Destruction Like the Days of Lot?

We are in the middle of the spring storm season here in my state. Having just stayed up half the night and early morning listening to sirens screaming out tornado warnings, I sat thinking about some of the destructive reports from that line of storms. —That, and anticipating another round of severe weather building to our west in Oklahoma, in an area known as “Tornado Alley,” the origination point of the most devastating twisters on the planet.

When that news finished blaring those reports, I then switched to one of my favorite early-morning programs: Dr. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist of Dallas—Pathway to Victory.

He is in a series waxing eloquent on end-times prophecy. As part of the message that aired that particular day, Dr. Jeffress made some thought-provoking comments regarding the Rapture of the Church and what might be the attempted explanation for the millions of people instantaneously disappearing when Christ shouts, “Come up here!”

I have, myself, often waxed not nearly so eloquently on that very topic in sessions at churches and prophecy conferences across the nation and even out of the country. My firm belief, of course, is that we as a generation are in the times like they were in “the days of Lot” in Sodom, as forewarned by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

I have said and written frequently that I believe America might well have been the nation on the Lord’s mind when He gave the prophecy recorded in Luke 17:28–30:

“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”

The United States is the apex nation of history in terms of human achievement and material wealth. This is in keeping with the biblical description of Sodom, where Lot lived. Sodom and Gomorrah were cities of greatest wealth.

Also, like Sodom of Lot’s era, America is perhaps the most wicked geographical area of its time, exporting every sort of vileness, such as pornography, and embracing such evil as the murder of millions of children in their mothers’ wombs. Homosexuality is now at the heart of our nation, with LGBTQ, etc., ruling the roost under a presidential administration and leftist government that allows such Sodom-like behavior to bloom and control.

Thinking on the possible destruction effervescing on the day the thunderstorms were building to our west and listening to Dr. Jeffress talk about the coming destruction following the Rapture and the possible explanations for it, I considered a point I might have missed with regard to Jesus’ words about the days of Lot.

Dr. Jeffress conjectured that when the Rapture occurs, it could possibly be at a time of great catastrophe. That is, the Rapture could coincide with something such as nuclear war erupting at exactly the same moment, with missiles flying. This would provide those trying to explain the millions vanishing. For example, it might be said to be a physiological reaction and interaction within human bodies, with such unprecedented thermodynamics taking place.

I have believed and expressed that, like when Lot and his family were removed from Sodom by the angels, then Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed that very day, America, for example, will suffer great destruction when Christians leave in the Rapture. This scenario certainly seems to fit all things, like the economy, societies, and everything else, crashing at once and bringing a great cry for someone to rescue the world, to bring things back to the way they were before the destruction. This would be a perfect storm, allowing Satan to bring his man of sin onto the stage of history.

Dr. Jeffress’ engendering the thought that the Rapture could take place during a great calamity caused me to consider Paul’s words as recorded in 2 Thessalonians 2. The prophecy tells us that God, Himself, will send “strong delusion” to those left behind after the Rapture. And God does that so all who wouldn’t accept His truth during this Age of Grace, and who will not do so following the great disappearance, will “believe a lie.”

The lie will no doubt include that the people who left were removed for reasons Antichrist and his regime will explain. We’ve examined before that UFOs might have a part in this great lie.

So, sudden destruction, like the sudden destruction of Sodom, certainly might take place at the same time the Church goes to be with Christ in the clouds of Glory.

Many of you might already have concluded this on your own, before my epiphany. But it’s an alteration, of sorts, to my thinking on these last of the last days.

It all fits better than my previous thoughts—that America, as one example, might suffer a more or less slow-motion collapse and eventual crash of the economy and of our national existence following the catching-up of the Church. Regardless, my original contention—that the Rapture will cause the great collapse of America and the world into chaos—remains unchanged. Dr. Jeffress’ TV presentation offers the real possibility, even the probability, that the great disappearance will take place at the same time of national and worldwide collapse in sudden destruction, exactly like in Jesus’ prophecy of Luke 17:28–30.

In any case, you don’t want to be on earth when whatever is going to happen happens. It will bring destruction far greater than any storm of nature one can imagine. Here is how to escape that coming time that will be like the day Lot and his family left Sodom and the city was obliterated. You can be within the safety of Christ’s arms forever, whether you’re entering Heaven through the portal of death or go to Him while you’re still alive at the time of the Rapture.

“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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What More Do People Need to See?

