God’s Greatest Restraint

Despite all the wickedness across America and the world, God the Holy Spirit continues remarkable Restraint as Paul the apostle foretold.

“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only [the Holy Spirit] who now [Restrains] will [Restrain], until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked [Antichrist] be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him [Antichrist,] whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Thes:7-10).

New World Order architects are nearing the precipice of bringing into being the Antichrist regime Satan has long sought to inflict upon humanity. They have employed the fear factor of a worldwide pandemic with the COVID scare. They have convinced governments of the Western world like those of Canada, Australia, and, yes, the United States of America, to put into place things to bring their populaces into compliance with bizarre implementations which in just the recent past would be considered insane. Like, for example, the Biden administration’s declaration that the day we celebrate Resurrection Day this year to be the Transgender Day of Visibility.

This wicked declaration brought the following response from Franklin Graham, son of the late evangelist Billy Graham.

“On the most significant day of the Christian calendar, when the Church around the world celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ who died and shed His blood for the sins of mankind, the Biden administration uses this opportunity to flaunt sin, to glorify sin, and to celebrate sin.

“The Bible says, ‘…they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them!’ (Isaiah 3:9). Judgment is coming,” he added. “Instead of celebrating sin, we need to confess our sins, repent of our sins, and ask for God’s forgiveness.”

The all-out assault on morality has, for certain, had its deleterious effects. Our public school systems, in considerable measure, put in front of our children the so-called “wokeness,” which defies God’s Divine order in the matter of the trans-movement and in other absolute reprobate ways that reflect where this generation stands in relationship to Romans 1:28.

The Holy Spirit continues to restrain such assaults by Satan and his minions, both demonic and human –the evil forces described in Ephesians 6:12. Those who observe these late prophetic times as Watchmen on the wall see the Psalms chapter 2 derision God is sending upon the Ephesians 6:12 minions. These New World Order builders, despite their Great Reset and Build Back better efforts, can’t complete their Satan-inspired blueprint construction this side of the Rapture of the Church. The Holy Spirit, Resident within all believers, continues to Restrain.

That said, it is not this Restraint against the satanic evil of which I write in thinking upon presenting this commentary. The absolutely remarkable Restraint to which I refer involves God’s unfathomable Mercy.

The God Who Created all there is –Who Holds in His Mighty Hand the very matter of which all things consist, hasn’t completely destroyed the anti-God rebellion that is constantly thrown in His Holy Face. This is truly remarkable Restraint!

Jesus Himself spoke of His Father’s unfathomable Mercy and restraint. When He was being horribly abused by those who were about to crucify Him, He said that He, Jesus, could Speak the Word and His Father would send legions of angels to save Him. That God the Father hasn’t completely destroyed all of this fallen world system is beyond human understanding.

I, as father of sons, can’t imagine the Restraint the Heavenly Father exercised at that most crucial Moment in human history. I couldn’t, like Abraham, be obedient in offering up my son for sacrifice. I just haven’t that degree of faith –although I sure wish I did have the kind of Faith that can remove mountains. I have to be honest and say I just couldn’t let the evil forces of this world come against one of my children without bringing all I could muster to stop them.

Our God, however, has within His Holy Person the ability to Invoke Mercy, through His Restraint, that is… well… unfathomable.

Nonetheless, there is a sense among those who “Watch” as commanded in Mark 13:37, that God’s Restraint based within His great Mercy is very near Its Limits. This Age of Grace (Church Age) is about to end, and the age that will be marked by His terrible Judgment and Wrath is about to begin.

The Rapture of the Church will be Heaven’s Demarcation that will bring about God’s Dealing with the likes of absolute evil and wickedness to which this world has come. Jesus said it will be the worst time of all human history (Matthew 24:21).

You don’t want to be part of those left on this Judgment-bound earth when Christ Calls God’s people to be with Him in the Clouds of Glory.

Here is how to be certain that you will go to Jesus when He Calls.

“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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Depraved Minds and the Fulfilling of Jesus’ Prophecy

Perhaps the most frightful sign of the last days comes from the lips of Jesus Himself. In Matthew 24:21-22, Jesus spoke these words regarding the last three and a half years of the Tribulation:

“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”

It’s been almost two thousand years since Jesus said humanity would face extinction apart from His timely return to the earth at the end of the Tribulation (Matthew 24:29-31), and today, we see more clearly than ever how this might happen. We understand how the wars, famines, and judgments of God will contribute to this terrible death toll.

The other factor will be the antichrist. In preparation for his arrival, Satan is even now leading people down a path to accept the killing of a multitude of believers and Jews, especially during the last half of the Tribulation.

