Apocalypse :: By Daymond Duck

Published on: by RR10 Category:Daymond Duck, General Articles

The word “Revelation” (as in the book of Revelation) comes from the Greek word “apokalupsis.”

It means “the uncovering, the unveiling, or the disclosing.”

“Revelation” is the disclosing of Jesus Christ.

It can be taken two ways: 1) as the disclosing of the person called Jesus, or 2) as the disclosing of what He intends to do.

Since the book of Revelation begins with the words “The Revelation of Jesus Christ,” and most of the book of Revelation (chapters 6-19) is about the terrible things that will take place during the coming Tribulation Period, many commentators refer to that coming seven-year period as the “Apocalypse.”

As I am writing this (on Aug. 10, 2023), wildfires are devastating Hawaii’s main island (Maui).

Early this morning (on Aug. 10), it was reported that 53 people have died, more than 1,700 buildings have been destroyed, hospitals are overwhelmed, the air people breathe is polluted with smoke, thousands of people have been removed from the island, thousands of people are unaccounted for, cell-phones are not working, people can’t call 911 for help, thousands on the island don’t have electricity, some waded into the ocean to keep from being burned to death, and the numbers will probably keep rising.

Officials, residents, and witnesses are saying things like apocalyptic, catastrophic, decimated, shocking, looks like someone dropped a big bomb, etc.

I have no problem with the use of these words.

Pres. Biden has signed a declaration of disaster, and I cannot imagine how awful it is.

But people need to know that the coming Apocalypse (Tribulation Period) will be a billion times worse.

Following the seven seal judgments (the rise of the Antichrist, wars, famine, pestilences, etc.):

  • Hail, fire, and blood will destroy one-third of the plants on earth (Rev. 8:7).
  • Something like a great burning mountain will crash into a sea and destroy one-third of the sea creatures and ships (Rev. 8:8-9).
  • A burning star will fall upon the earth and pollute one-third of the fresh water (Rev. 8:10-11).
  • The sun, moon, and stars will be struck and darkened (Rev. 8:12).
  • Satan will release demon-possessed locusts on earth, and they will torment the wicked (Rev. 9:1-12).
  • Fire, smoke, and brimstone will kill one-third of the people on earth (Rev. 9:13-21).
  • And there will still be seven bowls of God’s wrath to be dumped (Rev. 11:15-12:12).

Jesus said, “Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Matt. 24:22).

Just like it was on the island of Maui, calling 911 or wading out into the ocean will not stop the “Apocalypse,” but know that those that have truly accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour will not be on earth when the Apocalypse takes place.

(Note: On Aug. 13, 2023, it was reported that the death toll has risen to 93, and the search for people that did not survive is continuing. This is now the highest death toll on record for a natural disaster in Hawaii.)

(Note: On Aug. 15, 2023, it was reported that the UK’s King Charles extended his deepest possible sympathies to the families of victims, former Pres. Trump offered his sympathy and warmest regards to the victims, and Pres. Biden said, “No comment.” Biden is being criticized for showing no signs of sympathy.)

Here are some recent events that seem to indicate that the saved will soon be evacuated (Raptured) from planet Earth, and the Apocalypse (Tribulation Period) will begin.

One, concerning homosexuality and the days of Lot at the end of the age: earlier this year (May 2023, I think), the Ugandan parliament passed a bill to protect families, children, and others from people pushing homosexuality upon them.

The law does not outlaw homosexuality, but it outlaws people trying to force homosexuality upon others (Christians, children, and students).

As might be expected, the Biden administration strongly objected to protecting Christians and children from the LGBTQ+ group and threatened to cut aid to Uganda if the nation’s president signed the bill.

Pres. Museveni signed the bill anyway, and the World Bank notified Uganda that it was freezing all loans to his nation.

On Aug. 10, 2023, Museveni told Ugandans his nation will not abandon its faith, culture, principles, or sovereignty for money.

Uganda will do what is best for its citizens with or without the money.

America desperately needs leaders that will put its Judeo-Christian heritage above the gay agenda and not try to force its immorality on others.

Two, concerning deceit and a population reduction at the end of the age: on Aug. 11, 2023, it was reported that a U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ) attorney representing the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in a case before the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said doctors do have the authority to prescribe Ivermectin for the treatment of Covid.

