2026: As It Was in the Days of Lot

Perhaps some who read my thoughts about what I believe to be the most relevant prophecy at this moment might say I’m “flogging a dead horse” and “there he goes again with that ‘days of Lot’ prophecy.”

That “dead horse,” I must say, has, stunningly, arisen and stands front and center at this 2026 moment. I believe its coming to life is most significant as we observe all other signals flashing before us.

And, of all places on Earth for it to be standing, it is God’s chosen land, Israel, where its resurrection is now manifesting for all the world to observe.

The prophecy comes from the Lord Jesus Christ, of course: the same words you have read here many times over the months and years.

“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” (Luke 17:28-30). 

We’ve looked at this as meaning it will be business as usual in general when Jesus next catastrophically intervenes in the wicked affairs of humankind. That is, the Lord will rapture believers at a time like it was in Lot’s day, with things of life going along as usual, but with great wickedness and blasphemy against God. Destruction then came upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and sudden destruction will come on the days in the future that will be like those days millennia ago.

I believe we are in times almost exactly like those ancient days. “Prove it,” the naysayers might charge. Well, I’ll let the news that has just broken provide the proof:

Israeli authorities are promoting a large-scale gay event at the Dead Sea on social media, which has caused criticism and bewilderment among Christians.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel announced the holding of a large-scale LGBT festival on the coast of the Dead Sea – in a territory traditionally associated with the biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The corresponding announcement was published in the official account of the ministry on social network X.

It states that in June, for several days, the Dead Sea area will become the venue for the largest LGBT festival in the Middle East with round-the-clock entertainment programming, hotels, and concert venues.

[One German cardinal has urged clergy at the coming event to conduct blessings upon LGBT couples.]

According to media reports, the event involves creating temporary infrastructure in the desert area, including hotels and recreation zones, as well as holding concerts and various events, including those declared as “family-friendly.”

At the same time, this initiative has caused resonance in Christian circles. Social media users drew attention to the symbolism of the festival’s location, which in biblical tradition is associated with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah due to the extreme wickedness, sexual violence, and pride of the inhabitants (Genesis 19).

Some clergy and Christian public figures expressed the opinion that holding such an event in this region is perceived as a challenge to Christian values and biblical understanding of morality.

“Why here? They are mocking God,” said Father Michael Lillie, a priest of the Orthodox Church of the Nativity of Christ in Youngstown, Ohio. (“Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announces LGBT festival near Sodom and Gomorrah, News,” News of Orthodoxy – the Union of Orthodox Journalists, https://spzh.eu/en/news/92652-israels-ministry-of-foreign-affairs-announces-lgbt-festival-near-sodom-and-gomorrah)

In America, we’ve witnessed a minority that makes up the gay community turn our culture toward homosexual dominance. Gay pride saturates our cities, states, sports events, and every other strata. We have looked recently in this column at how a so-called Christian worldwide organization chose to approve homosexual pastors and leaders for their churches. This took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2009, and the very day this organization mocked God’s prohibition against such anti-God activity, a tornado swooped from a sky that seemed clear to destroy the church steeple where the ordination was taking place, breaking apart the cross atop the structure.

That city and area have since, as we know, been the center of attention; even the governing authorities seem to have gone to the dark side.

And now the very heart of the God of Heaven’s touchstone to humanity, Israel, is about to embrace Satan’s most vile wickedness against God’s governance.

I’ve always wondered a bit why the following Scriptures equate God’s chosen nation and people to earth’s most wicked area of antiquity.

“Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah” (Isaiah 1:10).

“And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified” (Revelation 11:8).

God’s most virulent enemy, Satan, can certainly be seen at work with great intensity here in America and around the world. The devil especially seems to be targeting God’s chosen land and its people with his iniquitous end-times efforts.

Christ’s prophecy about the days of Lot is front and center in the news. If the Church is still here in June when this Sodom-like festival takes place, it will indeed be an event during which to be looking up, as Jesus commanded!

“For when ye see all these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your head, for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28).

—Terry

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What Makes Today Different?

Most Christians believe that today is no different than any other previous period in human history. They remind us that there have been earthquakes, wars, severe famines, and pestilences throughout history. “So, what makes today unique?” they ask.

