God’s Staying Hand

While I think on and write this commentary for posting April 14, there are powerful storms brewing to the west in Oklahoma. This time of year always brings angst about the tornadic thunderstorms that threaten during the springtime in the mid-south. This one is particularly threatening, the weather gurus are saying. Long-track tornadoes are possible, even likely, and the rain, they say, could be the likes of which we haven’t experienced in…maybe…50 years or so.

By now, at the time you read this, of course, that threat is long gone, and we have likely faced similar weather fronts since.

Always, while the storms are forming and approaching, we pray for God’s Protection –that His Hand governs so that people aren’t harmed.

There is building at this moment in our world a storm potentially far worse than a long-track tornado that destroys only in a relatively narrow path. It is World War III that is looming across the horizon, and it is from the east rather than from the west from whence the tornadic thunderstorms come.

The threats have been building and ongoing for months and have come more intensely into focus within recent weeks and days.

The latest indication of the building storm of potential World War came directly from the nation-state possessing reportedly the largest stockpile of nuclear weaponry. The warning implicit within the threat again brings back thoughts of the same nation-state and its part in bringing the world to the brink of nuclear holocaust.

I’m talking about, of course, the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when Soviet Premiere Nikita Khrushchev threatened all-out war while America’s President John F. Kennedy opposed Khrushchev’s movement of nuclear weapons onto the island of Cuba 90 miles to our south.

As a 20-year-old college student, I was quite worried as that geopolitical storm developed and grew to the point it looked like the nukes would be unleashed at any moment.

There is a report I’ve read of a Soviet submarine at that crucial moment carrying atomic weapons whose commander came within a hair’s breadth of pushing the nuclear button. Three of the sub’s officers had to make the decision to launch, and one of the three didn’t believe there had been the hostile action reported against the Russian navy that warranted retaliation. He refused to agree to the launch, and World War III was avoided.

Although the world of military history doesn’t acknowledge the truth of the matter, it was, to us who were Christians and went through that time, God’s Staying Hand that controlled those submarine officers’ decision that fateful instant. It continues to be our God’s Omnipresence, Omnipotence and Omniscience that, as John F. Kennedy said in his inaugural address: “stays the hand of man’s final war.”

The following demonstrates that man continues down that deadly pathway toward the great Tribulation storm leading to World War III and devastation even worse than nuclear weapons can produce. Ironically, again, the threat comes from within a Russian nuclear weapons-laden submarine.

On the cold steel of the Arkhangelsk, a nuclear submarine anchored in the machinery of modern warfare, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a message that bypassed diplomatic filters and landed directly on the fault lines of international tension. He spoke not with rhetoric but with a calculated, measured threat — the kind that doesn’t need to shout to be heard.

“He forgot, it seems, that Russia has crews like yours and submarines like yours,” he said, staring out across a sea of uniformed sailors and flashing cameras. His words, directed at former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, were neither casual nor symbolic. They were a deliberate invocation of power, a reminder carved into steel and uranium that history has not been forgotten — and will not be forgiven.

This wasn’t a nostalgic reference to past conflicts. It was a direct line drawn in real time between an aborted peace agreement in 2022 and the quiet hum of nuclear submarines now fully armed and ready beneath the waves. The implications are staggering, and the silence in London should no longer be interpreted as strength but as ignorance — or worse, as denial. [Source: BREAKING: Putin Sends Nuclear Warning from Submarine Deck — “You Forgot About Our Submarines,” he tells Britain as Poseidon Looms Off the Coast – amg-news.com- American Media Group, Telegram, By Medeea Greere]

It is not just the Russian dictator that is threatening to initiate World War III but other building situations to our east. Here are a few examples taken from Raptureready.com News.

>The Iranians Load Missiles “Onto Launchers in All Underground Missile Cities” After Trump Threatens Them With “Bombing the Likes of Which They Have Never Seen Before.” Iran threatens to target US-British joint base in Indian Ocean.
Trump warned that any future attacks from the Houthis, who have targeted US Naval vessels hundreds of times and wreaked havoc with global shipping channels, would be treated as a direct aggression from Iran itself. Iran has threatened to retaliate against the joint U.S.-U.K. naval base on Diego Garcia in the Chagos Archipelago if the United States attacks the Islamic Republic.

