Is today any different than tumultuous times in past history, such as those of the world wars in the past century? Yes, we live in the shadow of the Tribulation period amid what I refer to as mild precursors compared to that which will happen after the Rapture of the church.

I’m convinced that we live in biblical times that are far different than any time since the late first century AD when John penned the words to the book of Revelation. I say this because of the abundance of signs pointing to the soon arrival of the seven-year Tribulation. Although many mock our expectation of Jesus’ soon appearing, the words of Scripture side with those of us who cherish the hope of His imminent return.

If you doubt that the Rapture will happen anytime soon or even in your lifetime, please take the time to consider how the biblical evidence I present below points to the Lord’s imminent intervention in our world.

I am also writing to encourage those who anticipate meeting Jesus in the air but have grown weary or even disheartened as they wait for that day. Please be comforted knowing that we live in the season of Jesus’ appearing. He will most assuredly reward your patient focus on your “blessed hope.”

1. Israel’s Miraculous Rebirth as a Nation

Did you know that Isaac Newton predicted that Israel would reappear as a nation before the Tribulation period? Based on his in-depth study of the books of Daniel and Revelation, he made that startling claim over 250 years before Israel sprang into existence in 1948.^[1]

Newton correctly recognized that the fulfillment of most end-time biblical prophecies requires that Israel exist as a nation prior to the start of the Tribulation.

The Bible long ago said that Israel would again exist in the last days. Its miraculous rebirth as a nation after two millennia, with its original language from antiquity, alone makes today far different than any other time since the first century AD.

But there’s so much more that signifies the nearness of the Tribulation and hence, Jesus’ appearing that happens before it starts.

2. Third Temple Fever in Israel

Isaac Newton also wrote that Israel would build its third temple before Jesus’ Second Coming, which happens at the end of the Tribulation.^[2] Do we see any signs that Israel plans to do this? Absolutely!

In 2022, the arrival of five perfect red heifers from Texas sparked a jubilant celebration throughout Jerusalem. Only one hair of a different color disqualifies a heifer, which makes finding even one perfect animal highly unlikely.

As I write in March 2024, reports abound that one of the recently appointed temple priests will soon sacrifice one of these red heifers with is ashes preserved for the required purification of the future temple and its priests.

The Bible says that Israel will have a temple again during the Tribulation. The celebrations and preparations for the third temple are significant; don’t let anyone tell you they are not.

3. The Riders of the Apocalypse

I purchased Billy Graham’s book, Approaching Hoofbeats, soon after its publication in 1983. I don’t remember all that I thought as I read it forty years ago, but I know the book sparked hope regarding the nearness of the Rapture.

As I recently skimmed through its chapters, the stark differences between then and now became readily apparent. Some of the signs that four decades ago seemed so indicative of the nearing Rapture pale by comparison to what we witness all around us.

The Antichrist Rides

It’s only been in the past six years or so that Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum (WEF) came out of the shadows and revealed their true intentions of world governance. They now invite the news media into their once-secret meetings and openly discuss their true intention to enslave the world under “Build Back Better,” a euphemism for their intent to create a Marxist, totalitarian world government.

I do not believe that Klaus Schwab is the coming “man of lawlessness” that Paul describes in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-10. However, he does provide an apt illustration of how the antichrist might gain control of our world under the cloak of promoting peace and making life better for everyone.

The Threat of Nuclear War

Today’s world is exceedingly more dangerous than it was in 1983. The prospect of a nuclear war was a possibility back then; now most regard it as a matter of when rather than if.

Citing the significant risk for a nuclear war, a group called “The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists” made headlines on January 23, 2024, by resetting their Doomsday Clock back to ninety seconds before midnight. Below is a quote from their website from that day.

A durable end to Russia’s war in Ukraine seems distant, and the use of nuclear weapons by Russia in that conflict remains a serious possibility. In February 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his decision to “suspend” the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START). In March, he announced the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. In June, Sergei Karaganov, an advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, urged Moscow to consider launching limited nuclear strikes on Western Europe as a way to bring the war in Ukraine to a favorable conclusion.^[3]

Today’s world is exceedingly more dangerous than it was in 1983. The prospect of a nuclear war was a possibility back then; now, most regard it as a matter of when rather than if. As a young child, I felt the widespread fear that gripped America during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Although the possibility of a nuclear attack is significantly higher today than sixty-two years ago, the difference is that back then, the news media honestly reported the dangers to the American people.

