Valley of Derision

The Lord tells, through the prophet Joel, the dire recompense for the rebellious evil of opposing His righteousness:

“Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.

“Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision” (Joel 9-14).

We are at this moment very near the beginning of that time, at the end of which everyone will be gathered into the Valley of Jehoshaphat–the killing field of Armageddon.

As Joel declares, we now see wickedness growing daily—even hourly. It is indeed an exponential growth of evil directed primarily at God’s prescribed order of things for planet Earth.

Armies of the world, particularly those of nations primary to prophetic fulfillment, have already turned pruninghooks and ploughshares into swords and spears that are the incredibly powerful instruments of modern warfare. They have awakened the men of war and gathered them, as witnessed by Russia’s threatened invasion of Ukraine and China’s voracious glances at Taiwan. The world is, to any observer with a rational eye for developments, preparing to make war.

It is just a matter of time until the multitudes will gather to oppose God and storm toward His touchstone to humanity, Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. They will at first rage against one another, each wanting to make that satanic prize–Jerusalem and Mount Moriah—their conquest. They will be filled with the madness their father, the devil, has planted in their reprobate minds. They will then see the black skies above earth split apart and the glory of Heaven beaming through as the Lord of lords and King of kings and His army of redeemed saints begin their descent.

Today we are in a valley of decision, of sorts. The decision is whether to be on the side of the heathens destined to oppose God and His righteousness, thus be in colleague with those who will face Christ the King in the Valley of Jehoshaphat or whether to be on God’s side by accepting His only way to redemption, thus to be on the side that opposes the wickedness we see proliferating in every direction we look.

Another valley I think we can see very plainly at this time is a valley of derision.

It is a place of profound struggle against the powers and principalities in high places of Ephesians 6:12. Christians who determine to fight the evil that opposes God’s righteousness comprise the nucleus of this force. While many others who don’t know Christ as their Lord also fight in this arena against wickedness, God’s people are the glue that holds fast the frontline resistance to the assaults by Lucifer’s minions, both demonic and human.

Paul the apostle says the Restrainer will hold back the assaults of evil and wickedness until He is taken out of the way. The Holy Spirit is that Restrainer, and He works primarily by indwelling all who know Christ for salvation. So it is the believers of this age who must continue the struggle, empowered by God the Holy Spirit.

And there is plenty of evidence to validate that God is restraining in these times so near when He will call the Church out of this doomed world of rebelliousness.

We’ve witnessed time after time, for example, blockage of legislative efforts that would take America into dictatorship. The evil continues to advance but is not allowed to completely infect the world with the sin disease that will cause God’s judgment and wrath to finally fall upon the incorrigible rebels who oppose His righteousness.

The time will come when “earth dwellers” will have their way, mostly unimpeded by God’s governance. But this condition will not last long. Devastating things will begin to happen as God prepares for His Son, Jesus Christ, to return and put an end to all evil, wickedness, and rebellion.

The Lord has these anti-God, anti-Christ forces in derision at this very moment. His Holy Spirit is holding back Satan’s all-out assault until the Church is taken to be with Jesus in the Rapture.

Again, here is what the Lord says about what is going on now and into eternity.

“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

“Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him” (Psalms 2:1-12).

—Terry

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Are We Really on the Cusp of the Rapture?

As one high watch period after another comes and goes, we sigh as the waiting continues. If you are like me, you feel the weariness of continuing to watch for the Lord’s appearing as wickedness increases beyond what I ever thought possible, and injustice prevails along with government corruption.

Are we really on the cusp of the Rapture? Yes, I remain convinced that we are. Below is a brief summation of reasons why I still watch for the Lord’s appearing as something that could happen today or possibly this week, month, or year.

Wickedness that Demands God’s Response

Many years ago, Ruth Graham famously quipped, “If God doesn’t judge America, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” Wickedness in the U.S. has increased exponentially since she spoke those words. If God’s judgment on our nation seemed like a foregone conclusion over twenty years ago, how much closer must America be now to experiencing the full scope of His wrath?

God is just, and He must judge the extreme wickedness and lawlessness of our day. The Bible predicts a future outpouring of God’s wrath upon the entire earth, which it describes as the start of the Day of the Lord. Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, stated that the Rapture will happen just before the “sudden destruction” of this future time (1 Thessalonians 5:1-10).

What we see happening today will most surely bring God’s response. Count on it. He will directly intervene in the course of human affairs, beginning with the Rapture.

The Prospect of Nuclear War

For months, I have read statements from Russian leaders warning of nuclear war if NATO persists in arming Ukraine, which they continue to do. Recently, Biden authorized Ukraine to fire U.S. missiles at targets within Russian territory. I remain shocked by the foolishness of such a decision. When one of America’s missiles causes severe damage in Russia, it’s a certainty that Putin will directly attack NATO and American interests.

Revelation 6:1-8 describes the initial devastation toll that will sweep over the earth during the Day of the Lord. This includes a war that will contribute to the death of one-fourth of the earth’s population. Could it be that what John saw was the result of the current provocations for a nuclear confrontation that would likely kill hundreds of millions, if not more? If so, this tells us we are ever so close to the Rapture, which happens before the seal judgments.

The World’s Determination to Resolve Israel’s Wars

If there ever was a time that matches the words of Zechariah 12:2-3, it’s now:

“Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.”

Of all the many wars taking place in the world today, the UN and its member nations are obsessed with stopping Israel’s war in Gaza and preventing its all-out attack on Hezbollah. The world’s excessive preoccupation with bringing peace to the Middle East not only fulfills prophecy but will also lead to the antichrist’s future covenant of ‘peace’ with Israel.

The Lord, through His prophet, predicted the world’s current fascination with Jerusalem, which will open the door to what will take place just prior to and during the seven-year Tribulation. Does this not also tell us that we are ever so close to the Lord taking us home to the place He’s preparing for us? I believe it does.

The Nearing Pole Shift

For the past couple of years, I have been reading about the upcoming pole shift. My primary source of information for this has been John Traczyk, a fellow believer who’s also eagerly anticipated the Lord’s soon appearing. I don’t understand much of what I read about the beginning of the pole shift, but a few things have captured my attention:

1. The descriptions of what the experts say will happen during a pole shift closely match what the Apostle John predicted would happen during the sixth seal (Revelation 6:12-17).
2. Many of the world’s wealthiest people are building underground bunkers. They are doing so not only because of the threat of nuclear war but because of warnings concerning the pole shift.
3. John Traczyk and others believe this catastrophic event will happen soon.

The nearing pole shift is another harbinger pointing to the nearness of Jesus’ appearing to take us home.

The Imminent Economic Disaster

The third seal depicts a time of economic disaster that will impact the entire world. And as I have often written, we are long past due for this to have happened. It’s only the restraining hand that’s holding back the astronomically high prices for food depicted in Revelation 6:5-6.

Living With a Sense of Imminency Copies the Mindset of First Century AD Saints

As I prayed and thought about the nearness of the Rapture during the past week, the Lord reminded me that living with a sense of imminency is biblical regardless of the signs pointing to it. He instructed us to always watch for His return, and the New Testament believers “early awaited” His appearing as something that could happen at any moment (Matthew 24:36-51; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Thessalonians 1:8-10). And our perseverance in doing so will bring a reward (2 Timothy 4:8).

Waiting is never easy, especially in a day of microwave ovens and instant access to information via the phones we hold in our hands. However, when Jesus appears to take us to the place that He’s preparing for us (John 14:2-3), we will know that it was well worth the wait.

-Jonathan

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