Roaring, Distress, and Perplexity

We continue to watch developments that we believe mark this time as the one Jesus spoke of when addressing His immediate disciples on the Mount of Olives.

We are indeed “nearing midnight,” the time near the very end of the Church Age (Age of Grace) and the beginning of history’s darkest era, the Tribulation (Daniel’s seventieth week).

Jesus, the greatest of all prophets, because He is God, gave the most definitive overview of how things will eventuate as the end of this age nears. He spoke specifically during the Olivet Discourse of how things would be as the time of His return draws closer.

He said there will be great deception when the end of the age draws near (Matthew 24).

We’ve often looked at the deception in every direction on the end-times horizon. We have only to consider the political goings-on to know that the prince of the power of the air is at work deceiving people. America’s mainstream news conglomerate is a prime example of the lies Satan perpetrates in the hourly news cycles. We’ve watched numerous attempts by a political party, aided and abetted by the mainstream news and entertainment industry, doing all within their considerable deluding power to bring down a president, then to keep him from becoming president a second time.

But this is minor deception when thinking on the cultural and societal evil that continues to foist anti-God wickedness on people across the globe.

The Sodom-level debauchery presented as an alternate lifestyle or even as preferable to God’s order in living life has gone from illegal (sodomy laws in various states) to being legislated into legal affirmation, with punishment meted out to those who would come against those who practice homosexuality. Think on the bakers that have had their business destroyed and their owners suffering punitive legal actions for refusing to bake same-sex wedding cakes.

Consider people who have protested the murder of babies in their mothers’ wombs in front of abortion mills being arrested and fined, while those who riot and destroy for the supposed cause of gay rights are considered not to be prosecuted by liberal city administrations and judicial auspices.

Good is now called evil, and evil is now called good, just as God’s Word has forecast.

The mainstream media does all it can to ignore broadcasting and publishing riots like the deadly carnage that took place during the George Floyd death, upon his being arrested for perpetrating a crime. Yet when rage takes place because of people wanting a return to sanity, it is covered worldwide in every detail.

It is surprising that a global news outfit quasi-fairly reported one such recent massive protest that took place in Mexico in which ordinary citizenry became fed up with the drug lords and other bad guys constantly inflicting their destructive evil against them and their children. The following account by a global news organization makes the point, I think.

At least 120 people – 100 of them police officers – have been injured in clashes during anti-government protests in Mexico City, police said.

Thousands of demonstrators marched in the Mexican capital on Saturday to protest against violent crime and President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government.

Sheinbaum said the marches, which also took place in other cities, had been funded by right-wing politicians who oppose her government.

The rally was organised by Gen Z youth groups, drawing support from citizens protesting against high-profile killings, including the assassination just weeks ago of Uruapan Mayor Carlos Manzo – who had called for tough action against cartels…

Demonstrators dismantled parts of a barrier protecting the National Palace, where Sheinbaum lives. Police protecting the compound used tear gas on the crowds.

Authorities have arrested 20 people for crimes including robbery and assault, Mexico City security chief Pablo Vazquez told reporters.

Protesters waved banners displaying messages including “We are all Carlos Manzo,” while others wore cowboy hats in tribute to him…

Manzo was shot on 1 November while he attended a Day of the Dead festival.

He was known for speaking openly about drug-trafficking gangs in his town and cartel violence.

He had been demanding tough action against armed cartel members who terrorise the country.

Sheinbaum has been acting against cartels but resisting calls for another all-out war on drugs. Previous attempts by her predecessors have ended with bloody results.

(“Thousands protest against government in Mexico as clashes leave 120 injured,” Ruth Comerford and  Ethirajan Anbarasan, Global Affairs reporters, BBC News, https://www.bbc.com)

This brings us to the point of the title of this commentary.

The tremendous restlessness of the masses across the world–including that here in America—is a key to understanding where we must stand at this time on God’s prophetic timeline.

Here are Jesus’ words describing a key indicator of the end of the age and the beginning of the Tribulation:

“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring” (Luke 21:25).

The “distress of nations with perplexity” and the “seas and waves” of peoples across the planet “roaring” cannot be missed by those who are “watching” as Jesus commanded (Mark 13:37).

It is almost certain that we will see this roaring grow in frequency and intensity, as will be the case for all other signals making an impact in these days.

