The 118th United States Congress convened in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2023, and will end on January 3, 2025, hopefully during the final two years of President Joe Biden’s time in office. This Congress has been one of the most unproductive terms in the history of the House.

The only major accomplishment they’ve achieved is the removal of their top leadership. October 3, 2023: The House voted 216 to 210 to remove Kevin McCarthy from the position of Speaker of the House through a motion to vacate the chair.

It took five votes to replace him. McCarthy was forced out because he collaborated with Democrats to pass a budget bill. Hardline Republicans aimed to halt the government until their specific projects were included in the budget. However, considering the Democrats’ control of the Senate and White House, any legislation supported solely by Republicans is not going to fly.

Another waste of time is the censure of Democrats. This type of vote is nothing more than a slap on the wrist, and any Democrat targeted by one will likely view it as a badge of honor.

The House censured Adam Schiff and referred his conduct to the House Ethics Committee for further investigation. Rashida Tlaib was also censured for making statements regarding the Israel-Hamas war that are considered anti-Semitic. Additionally, Jamaal Bowman faced censure for unlawfully pulling a fire alarm in the Capitol in an attempt to delay a bill he opposes.

The vote to remove Rep. George Santos was foolish in my view. If the day comes when the Democrats have a 2/3 majority, they can kick out any Republican.

In his closing arguments for remaining a member of the House, a defiant Santos depicted himself as a victim of a smear campaign by some of his colleagues and made clear that he would not resign before the vote to expel him.

Of the previous expulsions in the House, three were for disloyalty to the Union during the Civil War, and two were for lawmakers convicted in federal court. Santos appealed to those lawmakers who worry that a new precedent is being set for the chamber’s harshest punishment.

“This will haunt them in the future where mere allegations are sufficient to have members removed from office when duly elected by their people in their respective states and districts,” Santos said during a press conference held early in the morning before House debate began.

The Santos Saga continued to unfold with a special election held on February 12, in which Democrat Tom Suozzi emerged as the winner of the recently vacated seat. However, the liberal media failed to acknowledge the Republican’s commendable action regarding Santos. Instead, the left expressed gratitude solely for gaining control of New York’s 3rd Congressional District.

Another dumb idea that Republicans have been playing with is the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The Republicans, in a 214 to 216 vote, failed to even get a resolution ball rolling.

House Republicans wanted to have a show trial against Mayorkas for doing such a poor job of handling the border crisis. They should impeach themselves for not knowing they would fall short in their initial vote.

The Democrats have a level of dedication that the Republicans cannot match. Rep. Al Green of Texas had just undergone back surgery, and they brought him to the floor in a wheelchair to change the margin so the impeachment vote would fail to garner enough support.

Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin was one of three Republicans who broke with the party to oppose the move. He said, “We barreled ahead with a vote. We did not need to embarrass ourselves. We could have simply waited until the math was different and gone ahead.”

I can’t help but wonder if Gallagher was under the influence of drugs when he made that remark. He voted to embarrass his own party. If a small group of Democrats had derailed the House impeachment vote against Donald Trump, they would have faced severe backlash from members of their own party. Republicans often find it challenging to govern with a slim majority, as there is always someone seeking attention by behaving in an uncooperative manner.

There was a second impeachment vote that did pass. The vote was 214 to 213, with three Republicans again opposing the impeachment. Mayorkas is the first White House cabinet secretary in nearly 150 years to be impeached. Since there is zero chance that this impeachment effort will be taken up by the Senate, a rarely used tool for weeding out derelict officials has now become a joke.

Because the liberal media is on the side of the Democrats, press coverage is always going to lean toward the left. A special prosecutor recently cleared Biden of any legal trouble regarding the improper handling of classified documents, citing him as a ‘well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.’

The agents who questioned Biden noted that he couldn’t remember when he was VP and the death of his son. There is no other time in the history of our nation when revelations about our president being senile would have failed to trigger alarm bells in the press.

Biden said his memory was fine and the special prosecutor had an agenda. No less than 15 minutes later, he misidentified the president of Egypt as the president of Mexico. Trump would have been crucified by the liberal media if he had made the same mistake.

