Blue Blew Christmas
“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand” (Joel 2:1)
Creation Groaning: Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Extreme Weather
In the US, 2018 was one of the costliest years for natural disasters.
Indonesia officials, fearing more landslides and another tsunami as the Krakatoa volcano keeps erupting, have raised the threat level. The volcano blew away a part of itself and caused a landslide into the sea several days ago. The death toll from the resulting tsunami has climbed to 430 with 1,500 injured and 160 still missing. As panicked residents ran to higher ground in this majority Muslim country, they shouted “Water is coming!” and recited Qur’an verses. In 2018, Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency recorded, surprisingly, almost 2,000 natural disasters that took almost 4,000 lives and displaced 3 million people.
Jewish groups have been offering assistance in the wake of Indonesia’s tsunami, this despite how much they’re hated by the Muslim religion.
In Sicily, the Mount Etna volcano blew this week strong enough to cause a shallow, strong 4.8 earthquake. Ten people were injured and homes were damaged. In recent days, Etna has been blowing volcanic ash, heavy smoke and lava stones into the air, coating roads and homes nearby with ash. Etna has been particularly active since July.
A 7.0 earthquake struck off the coast of the Philippines on Saturday in a region already on high alert.
A strong 6.4 earthquake hit off the coast of Tonga on Christmas Eve, followed by a 5.6 on the 26th and a 4.6 on the 28th.
In Australia in what’s becoming an annual rite of passage, Australia is in the midst of another record-breaking heat wave. It’s less the eye-popping temperatures (though it’s definitely going to be hot, with areas reaching 113 degrees Fahrenheit) and more the relentlessness of the heat and how much of the country is afflicted.
Israel was hit this week with snow, hail and heavy rains that caused floods all over the country. Another storm is expected to hit on Tuesday.
A tropical depression is spreading flooding rain in the Philippines this weekend. It is expected to gain tropical storm strength once the storm enters the South China Sea early next week. Then it will hit near Vietnam at the start of the new year, raising the risk for flash flooding and mudslides.
The eerie blue light that lit up New York City’s skyline Thursday night and caused many to wonder what in the world – or out of this world – was going on occurred when tens of thousands of volts fed a fire at an electrical-utility substation.
Last Days Apostasy and Doctrines of Demons
In Chicago, Illinois, the First United Methodist Church hosted a play called “Christmas Mubarak,” mixing Christian and Muslim stories of Jesus’ birth. Rather than Jesus being born as the incarnate Son of God, the baby actually speaks and announces he’s a prophet. Muslims don’t believe in Jesus’ deity, among many other false beliefs Islam promotes. Any church that says Muslims and Christians worship the same God is a false church. And there are a number of them in these prophesied last days of apostasy.
In Canada, Mill Woods church took a cross off the wall to welcome Muslims. Robert Spencer rightly said, “How generous, broad-minded, and ecumenical. Now: when will the local mosque put its Qur’ans away (since they deny the crucifixion, divinity, and redemption of Christ) in order to avoid offending Christians?” Don’t hold your breath
The New Age: World Religion of the Last Days? This movement has deceived many today including a number of so-called Christian pastors/churches. You’ll even find New Age books in Christian bookstores. Run from any pastor or church that promotes labyrinths, embraces emptying your mind to hear from a force or presence to speak to you, shifting your consciousness, releasing the Kundalini spirit, and practicing yoga in which every single movement is part of Hindu worship of their false gods. The Bible has God’s completed Word, and you can go straight to the throne of grace with your prayers and concerns. You need no manmade practices to “connect with God” and no other mediator other than Christ. When you do these things, what you’ll connect with are demonic spirits.
An Ivy League-educated psychiatrist, Dr. Richard Gallagher, who assists with exorcisms, says there’s a growing epidemic of demon possession in the world today due to a lack of Christian faith and a growing interest in the occult.
Agenda Against Christianity
One bit of good news here: The city of De Pere, Wisconsin’s attempt to force churches to comply with its gender-identity and sexual-orientation agenda has been squashed thanks to five churches and a radio broadcaster who fought back against the agenda in court. Now churches can publish teachings and sermons on biblical values without such restrictions…for now.
