July 30
Your End-Time Wake Up Call
It has been a very long time since Rapture Ready has experienced such a prolonged period of interest from the media and general public. Normally, after a major event occurs, we see a huge spike in traffic, then the numbers quickly return to normal.
The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah forces in Southern Lebanon has been driving up the traffic. I’ve been getting a ton of hate mail from the unsaved folks who have come to the site from various links. Because I have so many letters to choose from, next week’s monthly update of the "Interesting E-mail" section will include some colorful examples.
Not all of the e-mail messages have been negative. A large chunk of the mail is from Christians who have discovered the site from search requests or news article links, and they are very pleased about finding our site. Other believers say they have been visiting the site for years and feel compelled by these recent events to step forward and praise the site for being so vigilant.
My thoughts remain with the folks who are not fans of the site. Any indication that the wheels of prophecy are moving forward is a reminder that time will eventully run out for people who have yet to find salvation in Christ.
I am certain that when Judgment Day comes and all humanity stands before the great white throne, the people who died lost will be blaming me for not doing enough to overcome their doubt. Well, Sir/Madam, here in late July of 2006 is your end-time wake up call.
If the signs of the time have left you unconvinced of your need for a Savior, I suggest that you at least pick a point at which you will believe. As we get closer to the tribulation hour, the end-time picture will continue to grow clearer. Even the most godless atheists should have a level where they are compelled to say, “Hey, something is definitely going on here.”
A warning: Anyone waiting for more spectacular occurrences to prove the accuracy of prophecy is playing a very dangerous game.
First, you can never satisfy a purely skeptical mind. If people don’t act on warning signs, they quickly become desensitized to their importance. During the tribulation hour, when the grand finale of supernatural judgments will be poured out, the Bible says most people will still refuse to repent.
Second, missing the rapture is a very big mistake. Once the “blessed hope” takes place, the standard for becoming a follower of Christ is going to dramatically change. All post-rapture believers will need to be willing to suffer martyrdom for their new-found faith.
I marvel at how well the Lord has put together the decision-making process we commonly call life. Everyone is born with an indication that he or she needs to find some form of redemption. All one needs to do is call upon the Son of God for salvation. The only problem is that most people are too stubborn or too lazy to seek out the truth.
What convinced me to become a Christian was realizing that the world was following a path set by Bible prophecy. That was 23 years ago. Two decades later, I see no reason for people to be sitting on the fence.
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18).
-- Todd
Scoffers – A Key Signal
Both Todd and I have addressed this end-time signal a number of times in Nearing Midnight commentaries. Because we are flooded these days by individuals and media scoffing about Christ’s return, and particularly about our position on the rapture, we must continue to present that scoffing for what it is –significantly a part of the overall deluge of prophesied last-days indicators.
The key prophecy, of course, is given in the following:
“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Pet. 3:3-4).
We received this past week an e-mail containing an article that, in my view, encapsulates some of this type of scoffing. The mocking coming from those who claim to be within the body of Jesus Christ makes it doubly troubling, because it leads to throwing fuel on the fires of rage against things of Christ –including prophecy yet future.
“’I am so frustrated by how so many so-called mainline Christians, clergy included, are caught up by dispensationalism,’ said the Rev. Robert Flowers, a local peace activist who also heads the Wesley Foundation, a United Methodist center just off the Baylor University campus.”
The article reported the reverend’s further castigation of those of us who believe as, he thinks, we believe. “’This view of a militant, violent sequence of events for the end times,' he said, 'has no problem with Jesus coming back in a blaze of glory, casting nonbelievers into hell with modern weaponry.’”
Rev Flowers believes that the Revelation and other apocalyptic writings in the Bible are just a reflection of the times John wrote it, in dire opposition to Rome, and to give some comfort to those under the oppressive thumb of their Roman masters. He scoffs at any literal interpretation of those passages involving God’s wrath, and says those of us who do believe in a literal interpretation are…well, I’ll let his own words from the article say it:
“’These people want to help usher in the so-called second coming of Jesus by any means necessary, even violent destruction via militarism,’ Flowers said” (excerpts taken from "Are we living in the final days? Local clergy weigh in," Sunday, July 23, 2006, by Terri Jo Ryan, Tribune-Herald).