The president can claim to talk to dead people without any political blowback. Biden described having recent conversations with the late French and German leaders Francois Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl.

The key reason why Republicans are floundering on the political stage is because of the growing influence of the devil over this world. One way God is warning the world of the coming of the last days is by gradually withdrawing his protective hand.

If Satan were completely free in his actions, he could potentially enslave the world in a single day. The times when it seems that he is totally off his chain are only because he is fulfilling God’s will. The ease with which the devil seems to provoke buffoonish behavior on the part of Republicans is a strong indication that he is at the end of his leash.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).

The Rapture Index’s Narrow Range

At the beginning of the year, I updated the highs and lows for the Rapture Index for the past four years. I noticed that the RI moved very little each year, with increases of 8, 6, 5, and 9 points during this time period. About twenty years ago, we could see a 30-point move in a single year.

The lack of upward movement in the Rapture Index is a very common complaint that we receive. People expect the RI to edge higher and higher with each passing year. Here is part of an email that someone recently sent to Terry:

First, I love the Rapture Ready website, but I find your “Rapture Index” way off as it’s the same as 2 years ago, which totally is not reflective of the Scriptures and the events we are currently experiencing!

The events we are currently witnessing in the world & US are truly confirmation of what the Scriptures say… which in NO way compare with the Rapture Ready “Rapture Index.”

Jesus said that end-time activity would increase like labor pains. There have been several times when I realized we haven’t had a major earthquake in several months. I thought to myself that a big one should be coming soon, and a few days later, a large earthquake did strike somewhere on the planet.

Prophetic events do not always occur like clockwork. We went several years without a single hurricane impacting the US coastline, and then the tropical cyclone drought was suddenly broken with a rush of activity. In just a few short years, we set several records in relation to hurricanes. During the 2020 hurricane season, Louisiana saw the most ever landfalling cyclones with five total storms.

It would be foolish to think that the following year would bring a set of six cyclones to Louisiana. However, Hurricane Ida did occur in 2021 and caused catastrophic damage to the state’s electric grid. Many people probably regretted not taking Hurricane Katrina as a warning sign to consider leaving the state.

Several insurance companies have decided to drop their hurricane coverage for Gulf Coast states. This decision stems from their assessment that insuring homes and businesses against tropical storm damage has become unprofitable and too great of a financial risk. I live about 400 miles from the Gulf and am paying for past storms. In a four-year period, my home insurance premium has gone up by 40 percent.

The Rapture Index categories are not a factor in a long-term average. They are based on a constant state of motion. If things quit happening, the index will drop like a rock. The record low was set in 1993 when everything related to prophecy went on hold.

Today, I’m amazed that it was once possible for the RI to drop down to 53 points. When I was in the Air Force, I was deployed to Saudi Arabia for 45 days without any internet connection. When I got back, it only took me a few days to update the site.

The record high was set in 2016 and tied last year. I am unsure if we will ever see the 190 range. When the rapture takes place, many categories will be rated 3 or less.

Some RI categories contradict each other. If we have floods all over the world, drought may not rank as high because of the abundance of moisture. Years ago, I coined the phrase, “Economic hardship is the mother’s milk of prophet progression.” Financial troubles are not necessarily a sign of the rapture. Jesus said he was coming for the Church at a time of general tranquility.

When I created the RI in 1987, I naturally expected it to rise right up to the point where the rapture would occur. However, I now understand that the flatline pattern observed over the last decade is a stronger indication of the approaching rapture. It appears we’ve hit the upper limit and have stayed here because world events cannot proceed until the blessed hope takes place.

I’ve wondered if the RI’s productive years are behind it. There is a small possibility that God could hit the snooze alarm, and the RI could come crashing down, with the rapture many years down the road. I’m encouraged by the reality that there are just too many events aligning with prophecy happening at the same time.

About 200 years ago, prophecy watchers were puzzled by the Bible saying that Israel would be reborn and the Antichrist would have a global currency. Today, as in the days of Noah, apathy is our greatest enemy.

“But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:37-39).

–Todd