The hot word among those who watch the signs of the times is convergence. It’s a good word. The definition basically means the movement toward a point of conclusion. In the case of Bible prophecy, it’s where all the disparate strands of God’s end-times fragments come together for His final judgment upon the earth. It’s like the master chess player moving his pieces in for the kill: checkmate. You lose. In this case, the losers—to put it bluntly—are those who oppose God. Vengeance is finally His.
In the last several weeks, a number of these elements rose up enough to catch my attention. These are only a few of the many items, but they all add up. Every week we could probably report on matters like this with a similar article. Here they are in no particular order:
A July Washington Institute article discussed how Iran and Turkey are cozying up to each other much more than in the past because of their mutual interests. We know the ultimate mutual interest is the destruction of Israel that will be attempted in Ezekiel’s War articulated in Ezekiel 38-39. Lately, however, Ankara has moved to resolve tensions with Teheran over Iran’s nuclear program by backing the Iranian government over the protests of its people and by coming alongside it as sanctions have increased. Turkey actually expressed outrage at the attempt to cut off Iranian oil exports. Is this simply altruism on Turkey’s part? Of course not. Turkey has revival of the Ottoman Empire on its mind, so it’s hoping that Iran will buoy it in its regional objectives of political and economic power.
From the Middle East we move to Yellowstone Park, as noted by Fox News commenting on an August New York Times op-ed. Apparently, there’s a supervolcano beneath Yellowstone just waiting to erupt and unleash its fury upon unsuspecting humanity. In fact, there are 20-some supervolcanoes lying in wait under the planet. Just one of these erupting would be “the greatest catastrophe since the dawn of civilization” according to the European Science Foundation. Yellowstone and its counterparts are the epitome of an ultra-catastrophe because of their potential to destroy all human life. Jesus spoke of this in warning of the times to come in Luke 21:11, so the rise of these life-threatening planetary horrors is no surprise:
“There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.”
Further west we go to Silicon Valley and the giant tech firms. According to the media outlet AFP, a study originating from the Dutch NGO Pax quotes these companies as “putting the world at risk of killer AI.” Through the killer robot developments that Amazon, Microsoft, and Intel are working on, these lethal autonomous weapons in various related military projects have the potential to sow much chaos in the future. Pax says these Artificial Intelligence entities “could decide to kill people without direct human involvement.” Pick a prophecy relating to this scenario. Among others, we could certainly point toward the Sixth Seal Judgment in Revelation 9:13-19, which could be demonic in nature, AI robots running amuck, or a combination of these. Regardless, this will be an ugly time for unbelieving humanity:
“Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’ So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number.
“And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.”
Finally, we come to our financial analyst Jim Rickards, whom I’ve noted previously has a good handle from the secular side that economic catastrophe is coming. In my last Prophecy Update, I reported that Mr. Rickards was looking at a new Axis of Gold. Here, he’s predicting that many factors are lining up for a “Perfect Storm.” We know what that is from the movie of the same name some years ago, which depicted the plight of some fishermen caught in it off the coast of Nova Scotia. Just like in that instance, things appeared peaceful prior to its development; so too is what Rickards is saying will happen in the financial realm.
Rickards uses very interesting language in his June Strategic Intelligence newsletter. In recounting prior financial meltdowns, he says, “Here’s one thing I learned: Every one of these episodes was preceded by mass complacency or euphoria… The worst panics are always preceded by a sense that nothing can go wrong.”
Biblically, to review, here’s what Jesus said in Matthew 24:37-39:
“For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”
What are the items leading to the perfect storm? Rickards lists three, just as there were three in the 1991 disaster:
- The effort by the Democrats to impeach President Trump
- The socialist-progressive tilt in the 2020 presidential race
- The fallout from the Mueller report
Without getting into those here, again the verbiage that Rickards uses dovetails our thesis: “These components are independent of each other, but are at high risk of convergence in the coming months.” These developments are brewing, the waters are being stirred. Currently, they’re with us but in the background. The economy is humming along, on the surface. Interest rates are low, as is unemployment. People are going about their lives, in a sense, enjoying the fruit of President Trump’s policies. The times of Noah and Lot seem to be upon us. But, as Rickards says, “A storm with no name is coming.”
What could that storm be? We who love and look forward to the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ believe that storm upon the earth will come as a result of the Rapture of Christ’s true church; those who are faithful, those who believe, those who follow hard after their Lord and Savior will be whisked away into the clouds.
The signs are indeed converging. We don’t know when these myriad events will come to a head with Jesus returning for His bride, but we know they’re pointing to a time that is rapidly approaching. We wait with bated breath.
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Gary W. Ritter is a lay pastor, Bible teacher, and serves as Missions Director at his church. He is also a prolific author. His Whirlwind Series is comprised of three books: Sow the Wind, Reap the Whirlwind, and There Is A Time. All these books are also contained in the collected volume of the just-released Whirlwind Omnibus. Gary has a standalone novel of supernatural suspense, The Tattooed Cat. He released Alien Revelation – The Unveiling, the first novel in a new series The Sons of God Chronicles on September 4, 2019. You can reach him via his website at www.GaryRitter.com or at his Facebook Author page at https://www.facebook.com/gritter3390. You can also see his video Bible teachings on his Gary Ritter YouTube page – look for the fish symbol.