In Grand Junction, Colorado, this Christmas season, a group of atheists and so-called “freethinkers” paid to have a highway billboard put up that says, “Make Christmas Great Again…Skip Church.”
In Victoria, Canada, when red poinsettias recently appeared on the desk of Councilor Ben Isitt at City Hall, he said, “I don’t want a poinsettia. It is a symbol of the Christian faith.” He added that the city’s main sequoia tree should not be lit up for Christmas because it’s not “inclusive” enough and may offend Muslims.
In a bizarre article published on Christmas Eve, the New York Times saluted the murderous Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah for its wonderful Christmas spirit, applauding the group for helping to “ring in the season” and implying the US has unfairly designated it as a foreign terrorist organization.
Sweden’s largest television station celebrated Christmas by featuring a Muslim woman wearing a hijab who does not celebrate Christmas.
In China, 2018 brought one of China’s worst crackdowns on Christianity. Christians there say, “We will not forfeit our faith.”
‘Palestinian’ Muslims warned Christians in Gaza: No Christmas; it’s ‘absolutely forbidden.’ Pamela Geller noted that this is who the left (Democrats, EU, UN et al) support while they call anyone an Islamophobe who stands for truth, freedom, decency and quality for all before the law. Yet Israeli authorities worked to facilitate ‘Palestinian’ celebrations, easing security restrictions in honor of the season’s holidays.
Hatred and Terrorism Against Israel
A “Palestinian” terrorist was shot and wounded by IDF soldiers as he attempted to run over a group of people waiting at a bus stop near a military base. Three Israelis were treated for shock.
Weekly riot (number 40) occurred in the Gaza strip on Friday, organized by Hamas against Israel. Israel used “riot dispersal means” and fired in accordance with Israeli protocol. A Gazan was killed. Israel’s IDF struck a Hamas post in response to rocket fire that landed in an open field in Israel on Friday. Earlier that say, several balloons attached to an explosive device were found in the yard of an Israeli kindergarten. Another balloon with an explosive device was found in an Israeli community later that day. Israel has raised its alert level due to threats from Hamas of more attacks.
Pestilence/Disease, etc.
In New Jersey, health officials are urging 3,778 patients who underwent a procedure at the HealthPlus Surgery Center in Saddlebrook between January 2018 and Sept. 7, 2018, to get their blood tested, as they may have been exposed to HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C due to the staff at that time using improper procedures for sterilizing and injecting medications.
State and federal health officials have confirmed Florida’s first case of Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM) in 2018. It has been a record year of cases for the rare and serious polio-like illness.
Serious Vaccine Reactions
In Mexico, out of 52 children who received the BCG (tuberculosis), rotavirus and hepatitis B vaccines at a hospital as part of the National Vaccination Program, 39 had serious allergic reactions. Two babies died and 37 other children were hospitalized. Some are in serious condition.
Drugs/Addictions: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
In Utah, a man rammed the back of a school bus twice that contained 20 children, then forced a truck driver to take him to the Mormon temple. He said he was trying to elude Satan. A urine test showed positive for THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. He admitted to smoking a dab, or marijuana concentrate, the day before. Fortunately, the children were not injured physically.
In California over the Christmas holiday, sales at marijuana dispensaries blew through the roof as pot became a popular stocking stuffer.
Krokodil, the flesh-eating zombie drug that is much cheaper but three times more potent than heroin is causing a full-blown global crisis. The photos shown in news articles this week are too graphic for many to be able to stand, but I found a warning article from last month that is more bearable. Monkey Dust, Krokodil, Nyaope, Fentanyl, etc. New and deadly drug concoctions keep appearing these days. Fentanyl is disguised in even prescription drugs bought online from China and is killing lots of people.
As legal access to marijuana continues to increase in the US, more scientists are studying effects of its active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Experiments in rats and a study of 24 men found that THC appears to target genes in two major cellular pathways and alters DNA methylation, a process important to normal development.
A study has shown that almost 9,000 children and adolescents died from opioid use between 1999 and 2016, marking a nearly 300% increase.
Strokes are decreasing among older folks, but are increasing among younger ones. Researchers say marijuana and other drugs increase the risks, and some say overuse of cell phones also puts one at higher risk.