Israel. The existence of Israel as a nation alone signifies that today is a time like no other. The Lord told Isaiah that Israel would become a nation again in just one day (Isaiah 66:8), and on May 14, 1948, and just as He predicted so long ago, the Jewish state miraculously emerged after a 2,000-year absence. Nothing like that had ever happened throughout all of human history.

Many voices in the past pointed to Israel’s reemergence as a harbinger of the last days.

Irenaeus (AD 130-202), an early church leader and prominent theologian, wrote Against Heresies in AD 180 to combat the spread of Gnosticism. Writing 110 years after the Roman army under Titus destroyed the second Jewish temple, Irenaeus wrote that there would be a third temple that the antichrist would defile. He believed that at His Second Coming, Jesus would cast the defiler into the lake of fire, just as John wrote about in Revelation 19:19-20.

Later in life, Isaac Newton spent several years studying the books of Daniel and Revelation, writing copious notes. Six years after his death, others used his handwritten notations to publish his two-volume work, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John. Newton’s detailed study of these books led to his prediction that Israel would again become a nation over 250 years before it happened. He recognized the necessary link between Israel’s reemergence as a nation and the fulfillment of future Bible prophecy.

In the early 1900s, many Bible scholars scoffed at C.I. Scofield because he wrote about the Gog/Magog battle of Ezekiel 38-39 with Russia leading an invasion of Israel. At the time, there was no Jewish state, and Russia was a Christian nation. Like Irenaeus and Isaac Newton, Scofield and others of his day knew that Israel would again become a nation because the Bible said it would happen in the latter days before Jesus’ Second Coming.

The events in Israel since 1948 also signify that our homegoing is ever so close. Based on their study of God’s Word, both Irenaeus and Isaac Newton believed there would be a Jewish temple in the last days. Although Israel doesn’t yet have control of the Temple Mount so as to start its construction, the Temple Institute in Jerusalem is training Levites to serve as priests. And the Israeli government is building and planning infrastructure to support the vast number of visitors who will come to see the future temple. It’s only a matter of time before a temple appears in Jerusalem in fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

The passion that currently exists within Israel to build the temple is what we would expect leading up to the seven-year Tribulation when antichrist will fulfill prophecy by defiling it (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15-16; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8).

The current Middle East war also signifies that we live in the last days. The over-the-top determination of Iran and its proxies to destroy Israel is not rationally driven, but is, rather, demonically inspired. Before 1948, Satan inspired Hitler and the Nazis to kill all the Jews and thus prevent the formation of the Jewish state, which was already in the works. Since May 14, 1948, he has continued his dogged determination to wipe out Israel and thus thwart the Lord’s plans for Jerusalem and the Jews.

The heightened antisemitism of our day also signifies that our time is rather short before the Lord appears to take us up to glory. The Bible warns that there will be another holocaust during the second half of the seven-year Tribulation. What we already see in our day will become increasingly violent until it reaches its height during the last half of the Tribulation.

Israel’s existence puts all the other signs of the last days in perspective. The many signs warning that the seal judgments of Revelation chapter 6 are ever so near take on added significance because we know this is a time like no other, as the world’s attention on Jerusalem continues to grow, just like the Bible said would happen in the last days (Zechariah 12:1-3).

Israel’s existence also alerts us to the convergence of all the other signs, warning the world that the Tribulation period is rapidly approaching. For us, nothing has to happen prophetically between now and when we meet Jesus in the air.

As the signs of the last days continue to multiply, we know that it’s just a matter of time before our Savior appears and takes us to the place He’s preparing for us in Heaven (John 14:2-3).

Maranatha!

-Jonathan

 

 

Minions of Minneapolis

My great friend Jan Markell, head of one of the most Christ-centered ministries of recent decades in America, has spoken and written on the geographical area where her Olive Tree Ministries and Understanding the Times radio program have been located. She has expressed that she senses the demonic influences that have manifested in the twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

She and I have discussed how this region seems to be the center of Satan’s concentrated attack in very recent times. And the evidence of this demonic assault continues to mount.

