The Number 1 Signal

Most of those within the Christian community who have for years seriously studied Bible prophecy have given the number one signal to watch for as the nation Israel.

This has been especially true since the Jewish people – hated, hunted, and murdered throughout millennia and finally killed by the millions in the Nazi holocaust – came back into the Promised Land following World War II in 1948.

Many among the Reform denominations joined the Catholic Church in writing off the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as having any further rights to the promises God made. Obviously, in this collective view, God had given up on them. Their rejection and crucifixion of His Son had, in the minds of these religionists, negated any rights as a nation called Israel.

When the Jews became miraculously a nation again in the area surrounding Jerusalem, the chosen people suddenly took on tremendous prophetic importance in the eyes of those who looked diligently into eschatology –the study of end times things.

Although attacked on every side from the time they were reborn as a nation, Israel not only survived but grew and prospered as no other people of the Middle East. The land began to bloom like a garden –which was, in fact, a prediction from God’s Word about what would happen to the land of promise anytime the chosen people occupied it.

Major assaults against the Jewish state in 1956, 1967, and 1973 only proved God’s Word to be infallible. The nation won against all odds in those wars and sent their hate-filled enemies scurrying away in painful defeat.

But, just as God’s Word also prophesies, the assaults, although of somewhat lesser virulence, continued to thrust at Israel and continue today, as we have all witnessed very recently.

Israel remains at the center of nations in a conflict that the would-be world-governing peace purveyors fear will result in World War III and nuclear Armageddon. These minions, which I am convinced make up the human element within the Ephesians 6:12 wickedness in high places against which we struggle, no longer hide their satanically-fostered hatred for God’s chosen nation. They strive to turn the entirety of earth’s peoples against the Jewish State. The following illustrates the point.

GENEVA, June 3 (Reuters) – A group of United Nations experts called on Monday for all countries to recognize a Palestinian state to ensure peace in the Middle East.

The call came less than a week after Spain, Ireland, and Norway officially recognized a Palestinian state, prompting anger from Israel, which has found itself increasingly isolated after nearly eight months of the war in Gaza.

The experts, including the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories, said recognition of a Palestinian state was an important acknowledgment of the rights of the Palestinian people and their struggle toward freedom and independence…

Israel has repeatedly condemned moves to recognize a Palestinian state, saying they bolster Hamas, the militant Islamist group that led the deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which sparked the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.

[Source: UN experts urge all countries to recognize Palestinian statehood, By Reuters, June 3, 2024]

Anger and threats similar to that in Germany in the 1930s are again being heard in Europe and around the world.

EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin opened the meeting with a stark message. “We are in a fight for the continuation of Jewish life in Europe,” he said. “Jews wearing traditional clothing or displaying mezuzahs on their doors are facing relentless harassment. Jewish students are receiving threats on their lives and being excluded from university courses, while hate graffiti defaces Jewish homes, synagogues and cemeteries without any deterrent.”

[Source: Leading rabbi warns mass exodus of Jews from Europe to Israel may be imminent, Rapture Ready News, June 4, 2024]

The buildup is accelerating toward the time Jesus said would be a time of trouble such as never been. He placed God’s chosen people –Israel—at the center of that time of Tribulation.

Watch Israel, and the world’s increasingly hate-filled treatment of the Jewish people. This is the number 1 signal that shows definitively where we are on God’s Prophetic Timeline.

This means Jesus Christ is about to step out on the Clouds of Glory and call believers (the Church) to Himself.

You want to go to Christ when He says, “Come up here!” Planet Earth, following the Rapture, will descend into the time of horrors depicted in the Book of Revelation.

Here is how to avoid that most terrible time of human history.

“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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Jesus’ Soon Appearing Versus the Normalcy Bubble

In 1920, Warren G. Harding ran for president with the campaign slogan of “The return to normalcy.” Despite harsh criticism for his use of such an obscure word at the time, the idea of returning to “normalcy” swept him into the Oval Office.

His motto had great appeal to Americans in 1920, as they longed for normal lives after the turmoil of World War I and the deadly Spanish Flu pandemic.

Most people live in a “bubble of normalcy” where they feel secure because of exaggerated and unrealistic hopes of either a return to normalcy or of their current lifestyle continuing indefinitely into the future unhindered by the perils around them.