WARNING: M44 Cyanide devices implanted in the ground that look like sprinkler heads are meant to kill foxes, coyotes and feral dogs, etc., that farmers say are responsible for killing their flocks. But they’re killing pets and making people sick. The devices are generally legal on federal lands, although Idaho, Colorado and northern California have restricted their use. In addition to federal workers, state wildlife officials in Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Texas and South Dakota are also permitted to use them. In all, they’re used in 16 states, including Virginia and West Virginia.
Traitors, the “Blue” Craze, the Left’s Global Agenda…and the Consequences
Heading for a Recession: The US’s interest payments are about to skyrocket. The Fed is hiking interest rates against the president’s wishes. This hurts consumers and makes it much more expensive for the US to carry its debt load. Read Todd Strandberg’s Nearing Midnight Update in which he discusses this situation.
Good grief! The New York Times just keeps sinking lower. Their Andrew Ross Sorkin says criminal misuse of firearms is the fault of none other than credit card companies. This idea would be laughable if it weren’t for the absurd assumptions Sorkin makes to achieve this radical agenda. Those at the Daily Caller weren’t the only ones who thought so. Several news organizations and think tanks quickly jumped and called it an effort “to kill the Bill of Rights.”
President Trump’s defense attorney Rudy Giuliani called for a full investigation into Robert Mueller and his team following allegations that the special counsel has been destroying FBI evidence that could have cleared the president.
Thanks to a defamation lawsuit by three Russian bankers, Christopher Steele (of the bogus Steele dossier) is now on record. And what he is saying is incredible. He said he was secretly hired by the DNC and Hillary to challenge the validity of the outcome of the 2016 election.
The lies in the news media are widespread and growing, not just in the US but internationally. But as 2 Timothy 3 warns us, in the last days there would be plenty of traitors and false accusers.
2018 is the year big tech censors revealed their true colors even more. In any given week in 2018, you could expect a tech platform to censor a prominent conservative and other conservatives, the media to run negative stories about the president, and Democrats to complain about Russia (even though they and tech giants are guilty of Russia connections). All are connected. Read more about this sinister agenda at this link.
This Christmas season finds Democrat politicians falsely and hypocritically using the name of Jesus to further their sinister political agenda. Read about this here.
In his traditional Christmas speech, the globalist Pope Francis criticized nationalism and promoted the globalist agenda, calling cultural differences a “source of richness.” No; not all cultures are embraceable, nor is Islam compatible with Judeo-Christian values. It is an ideology bent on conquering the world.
The Left are hypocrites. Remember this PBS video from 2009? Here’s the commentary: NOW travels to Texas to meet border families who fear losing their property, their safety, and their way of life. Many question if the U.S.-Mexico border fence can keep people from sneaking in at all. An even greater worry may be the virtual fence the Obama administration is planning for the remaining 1,300 miles of border, at an estimated cost of nearly $7 billion.
Democrat leaders want to keep the government shut down until their “Blue Party” takes over the House in January to ramp up their dirty work even more. And it’s not about the cost of the border wall. Anyone who cares to do any research at all can find them talking not long ago against illegal immigration and also about the need to increase border security and build a better border wall. Here is a video of two of them: Bill Clinton, and also Obama. Obama’s was going to cost 7 billion back in 2009. And Bernie Sanders supported a border wall in 2013 that was estimated to cost 18 billion. Yet he now opposes one that will cost $5 billion.
While government workers have the blues due to no paychecks, and the president cancelled his Christmas vacation over the government shutdown, the likely upcoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi vacationed in Blue Hawaii at a luxurious resort.
Democrat politicians want war and chaos. Democrat politicians voted not to secure the US border, yet they overwhelmingly voted a few months to approve a $675 billion for war projects. They criticized the president for withdrawing troops from Syria. But President Trump said months ago that he would withdraw US troops from Syria when their job was done there and that our troops would be needed elsewhere. Where might that be? At this rate, it would be right here in the US since Democrat leaders fully intend to let every illegal immigrant from all over help them take down this country so they can rebuild it into their Marxist-Socialist-Communist so-called utopia.
Prosecutors at Mexican drug lord El Chapo’s trial are trying to hide any mention of the Obama administration’s botched “Fast and Furious” sting that let guns flow over the border. One of those guns was used to kill a US border patrol agent.