My son Nathan and I were in Minneapolis just days before a direct statement by Heaven, I believe, took place in the city.

We were there on July 25, 2009, to be interviewed for the History Channel’s series The Nostradamus Effect. I remember vividly sensing a fearful ambience while there, even while being driven from our hotel to the building where the filming would take place.

Our driver, a young woman who was probably about nineteen or twenty, told us she was very nervous about having to pick up the next person to be interviewed.

She was Hispanic by ethnicity, and the man she was supposed drive to the studio next was a person she called “a white supremacist.” I could hear the fear in her voice, even though, being blind, I couldn’t see her while she was speaking.

Being the grandfatherly sort, I tried to assure her that all would be well. Any such person would be on their best behavior.

I remember the date very well because while I was in the chair to be interviewed, having the TV make-up applied, one of the film crew came in excitedly and said Michael Jackson had just died. Also, we later learned that Farrah Fawcett of Charlie’s Angels fame also had died that day.

So, it was a memorable trip to that city, now so central to what Jan and I agree have been evil doings going on.

Less than a month after Nathan and I visited Minneapolis, as stated above, Heaven made a direct statement about wickedness taking place in the city and area even then, before all the evil we’ve witnessed there in recent weeks.

On August 19, 2009, the first buildings on the downtown side of I94 in Minneapolis, the Minneapolis Convention Center and a church, were struck by a tornado. The twister severely damaged the convention center roof, shredded some tents on the grounds, then broke off the steeple of the church, splitting in two the cross atop the steeple before it lifted. It was 2:01 p.m. that the tornado touched down at Central Lutheran Church, the largest ELCA cathedral in North and South America, where the assembly had gathered for worship.

At the very moment of the storm, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was meeting in a convention in Minneapolis to vote on whether to begin ordaining practicing homosexual pastors. For years, liberals had tried to get this policy change through, but it had always been thwarted.

Pastors and other theologians at the time called the out-of-the-blue tornado a “warning” from God to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which had been meeting to debate a liberalized policy on homosexuality. This is also definitely my thought on this dramatic weather event that produced what was, I believe, a spiritual tornado. At least, I think it was meant to give God’s opinion about that organization’s ungodly decision.

Now, it seems any lesson from above that might have been learned has been forgotten by those in charge of things going on in Minneapolis. The darkening, demonic activity that continues to spread, considering the governmental leadership that champions anti-God comportment and the theft of billions of dollars from American taxpayers, exhibits just how prevalent the days of Lot configuration is there and elsewhere in America and the world.

And the proof that the lesson hasn’t been learned in Minneapolis is seen clearly in this news excerpt:

On Thursday, the Minneapolis City Council voted to begin the legislative process that could potentially lead to the legalization of “adult bathhouses and sex venues.”

Since 1988, adult bathhouses have been outlawed in Minneapolis. Those bathhouses, which housed saunas and pools, were almost exclusively frequented by gay men who met up for anonymous sex. As a result, the bathhouses were a hive of sexually transmitted diseases.

In Minneapolis, the bathhouses were banned largely due to the spread of AIDS throughout the gay population…

Now, the Minneapolis City Council has advanced a measure that could result in bathhouses returning to the city. In a 12-0 vote, the 13-member city council directed staff to explore changes to existing law regarding bathhouses. (“Minneapolis advances measure that could lead to legalization of ‘adult bathhouses and sex venues’” by Luke Sprinkel, Alpha News MN)

In reflecting on my brief conversation with Jan and thinking about that once-great American city, the realization struck. This city, which is obviously under satanic attack, is a target for the Ephesians 6:12 powers and principalities for reasons that make spiritual sense.

This is the area of the world where the gospel of Jesus Christ exploded onto the world in modern times. With the coming of mass communications came perhaps God’s foremost evangelist. It is a name everyone in America recognizes, and this goes for the people of most of the world as well.

September of 1950 was when Billy Graham’s organization was founded in Minneapolis.

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association was the very heart of powerful expansion of the saving message of Jesus Christ. Jan’s own ministry carries on that all important push to get the message that Jesus saves from this geographical area. Is it any wonder Satan and his minions wage war on this twin-city area that serves as the center for evangelization of America and the world?