>Kim Jong Un Unveils Large AI-Equipped Combat Drones
North Korea has unveiled a new batch of new AI-equipped suicide and reconnaissance drones, which the country is showcasing as part of military modernization plans. State-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Thursday that leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the testing of “various kinds of reconnaissance and suicide drones.”

>China is practicing ‘dogfighting’ in space, Space Force says
Chinese satellites have conducted coordinated maneuvers with “synchrony” and “control,” a top Space Force official revealed Tuesday, dubbing the moves “dogfighting in space.” The service is “starting to see our near-peers focusing on practicing dogfighting in space with satellite-on-satellite” operations, Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. Michael Guetlein said during the annual McAleese defense programs conference.

The Tribulation storm, outlined in the Book of Revelation, is building. Our new book “Tracking Toward Tribulation: And the Any Moment Intervention of Jesus Christ” is a volume I hope you will read. The sub-title tells the great Truth within these times that threatens ominously at this moment. Jesus is about to Intervene. God’s Staying Hand until that stunning moment of the Rapture is easily discernable to the believer who knows it is God’s Merciful, Staying Hand that keeps us from that terrible hour of His Wrath and Judgment.

If you haven’t yet accepted God’s Grace Gift Offer of Salvation through belief in Jesus Christ to Forgive and Cleanse you of all sin, here is the Message whose Divine Instruction I prayerfully hope you will follow.

“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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Our King Is Coming

Jerusalem is abuzz with jubilant anticipation. As Jesus nears the city gate, multitudes loudly proclaim, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Yes, it’s Palm Sunday weekend, but the above scene awaits the future fulfillment of Jesus’ words in Matthew 23:37-39:

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

The Lord’s prophetic words came after His triumphal entry in Jerusalem, as recorded in Matthew 21:1-11, and immediately followed His pronouncement of judgment on the Scribes and Pharisees, who typified Israel’s rejection of their Messiah (Matthew 23:1-36). His words, “your house is left to you desolate (Matthew 23:38),” signified the dismal future of the nation and the Land.

Desolation

With the clarity of hindsight, we understand that Jesus’ prophetic words of the desolation began after AD 70 and continued into the twentieth century. The word for “desolate” in the Greek depicts a desert wilderness, a land deprived of care.

In 1867, Mark Twain journeyed to Israel. His description of the Land at the time provides dramatic evidence of the fulfillment of Jesus’ words:

“The further we went the hotter the sun got, and the more rocky and bare, repulsive and dreary the landscape became…. There was hardly a tree or a shrub any where. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.”

Of course, much has changed since then. With Israel once again a nation, the once barren places in the Land now flourish with vibrant vegetation, as but a preview of what’s to come when Jesus revitalizes Israel’s land when He reigns over Israel and all the nations of the earth.

Jesus’ Return to Jerusalem

Reflecting back on what had happened a few days ago, Jesus looked forward to the time when a throng of worshippers in Jerusalem would again greet Him with words from Psalm 118:25-26, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (see also Matthew 21:9). Though sorrowful for the future of Jerusalem and His people, He looked forward to the time when the cries of the people would not later change to chants of “Crucify him.”

Jesus will someday return to a truly repentant Israel, remorseful of their rejection of Him (see Zechariah 12:10-13:1). Their suffering during the latter years of the Tribulation period (Zechariah 13:8-9) will not only change the hearts of the Jewish people but also result in a gleeful welcoming of Christ into Jerusalem. The outcome on this future day will be far different than what happened after Jesus’ first triumphal ride into the city; it will lead to the restoration of a glorious kingdom for Israel.

King Over All the Earth  

Aware of how His earlier ride into Jerusalem fulfilled the words of Zechariah 9:9, Jesus likely remembered the prophet’s words recounting the time when He would reign as King “over all the earth” (14:9; 16-21) after His future triumphal entry into the city. Of particular interest in this text is the resumption of the yearly celebration of the Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles, during this time (Zechariah 14:16-19).

In the Old Testament, this feast was a time of thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest as well as a reminder of when their ancestors wandered for forty years in the wilderness.

Could there be a connection between the Millennial celebration of this feast and the words that will greet the Lord when He enters Jerusalem to take His place on the throne of David? I believe there is.