The Normalcy Bias

Because of America’s long history of peace and security, many of its citizens live with what’s called a “normalcy bias.” As a result, even many Christians label those of us who warn of the dangers inherent in a world speeding toward the Tribulation period as “conspiracy theorists.” “No one can really be that wicked or deceitful so as to cause such widespread suffering and death,” they tell us. Such is the errant worldview inside the bubble.

Unfortunately, many Bible-believing saints see the storm clouds forming on the horizon but fail to recognize that they signal the end of human history as we know it. In order to cope with the threats to their wellbeing, they often lapse back into a familiar rhythm of life, believing that life as they know it will continue indefinitely. It’s so easy to do!

Why Does It Matter?

I realize that the majority of my readers recognize the signs of the times and live well outside the normalcy bubble that negatively impacts those both inside and outside the church.

Even so, it’s vital that we don’t lose our focus on future things and resist the lure of the normalcy bias that continually competes for our allegiance.

First, a substantial number of our fellow believers suffer because of cancer, the loss of loved ones, financial woes, and a host of other afflictions. They, like us, need frequent reminders that this world is not their home, along with our confident assurance that a much better day is coming. We don’t know when Jesus will come for us, but the signs tell us that this glorious day for all the saints is imminent.

Secondly, a firm grasp of biblical prophecy enables us to look realistically at the chaotic and lawless world around us and share the “blessed hope” of Titus 2:11-14 with those outside of Christ. This biblical two-world perspective provides us with a solid foundation from which to give others a “reason for the hope” that we possess (1 Peter 3:15). We not only recognize what’s happening around us, but we also know the why behind what we see. This is the essence of a sound biblical worldview.

Third, the practice of eagerly watching for Jesus’ appearing has a purifying effect on us. Consider the words of 1 John 3:2-3:

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

Such an upward focus motivates us to live in a way that’s pleasing to Him.

Fourth, remaining grounded in biblical prophecy shields believers from the false teachings that abound in churches that claim to be Bible-believing.

Paul, claiming to write based on a word from the Lord, fixated the hope of the Thessalonian believers on meeting Jesus in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). Those who say there’s no such thing as the Rapture attack the integrity of God’s Word.

We who long for Jesus’ imminent appearing confidently do so based on the description of an event that the Apostle Paul said came directly from the Lord, even though others believe we are crazy for anticipating an event that’s far, far out of the ordinary.

Jesus Is Coming Very Soon

Of course, there’s a certain comfort in our daily routines. The concept of the Rapture is an exceedingly supernatural event with no parallels in our experience or even in the history of humanity. Yes, Enoch was a prototype of it, but the Lord’s imminent appearing will result in the sudden disappearance of tens of millions and the empty graves of many more. And all these things will happen in an instant on a day just like this.

Eight years ago, I retired so I could write full-time about Bible prophecy, a topic of lifelong learning for me. Even so, it’s difficult at times to wrap my head around what’s coming in the near future as the signs scream with this message to all who are paying attention, “Jesus is coming very soon!”

The actors are in place, the stage is all set, and the curtain is about to rise on the Day of the Lord. The globalists are doing all they can to fully implement their deadly agenda, but they cannot do so until God allows it.

Everything is in place for the Rapture to happen, for the Day of the Lord to begin, and for the man of lawlessness to later make his covenant of death with Israel. The only unknown is when the Lord will call us home and then remove His restraining hand that’s now keeping the man of lawlessness from assuming control (2 Thessalonians 2:1-8).

We do not know the day or the hour. However, the Bible tells us it will happen suddenly and without warning. In addition, the signs tell us that it must happen soon and warn us not to get too comfortable in the normality of our daily lives.

-Jonathan

 

Restraint, Derision, and Sudden Destruction

One element about prophecy yet future that has, for me, been somewhat puzzling in a certain context is the phrase sudden destruction. The warning comes from the following:

“For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thes 5:3).

As I say, my perplexity has stemmed from the context. This is a follow-up scripture from the Apostle Paul’s further revelation about the mystery of the Rapture.

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thes 4:16-18).