Two Guatemalan children died of high fever and vomiting this month after they entered New Mexico with a parent, one within only a few days despite excellent care, and another within 90 minutes after entering New Mexico while on the way to get care. The left of course blames the US for both deaths but the fault lies with parents who trek their children through a desert on a long journey, and also with the leftists in the US who incentivize these people to come here illegally.
Liberal Billionaire Reid Hoffman apologized for funding an effort to dupe Alabama voters into believing Russian bots were fueling Republican Roy Moore’s senatorial bid. Hoffman did not mention in his apology who executed the disinformation campaign designed to tie Moore to Russian internet trolls. One of the officials who was responsible for the Russian bot “false flag” operation is an Obama-era official. There were lies all around from the Left that caused Moore to lose the election.
MSNBC blew its cover again this week, lying to bolster the left’s agenda. They showed a video of border patrol agents kicking water jugs, as if it just occurred. But this occurred in 2011 when Obama was president. The Border Patrol condemned the actions at that time.
What Democrat voters should realize, but choose not to, is that in the Democrat-run cities in the US, poverty is high. The leaders offer just enough free stuff to keep them voting Democrat while still keeping them down and enslaved to the system. And they let illegal immigrants in, hoping to keep the Democrat votes coming in perpetuity. Los Angeles, California, is one of the worst examples, which now looks like a scene shown to Scrooge of the present in the Dickens novel, “A Christmas Carol.” Only add all the drug needles that infest the streets of their “sanctuary cities.”
Globalist Insanity: German Supreme Court rules anti-child marriage law unconstitutional, saying, “The best interests of the child cannot be compromised.” The Federal Supreme Court of Germany ruled that child marriage is constitutional so long as it takes place prior to entering the country. The specific case being argued concerned a Muslim man and his child bride. This man was 21 married to a 14-year-old. But in Islam, we’ve seen cases of men of all ages marrying children, with the child’s family having arranged/forced the child into the marriage. The worst case I saw was of a man who looked to be at least 100 heading to bed with his sad 12-year-old bride while the women in the family cheered.
They Worship the Creature/Creation Rather Than the Creator
Less than two weeks ago, the New York Times published an op-ed applauding extermination of the human race to “save the planet.” Now, The UK Guardian has published a story saying the declining human birth rates are a “cause for celebration.” Sarah Harper, so-called expert on population change, working at the University of Oxford, said that far from igniting alarm and panic falling total fertility rates were to be embraced, and countries shouldn’t worry if their population isn’t growing.
She said artificial intelligence, migration, and healthier old age means countries no longer need booming populations to hold their own. “This idea that you need lots and lots of people to defend your country and to grow your country economically, that is really old thinking,” she said. The article went on to say having fewer children is indisputably positive from an environmental standpoint, claiming research shows having one less child reduces a parent’s carbon footprint by 58 tonnes of CO2 a year. (How about the migrants they let in and want to continue letting in who have and are having lots of children? But she doesn’t mention that because revealing that wouldn’t fit with their globalist agenda.
US House Democrats are lining up behind what could be the biggest ruse for total government control in decades. “When Americans find out what’s in the ‘Green New Deal,’ will they be willing to pay for it? Take a look at Europe where people are “singing the blues,” so to speak, reaping the consequences of this green goblin grab that has blown the cost of living sky high.
In France, the Eiffel Tower was shrouded in smoke as Paris burned into the night. Yellow Vest protesters have set cars ablaze for the seventh weekend as they call on the globalist Macron (along with his high so-called “climate change” carbon taxes that are impoverishing everyone) to go. Smaller protests went on in other French cities.
The winds of change are blowing too little too late. Yellow Vest protests that began in France continue to spread in yet more countries besides the ones mentioned in last week’s post. In the latest news, in Canada there are reports of police taking photos of faces of Yellow Vest protestors in the cities. Some are protesting the globalist agenda of Muslim immigration forced upon them while others are protesting the globalist carbon taxes.
Yellow vest protests are now going on in Israel. Israeli leaders also buy into the bogus global warming agenda which raises the cost of living with higher taxes on fuel, water and electricity. From Reuters: The price of electricity was set to rise as much as 8% on Jan.1, while a host of other prices from food to water to municipal taxes are also supposed to go up in 2019.