In his commentary on Matthew, Irish writer and biblical scholar Adam Clarke (1762 – 26 August 1832) makes this connection when writing about the words that greeted Jesus on the first Palm Sunday:

Probably there is an allusion here to the custom of the Jews in the feast of tabernacles. During the first seven days of that feast, they went once round the altar each day with palm and other branches in their hands, singing HOSANNA: but on the eighth day of that feast, they walked seven times round the altar, singing the hosanna, and this was termed the hosanna rabba, the GREAT hosanna.

The link between the first century AD Feast of Tabernacles and Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem is that of the words of Psalm 118:25-26, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9).

Jumping to the future, is it possible that the ongoing celebration of this feast during Jesus’ millennial reign will not only be a time of thanksgiving and worship of the One who resides, or tabernacles, with His people in Zion, but also serve as a reminder of Jesus’ second triumphal entry into the city? If so, the words of Psalm 118:25-26 would continually remind the people Israel of the day their messianic hopes became a reality.

Jesus’ words in Matthew 23:37-39 add prophetic significance to the first Palm Sunday because they tell us that He will again ride into Jerusalem amid shouts of “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” The result, however, will be far different, as it will mark the beginning of a gloriously restored kingdom for Israel.

For us as New Testament saints, we know that our King will surely come for us just as He promised in John 14:2-3 and throughout the New Testament. After the Tribulation, we will return to the earth with our Savior and witness the jubilant scene on the streets of Jerusalem.

-Jonathan

 

 

 

Huckabee a Dominionist?

Media today are as often as not a danger to Truth. They are so in that 1) they deliberately lie about much in order to tailor their narratives so the public is deceived into accepting Media’s desired slant. And/or 2) Media is so woefully inept and uneducated because of lack of research accuracy that non-Truth is far more prevalent than actual Truth in conclusions reached and delivered for public consumption.

Second Coming and Christian Reconstruction

Such a condemnation of media is blatantly on display with the claim that Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, now in the process of being confirmed as the Trump Administration’s ambassador to Israel, adheres to Dominionism.

He is lumped in with those on the so-called Christian Right who claim Christian Reconstructionism (CR) as the Biblically Prescribed way of governance.

The following is taken from a recent article we ran on Raptureready.com News. I wish we hadn’t done so –Wish that I had read it before it was posted.

Dominionism constitutes a radical departure from traditional Christianity, in which believers await Christ’s return for a millennial reign. CR teaches that the world must come under Biblical law before Christ will return. Along with its inherent bias towards unchecked capitalism and disregard for the needy, Christian Reconstructionism provides a philosophical underpinning for world domination by rich, Christian American males.

As George Grant wrote in The Changing of the Guard, Biblical Principles for Political Action: “Christians have an obligation, a mandate, a commission, a holy responsibility to reclaim the land for Jesus Christ — to have dominion in civil structures, just as in every other aspect of life and godliness. But it is dominion we are after. Not just a voice. It is dominion we are after. Not just influence. It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time. It is dominion we are after. World conquest.” [Source: Trump names a Dominionist as Ambassador to Israel. Here’s What That Means, by Janet Phelan, ZeroHedge, March 23, 2025]

This source of news we post is usually on the mark and holds to information that is from an unbiased to slightly right-leaning slant. Therefore, I believe this comes from the second condemnation I mentioned above. I believe this, to a large extent, is due to ignorance –information that has not been researched and vetted. That’s probably why I didn’t check it. ZeroHedge is most generally a source I trust; I don’t feel the need to fact-check what is presented. That, I now realize, can be a very serious omission, so I will do better in that regard.

Here is what the writer says about Mike Huckabee, which I find in error at best and deliberately misleading at worst.

President Trump has named former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as the next Ambassador to Israel. Huckabee is a Christian and a Dominionist. The Senate confirmation hearings will take place next week.

While pro-Palestinian media has been critical of Huckabee’s stance on settlements (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/12/trump-picks-pro-settlement-mike-huckabee-as-us-ambassador-to-israel) and pro-Trump sources have been critical of the critics (https://jewishbreakingnews.com/american-jewry-fractured-over-trumps-choice-for-israel-ambassador/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJMSlVleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHd3tzFULbZDT8aCe8mqk49j5BfjKK4VdkzibyvHqT9nG-SB-RzdsuGgToA_aem_secsh04VNNch9Qdp-_1rqQ), the fact remains that a core belief of Dominionism is that the Jews will need to die in order to enable the Second Coming.