Economic Peril

In January of 2024, the national debt level of the United States reached $34 trillion. According to several reports, the U.S. is adding one trillion dollars to its debt every one hundred days. Congress and the President are spending our country into oblivion, as evidenced by the recent $1.2 trillion spending bill, which passed with support from both political parties. Such mismanagement of spending is not only foolhardy but also hastens the economic destruction of America.

The current trend of rising red ink is not only unsustainable, but it also signifies that the black horse of severe economic peril (Revelation 6:5-6) will soon ride across both America as well as the entire world. The economies of the world will totally collapse; it’s unavoidable. But for the restraining hand of the Lord, this calamity would’ve already occurred.

The Pale Horse

A radio interviewer once asked me if I thought the riders of the Apocalypse were already active in our world. I replied with a firm “no.” First, the Bible tells us that the Rapture will happen before the Lord Jesus releases the Seal Judgments, as recorded in Revelation 6. Second, although there’s violence, pestilence, and a substantial number of deaths occurring in our current world, the totals fall far short of the horrific conditions described in connection with the hoofbeats of the pale horse.

Revelation 6:7-8 says that “over a fourth of the earth” will perish as the result of Jesus opening the Seals. Even considering the disappearance of people at Jesus’ appearing, that number might exceed one and a half billion people. That places the coming Day of the Lord’s wrath beyond anything recorded in history.

4. Digital Currency

Another sign that shouts to us regarding the nearness of the Tribulation is the push for digital currencies.

During the September 2023 meeting of the G-20 nations in New Delhi, India, the leaders “agreed to a plan to eventually impose digital currencies and digital IDs on their respective populations, amid concern that governments might use them to monitor their people’s spending and crush dissent.” This pact includes a pledge “to build the necessary infrastructure to implement digital currencies and IDs.”^[4]

The antichrist needs just such a system in place by the midpoint of the Tribulation in order to control the buying and selling throughout the world (Revelation 13:16-18). He cannot do this if people are able to use cash or write checks for whatever they need.

In America, the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is coming to us by way of the Federal Reserve’s FedNow, which has gone live. David Bowen, in his article, FedNow Goes Live, Paving The Way To A Central Bank Digital Currency, wrote this about the matter:

The Federal Reserve claims this is the alternative to a CBDC — a Central Bank Digital Currency. But really, this is a steppingstone to a CBDC. Once the public gets more comfortable with the speed of FedNow and the system is accepted as the standard procedure, you’ll get a Central Bank Digital Currency.^[5]

The inevitable collapse of the economy in the U.S. will speed up the path to a CBDC in America, which will quickly become a unified worldwide currency during the Tribulation, if not before it starts.

5. Mark of the Beast Technology

Prior to the technical advances of the past fifteen years, the antichrist would have needed an exceedingly large army in each and every nation in order to enforce the requirement of his mark for all worldwide commerce, as Revelation 13:16-18 says will happen in the middle of the seven-year Tribulation. Previous to this century, it would have been impossible for one person to exert such control over the commerce of the world.

With today’s artificial intelligence (AI), gigantic databases, and the 5G network, the technology exists for one person to set the parameters and thus control all purchases for whatever people might want or need. These innovations not only make the fulfillment of Revelation 13:16-18 possible but also inevitable given the goals of the WEF and those at the UN with its Agenda 2030. The world governance they promote is eerily similar to the one the Bible says will exist during the future Day of the Lord.

6. UFOs and Aliens

This may seem like an unusual sign of the end times; however, the wide acceptance of extraterrestrial life, along with many governments acknowledging their existence, demonstrates the increased activity of Satan as he seeks ways to explain our sudden disappearance via the Rapture.

I recently listened to a short clip on Twitter of an interview with Yuval Noah Harari, bestselling author and confidant of Klaus Schwab. Harari predicted the end of human-dominated history because of an upcoming alien invasion. “History will continue with somebody else in control,” he said.

In previous interviews, I have heard Harari point to AI and transhumanism as the future of the human race. Why is he now saying that extraterrestrials will dictate mankind’s future?