His is but one of many voices deriding, mocking, and scoffing at the pre-trib view of prophecy, the rapture, and Jesus’ literal return in the second advent to put an end to mankind’s sin-filled madness. From such diatribes, secular media constantly question Todd and me, as well as Dr. LaHaye, Hal Lindsey, and many others, wondering over how we can wish for all-out war in the Middle East so that Christ return.
Such is the furthest from the truth possible. We simply put forth what God’s Word says about these matters. For example, the strike Israel made on Qana, Lebanon on Sunday, July 30, must be reported, in light of Israel’s place in Bible prophecy. We didn’t pray for Israel to strike Qana, killing more than 60 people. But such turmoil and unrest –such tragedy—is prophesied for Israel and its blood-vowed enemies the closer the age draws to Christ’s second advent.
The defensive act by Israel –to hit Hezbollah where they launched the short-range rockets from--is a fact. The act has seemed to begin, in earnest, the polarization of the international community against Israel –and perhaps the U.S. for its refusal –to this point—to twist Israel’s arm to accept a Kofi Annan demanded U.N. cease-fire. This is part, I feel, of the Mideast situation building toward Zechariah, chapters 12 and 14, predicting that Israel will become a “burdensome stone” to the whole world. They will become, ultimately, surrounded, and threatened by all the world.
One friend pointed out in a special newsletter that something quite unusual has occurred at times throughout Jewish history on a certain memorialized date. The piece says, in part:
“We are fast approaching the date of Tisha b'Av on the Jewish calendar, which falls this year on August 3. It always falls in late July or early August. It is a date of ironic Jewish tragedies over thousands of years. Are the dates coincidental? Here are just some examples of what happened on Tisha b'Av throughout history:
The first Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. and the second Temple was demolished on the same date by the Romans in 70 A.D.
The Jews were expelled from Spain on that date in 1491.
The Russian pogroms, World War I and World War II all occurred on that day. (Remember, the date varies from year to year.)
The Jews were exiled from England on that date in 1290.
Moses broke the tablets at Mount Sinai following the sin of the golden calf on that date.
It would seem to stretch credulity to suggest that these incidents (and others not listed) fell on Tisha b'Av by coincidence” (The Olive Tree Ministries newsletter, July 30, 2006).
I certainly am not predicting something of an earth-shaking nature, such as listed above, will happen August 3 –other than I will become one year older on that date. However, we –as watchmen—are told to be observant (Mark 13:37).
We live on this planet, too. We have loved ones who would be affected by World War III, or Armageddon, the same as everyone else. We don’t want Armageddon. But, regardless, Armageddon is on the way. God’s Word says so, in very specific and horrific terms.
Those opposed to the literal truth of God’s words on the coming apocalypse seem to want to stone the messengers. So, we must ask: Where does the violence really lie? With we who are trying to warn people of the wrath of God to come, or in those who want us off the planet, to shut us up?
That, incidentally, is exactly what will happen. Our critics will have wish fulfillment beyond their wildest imaginations. One day –perhaps very soon—Christians will indeed be removed. The rebellious earth-dwellers can then attempt to build their Utopia. They will even have a genius master architect to guide in constructing the one world order so fervently sought over recent decades. The final results will be catastrophic beyond any ever thought possible, according to Jesus, reflecting on the prophecy He gave Isaiah the prophet. Jesus said: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matt. 24:21).
Scoffing is a prime signal of where we must be on God’s prophetic timeline. While we do not want global war, or regional war, or any other kind of war, we must proclaim that God’s Word says it is coming. We can do nothing to stop what God has plainly prophesied will occur. He is omniscient, and cannot lie.
Although we want peace, not war, we do look for His coming for us, first for all believers in the Rapture, then, at least seven years later, in the glorious appearing of Revelation 19:11. We do not shrink, therefore, from saying with the prophet John: “…Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).
--Terry