In 2015, New Eastern Outlook published my article on Dominionism, which I have copied in its entirety here. I have only one question, which is how in the world could an individual with this set of beliefs possibly align those beliefs with the best and highest interests of a Jewish state. [Source: Ibid ]

Ms. Phelan goes on to present her previously published article. She asks the question: Have you ever wondered why the political arena in America has become so top-heavy with Christian fundamentalists?

She writes that as society continues to fray (things becoming less moral, etc.), the religionists have come to the forefront. She then says the following:

A parallel movement of “back to fundamentals” began to emerge in all three Abrahamic religions. It is not only Islam that has birthed its own variety of fundamentalism. Orthodox synagogues are seeing a swelling of congregations, and a new strain of Christianity, which is both fiercely political as well as militant in its promotion of theocracy, has emerged as a potent force on the American scene. Christian Reconstructionism (CR) has been called “the American Taliban.” [Source: Ibid]

I need go no further in this brief column space to lay out the egregious charge implicit within Ms. Phelan’s piece on Governor Huckabee and her view of the dangerous rise of so-called Christian Reconstructionism. Her calling Mr. Huckabee a Dominionist represents a charge far from the truth regarding the Governor’s view of how God intends His representatives on earth to interact.

Mr. Huckabee is a Southern Baptist preacher who believed he should become involved in government. And, yes, he did so hoping to contribute godly influence within his becoming involved as first lieutenant governor, then governor of Arkansas. He, of course, ran for president at one point.

Huckabee has been influential at every opportunity, drawing ire in some cases, from even among some of the so-called Rinos (Republicans in name only) from within his own party. By championing causes that uphold True Biblical, Christian principles, the enemies of the God of Heaven have emerged many times from the proverbial woodwork.

I know what Mr. Huckabee believes about government, because I come from the same Biblically correct background. He does not believe, as Ms. Phelan charges, that all citizens should be made to conform to a Baptist or even Christian view codified in Constitutional Law.

He certainly does not believe or agree with CR and the Dominionists like Ms. Phelan writes – that CR and the Dominions intend to make America and Planet Earth good enough for Christ to Return. He knows and declares that Jesus Christ, and He Alone, can and will return to make this world ready for His thousand-year Reign.

Mike Huckabee does believe with all that is within his Holy-Spirit Directed mind that God has told all of humankind that He–God—will Bless all who bless Israel and that He–God—will curse all that curse Israel (Genesis 12:3).

We can be thankful that the God of Heaven has, for His own Good Reasons, put true Christians like Mike Huckabee in this government to surround this president. I haven’t a clue as to all of God’s Great Purpose in all of this. But I do know that it is to somehow bring all of Bible prophecy to fulfillment.

This means, I believe, that very soon the Rapture of all believers will occur. All Christian influence by believers –in whom God the Restraining Holy Spirit Indwells—will be removed to the Clouds of Glory, leaving a terrifying vacuum of Christian influence upon governing in America and every other nation of this judgment-bound world.

We –Mr. Huckabee and myself – along with every believer in Jesus Christ for salvation, say with acclamation that Jesus Christ and His Millennial Reign on this planet is the Dominion we desire in the deepest reaches of our souls. Souls which our Lord has Secured for all Eternity as the sacrificial Lamb that takes away the sins of the world.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

–Terry

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The Unfolding Drama of the Last Days

Although Jesus’ command for us to watch for His coming applies to all the ages of church history, the closer we get to the time of His appearing, the better we understand Bible prophecy. There’s always been a future reward for believers who long for His appearing (2 Timothy 4:8), but there’s something about today that enables us to see the end with greater clarity.

The words of Daniel 12:4 speak to the current unfolding drama of the last days:

“But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

I believe the prediction that “knowledge shall increase” refers to a surge in our understanding of Bible prophecy such as we have seen during the past several decades. A few verses later, the Lord confirms this latter-day expansion in our awareness when He told Daniel that the “words” of his prophecy would be “sealed until the time of the end” (Daniel 12:9).

