Mar 5
Show Me What You've Got
The main purpose of "Nearing Midnight" has always been to warn people about how close we are to the last days. If you go back and look at previous updates, you will notice a pattern: Terry and I reflect on the news events of the day, then we show how those headlines relate to Bible prophecy.
From time to time, I find it necessary to stop and comment on the Christians' reaction to the end-time message. Simply put, there is no reaction. Idleness is such a pervasive problem, there is no justification for being tactful.
The vast majority of Christians are spiritually comatose. I’m just talking about the small percentage of people who still believe the Bible is true. Of these believers, most seem to have prophecy on "weather watch." They’re waiting for something major to happen, yet they have no plan of action if the world does go crazy.
Everyone who claims to follow Jesus Christ needs to realize that we are accountable for our actions. Someday, we will have to stand before the Lord and tell Him what we’ve done in His name. When God looks at us individually in the eye and says, "Show me what you've got," many Christians will have to have to admit they have nothing to report.
I've become aware of this profound state of laziness from operating this website. When I ask people to contribute to various projects, the response rate is normally one-tenth of a percent. Somehow, people have managed to disconnect themselves from the core values that once defined us as believers – particularly the support of evangelism. It’s even becoming hard to find other prophecy sites that are well-maintained. I’ve noticed a growing list of domains that have not been updated in several years.
The lack of dedication is not the result of a drought in talent and resources. The average viewer of RR would be best described as smart, highly educated, and tech-savvy, with an above-average income. We probably have a couple hundred millionaires who frequent the site, and our regular visitors include people who are leaders in every shade of business, media, sports, and politics.
All these blessings from God do not result in action because most people are more worried about the cares of this life than they are about the issues that matter for all eternity. The world is going to hell in a hand basket because Christians don't feel it's their problem.
Just like it is with the general population, believers have become totally fixated on selfish interests. One day I was doing a search for pages that offered Christians advice on what they should be doing with their lives. The first link that came up was a book entitled, "101 Things You Should Do Before Going to Heaven," by David Bordon & Tom Winters. I could not believe the nonsense they list as priorities for Christians. Here are a few:
Bake Bread from Scratch
Know Thyself
Eat Cheesecake for Breakfast
Build a Sandcastle
Bite a Hot Pepper
Get Comfortable in Your Own Skin
Just in case there is any doubt that the book is a parody of sound advice, they do list, "Read the Bible from cover to cover."
The vast majority of the items on this to-do list are self-centered nonsense that fits snuggly with all the other feel-good books being published today.
Like most cities, Omaha has a public access channel that allows local people to share their views on various subjects. Many of these people produce programs of a religious nature. Last week as I was flipping through the channels, I encountered a gentleman named Scott McPhillips who was trying to give his personal salvation story. I say "trying," because he appeared to be profoundly retarded, which made it very difficult for the audience to understand what he was saying. After carefully listening to him, I learned that his mental state was the result of an auto accident.
Here is someone with a huge disadvantage, and yet he is using what little abilities he has to share with people the faith that resulted from his accident. He doesn’t leave much room for people who say they don’t have the skills to witness.
My challenge to you folks is to do one single act that is productive to the Kingdom of God. Because there is such a world of difference between Christians who are actively in supporting their faith and those who are just observers, my only request is that you take one small step towards involvement.
After 20 years of service, I can testify that being a workman for Christ has been extremely beneficial to my spiritual life. Instead of being someone who is bored and anxiously waiting for major events to happen, I now realize there is only some much I can do, and time is rapidly running out.
What has made Rapture Ready the largest prophecy site on the internet has been the fact that it is a group effort. We will accept any witness that brings people to the truth.
If you want to add something to the site, my advice is to focus on answering questions that people might be searching for. I never did find a good page that answered my query on, “What should Christians be doing?”. Perhaps someone might want to tackle this one.
Last week I talked about the Iran conflict. If I were to wake tomorrow to the news that Israeli jets had bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities and the world was in major uproar, I would probably be struck with a panic attack: “Oh no, am I ready to go?” What keeps me working in the prophetically inactive times is the realization that the end will come suddenly, and there are no second chances.
"For this reason you be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will" (Mt. 24:44).
--- Todd
End-of-Days Scenarios
Time has arrived, I believe, to put together a postulation introspective on biblically prophesied things to come, in scenario fashion--i.e., to offer, in a stream-of-consciousness way, based upon trends in today’s news, a possible course the world might take while we trudge through the end of days toward Armageddon and Christ’s second advent.
As always, when entertaining such thoughts in a public forum, I must state up front that these are nothing more or less than speculations on my part. However, the speculations are undertaken with considerable years of study, writing, and most of all, praying about matters foretold by Jesus and the Old and New Testament prophets. Although I have not received a “word of knowledge” or been given a vision or dream in the Old or New Testament sense, I do believe my thoughts are given here with Holy Spirit-directed thought and insight.
So, where do we begin? Well, maybe at the beginning, the moment when linear time seems to have been introduced for this marvelous story of God and man to begin its run through history. I say it is good to begin at that point, because we have–it is obvious to any student of Bible prophecy who is alert to present day goings-on—come to the point that the very one who created time for mankind is now under satanic attack as a liar and/or a lunatic. Jesus, you see, is the creator of this thing called time, of the being called man, of all that is. The Scriptures say:
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Clear enough, right? God, not evolution, or any other method born of man’s sophistry, brought this world into existence.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men” (Jn. 1:1-4).
About Jesus, the Apostle Paul wrote:
“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities,
or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist” (Col. 1:16-17).
Jesus himself said:
“…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (Jn. 14:6).
The Bible says that Jesus Christ is God, himself. He said that He and His Father are one. That is, they are the same. When the pious Jewish religious leaders asked Him if He was God, Jesus said: “…Before Abraham was, I am” (Jn. 8:58). This refers to His being the God of His people of His promises –the Israelites, as seen in Exodus 3:6.
The world of entertainment, e.g., “The DaVinci Code” fiction, has been saying Jesus was a mere man who faked His crucifixion, living on to father a child with Mary Magdalene. Entertainment, under pseudo-archaeological auspices, is now telling us that they have found the ossuaries and even the DNA of Jesus' relatives, and possibly of Jesus himself in a tomb near Jerusalem. Jesus addressed this matter in part when He said during His Olivet Discourse:
“Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matt. 24:25-27).
Matthew 24:25-27 is, I realize, Jesus’forewarning of false christs and false prophets that will deceive all but God’s elect during the tribulation era. Just like in all other endtime signals of significance that are in view today, however, the lying--saying Jesus is not the soon returning God of Heaven--is already underway for setting up prophetic fulfillment to come.
The prominently observable fact that the deity of Jesus is under attack is, in other words, a profound signal that we are bumping up against the very end of this Age of Grace. The attack is scheduled, prophetically, to become even more hateful as we degenerate toward the end of days. Having laid the groundwork for showing that Jesus Christ’s deity and God’s veracity are under attack from our great enemy, the devil, and his supernatural and human minions, we will next examine the many developments and what they portend for the future, so far as concerns Bible prophecy. Next week, we will begin looking at end-of-days matters that are in our daily, even hourly, news--overlaid by God’s always 100%-accurate Word, the Bible.
--Terry