Does Harari’s apparent change in thinking demonstrate how far the Luciferian globalists are willing to go in preparing the world for our disappearance via the Rapture? I think so. They will say the aliens, AKA demons, snatched us away. Some new age gurus predict that the aliens will take us away from Earth for reprogramming due to our antiquated ways of thinking, and later return us to Earth.

Harari, like other globalists, assumes that these aliens are far more advanced than humans in both intelligence and technology. Why is that?

I believe it’s because the elite must promote the illusion of vast superiority in order for people to believe that alien lifeforms are capable of making tens of millions instantly disappear from all over the world.

7. The Seven-Year Commitment

On September 18-19, 2023, a majority of UN member nations committed to a seven-year plan of accelerated growth toward the implementation of the 17 Strategic Development Goals (SDGs) of Agenda 2030. Below is a quote from the UN’s website pertaining to the purpose of this summit:

The 2023 SDG Summit took place on 18-19 September 2023 in New York. It marked the beginning of a new phase of accelerated progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals with high-level political guidance on transformative and accelerated actions leading up to 2030.

Convened by the President of the General Assembly, the Summit marked the halfway point to the deadline set for achieving the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. It was the centerpiece of the High-level Week of the General Assembly. The Summit responded to the impact of multiple and interlocking crises facing the world and is expected to reignite a sense of hope, optimism, and enthusiasm for the 2030 Agenda.[6]

Is this renewed sense of urgency just because the globalists sense they are falling behind in their agenda? Or do they know something that most people today don’t? And how can we ignore the fact that they are thinking in terms of a seven-year span of time?

8. Scoffing

One of my favorite Peanuts cartoons pictures a troubled Charlie Brown seeking Lucy’s five cent psychiatric help. After Lucy provides several cautions about worrying, she says, “If you have to worry, you should worry about this very moment.”

In response, a puzzled Charlie Brown asks, “This moment? Why this moment?” It’s then that a soccer ball comes flying through the air, bonks him in the head, and sends him flying to the ground.

Lucy then explains her diagnosis, “I saw this ball heading this way, see, and…”

In his second letter, the Apostle Peter warns that in the last days, many people, unlike Lucy, will fail to accurately diagnose the moment in which they live. They will see the same multiple signs of the approaching Tribulation that we do but will interpret them far differently, reject our diagnosis, and ridicule our hope.

“…knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming?’”  (2 Pet. 3:3-4a).

The apostle’s words aptly depict our day. The Rapture has become the object of scorn in many churches, even in places that once taught it as a core belief. Such mocking of our expectation of Jesus’ appearing fulfills Bible prophecy concerning what the Bible said would happen in the last days. (In my experience, the fiercest scoffing of the Rapture and resulting opposition to my ministry has come from pastors who claim to believe in the inerrancy and inspiration of Scripture.)

9. The Epidemic of Deception

After the disciples asked Jesus about the signs of the end of the age and of His coming, the first words He spoke were these, “Take heed that no man deceive you” (Matthew 24:4). A little later in the same discourse, the Lord spoke of the great deception that will happen during the Tribulation period (Matthew 24:24):

“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”

The Apostle Paul, in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, wrote this about the coming “man of lawlessness:”

“The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved” (2:9-10).

As we look around us, it’s unmistakable that the gaslighting of the masses has reached epidemic levels, which clearly signifies that we live in the shadow of the coming seven-year Tribulation when such duplicity will become ever worse than now. In order for the globalists’ agenda to succeed, they must convince the masses of an alternate reality that does not match what we both see and experience.

For example, the world sees an elderly and feeble President that has dementia; he gets lost walking into the White House. Yet, we hear news media reports telling us that Biden has the energy of a “forty-year-old” with a remarkably sharp mind. This is gaslighting; it’s the effort to convince us of an alternate reality.

10. The Pole Shift

Since 2001, the earth’s magnetic north pole has been moving. A May 2020 article on the Forbes Magazine website discussed how this shift has speeded up in recent years, but it did not discuss the dire consequences should the north and south poles swap place.[7]

What does this have to do with Bible prophecy?

