The Rapture is imminent…it can happen at ANY moment. How do we knowthis? Because ALL of the prophecies pertaining to the Rapture have been fulfilled… the Rapture is the NEXT main event to occur on God’ prophetic calendar. Now, let’s not confuse the Rapture with the Second Coming of Christ – these are two different events. During the Rapture Jesus does not come down to earth, we meet Him in the air.
A few more things have to happen in the world before the Second Coming occurs – that’s when Jesus returns to earth with His church. Jesus tells us in the 24th chapter of Matthew: “No man knoweth the day nor the hour” of His return, not even Jesus Himself, who sits at the right hand of God. But in the same chapter Jesus tells us the season and He hints at the year. I am referring to the Parable of the Fig Tree.
“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near-at the doors .Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.”
Now, the fig tree is referring to Israel – that’s how Israel is described in the Old Testament. The kingdom of Israel disappeared thousands of years ago – its inhabitants scattered across the globe. The Jews wandered the earth for centuries and everywhere they went they were persecuted. Do you remember the little song we used to sing in grade school? “In the year 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” While Christopher Columbus was sailing to America from Spain, the king and queen of Spain ordered the Jews to leave the country. The ultimate persecution occurred during World War II when Hitler murdered over six million Jews.
Why were the Jewish people persecuted throughout history? Do you remember when Pilate had to make a choice as to who to release: Jesus or Barabbas? The Jewish people clamored for the blood of the Messiah, saying, “Let His blood be on us and our children.” Ever since that day God’s wrath has been upon the Jews BUT God promised to restore them to their homeland someday.
What homeland? Israel was gone – having disappeared off the face of the earth. This is where you see prophecy being fulfilled in a miraculous way: almost overnight – in May of 1948 – Israel became a nation. Newspapers across America carried the headlines on their front pages. This is the single, most significant prophecy to be fulfilled pertaining to the return of Christ. See, Jesus could not return until Israel was reborn so the fig tree “blossomed” in 1948. That makes Israel 65 years old. Now if we are to believe that a generation – according to the Bible is 70 years, see what I mean?
It’s at the doors!
The disciples asked Jesus if He would give them a sign as to His return. The disciples – bless their hearts – just KNEW that Jesus would return in their life time, they just KNEW the Rapture was imminent. But here we are – over2,000 years later – still watching and waiting. Why is that? That’s because prophecy had to be fulfilled see, Jesus prophesied to His disciples that day
on the Mount of Olives and this is what He told them: before I come back, Jesus said, “There will be wars and rumors of wars. Nation will rise against nation.”
Do you know that more wars have been fought within the past 100years than in all of the world’s history? And they are continuing today in the Middle East. Jesus said there will be famine and pestilence. Do you know more people have died from famine since 1950 than in all of the world’s history? Pestilence – just look at the AIDS epidemic. And new diseases are
coming around like this Asian bird flu we are reading about and old diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and cholera are making a comeback.
Jesus said there will be earthquakes in “diverse or various places.” If this isn’t a sign of the end times I don’t know what is! Not a week goes by when there isn’t an earthquake shaking some part of the world. These earthquakes are causing volcanoes from Russia to Indonesia to erupt like Fourth of July fireworks – some of these volcanoes have been dormant for hundreds of years.
There has been a 2,000 percent increase in earthquakes since 1950. Now, notice how these things are predating from the year 1950. Remember what happened two years earlier in 1948? Israel became a nation. And, Jesus said the gospel shall be proclaimed throughout the earth. Within the past 100years, just look at the advancements in communications that have taken place with the invention of radio, television, satellite and Internet.
Because of the Internet – which is difficult to control – the gospel is being proclaimed in communist countries. Missionaries continue to go into the remote areas of the world such as the jungles of Africa, Asia and South America to bring the gospel to the primitive cultures. Do you know that head hunters and cannibals still exist in some parts of the world? And many a
missionary have lost their lives to these people. So there isn’t a spot of earth in which the gospel has NOT been proclaimed. So these prophecies have been fulfilled.
Jesus warned His disciples of false teachings and false doctrine that would arise in the last days and people would come, performing signs and miracles in His name – but be not deceived. This false doctrine includes the New Age Movement, this “collective consciousness” belief that we are “one with the universe” worship of Mother Earth, astrology, transcendental meditation and
even people who practice yoga are opening themselves up to demonic influence
because these teachings are not God-based principles.
Many people have come performing signs and miracles in Jesus’ name but the latest is the magician on the Las Vegas circuit who calls himself Chris Angel – get it? He levitates over his audiences with his arms outstretched like the Savior and he can walk on water! Satan empowers people to do these things in order to deceive because he mocks and mimics God.
Now here’s where it gets interesting: The Bible says there will be signs in the sky. People have been seeing things in the skies for hundreds of years. Interestingly, back in the Middle Ages people saw “ships” in the sky and armies marching across the sky in battle. They were called “spectral armies.” In the 1890s there was a wave of airship sightings across America
before airships were even invented. In 1947 a pilot named Kenneth Arnold was flying his airplane near Mt. Ranier in the state of Washington when he observed nine silvery-metallic objects he estimated to be flying as fast as1000 mph.
BOTH of these blood moons will be preceded by a solar eclipse. Joel 2:31: “The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome
day of the Lord.”
Now look at Joel 2:30: “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood and fire and pillars of smoke.” The “blood” is the blood moons, the “fire” are the solar flares that is worrying NASA scientists and the “of smoke” are the volcanoes that are erupting due to all this earthquake activity!
Joel is the only prophet in the Bible to prophesy about blood moons. Now, when something that is prophesied in both the Old AND New Testaments (the book of Revelation) that is occurring in our time, you know Jesus is about to return.
Greg May
gregmay39@yahoo.com