We must warn those who don’t know Christ for salvation of the danger to their immortal souls, particularly as we watch this prophetic stage-setting.

Here is the message to give as we witness to the saving grace God offers all who will believe in His Son:

“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).

—Terry

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The Bible Predicts It

The Bible has an amazing track record of fulfilled prophecy; it’s one hundred percent accurate all of the time about everything it predicts. Scripture precisely predicted many aspects of Jesus’ birth, life, ministry, betrayal, death on the cross, and resurrection.

No book from the myriad of world religions makes such bold predictions or stakes its integrity and legitimacy on the precise fulfillment of its prophecies. The Bible stands alone as the true record of God’s unfailing revelation.

Amid the lawlessness, corruption, and nonstop threats of war and economic devastation, the perfect fulfillment of God’s Word in the past confirms our trust in the literal interpretation of Bible prophecy for our future. The Lord’s promise of deliverance from the future Day of the Lord wrath on the earth (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11) means exactly what the text says. Jesus will come for us before the sudden destruction that will mark the start of this terrible future time on the earth. This promise encourages our hearts just as it did for the Thessalonians long ago.

Since Christmas is rapidly approaching, let’s examine this pattern of exact and literal fulfillment of the key prophecies regarding Jesus’ birth.

Bethlehem

The Old Testament prophet Micah, whose ministry lasted from 750-700 BC, wrote that the Messiah would be born in the town of Bethlehem.

“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2).

When the magi came to Jerusalem after Jesus’ birth, the chief priests and scribes cited this verse in response to their question regarding the birth of the “king of the Jews” (Matthew 2:1-6). Even though they were aware of this prophecy, they stayed behind when the wise men went to Bethlehem.

House of David

The Old Testament said that the Messiah had to be of the house of David (Jeremiah 23:5). Not only did Scripture predict that the Christ come from the tribe of Judah, but it also predicted that He come from the line of King David. The genealogies in both Luke and Matthew identify both Joseph and Mary as descendants of David (Luke 3:23-38; Matthew 1:1-17). Jesus receives his right to the throne of David through Joseph and his blood lineage to David through Mary.

Virgin Birth

Seven hundred years before Christ’s birth, Isaiah wrote,

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).

Both Luke and Matthew provide the details of how Jesus’ birth fulfilled this amazing prophecy (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38). Because of the unusual circumstance of Christ’s birth, angels appeared to both Mary and Joseph assuring them of the virgin birth, of the child’s conception by the Holy Spirit.

The name “Immanuel” means “God with us,” a clear indication that this prediction went far beyond anything in Isaiah’s lifetime. It pointed to the One named Immanuel who would be born many centuries later (Matthew 1:23).

The Massacre of Children

Matthew 2:16 records the horrible massacre of male children under the age of two in Bethlehem following Jesus’ birth. When the wise men did not return to Herod as he instructed, he ordered the killing of all the young boys under two in the town so as to make sure he eliminated the one who was “born king of the Jews.”

Jeremiah prophesied regarding this tragedy centuries earlier when he wrote:

“A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more” (Jeremiah 31:15).

Escape to Egypt

How did Jesus escape the ravages of King Herod? The Lord warned Joseph in a dream, and they escaped to Egypt before Herod slayed the young boys in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:13-15). If you are thinking the prophets also spoke of this, you would be correct. Hosea, an Old Testament prophet who lived in the eighth century BC, wrote, “. . . and out of Egypt I called my son” (Hosea 11:1).

The Comfort for Us

The comfort for us comes from the fact that we can trust what Scripture says about both our faith and future. Our hope of eternal life rests on what the Bible reveals about Jesus’ death and resurrection and what it promises because of our belief. We can confidently proclaim, “The Bible says!”

For our future, we rest on the same assurance. Jesus spoke this comforting promise to His disciples as representative of us, His church:

“In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

Meeting Jesus “in the air” and returning with Him to glory is our future (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18); the Bible predicts it. There’s no greater assurance than that.

-Jonathan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Days of Noah-level Corruption

Many questions have come to me over the years about topics such as the biblical reporting on strange things that have happened from the beginning of humankind.

One such line of inquiry by some has been about the fallen angels (those who followed Lucifer in the rebellion against God) and their sexual insinuation into humanity.

