<March 3
End-Time Indicators at a Prolonged High
The oldest feature on Rapture Ready is the "Rapture Index" of 45 categories. When I started this ministry in 1987, the index and a list of weekly news events were the genesis of this site.
My goal with the index was to get a fair measure of end-time related events. By
standardizing prophecy-related components into something like a Dow Jones Industrial Index, I hoped to eliminate the wide variance that exists with most last-days reporting.
Lately, I've noticed the occurrence of a trend that shows how close we may be to the
conclusion of the age. Never before have we seen a more prolonged period of high
activity. The rating on the RI is currently at 167. Not only is it a four-year high;
we have been above the 150 level longer than any other period.
From the very beginning of the RI, I foresaw the day may come when we are so close to
the tribulation hour that the index will remain fixed at high levels until the rapture occurs. With so many components showing a continuous level of activity, my predictions seem to be coming true.
Jesus told His disciples that if they wanted to know the seasons, they should be watching the signs. The Lord talked about birth pangs in Matthew 24:8 and Mark 13:8 as key signals of His return. The key factor is a high level of activity among the indicators.
The quality of these events is another to consider. The news of today is constantly
driven by events of record or historic importance. Just look at the two categories that were upgraded during the past two weeks:
On February 21, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake, the largest ever recorded on Norwegian
territory, hit off the Arctic Svalbard islands. Less than a week later, Great
Britain was rocked by the biggest earthquake to strike the country in 25 years.
The crime category was updated when a new report on crime showed that for the first time
in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison. By
contrast, in mid-2002, the ratio was 1 in 142.
Economic hardship is the mother’s milk of prophetic progress, and in the financial
markets we have what could be called a perfect storm. Gold is at a record high, the
dollar is at an all-time low, oil has reached historic highs, and the stock market
is floundering from the eruption of a massive real-estate bubble.
In the past couple of years, I've written several articles about how hurricanes and
mass murder incidents have repeatedly set all-time records. Normally, you would expect an event with the "worse ever" distinction to stand for several decades. When an equal or greater tragedy comes along in just a few months, I think Bible prophecy is the only place to turn for a valid explanation of why these trends are occurring.
Another bit of interesting data that goes along with the prolonged high rate in the
RI is having all the categories showing some level of activity. We've never had a time
when all the categories rated 2 or higher. Even during the first Gulf War, four categories were rated as ones, and in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks we had two with a rating of one.
The real purpose of the RI is to avoid the pitfalls that plague human observation.
Apathy is the bigest enemy of end-time awareness. During World War II, fresh soldiers were
typically distressed by the sound of distant gunfire. As they became battle-hardened,
they could eventually sleep through the heaviest artillery bombardment. The abundance
of prophecy-related events has caused many Christians to lose their focus.
Over the years, the Rapture Index has been featured in dozens of media outlets. One of
the most common remarks the index receives is a mocking disdain for its relevance to
the world. I believe the critics are making a sucker's bet--they're gambling their eternal souls against odds that are increasingly stacked against them. If our critics have a basic understanding of Bible prophecy, anyone with an open mind would have to conclude that the world is conforming to the scenario foretold by the Word of God.
It does no good to just stand still as calamity comes our way. The unsaved person
needs reexamine his life, and the believer needs to assess his purpose in the Kingdom
of God.
"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be
earthquakes in various places, there will be famines; this is but the beginning of
the birth-pangs" (Mark 13:8 RVS).
-- Todd
America the Tarnished
America the beautiful–from sea to shining sea, her good crowned by God, with brotherhood.
One gets the cerebral image of Lady Liberty, her torch held high, gleaming in the early morning or twilight for all the world to see and seek to emulate. It is a vision with which I and others of my generation grew up. The purple mountains' majesty topped by crowns of snow against powder blue skies, golden-yellow grain waving silkily upon vast plains that seem to go on forever. And, again, the Statue of Liberty standing on Ellis Island, welcoming the downtrodden who come seeking a new life (in the legally specified way) in the most materially blessed nation to have ever existed topside of Planet Earth.
Truly, the United States of America has been a golden cup in God’s mighty hand. And it still is so–to a significant degree—continuing to disseminate the Good News, the Gospel, to most every point on earth through technologies developed for the most part through American ingenuity and wealth.
