Satanic Portal Opened

This global sphere called planet Earth has always had evil and wickedness running wild upon its surface—even beneath its surface. All we have to do is glance at the record of war and the many millions of deaths from those wars to see that the biblical record of satanic influence has run through the human bloodstream since the time of humanity’s rebellion in Eden.

But there seems now, to the spiritually sensitive, a portal that’s been opened in some way through which evil is pouring in increasing volume.

As I’ve pointed out on numerous occasions, this attack seems directed particularly toward the most helpless—the children in the wombs of their mothers. Abortion is the attack’s true name under the false excuse of “the right of choice.”

And the attack continues through ascending ages of the young. These are fed the most anti-God notions through the demonically brilliant scheme of Satan himself. I refer to the devices that carry the lies directly from that infernal realm that seeks to change the order of God’s creation in every way possible.

Homosexuality is normalized; trans lies of every sort infuse young minds—and even minds of the not so young with the insane thought that there are many genders and that the individual, not the God of Heaven, has the right to determine whatever biological sex one wishes to be. One Supreme Court justice nominee, now a justice on that high court, publicly stated she couldn’t define what is a woman.

Now the evil flowing through that portal is transitioning into a more overt assault against all things godly. But the assault is even more precisely focused on the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

To begin, we consider the church burnings that are proliferating across America. One such report follows of direct assault on Christ:

Another week, another historic church reduced to smoke, rubble. The former Saint Agnes Church on Martha Avenue in Toledo, Ohio went up early Saturday morning. The 116-year-old landmark’s steeple came down. The roof burned out. Nearby homes were evacuated. Once again, the cause is listed as currently unknown…

In America, churches are burned while mosques are not…

Investigators in Toledo have not named a suspect, a motive, or even a cause. Vacant churches do burn by accident. They also burn because someone wants them gone. The public is asked, week after week, to accept “unknown” as the last word while the buildings keep falling.

In the U.S., hostility against churches has jumped to hundreds of incidents a year – vandalism, arson or fires of uncertain origin, gun incidents, bomb threats. (“Oh Look, Yet Another Church Up in Flames,” ZeroHedge, September 8, 2026)

And the attack on Christ directly isn’t limited to the US. The following further makes clear the portal’s opening to issue in satanic assault.

A British lawmaker is sounding the alarm over what he calls “two-tier justice” against Christians in the United Kingdom, telling Fox News Digital it is now “open season” to discriminate against believers while accusing authorities of allowing extremist Islamist preachers to operate as Christian pastors face harassment and arrest.

Lord Jackson of Peterborough, vice chair of a parliamentary group focused on religious freedom, made the charge while discussing Finnish parliamentarian Päivi Räsänen, a Christian politician whose statements about marriage and sexuality have put her at the center of a years-long European battle over religious expression and free speech.

“It does say a lot about the concerns that many of us have about attacks on Christians, and two-tier justice as between Christians and other faiths, and the fact that Christians, are, it’s open season to discriminate against Christians in the United Kingdom now, and that’s a very regrettable position,” Jackson told Fox News Digital in an interview. (“UK Lawmaker Claims ‘Open season’ to Discriminate against Christians,” Fox News, September 7, 2026)

And the most pronounced proof that a demonic portal is opened comes from experience reported by my longtime friend whose name you will recognize.

Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, who burst onto the Christian publishing scene with his book, The Harbinger, many years ago, reported an up-close-and-personal attack that made the worldwide news recently. The news world, for some reason, was quite tardy in finally giving a full report. Media had only said there was an incident where an unruly, even crazed, passenger had to be subdued by being duct-taped to his seat in the plane during an American Airlines flight from Dallas to New Jersey.

Jonathan has issued a video in which he says the passenger who attacked him was the man sitting next to him in that flight, which was diverted to an airport en route to New Jersey. He gives in vivid detail the demonic nature of the assault and the crazed man who was removed when the plane was diverted to a closer airport.

Jonathan has just authored yet another book that is receiving major notice. This one is about The Altar of Pergamon, known as the throne of Satan.

The man in the seat next to Rabbi Cahn, who is a Messianic Jew, was friendly, but morphed into one apparently demonically possessed when he saw the book cover on Jonathan’s laptop. The man attacked Jonathan, screamed anti-Semitic pejoratives, and cursed the name of Jesus in a rage of blasphemy. Here is the link to that YouTube video Jonathan released very recently: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DcJW526c-wE&pp=ugUHEgVlbi1VUw%3D%3D

Mainstream media delayed giving the full story to make sure of details and their accuracy, I presume. And they would never bring in the demonic aspects of the matter, we can be assured. At any rate, it is a most telling story of where we are on God’s prophetic timeline, and where things are quickly moving toward Daniel’s seventieth week (the Tribulation). The portal from the abyss into this fallen world is opening!