This sounds so much like today! I couldn’t get that thought out of my head as I read the John 6 account of Jesus’ interaction with the Jews the day after His feeding of the five thousand.

How did those in the crowd on that day respond to Jesus’ plea that they believe in Him? They asked, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?” (John 6:30).

What more did they need to see?

Jesus had just fed a multitude with “five barley loaves” and “two fish.” The total number of people could easily have been close to fifteen thousand since the number “five thousand” just included the men. Even satisfying the hunger of a few hundred people with such little food would’ve been a significant miracle, but to feed so great a gathering was over-the-top supernatural.

Seeing such a miraculous sign should’ve at least caused the crowd to consider Jesus’ claims on the following day, but most scoffed at His claims and walked away.

The lack of discernment among this hungry throng from so long ago bears a striking resemblance to many Christians today. They see the multitude of signs telling them that they live in the last moments of time before the start of the Tribulation, yet they respond in the same manner as those who witnessed the feeding of the five thousand.

They scoff at our hope of Jesus’ imminent appearing and flock to churches that proclaim an end-of-the-world return of Jesus that happens in the far distant future. They want what Jesus offers but would rather not look for His imminent intervention in their world.

Beginning in the early seventeenth century, many students of Bible prophecy taught that Israel would again become a nation. When this miraculously happened about three hundred years later, it did little to change the minds of those who claimed God had rejected Israel. This major fulfillment of Bible prophecy didn’t alter their errant thinking that the church was God’s kingdom in place of Israel.

In His mercy, the Lord is letting today’s world see multiple precursors pointing to the soon release of the horses of the apocalypse in Revelation 6:1-8. I believe that if it were not for His restraining force, the world would already have experienced the full impact of these judgments. Sometimes I’m amazed that we are still here and these horses remain in their stalls. We are so close, but for God’s mercy.

Never before has there been so much evidence pointing to the nearness of this time of wrath than today. However, never in recent history has there been so much unawareness and disbelief regarding Bible prophecy as we now see in churches.

The same unbelief that caused the crowd to refute Jesus’ claims in John chapter 6 keeps many of today’s Christians oblivious to the fact that their world could radically and suddenly change at any moment. It grieves my heart that despite professing to believe in the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture, so many pastors remain sound asleep, mired in unbelief concerning what the Lord revealed in His Word regarding His appearing and the time of His wrath upon this wicked world.

Of course, Jesus attracted many true followers during His time on the earth. Many saw the signs He performed confirming His identity and recognized Him as their Messiah. Notice the response of those in Jerusalem a little while after the feeding of the five thousand:

“Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, ‘When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?’” (John 7:31).

We might ask a similar question to those who tell us we are foolish to look for Jesus’ appearing anytime soon, or even in our lifetime: ‘If the Lord were to warn today’s Christians that the Tribulation period was near, would we see any more signs of its soon arrival than we currently witness?’

I can’t imagine we could see more evidence of the approaching Day of the Lord than what we now witness. I’m aware that those who read the Nearing Midnight column are eagerly awaiting His return, but I write to provide reassurance of the validity of what we see despite living in the midst of naysayers.

Just like those living in the first century AD, we live in biblical times today. Also similar to that day long ago, it’s primarily church leaders who are leading people away from anticipating the Lord’s imminent appearing.

Maranatha!

-Jonathan

Pre-Trib Trigger Points

Many within the Pre-Trib Rapture belief camp understand that the Rapture is dealt with in Jesus’ Olivet Discourse. My dear friend, the late Dave Hunt, gave an excellent session on the subject, which he was assigned to address at a conference.

However, in his uncompromising, straight-ahead way of exposition, Dave changed the title of that session early on the morning of December 1998 at the Pre-Trib Study Group gathering in Dallas from “Is the Rapture in the Olivet Discourse?” to “The Rapture Is in the Olivet Discourse.” He told us who were in attendance that he just couldn’t see how the Rapture of the Church was not in that tremendous prophetic teaching the Lord Himself gave as an answer to His disciples’ question: “What will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the world [age]?”

I have both the transcript and the audio of that session; they are treasures I pull out every once in a while to bolster my understanding of God’s Holy Word on the profound matters involved in the pre-Trib Rapture of believers.

Jesus, in the discourse, gave a number of signals that would be prevalent at the time of His return to Earth in the Second Coming. Mixed within His description of coming back in the Second Advent was the first phase of that return to the earth.