For me, the disconnect came from my long-thought belief that there would be, following the disappearance of millions of believers, a collapse –a meltdown— of human interaction on a global scale. Chaos would immediately follow this staggering event, but it would, I believed, be a more or less controlled chaos. I.e., the cry for peace and safety would, I considered, be likened to a growing worldwide emotional breakdown and financial, societal, and cultural collapse that would cause people to beg for somebody to fix it all.

Antichrist would be willing and able to step up, and the panicked people would readily accept the back-to-normal promises he offered, thus giving him growing control over the nations.

But why, then, the term sudden destruction? The descriptive phrase smacks of instantaneous devastation, not of slow or even rapid collapse into chaos and dystopian existence for the world of left-behind people.

The realization strikes that peace and safety is a condition that seems to connote something far deeper than circumstance merely of freedom from chaos and disorder from financial catastrophe and breakdown of law and order. The cry for peace and safety indicates, I now am convicted, a desperate desire for the preservation of life itself, not just a call for restoration to something akin to normalcy.

I have long held, as anyone who has followed my commentaries knows, that Jesus Himself foretold the exact circumstances in which this generation now finds us. His days of Noah, days of Lot prophecy found in the Matthew chapter 24 Olivet Discourse and again in Luke 17:26-28 foretelling, says that it will be business as usual right up until the moment believers are taken to be with Him in the Clouds of Glory. It will be just like it was in the time of Lot in Sodom. The very day Lot was taken by the angels out of the wicked city, the town and its sister town of Gomorrah were totally, and I mean totally, destroyed. As a matter of fact, those doing the excavation of the area today are just beginning to uncover just how total was the destruction in that Judgment.

My perplexity was always that Jesus indicated it will be just like that when believers are taken to Heaven. Destruction of the sort Sodom experienced, Jesus foretold, will fall that very day. How, then, could there be this slow collapse into societal and cultural dystopia that could take weeks, or months, or longer? Sodom and Gomorrah were instantly destroyed in a deluge of fire and brimstone – devastation that must have been not unlike nuclear devastation that such weaponry can inflict today.

All we must do to see the potential for nuclear conflict is to take account of any hourly news cycle. One such report leaves little doubt that potential for Sodom-like destruction can be easily dealt by the hand of mankind, without even the need for Wrath directly from Heaven.

More and more European officials and NATO countries are on board with allowing Ukraine to use Western-supplied weapons to strike deep inside Russian territory. Among the latest to speak openly about this are NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell, and the government of Sweden, which is the NATO alliance’s newest member state.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday issued one of his more dire warnings yet, putting Europe on notice by commenting on their possessing small land areas and dense populations. The veiled threat is very ominous, especially in light of the fact that Russia just wrapped up tactical nuclear drills near Ukraine…

[Source: Putin Threatens West’s ‘Dense Populations’ In ‘Small Land Masses’ In Response To NATO Escalation, ZeroHedge, May 29, 2024]

With nuclear weaponry in the hands of leaders more and more threatening to use them, it is more than a wonder that the nuclear Genie hasn’t escaped the bottle. It is indeed amazing that a nuclear weapon hasn’t been accidentally discharged. There are accounts of massive hydrogen bombs that have come within a hair’s breadth of exploding accidentally.

The fact is, I have no doubt whatsoever that it is the Staying Hand of Almighty God Who has prevented such disaster. He continues to restrain nuclear and all other sorts of satanic evil from being unleashed. God Himself has, as promised in Psalms chapter 2, had the diabolists of this Judgment-bound world in derision – intervening to disrupt the devil’s plans to bring on yet another world war.

But God’s patience is not without limits. There is coming a time when, like with Lot’s case, He will call believers from the planet’s surface and into the Loving Arms of Jesus.

You want to go to Christ when He shouts, “Come up here!” You will be forever safe in God’s Family, saved from the sudden destruction taking place on Earth. Here is how to make sure you go in the Rapture, which will happen at any moment:

“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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How Much Longer Can It Be?

I have seen this picture several times on social media. I’m not sure if it’s real, photoshopped, or an image created by AI. The meme depicts a monkey walking toward a sleeping lion with a large stick in his hands. The clear implication is that once the primate hits the sleeping beast, it will not end well for him.

This meme keeps coming to mind as I reflect on current events. Just like the monkey, the globalists are provoking dangerous beasts knowing that their actions will not end well for a great many people. What’s different is that they will initially prosper from the anarchy they cause.