Islam’s Global Agenda and its Consequences
UK intelligence sources are warning that the al-Qaeda terrorist group is seeking to carry out new terrorist atrocities against airliners and airports. This terrorist group behind the 9/11 attacks poses a growing threat. Al-Qaeda is developing technology to bring down passenger jets.
Barcelona, Spain, is on high alert following a warning from the US of the risk of a terror attack over the holidays. The State Dept. urged “heightened caution around areas of vehicle movement.”
In Iran, Major General Safavi, a senior advisor to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, said the US must leave the Middle East. He said, “In the east of the world, China, India, Russia and the Islamic Republic of Iran will be the new powers of the new century.” He added, “A dramatic shift of the global center of power is taking place now from the West to the East.
People need to seek out the truth about Islam, not the lies being taught or they’ll suffer for their ignorance. A New York Muslim cleric told other Muslims not to downplay or apologize for Islam because Islam and jihad (war against Jews, Christians, etc.,) go together “like honey & sweetness.” The Qur’an and Hadith command jihad. There’s no such thing in their teachings as extreme and moderate – It’s all Islam. Their teachings command them to perform jihad and take over the world by any means necessary including immigration. We can pray for them to turn to Christ, but don’t be deceived, and don’t be silent.
A video surfaced on social media this week that showed the disrespect a migrant showed to a woman on a bus in Europe. He angrily hit the rail behind her seat, scaring her and forcing her to get up and give him her seat. In the Muslim culture women are not treated well, and young males that have come to other countries en masse have shown they believe they can treat women there just as badly.
Nigeria’s former Christian president says that Obama encouraged Nigerians to elect a Muslim-led government that has caused a full-blown crisis for Christians and white farmers.
Turkey’s president Erdogan used Islam’s practice of taqiyya (lying for the cause of Islam) when speaking to a youth group, telling them that Jews beat and kick “Palestinian” women and children. ‘We’ll teach them a lesson,” he promised. Israel’s PM Netanyahu responded by accusing him of massacring Kurdish women and children, which is true.
The World Hijab Day organization launched its 2019, encouraging women and girls of all faiths, backgrounds, and ethnicities to wear the Islamic headscarf for 24 hours on February 1, in solidarity with Muslim women across the world. No doubt quite a number will go along with it, including schools. Oh, the hypocrisy! Muslim women are forced to wear this, and many have to wear a full-body black garment to cover everything but their eyes. And they’re forced into marriages, allowed to be beaten by their husbands, and even killed, and on and on we could go. Just wait till these women who go along with all this nonsense see Sharia Law come to their country. We must pray for eyes to be opened.
In Egypt, security forces killed 40 suspected terrorists in gun battles in three separate incidents in North Sinai and Giza, a day after a deadly bombing on a Vietnamese tourist bus killed four people. Its forces killed 30 during raids on their hideouts in Giza where it said “terrorist elements” were planning a series of attacks targeting state institutions and the tourism industry. The other 10 were killed in North Sinai, where the country is fighting an insurgency led by ISIS.
Lawlessness and Depravity in the Last Days Return to Days of Noah and Lot
One piece of good news this week: In Chicago, Illinois, pro-life advocates singing Christmas carols outside abortion facilities saved at least two unborn children from abortion.
When China’s Communist government announced it was relaxing its one-child policy, which forced abortions on pregnant women who already had one child, some in the West praised the move as a step toward liberty. Now it has a two-child policy and is still forcing women to have abortions.
In China, a man killed a local official and a police officer with a knife before hijacking a bus and running over people, injuring 22 and killing eight including an unborn child.
British actor Dominic West was among a group of progressive activists urging producers of the James Bond franchise to cast a transgender as the next Bond. West said there are plenty of transgenders in the UK’s military to support making the next Bond a transgender.
In California, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade has chosen its first LGBT Rose Queen.
A gay Navy sailor recreated the iconic Second World War kissing photo with his teacher husband.
Linda Harvey, president of Mission America, a Christian pro-family organization focusing on current cultural issues, listed the top ten 2018 “progressive” endorsements harmful to children at this link.
The Vatican’s sexual abuse case against ex-Cardinal McCarrick has expanded significantly after a man testified that the retired American archbishop sexually abused him for years starting when he was 11, including during confession.
