Nov 8, 2004
Conflict of Interest
As I’m typing this message, I’m sitting in Room 6451 at the Sand Dollar Inn located on Tyndall Air Force Base. I’m here to attend the United States Air Force’s NCO Academy where, for the next six weeks, I will be learning how to be a better Non-Commissioned Officer.
For the past several years, I’ve become increasingly frustrated by the extent to which my military job interferes with what I’m trying to accomplish with Rapture Ready. In the early days of the site, I rarely ran into any conflicts. In fact, during the first 13 years of my military service, I can only recall one time when I could not attend a prophecy-related function because of my job with the Air Force.
However, for the past four years my responsibilities with the Air Force and my efforts to build and operate the site have not been so compatible. I’ve run up against one conflict after another. In fact, the conflicts have become so numerous I’m starting to wonder whether the devil is actively working to hinder my progression. I've now missed five site-related meetings in a row because of a deployment or exercise.
The most traumatic lost opportunities have been the chance to be interviewed by two major media outlets: “60 Minutes” and BBC Channel 4 from England.
Missing prophecy meetings and interviews is not my biggest source of frustration. What distresses me the most is the loss of productivity my day job is causing me. I just wonder how much more thoroughly developed the site would be if I could spend all of my time creating new content.
I’ve been diligently seeking God’s guidance on what to do about this matter. I know everything I do for the military ultimately will have no lasting value. My need for an income is the only reason I have not sought to separate myself from the Air Force.
Adding to my consternation is the fact that so few Christian ministries are active in providing biblical information to the public. Christian television has become saturated with the candy-coated prosperity gospel.
Even with limited resources and a lack of the time, Rapture Ready still has managed to become the mother of all Christian resource sites. When I perform a key word search on numerous topics related to the Bible, the content of RR frequently ranks in the top ten.
Each month, around 160,000 people visit the site and we frequently get the attention of media outlets. But the greatest testimony of Rapture Ready’s importance is all the letters I receive from people who tell me how the site has helped their spiritual walk.
If the end times are far down the road from the time I'm projected to retire from the military, then completing my career here with the Air Force would be my most logical step. If we are drawing very near to the rapture, it's vital that I focus on doing that which will be the most productive for the Kingdom of God. I would like to ask each of my regular visitors to pray that God will give me guidance in what to do about this dilemma.
New Email Address
Because my RaptureReady.com email address has become a favorite for spam email lists, I’ve finally been forced to use a different address. During an average day, I receive around 1400 email messages, with the vast majority of them being junk mail.
Three layers of spam blockers weed out most of the garbage. Still, hundreds of the little devils manage to sneak past my filters.
The quantity of spam, however, is not the main reason I decided to use another email account. My chief concern is that many valid emails have been getting trashed with the spam. Because of that, I decided to make the switch to a fresh account.
You can now reach me at: raptodd77@msn.com
-- Todd
Prayer Wars
"Looks like born-again Christians went to the polls in droves."
I heard the news woman’s not-too-happy sounding words while she talked to others involved in the punditry on one of the cable news networks.
She quickly added, "And, I’m a Christian too."
Her statement, however, was condemning –implying with her incredulous tone the horror of it all –that the election was decided by "THEM!"
The balance of the 5- or 10-minute segment was spent analyzing just how the "evangelical" brand of Christianity was a factor in Bush versus Kerry, then forecasting how much of a force evangelicals would likely be in the future of the American political process. The consensus among the four or five pundits was that it was the"born agains" who had given George W. Bush the 3 million-plus popular vote majority.
The verbalized expression by these mainstream news journalists sent chills down my spine. This is exactly what I had been praying for. Just what I had hoped for in my fondest scenario-laden imagination!
My mind raced back to the election of Bush versus Gore in 2000. That, my friends and colleagues and I often agreed, had been one of the most powerful proofs of spiritual warfare ever. That election came down to the matter of a few votes, with an almost tangible, visible push-and-tug battle of powers and principalities in high places.
The Bush/Kerry skirmish was a conflict, in my opinion, whose outcome was largely determined before the push-pull spiritual battle in high places ever got underway on election day. It was won on the battlefield of prayer that led up to Tuesday, November 2. All that was left to do on that day was for millions of God’s children to march to the polls. The victory was, despite some shenanigans by someone in the exit poll arenas of this country, a foregone conclusion.
God gave the victory, while His children voted "God" with their ballot-box decisions. The Lord did it! He deserves the praise and honor!
For those reading this who think I’m a raving lunatic, please know that I understand, and hold no grudge. You can’t possibly understand what you think of as irrationality, even madness.
But, consider this: Can you understand the way things involving this election turned out? Can you explain the swift about-face of the exit polls --from 10 -20 percent reversal, first being in the challenger’s favor, changing, then, to the President’s favor? Can you fathom the causes that took the challenger’s forces from the heights of winning to the depths of loss within just an hour or two?
The strange turn of events is perfectly clear to those who name the name of Christ, and who wanted with all their hearts to see issues of moral import brought into line with God’s Word, the Bible, for their beloved America. It was, and is, simply, a matter of God’s answer to prayer –millions of prayers!
The pundits had it exactly right. They didn’t seem to like it, but they did have it right.
The opposition political force that made presidential campaign 2004 a sort of "star wars" strategy, with Springsteen, Bon Jovi, and the rest, failed. The conflict was far beyond the stars. It was a spectacular that was a matter of prayer wars.
This is not to gloat, nor to call the losing side in the election a bunch of Satanists. Not at all. We are all fallen mortals who engage in humanistic political interaction. One political party is no better –in spiritual terms—than the other. All have sinned and come short of God’s glory.
But one side in this election had God within. His peculiar people, the "born again," –at least, a significant portion of them-- humbled themselves and prayed. They asked their Heavenly Father to give America a mandate, through a more sympathetic political forum, to begin dismantling the government-sanctioned murder of more than 2 million unborn children every year. Also, they prayed that God would express His opinion, through their humble obedience to Him, that homosexuality is an abomination to Him, and that marriage is to be between one man and one woman, just like His Word, the Bible, plainly teaches.
All of that said, let us now inject a most somber warning into the matter.
God’s people must recognize the scope and breadth of what God has done in this election. The absolute responsibility to remain faithful in prayer and in godly action whenever and wherever necessary, must not now be forsaken. The Scripture applies as perhaps never before for American Christians: "…For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required…" (Luke 12: 48).
Christians –and there are no other kind than "born-again" Christians—are to be salt and light in a world that is decaying, and in sin-darkness. American Christians have been given a tremendous demonstration of God’s mighty hand in this presidential election. He has expressed with amazing clarity His Truth that when His people, called by His name, humble themselves and pray, and turn from their wicked ways to do His will, He will hear, and begin the healing process for their nation.
Until Jesus Christ comes for His own in the clouds above Planet Earth, it must be a process that is a matter of constant, unceasing Prayer War.
--Terry