The question on my mind is this: How much longer can it be before the Lion of Judah responds in His wrath, wipes out the realm of the antichrist, and inaugurates His righteous rule upon the earth?

I agree with Dr. David Reagan, who recently wrote that we are “living on borrowed time.” We do not know how much longer we must wait until the Lord appears and God’s wrath in the form of “sudden destruction” descends upon the world (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3), but what we see tells us it must be soon.

World War III

The picture of a monkey about to attack a sleeping lion came back to my mind when I recently came across a news item from Newsmax. Below is the first paragraph of the story:

After gaining approval from the Biden administration, Ukraine reportedly used U.S. High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) to hit targets in the Russian city of Belgorod, 20 miles north of the Russia-Ukraine border in southern Russia.

I dare not predict when, but I know this is not going to end well for America. Joe Biden, a true globalist, is doing all he can to provoke Russia into a full-scale war. Perhaps soon, the bear will respond to his constant provocation.

The war in Ukraine is already a proxy conflict between NATO and Russia. Before I read the news of Biden’s approval for an attack on Russia with U.S. missiles, I was amazed that Russian President Vladimir Putin had not yet attacked NATO interests outside of the current battlefield. Now I realize it must be the Lord’s restraining hand that’s preventing the start of WWIII.

The world is even now on the brink of the opening of the second seal and the release of the “pale horse,” which will bring war and conflict to the earth (Revelation 6:3-4). Perhaps soon, the constant threats from Russia to use nuclear weapons against NATO members will become a reality and lead to the massive death toll indicated in Revelation 6:8.

Economic Devastation

The third rider of the Apocalypse reveals a coming time of economic devastation upon the earth (Revelation 6:5-6). How much longer can it be before we see the dire conditions predicted in these verses? Painful inflation, layoffs, and business closings are already wreaking havoc throughout the U.S., but we have yet to experience the conditions described in Revelation 6.

In America, we see a deliberate attempt to destroy the economy and bring financial ruin to all but the elite. The government is printing massive amounts of money as by some estimates, we are adding one trillion dollars to our debt burden every one hundred days. The open borders have allowed millions to enter our country in just the last few years, which is adding to the nation’s debt level, economic woes, and housing crisis that’s leaving multitudes homeless on our streets.

Despite the financial turmoil that increases by the day, we remain earthbound, and the black horse remains in its stall. We hear it kicking, but we will be with Jesus in Heaven before this rider and horse bring widespread suffering to the world.

Planned Food Shortages

When goods such as food experience record soaring prices, such as will occur during the Tribulation, it signifies a shortage (the scarcity of a product combined with demand always drives up its price). Do we see the globalists provoking this outcome? Absolutely, we do.

The draconian restrictions that they seek to impose on farming in the name of saving the planet will most assuredly result in the deaths of a great many people due to starvation and lead to dire food shortages in the future. The cost of meeting one’s daily need for nourishment will soar to unimaginable heights.

If Not for the Lord

These are just a few examples of where it seems that the Tribulation period should already have begun, but for the Lord’s hand holding back the appearance of the antichrist and the full implementation of his deadly agenda.

How much longer can it be before He takes us up to glory and takes away the restraining work of the Holy Spirit?

I seriously doubt that Putin’s patience accounts for delaying the start of WWIII. It could begin at any moment, but for the Lord’s power holding back the forces of evil and allowing more time for people to come to saving faith in Him.

For several years, I’ve been amazed that the U.S. economy has not completely collapsed into oblivion. I can’t predict when this will occur, but I know it must be soon.

For the past eighteen months, we have read warnings about imminent food shortages. However, for most people in the U.S., this has not yet materialized. Were the experts wrong? Or is it again the Lord somehow foiling the plans of the elite until the time is right?

We would be terribly amiss not to see these things as evidence that the Rapture might happen in the near future. How much longer can the world leaders actively provoke events that strongly resemble the conditions described in Revelation 6:1-8? What they don’t know is that at the same time, they will unleash the fury of the Lion of Judah.

Since we see much evidence of the Lord restraining judgments that cannot happen until after the Rapture, how much longer can it be until He brings us home to glory?

-Jonathan