The first things He said to look for were deception and deceivers. He went on to say there would be great upheaval among the populations of Earth. There would be, He said, great ethnic strife.

He further said there would be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. There would be pestilences and an increase of earthquakes in many places. He said that eventually, these terrible things going on would get so frightening that people’s hearts would fail them when they look at what is coming their way.

He stated that the entire world of rebels against God and His order would increasingly come to hate both the disciples—who, of course, were Christians by this time—and the Jewish people. The people with reprobate minds (Romans 1:28) would think to kill both classes of those who are associated with God. For unbelieving Israel – the Jews of the seven-year Tribulation era – persecution by the one who will become Antichrist, the world’s final great dictator, would eventuate in the most terrible time in human history. It would be the same for those, both Jews and Gentiles, who will have accepted Christ for salvation during that horrendous time. Most of these would be martyred—many beheaded—for their belief. For those accepting Antichrist’s satanic mark (Revelation 13:16–18), the wrath and judgment of God would be even worse than for the martyred saints.

So we come to Luke 21:28. Jesus commanded all who are alive when these signals become obvious to do the following:

“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”

With this great commandment by the Lord Himself to look for these signals of His return in the first phase of His Second Advent–that is, when they begin to come to pass—we must consider whether we’re now witnessing the pre-Trib trigger points to the Rapture of the Church.

The things we’ve seen “coming to pass” for quite some time include the following:

>Deception in every direction we look. Just the political deception alone is in our faces daily. But the lies coming even from governmental institutions, attempting to change America into an anti-God mindset, cannot be missed.

>The seas of humanity are roaring; there is great ethnic upheaval. Protests are no longer peaceful but are turning into physical battles, especially among the young on the campuses of higher education. Much of this turmoil is being fomented by the very professors who are supposed to be teaching the young.

>The hatred of the Jews is on the rise as it was in the late 1930s of Nazi Germany, bringing to mind our Lord telling about the hatred that would eventuate. Zechariah’s words (Zechariah chapter 12) are being borne out. Israel and Jerusalem are becoming a “cup of trembling” and a “burdensome stone” for the entire world.

>Additionally, we see the stage being set for Antichrist controls once the Rapture takes the Church to Glory. Artificial intelligence, fused with demonically inspired acumen, will give Satan’s man of sin godlike powers in the eyes of those left behind on earth to suffer under Antichrist’s rule.

>And, of course, there is the unmistakable pre-Trib trigger point of looming globalism storming upon the world scene in preparation for that son of perdition. Antichrist will take over when the Restrainer, resident within the Christians who are with the Lord in the Rapture, no longer holds back evil. Antichrist’s dictatorship is even now in its late stage of development, as the following analysis indicates.

Planetary Emergency

Over the last couple of years, the phrase “planetary emergency” has become increasingly used by the United Nations and aligned organizations to describe their belief that the planet is passing from various states of crisis to emergencies from which humanity might not return unless drastic action is taken. We have even seen the release of opinion pieces calling for “a formal declaration of a ‘planetary emergency’ by the UN General Assembly at the Summit of the Future in September and the activation of an ‘emergency platform.’”

The calls for declaration of an emergency have also reached the White House. Last week, Bloomberg reported the Biden administration is considering declaring a climate emergency.

“White House officials have renewed discussions about potentially declaring a national climate emergency, an unprecedented step that could unlock federal powers to stifle oil development,” Bloomberg wrote.

White House spokesperson Angelo Fernandez Hernandez told Bloomberg that Biden “has treated the climate crisis as an emergency since day one.” (“UN 2.0 Coming This Fall—Setting the Stage for Global Government,” Derrick Broze, Activist Post, May 1, 2024)

All we must do is observe the anti-Semitism—the growing, worldwide hatred of Jews—to know we are very late in the final hours of this Age of Grace. I believe that, soon, Jews in America will become so fearful as to want to move to Israel, where God’s Word says all of Israel will eventually accept their Messiah. Now, of course, that means only the prophesied remnant of Israel will believe and be saved to go into the Millennium under the King of all kings. But the things that are coming against Jews of America at this very moment look to be something that will only grow worse in the prophetic sense. Likely, this movement to Israel in total won’t happen until all Christians have gone to be with Christ. Few defenders of Israel will be left once the Rapture happens. And all the pre-Trib trigger points seem to be in place for that to occur very, very soon.