Readers will recall that during the Covid crisis, the FDA discouraged the use of Ivermectin and contended that using it was medically irresponsible.

According to the report, now a “large body of accumulated studies has found it (Ivermectin) to be irrefutably highly effective for treating Covid when given early and with the correct protocol.”

According to the report, during the Covid Crisis, officials knew more about the safety and effectiveness of Ivermectin than they knew about the safety and effectiveness of the Covid vaccine, but they discouraged the use of Ivermectin and promoted use of the Covid vaccine, which is now known to be unsafe and ineffective in many cases.

Because of the deceit and the globalist desire to reduce the population of the earth, many medical workers were fired, many were blasphemed and censored, and many people died that were not allowed to receive this proven “irrefutably highly effective” treatment.

A lot of people have blood on their hands.

Why do so many people ignore the fact that Bible prophecy teaches that government officials will deceive and kill multitudes during the Apocalypse?

Three, concerning deceit and a population reduction at the end of the age: on Aug. 11, 2023, it was reported that a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report says 120,000 children in the U.S. have died suddenly following an mRNA vaccination for Covid.

One must wonder why Biden and Fauci were saying the vaccination is safe and effective for all ages when so many children were dying.

(Note: According to Klaus Schwab, head of the World Economic Forum, no one in the world will be safe if everyone is not vaccinated.)

Four, concerning the Battle of Gog and Magog (Ezek. 38-39) in the latter days and latter years: on Aug. 12, 2023, it was reported that an intelligence document based on information gathered by Netherlands, Sweden, and Germany concluded that Iran may soon test a nuclear weapons device.

According to a senior researcher in Israel, Iran probably views U.S. and EU policy toward her as weak, passive and unintimidating, which serves as a motivation to continue her development and testing of nuclear weapons.

(Note: On Aug. 13, 2023, it was reported that Israeli Prime Min. Netanyahu canceled his upcoming vacation, stayed in Jerusalem, and called an unplanned security meeting to discuss Israel’s preparedness for war since some reservists are refusing to serve. There is widespread disagreement over Israel’s readiness for war and who is responsible for the reservists refusing to serve. Understand that Israel’s safety is in God’s hands, and her enemies would be wise to back off.)

Five, concerning the spirit of antichrist and the persecution of believers at the end of the age: during the so-called Covid pandemic, several churches in Canada were fined hundreds of thousands of dollars for refusing to limit church attendance.

The churches sued, their case went all the way to the Canadian Supreme Court, and on Aug. 11, 2023, the Court refused to hear their suit.

Believers should understand that giving unbelievers the authority to determine what is a pandemic, when it begins, when it ends, and the authority to control every aspect of people’s lives during a pandemic will eventually cost believers their freedom to assemble, speak and worship.

It will impact if they can meet, how many can meet, where they meet, what their preacher can say, how disobedience will be punished, and more.

Six, concerning the coming cashless society and the Mark of the Beast at the middle of the Tribulation Period: on July 18, 2023, it was reported that Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis said, “If I am the President, on day one we will nix Central Bank Digital Currency. Done. Dead. Not happening in this country.”

DeSantis got Florida to pass a law that refuses use of a CBDC.

He hopes to prevent the Biden administration from using an executive order to force a CBDC on U.S. citizens and to require Biden to go through Congress if he wants to establish one in the U.S.

(Note: On July 25, 2023, it was reported that Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) called upon Congress to ban and criminalize CBDCs. If that has happened, I am not aware of it.)

Seven, concerning the coming cashless society and Mark of the Beast at the middle of the Tribulation Period: on July 25, 2023, it was reported that Russian Pres. Putin approved the use of a digital ruble (Central Bank Digital Currency or CBDC) for money transfers.

The digital ruble will not replace existing forms of money, the money citizens have in the bank will not be converted to digital rubles, no one will be forced to use digital rubles, and it will take 2-3 years before the use of digital rubles is widespread.

Eight, concerning the coming cashless society and Mark of the Beast during the Tribulation Period: on Aug. 11, 2023, it was reported that four major banks in Australia have stopped allowing customers to withdraw cash from their bank accounts in preparation for a switch to a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

So, what comes next? Customers must spend their money by a certain date or lose it, accounts will be seized if customers do not espouse the government narrative, etc., etc.?