Those minions of Minneapolis might seem to have the upper hand in the spiritual battle at the moment. But Jesus has spoken truth, and the victory that will belong to all who believe in Him is already accomplished.

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4). 

—Terry

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How Much Closer Can We Get?

Over the past several years, I have written several articles about the nearness of the Revelation 6 seal judgments. In doing so, I often thought we couldn’t get any closer to the Lord’s release of the riders of the apocalypse than we already were at the time, but I was wrong.

As I look at what’s happened just since the start of 2026, I realize the world has continued to rapidly move toward the start of the Tribulation, and yet we still wait for Jesus’ appearing. I still wonder, “Can we get any closer to the time God’s wrath descends upon the unsuspecting world than we already are?”

I believe we find the answer in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8:

“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming” (emphasis added)

The answer is yes, it’s because the Lord is even now restraining the terrors revealed in Revelation chapters 6-18, the very ones I thought would’ve begun years ago.

Things Pointing to the End

Although the “mystery of lawlessness,” mentioned in the above passage, was already at work during the first century AD, it has grown exponentially in recent years. In the past several months, we have heard reports of how corrupt politicians have facilitated the theft of mindboggling amounts of taxpayer funds. The total exceeds several hundred billions of dollars. The numbers are impossible to fully grasp.

Almost every week, I’m shocked by reports of violence. I remember the 1960s and the violence of that era, but it’s far more widespread and common today. Just last week, I heard of shootings in Iowa City and watched videos of the huge brawl that ensued afterward, with scores of people fighting in an area where I walked even at night, years ago, without even the slightest thought of danger.

The Apostle John wrote that the “spirit of the antichrist” was already at work in his day (1 John 4:3). The dramatic rise of antisemitism during the past twenty-five years demonstrates the increased activity of this evil spirit in our day. The hatred of Israel that’s becoming epidemic in the U.S. and elsewhere is satanic and is leading to the demonic hatred of the Jewish people.

When we look at what the Bible tells us about the covenant Israel will someday make with antichrist, what we see is exactly what we would expect leading up to that time. A nation at peace with no threat from its neighbors wouldn’t seek “refuge” in what Isaiah refers to as the “covenant of death” (see Isaiah 28:15). But a nation with a long history of wars threatening its existence would do so.

Why Are We Still Waiting?

All these things, and many more, tell us that we most definitely live in the season of Jesus’ appearing. What seems like a delay to us is that of the Lord accomplishing at least a couple of purposes before His judgment arrives on the planet.

In the Old Testament, God sent multiple prophets to warn Judah of impending disaster unless the people repented of their sins. For many decades, He alerted His people to the judgment that would surely come. At the moment, I believe He’s warning the world of what lies ahead. He has sent many messengers to alert people to what the Bible says about the last days and the wrath that is coming. YouTube and the Internet contain a multitude of such messages. The widespread scoffing of our belief in the Rapture also tells me that many have heard what the Bible says about what lies ahead for the world and refuse to believe.

Given the horrific magnitude of the disasters that lie ahead for this world, might we not expect the Lord to extend His time of warning and allow many people to come to salvation in Him?

I also believe Jesus is trying to wake up His Church. Yet just like the world, the normality bias dominates the thinking of most pastors and believers. They see Bible prophecy coming to life just as we do, but they don’t believe He will intervene in human history until a distant end-of-the-age Second Coming. Until then, they assume things will somehow get better just as they have in the past.

I don’t know how much closer we can get to the Rapture. I never thought I would see so much lawlessness, violence, and demonic hatred of Israel before Jesus appears to take us home. The time of Jesus’ appearing must be ever so near.

When the Lord intervenes in our world, the Bible says that judgment will come quickly and without warning. In 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3, Paul wrote that the Day of the Lord wrath will come upon people with “sudden destruction.” For us, the news is a whole lot better; 1 Corinthians 15:52 says that the Rapture will happen in the “twinkling of an eye.” Life for us and everyone on the planet will change in an instant.

In the meantime, we watch with great expectancy, knowing that one day our wait will end quicker than we can even imagine. We cling to the good news Paul wrote in Colossians 3:4, “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

-Jonathan