This nation was used by God to bring Israel to birth in its modern incarnation. We have continued to stand by that people of the promises; at least the American government continues to assure her survival as a nation-state under the constant threat of enemies avowed to push her into the Mediterranean.
All that said, America is no longer “beautiful.” Not in the sense of “her good.” Sadly, her “brotherhood” has been lost to multiculturalism, pluralism in most every aspect of American life, and political correctness, which now is the standard, replacing the biblical moorings to which the founding fathers tethered the country.
She is going the way of ancient Babylon, about which Jeremiah the prophet said the following: “Babylon [hath been] a golden cup in the LORD'S hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad” (Jer. 51:7).
God said through the prophet that Babylon was no longer useful as His instrument to bless the world. Now it had become a curse. Her golden cup was tarnished beyond restoration.
Could the same apply to our nation today? Is this why America, the land you and I love, not mentioned by name--or, in my view, even by inference--anywhere in Bible prophecy?
I’m currently writing a book that addresses the question we who write or speak on Bible prophecy are asked almost every time upon such occasions: “Is America in Bible prophecy?”
We are a nation who has had the most truth from the mind of God of any nation to have existed–right up there, I’m convinced, with Israel. As a matter of fact, God choosing the U.S. to be key to bringing Israel to birth in 1948, and our receiving great abilities for technological development--and at the same time God’s truth--is no coincidence.
But our golden cup is tarnished because, like Babylon of ancient times, we have exported our “wine” to make all of the nations “drunk.” We have contributed to the perversity and madness the insanity that now threatens America and the world.
It is perhaps fitting, in that regard, that America’s mighty dollar is in decline, as Todd has reported in our "Nearing Midnight" commentaries. Gold is the monetary instrument against which the ailing dollar is measured, and the prognosis is not good.
Gold set an historic high above $975 on Friday, propelled by speculative buying on the back of record high oil and a lifetime-low dollar against the euro.
The metal pared gains later as some investors took profits, but market sentiment remained bullish. Silver jumped to a 27-year peak near $20 an ounce before falling, while palladium surged nearly 4 percent to its highest in more than six years.
Gold set a record for the third straight day, hitting $975.90 an ounce before falling to $971.10/971.85 at 11:09 a.m. EST, versus $968.90/969.70 in New York late on Thursday. It has risen 16 percent this year on the top of 32 percent rise in 2007.
"All the newsflow coming out of the U.S. is hugely bullish for the gold market. In the end, what lower interest rates mean is that it will be difficult for the dollar to come back strongly," said Michael Widmer, analyst at Lehman Brothers.
"Inflationary pressures are something that are also playing into the market. Fundamentals are strong and I think $1,000 would not be an end. We are going to go higher from there."
The dollar’s lower value, brought on in large part by cuts in interest rates, affects the dynamics of the global economy. The report continues, “A rate cut tends to weaken the dollar as investors shift assets for better returns. A weaker dollar makes gold cheaper for other currency holders and lifts metal demand. Gold is also seen as a hedge against oil-led inflation” (Reuters, London, Friday, March 1, 2008).
Already, America’s tarnished reputation is causing difficulties throughout world financial circles. This fact increases pressure to move forward with the matters involving the North American Union (NAU) we’ve been hearing so much about.
One source says the following:
In order to bring about a North American Union (NAU), the public first has to be conditioned to think of themselves as North Americans. In that regard, Thomas Donohue (president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) on June 16, 2006 remarked that "for CEOs, North America is already a single market, and business decisions are no longer made with a Mexico strategy---or a Canada strategy---but, rather, with a North American strategy....I think it's pretty clear now that it no longer makes sense to talk about U.S. competitiveness and Mexican competitiveness---or, for that matter, about the competitiveness of Canada. We are all in this together---we, as North Americans" (The August Review: Global Elite Research Center, The North American Union and the Larger Plan, By Dennis L. Cuddy, Ph.D, August, 2007).
Rearrangements taking place even now seem to be setting the stage for governing authority that will provide controls on full-blown economic chaos during mankind’s most terrible time in history. During the tribulation, there will be great famine, leading to pestilences and death. God’s prophetic Word gives us this glimpse of that future time:
And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine (Rev. 6:5-6).
Will the NAU, with America’s sovereignty and autonomy absorbed, be part of the prophesied ten kingdoms out of which Antichrist will come after securing his monetary power base?
“And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast” (Rev. 17:12-13).
--Terry