It’s because what some scientists, mostly unbelievers, tell us will happen during a pole shift is remarkably similar to what Isaiah says will happen in the Day of the Lord (24:19-20), as well as John’s description of the sixth seal (Revelation 6:12-17). When I read their warnings, It’s like I’m reading what the Bible says will happen early in the Tribulation period.

Could this be the reason behind the passion for building underground bunkers among the wealthy and world governments?

11. Underground Bunkers

A few years ago, I read a mystery novel about the building of elaborate underground bunkers in former missile silos as protection from nuclear war and other forms of devastation.

Fiction has become reality. For months, social media has been abuzz with reports of Mark Zuckerberg, billionaire founder of Facebook, building a massive underground shelter in Hawaii. This comes alongside reports of many other wealthy people, as well as most governments, constructing elaborate underground places of refuge packed with storable food and resources for a long duration.

Do you know that this fulfills Bible prophecy? Long ago, the Lord told the prophet Isaiah that during the last days, people would hide in holes in the ground in a vain effort to escape His wrath:

“And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,
and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low,
and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
And the idols shall utterly pass away.
And people shall enter the caves of the rocks
and the holes of the ground,
from before the terror of the Lord,
and from the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to terrify the earth” (Isaiah 2:17-19, my emphasis).

Skipping forward to Revelation 6:15-17, John repeats the Isaiah 2 prediction as he recounts what will happen when Jesus opens the sixth seal and causes many to suspect that it will be the feared pole shift.

Could this also be one of the factors behind the passion for building underground bunkers? I believe it’s likely. The elite powerbrokers of our day recognize the dangers that lie ahead for the U.S. but label those of us who cite them as “conspiracy theorists.”

Please Don’t Ignore the Signs

The signs point to the nearness of the judgments described in Revelation chapters 6-18. Please, I beg of you, don’t ignore the signs regarding the nearness of God’s wrath falling upon this world.

If your hope rests in Jesus and Him alone for the forgiveness of your sins and eternal life, let the assurances of Scripture encourage and comfort you. The Bible says the Lord will take believers out of this world before the Day of the Lord’s wrath falls on the unsuspecting world (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11). We don’t know how much longer we will wait, but rest assured of this: Jesus is coming back for us.

If you have not yet put your trust in Jesus alone for eternal life, please, please read my post, Jesus Is the Only Path to Eternal Life. In it, I explain how you can know that Jesus has forgiven all your sins and that you possess eternal life and with the sure hope of receiving an immortal and incorruptible body at Jesus’ appearing (1 Corinthians 15:48-54).

Please don’t delay; call upon Jesus while you may! Tomorrow may be too late to avoid the death and destruction that is surely coming to our world.

***

Note: In Hereafter, It’s Far Better Than You Can Imagine, Terry James and I describe the future glory that awaits us as believers, beginning with Jesus’ appearing to take us home. From beginning to end, we emphasize the jubilant joy that awaits us in Heaven. The last chapter contains twenty-seven frequently asked questions and answers pertaining to Heaven and our experience there.

Note: Please consider signing up for my newsletter on the home page of my website at https://www.jonathanbrentner.com/. Thanks!

[1] Stephen D. Snobelen, Statement on the Date 2060, June 2003, at: https://isaac-newton.org/statement-on-the-date-2060/

[2] Ibid.

[3] Sarah Starkey, PRESS RELEASE: Doomsday Clock remains at 90 seconds to midnight, January 23, 2024, at: https://thebulletin.org/2024/01/press-release-doomsday-clock-remains-at-90-seconds-to-midnight/

[4] By Bryan Jung, “G20 Announces Plan to Impose Digital Currencies and IDs Worldwide,” September 12, 2023, on The Epoch Times Website at: https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/g20-announces-plan-to-impose-digital-currencies-and-ids-worldwide-5489947

[5] David Bowen, FedNow Goes Live, Paving The Way To A Central Bank Digital Currency, September 20, 2023, at: https://harbingersdaily.com/fednow-goes-live-paving-the-way-to-digital-currency/

[6] https://www.un.org/en/conferences/SDGSummit2023

[7] Eric Mack, Earth’s Magnetic North Pole Is Shifting Dramatically From A Powerful Tug Of War, May 7, 2020, at https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmack/2020/05/07/earths-magnetic-north-pole-is-shifting-dramatically-from-a-powerful-tug-of-war/?sh=1934c391ffe1