Whether Jew or Gentile, here is how to go to the Lord Jesus Christ when He calls all believers to Himself, thus fulfilling His promise of Revelation 3:10:

“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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Rapture Weariness

It was a warm evening, and the window in my college dorm room was open wide. I don’t recall if I decided to give in to the drowsiness I felt or if I just dozed off in the midst of studying. Suddenly, the loud blaring of a trumpet awoke me from a deep sleep, and I instantly thought, “This is it, the Rapture!”

That was fifty years ago. I had just finished reading The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey, and for a fleeting moment, I imagined an upward pull of my body toward the ceiling.

What I might have regarded as signs of the approaching Tribulation five decades ago pale in significance to the signs that abound all around us today. Yet we still wait and feel a bit impatient for the Lord to intervene in a world that’s gone crazy.

I remember an illustration that JD Farag used a few years back. He compared the events of our world to the stretching of a rubber band, which at some point will break. When I look at today’s world, particularly recent events in America, it seems as though we are well past the snapping of the rubber band. The Lord is holding things together until the appointed time; He’s keeping the rubber band intact, for now.

In the U.S., inflation continues to soar far beyond the official numbers with no end in sight. The impact of higher insurance rates for cars and homes, along with hikes in property taxes, will push many more families to the breaking point.

I’m amazed that we still exist as a nation. I often wonder if America’s enemies are not attacking, either from within or without, because they sense it will soon implode and they can pick up the pieces.

Is it any wonder that we grow increasingly fatigued as we wait for Jesus to take us home? If you feel increasingly weary in your wait for Jesus’ appearing, I understand.

That’s why I want to share a couple of truths from Scripture that recently helped with my Rapture weariness.

The Father Has Set the Time

I recently came across these verses from Psalm 75 that brought a degree of relief to my impatience:

“At the set time that I appoint
I will judge with equity.
When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants,
it is I who keep steady its pillars.” Selah (vv. 2-3).

Although these verses don’t refer to the Rapture, they speak to God’s judgments upon the world that will occur soon after Jesus takes us home to glory. They reminded me of His sovereignty over all things. He sees all that’s happening around us today, and He will surely respond. It’s not a matter of if the Rapture happens soon, followed by the day-of-the-Lord judgments (see 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10), but when.

Jesus referred to the Father’s role in setting the timing for end-time events in both Matthew 24:36 and Acts 1:7. Perhaps it’s because we cannot know the day or the hour that the Lord instructs us to remain watchful (Matthew 24:44).

These thoughts helped soothe my anxious feelings. Contrary to what the scoffers tell us, the Rapture and seven-year Tribulation will most certainly happen. The two-thousand-year gap between Jesus’ command for us to wait and today has not nullified Jesus’ solemn promise to take us to Heaven (John 14:2-3). If anything, what we see today intensifies our expectation of meeting Jesus in the air in the near future.

Although waiting for Jesus’ appearing is not easy at times, we know it will surely happen because God the Father long ago determined when it would happen. We trust His perfect timing for all things.

It Will Be Worth the Wait

Waiting for the Rapture reminds me of past vacations where the arrival at the destination made the arduous journey to get there worthwhile. When Jesus appears, the glory we will then experience will instantly make us forget about dreary weeks and months of waiting for it to happen.

The greatest tragedy that flows from the silence regarding the Rapture in most pulpits today is that it focuses the attention of the saints on this life where they find no solace for these perilous times. Some hear that the church will prevail against the evils of our time. Others believe that our world will eventually return to a sense of normalcy.

It’s because we know what Scripture says about wonders ahead for us in eternity that we can face the extreme wickedness, lawlessness, deception, and violence around us. Hearing about the promise of Jesus’ appearing reminds us that a far better day is coming, one that will exceed anything we can now imagine!

Paul summed up the New Testament mindset regarding the fact that whatever we suffer in the interim, our experience at Jesus’ appearing will be so much worth the wait.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).

Romans 8:23-24 clarifies that the apostle had the Rapture in mind when he wrote about “glory” ahead for us. It’s at Jesus’ appearing that we will fully experience our “adoption as sons” and receive “the redemption of our bodies.” Imagine enduring all the affliction and persecution that Paul experienced and then saying that our experience when we get to Heaven will be so spectacular that it’s beyond comparison with all the grief of this life.

The days may be long in this vale of tears, but oh, what a joyous and glorious day awaits when the trumpet sounds (for real) and we meet Jesus in the air.

-Jonathan