This means Jesus is about to step onto the clouds of Glory and make that shout: “Come up here!” (Revelation 4:1).

—Terry

Wtjames1@swbell.net

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The Bubble and the Restrainer

When September began a few weeks ago, it seemed as though we were headed for a series of climatic events that would coincide with America’s observance of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the tragic events of 911. The fact that the weekend coincided with the Feast of Trumpets in Israel also piqued my interest. However, it turned out to be a much calmer time than many expected.

Although another week has passed, it still seems as though it would not take much to start a cascade of deadly events across the world similar to what happened in Nepal a few weeks ago, albeit on a much larger scale. Compared with what I and others expected, the relative calm doesn’t mean we are no longer on the edge of the start of the Day of the Lord. It rather signifies that God is restraining the “man of lawlessness” and the flood of anarchy that will ensue soon after the Rapture (2 Thessalonians 2:3-8).

It’s like a huge bubble awaiting the prick of a pin to explode. Apart from God’s sovereign control over human affairs (including His restraint), I believe this bubble would have burst long ago.

The book of Revelation begins with these words, “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place” (Revelation 1:1). The Greek word for “soon” in this verse is tachos, which depicts the quickness of how events occur rather than their nearness in time. Some rest on the translation of “soon” as proof that most, if not all, the events of the apocalypse have already happened. But that is not what the verse tells us.

The sense is that the prophesied events of Revelation will happen rapidly once they begin. I once thought that there would be several months, possibly a year, between the Rapture and when the antichrist’s defilement of the temple starts the clock running on the seven-year Tribulation. However, as the bubble grows larger with each passing week, I now believe that interval will be much shorter.

The Sudden Destruction

In 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3, Paul wrote that the Day of the Lord will begin with “sudden destruction.” The Rapture will kick off this time of God’s wrath that will quickly begin and rapidly impact the entire earth.

What might this sudden devastation look like?

It will likely include powerful earthquakes, which, according to many geologists, could happen at any moment in California. This week, I heard reports of a swarm of hundreds of small earthquakes in California and Nevada in the past several days. Could it be that California will see its worst earthquake ever soon after the Rapture occurs? I think it’s likely.

So many prophecies that describe the Day of the Lord portray it as a time of shaking. Earthquakes will be part of the terror people will experience throughout the Tribulation period.

Wars also fit the depiction of the “sudden destruction” that will be felt after our departure. This is also a huge bubble just waiting to burst. According to some reports, the purpose of the US sending high-level officials to Russia was to talk the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, out of attacking the United Kingdom. England has provided missiles and drones to Ukraine that have caused considerable damage and loss of life in Russia, which has angered Putin.

The Middle East is another powder keg that could explode and also drag the world into a global conflict with catastrophic results. Israel is preparing for a multi-front war, perhaps initiated by another rocket attack from Iran. Some predicted this would happen on Rosh Hashanah. Now that anticipation has shifted to the Day of Atonement, which Israel will observe on September 20. Others believe that this widespread war between Israel and Iran and its proxies will happen later this Fall.

These factors, and many more I could list, add to my persuasion that if not for the Restrainer, the Holy Spirit, the events comprising the “sudden destruction” would have already begun.

Economic Turmoil

There’s also the matter of the third seal and the worldwide economic devastation that will ensue after the Lord opens it (Revelation 6:5-6). With everything I see happening on this front, I am amazed we are not already in Heaven.

How can the US be $40 trillion in debt without that setting off a chain of catastrophic events that would plunge the world into a depression? As it is, the stock market continues to set records, which typically forecasts a strong economy in the foreseeable future.

The energy crisis caused by ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, along with the war in Ukraine, is also adding considerable economic pressure on top of the record-setting debt levels. Opinions vary on how severely the shortages will impact economies worldwide. I believe rising diesel prices in the US will drive grocery prices to new highs and severely damage our economy in the coming months.

Although the Bible reveals that a time of great economic turmoil lies ahead for the world, the timing rests solely with the Lord. The bubble will not burst until His appointed time.