The Roman Road to Depraved Minds

Many of us are familiar with the “Roman road to salvation,” which uses verses from the book to present the Gospel. There’s another much different highway that I refer to as “the Romans 1 road to depraved minds.” What makes today different from Paul’s day is the widespread popularity of this road, especially among those in authority, elected and otherwise.

The downward journey to a depraved mind begins with the refusal to acknowledge God, His attributes, and His eternal power (Romans 1:18-27). This downward trek, according to Romans 1:28, leads to futility in thinking that ends with the Lord giving them up to a “debased mind to do what ought not to be done.” The word in the Greek, adokimos, applies to something, such as a metal that doesn’t endure testing, thus proving to be unfit, or “reprobate,” as the King James Version translates it.

What happens to those with depraved minds that “fail the test?” They become incapable of making morally sound decisions and, in most cases, even rationally sound ones:

“They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” (Romans 1:29-32).

We live in a culture dominated by those who have successfully traversed down the Romans 1 road to a “reprobate mind.”

If there’s a spokesman for this brutal and murderous group, it would be author and World Economic Forum (WEF) advisor Noah Yuval Harari. He repeatedly declares that the majority of humans on planet Earth are “useless eaters.” As such, he advocates a significant reduction in the world’s population. A report on the Natural News website sums up all that I have read and heard from this prophet of death.

Harari talks about “useless human beings” who do not have meaning or purpose. He said the greatest fake news is the Bible. He said Christianity is wrong, that humans are here on Earth for “nothing.” “Jesus Christ is fake news,” be balked. He believes there is “no great cosmic plan” that humans have a role to play in. Instead, he views humans as “useless eaters” who can be hacked and manipulated using digital surveillance under their skin.

He also believes in culling the population. “What do we need so many humans for?” he is quoted as saying while promoting his latest book.

An Example of Reprobate Thinking

If there’s an arena today where we see numerous examples of “reprobate” thinking, it’s among the climate alarmists of our day.

John Kerry, who until recently was the “climate czar” for the Biden administration, is the best example of those who tell us that we must eliminate fossil fuels in order to save the environment. Can you imagine the impact this would have on farming?

The high death toll that would surely result from such a policy has not stopped globalists from advocating a disastrous reduction in planting and harvesting crops as a necessary step in reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. The call to kill millions of cattle in the name of “saving the planet” is a clear result of reprobate thinking that would lead to the starvation of multitudes.

The phrase “fossil fuels” itself is bogus. John Rockefeller coined this term a century ago so he could sell his oil and gas at higher prices due to its alleged scarcity.

Experts estimate that the natural gas reserves off the coast of Israel exceed a trillion cubic feet in just one location! The amount of oil consumed in one day alone throughout the world requires an astronomically high number of prehistoric animals to generate. These sources of energy are most certainly NOT “fossil fuels.” It’s utterly impossible for decaying dinosaurs to account for gigantic deposits of oil, natural gas, and coal that are present in our world.

The Lord provided these rich reservoirs to sustain the earth’s current large population. Without these fuels, billions would die of starvation. Used properly, they do not harm the environment nor do they raise temperatures to unsafe levels.

Climatologist Dr. Pat Michaels, in a panel discussion on “Climate Myths” moderated by John Stossel, said:

It’s warmed up around 1 degree Celsius since 1900, and life expectancy doubled in the industrialized democracies! Yet that temperature ticks up another half a degree and the entire system crashes? That’s the most absurd belief! . . . Eliminating all fossil fuels would reduce the average earth temperature by .14 degrees Celsius. That’s a very small change for putting humanity back in the Stone Age.

The Apostle John wrote that the “spirit of the antichrist” was already active in his day (1 John 4:3). How much more do we already see this in the promotion of policies that would kill billions of people if fully implemented? These things come from depraved minds given over to the influence of our enemy.

That’s the downside of seeing Jesus’ words come to life in our present day. For us, it indicates that the Rapture is ever so close. Never before have New Testament saints witnessed so many things that point to the soon arrival of the Tribulation period.

-Jonathan

 

 

 

 

 

 

Abraham’s Plea and Today’s America

America, it seems to me, has reached a point of depravity not far distant from the level of wickedness reached in the city in which Abraham’s nephew, Lot, chose to live. We’ve looked at the Sodom-likeness of our own nation a number of times in these commentaries. But never before has such a degree of Sodom-likeness materialized, in my view.

This observation gives me no pleasure to report. However, the accumulating facts are what they are, and to be true to what we believe the Lord has put us here to do –bring His Truth, found in His Holy Word, to bear—we can do no more or less than report what is happening in our beloved nation.

We start with Abraham’s initial question: What if 10 can be found? Genesis chapter 18.

When the aged patriarch, Abraham welcomed strangers as they approached his home, he soon recognized these were not ordinary men but Heaven-sent beings in the form of men. As two of the men were ready to depart to go to Sodom where Abraham’s nephew and family lived, the third stayed to talk with the old man.

