Without Excuse
An epiphany struck while listening to a radio talk show host I sometimes listen to during weekday mornings. The words that sparked the revelation came from a cut from a TV program the radio host played. The cut was from the ABC program The View.
I don’t know which of the four main View women hosts did the speaking –that is, I don’t remember the name given of that View host. It was, of course, either Sunny, Joy, Sara or Whoopi. And the words that ignited my thinking in writing this commentary should have been unremarkable – that is, if I weren’t a student of Bible prophecy from the preTrib perspective.
But the words the woman spoke, interspersed without any sort of emphasis or context, among the rest of her statement, making the words unremarkable at best, struck like that bolt of lightning that struck the Statue of Liberty’s torch a couple of weeks ago.
Sunny, Joy, Sara, Whoopi, and the rest were making fun of those who had made statements that the eclipse of April 8 or the Francis Scott Key Bridge’s destruction were signs from God. They ridiculed those who said that these things and other things happening, like the earthquake that shook New York City, was Judgment from the Almighty or portended Judgment about to be meted out by Deity.
In the middle of the couple of paragraphs of the harangue the particular host of the show was making, she said amidst the audience’s laughter and applause something like “the rapture” didn’t come…”
This stunned me. Here, one of the three most non-Bible-centered people one could think of was, although as merely a casual mention, referencing the next prophecy to be fulfilled, we who study from the preTrib view believe. If Sunny, Joy, Sara or Whoopi understands that the Rapture is an element in God’s Prophetic Timeline, then every American must surely have at least a cursory acquaintance with the term.
In thinking further, my dear friend and mentor, Dr. Tim LaHaye, and his co-author, Jerry Jenkins, came to mind. The Left Behind books, in what was the top-selling series of Christian fiction in publishing history, saturated America and the world with the term that Whoopi or one of the other women of The View casually threw in there when mocking everyone who had predicted that the eclipse and surrounding hoopla was a signal of Judgment from God.
Some of the entertainment world –the late-night hosts on television, and others, also scoffed at those who mentioned that the eclipse, etc., had prophetic or Heavenly judgment overtones. These had also joked about Biden’s designation of Transgender Day of Visibility on the day Easter fell this year. They, observably in my view, delighted in pulling this off against the Christian world and their perceived view of its judgmental foolishness.
The most ungodly among our populace, who dominate the airwaves with their celebrity, have made certain that the unbelievers know of Heaven’s failure to follow up on any Judgment that believers in Christ expect. They accuse that we look down on them with feelings of superiority, and God’s lack of judgmental response is reason, they obviously believe, to celebrate with good-natured fun-poking.
All of the joking and mocking proves one thing: the lost world of people, particularly in this nation, is without excuse. Satan, through being prince of the power of the air, does his devilish work of deceiving the masses through use of his minions who have information dominance in this fallen world. So there can be no doubt that the lost, especially the lost here in America, have heard or read time and time again about God’s coming Judgment –and even more importantly, about His Redemptive Plan for mankind through the Sacrifice of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The devil has convinced the masses that God’s Intervention into the physical world is good to use as the butt of jokes. God is, at most, an existential being, Satan lies. God set things in motion, and it’s been hands-off for the most part since that time. But the God of Heaven has a different View, and Judgment is on the way.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:18-21).
The God of Heaven is, first and foremost, not a God of Judgment and Wrath but of Love and Mercy. He Desires that all come to Him for Repentance and Forgiveness. He has moved Heaven and Earth to bring all people into His Eternal Family. Here, again, is how to be Forgiven and thus go in the Rapture when Christ Calls believers or go directly to Heaven when life on this sphere is finished.
“That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).
–Terry
The Prototype Anti-Semite Never Gives Up
Last Saturday, April 13, 2024, I prayed as I read reports of weaponized drones, cruise missiles, and deadly rockets heading toward Israel. I know that a large number of other believers also prayed for the safety of God’s chosen people amid the attack from Iranian soil.
The Lord answered our prayers. How else can one explain the success rate of Israel’s iron dome in stopping the Iranian missiles or the ones that fell harmlessly from the sky before reaching their targets?