We live at a time when the work of the Restrainer is more evident than at any time I can remember. As we wait for our “blessed hope,” we know two things for sure:

1. We live in the season of Jesus’ appearing. A myriad of signs point to the soon beginning of the Day of the Lord and hence to our soon departure.
2. The Rapture could happen at any moment. No one can say with any degree of certainty that it will happen this year. On the other hand, it would be quite unwise to conclude that it couldn’t happen even this week or month.

Maranatha! Perhaps very soon, we will be with the Lord.

-Jonathan

jonathanbrentner@yahoo.com

 

Choose You This Day…War or Peace

Russian writer Leo Tolstoy wrote the massive novel titled War and Peace, considered one of the greatest of all love stories. It portrays how protagonists Natasha, Prince Andrei, and others suffered through the great Napoleonic Wars as the famed emperor attacked the Russian motherland. In a sense, Tolstoy seemed to explain, in microcosm, life on a planet that is in a constant state of war but always seeking peace.

The Word of God tells us that this is the condition of fallen humanity since Eden. We cry “peace, peace, when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14 and Jeremiah 8:11, with a similar thought also found in Ezekiel 13:16 and Micah 3:5).

That we are still in the throes of war that destroys earthly peace is proven hourly in our news feeds. Ironically, one appropriate example involves the writer of War and Peace in an indirect way.

Pyotr Tolstoy, deputy chairman of the State Duma and great-great-grandson of Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, has called for massed bombing of Ukrainian cities to break the resistance of the people living in them and force a surrender, the news outlet 24 Kanal reported.

Russia denies striking civilians and claims after each attack that it hit military targets, even as its missiles land on homes, hospitals, power plants, and food depots. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said Tolstoy’s words should be grounds for an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, calling them a Russian official’s demand for war crimes.

What Tolstoy has urged in public, Russian forces have done for more than 12 years while denying it.

The presenter proposed emptying the cities.

On the state talk show Vremya Pokazhet, which Tolstoy hosts, he was reminded that more than 20 million people live in Ukraine and asked what would become of them if the country were turned to scorched earth. He proposed warning residents a day before strikes so they could flee their homes.

“You think we are calling for cruelty? We are calling for demoralizing the population so thoroughly that it comes out to meet our troops with its little paws up,” Tolstoy said.

Then he named the reason.

In the end, Tolstoy described what Ukraine means for Russia’s plans.

“[Ukraine] is the kind of territory that will allow us to export our energy resources to Europe by the short route,” he said. (“A senior Russian official said out loud what Russia’s missiles do every night,” 24 Kanal,  RR News August 29, 2026)

It becomes more obvious with each passing day that Russia is building toward war. Whether such war can be contained to Putin’s need to conquer Ukraine is questionable. Because he is losing the ability to act as the strongman leader in not having yet defeated the smaller foe, the question is: Might the thought to instigate a wider war in order to prove himself be the “evil thought” Ezekiel the prophet referred to in the Gog-Magog prophecy?

War is inevitable, and peace is not possible in this post-Eden fallen world. James the apostle says the following about this matter.

“From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:1-2).

The fallen nature of humans precludes asking the God of Heaven for anything because they want what is in their own will, not what is in God’s will. And when they do ask, they show that they aren’t serious, or that they don’t believe in the God of Heaven—because they omit the Holy Name of the only Person to whom God the Father will respond in answering prayer.

An example of this, I believe, is a long, eloquent prayer read by President Franklin Roosevelt as D-Day approached. Like I say, his prayer was long, eloquent, and given with great oratorical skill. Its egregious flaw was that he ended with only the word “Amen”—no mention of Jesus Christ whatsoever. To any Christian who truly knows about prayer, this was a serious omission on Roosevelt’s part. Thankfully, God did see to it that the assaulting forces prevailed on that day, but not, I’m convinced, because of Roosevelt’s prayer on that occasion.

Jesus instructed the following:

“And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13).

When we hear public officials pray, even if they indicate that it’s a Christian prayer, they seldom end with the name of Jesus, as Jesus instructs. They therefore show that they refuse to choose to serve and obey Jesus or God the Father. They, again, want to do what is right in their own eyes, or their own will. And it is a collective will that serves Satan, not God, in this fallen, worldly system of governance.

It is an all-important matter to consider, as Joshua commanded when issuing Heaven’s instructions to God’s chosen people of Israel:

“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).

Within such obedience as Joshua upheld is the only peace to be found. For it is the peace found only in belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, who promised the following to those who serve Him:

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).