Some theologians and others see this Genesis chapter 6 account as the sons of Cain, Adam and Eve’s son, as having sexual relations with Seth’s daughters, Seth being another son of the couple. This is in error, in my view and that of others. Many, including yours truly, believe the Bible says these fallen angels saw human women and found them sexually attractive, so they mated with them. These unions produced the Nephilim–the giants from which many believe the legendary demigods such as Zeus, Thor, Hercules, et cetera, came.

The questions sometime involve how beings such as Heaven’s powerful angels can have such relations with human women of mere flesh and blood. Or, how angels can reproduce, since Jesus Himself said human beings are like the angels in that they neither marry nor are given in marriage once they’re in Heaven.

However, in the case of the first question, we have stories of angels taking on the form of men, such as in the account of their visit to Abraham before they went to Sodom to deal with that city and remove righteous Lot. These angels/men were attractive to the homosexuals, who demanded to “know” them sexually.

In the case of the second question, we must recognize the term “in Heaven.” They have no marriage-type relationships while in the heavenly realm. But outside of Heaven, there is no such restriction or encumbrance—at least none found in Scripture.

The Bible doesn’t say that angels are sexless–without the ability to procreate—only that they don’t have such relationships in Heaven.

Upon giving King Nebuchadnezzar the interpretation of the metallic man dream-vision, Daniel implies that the wicked angelic forces possess sexual “seed”:

“Whereas thou safest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay” (Daniel 2:43).

Here the prophet was giving a picture of how the world system of rebellion against God will come down to a ten-kingdom configuration, which Jesus Christ will destroy when He returns at Armageddon. Apparently, the agglomeration of evil leaders, “kings,” and their “kingdoms” will be influenced by and probably intermingled biologically with demonic forces (fallen angels).

This is seen as being the case even now through Paul’s warning about the powers and principalities we struggle against today (Ephesians 6:12).

And this brings me to the point I would like us to look at regarding days-of-Noah-level corruption.

Jesus said the time of His return would be like it was “in the days of Noah.” The specific thing for us to examine is found in Christ’s Words in Genesis. (And, yes, Genesis is the “word of Christ”; Jesus is “the Word,” as we are told in John 1:1.)

We find in Genesis the following description of those days of Noah:

“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” (Genesis 6:11-12). 

The word to consider for our purposes here is “corrupted.” All flesh had corrupted itself; all was, in God’s holy eyes, changed from the genetic configuration He had created. Therefore, the following verses tell us that He would destroy the world, and He told Noah to prepare the ark for their physical as well as spiritual salvation.

Satan and his fallen horde of angels had been instrumental in this “corrupting” of all flesh. The genetic contamination was so great that God no longer recognized humanity as worth saving, except through the one family that hadn’t corrupted themselves by being part of the world of rebels.

My point is that if we are again in a time like Noah’s days, we must be in a time of corruption at least in some regard, like it was then.

Satan’s tactics might have changed a bit, but his determination to destroy humankind is the same as ever. Therefore, I propose that perhaps today’s satanic corruption of mankind is through a different tact. I believe this is the case and suggest that we might get an inkling when considering the advancing technologies of today, combined with Satan-inspired science and the medical “powers that be” tampering with human genetics.

For months, a small company in San Francisco has been pursuing a secretive project: the birth of a genetically engineered baby.

Backed by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and his husband, along with Coinbase co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong, the startup—called Preventive—has been quietly preparing what would amount to a biological first. They are working toward creating a child born from an embryo edited to prevent a hereditary disease. In recent months, executives at the company privately said a couple with a genetic disease had been identified who was interested in participating, according to people familiar with the conversations.

Gene-editing technologies now in use for treatment after birth allow scientists to cut, edit and insert DNA, but using the process in sperm, eggs or embryos is far more controversial and has prompted calls by scientists for a global moratorium until the ethical and scientific questions get resolved. Editing genes in embryos with the intention of creating babies from them is banned in the U.S. and many countries.

Preventive has been searching for places to experiment where embryo editing is allowed, including the United Arab Emirates, according to correspondence reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Many experts worry that the science is too unpredictable to be safe and could usher in a new era of human experimentation by private companies without public or government input or debate. Some also raise the specter of eugenics. (“Genetically Engineered Babies Are Banned. Tech Titans Are Trying to Make One Anyway,” MSN November 11, 2025)

Corruption of humanity continues to be Satan’s goal. He still goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. All of humanity is in his crosshairs.