“And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know” (Gen 18:20-21).

So Abraham now recognized the third being as being God Himself in human form. Undoubtedly, Abraham knew of the wickedness of the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because he knew what the Lord would find there and feared the punishment to follow. Abraham appealed for God to have mercy on the inhabitants of Sodom.

“But Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?” (Gen 18:22-24).

We know from this account that the Lord agreed that if 50 righteous people could be found, He would spare the city of Sodom His Judgment. Then Abraham kept asking if the Lord would spare Sodom if 40, then 20, then 10 righteous could be found. At this point, Abraham realized Sodom’s fate was sealed, apparently so incorrigibly wicked had the people become.

We can only imagine, from this account, the degree of debauched comportment the people of Sodom had reached. But the news of the wickedness in the twin cities was so great, it was known by Abraham and doubtless all who lived in the region round about. Certainly, reports of the wickedness had reached into Heaven to the degree that God Himself, like in the matter of the Tower of Babel, came down to see exactly how great was the evil of the cities. God, of course, knew, as He knows all things, but apparently, He wanted Abraham –and those of us today who are believers, to know that His Judgment, when it comes, is not without His complete Knowledge and Consideration.

He Intervenes directly into the affairs of mankind with Judgment and Wrath only when there is no other recourse. That is when such Intervention is the only hope for saving man from his own destructive behavior.

And this brings us to the title of this article: Abraham’s Plea and America.

Many of those who observe things going on in America at this moment –including yours truly—wonder just how close is the nation to bringing about, because of anti-God activity, God’s catastrophic Judgment of the type suffered at the time of Babel and during Lot’s time in Sodom.

Many –even believers– today would scoff at even the thought of linking America to the type of wickedness the Bible reports as having been taking place in Sodom and Gomorrah. And most people don’t believe this really took place, at any rate. There just is no evidence either of the historical fact of Sodom’s destruction or that the United States is as wicked as was the “fabled” city of Sodom, the majority might declare.

Recent archeological digs in the region below the Dead Sea, however, have changed the fable of Sodom to almost without question a historical fact. So we look to the situation in America at this moment in time to try to ascertain if there are similarities to the days of Lot to things going on in America.

Articles such as the following excerpt report on an hour-by-hour news cycle basis cultural and societal debauchery legislated into U.S. law –and even worse.

A sprawling, $1.2 trillion government funding bill includes funding for abortion facilities, as well as LGBTQ activist centers that carry out transgender injections, target minors, hold drag shows, and help illegal immigrants who identify as gay or transgender gain U.S. citizenship — a bill one congressman calls “a total, total abomination.”

The “Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024” funds the Departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services (HHS), Homeland Security (DHS), Labor, and State until the end of the fiscal year, September 30. Congressional leadership released the text of the 1,012-page bill at 2:30 a.m. Thursday, giving members of Congress just hours to read before an anticipated vote to head off an impending government shutdown at midnight Saturday.

As of this writing, the bill contained the following earmarks:

$400,000 requested by Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) for Briarpatch Youth Services in Fitchburg, Wisconsin. The group promises to hide minors’ struggle with gender dysphoria from their parents while indoctrinating teens in extreme gender ideology. Its “Queer 101 Training” promises to teach “an intersectional understanding on queer oppression” and aims “to demonstrate how limiting the ‘male’ and ‘female’ binary is.” The organization offers “individual counseling services” for children “ages 12-17,” in which a “[counselor can work with children on exploring identity, resiliency, and creating a Gender Support Plan for school support and advocacy.”

The group’s website says, “Youth do NOT need parent/guardian permission to join Teens Like Us. We understand not all youth are at a point in their lives where they can safely and confidently ‘come out.'” (Emphasis in original.)

Source: Total Abomination: $1.2 Trillion Bill Funds Teen Trans Programs, Abortion to 22 Weeks – The Iowa Standard, By Ben Johnson, The Washington Stand

The above story is but one small segment of the voluminous reports recording America’s free fall into Sodom-like culture. It seems to me that God is expressing His warning of impending Judgment on this most materially blessed nation in all of human history. The destruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, named, of course, after the author of America’s National Anthem, I sense, is not mere coincidence.

I fear even more dramatic forewarnings of national Judgment is in the offing.

Jesus, again, Foretold as recorded in Luke 17:28-30 that His next catastrophic Intervention will be exactly like it was in the days of Lot in Sodom. Jesus, Who is God in His reincarnate form, said the following to Abraham, who was pleading for His Mercy in the city where his nephew Lot lived.

“That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen 18:25).

This gives me great hope. It makes me know that the Lord of Heaven, Who is the blessed hope of Titus 2:13, will spare the righteous –that is all Who have Trusted in Him for Salvation, which makes them Righteous in God’s Holy Eyes.

