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Do you think we will see the Rapture in our lifetime? And if so, why?

To answer this question, Tim Moore and Nathan Jones traveled to the annual Pre-Trib Study Group Conference held every December in Dallas, Texas. You won’t find a larger gathering of experts in the study of Bible prophecy than where these professors of prophecy meet to share their research into the study of eschatology. There, our evangelists posed these important questions to a panel of Bible prophecy experts.

Johannes Vogel: Maybe today. Maranatha! I learned from Dr. David Reagan that our blessed hope is always: maranatha, maranatha, maranatha! That’s it.

Mondo Gonzales: Absolutely, I really do. When you consider that Israel came back into their promised land 77 years ago, we are clearly moving towards the end of the Church Age. I do not think we could be around for another 500 years, because the Jewish people were prophesied that they’d be brought back to their land in the latter years.

If you just do some math and go back to 500 B.C., 2,500 years have passed since the first Jewish exile. God has brought the Jews back to their land in just the last 10% or so of this end of the age or latter times. When we look in the rear-view mirror, we see Israel becoming a nation once more, just 77 years ago, and since then, all the end-time players have come onto the scene, and other prophesied events are converging together like never before.

Don Perkins: Absolutely! I believe that the Rapture is going to happen in our lifetime. We know that the Rapture is an imminent event. All the end-time indicators point to the Second Coming, but when we see signs that point to the Second Coming, then they let us know that the Rapture is even closer.

In his day, the Apostle Paul longed for the Rapture. But what we are experiencing now with prophecies that are coming to pass before our very eyes, prophecies that the Apostle Paul has never seen, tells me that the Tribulation is near as well, and so the Rapture is even closer. I live my life every day looking for our call up yonder. I even practice my own rapture drill, because I do sincerely believe that Jesus will come at any moment.

I had a dream one night that I was being raptured up to Heaven, and it was exciting. I loved my dream. I was flying and exclaiming, “It has finally happened!” When I woke up, I was so disappointed.

We’re seeing more prophetic events unfold now than any generation has. The fact that Israel has come back into world history and the world has been clamoring for globalism demonstrates how so many aspects of the prophetic puzzle pieces are clicking together, so the Rapture is close.

Josh Davis: I would love to see the Rapture occur at any time. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! That’s the mindset that Christians should have, expecting Jesus to return at any moment. I try to live my life in the here and now, but expectant of what is to come.

The Apostle Peter, in his first two epistles, provided great guidance for Christians who are living in anticipation of the Rapture. I love those two books of the Bible, because they provide such practical advice on how we ought to focus our lives in these last days in which we are living. You live like you’re going to be here until you’re 80, 90, and even 100 years old, yet you’re thinking about the future. You live each day with an expectancy and hope that Jesus could return at any moment.

Olivier Melnick: The Rapture is an imminent event, in that there are no signs that must happen before the Rapture can occur. The Rapture is a sign-less event. No sign needs to happen before the Rapture. But everything’s falling in place for the Tribulation, which occurs after the Rapture.

I do believe the Rapture could happen at any time in my lifetime. I’m 66; if I live another 20 years, then yes. I’m not a date-setter, but there is a clear convergence of end-time signs happening right now, and the speed of prophetic events is growing exponentially. All these events are happening like a laser beam focusing on the fact that we are indeed living in the last days.

Pete Garcia: I think the Rapture could happen even within the next ten years, in my opinion. A lot of technological advancements that we see being utilized in the book of Revelation are already ready to be implemented today. We’re seeing the architecture being built for the Beast’s kingdom. It’s my opinion, it’s almost done.

Revelation prophesies judgments coming on the earth and those who dwell upon the earth. We’ve got at least 20 different programs right now—civilian, military, governmental—that are looking to move people off-planet to do some off-planet colonization. Remember how God said in Genesis 11 that if man were united in purpose and language, there’s really nothing they couldn’t accomplish? If mankind is intent on getting off-planet, and these judgments only apply to those who dwell upon the earth, then humanity is coming to the end, or limits, of our technology and how far God will let us go in traveling into outer space.

