Articles

Note: This commentary—excerpted largely here—was presented in 2019. However, the massive evidence accumulating that God is about to say, “Enough of this wickedness,” convicted me to repost the heads-up to believers in Jesus Christ.

Rumors of war that threaten nuclear conflict in the areas surrounding Israel, and in fact, involving our own nation, are in the hourly news headlines. We’re told that economic collapse of the world’s financial systems is inevitable if global governance by would-be New World Order builders is not forthcoming. Sodom-like wickedness threatens to overthrow every semblance of morality, assaulting even young children in their satanic plans to reset planetary order in a direction opposite of God’s.

Technology that can provide controls by Antichrist is already here, with artificial intelligence beginning to intrude upon every facet of life. The snare of Revelation 4:1 might be triggered at any moment!

The Snare Is Set

Beware and be aware: God is about to disrupt humanity’s present and tragic trajectory.

Hal Lindsey, of The Late, Great, Planet Earth fame, called it “the great snatching up.” The mental picture is of one of those old Jungle Jim films starring Johnny Weissmuller in his post-Tarzan days.

A leopard or other big cat would be stalking through a thick jungle, and suddenly, it would be violently snatched up when it hit a tripping mechanism that caused a thick net to be released. After grabbing the enraged beast, the net would spring upward, keeping it trapped while it flailed mightily above the jungle floor.

Jungle Jim would then have captured a leopard for a zoo or to rid the area of a human eater. It was all very exciting for a boy of ten or so sitting in an air-conditioned movie theater munching popcorn back in those days.

Catching the beast, of course, required much preparation. Jungle Jim would order his assistants—usually natives of the area—to carefully place the net flat in a jungle pathway, then camouflage it. A sapling or thick branch was then bent to provide the tremendous spring the trap would need to capture and hold a 150-pound or more leopard.

With the big cat captured, the people would be safe from its prowling about and possibly attacking the most vulnerable inhabitants of the African countryside.

Hal Lindsey, of course, was talking about “the great snatching-up” in reverse, so to speak. In his biblically prophetic study presented in The Late, Great, Planet Earth, he was talking about the prophecy given by Jesus as recorded by the Apostle Luke:

“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:34-36).

In this case, the viciousness of the beast world will be left on the earth, and the people to be protected will be snatched into the air to safety. Peter the apostle said this about the one who is even now on the ground surrounding us, looking to attack:

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

The Apostle Paul told in great detail about this snatching up. The prophecy most directly pertinent is the following:

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Harpazo, as many know, is the Greek word used in Paul’s prophecy to express this being caught up. People who live to experience the Rapture and Christians who have died during the Church Age (Age of Grace) will be caught up or snatched up. It will happen in the twinkling of an eye (1 Corinthians 15:52).

This instantaneous event that removes God’s people from deadly conditions on earth, unlike ol’ Jungle Jim’s snare that leaves people on the ground safe from the leopard, takes no preparation by any humans. Jesus finished all preparation on the cross at Calvary when He said, “It is finished.”

All one must do to be removed in that moment is to believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, according to Romans 10:9-10.

While no preparation needs to be made beyond simply accepting that call to salvation, the snare is set; it will soon leave those who rebel against God to face the “roaring lion” described above.

In these commentaries over the years, we’ve gone over in depth all the signals Jesus and the prophets said would be in view at the time of this snare-like intervention into the affairs of rebellious earth-dwellers. Those indicators are literally everywhere we look, with Israel, the fig tree in prophetic symbolism, being the key sign.

Spiritually attuned believers can know when that end-times generation will appear at the very end of the age.

Again, we look at Scripture to see that the snare is now set that will catapult Christians to Heaven:

“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth” (Luke 21:28-35).

In the three prior parts of this topic, we have looked at possible signs of the approaching end of the Christian era. It began with the birth of Christ and will end with His returning for all those who have believed in Him over those centuries.

We have seen how those seven feasts of the Lord reported in Leviticus 23 are uniquely placed on the Jewish calendar as rehearsals of future events that mark the highlights of the Christian era for the first five feasts. Then there are a final two that foretell God’s plan for the Jews. Those two festivals are a very real part of God’s plan for the ages as well.

The timing of events is in God’s hands, and we have no Scripture that says, specifically, “it is then.” Three things we do not know are the year it is to be, nor the day nor hour of His coming to remove His restraining presence in the world by His Spirit-filled body of believers, called the Rapture. The fact that the Scriptures and practices do lead us to a two-day event called the Feast of Trumpets and its placement at the end of the harvest season called the “ingathering” (See 2 Thessalonians 2:1) does not create “date setting” in my thinking. One of those days, I believe, will be that Day of the Lord, but we do not know “the day nor the hour” of the two days. Also, we do not know which year except as the signs reveal its possibility.

Jesus did say, “Watch, for you do not know what hour He is coming,” and also, “When you see these things beginning to happen, look up, for your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28, and He is referring to those troublesome conditions He just presented in Luke 21).

