 25:13).
Apathy is certainly evident in the area of morality. It is amazing what people are able to get away with these days. The Rev.
Jesse Jackson stepped forward last week to once again to prove how dull people have become in their standards for decency.
You may remember, during the dark days of Bill Clintonʼs Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, Jackson bravely dove into the media
storm and paid a visit to the President to offer moral counseling. Jackson brought along staffer Karin Stanford, who was
visibly pregnant with Jackson's own love child. To try to cover up his "little error," the good reverend used organizational
money to arrange for his playmate to live in a home worth $345,000 and to receive $10,000 per month.
I've already listed Jackson 's stunt as placing him among the greatest examples of hypocrites of all time. His title of "reverend" is about as fictitious as Captain Kangaroo and Colonel Sanders claiming to be distinguished members of the officers' corps.
Last week, America 's Jackson was heard on a Fox news program telling another guest he wanted to cut Barack Obama's testicles off for talking down to black people. It seems like the only way Jackson could get himself banned as the spiritual representative of black
America would be to start professing Jesus Christ as the Savior for all mankind.
I have a simple reason I think apathy will lead to a quick end: God is no fool. The Creator of all things is not going
to endure the dishonor of having His own creation ignore Him. Now that man has reached the point where he has largely become
deaf to the warning signs, you can be sure that judgment will quickly follow.
Apathy presents both problems and opportunities for ministries like Rapture Ready. It has become increasingly hard to draw attention to the signs taking place around us. The opportunity is where the day will come when millions turn to RR as
they receive the greatest wake-up call of their life.
-- Todd
Persia’s Prophetic Posturing
Nations are in distress, with perplexity, over the price of oil, which topped $147 per barrel this past week. Just as the flood damage in the upper Midwest is subsiding and the billions of dollars in damage is being assessed, the fires in California are devouring home after home, with the infernos being only 45 % contained as of Friday, July 11. That damage will mount into the billions as well.
Wall Street saw the markets plunge below the $11,000 mark for the first time since 2006. Potential Middle East troubles make the monetary gurus and the world’s financial markets go through all sorts of gyrations that cause the aforementioned distress and perplexity to grow like a high-end tropical storm about to reach hurricane status.
It’s as if the Prince of Persia has gone on another of his tirades, such as when he attacked God’s angelic messenger on his way to deliver prophecy to Daniel in Babylon. Michael the archangel came to that angel’s rescue so he could continue on his mission to Daniel. Today, the children of Israel are again at the heart of the struggle of God versus Satan, with Persia–modern-day Iran—posturing to become one of the powers that will be a chief part of the Gog-Magog coalition army that will attempt to do away with God’s chosen people. Michael will again stand up for Israel, and the results will be the almost complete decimation of modern-day Persia and the other attackers.
Petroleum is almost certainly the catalyst drawing together the Ezekiel 38 and 39 Magog force. The Prince of Persia must be the chief lieutenant of Lucifer at work in laying the groundwork for that assault. We see the foundation’s construction in the following news excerpt:
Iran test-fired nine long- and medium-range missiles Wednesday during war games… Gen. Hossein Salami, the air force commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, said the exercise would "demonstrate our resolve and might against enemies"…Wednesday's war games were being conducted at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which about 40 percent of the world's oil passes. Iran has threatened to shut down traffic in the strait if attacked.
The report showed footage of at least three missiles firing simultaneously, and said the barrage included a new version of the Shahab-3 missile, which officials have said has a range of 1,250 miles and is armed with a 1-ton conventional warhead.
That would put Israel, Turkey, the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan and Pakistan within striking distance.
"Our hands are always on the trigger and our missiles are ready for launch," the official IRNA news agency quoted Salami as saying Wednesday… ("Iran test-fires missiles in Persian Gulf," www.news.yahoo.com, 7/07/08).
One has to wonder if perhaps Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad isn’t personally indwelt by that ancient demon, the Prince of Persia. He has time after time declared that Iran would wipe Israel and all who are its friends off the map. Then,only a day and a half after the threat Iran’s top general made, Ahmadinejad slyly switched from Mr. Hyde to Dr. Jekyll. He said before a news conference Tuesday during a visit to Malaysia for a summit of developing Muslim nations, "I assure you that there won't be any war in the future."
Satan is the father of lies, as the Word of God says. God cannot lie, that same Bible says. There will be a war that involves Persia (modern Iran) attacking Israel. Even now Iran defies the international community and the G-8, moving ahead with development of a nuclear program that can provide weapons-grade material for atomic bombs.
Any attack by the Israeli or American military forces will bring the Iranian wrath against the world’s industrial powers who need Middle East oil, the Iranian government has warned. It is estimated that if that happened, petroleum could instantly go to $300 per barrel or more.
And now I offer a bit of conjecture, with faith that God’s prophetic Word paints a different scenario than the catastrophic one worried about by world leaders and the news pundits. We are seeing posturing by both Iran and Israel. Frighteningly portentous posturing to be sure, but posturing nonetheless.
Israel, far from being in the defenseless position that nation will be in when the truly catastrophic war called Gog-Magog occurs, presently is poised as never before, ready to end the threat of her perceived most dangerous enemy. A lesser conflict, one that destroys Iran’s nuclear capability, might take place, but Iran itself (ancient Persia) will be firmly in place as a powered-up part of the juggernaut that only the God of Heaven will be able to stop. Conditions are not yet ripe for major conflict of biblically prophetic scale to take place. But the amazingly swift movement of events in the Mideast region and elsewhere makes it unmistakeably obvious that the end-times stage is being set.
--Terry