The supposed progress being made in science and technology will be turned into pure evil as Antichrist takes the reins of power for a short time during the Tribulation.

But the Lord Jesus will preempt that dystopian future for those who are in God’s family. The Rapture will take all believers in Christ into the clouds of Glory in the “twinkling-of-an-eye” moment Paul told us about in offering comfort.

Note that only the “incorruptible” will be taken; no corruption will be allowed into the heavenly realm!

“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).

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

—Terry

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An Unexpected Note of Gratitude

Hebrews 12 ends with an unexpected expression of thanksgiving. In the context of God’s future judgment on the world, we find this note of gratitude, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken” (Hebrews 12:28).

We know that as New Testament saints, we are heirs to a kingdom (James 2:5). In 1 Corinthians 15:50-54, Paul writes that although we are not fit to receive our glorious inheritance, Jesus will transform our “flesh and blood” bodies at His coming so we can inherit this glorious and future realm.

But why the mention of a “kingdom that cannot be shaken?” And what relevance does this have for us in today’s world?

The Shaking on the World’s Doorstep

I believe the writer’s words apply to our day more than at any other time in history. The significance of our unshakable inheritance comes to life in contrast to the fate of our current world:

“At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ This phrase, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:26-27).

In the above verses, the writer of Hebrews refers to Haggai 2:6-7, where the Lord revealed to the prophet that He will someday “shake the heavens and the earth” and “all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.”

Haggai’s prophecy, quoted in Hebrews 12, is coming to life before our eyes. A myriad of signs tell us we live in the season of Jesus’ appearing and the start of the Day of the Lord, which includes the seven-year Tribulation. At no time since the writing of the book of Hebrews has the earth experienced the great shaking that’s described in the text, nor the filling of the Lord’s “house with glory.” These things await a future fulfillment.

The shaking is the future wrath of the Day of the Lord. The Old Testament descriptions of this time closely resemble the judgments that John wrote about in Revelation chapters 6-18. A couple of Day of the Lord passages in Isaiah speak to the future shaking cited by Haggai:

“Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
in the day of his fierce anger.” (13:13)

“The earth is utterly broken,
the earth is split apart,
the earth is violently shaken.” (24:19)

Do you see how this also ties to the book of Revelation? When Jesus opens the sixth seal, a “great earthquake” will result in “the rich and powerful” hiding in fear from the “wrath of the Lamb” (Revelation 6:12-17).

The time of shaking mentioned in Hebrews 12:26-27 is ever so near; it’s on the world’s doorstep. What then is our cause for thanksgiving?

What’s the Cause for Our Thanksgiving?

We give thanks because the shaking signifies the temporary nature of the world powers of our day versus the permanent nature of the realm we will inherit. Jesus will soon righteously judge the widespread wickedness, lawlessness, corruption, and deception. What we see is not what we will inherit; it’s far greater than even the most fanciful utopia we can imagine.

At His Second Coming, He will establish a kingdom (our inheritance) that will never end (Revelation 19:11-20:10). His thousand-year rule over all the nations of the earth will be the first phase of His glorious realm. After that, He will usher in the eternal state highlighted by the New Jerusalem on the new earth (Revelation 21-22).

We live in a transitory world; nothing stays the same for very long. Nations come and go. World leaders rise to power and leave their mark on history before fading away. What we see, with all its terrors, is quickly coming to an end.

Our gratitude for “a kingdom that cannot be shaken” comes from the fact that the glories of our inheritance will never end. The “good times” we will experience in Heaven will never cease. Because our Lord is sovereign and all-powerful, He will not fail to keep His promise to take us out of the world before the start of this coming time of wrath. He will not fail to share His kingdom with us, His saints.

Properly understood, the words of Scripture regarding our future are not only cause for much thanksgiving, but also great jubilation. There’s nothing in this life that lasts. However, the glories and joys of our kingdom inheritance will never end. We will forever enjoy them in immortal and imperishable bodies.

Once we experience the wonder of what lies ahead for us as the redeemed of the Lord, we will forever praise and thank the Lord for dying in our place so we could inherit eternal life and never cease to express our gratitude for the wonders of His kingdom.

We live in perilous times, but what we see is not our kingdom nor our future. And for that, we give much thanks to the Lord for the hope we have of joys that will never cease.

-Jonathan