When I was in college fifty years ago, I believed the Rapture could happen at any moment. Since then, like the cutting away of layers of an onion, we have seen an unfolding of world events that have not only confirmed the nearness of the Tribulation and thus to the Rapture but have also enabled us to better understand the fulfillment of events during the Tribulation.

Below are some examples of how our grasp of end-time events continues to grow.

Mind-boggling Advances in Technology. Back when Hal Lindsey’s book, The Late Great Planet Earth, burst on the scene, we had only a vague idea, at best, of how antichrist could control the buying and selling throughout the entire world. I envisioned a great army in every nation enforcing his mandate.

Now, with the advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), the development of gigantic databases, the Internet, and emerging worldwide connectivity, the technology for the mark of the beast (Revelation 13:16-18) is already here. Not only that, but the globalists have plans to mandate control of all commerce through a worldwide Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). By the middle of the Tribulation, the beast will be able to dictate the conditions for all buying and selling and then mandate compliance with just the flip of a switch.

Preparations for the Beast’s Empire. Although in the works for well over a century, during the past decade, the globalists have become more open about their plans to implement a one-world government. Once regarded as crazy conspiracy theory, we know that world domination is clearly the goal of the World Economic Forum and the UN. It’s not even a matter of speculation, though some refuse to see it.

On a recent Jan Markell’s Understanding the Times broadcast, Billy Crone mentioned the necessity of today’s ongoing preparation for the reign of antichrist. Because the Restrainer is keeping his identity unknown until after the Rapture, it necessitates the existence of a group of elite power brokers setting the stage for antichrist’s rule. The globalists are performing the necessary preliminary work that will later allow the beast to rise to power over all the earth in a relatively short amount of time.

Israel’s Nonstop Wars as Preparation for the Beast’s Covenant. Since 1948, the surrounding nations have repeatedly attacked Israel, seeking to destroy it. Hamas’ barbaric attack on October 7, 2023, along with the almost daily sirens warning of incoming missiles, the ongoing conflict with Hamas, and Iran’s threats of annihilation are already conditioning Israel’s leaders to accept the future peace “covenant” that antichrist will offer to them (Daniel 9:27).

Unfortunately, the people will trust antichrist rather than God for their protection (Isaiah 28:14-18).

An Easily Deceived Populace. Jesus spoke about the deception that will lead many astray during the last half of the Tribulation (Matthew 24:24). In Revelation 13:11-15, John wrote about how people will fall under the spell of the “beast” who will deceive many with his great “signs.” The widespread deception and gaslighting of our day not only points to the nearness of the Tribulation but is also a preparation for it.

The majority of those left behind at the Rapture will not suddenly transition from discerning people to those whom the beast will easily deceive. They will fall for his devices because they have already rejected the truth and thus possess the “debased mind” Paul wrote about in Romans 1:28-32.

Lawlessness. I never thought I would see such lawlessness and corruption before meeting Jesus in the air. Of course, Paul described the coming beast as a “man of lawlessness” and wrote that the “mystery of lawlessness is already at work” (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 7), but just twenty years ago, who could’ve imagined what we see today on the streets and throughout our government?

Not only does this tell us that the Tribulation is ever so close, but it also displays the conditioning of people to acquiesce to the insane degree of anarchy during the Tribulation.

Rampant Anti-Semitism. During the past dozen years or so, hatred for the Jewish people has skyrocketed. Its spectacular growth since October 7, 2023, defies all common sense. Yet what we see today will continue to build until the last three and a half years of the Tribulation when the deadly persecution of Jews will reach epidemic proportions, likely worse than during WWII under Adolf Hitler.

Twenty-five years ago, I thought that anti-Semitism would need to increase so as to make this level of demonic hatred for the Jewish people possible. Sadly, we already see it even though the Tribulation has not yet even begun.

A lot has changed since my college days. Our understanding of Daniel’s prophecies and those of the book of Revelation have increased just as the Lord told the prophet (12:4, 9). As the drama of future Bible prophecy continues to unfold, I’m reminded of the words of Daniel 12:10:

“Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.”

God’s Word shouts with the message that we live in the season of Jesus’ appearing. The wise understand the times because they believe the words of Scripture pertaining to the end times.

-Jonathan