That’s part of the Holy Spirit’s restraining ministry. The Holy Spirit is not just restraining evil at large, but also restraining how quickly mankind advances technologically over time. For the previous 6,000 years, mankind was limited to the speed of a horse, but it has only been in the last 125 years that we’ve had an explosion of travel, in accordance with the Daniel 12:4 prophecy.

Carl Broggi: Dr. John Walvoord used to say, “When you see the Christmas decorations going up in Walmart around Halloween, then get ready, because Thanksgiving is approaching.” There’s just so much that’s happening prophetically. Israel is back in the land after 1,900 years. There are more Jewish people now living in Israel than in any of the other nations of the world put together. Only about six million Jews are not living in Israel itself. Many of those Jews remain in America, but things are moving so fast, so who’s to say that they all have to come back before the Church is raptured? We know clearly that at the Second Coming, the Lord will gather those Jews who have not returned to Israel.

God’s plan is in place. We can see the moral atmosphere declining into the days of Noah, characterized by gross immorality and lawlessness. The Son of Man said that the last days would be defined like the days of Lot. Homosexuality is so widespread as never before. We didn’t know what it was when we were children. Now, kids learn about gay marriage by the age of five!

Lee Brainard: I would be insanely surprised if the Rapture did not happen in my lifetime. In fact, to be honest, I think I’d be surprised if it didn’t happen in the next decade. The insane forest fire of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism that’s spreading around the world, as well as a rapid increase in Big Brother government using technologies such as digital surveillance, digital ID, and digital banking, show that the Antichrist’s system is swiftly coming our way. There’s no escaping it. We are barreling down a one-way road to the entire world being enslaved.

Tom Hughes: Look at the dynamics of everything that’s going on. We’re asking, “Do you believe the Antichrist is alive today?” Listen, I am not a date-setter, and have never been a date-setter, but I do not see how much longer this world could go on as it has been doing. In my mind, the Antichrist must be alive today. Does he know who he is? No, but I don’t believe that’s even necessary at this point. Satan has lined up a whole lot of possible candidates.

The Bible tells us in the book of Amos that once Israel is back in the land, they will never be uprooted. Well, Israel is back in the land! Every end-times sign is converging. Anti-Semitism is growing. It’s hard for me to believe that this train has much further to go down the track.

Joe Hawkins: 100%! I have felt the Rapture in my bones, to be honest with you. We can feel a storm coming in. Especially the older people are feeling it. That’s also how I feel about the Rapture. There are days when I just stop and wonder, “Is it about to happen this very moment?” I feel it in my soul. I feel that my Heavenly Father is getting ready to send His Son to come and get me, and I’m so looking forward to that day. So, yes, I absolutely believe that the Rapture will happen in my lifetime.

Watch these interviews on our television program, Christ in Prophecy!

Paul is writing to the Roman believers from Corinth. He is in Corinth for the third visit, and this is recorded for us in Acts 20: 1-3. The focus of the Book of Romans is God’s great plan for redemption.

We looked at the Kinsman Redeemer in Ruth, and here in Romans, Paul will explore Jesus, who is our true Kinsman Redeemer. The God who became man to identify with us, suffer like us, die like us, and then rise from the dead to conquer death, our final enemy. In verses 1-7, Paul makes it clear that salvation is by God, of God, through God, and sustained by God. He leaves no room for pride, for works, or for any other way of salvation. In verse 16, we have the famous declaration:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

Paul then jumps into dealing with those that are unbelievers. Those who know the truth know that there is a God and yet refuse to humble themselves before Him. Paul reveals to us that there are very few true atheists. God is known by all, denied by many. One has to go to great lengths to deny the existence of God. The fact that a thing exists is a testimony that there was someone who made the thing. The fact that there is a creation simply draws us to conclude that there is a Creator, verses 20-21:

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

Therefore, because they deny God, they go to extraordinary lengths to deny God and explain Him away. God has begun to execute judgment on them, and we can see that being played out in our world today. In verse 24, we see that ‘God gave them up to uncleanness,’ and as such, they began to do sexual misconduct. One of the natural outflows of denying God is loss of interest in natural sexual behavior. Paul states that these folks dishonor their bodies. The AMP version describes this as being given over to the ‘degrading power of sin.’ Holman’s notes point out that this is a judicial act; God removes His restraining grace that acts as a guard for how sinful we really are. We begin to see things and do things that we never thought possible because God has given up on us.

