Eleven years ago, I wrote an article titled The Stage Is Nearly Set, in which I listed several important occurrences and their dates. Following is that listing.

• 1920 American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) founded
• 1945 The United Nations (U.N.) replaced The League of Nations.
• 1945 The atomic age began with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
• 1946 The Atomic Energy Commission was created.
• 1946 Xerographic photocopying process was invented.
• 1947 Truman Doctrine (aid to countries whose governments are threatened with overthrow)
• 1947 India and Pakistan proclaimed independent nations
• 1947 First airplane to break the speed of sound
• 1947 The transistor invented at Bell Laboratories
• 1947 Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) founded
• 1947 Holography invented
• 1947 Doomsday Clock invented by scientists
• 1948 The Marshall Plan (giving aid to 16 European countries)
• 1948 Foundation of the State of Israel
• 1948 Communists take over Czechoslovakia
• 1948 Organization of American States founded (human rights)
• 1948 First flight of first commercial jet airliner
• 1948 World Council of Churches formed
• 1948 U.N. adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• 1948 World Health Organization (WHO) founded
• 1949 Communists forces gain power in China (nationalists flee to Taiwan)
• 1949 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) established
• 1949 Soviet Union detonates its first atomic bomb
• 1949 Israel admitted to the U.N.
• 1949 Lucky Lady (U.S. Air Force) completes first non-stop around-the-world flight
• 1949 Electron microscopy developed
• 1949 Council of Europe formed
• 1950 National Council of Churches formed
• 1958 European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and European Economic Community (EEC) formed by six European countries (the beginnings of the European Union, as known today)

I also find it interesting that Madalyn Murray O’Hair was born in 1919, and one year later, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was founded. The American Atheist, founded in 1963 by Madalyn Murray O’Hair, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), founded in 1920, have been Satan’s left hand and right hand in his attack upon Christianity.

Isn’t it interesting that most of the dates listed above are in the same general time period, either before or after another very important date? Israel became a nation on May 14, 1948.

If that isn’t enough, here are some more occurrences and their dates that are in the general time period, either before or after another very important date. On June 7, 1967, during the Six Day War, Israel reunified Jerusalem.

• 1963 American Atheist founded by Madalyn Murray O’Hair (pushed separation of church and state)
• 1963 Murray vs. Curlett resulting in Supreme Court decision (8-1) that year, which made it unconstitutional for school-sponsored Bible reading in public schools
• 1967 Israel defeats Arabs in Six-Day War
• 1967 First Super Bowl
• 1967 First heart transplant (by Dr. Christian Bernard)
• 1967 First celebration of Earth Day
• 1967 First broadcast of Sesame Street
• 1967 Israel reunified Jerusalem

In 1980, the Israeli Parliament declared Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel. On May 14, 2018, the United States of America moved its embassy to Jerusalem under President Donald Trump.

When I was born, there was no nation of Israel, but God said He would bring them back, and bring them back He did.

“Before she was in labor, she gave birth; Before her pain came, She delivered a male child. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, She gave birth to her children” (Isaiah 66:7-8).

“Then say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again” (Ezekiel 37:21-22).

By the time I was one year old, God brought the children of Israel back from where they had been scattered and established them back as a nation in ONE DAY! That is unheard of! No other group of people, EVER, has been dismantled, scattered throughout the other nations, and then brought back as the SAME nation! … let alone in ONE DAY! He is still bringing His children home.

God has made it clear in the book of Daniel, Ezekiel, and others that He would bring Israel back as a nation, and they would have seven remaining years that He would judge them, and He would also judge the world. We know this period as the Tribulation, and the last 3 ½ years of the Tribulation as the Great Tribulation. That time period is getting closer and closer.

In the late fifties, the Internet was birthed, and on August 6, 1991, the World Wide Web became publicly available. Today, nearly everything functions via the Internet. We can’t live without it. Don’t think so? Ask any teenager.

Most all of the items I have shown in the two listings, and many more I haven’t listed, have been stepping stones that have brought us to the last days spoken of in God’s Word, the Bible. We don’t know the day or hour of Jesus’ return, but you can rest assured that we are in the season of His return.

Israel becoming a nation again in 1948 is the one major sign that the clock is ticking. The second major sign, in my opinion, is the convergence of all the prophetic signs in our day. When I was born, none of the signs of the coming Tribulation existed, but today they are overwhelmingly visible.

David Reagan has written an excellent article on an overview of the signs of the times at http://christinprophecy.org/articles/an-overview-of-the-signs-of-the-times/. It would be well worth your time to read his article.

Folks, time is running out. One day soon, maybe much closer than we think, Jesus is going to remove His bride (the true Church) from this earth, and then the seven-year Tribulation will begin.