Nine, concerning wickedness (corruption) in crime-ridden Washington, D.C.: on Aug. 15, 2023, a federal appeals court ruled that Washington, D.C. was discriminating against citizens because the police arrested pro-life protestors for writing chalk messages on sidewalks, but the police never arrested Black Lives Matter (BLM) protestors for writing chalk messages on sidewalks, spray painting messages on public property, private property, etc.

(My opinion: The laws in the U.S. should be equally enforced, and the illegal activities of some groups should not be overlooked because of their race, gender, or the fact that they support corrupt politicians.)

Ten, concerning wickedness (corruption): on Aug. 14, 2023, Gov. Mike Huckabee posted the following:

  • The watchdog group OpenTheBooks just released about 1,500 unredacted pandemic-era records showing that the leaders of the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, including Dr. Fauci (already the highest-paid “public servant” in DC), made over $325 million in profits off of COVID-19. NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins and former NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci “got 58 royalty payments for allowing companies to use their COVID-19 vaccines, which in return (were) developed with funding from U.S. taxpayers by private pharmaceutical firms.”

Eleven, concerning deceit: in Canada, a biological man that calls himself a woman and competes against women in weight-lifting competitions keeps defeating his female opponents.

Some women have stopped competing because they know they do not have a chance and the truth does not matter.

FYI: God does not send anyone to Hell (all of us are born with a sin nature and destined to go to Hell because we sin), but God has provided a way (Jesus) for everyone to go to Heaven (and He is the only way to get there; John 14:6).

Finally, are you Rapture Ready?

If you want to be rapture ready and go to heaven, you must be born again (John 3:3). God loves you, and if you have not done so, sincerely admit that you are a sinner; believe that Jesus is the virgin-born, sinless Son of God who died for the sins of the world, was buried, and raised from the dead; ask Him to forgive your sins, cleanse you, come into your heart and be your Saviour; then tell someone that you have done this.

duck_daymond@yahoo.com

 

 

 

 

Considering Emerging End-Time Signs: Part 1 :: By Gene Lawley

Published on: by RR10 Category:Gene Lawley, General Articles

A collision of emerging signs of the end times is becoming more apparent each day as news reports verify the predictions of Bible prophecy. Much of my writing seems to be on this topic these days in one way or another. The rising of false doctrines based on faulty conclusions of early church teachers that lack that “rightly dividing the Word of truth” Paul wrote about to Timothy (2 Timothy 2:15).

In this Part 1 and following, we will explore what the Scriptures say about current events and how these considerations should enable us to “see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25). First is the foundation of Scripture in both New Testament and Old Testament predictions.

The promise of the coming of Jesus Christ to “ingather” His body of believers of past and current numbers was actually made by Jesus, Himself. In John 11, when Lazarus died and his two sisters were mourning his death, Martha brought the timing of Lazarus’ resurrection to the end of the age when the great resurrection is to be. But Jesus, in his Son of God knowledge of the future, replied, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he is dead, yet shall he live, and he who lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).

Paul takes up the topic in his first letter to the believers in Thessalonica. He wrote, “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13).

Then he writes of the details of the Lord’s coming for them and future believers in verses 16-17: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

That promise of Jesus in His giving the Great Commission in Matthew 28 is no contradiction to that ending promise in the prior passage, “And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” In Matthew 28:20, He says, “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” What happens then? We will then be with Him.

In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul alerts them, and all future believers (see 2 Timothy 3:16), that a “falling away must come first” (2 Thessalonians 2:3), saying, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition….”

Falling away from what, we must ask? It is from truth, honesty, moral integrity, justice for all, living lawfully, honoring the knowledge of right and wrong—these are principles of life that are being left behind by more of the world’s population and its political leaders.

High on the list is sexual immorality and its degradation upon society. Jesus said, in Luke 17:28-30, “…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.”

The account of that event is detailed in Genesis 19, and it tells us that the whole city was saturated with homosexuality, for every man and boy bombarded Lot’s doorway, demanding those two “men” (angels) that they might “know” them. Was Paul recalling that situation of sexual degradation in his letter to the Romans in chapter 1:18 and following?