Next, when God is denied, He gives them over to ‘vile passions.’ These are described as when men lust after men, and women also turn to other women in sexual ways. We are told that sex between a man and a woman is ‘natural.’ Anything else is unnatural. We all know that. These folks can’t see it because God has given them over, taken away His grace, and allowed their natural sin nature to have complete control.

There used to be a ‘cringe’ that came with public affection between two men. These things were kept in secret and in the darkness, the dark recesses of this world, because we all know that they are wrong. Not just wrong but an affront to God’s natural design. No farmer can bring in two bulls to ‘mate’ and expect calves. We ALL know that. But somehow, we explain it away as ‘love’ when it is two men or two women. It is wrong. Those of us that trust and believe in God are being forced to accept this behavior. To see two grown men, obvious men with beards and male features, kissing and other expressions in public. Our children see men with men, and we have to explain that this is wrong before God.

By the way, my Canadian government just made reading and teaching from this passage a hate crime; it is illegal to read Romans 1.

Then lastly, in verse 28, God gave them over to a ‘debased mind.’ The AMP version translates it as ‘depraved.’ The Holman Bible presents it as a ‘worthless mind.’ And with this worthless mind, they are now free to do even more evil. We see it every day. There is a lawlessness, a mentality that says ‘I can do whatever I want,’ as if there is no accountability. Once we allowed homosexuality to be lived out freely, the next targets were our kids. The effort to sexualize our kids, even at the age of 6 or 7, is hard fought. They want our kids as sexual deviants well before they reach high school. Sadly, they are winning, for the most part.

According to most data, the average age for the ‘first heterosexual encounter’ is 16 in North America, with 2% of girls having sex by 12 or younger. Here in Canada, 22% of grade 9-10 students report having their first sexual encounter. These are 14- and 15-year-olds having sex and having it often. By Grade 10, 33% of girls are on birth control. This is causing health issues and making them think that they cannot get pregnant which most adults know is not the case. I have a friend or two who have gotten pregnant while on birth control.

These folks cannot think of anything but evil. We all see the hidden videos of teachers trying to indoctrinate kids into evil and demanding pro-nouns. We have all seen by now videos of parents reading sexually explicit and graphic material that their kids are required to read. These parents often get arrested for indecency, or they are shut up because they read the perverse stuff back to the teachers.

There has been a rise in sexual misconduct between female teachers and their students. This used to be a male-dominated area; no longer is that the case. It is just going to get worse. God has given these folks over to the evil that is inside them. They cannot think of anything else. They just want to do evil all the time. It is their norm, and we who try to do right are now the evil ones. We are the weird ones. We are the ones that society wants to shut up, send back into our homes, and make us look like we are the hateful ones.

God’s judgment on mankind has already begun. He is letting us ‘hang ourselves,’ as the saying goes. He did not have to do anything proactive; He just had to simply allow us to know what life would actually be like if He did not exist, as many want Him to be.

One day soon, He will wake them up from their stupor, and, hopefully, some will find Jesus and trust Him. Others will stand before God one day in total hopelessness, looking at the God they denied and tried to erase from life and memory. But it will be too late. Their sins will not be covered, they will not be washed away, they will not be buried in the depths of the sea; rather, they will have to shoulder their own sins for eternity in Hell. But at least for them, God won’t be there; they should feel right at home.

seangooding@yahoo.ca

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario

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Romans 1:8-32: God’s Judgment Has Already Begun :: By Sean Gooding