So we must choose this day whom we will serve.

Again, if you don’t know how to begin serving, here is how:

“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

Wtjames1@swbell.net

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It’s What the Early Believers Longed For

When we look at what the New Testament reveals about the early saints, we see they shared many of the same struggles that persist today in the body of Christ. But perhaps the most glaring difference I see is this: for these early believers, longing for Jesus’ appearing was a lifestyle, not just a belief.

Although I have read the New Testament many times, I constantly find new evidence that they watched for, and even yearned for, Jesus’ appearing. It happened again as I recently finished reading through 2 Peter. After writing about the Lord’s return and the events of the Day of the Lord, the apostle began the conclusion of his book with these words: “Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these….” (2 Peter 3:14, emphasis added). In the verses that follow, he referenced what Paul wrote about the end times, which would include the Rapture.

Perhaps Peter had in mind what his fellow apostle wrote in Philippians 3:20-21:

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (NKJV, emphasis added).

The phrase “eagerly wait” accurately translates the Greek word Paul used in verse 20, apekdechomai. New Testament writers often strengthened a word’s meaning by adding a preposition. With apekdechomai, the apostle added two prepositions to the word meaning “to welcome,” resulting in our English phrase, “eagerly wait,” which implies an attitude of excited expectation for what lies ahead.

The saints of New Testament times yearned for the time Jesus would appear and take them home. It was truly their “blessed hope.”

What’s missing today is not just the daily anticipation of meeting Jesus in the air, but also the many benefits that come with doing so.

It Comforts Us

The prospect of Jesus’ return continually comforts me. Even if the Rapture doesn’t occur in my lifetime, I am very much thankful for my hope; it enables me to look beyond today’s lawlessness and corruption to my ultimate hope.

It’s much more than waiting for His intervention in world affairs; however, it’s the promise that when He appears, Jesus will radically change my “lowly” body to be like His “glorious body.” Paul wrote about our future transformation in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53:

“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.”

Regardless of what we experience in this lifetime, we know it’s temporary. Nothing, not even death, can alter the fact that when we meet our Savior in the air, He will give us immortal bodies. How can that not infuse hope into our daily struggles with weakness and aging? Does that not greatly exceed any earthly aspiration?

This short life is not all we have; there’s a better day on the horizon that’s far superior to even the rosiest of futures here below.

It Reminds Us of a Joyous Eternity

In Romans 8:23-25, Paul used the same Greek word, apekdechomai, two more times to emphasize the early church’s excited expectation for the Lord’s appearing again:

“Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance” (Romans 8:24-25, NKJV, emphasis added).

The phrase “redemption of our body” refers to the transforming of “our lowly body” that Paul wrote about in Philippians 3:20-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:50-55. Why did he again refer to our Rapture? He did so in reference to his words a few verses earlier: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

Just as the Lord looked to “the joy that was set before Him” while He endured the agony of the cross (Hebrews 12:2), so amid the tribulations of this life we look ahead to the joy we will experience in glory.

We endure challenging times and resist fretting over current events because we know a joyous time is coming when our faith will be sight when the Rapture occurs.

It Assures Us of Deliverance from the Day of the Lord

The New Testament saints’ excited expectancy confirms the biblically sound teaching of the pre-Tribulation Rapture. If they believed that the series of deadly judgments recorded in Revelation chapters 6-18 would happen before their homegoing, their expectation would’ve radically differed from what we read in the epistles.

What would be the reason for such an eager anticipation of Jesus’ appearing if they thought they would even experience just a few of the seals recorded in Revelation 6?

After reminding the Thessalonians of the sudden destruction that will mark the start of this coming period of judgment, which he refers to as the “day of the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3), Paul assures all believers of deliverance from this time:

“For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:9-11)

Based on the panic that ensued among the Thessalonian saints after someone sent them an errant message claiming that this time of wrath had begun, it’s apparent they knew all about the Day of the Lord and took the encouraging promise in the above verses to mean that the Rapture would happen before this time began.

We live at a time like no other; everywhere we look, we see signs telling us that the disasters of Revelation 6:1-8 are ever so close. The catastrophic events so far in 2026 point to the start of this time of judgment and, therefore, to Jesus’ soon appearing.

If ever there was a time for excitement from the recognition that Jesus’ appearing is ever so close, this is it. Someday, perhaps very soon, our wait will end.

-Jonathan

jonathanbrentner@yahoo.com