There, he wrote of a time when people were turning man to man and woman to woman with their sexual lusts, saying, also, “who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:32). The approval of sexual deviation is under the judgment of God, and many in governmental units are approving of the LGBTQ+ lifestyle though not participating. They are equally guilty before God.

This climate of approval of sexual deviation in all forms has been established by the nation’s president in the USA, even spreading to business corporations not wanting to miss out on increased revenue from that faction. The confusion of what is the correct pronoun to use for addressing those who claim “trans-gender” status. Not only is it a sexual deviation, it is bringing about the destruction of society.

It is a Satanic attack on the highest of God’s creation, that of man in God’s own image. That spiritual warfare has continued for centuries as Satan wants to see God dishonored by His highest creation. But God is sovereign over Satan, and He will destroy that one at the right time.

When the falling away reaches its climax so that the lawless one can be welcomed wholeheartedly by the world’s population, then Jesus will come and remove the One who restrains that evilness. It is that body of believers in Christ. This is God’s plan so that one, the Antichrist, may have authority and clear sailing to events of the coming seven years of tribulation recorded in the Book of Revelation. These Scriptures establish the New Testament fact of the coming of Jesus to “ingather” His body of believers. The Old Testament prophecies tell of these things as well. In Daniel 9:24-25, the prophet is told of a coming seven-year period when God’s punishment of the Jewish people will be completed—judgment for their constant disobedience and rebellion during those years after the exodus from Egypt. The angel told Daniel this:

“Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.

“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.” (These are weeks of years, a year counted as one day, thus one week would equal seven years.)

This was from the time of Ezra’s rebuilding of the temple and the city to the death of Christ would be 69 weeks of the 70 weeks proclaimed. This missing week will be the seven years of the tribulation told of in Revelation 6 to 19.

When Jesus comes for His saints, that 70th week will begin, all pointed to the Jewish people. The Christian church will not be there, as its absence is so obvious. No longer any Great Commission, but 144,000 Jewish “messengers” will take “the gospel of the kingdom” to every tribe, tongue and nation of the world, as we see John’s account in Revelation 7.

There, that great multitude of souls in white robes standing before the Lord are not resurrected saints but are those saved during that ministry. They “come out of the Great Tribulation, it says. They are those who do not take the Mark of the Beast in the last half of that 70th week. And the elder tells John that “many more must be killed.”

That will happen, according to Zechariah 13:8, which says, “And it shall come to pass in all the land,” says the Lord, “That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one-third shall be left in it.” It is the time of God’s attention directly on the Jewish people, to begin once the believers in Christ are gone to be with Jesus.

Daniel 9:26-27 follows with the prophecy of events before those seven years. In those verses, we learn of the lawless one mentioned by Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2 and what he does right after the removal of the Restrainer. It also tells of the 70 A.D. Roman destruction of Jerusalem and its temple and a future appearance of one who is an “abomination of desolation” who claims to be God as he stands in the new temple the Jews have been allowed to rebuild.

It says this: “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself, and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. But in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate.”

So far, we have the Scriptural foundations for signs that are to come. As we look at looming signs, remember that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” that God “is not a man that He should lie or change,” that He knows all things ahead of their times, and that “knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Faith—believing—comes first, then understanding.

In Luke 21, Jesus predicts world conditions of turbulence in weather, social and political happenings. Here are some of them that He says will be current issues:

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be great earthquakes in various places, and famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.

“And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:10-11 and 25-28).

It is true that many of these things have happened before, but have you noticed how they are bunched up into these few weeks of summer in this hemisphere? World conditions in other segments of the population and political concerns are showing signs of distress, perplexity, and fear, as Jesus predicted.

In the USA, there has been sweltering heat in one area and heavy rain with devastating flooding in another at a continual pattern for weeks. And Jesus said, “When these things begin to happen, look up, for your redemption is drawing near.” In Part 2, we will look at major reasons why it is so.

Addendum: As this Part 1 was being finished, major geophysical events began to swarm in several locations. A major wildfire was taking place in Hawaii with many deaths and destruction of property; the first Pacific hurricane in 84 years was approaching the west coasts of Mexico and southern California with torrential rains, flooding and mudslides; Canadian Rockies were inundated with wildfire and its destruction, while rains and flooding and high heat waves continued in the eastern US states. Add these to the list.

Contact email: andwegetmercy@gmail.com