Wars and Rumors of Wars
Isaiah 17 prophecy ramping up: Israel’s PM Netanyahu said, “The decision to remove the 2,000 US troops from Syria will not change our consistent policy: We will continue to act against Iran’s attempt to establish military bases in Syria, and if necessary we will even expand our operations there.”
Amir Tsarfati of Behold Israel described this week’s Israeli strike in Damascus, Syria, as expansive. Shortly after two Iranian cargo planes left Damascus carrying weapons of war to Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel performed airstrikes over what will be a doomed Damascus in Isaiah 17. Dozens of Israeli missiles blew up chemical weapons storage, weapons precision systems, short range missiles silo, headquarters and training facilities of Iranian militias, and more.
Hmm…? A new Russian threat was received in Israel on Dec. 26: Anymore air strikes and Syria’s SA-5 air defense missiles will be fired deep into Israel. Actually…one shook several towns in Israel on Tuesday night in the while Israel’s IAF were attacking Iranian sites in Syria. Israel’s air defense system missed the intruding missile; it exploded harmlessly in an unpopulated part of Mt. Carmel. Thanks to God. People reported that their houses shook under the blast, and for many hours the air reeked of gunpowder. A quarter of a million Israeli civilians were affected.
Turkey has begun massing tanks and troop carriers on its border with Syria as it prepares to move into the country as soon as American soldiers have left. But make no mistake; they’re not coming to finish off ISIS. They’re coming to wipe out the Kurds and advance their presence in Syria. But as we know, Turkey is part of the prophesied last days force that will invade Israel in Ezekiel 38-39. The evil invading armies will be blown to smithereens by God Himself. This will finally turn the mostly secular Israel back to Him.
“Palestinians” hurled a firebomb in an attempt to blow up a busload of Israelis. Thankfully, the bus didn’t catch on fire.
Molotov cocktail attacks threaten to drive Jewish families out of East Jerusalem. Residents say their building was torched by dozens of explosive devices thrown within the last month by locals from the Arab neighborhood.
When They Shall Say Peace and Safety…Sudden Destruction…
Pope Francis, the pride of the “Palestinians,” is speaking in M. Abbas’s ear again to resume “peace talks.” Let us not forget that Francis officially recognized a “Palestinian State” and called Abbas an “angel of peace.” Last year, Abbas’s PA aka PLO opened an embassy in the Vatican.
Shakeup in Israeli Government and the “Peace” Proposal
Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu and the parties in his coalition gave in and decided Monday to disperse the Knesset and initiate an early general election on April 9, 2019. He said he could not initiate the election six weeks ago when Avigdor Liberman resigned as Defense Minister and sparked a coalition crisis, because he wanted to first complete destroying tunnels on the Lebanese border in Operation Northern Shield. “With God’s help, we will win,” he said, and vowed to form the same coalition after the election.
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid, who is running against Benjamin Netanyahu for prime minister in the April elections, wants Trump’s inner circle to persuade him to release his peace proposal before the elections, forcing the parties to take a stand and the Israeli electorate to choose. (Yesh Atid was founded by Yair Lapid, and is a supposedly centrist party, but is almost universally considered to be aligned with the left).
The Day of the Lord Surely Can’t Be Far Away
The following may not mean anything—I’m just sayin’ since it was reported in the news. But one thing is for certain: given all that’s going on, it should be an eventful year regardless. A super blood moon will occur on January 21 this upcoming new year on the Jewish holiday Tu B’Shevat which is also called “The New Year of the Trees” and “The Feast of Fruits.”
The late Jack Kelley said, “We’re the generation for whom Joel’s warning is intended.” And other prophecies now converged bear this out. We are in the fig tree generation.
“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. And he (Jesus) spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled” (Luke 21:28-32).
The Day of the Lord (excerpt from Joel 2)
“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand… a strong people set in battle array…
…Let them (the people of Israel) say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them…Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people…I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up…
…And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered.”
The coming Tribulation, “the time of Jacob’s (Israel’s) trouble” is set aside to turn the Jews back to God and recognize their true Messiah. A remnant will call out to Him and will be delivered. The Church—the bride of Christ— is not appointed to endure the coming wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:9) that God will pour out upon all who reject His free gift of salvation in Christ.