Noah warned the people of his day that God was going to judge the world by water. All those not in the Ark would drown. For 120 years, Noah warned the people, but they laughed it off, just as people today are laughing at God’s message that another worldwide judgment is coming called the Tribulation. When considering the worldwide flood of Noah’s day and God’s coming judgment in the seven-year Tribulation, the Tribulation will be even worse. Reading the book of Revelation makes that clear. Jesus says of those Tribulation days:

“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened” (Matthew 24:21-22).

Don’t be like those of Noah’s day and die without Jesus.

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com
Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html

Have you ever noticed, as a Christian, those times when you just want to have some quiet time for prayer and to read your Bible that something interrupts you? It’s amazing how Satan will send his goon squad out on errands to distract you.

Satan will use any means necessary to keep God’s children from reading the Word of God and from communicating with our Lord in prayer. Bad situations may sideline us. I am reminded of the words of the apostle Paul.

“Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11-13).

Paul did not consider those bad times when he went through so many trials, such as imprisonment, for example, as times to not study God’s Word and pray. No, he still studied the Word, prayed, and even sang songs to the glory of God. Actually, bad times would be more apt to draw us to God.

What about the times in our lives when most everything is going smoothly? Satan will use more subtle tactics to interrupt us.

My wife and I enjoy our morning Bible reading and prayer time together. However, almost without fail, our cat Pepper finds that as a time she decides to get our attention. I’ll come back to this.

Pepper was born May 4th, 2014, and has always been an indoor cat since then. Over the years, eight plus now, she has picked up on our words and habits. She knows her name. She knows other words and phrases such as: treat, pumpkin, water, potato chip, bedtime, hush, and probably more we haven’t noticed. We have often wondered why an animal can learn our language, but we can’t learn theirs. I guess they’re smarter.

Debbie and I try to go to bed around 10:00 P.M., and Pepper will let us know it is time to go to bed … NOW. She likes to get me up the next morning around 5:30 or 6:00. She is a good alarm clock.

When we get the grooming brush out to brush her, she hears the click of the button on the brush and goes straight to the area we groom her. She loves it.

She likes to drink water from the bathroom sink, as most cats do, and will certainly let us know if we forgot to leave her water in the sink. Due to our sometimes forgetting this little detail, she will sometimes meow before she jumps up on the sink, I guess, so she isn’t jumping up there needlessly.

Her dry cat food is in a bowl on the floor in the dining room, and it must be full at all times. If it is a few bites short, we’ll hear about it.

Yeah … she’s spoiled, but let me get back to Debbie’s and my Bible study and prayer time. We do this at the dining room table, and almost without fail, Pepper begins her meowing until we open the closet doors in the hallway right off the dining room. So, one of us will get up and open the doors, and then she is happy as she checks out the closets for the hundredth time.

And then, on just a few occasions, while we’re having our Bible study, she’ll run through the house at warp speed. We look at each other and say, “She’s got the spirit.”

But there’s more …. When Debbie and I are eating, at the same table of course, she doesn’t bother us, only when we are having our Bible study and prayer time. Hmmm.

I realize that we have created this situation, but we can live with it. Although, sometimes I want to kill the cat. JUST KIDDING!

We do not have small children or grandchildren. They are all grown, but have you noticed that the baby cries just when you’re ready to spend some quiet time with the Lord, or the two-year-old suddenly demands your attention?

The phone rings. Your mind wanders. You’re tired. You just thought of something else you need to do. There’s a knock at the door. Something’s burning in the oven. Your spouse needs help with something. Well, you get the point.

None of these sources of interruptions are evil. The pets, the children, the phone, the doorbell, food in the oven, the spouse, etc., are all totally innocent. I have never experienced Satan sending an ugly demon to yank my Bible from my hand and curse me. No, it’s innocent distractions that he will use. Why? They are successful!

If you are a Christian who actually studies the Bible, in addition to just reading it, you are even more of a threat to Satan and his cause. Maybe that is why actually studying God’s Word is hard. It requires work, but the rewards are unlimited.

The following Scripture verses have always been my bedrock. I’ve always had the first three typed and taped to the front inside of my Bible.

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalms 119:11).

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalms 119:105).

It is amazing what lengths Satan goes to in keeping us from reading God’s Word and spending time with the Lord in prayer. When Pepper interrupts our Bible study and prayer time, my wife and I jokingly say that Satan must be pinching the cat, but in reality, he will use that which is totally innocent to distract us. We have learned to just open the closet doors and continue. The cat is happy, and we are happy.

Is Satan stealing your time with God? Don’t let him. There are many things in our lives that we make time to do. Is there anything more important than our time in God’s Word and prayer?

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com
Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html