Then, Hebrews 10:25 encourages believers to come together more often “as you see the day approaching.” So, how can one see the day approaching without paying attention to the signs of the times?

When Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about these things in his first epistle to them, he specifically left out anything about the “times and seasons” that will indicate when Jesus may return (see 1 Thessalonians 5:1). However, he did say in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 that “the falling away must come first, then the One who restrains will be removed.” We do not know how long that “falling away” will continue, given that we are seeing it happening now. So, Jesus says, “Occupy until I come.”

Now, let’s consider the signs and times that have to do with the future of the Jewish people after the Rapture has occurred. The way Paul wrote of that time of the Lord’s coming “as a thief in the night” then speaks of “they,” saying “Peace and safety” followed by “sudden destruction” coming upon them,” it appears to have a time gap between the two statements with the latter portion having to do with the Jews.

The statement in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 says, “For when they shall say, ‘Peace and safety,’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.” There is a parable tucked in that statement, which seems rather out of place with its subject. Let’s compare such an event with what is to happen with the Jewish people.

In a pregnancy, when the woman’s “water breaks,” her labor really begins, and there is no turning back. When the Rapture occurs, there will be no turning back in God’s plan, for the prophecy of Daniel 9:26-27 has a seven-year peace covenant being made for Israel and permission for them to rebuild their temple. This is implied, for later on, this one who is “befriending” them will turn out to be their enemy as he becomes the “abomination of desolation” mentioned in Daniel’s prophecy.

The Jews utter that statement in great relief, but Gog of the far north (see Ezekiel 38) sees that Israel, having no defense support from a now eliminated USA, is like a city without walls—defenseless. Then Gog (Russia), who has already made a unity proclamation with Iran and Turkey, will come upon Israel shortly after the Rapture has happened. But God is sovereign, and Gog’s utter destruction opens the door for that Antichrist who is befriending Israel to move forward into those seven years of Revelation’s prophecies.

Back to the parable, we see a parallel with the labor struggle the impending mother has as the birthing continues. Progress is more and more evident of coming success, in the pregnancy and in the parable, as the Feast of Atonement halfway through the seven years of tribulation reveals Israel’s recognition of their true Messiah, Jesus Christ, and not that one who had seemingly been their friend for that three and a half years.

That recognition of their true Messiah is reported in Zechariah 12:10:

“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.”

As the pregnancy labor comes to an end and the baby is born, so is the coming of Christ, finally, to reign on earth as the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, from His throne in Jerusalem. It is the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles when the Lord dwells with His people on earth.

The marriage supper of the Lamb will have been celebrated, as Revelation 19 reports the end of the seven years, and Jesus is with His followers, ready to rule the earth in a thousand-year theocracy. Read about it in Isaiah 11:5-7 and 65:25, and Zechariah 14.

As the UN Security Council and associated entities keep laying plans for progressing forward with unity and peace with togetherness by 2030, other signs of the end times are evident.

The comparison of today’s world conditions with that of Noah and Lot in Luke 17:26-37 is more compelling for a current happening than ever before. Those first five verses of the passage, verses 26-30, identify the conditions when Jesus will return for the “ingathering” of His body of believers.

It says, “And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

“Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.”

Note that in both situations, Noah and Lot, with their family members, were the ones saved; all others were left behind to the ravages of their respective judgments. Also, note that God closed the ark’s door after Noah’s entrance. And the angels took Lot and his daughters out of the city. They were delivered from the judgments.

Has the falling away foretold by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:3 reached its climax? Not yet, for we believers are still here. That verse says the “falling away must come first,” then the One restraining the progress of evil in that world-encompassing “falling away” will be removed, and the evil one will be released to his goal of world control.

Noah’s “eating and drinking, and marrying and giving in marriage” conditions indicate more than just those activities, but an active social and economic life in the midst of a totally sinful environment. It brings the idea of hopelessness, “so let’s eat and be merry, for tomorrow we die” (1 Corinthians 15:32).

It pictures a lack of any knowledge of God, who has been pushed to the outside of all attention of the population. This is just what has been the effect of the “falling away” to make the knowledge of God to be a forgotten issue.

In Lot’s time, the city was saturated with homosexuality, yet they were active in social and business ventures. Sexual deviation is now rampant in the USA and followed by the world itself, as the LGBTQ+ ever presses toward that same saturation, including transgender’s radically false claims of viable reality. It is Satanic lying designed to blaspheme God with the destruction of His greatest creation of mankind.

That passage of Scripture is clear that it will introduce the coming of the Lord for those He has saved over the centuries since His resurrection. If you, the reader, are reading this article in a mortal setting, then the “falling away” will not have reached its climax, and another year must elapse until the next Feast of Trumpets. It is hard to imagine what the world will be like with one more year of moral degradation, lawlessness, unjust court proceedings, mass killings, and deceptive activities at the highest levels of our government and in the world.

But Jesus said, “Occupy till I come.”

Contact email: andwegetmercy@gmail.com

The Escape and the Snare :: By Terry James

Considering Emerging End-Time Signs: Part 4 :: By Gene Lawley