You want to be part of the Righteous when the Lord Jesus Intervenes next in the wicked affairs of mankind. Here is how to be made Righteous in the Eyes of the Lord.

“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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Darkening Skies

The hype concerning the April 8 solar eclipse exceeds anything I can remember. Its wide path will enable tens of millions to experience the darkening skies from their own back yards. The fact that it completes an X across the U.S., when combined with the eclipse seven years ago, has caused many prophecy watchers to take notice, including me.

Please keep in mind that the Rapture is a signless event; it can happen at any moment. My belief that we live in the season of Jesus’ appearing has nothing to do with the upcoming solar eclipse but upon the words of Scripture and what they reveal about what the world will look like in the last days.

However, although the upcoming solar eclipse’ completion of an “X” across America doesn’t tell us anything about the timing of Jesus’ imminent appearing and upcoming Tribulation period, I believe it signifies the Lord’s great displeasure with the U.S. and thus constitutes His warning that dark days lie in its not-so-distant future.

Darkened Skies and Times of Judgment

In the Bible, darkening skies are often associated with God’s judgment.

In announcing the signs that will accompany the arrival of the Day of the Lord, the Prophet Joel says, “the sun will be turned to darkness” (Joel 2:31). The ninth plague in Egypt was that of a three-day period of darkness (Exodus 10:21-22). In the future, we see a repeat of this plague during the fifth “bowl” of God’s wrath when extreme darkness will descend upon the kingdom of the antichrist shortly before its destruction (Revelation 16:10-11).

At the end of the Tribulation, a darkened sun will precede Jesus’ return to earth and the pouring out of His wrath upon the armies gathered to oppose His arrival (Matthew 24:29-31; Revelation 19:11-16).

Does this mean that every solar eclipse signifies God’s judgment? No, of course not. It’s the timing of the April 8, 2024, eclipse that causes many to see it that way. I say this because of the following considerations:

The Biden Administration’s Betrayal of Israel

The upcoming eclipse occurs just two weeks after the Biden administration’s failure to support Israel at the Security Council. America’s failure to stop the ceasefire resolution from passing has already emboldened Hamas to take a tougher stand in regard to the release of Jewish and American hostages. Furthermore, this has opened the door for international sanctions against Israel should it continue its war against Hamas. Biden’s betrayal of Israel is no small matter.

The darkening skies also come at a time when President Biden is fervently pushing his proposal to divide God’s Land via a two-state solution, which would reward Israel’s enemies for their October 7, 2023, massacre and leave the nation vulnerable to similar barbaric attacks in the future. Again, this is no small matter in God’s eyes.

Scripture is clear: These things greatly displease the Lord and will bring His judgment at His appointed time. Many suggest that the U.S. has already suffered natural disasters after previous presidents have pressured Israel to give up some of its land for the sake of peace.

How could anything, except for God’s providence, account for the timing of two solar eclipses, seven years apart, forming an X over the U.S. so soon after its treachery toward Israel? Long, long ago, the Lord set the movements of the earth and sun in motion. How can it be just a coincidence that this happens at such a time as this? The next solar eclipse to affect the U.S. mainland will not happen until 2044.

Extreme Wickedness Characterizes the U.S.

Long before I heard about the April 8 eclipse and the significance that many are assigning to it, my writing included warnings of God’s coming judgment upon America. My basis for sounding the alarm years ago came from the book of Habakkuk and the similarity of conditions that I saw here with those of ancient Judah (Habakkuk 1:1-4). If God could harshly judge His own chosen people for these things, why should we expect Him to respond any differently to the same wickedness in the U.S.?

Furthermore, the lawlessness, corruption, injustice, and violence that now characterize America are exponentially worse than decades ago when I first applied the words of Habakkuk 1:2-4 to the U.S.

Much to the dismay of many, President Biden proclaimed March 31, 2024, as a “transgender day of visibility.” The fact that any American President would even make such a declaration is by itself surely egregious to God. To make matters worse, he kept the date set by Obama and no one else, which this year fell on Resurrection Sunday.

Psalm 37 is entirely relevant to the day in which we live and prophetic of the judgment that lies ahead for those facilitating our nation’s rebellion against God and His people, Israel. Those who plot evil will succeed for a while as we see them doing at the moment, but God will deal with them in His time; count on it.

I believe that the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse signifies God’s warning to the U.S. The completion of an “X” across the U.S. is far too much of a coincidence for me to ignore at such a time as this.

I do not expect terrible things to happen on April 8 or immediately afterward. God gave the people of Nineveh forty days to repent. How long will He give America to heed His warning? Will those leading the U.S. to reject God and all His ways turn away from their wickedness, or will they continue to build underground bunkers to escape the wrath that’s coming?

-Jonathan