I was already convinced of God’s supernatural protection of Israel amid the unprecedented attack when I read a social media account of a letter written by a man who had previously worked in Israel’s defense industry. Below is a quote from the letter that he wrote to his rabbi:
The large number of events that had to be handled at precisely the right time doubles the chance of making a mistake.
With all the high technologies, the expectation was for a breach in the defense of the skies of the State of Israel. Even if we got 90% protection, it would be a miracle. What happened, though, is that everyone, I mean everyone – the pilots, the system operators, and the technology operators – acted as one man at one moment in total unity. If this is not an act of God, then I no longer know what a miracle is.
This man’s letter put into words what I already thought but did not have the expertise to express the wonder of God’s defense of Israel as he did. He also compared the success of Israel’s defense system against the rockets to the 1967 Six-Day War when the Lord also intervened to bring success to the armies of Israel.
We know that the repeated failure of Israel’s enemies will not stop them from attacking Israel because Satan himself is the force behind the anti-Semitism of the Arab world, which is also sweeping through the world. The devil is the proto-type anti-Semite with a history of never giving up on his opposition to the Lord and to His chosen people.
Satan Failed to Stop God’s Plan of Redemption
The devil’s original opposition to the descendants of Jacob arose from his opposition to God’s plan of redemption for the human race by means of the promised Messiah, who would arrive as a descendant of Judah and then King David. The book of Esther reveals how God thwarted his plan to wipe out the Jewish population long before the birth of Jesus.
From 1 Corinthians 2:7, we learn of his instigation of the Lord’s crucifixion. His resurrection from the dead signaled Satan’s ultimate defeat but did not deter his opposition to God’s people, which now includes New Testament saints.
Satan’s Current Failures Point to the Rapidly Approaching Tribulation Period
After the British Balfour Declaration in 1917, it became apparent that Israel might become a nation again someday. In the decades that followed, the devil did all he could to stop that from happening. Many people thought Hitler might have been the antichrist, and indeed, he possessed many attributes of the coming man of lawlessness.
The demonic-fueled hatred of the Jewish people over the past century doesn’t make a bit of sense unless the Lord still has a purpose for them and a kingdom. Why else would Satan be so obsessed with ramping up anti-Semitism throughout the nations surrounding Israel as well as throughout the world?
Although the situation looks dire for Israel at the moment, the Bible assures us that it will survive the ongoing threats to its existence. Why am I so sure? If the current efforts to destroy Israel were to succeed, there would be no need for Satan’s man, the antichrist, to make a covenant with Israel and then break it after three and a half years. What’s happening now in Israel tells us that this time is ever so close.
Someday, Israel will agree to his terms offered by the coming man of lawlessness. Even though they will experience a victory over their current enemies, it will not stop them from relying on a power other than the Lord’s in their efforts to secure a respite from its almost continual warfare.
Satan Will Meet His Doom after His Last Attack Against the Jewish Nation
Even after watching Jesus destroy the antichrist and set up His kingdom on the earth, the devil will not give up on efforts to destroy Israel. That’s why I say he’s the prototype anti-Semite who will never give up until Christ throws him into the lake of fire.
In Revelation 20:7-10, we see that even a thousand-year imprisonment will not stop him and the forces allied with him from one last, albeit suicidal attack, on Jerusalem.
The Lord will allow him to pursue this folly in order to test those who have only known life in the perfect environment of the Millennium under the rule of a totally righteous and just King. Sadly, a great multitude will again fall for Satan’s lies. Under the spell of his anti-Semitic rage, they will attack the “holy city,” Jerusalem, in an effort to overthrow Jesus’ rule of the nations.
It will not really be a fight. Fire will suddenly destroy all these latter-day haters of Israel.
Although the ongoing hatred of Israel and the Jewish people grieves us, we recognize its source and trust God’s sovereignty in bringing about His purpose to restore a kingdom to His repentant people after the Tribulation.
There’s no force that can thwart His promises to Israel and also to us as New Testament saints. Our future rests in the hands of a sovereign, all-powerful, and holy God whom we trust with our lives.
-Jonathan